As you can imagine I received a good deal of email and phone calls regarding my comments on the death of Curtis Dixon, the self-confessed murderer of fellow UNCW student Jessica Faulkner. I am glad he is dead. Much like the thousands of people outside the courtroom when the verdict was handed down sentencing Scott Peterson to death, for his murder of his pregnant wife, Laci Peterson, I rejoiced in a justice for a crime so horrible that death, no matter how it came about, seems to be the only justifiable solution.
I am definately aware of the many innocent people in this country that
sit awaiting death on Death Row. In fact, I have recently become close
to Alan Gell who was convicted of a murder he did not commit by the prosecution's
corruption and deceit and as a result spent 5 years of his life on death
row. I am consciously aware of the need to examine those cases that bring
to mind Gell's own case and perhaps am even leaning to supporting a moratorium
to make an investigative study to be sure the folk we kill are worthy
of death.
But Dixon confessed. He admitted his guilt. He tortured his victim. He
destroyed the faith, we as a society, have in the safety of our children
as they work to gain education in our universities. He, more than any
recent murderer that I can think of, is worthy of death.
Was he crazy? Did he do what he did because as a child his mother was
a neurotic basketcase? Did he hit his head and a chemical condition, not
yet understood by science, helped him that night to conjure up the devil
inside him to lay waste to a precious human being's life? Who the hell
cares! If a Pit Bull were to attack your child would you excuse it because
it is an animal and does not have the reasoning capacity for normal human
understanding? Would you lock it in a pen to live out its natural life
so that it might one day communicate and rationalize why it did what it
did? We already know why criminals do what they do, they are defective.
Obviously this is simplifying an extremely complex situation, Dixon is
no animal but he is or was just as dangerous. He proved that on May the
5th when he raped, tortured, drugged and strangled to death Jessica Faulkner.
I don't believe anyone expected him to be forgiven by any one of us, even
though many of you "Christians" who attacked me said differently.
I don't believe it is within anyone to honestly forgive someone who commits
such heinous acts and why should I?
WWJD or what would Jesus do is not applicable in this situation. What
would Jesus do about speeding tickets, about the money we spend on jewels
and extravagant luxuries when there are children starving within 5 miles
of your home? Yes, maybe that would be appropriate but in many ways there
is no Jesus when trying to justify Curtis Dixon and his brutal act, not
for me anyway. I'm sure Jesus would forgive any one of anything as long
as the person receiving the forgiveness had an honest to God (literal)
conversion. But redemption is something for God, not me. I can't tell
a man has changed his heart anymore than I can tell a bank check is good
just because the person who presented it looked wealthy.
If I have sinned for making light of Curtis Dixon's death, then God forgive
me, I am not perfect.
I mean come-on, I didn't stick a crucifix in a glass of urine and call
it art, as Andres Serrano did in 1987, I made fun of a murderer's death.
A sick and extremely violent murderer's death. It wasn't sacrilegious,
it was an attempt at humor. Now sure, it might have been in bad taste
but so might anything else that is expressive.
Did I say to the reporter that I had no compassion for Dixon's family?
I might have, but if I did, it was done so in comparison to the compassion
I feel for the Faulkner family. Certainly I have compassion for his family,
just not nearly as much as I have for Jessica's family and those that
loved her.
Did I say to the reporter that I was glad he died so that the taxpayers
could save money? Yes but I also said that I was glad that those that
loved Jessica Faulkner would not have to take days off of their jobs,
travel hours on end, spend money on hotels and meals away from home, just
to hear what a poor pitiful man Curtis Dixon was. Imagine the pain caused
to Jessica's mom and dad, by just sitting through testimony of the acts
committed against their daughter one minute and the next hearing how Dixon's
life should be spared because someone told him Santa wasn't real or something
just as ludicrous.
I make no apologies for my creation of the image of Dixon falling to his
death. I make no apology for my statements regarding my honest, emotional
response upon my learning of his death. I hope no one thought that the
image was really Dixon jumping to his death, if so I am sorry that any
of you thought so. It is a cartoon, not real, an image created by me.
An illustration to accompany the satire I attempted to make of those that
saw his death as a desperate, suicidal act of a misunderstood young man
when I believe it is a real possibility that he could have been attempting
to escape and fell, risking his life to do so. Those that emit compassion
for Dixon in his "suicide," perhaps see his death as a desperate
act of a sad and lonely man and feel a selfish sense of loss upon not
being able have the slight chance of a possibility to get from him an
understandable reason for what caused him to do that he did.
My bottom line is who cares? Obviously I don't.
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Last updated: December 12. 2004 12:00AM
Local Web site makes light of inmate’s suicidal
jump
By Patrick Gannon
An image on a locally produced Web site depicts a man leaping head-first
over the railing of a prison cellblock, with the headline, "Inmate’s
attempt to take flight is mortally unsuccessful."
The picture and adjacent narrative at www.bluelineradio.com make light
of last week’s suicide of Curtis Dixon, who died Thursday after
jumping head-first off a prison staircase and landing on a hard surface
25 feet below. Mr. Dixon was awaiting trial in the May 5 rape and strangulation
of 18-year-old Jessica Lee Faulkner in a dorm room at the University of
North Carolina at Wilmington.
Tre Benson, the executive director of Blue Line Media of Wrightsville
Beach, said he giggled last week as he created the image on Adobe Photoshop,
a brand of digital imaging software, but then he debated for a couple
hours whether or not he should put it online. He said his wife thought
it was insensitive.
Mr. Benson said he decided to publish it because he has no compassion
for Mr. Dixon or his family, given the heinous nature of the crime.
"When a bad guy does something, we go after him. . . . Had something
like that happened to my sister, I probably would be in jail for attempted
murder," Mr. Benson said, adding that he had received no negative
responses to the posting.
Mr. Benson said Mr. Dixon’s death saves taxpayers a lot of money
for his prison care and a costly death-penalty trial.
Rick Miller, a capital defender who represented Mr. Dixon before his death,
said he didn’t want to look at the Web posting.
"I feel people who do those things are sick," he said. "What
good does that serve society?"
Mr. Benson and his brother, Marc, operate the Web site and also have a
radio show, Blue Line Radio, a pro-law enforcement talk show that deals
mainly with crime issues. It airs from noon to 2 p.m. Saturdays on 103.9
FM and 106.3 FM.
North Carolina spends more per execution than on
a non-death penalty murder case
The most comprehensive death penalty study in the country found that the
death penalty costs North Carolina $2.16 million more per execution
than the a non-death penalty murder case with a sentence of life imprisonment
(Duke University, May 1993). On a national basis, these figures translate
to an extra cost of over $1 billion spent since 1976 on the death penalty.
The 114 page study,"The Costs of Processing Murder Cases in North
Carolina" is available by clicking here
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