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Site SearchA Cabarrus County lawmaker wants to bring back public hangings in North Carolina as a deterrent to crime, and he says doctors who perform abortions should be in the line to the gallows.
Republican Rep. Larry Pittman, who was appointed to the District 82 House seat in October, expressed his views in an email sent Wednesday to every member of the General Assembly.
Pittman said he was disgusted by the actions of death row inmate Danny Robbie Hembree Jr., who recently sent a letter to The Gaston Gazette bragging about how easy life is in prison and that appeals would stall his execution for years.
"We need to make the death penalty a real deterrent again by actually carrying it out. Every appeal that can be made should have to be made at one time, not in a serial manner," Pittman wrote in the email. "If murderers (and I would include abortionists, rapists, and kidnappers, as well) are actually executed, it will at least have the deterrent effect upon them. For my money, we should go back to public hangings, which would be more of a deterrent to others, as well."
He confirmed to WRAL News on Thursday that he wrote the email but said he had intended to send it only to Rep. Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, and not to every lawmaker. He said he was tired and accidentally hit "Reply All" on an email that Moore had sent to the General Assembly about Hembree.
"I was filled with anger, disgust, and frustration, as well as a profound sense of grief for the family of the young woman he killed," Pittman said of Hembree. "I felt a need to 'vent' some of these feelings and intended to do so to him alone. In the process, I got a bit carried away and overstated my case. I am sure I am not the only one who has ever done that."
He said he doesn't want his email turned into "a sideshow for political purposes" and said what Hembree said was more outrageous than his comments.
"What I regret is that something I wrote as a personal note to a fellow member of the House has had the effect of taking the focus off of where it should be, which is the victim and her family and the need to provide them with justice," he said.
Pittman's biography on the legislative website lists his profession as "pastor, shipping worker, company chaplain."
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February 1, 2012 7:13 p.m.
Failing that, come on down to Texas where I'm sure Gov. Perry will give you, and your family, a ring-side seat to our executions. Of course, lethal injection is not nearly as dramatic as the neck-snapping, leg-twitching excitement of a hanging, but I'm sure your family, especially your kids, will enjoy the event. We'll even provide popcorn. When you advocated "public executions" you did include your wife and children, yes? Wouldn't want to deprive the little tikes of a state-sponsored death, would we?
Pittman, I think you owe the American people a public apology for your thoughtless and counterproductive comment. You should be ashamed of your monstrous desire for revenge, at least for the sake of your children.
January 29, 2012 7:13 p.m.
He's not sorry that he wants to use his legal authority to compel the State to execute abortion doctors, he's sorry that he told everybody about it this early in the game. For a Christian minister, he ought to read the Old Testament and see what it has to say about the penalty for rapists. The State of North Carolina sure could use the shekels.
"He said he was tired and accidentally hit "Reply All" on an email that Moore had sent to the General Assembly about Hembree."
This joke of a legislator can't control his OWN EMAIL and yet he wants to re-make the judicial system to his own tastes?! Frightening.
January 29, 2012 3:28 p.m.
January 29, 2012 2:19 a.m.
January 28, 2012 7:54 p.m.
Hosea 9:11-16 Numbers 5:11-21 Numbers 31:17 Hosea 13:16 I Kings 16:34 2 Kings 2:23-24 2 Kings 15:16 1 Samuel 15:11-18 Psalms 135:8 & 136:10 Psalms 137:8-9 Leviticus 20:9 Judges 11:30-40 Deuteronomy 21:18-21 Judges 19:24-29 Exodus 12:29 Exodus 20:9-10 Leviticus 26:30 Isaiah 13:15-18 Jeremiah 11:22-23 Jeremiah 19:7-9 Lamentations 2:20-22 Mark 7:9
January 28, 2012 4:57 p.m.
January 28, 2012 12:55 p.m.
January 28, 2012 6:48 a.m.
I believe that until and unless someone can establish that the unborn child is not a living human being, then that child is already protected by the Constitution, which guarantees life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness to all of us. - Ronald Reagan
Abortion activists have helped murder approximately 53,000,000 unborn, innocent, defenseless babies since 1973 (Roe vs. Wade decision). SO....Abortion activists have murdered more victims than the Nazi's. - Dlane
January 27, 2012 6:42 p.m.
January 27, 2012 6:09 p.m.