I think most people feel powerless when contemplating these 'Wilding' attacks...
Ray Widstrand hasn't got national attention. There are others locally. The brother of the owner of Freewheel bikes which has locations on the West Bank (Little Somalia) and the Midtown Greenway was 'stomped' in a similar fashion to Ray Widstrand.
He was attacked on the greenway near the Greenway bike shop behind the old Sears building by a group of 8-10 13-17 year old males and suffered Life-changing 'Permanent Brain Injury' I think he can speak and 'work' but Where is the justice for him?
The only creative reaction to these crimes is a decades long campaign for the re-instatement of Capital Punishment for Murder
DEATH PENALTY
Since 1911 . . .
Bills to restore death penalty often short-lived
It had been a high-profile crime from the outset: the double
murder of a boy and his mother in 1905. There were inflammatory
news accounts of the killings, complete with denunciations of a
suspected "unnatural relationship" between the murderer and boy.
In the end, William Williams, the 28-year-old steamfitter
convicted of murdering his 16-year-old friend, John Keller,
failed to convince the jury that he was insane, and he lost every
appeal.
And when he took his final steps to the gallows under the Ramsey
County Jail in 1906, no one knew it would be the last time an
execution was carried out in Minnesota.
The executioners did not take into account one key factor: the
stretch of the hanging rope. After Williams' feet hit the floor,
sheriff's deputies scrambled to hoist the rope. The police
surgeon counted the minutes on his watch, waiting for the pulse
to stop. A small crowd of spectators watched as it took Williams
14 and one-half minutes to die by strangulation.
The miscalculated hanging began a six-year movement to abolish
the death penalty in the Minnesota Legislature.
1927 -- A Senate bill (SF858) is reported back from Crime and
Crime Prevention Committee, and at its recommendation, is
"indefinitely postponed."
1931 -- A House bill (HF240) is reported back from Crime and
Crime Prevention Committee that it be "indefinitely postponed."
1933 -- A Senate bill (SF204) is referred to Crime and Crime
Prevention Committee, but no vote is taken.
1937 -- A House bill (HF250) is returned to its author by the
Crime and Crime Prevention Committee. Two bills in the Senate
(SF157, SF1159) also fail to get committee approval.
1974 -- A Senate bill (SF3010) doesn't make it out of the
Health,Welfare and Corrections Committee.
1975 -- A Senate bill (SF518) doesn't make it out of Judiciary
Committee.
1986 -- Two bills (HF2215, SF2095) fail to receive committee
approval.
1989 -- A House bill (HF998) is referred to the Judiciary
Committee, but following a hearing is defeated in committee on a
2-21 vote. A bill in the Senate (SF768) was referred to the
Judiciary Committee but did not receive a hearing.
We'll continue to have horrific murders like the Ray Widstrand stomping...
and they'll fade away a couple of weeks later. I think a sponsor could be found
to bring back the death penalty...and I would like to see it on the ballot as a constitutional
amendment to minimize the urban-lefty influence.
They could raise MILLIONS for victim assistance and violence prevention if they offered 'Pay-Per-View'
coverage of the event.
Posted: Tue Aug 27, 2013 2:09 pm
