I am not against the Death Penalty. I am not necessarily for it either. I do believe that it has a place in our society, if our society chooses to have that form of capital punishment. If it's a choice and has been chosen by a jury or a judge, then by all means carry it out already.
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| Mugshot of POS Michael Overstreet |
A prime case example of justice not being metered out is the rape and murder of Kelly Eckart from Shelby County, Indiana in 1997 by Michael Overstreet. Kelly was an 18 year-old Franklin College freshmen who worked evenings at the Franklin Walmart. On September 27, the perpetrator, Michael Overstreet, stalked her in the store. Waited for her in the Walmart parking lot. Followed her car on the lonely road she drove home on. Bumped her car hard enough to cause her to stop. Shot her in the forehead with a pellet gun that temporarily incapacitated her. Abducted her, taking her to a place where he raped and murdered her by strangulation.
Overstreet was married and had four children. According to his Murderpedia page, he was "deprived and [had an]abusive childhood; [he has a] Schizotypal Personality Disorder / Psychological deterioration; [he suffered from] Hallucination as a child, including “demons”; [his] Mother failed to seek mental help for him; [he served] 3 months in [the] Marines before discharge for mental illness; He loves his children and nieces who idolize him; Has only a misdemeanor criminal history; Model prisoner since his incarceration." His record and past showed no indication of the monster he truly was and kept hidden from society. In 2000, prior to his trial, his four children sought to have their last name changed to their mother's maiden name to distance themselves from him. The court denied it but after he was convicted, it was granted. Imagine that?
Now some of the above is what they referred to as mitigating circumstances. As if that should excuse him from what he did. NO! No, no, no, no, NO!!! We all have mitigating circumstances. We all don't take out our problems on the rest of society. You get help, get over it and lead a fruitful and lawful life. Our judicial system subconsciously condones these people's behaviors by doling out light sentences and releasing these convicts back into the American population knowing that statistically about 40% are recidivists. [Wikipedia]
I understand you can't lock-up people with mental disorders until they do something bad. Unfortunately, for the victim of the "do something bad" doesn't deserve that cavalier attitude, especially if they end up being RAPED AND MURDERED! I don't have a solution for this issue, but I like to point it out.
Her car was found abandoned on the road home on a lonely back road. Her body was found four days later naked in a ravine in Atterbury Fish & Wildlife Area, Brown County. Overstreet left DNA behind and a confession from Overstreet's brother, who drove and left Michael and the semi-conscious young lady there would be enough evidence to convict.
He was found guilty on all counts: Murder, Rape (B Felony), Confinement (B Felony). He was sentenced to the Death Sentence, 20 years, 20 years, consecutive, respectively, on July 21, 2000.
You would think that that's it. The fat lady has sung. Justice done. Good triumphed over evil. Set the date. I'll bring the popcorn.
Not so fast, bucko. Slow your roll. Because every convicted felon has the right to appeal their case, their sentence, their whatever bullshirt they can throw at the appellate court. The sentence has only been partially fulfilled. Oh, Overstreet is imprisoned, BUT as of 2014, it was ruled that he was not competent and therefore could not be executed based on the Supreme Court decision. See below.
"In 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed a ruling that death row inmates who are mentally ill can’t be put to death if they’re incapable of rationally understanding what execution means and why they’re being executed." per Matt Adams - Web Producer Fox59
Well, I cry foul. He was in his right mind when he committed the felonies. Was in his right mind when he was found guilty by a jury of his peers. He should sit in Ol' Sparky's chair and do the electric Boogaloo or whatever they do to the executable in Indiana. Regardless of his incapacitated state of mind, the people want justice. Is justice served if he's just incarcerated for eternity? He's being punished. We understand and agree to that. Being locked up and fed institutional food is a nasty punishment. But has justice been meted out for Kelly?
For some victim's families, this would be enough. I see it a little bit differently. Dollars and cents. The taxpayers of Indiana have been footing the bill for this POS to live for nearly 20 years. The money spent on his food and medical care could go toward helping the less fortunate, like school age children whose hard working families can't afford to feed their children thanks to the shitty governmental decisions made by one-time Governor of Indiana, VP Mike Pence, et al. The cost to euthanize this bastard would have saved the Indiana government a king's ransom and could have put that money to better use. Like roads. Every state in the north needs better roads. But feeding the little children is most important.
Another article about this case is found here.
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| Here's what this jagoff looked like in 2014 |
What message are you sending out to the world? I want to use capital punishment but only if I hem and haw long enough and then maybe commute their sentence to life without the possibility for parole. HA! That's not even the case here. This clown will most likely never breath the air of a free man for as long as he lives, but theoretically, he could walk out of prison tomorrow too. They did it for Al Capone. He had a life sentence but because he was already dying from syphilis, they released him to live out his final days as a free man, 7 years and 3 months of final days. Now, that's some real bullpuckey. As of today in 2020, Michael Overstreet is safely behind iron bars eating whatever the fare of the day is on Indiana's death row at Indiana State Prison in Michigan City. The DA and the court continue to battle it out over Overstreet's mental capacity.
One final note: It may not matter to me or anybody not personally associated with this case. But if you are associated with the prisoner, the victim or the court, it matters. The victim's family wants what the state promised. The court (DA, judge and jury) want what they worked hard to succeed at getting justice for Kelly Eckart. The prisoner and his family, if any still stand by his side, deserve a final decision. It's cruel and unusual punishment to dangle death over anybody's head. Nearly 20 years, whether he understands it or not now, is still a long time to wonder if today is the day when he learns when the State of Indiana is going to kill him. My opinion doesn't matter, but I insist that there's consistency in our government and court system. I don't think that that is asking too much.
Overstreet deserves punishment. But you can't do what the Indiana courts have done these past 20 years. The Supreme Court did not take into consideration this sort of Catch-22 when they handed down their decision in 2007. Maybe they only saw the big picture looking down from a million miles in space. I don't know. What I do know when it has to do with being humane, you need to be decisive and act quickly. Prisoners and the court system cannot be allowed to drag out appeals for 10, 15, 20 years. I have read some cases where the convicted murderer outlived all the victim's relatives. No one was there to witness the execution. How fair is that to anyone? The legal system needs to rethink its policies and procedures. Maybe look at other legal systems in other countries. See how it works for them. Compare to every other country on Earth, we are still the baby. We don't have all the answers. Until next time, TTFN.
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