Robert Latimer

[Nuggler]

8O..........The cons are jist tryin to perteckt us.........CRUCIAL MATTERS TV: MANDATORY MINIMUM SENTENCES by Stephen Harper & The Conservatives is Injustice for ALL.


Gawd bless Stevo.

An Stocky too

An make me a good boy.

Just for you.

 

[Unforgiven]

I don't understand why judgement is so messed up in these matters. While it's wrong what he did, he did it for all the right reasons. What has his daughter missed out on? Being compassionate even to help someone die that wants to go and is ready isn't playing God. But maybe it is being an angel there to help in the last moments.

 

[DaSleeper]

I really don't know what I would have done in his place.
One can think one way to-day and when the situation presents itself in real life, do the exact opposite.

 

[#juan]

If Robert Latimer had killed his daughter in anger, or if he killed to get the insurance money or some other selfish reason, he would deserve the full legal punishment. This poor guy is driven to murder by his daughter's pain. Even the offer of earlier release couldn't make him lie about what he did. Latimer deserves our forgiveness and at least some of our admiration.

 

[JLM]

If Robert Latimer had killed his daughter in anger, or if he killed to get the insurance money or some other selfish reason, he would deserve the full legal punishment. This poor guy is driven to murder by his daughter's pain. Even the offer of earlier release couldn't make him lie about what he did. Latimer deserves our forgiveness and at least some of our admiration.

Yep.

Well that's your opinion, but the courts ruled and he sucked it up and did his time. This wasn't just endured by Robert Latimer, it was endured by his whole family - and the right thing to do is let the family live in peace now. If you are ever in his shoes and faced with such a decision, we know what you THINK you would do. But until you are faced with such a heart wrenching choice, you can throw all the rhetoric you like at the situation, but you do so in ignorance.

btw - you just invoked Godwin's Law, which automatically renders your comment invalid.

You bet, Zan.

 

[bobnoorduyn]

Latimer, by every legal standard, was guilty of First Degree Murder of his own daughter. He planned and carried out the execution of his daughter, Tracy, because she was INCONVENIENT. This was never a case of 'dying with dignity', since that only involves cases of assisted suicide of an adult. This was the malicious destruction of a human life, and Robert Latimer should have received the maximum under Canadian Law, which is a 25 years before eligibility for parole.

So, are you a jurist, or a juror? First degree murder is very hard to prove, even though Robert Latimer basically convicted himself. However, state of mind has to be taken into consideration. Malice could never be considered because none existed. None of us were there to hear the evidence; I am of the position that he was put in an untenable by circumstance for which he saw no other option. Good friends of ours are from Wilkie who are familiar with the family and are of a different opinion. They, however, have no children of their own and have experienced life differently. I believe there will be no agreement between us as there will be no agreement among other Canadians. The law is not black and white.

 

[TenPenny]

Latimer, by every legal standard, was guilty of First Degree Murder of his own daughter. He planned and carried out the execution of his daughter, Tracy, because she was INCONVENIENT. .

I can only assume that you are willfully ignorant of the facts in this case. As such, your opinion cannot count, since you know nothing about it. If you knew even the tiniest bit about the case, you would know that 'convenience' was not even a factor in his decision.

Unless, of course, you're one of those people who believe that forcing someone to live a life of suffering is a good thing, and brings them closer to 'God' or whatever. In which case, your opinion is less than worthless anyway.

 

[Dexter Sinister]

Latimer, by every legal standard, was guilty of First Degree Murder...

Why is it so often the most earnestly religious who show the least compassion and understanding and are the most harshly judgmental? Equating Latimer to Mengele is so ludicrously inappropriate and irrelevant I can't even call it wrong. It's just stunningly stupid.

 

[JLM]

Why is it so often the most earnestly religious who show the least compassion and understanding and are the most harshly judgmental? Equating Latimer to Mengele is so ludicrously inappropriate and irrelevant I can't even call it wrong. It's just stunningly stupid.

For the same reason the most earnestly religious have very little credibility. :smile:

 

[Kreskin]

Latimer, by every legal standard, was guilty of First Degree Murder of his own daughter. He planned and carried out the execution of his daughter, Tracy, because she was INCONVENIENT.

Yes, it was so much more convenient for him to live in prison.

 

[Spade]

Has anyone read "OF Mice and Men"?

 

[damngrumpy]

Imagine being on his end of the problem for his child. A child in constant pain without end.
the law would not provide assistance, and there was no cure and no end to suffering. We
as a society do not permit our pets to suffer like this when there is no end, but we demand
that people have to endure. This man did decide to do something for his child not to his
child. It is a terrible decision this man had to make, one he has to live with, and knowing he
is fully responsible. His little girl, what else could he do in the situation he was in when the
state refuses to become fully engaged.
This man should never have gone to prison in the first place, the state is the villain in this case
and the only reason Latimer was punished was to prevent hopefully, others from doing the
same thing.

 

[Dexter Sinister]

Imagine being on his end of the problem for his child.

I tried. I had children about the same age at the time, and I thought about what it would take to drive me to do what he did. I couldn't imagine it. But my kids were--and are--perfectly healthy. Best I could do was get just a faint glimmering, thinking about how I felt when one of them was injured or ill. But I always knew they'd get better, something Latimer knew wasn't going to happen with his child. He knew, in fact, that she was only going to get worse, and the doctors were going to keep experimenting on her, and her painful, zero quality life might continue indefinitely. I can't imagine what that would be like, I can't walk the mile in that man's shoes, nor can I find it in my heart to judge him badly for what he did. He must have known he'd have to do time for it, and I really can't see it as anything but a heroically courageous act of mercy and self sacrifice. And if I ever meet him that's what I'll tell him.

 

[Colpy]

Has anyone read "OF Mice and Men"?

John Steinbeck is the greatest writer of the 20th century..........except perhaps for Ernest Hemingway.

 

[Dexter Sinister]

Has anyone read "OF Mice and Men"?

Been a LONG time, high school English was ages ago, but my memory is that it ends with a man killing his friend to save him from a certain and brutal lynching and nobody understands why he did it. Not strictly the same as Latimer's situation, but close enough to be relevant: there IS such a thing as a mercy killing. Good reference.

 

[Spade]

Been a LONG time, high school English was ages ago, but my memory is that it ends with a man killing his friend to save him from a certain and brutal lynching and nobody understands why he did it. Not strictly the same as Latimer's situation, but close enough to be relevant: there IS such a thing as a mercy killing. Good reference.

Perhaps the crime was an act of love.

YouTube - Of Mice and Men - 1939 Classic - Ending

 

[JLM]

John Steinbeck is the greatest writer of the 20th century..........except perhaps for Ernest Hemingway.

Better than Lance Horner do you think?

 

[karrie]

Why is it so often the most earnestly religious who show the least compassion and understanding and are the most harshly judgmental? Equating Latimer to Mengele is so ludicrously inappropriate and irrelevant I can't even call it wrong. It's just stunningly stupid.

I'd have to wonder what you mean by earnestly religious.

Coldstream is much like another poster I know online... he highly values religion as a mechanism to enforce his values, but he bears little love for his fellow man, or appreciation for God. He merely likes the rules that the religion holds, and would like to see others have to follow his rules. I struggle with what the right term would be to describe that form of religion, but earnest seems to be inadequate.

 

[Colpy]

Better than Lance Horner do you think?

I may be dating myself.....

Who the heck is Lance Horner?

Never heard of him.

 

[Spade]

Some say a master of "schlock and ahhhh."