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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAlabama man seeks mercy for trying to hire KKK hitman to kill black neighbor
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) An Alabama man is seeking mercy after pleading guilty to trying to hire a Ku Klux Klan hitman to kill a black neighbor.
Attorneys for Allen Wayne Morgan describe the 30-year-old Munford man as a drug-addicted veteran of more than 175 combat missions in Iraq.
The defense says Morgan was suffering severe mental problems when he tried to arrange the hit last year and shouldn't spend more than five years in prison.
Prosecutors are asking for a sentence twice that long during a sentencing hearing set for Thursday afternoon in Birmingham.
http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/article/20140227/NEWS/140227021/Alabama-man-seeks-mercy-trying-hire-KKK-hitman-
AverageJoe90
(10,745 posts)Cali_Democrat
(30,439 posts)Black people will be in danger if he's released from prison.
He needs to be there for life.
smokey775
(228 posts)175 combat missions in Iraq? This man needs intense therapy not a life sentence. which I assume by your comment, that's what you want.
5 years with intense therapy coupled with 5 years of parole and continued therapy should suffice.
AverageJoe90
(10,745 posts)Well, at the very least, keep this guy on very close watch after he's released from the facility.
lostincalifornia
(3,639 posts)TorchTheWitch
(11,065 posts)The article says it was because he suspected the guy was sleeping with his wife. Call me crazy, but the suspicion of his wife cheating on him with his neighbor was the reason for the hit attempt regardless of the neighbor's race. The only KKK involvement I'm seeing in this story was that the supposed hitman was an FBI agent. Seems to me it was the agent that told this guy the he was a hitman with the KKK in order to gain his trust and make an arrest not that the guy went looking through the KKK in order to find a hitman that just happened to be an FBI agent.
840high
(17,196 posts)lostincalifornia
(3,639 posts)contact
smokey775
(228 posts)Unless you have, you have no idea how it messes with your psyche, especially a meat grinder like Iraq was.
I'm willing to give this man a chance to get the help he obviously needs and try to return to return as a productive member of society.
Response to smokey775 (Reply #11)
Post removed
smokey775
(228 posts)nomorenomore08
(13,324 posts)that's being targeted by a racist psycho...
smokey775
(228 posts)MineralMan
(146,325 posts)Do you live in Alabama? Are you going to help him recover and not hire Klan hitmen again? You may be willing to give him a chance, but I doubt you're willing to be the one who helps him get the care he needs, and Alabama sure isn't going to do it.
nomorenomore08
(13,324 posts)Perfectly stated!
smokey775
(228 posts)When I signed up here, I just assumed that I was on a progressive website where we had empathy for our fellow humans.
This man may have suffered traumatic PTSD from his experiences in Iraq, I'm not excusing what he did, he needs to pay for his crime, but to just give up on him and "throw away the key" is, in my humble opinion, not the answer.
Sheepshank
(12,504 posts)"I just assumed that I was on a progressive website where we had empathy for our fellow humans. "
Apparently. Libs are supposed to be stupid, gullible, taken in by every sob story, and the utlimate bleeding heart every time all the time. Just so you know...that it's a false equivalency.
Jazzgirl
(3,744 posts)n/t
1awake
(1,494 posts)He very well may have, and that is something a Doctor needs to investigate further. Locking him up is a great place to start because regardless, he tried to arrange a hit that appears racial motivated. I'm not sure PTSD alone would cover all of that.
MineralMan
(146,325 posts)he going to get that "intense therapy?" Do you have an answer for that? The deal is that he tried to hire a racist murderer to kill a black neighbor. Was he mentally ill? Perhaps. Does Alabama have a program to deal with that? No, it does not. In prison, he will not get "intense therapy." No such therapy is available. When on parole, he also wouldn't get "continued therapy." None is available.
I think you are misunderstanding the situation.
Here are the facts about mental health care in Alabama: https://www.nami.org/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm?ContentFileID=93478
CreekDog
(46,192 posts)smokey775
(228 posts)Yes, he has to pay for his crime with prison time, but not for the rest of his life.
It sounds to me like this man needs some intense therapy while in prison and more after release with close supervision.
CreekDog
(46,192 posts)nah.
smokey775
(228 posts)Kindly show me where I said that?
Aristus
(66,442 posts)Not unless you're prepared to swear that everybody who comes home from combat does despicable shit like that.
He's a racist piece of shit who deserves hard time.
smokey775
(228 posts)I didn't say he deserves a free ride because he's a combat veteran, he deserves prison time for his crime, but to suggest that he deserves life in prison is over the top.
He should get 5 years for the offense couple with 5 years parole and intense therapy and close supervision.
Aristus
(66,442 posts)Al I said was 'hard time'.
And yes, this is a progressive website, where we have empathy for our fellow human beings. But the empathy in this case rightly goes to the intended target of this guy's putrid bigotry. Get the maggot off the streets, and the black man he wanted to murder will be at least a little safer.
840high
(17,196 posts)sleeping with the guy.
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)a different reason.
I don't think Black folks, in general, will be endangered ... just those that he suspects are sleeping with his wife. This guy probably would have had a white guy killed if he suspected him of sleeping with his wife; but chose a fake kkker because he suspected the kkker would be happy to kill a Black man for sleeping with a white woman.
But that said ... see ya, drug addicted, 175 combat missions in Iraq, in need of intense therapy guy. Probably wouldn't be a good idea to share your conviction with the "Brothers."
Logical
(22,457 posts)lostincalifornia
(3,639 posts)cause him to want to kill his African American neighbor? I don't think so
nomorenomore08
(13,324 posts)If anything, loss of self-control may simply cause those tendencies to bubble to the surface.
840high
(17,196 posts)thought he was sleeping with his wife.
LiberalAndProud
(12,799 posts)At least, according to this article. There is also a mention of a prior record.
http://www.myfoxal.com/story/23259716/fbi-anniston-man-hired-undercover-agent-to-kill-neighbor
But, I guess we all know what really happened.
Orrex
(63,220 posts)Response to The Straight Story (Original post)
Post removed
Heidi
(58,237 posts)Please be more specific.
Response to Heidi (Reply #15)
Nye Bevan This message was self-deleted by its author.
11 Bravo
(23,926 posts)Donald Ian Rankin
(13,598 posts)You may know that the man was sane from some source other than the OP, which clearly does not justify that inference.
But if you don't, you have no business assuming that he was in a fit mental state to be held morally or legally responsible for his actions.
"Not of sound mind" is an acceptable exculpatory factor for any crime, including murder and certainly including racism.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)Donald Ian Rankin
(13,598 posts)Look up John Nash for a high-profile example.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)1) mental illness;
2) growing up white in Alabama?
I'd wager there's a higher correlation between white supremacy and (2) than there is with white supremacy and (1)
Brigid
(17,621 posts)This guy was trouble before he ever joined up.
Jamastiene
(38,187 posts)Donald Ian Rankin
(13,598 posts)nomorenomore08
(13,324 posts)the person losing control of themselves. But I'm 99.9% sure Nash was already an anti-Semite before he went crazy - in the time and place he came from, anti-Semitism was likely more the rule than the exception.
Yo_Mama
(8,303 posts)He wasn't found not guilty by reason of mental incapacity. This is about sentencing after conviction.
alcibiades_mystery
(36,437 posts)It never works out right.
gollygee
(22,336 posts)I'll admit I can't think of more off the top of my head though.
alcibiades_mystery
(36,437 posts)Wayne Douglas Gretzky.
gollygee
(22,336 posts)ROFL
geardaddy
(24,931 posts)Yes!
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)The Feds put away people for decades for a lot less. They just put a Nun in prison for 3 years for going on private property. The young man who guessed Palins yahoo email password got 3 years.
smokey775
(228 posts)handle this as this was a state crime.
stillcool
(32,626 posts)The problem is the disparity in our justice system. Jails are full of drug addicted veterans. "Trying his best" to hire a kkk hitman screams racially motivated, and considering recent events...? But then it's Alabama.
Brigid
(17,621 posts)And I'm as lily white as you please. Whom is he going to decide needs to be "hit" next? And "intensive therapy?" Don't make me laugh. How long is the waiting list at the VA for veterans suffering from PTSD who need treatment? I don't even want to think about it. And don't tell me this guy wasn't a racist nut job before he ever signed up for military service. I'll have to do a little research on this, but I hear that the military has been having a big problem with skinhead and neo-Nazi types in the ranks.
ETA: Yep, I was right. Just Google "military neo-Nazis" and feast your eyes.
Yo_Mama
(8,303 posts)It's probably true that black people are LESS safe. But geeze. Anyone who is willing to consider killing another person out of anything less than urgent defense of life is a public danger.
Yeah, this guy is a racist SOB.
Yo_Mama
(8,303 posts)And the public is in danger. Give him the ten and then let him ask the parole board for mercy.
Drug addiction is no excuse for trying to end people's lives.
nomorenomore08
(13,324 posts)at the very minimum. More so because he was essentially targeting an entire race - that's the nature and purpose of a hate crime.
Yo_Mama
(8,303 posts)I would say fifteen years would be better, and then if he can shape up in prison perhaps parole. But five years is way too short.
Nye Bevan
(25,406 posts)LiberalAndProud
(12,799 posts)We know all about him.
kimbutgar
(21,177 posts)That is the most messed up thing about Bush's unnecessary wars. Lost people with mental illness and no help for them only jail.
I do not condone what he wanted to do but you can't help feeling sad for him.
onpatrol98
(1,989 posts)I bet the guy he tried to put the hit on isn't feeling very sad for him...
He "suspected" the neighbor was sleeping with his wife. Heck...what if he suspected the whole neighborhood was sleeping with his wife? What if he hadn't taken the intermediary step of looking to outsource the job? This could've ended very badly.