OH - Justin Luke, 2, stabbed to death, Canton, 28 April 2003

[Doyle]

A Stark County jury took only 46 minutes to find Robert Thomas Luke guilty of aggravated murder in the April stabbing death of his 2-year-old son, Justin.
http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/news/7186653.htm

 

[Jeana (DP)]

In his closing argument, Beane said he thought Luke should not get the death penalty because the stabbing, which Luke admitted to Canton police detectives in a tape-recorded statement played for the jury, was the result of ``blind, uncontrollable rage.''

Beane repeated that word -- rage -- as he described other nationally infamous cases in which the defendant did not get the death penalty. One such case was that of Andrea Yates of Houston, who was spared the death penalty in March 2002 after she was convicted of drowning her five young children ina bathtub.

Beane emphasized that the Yates jury had spared her from death ``in Texas.''

``And when you hear the word Texas, then you think of pickup trucks, beauty pageants and executions... '' Beane said.

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I think that lawyer should come on down here to Texas and say that!!!!!

 

[Doyle]

The lawyer sounds like a very poor excuse for one....

His only defense is that they didn't give death to so and so.. so my client shouldn't get death.

37 violent stab wounds to a 2 year old, because the mother was out seeing someone else.

I really think anger management should be taught in public schools.. There are far too many people that rage out of control, and these are the kind of consequences we get.