At Death's Door

As a newspaper reporter, it isn't so unusual to meet someone who is the victim of a crime. But it's one thing knowing you are interviewing someone for this kind of reason, quite another for them pop up unexpectedly on your TV screen.

The local news this week has been full of stories about Brian Dugan, who was finally sentenced to death after he murdered a little Naperville girl 26 years ago.

Unfortunately this wasn't Dugan's only crime. He had previously raped and murdered a 27-year-old nurse and a seven-year-old girl.

Dugan is already serving life sentences for the other crimes in jail. After the latest verdict, family members of the other victims were interviewed. One was one of my acquaintances from Naperville Rotary.

Much as the aim of the news is to bring events to life, it just isn't the same as personally knowing someone in the news.

When I first met him, I only learnt about his business. Yet today as we spoke at a Veteran's Day lunch, I discovered a shy, unassuming man who had been shouldering a terrible burden for more than 20 years. He is glad the family now has closure, but admits there are no winners because nothing will bring his sister back.

Along with gun ownership, capitol punishment is one of the very few things that bother me about American society. Not surprisingly, my friend is in complete agreement with it.

"Let me ask you a very personal question," I said. "If you were able to, would you want to watch the execution?"

He explained this may not happen for years, because Illinois doesn't tend to act on such sentences, they just keep prisoners on death row.

"Absolutely I would," he said. "But the form of execution is too easy. He'll only receive a fatal injection. It could be worse for him than that."

My friend, as I said, is very unassuming. He's not a gun toting lunatic demanding an eye for an eye.

"I'm sorry, I just don't agree with capitol punishment," I said gently. "After all. There are murders here every day. It doesn't seem to solve anything."

"But in Texas, where they do put people to death, the crime rate is lower," he reasoned.

He hasn't convinced me, but I couldn't argue with his logic. In his eyes, the man who murdered his sister and others, stole lives. Therefore he doesn't deserve to be alive himself.