Eddie Hartman’s Execution

Is the State of North Carolina going to kill Eddie Hartman because he is gay? Some may not think this a fair question since Hartman admitted killing Herman Smith in 1993. However, there is serious question about the sentencing portion of his trial. Hartman is scheduled to be executed October 3, 2003.

The penalty portion of a trail is the step in the legal process where family members and others are given opportunity to plead for the life of a convicted murderer. Often they may present history of family problems and abuse. They may show how the convicted had problems or events in life that may cause the jury to be sympathetic and allow life in prison rather than death. Eddie Hartman’s trial was no exception. His mother and aunt presented testimony to show a troubled life that may have helped influence the jury. Prosecuting Attorney David Beard decided to counter this possible sympathy by injecting a bias into the deliberations. Every time a family member asked for mercy by explaining that Hartman had a life of abuse, Beard responded by questioning whether Hartman was a homosexual. He played up to anti-gay bias in order to get the death penalty for Eddie Hartman. The judge asked the jury to disregard Beard’s statements, yet the bias was already introduced.

Beard admitted to emphasizing Hartman’s homosexuality in order to get the death penalty. He discouraged the jury from considering that Hartman grew up in a violent and sexually abusive environment. He watched his own mother try to commit suicide twice, and he was beaten by three of his mother’s six husbands once so badly with a club that he was hospitalized for a week. Beard believed he was justified in asking the jury to overlook these critical facts because Hartman is gay.

The tactic of introducing bias in order to get the death penalty is nothing new in the U.S. This case shows bias against sexual minorities, but a Justice Department reports shows that over ¾ of the people on death row are racial minorities. Those who are not racial minorities are often sexual minorities. Overwhelmingly the people on death row are male and poor. Economic bias plays a critical role in whether someone will be put to death or simply receives life in prison.

Justice obviously isn’t truly blind in America, in spite of all the rhetoric that says otherwise. Often the conservatives who support the death penalty quote Scripture to justify their cause. Yet this look at Scripture is selective. The ancient prophet Isaiah warned that God would bring justice on political leaders who would not uphold the rights of the poor and those who are weak politically. Luke records a warning to Saint Peter in Acts 19 that he should not allow himself to be prejudice, but that God makes every minority clean in God’s eyes. Somehow, these passages are forgotten in favor of things like, "An eye for an eye."

No doubt Eddie Hartman’s crime was horrible and few if any would argue that the state must uphold law and order. However to bias a jury is just as horrible and to allow a man to be put to death because of prejudice simply compounds one evil upon another. Perhaps the State of North Carolina can find a way to charge Attorney Beard with a hate crime. He is no doubt guilty of hatred toward homosexuals.