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Show Wednesday, February 22, 1989 Chronicle - Page Eight Save time: Let terrorists Editor: The 1985 hijacking of the Achille Lauro, as shown on national television (Feb. 13), is a crime. The terrorists are criminals with the intellect of animals. If ever there was a real argument for a death penalty, this is surely the one. The terror can only continue to go on, unless countries stand together and fight back. If it's true that chemical weapons are a poor man's nuclear arsenal, and if Libya is developing the same, I suggest this country and the Soviet Union sit down and renegotiate the recent nuclear treaty on defense attorneys-- at one point by name-a- nd jurors by tactics defense that established successfully claiming and convinced jurors with arguments that removed culpability from their client Actually, Mr. McCovey accepted responsibility for the tragic death of Anna Holmes from the very beginning of the trial. He will not go unpunished as he now faces the possibility of a life prison sentence. An intent to commit a robbery may not equate with the intent to kill another person. The jury's decision was based on evidence presented which under the law provides for a thoughtful and rational distinction between murders which are intended in and of themselves and those which are inadvertent but occur in the commission of a felony. Both types of murder are tragic, but the extreme punishment of a that can cause the death of a living creature, but we can ban those things that are made to take life. Mr. Adams cannot possibly believe that guns and cars are equal in the context he uses. If anyone thinks that we should ban all things capable of killing, he or she should be prepared to live in a world totally devoid of all objects, including people. Any reasonable person should be able to see the logical difference behind banning something made to destroy life, and banning something which can kill, but is intended for a more practical use. Once people start seeing this, then we can begin to end the senseless slaughter of people that goes on every day. Matthew S. Jordan Junior-econom- ics Benjamin A. Snarr mathematics Sophomore-physi- cs, disarmament. Instead of destroying missiles, let's save time and give them to Libya and her accomplices. If they want them so badly, they can. have them for free. And to save shipping costs, send them "Air Freight." state-sanction- execution has been reserved to those where it is the actor's purpose to cause the situations death of another person. On the evidence presented at trial the jury concluded within reason that Mr. McCovey's purpose was robbery and that the death of Anna Holmes was not intended. That verdict in no way devalues the tragic consequence of Anna Holmes' death, nor does the verdict diminish Mr. McCovey's lawless act or his responsibility for taking a human Leonard Jenkins A little logic is needed life. to stop the slaughters - The Chronicle also misconstrued the jury selection process,, hailed in the editorial as the evil responsible for the supposed erroneous verdict, suggesting that the process of selecting jurors jeopardizes justice by requiring atypical and otherwise disjointed members of Editor: As James Adams ("Ban assault rifles? Cars can also kill," Feb. 13) has so intelligently pointed out to us, almost anything is capable of killing. He even says that "there is as much justification for banning assault rifles as there is for banning sports cars." Really? An assault rifle A sports car is made for is made for one purpose-killin- g. transportation. Certainly, cars can kill and often do, on the scale of tens of thousands of deaths per year. But, look at how successful they are at their intended purpose of transporting people from one location to another. Millions, if not billions, of people around the world drive motor vehicles every day. Yet, there are probably only one out of every 100,000 involved in an accident leading Editor: to a person's death. Now, examine the success rate of A mockery? Only of editorial responsibility! guns at their intended purpose. If you take a loaded Feb. 10, the Chronicle published an editorial assault rifle, point it at someone and pull the trigger, you verdict in the Charles Kenneth claiming the have very good chances of killing this person. Compare McCovey trial jury's a mockery of justice. That jury found Mr. this to the one in 100,000 odds related to killing with a homicide and McCovey guilty of a second-degre- e car and you'll have some idea of why guns are so much aggravated robbery for the fatal shooting of Anna more dangerous. Holmes during a robbery of a Kearns video store. Mr. Adams seems to think that we need equal The editorial flippantly asserted that Mr. McCovey that can with to objects banning representation respect claimed himself and not Anna Holmes as the victim. kill. Let's not ban guns; it wouldn't be fair if we don't This assertion and several others of similar ilk are take away all the other objects that have caused the overstated untruths. An editorial need not be death of a human being. However, if we took all of objective, but this piece was the knee-jer- k reaction of those away, the world would be an empty place. A an irresponsible journalist. The Chronicle failed to do determined person can kill with almost any object, its homework and mischaracterized and distorted the srangulation with a sweater, suffocation with a stuffed facts and the judicial process. A university's animal, stabbing with a fork, even choking with your journalism program must be held to a higher standard bare hands; the list is infiniteEverything can be used of responsibility than that demonstrated by the to kill, but not everything is manufactured for the sole editorial. purpose of killing. Certainly we cannot ban everything While cloaked in anonymity, the editorial attacked the community to sit as jurors. Wrong! The law specifically mandates that "no person shall be disqualified as a juror by reason of having formed or expressed an opinion upon the matter or cause to be submitted to such jury, founded upon public rumor, statements in public journals or common notoriety, if it satisfactorily appears to the court that the juror can and will, notwithstanding such opinion, act impartially and fairly upon the matter to be submitted to him." Further, jurors take an oath which includes placing aside any and all preconceptions and deciding the cause solely on the evidence submitted at trial and the 1 instruction of the court,. Most offensive is the personal attack on the jurors who sat in this very difficult case suggesting them to be without both soul and brain. Such a misguided attack on the 12 jurors who swore an oath to well and truly McCovey column mocks journalistic responsibility try the matter before them is intolerable and inexcusable. - In short, the editorial, and not the jurors, is the mockery. Perhaps when budget considerations next arise, the Chronicle's funding could be limited to an area more suitable to the skills demonstrated in the McCovey editorial, i.e., venomous reporting of sporting events and writing classified ads. In the the tern: meantime, give the staff responsible-usi- ng BYU-Uta- loosely-- a failing grade. 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