Execution of Mark Dean Schwab: 16 Years Later

On March 4, 1991, Mark Dean Schwab was released from prison. According to the Florida Department of Corrections, on March 3, 1988 he was sentenced to 8 years in prison for aggravated rape in July of 1987. He committed the rape in 1987 and was released after serving only 3 years in prison. He apparently behaved well while in prison so his sentence was commuted and he was to serve 15 years of probation.

One month after he was released, Junny Rios-Martinez Jr. turned up missing. Junny was 11 years old. Mark Schwab became friendly with this family by associating himself with a newspaper. Schwab used Junny's interest in surfing to befriend him. Friends saw Junny get into a U-Haul truck on April 18, 1991.

On April 21, 1991, police tapped a phone call between Schwab and his aunt in Ohio after she reported that one day prior Mark called her and told her that a man threatened to kill Junny's mother if he didn't kidnap and rape the boy. Junny's dead body was found in a rope-wrapped footlocker in Canaveral Groves, Brevard County, Florida. Schwab pled not guilty.

According to Wikipedia, Schwab was sentenced to death for the murder, and sentenced to 2 life sentences for the kidnapping and sexual battery of a child under age 13 on July 1, 1992. Additionally, his probation for the previous rape conviction was revoked and he was given a third life sentence. Fortunately, the Junny Rios-Martinez Jr. Act of 1992 now prohibits the early release of sexual battery convicts in the state of Florida. Unfortunately, it took another child's death to get another known predator off the street.

Mark Dean Schwab was executed at 6:15 pm on July 1, 2008 by lethal injection. This was ten minutes ago, yet 16 years after the poor boy was murdered. Imagine the agony and torture Junny's family has gone through for 16 years! Mark was released and sure enough a month later, a child is dead. One month. And we spent more and more tax dollars paying for this man to not only live in an institution we pay for but also to fight for a stay of execution on the grounds of the death penalty being unconstitutional. Where were the Constitutional rights of Junny Rios-Martinez? What about his family?

The death penalty and capital punishment is a highly controversial topic in America. I want to hear the education responses regarding what would be a better alternative to get murders, rapists, and child predators off of our streets and keep America safe? Which is the best option for our country? Constitutional Rights for killers...or a safe country for our children, hmmm it seems the answer is clear to me hands down. I would also like to know about some of the individuals fighting capital punishment. Have any of them had a child raped or killed? What went through their head when they learned the details of what happened?

Sources:

http://www.dc.state.fl.us/secretary/press/2008/schwab.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Dean_Schwab