Even before a letter from convicted murderer Danny Robbie Hembree Jr. arrived at the offices of the Gaston Gazette, folks in Gastonia — particularly those in law enforcement — knew the 50-year-old wasn't a criminal mastermind.
Consider the crime that earned him a well-deserved date with the state's executioner. He was convicted in November of strangling one woman to death in 2009 and is accused of killing two others.
But it's not the crime that makes Hembree stand out; it's the way he got caught.
Police in neighboring Mecklenburg County hauled him in to talk about some armed robberies. During that interrogation, Hembree confessed to killing the women and dumping their bodies.
"He thought he could deflect attention away from the robberies," said Leo Hohmann, city editor at the Gazette. "He's not the sharpest crayon in the box."
Further proof arrived in the newspaper's mailbox earlier this week. Hembree's missive is shocking and should be required reading for anyone involved in debate over the death penalty in this state.
To the highlights …
The two-page letter is handwritten, mostly grammatically correct and has but a handful of misspelled words. Its central theme — "Death Row Isn't So Bad" — is clear.
(In a bizarre way, Hembree's letter is proof that the state's public education system isn't as broken as it's cracked up to be.)
A few of its highlights:
"Is the public aware that I am a gentleman of leisure, watching color TV in the A.C., reading, taking naps at will, eating three well-balanced meals a day. I'm housed in a building that connects to the new 55 million dollar hospital with round the clock free medical care 24/7."
"There are a lot of good citizens who blogged on various Web sites stating their opinions about me and the punishment I deserve. Most of these blogs were made by anonymous cowards, but not all. I laugh at you self-righteous clowns and I spit in the face of your so-called justice system."
"The Great State of North Carolina's Dept of Corr. was ordered to carry out my murder or is it just another piece of the polititian's (sic) political money pie? I wonder if the public is aware that the cost of my first trial was a half a million dollars?"
Help this guy out, huh?
According to his letter to the editor — it was published Monday — Hembree is well-aware of the political machinations surrounding the death penalty in North Carolina.
He apparently knows that for all intents and purposes, the state has a moratorium on executions. "Is the public aware that the chances of my lawful murder taking place in the next 20 years if ever are very slim?"
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, the average wait for the 46 inmates executed in the U.S. in 2010 was 14 years. In North Carolina, the average is eight years. His math may be off, but he's right on one point: The state has had a de facto moratorium on capital punishment since 2006 as it waits for court challenges to aspects of our laws to finish.
Hembree is charged with two additional counts of murder in the other two killings and is scheduled to stand trial for one of them in March. I'm no lawyer, but it's a safe bet that Hembree's writings — especially the part where he dares the good people of Gaston County to petition the state to get on with his execution — won't help him in any appeals or that next trial.
Especially the kicker at the end of his letter: "Kill me if you can, suckers. Ha! Ha! Ha!"
If there is an ounce of justice left in this state, couldn't we help Hembree with that?
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