A look at the death penalty from the eyes of a father.

 

Alas, alas, my mother, that you ever gave me birth! A man doomed to strife, with the whole world against me. I have borrowed from no one, I have lent to no one, yet all men abuse me.

Jeremiah 15:10

 

You may have seen or read about some of the reports of innocent people around the country who have spent years on death row awaiting their executions, finally being freed after DNA tests proved their innocence.

    While America may have one of the best justice systems in the world, it is far from perfect and offers many opportunities for errors. Unfortunately sometimes it allows the guilty to get off without punishment, but is it not much more tragic for an innocent person to suffer wrongly?

    I believe that as people of reason understand the facts about the Death Penalty they will not condone and allow executions to be performed by the state on their behalf.

    We just can’t justify or allow the taking of another human life for the sake of revenge. Yes, murderers should be punished for their crime and the public should feel safe but the death penalty is not the answer.

    Our Judaic-Christian Bible teaches us about God’s forgiveness. It wasn’t an accident that the first five Books of the Old Testament were written by a condemned murder or that the book of Psalms and three fourths of the Books of the New Testament were also written by a murderer.

    It is just our human nature to think that a murderer should pay for his crime with his own life out of a need for revenge but should we not strive to be more like our God?

Robert Foust

 

 

May 20, 1997 Aaron Foust was arrested for capital murder.

It was his father’s 48th birthday.

 

May 1997 - Tarrant County Jail - Fort Worth, Texas

Dear Dad,

    There are a lot of things I would like to say, but I don’t know how. I guess the most important thing is that I’m sorry for the grief I’m causing you and that none of this is your fault.

    We both have had a hard life but you have a chance to make yours better, I don’t.

    Just promise me that you will do the things you need to do to make sure that we will be reunited in Heaven one day!

    We have both led lives without God and maybe that’s why we’ve had such a hard time. So just get things right while you still can, then we will always be together.

    I LOVE YOU.     

 

Aaron's Poem

 

It's Father's Day

and your only son is locked away,

won't be home 'til he's old and gray.

Try as you may, try as you might

I could do only wrong and never right.

I only knew misfortune and pain;

A few sunny days but mostly rain,

now I'm in prison and life seems down the drain.

 

I'm just a man that never fit in,

except in the world of darkness and sin.

All my life I've never been able to keep a friend,

but Dad, you've been true blue to the bitter end.

 

As a father you've been a real treasure.

You tried to take away the pain and bring pleasure.

My life has been full of sadness

and my mind clouded with madness,

But when it's all said and done and I am laid to rest,

I hope you'll know "You did your Best!"

 

Aaron C. Foust

June 1997

 

 

 

 

Dad,

    Well I’ve finally reached my new home. My new home is kind of cramped, only 8ft x 6ft but it comes fully furnished, all bills paid, free basic cable and room service and laundry service. Now I know what you’re thinking. How do I get a place there? It sounds too good to be believed.

    Well like most things there’s a catch! First, you have to kill at least one person to get on the waiting list and second, when your lease is up they kill you.

 

Death Row - Huntsville, Texas         May 1998

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

October 7, 1998

 

 

Order of Execution

January 21, 1999

Aaron Christopher Foust’s execution is set for April 28, 1999. He refuses to appeal.

In his own word’s he said, “It says in the Bible in order to be forgiven, you must be able to forgive. That’s what I’ve done. I’m paying for the life I took with my life. That should be the end of it.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  January 21, 1999

 

 

Dad,

….Yes, my spirits are up. I can’t wait. Death has never scared me, especially knowing that now I will be going to Heaven…..

    At the end of your letter you asked if there was anything that I wanted you to send me.

    If it’s not to much trouble, I would very much like you to send me Pamela Anderson with two tickets to South America and a 12 man assault team to get me out. If that is too much trouble, I would also appreciate some books…..

I LOVE YOU, Aaron

February 8, 1999

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the execution table at the Walls Unit in Huntsville, Texas. Witnesses view the execution through the window on the right. The executioner watches through the mirrored window on the left as he releases three chemicals to the IV tubes in the arms of the condemned. The first chemical, sodium thiopental, sedates the victim. The second one, pancuronium bromide, stops the breathing and the last one potassium chloride stops the heart. 

 

 

 

April 28, 1999 - Death Certificate

Cause of death: lethal injection

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Letters to the Editor - Fort Worth Star-Telegram May 28, 1999

Another murder

    On April 28, I was one of two people asked by Aaron Christopher Foust to attend his execution. We had come to know Aaron through a volunteer Christian ministry.

    Aaron committed a terrible act of violence. His victim, David Ward, did not deserve to die. Aaron understood that what he had done was wrong. However, he did not feel sorrow or remorse. He knew he should have, but he did not.

    In talking with him and his family, it was clear that Aaron never looked at the world in the same way that most people do. Evidence of this stretches as far back as his early childhood.

    What would have been the answer? I do not know. But I do know that we, as a society, must re-examine crime issues. We need to take care not to reach for the easy answers and quick summaries.

    I was so disheartened by the many statements in the media that Aaron went to his death “cavalier” and “defiant.” He did not smile with his usual grin and utter the carefree words “Adios, amigos. I’ll see you all on the other side,” because he was happy that he had killed a man.

    Aaron was looking into the eyes of my friend and I with the hope of freedom from this world in his heart. Aaron wanted to die. In Aaron’s own word’s, he had “lived a pointless life and there was no sense in going on.”

The people of Texas took part in a planned suicide. The people did not, however, succeed in finding justice for the loss of a human life. Instead, we participated in the murder of yet another fellow human being.

Mark Malott  - Arlington, Texas

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Father and son - October 1975 - Smoky Mountains