By T.B. Lefever:
An Ohio bill aiming to apply the death penalty for murderers of first responders and military personnel is scheduled for its first hearing in front of the House Criminal Justice Commission today, February 20. House Bill 38 is Republican Representative Dave Greenspan’s first as a lawmaker and is co-sponsored by fourteen other state legislators. The bill, should it be signed into law, will not only put the death penalty on the table for murderers of police officers, firefighters, EMT’s, and military personnel to include ROTC, National Guard, and reserves; it will also aim to deter assaults against these groups by putting staunch penalties into place.
I’m used to embroiling myself in stories related to the premature deaths of my fellow officers. Whether polite society likes to admit it or not, we are in a war out here that has been waged since either the beginning of humankind as a good vs. evil affair, or since the beginning of man’s creation of law and order when he became self-aware. You can look at it however you want to depending on your personal philosophy. The salient point is that there are casualties in every war and even though we call the murder of a police officer “senseless”, it really isn’t. To me it is rather an act of intentional disregard for the laws that hold our society together–an inherent flouting of humanity’s purpose. Every officer’s death holds meaning as a reminder of why we are necessary to fighting this good fight in the first place.
Five officers were killed in the line of duty in Ohio last year. So far, the state has lost one in 2017. Current Ohio law allows the death penalty as an option for the murder of police, but recent events have prompted Greenspan and others to take a stab at broadening the protected class to other first responders and military in order to deter future incidents like the one that took place in Youngstown in December of 2016.
Forty-six year old Lt. Paul Lutton, like all firefighters, is a soldier in a different type of war. Their war pits them against natural, accidental, and of course, fire related deaths. The war fought by the firefighter has no human adversary, and is therefore one fought to protect the interest of all human beings regardless of the side of the law they live their lives. When a shootout between police and their criminal counterpart occurs, fire fighters and EMT’s are tasked with saving the lives of both sides. When a criminal steals a vehicle and leads police on a pursuit that ends in them crashing into a vehicle filled with innocent bystanders, the role of firefighters and EMT’s does not allow them to decide who gets saved and who does not. If a crack dealer’s house burns, a firefighter risks his life anyway. When Lt. Paul Lutton was shot in the leg while operating a fire engine enroute to a house fire on December 5, he was a victim of a truly senseless act. Lutton survived the attack he sustained and heroically was able to continue to move the vehicle out of harm’s way and keep his colleagues safe. House Bill 38 is written to protect people like Lt. Paul Lutton.
I can remember a case involving the shooting death of a twenty one year old Army Reservist by the name of Xavier Arnold from my days as an Atlanta Police Officer. Edgewood Courts was one of the worst areas in my zone of the city. Robberies, burglaries, and shootings were a regular occurrence. While it certainly wasn’t a no-go zone for police officers, common practice was put into place to prevent officers from responding to calls there alone. While walking through the neighborhood with his girlfriend, twenty one year old Qutravius Palmer and his fourteen year old accomplice attempted to rob them. When Arnold fought back, he was shot in the head and left for dead. The younger suspect was a student at the school I ended up working in as a School Resource Officer towards the end of my time with the City of Atlanta. I can still remember the “Free Zay” tee-shirts that his friends would proudly sport after he had confessed to murdering the victim. The mindset behind the crime and the glorification of someone committing such a monstrous act is hard to fathom. As much as I tried to use reason to explain why the shirts were wrong, there was no getting through to these kids. When you cannot use reason to explain why murdering anyone, let alone an Army Reservist who just completed boot camp, is wrong—stiff deterrents are past due. House Bill 38 is written to protect people like Xavier Arnold.
We are living in a time in our nation’s history where battle lines are being drawn everywhere you look. People don’t simply agree to disagree anymore. Violent protesting, suppression of first amendment rights, and calls to insight murder are becoming all too common. Along with the times, the laws must change. If you are anti-war, be anti-war. Don’t target a service member. If you want anarchy and chaos, you’re a deluded fool that would immediately wish you could go back to the good old days of law and order as soon as the purge arrived at your door step. In the meantime, don’t shoot a guy putting out a fire. If you hate cops: rather than attack us, try abiding by the law.
I support House Bill 38 not because I have some intense craving for retribution. Xavier Arnold’s mother gave a touching speech where she forgave her son’s murderers, and it was one of those moments that really highlights the goodness and grace that people are capable of. I won’t spout off about the economic argument you hear from the guy the left likes to call your “drunk uncle” about how we should use the death penalty to keep our tax dollars from paying for those sentenced to life imprisonment. I support House Bill 38 because of the strong message it sends to deter heinous behavior. When I can’t get a kid to come around on the idea that her peer shouldn’t be glorified for killing an innocent person in cold blood, maybe she needs a reality check that murder does not fly with the society in which she lives.
While House Bill 38 is still in its infancy, today’s hearing amounts to a big moment in deciding which way it goes in the future. Keep in mind that this bill will only cover the state of Ohio should it eventually be ratified, but also that he Trump Administration listed “Standing Up for our Law Enforcement Community” as one of their “big six” focuses over the next four to eight years. If police officers are my brothers and sisters, EMT’s, firefighters, and military personnel are my cousins. We’re all part of the same family, and I believe in standing up for those who stand up for me. Whether or not it is passed in Ohio, I would love to see a push to federalize some version of House Bill 38 across the land.
T.B. Lefever is an OpsLens Contributor and active police officer in the Metro-Atlanta area. Throughout his career, Lefever has served as a SWAT Hostage Negotiator, a member of the Crime Suppression Unit, a School Resource Officer, and a Uniformed Patrol Officer. He has a BA in Criminal Justice and Sociology from Rutgers University.
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