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Two quick questions.
Do you think anyone else has turned to religion in these types of situations and been killed anyway?
Do you think Morin should have been executed?
Ken Rodriguez: Atlanta hostage saga revives memories of San Antonio case
Web Posted: 03/16/2005 12:00 AM CST
San Antonio Express-News
The male suspect wanted in a quadruple murder had a gun. The female hostage had a Bible.
Out of that confrontation in Duluth, Ga., over the weekend came a story that has prompted at least four book offers and one movie proposal.
The hostage, 26-year-old Ashley Smith, subdued an alleged killer. Over seven hours, she spoke kindly to her captor, read to him, cooked for him and talked him into letting her go, unharmed.
In the end, Smith succeeded where a police dragnet had failed. She led authorities to Brian Nichols, the most wanted man in Georgia.
Journalists in Atlanta are astonished. After one on CNN called the story "a miracle," I knew I had to satisfy 24 years of curiosity. I had to find the San Antonio woman who survived an abduction and led police to a serial killer, Stephen Peter Morin.
In December 1981, I saw a local TV news report about a hostage who had escaped after driving for hours with Morin in her car. I always wondered what took place inside that vehicle. The account is not found in Express-News computer archives. A search of microfilm also proved fruitless.
But at a men's breakfast over the weekend, a woman named Sandy Ross, unaware of events unfolding in Atlanta, told us the story. The following day, Ashley Smith gave an account that paralleled Margy Palm's abduction here almost a quarter century ago.
Initially fearful, Smith and Palm found peace. They shared their faith. They disarmed their captors. They were asked, "Are you an angel?"
"I'm no angel," Palm says she told Morin. "Just ask my husband."
Palm shared that anecdote with me on Tuesday. I checked this detail and others in her story against an audiotaped account she gave to a local church several years ago. What she told me is consistent with what she told the church, and is consistent with the public record of Morin's capture.
Her story begins in a Kmart parking lot on the city's North Side. As Palm recalls, Morin shoved a .38-caliber gun in her side and said, "I'm the guy that killed the girl at Maggie's. I cut out a man's heart in prison, and if you don't listen, I will kill you."
At Morin's direction, Palm climbed into her blue Chevy suburban and placed her hands under her legs. "I'm going to die," she recalls thinking.
Palm prayed. She says a vision of scriptures appeared. A picture of her hands resting on Morin's head followed. She sensed God leading her to touch Morin and quote the Bible, but she balked.
"I thought, how could God ask me to do that? Stephen told me he would kill me if I moved, and I could feel this gun pushing into my rib cage."
Finally, Palm summoned the courage to say, "I'm going to pray for you." Morin said, "No you're not."
Palm said, "Yes, I am," and placed her hands on his head. "I said, 'In Jesus name, I take authority over every demonic power in this man and every spirit trying to kill him and destroy me.' I was screaming it."
After she finished praying, Palm says, her fears vanished. Morin said, "Oh, no, I'm in the car with a religious freak."
Over the next several hours, a "freak" touched a felon's heart. As Smith did with Nichols in Atlanta, Palm showed Morin compassion. She bought him cigarettes, beer and a newspaper. She took him to a drive-through restaurant. She listened as he described how he hated himself.
Finally, Palm took Morin — a fugitive who had eluded the FBI for years — to a bus station in Kerrville and bought him a ticket to Fort Worth. Morin, Palm says, wanted to visit an evangelist whose tapes he had listened to in Palm's car.
At one point, Morin said he didn't know why, but he didn't feel like raping Palm. "I said, 'What you are feeling is God's love, and it's too powerful for your hate.'"
On the way to Kerrville, Palm recalls, Morin raised his hands and asked Jesus to forgive him. He began weeping and emptied the bullets from his gun into her purse.
Later that night, after Morin boarded the bus, Palm told police where to find him. She also gave them the bullets.
Morin was executed by injection in 1985. He once asked Palm, "Do you know why I didn't kill you? Because you weren't afraid."
Perfect love, Palm says, quoting the Scriptures, drives out all fear. It led to Morin's capture 24 years ago. And last weekend, it led to the arrest of an alleged killer.
Two quick questions.
Do you think anyone else has turned to religion in these types of situations and been killed anyway?
Do you think Morin should have been executed?
Morin's conversion is comforting. This is the kind of contrition if followed through, that will carry him to paradise, no matter how he died. And that is a GOOD thing.On the way to Kerrville, Palm recalls, Morin raised his hands and asked Jesus to forgive him. He began weeping and emptied the bullets from his gun into her purse.
Later that night, after Morin boarded the bus, Palm told police where to find him. She also gave them the bullets.
Morin was executed by injection in 1985. He once asked Palm, "Do you know why I didn't kill you? Because you weren't afraid."
Perfect love, Palm says, quoting the Scriptures, drives out all fear. It led to Morin's capture 24 years ago. And last weekend, it led to the arrest of an alleged killer.
But if Morin was previously a 'serial killer', then again, the death penalty in my opinion is the appropriate punitive measure. Maybe it was a bit tricky for the jury, who surely heard this story, but they still apparently still thought death was appropriate. I wonder how many people Morin killed? I'm sure that was a factor.
you know, i don't know what drives people to murder or rape, but i would venture a guess that it could be traced to people not giving a crap about that individual throughout his life......so finally, he runs into a person that seemingly does care....and one that will pray for him even with a gun in their ribcage...and it throws them for a loop.....that's the power of Jesus baby....
but still no gold star or cookie for the guy for NOT killing or NOT raping.
that's like that Chris Rock skit about people being proud about "taking care of their kids". Your supposed to gotdamnit. Your not supposed to kill or rape, you don't get a pat on the back for NOT doing it....and i'm glad the jury agreed.
Honestly...and I'm not trying to stir up a debate here, but a lot of killers come from a super strict religious backgrounds. Kinda like the mother in Carrie, if you will.
I've read a lot of true crimes books and a lot of times that's their background. And then there are some that just have ty backgrounds. However, and I may be wrong, I think Jeffrey Dahmer came from a normal background.
super strict, or super lenient, religious or atheist....i think these people sprout from households with some serious lack of love and most likely continued degradation.....
Chris, I NEVER support the death penalty.
And yes, I'm sure people have been killed while doing good things.
What about the other thread where you changed your mind for a split second?
I didn't support the death penalty at all. Go back and reread what I posted. Not feeling sorry for someone and supporting something are 2 different things.
do you support assisted suicide?
Nice.. It only took about 4 years to execute this guy.
Zak, yes. I believe a person has a right do decide to die, but not have it forced upon them.
So if they are given a choice of life in prison or death and they choose death is that ok?
this makes no sense...manny is arguing for the lives of these murderers and rapists, but he is PROCHOICE... we all know that it means a mother is given the choice to decide to kill her child or not... de able manny... where is your compassion?
well man, and i'm sure you know where i'm going with this....
it is my belief that when a man chooses to murder or rape someone, they have chosen to die. it is a package deal in my mind. so all our courts do is assist in their suicide.
and frankly, if we could get this message out, and have more people believe in it, I think that WOULD be a very effective deterrent.
i'm still happy about the fact the courts only took 4 years to exectue this guy...
with today's video and dna technology, proof beyond a reasonable doubt is much more attainable. can people be setup? sure. is it failproof? of course not. do i hate those guys that ask questions in posts just to answer them? sure do.
but i can live with the system. at the end of the day, you cannot save everybody. and the last ones we need to worry about are the ones that don't even give a about themselves.....
You guys need to check out some of the cases reguarding the courts not even wanting to give these guys DNA evidence tests. Messed up .
Clandestino, a Fetus isn't a human being.
Sidenote: You wonder why I give you ? Look at your post. You complain about the way I debate, but YOU are the one who can't keep it on an intelligent level
And I quote "I feel like a bug flew into my mouth"
sometimes dna evidence isn't necessary...like, nichols...i think his case should be open and shut... death penalty... could be done very quickly...
and how is saying your stances don't match up not being an intelligent post?
You guys need to check out some of the cases reguarding the courts not even wanting to give these guys DNA evidence tests. Messed up .
agreed. i hate anytime possible conclusive or irrefutable evidence is not allowed. whether it proves innocence or guilt.
A fetus is a human being in my book..but never mind, let's stay on the subject.
HEY!!! What happens at Spurs games stays at Spurs games!!!
I didn't say a damn thing, exept that.
BTW, Did LJ tell you that we sat about 10 people away from Priest Holmes? The one night I want the camera in my phone to take those 2 pictures and it's dead.
So genetic evidence can save a criminal, but not a baby? Use that same DNA evidence on an unborn baby, and you will find out that they are, in fact, a human being. A baby will have its own blood type roughly three weeks after conception and has its own DNA from the moment of conception.You guys need to check out some of the cases reguarding the courts not even wanting to give these guys DNA evidence tests. Messed up .
Clandestino, a Fetus isn't a human being.
Scientifically, a fetus is a human being, because the most scientific and exact way to measure species is through DNA tests.
I own you Manny.
Are you telling me that everytime you make a new and unique DNA strand it's human? Becuase then there's a lot of procreation going on in labs.
Try again Tom.
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