Two women are asking Mississippi's governor to spare their brother from execution, even though he killed four of their children, paralyzed another and stabbed one of the sisters.
Henry ``Curtis'' Jackson Jr., 47, is scheduled to die Tuesday by injection. He killed the four children, ages 2 to 5, during a rampage that started when he went to his mother's home in Leflore County to take money from her safe on Nov. 1, 1990, court records say.
His mother was at church that day, but Jackson's adult sister, Regina Jackson, was at the home with her two daughters and four nieces and nephews. Regina Jackson was stabbed five times. Her two daughters and two nephews were stabbed to death. Another niece was so severely injured that she was paraplegic until her recent death.
Regina Jackson told The Associated Press that she was meeting with Gov. Phil Bryant on Monday and would plead for her brother's life. She also wrote Bryant a letter last month asking for a reprieve, saying she doesn't want her brother to get out of prison and that she ``just can't take any more killing.''
``As a mother who lost two babies, all I'm asking is that you not make me go through the killing of my brother,'' she wrote.
She told the AP in a telephone interview that she has forgiven her brother over the years. ``If they kill him, they're doing the same thing that he did. The dying is going to have to stop somewhere.''
Another sister and her husband, Glenda and Andrew Kuyoro, have also asked Bryant to spare Curtis Jackson in a letter dated May 15.
Curtis Jackson's attorney, Robert Davis Jr. of Tupelo, filed a clemency request with Bryant's office last week.
Cliff Johnson, a Jackson attorney helping the sisters, said Monday that the case is unusual because the victims are asking for clemency for the attacker.
``Much is said about the importance of respecting the rights and wishes of victims and their families. This case raises a very important question: Are we committed to honoring the wishes of victims' families when they ask for mercy, or do we hear those voices only when they ask for vengeance?'' Johnson asked.
Jackson has appealed the case over the years but hasn't been successful. He has said he doesn't remember stabbing the children, but testimony from his trial describes a horrific scene.
He cut the phone line before going in the house, according to the court record. Once inside, he demanded money and attacked his sister.
One of the children tried to help, but he stabbed her, too. At some point, Regina Jackson tried to fight him off with an iron rod, but he grabbed one of the children and used her as a shield.
Regina Jackson testified at trial that she was in and out of consciousness after being tied up and stabbed in the neck, but she could hear her brother dragging a safe down a hall. The noise woke up 5-year-old Dominique, one of her daughters.
``Regina testified that Jackson called Dominique to him, told her that he loved her, stabbed her, and tossed her body to the floor,'' according to the court record. ``Jackson returned to Regina, stabbing her in the neck and twisting the knife, at which point she pretended to be dead until she heard him leave.''
Jackson turned himself in to police and confessed to some details. He was convicted and sentenced to death on four counts of capital murder after a trial in September 1991.
His mother, Martha Jackson, said Monday that she has forgiven her son and plans to visit him before the execution.
``If I don't forgive him, God don't forgive me,'' she said.
Martha Jackson said she's not sure if she'll watch the lethal injection at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman. (AP)
<한글 기사>
"내 아이 둘이나 잃었지만" 살인마 동생 사면 청원
미국 미시시피주에서 사형일을 앞둔 남동생을 위해 두 누나와 어머니가 주지사에게 사면을 청원했다.
헨리 커티스 잭슨 주니어(47)은 친누나를 흉기로 찌르고, 조카 4명을 살해하고, 한 명은 불구로 만든 혐의로 사형을 선고 받았다.
그는 지난 1990년 11월 1일 어머니 자택의 금고에서 돈을 훔치려다 누나가 돈을 순순히 주지 않자 2세에서 5세 사이의 조카들을 흉기로 살해했다.
사건 당시 어머니는 교회에 있었고 잭슨의 누나인 레지나 잭슨은 집에서 두 명의 딸과 네명의 조카와 조카딸을 보고 있었다.
레지나 잭슨은 흉기로 5번을 찔리는 중상을 입었고 그녀의 두 딸과 두 조카는 그 자리에서 사망했다.
또 다른 조카딸은 심각한 중상을 입어 최근 사망하기까지 전신마비로 살아야 했다.
로지나 잭슨은 주지사 필 브라이언트를 월요일 만나 남동생의 사면을 요청했으며 지난달 편지를 써 감옥으로부터 나오는 것을 원하지 않지만 “더 이상의 죽음은 견디기 어렵다”고 말했다.
“두 아이를 잃은 한 엄마로서 오직 내가 바라는 것은 남동생의 죽음을 지켜보지 않도록 해달라는 것이다”라고 편지를 통해 말했다.
그녀는 남동생을 용서했으며 “그들이 남동생을 사형시킨다면 그가 했던 똑 같은 일을 저지르는 것이다. 죽음은 어디선가 멈춰져야만 한다”고 말했다.
다른 여자형제인 글렌다 규요로 또한 주지사에게 지난 15일 남동생을 사면해 줄 것을 요청했다.
컬티스 잭슨의 변호인는 “피해자 및 피해 가족의 권리와 희망사항을 존중 해야 하는 필요성에 대해 많은 논란이 있었다. 이 사건은 ‘피해자의 가족이 자비를 바랄 때 그 염원을 받아들여야 할 것인가? 아니면 복수를 바랄 때만 들어주어야 하는 걸까?’라는 굉장히 중요한 문제를 제기한다”고 변호사는 말했다.
헨리 잭슨은 지난 몇 해 동안 상고를 신청하려 애썼지만 성공하지 못했다. 그는 두 누이의 아이들은 흉기로 찌른 일을 기억하지 못한다고 말했지만 법정에서의 증언은 이 끔찍한 사건을 생생하게 묘사했다.
가해자 잭슨은 집으로 들어가기 전 전화선을 끊어놓는 등 치밀함을 보이며 집에 들어서자 돈을 요구하며 누나를 공격했다.
잭슨의 어머니 또한 아들을 용서했다며 사형일 전에 그를 면회하러 갈 예정이라고 밝혔다. “내가 그를 용서하지 않는다면 하느님도 나를 용서하지 않을 것이다”라고 말했다.
어머니 말사 잭슨은 사형 현장을 지켜봐야 할지 마음을 정하지 않았다고 덧붙였다.
