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Yesterday I received a comment on my blog from Lee Binion, the granddaughter of the woman Darrell Grayson is convicted of murdering and raping. When I removed the comment that started by declaring that “this crap has gone on long enough,” I’m sure Ms. Binion thought I’d dismiss her actual points. And while I disagree with her overall reaction, she has some points.
She brought up the fact that Grayson has had “27 years [his time in prison and on death row] more to live, writing poetry, etc.” while her grandmother was robbed of her final days on earth. Of course, she is right in that Grayson is alive and Mrs. Orr is dead. No one is happy about that. No one. Not Ms. Binion, not me, not opponents of the death penalty, not even Grayson himself. But it is here that we all stand.
She brings up the cost the state of Alabama has incurred “for having to feed, cloth[e], and house” Grayson during his years in prison. And this did not come free. Ms. Binson questions also how I “sleep at night.”
Read Binion’s entire comment:
“this crap has gone on long enough…if you had followed the trial from the beginning as i have being the daughter of the murder victim, you would see clearly from all the transcripts that this man murdered my grandmother with an accomplice while he was very drunk. this is an excuse, not a reason and it is an utter outrage that the judicial system of Alabama has taken this long for this murderer to be put to death as deemed by jury of his peers. I shutter [sic] to think how you sleep at night thinking of this murderer instead of the victim here…it is not darrell grayson, but my grandmother, who did not have 27 more years to live, writing poetry, etc…the taxpayers of alabama are the victims also for having to house, cloth and feed this animal who savagely beat and raped my 86 year old grandmother to death for 27 years…it is my goal to make this process much shorter like most other states that don’t have 5 appeallent (sp) courts after they kill and are convicted
the kicker is that this animal has not even ventured to show any type of remorse for even being involved in this crime and that tell us, the family, the whole story. ill wait and see if this is put on your site.”
Well, Ms. Binion, it’s here. That’s a fact.
And from your comment, I can see that you are still upset about the murder of your grandmother. If you think I don’t care that an old woman was raped and murdered (your grandmother or any old woman), you are very wrong.
But Darrell Grayson’s lack of remorse is due to the fact that he does not know what happened that night. He was drunk. DNA testing, which Darrell Grayson has been denied, would prove his involvement or lack thereof. I am interested in justice. That means, I want to know the truth about what happened on that awful night just as you do. I want closure. But the possibility of executing an innocent man truly exists.
Many details in this case remain problematic and will remain so forever, if Darrell Grayson is put to death on Thursday. The fact that you call him an “animal” indicates that you are too close to this case to think about it clearly. The “whole story” is not about whether or not Grayson shows “remorse” but about finding the truth about what happened that night, when your grandmother died a violent death at the hands of a rapist and a murderer.
Ms. Binion, I am very sorry your grandmother was murdered. I am sorry you are still hurting due to her untimely death. But I oppose the execution of Darrell Grayson. When the wrong man dies, we do not call this justice. The death penalty is very final, allowing for no human error, which is one reason I oppose it. We need to know, if Grayson is innocent or guilty before, he, too, becomes a victim. Closure is possible only when we know the truth. Vengence is never the answer, which is why I oppose the death penalty in all cases. Vengence belongs to God alone, and I am not God, yet in His arms I sleep.
For a well-wriiten opinion column by Robin DeMonia, “Gambling On Justice For Darrell Grayson” see The Birmingham News. You might have to sign in.
To become neighbours is to bridge the gap between people. As long as there is distance between us and we cannot look in each other’s eyes, all sorts of false ideas and images arise. We give them names, make jokes about them, cover them with our prejudices, and avoid direct contact. We think of them as enemies. We forget that they love as we love, care for their children as we care for ours, become sick and die as we do. We forget that they are our brothers and sisters and treat them as objects that can be destroyed at will.
Only when we have the courage to cross the street and look in one another’s eyes can we see there that we are children of the same God and members of the same human family.
Windows Toward the World 
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