2 deaths for the price of 1

For those of you that don't recognize the name Gregory Scott Johnson, here's the deal: a death row inmate is supposed to be executed this Wednesday, and he wants a little more time to be alive. This is pretty standard for those sentenced to death, but Johnson wants a few more weeks so he can give his ailing sister his liver. That's pretty nonstandard. \nJohnson, 40, has nabbed national attention with his proposal, though things look grim for him here in Indiana. The Indiana Parole Board voted 4-0 Friday against postponing his execution. The Board indicated they doubted the sincerity of Johnson's motives. "Mr. Johnson has acquired enough victims to last a lifetime," board member Valerie Parker said. "How much compassion was shown to Ruby Hutslar?" Hutslar was the 82-year old woman who Johnson bludgeoned and stomped to death 20 years ago in her Anderson home. After breaking no less than 30 of Hutslar's bones, Johnson stole a few small items and set fire to the house. I agree, Parole Board. Not exactly a compassionate guy. \nStill, that was 20 years ago, and Johnson has now spent half his life in prison, waiting to be executed. I'm pretty sure many 40-year-olds would say they are notably different from their 20-year-old selves, and Johnson has had two decades in prison to contemplate and gain perspective. "While I don't think I'm a risk to society right now, I have a hard time looking you in the face and coming up with any reason for you not to kill the 20-year-old," he said.\nIt's comments like this that I hope Gov. Mitch Daniels keeps in mind over the next several days. Daniels still has the final say as to whether Johnson gets his wish or not and I think the governor should grant Johnson his request. \nThere are two main arguments against Johnson's request. The most fervent complaints are from Hutslar's family, who seem to be more worried about potentially venerating Johnson than the good his donation could do. "It's getting to the point where he will be remembered as a hero who saved his sister's life instead of the man who brutally murdered Ruby Hutslar," said Julie Woodward, Hutslar's great-niece. \nI'm not a fan of the death penalty to begin with, but as I understand it, the law has nothing to do with "how one is remembered," but removing a threat from society. Humiliation and scorn for the convicted do not enter into it. As long as Johnson dies, the spirit of the law is intact. Hutslar's family has already seen Johnson endure two decades of isolation and fear for his life. Is it too much to ask for a few more weeks of breathing so that an innocent loved-one can be saved?\nThe other issue is the letter of the law. As the director of IU's Center for Bioethics, Eric Meslin, says, "You can't donate a liver before you die, because that would kill you, and that gets in the way of the state killing you." According to the law, Johnson must die by chemical injection. I hope that Daniels can see past the legal text and realize that if Johnson dies by lethal injection on a chair in a state penitentiary or on an operating table after the removal of his liver, the end result will be the same - the execution of a convicted murderer in a painless procedure in order to remove him as a threat to society. But in the latter scenario, a sick woman gets a new lease on life. In the former, only death. \nIn Florida, the government denied an inmate's request to donate a kidney to his brother. The brother died waiting for a transplant. Gov. Daniels, please don't let the death continue for any more citizens than it has to.