And the Beat Goes On

Wednesday, Terry Lenamon observed that there are 9 men in Ohio with serious execution dates.*  As he said, that's more than any other state, though they're spread out a ways.

• Brett Hartman - November 13, 2012
• Ronald Post - January 16, 2013
• Frederick Treesh - March 6, 2013
• Steven Smith - May 1, 2013
• Billy Slagle, August 7, 2013
• Harry Mitts, Jr. - September 25, 2013
• Ronald Phillips - November 14, 2013
• Dennis McGuire - January 16, 2014 
• Gregory Lott - March 19, 2014

2014!
I've talked about the wait before.  (See here, for instance.) 
The months of waiting.
The fears. The hopes. The wondering. The despair. The madness.
Who knows?  It's different for everyone, of course. 

It's about time.
At last.
Gimme one more day, come on, just one.
OH MY GOD!
Oh, my God.

Who knows?  Certainly not I. I'm making this shit up, inventing possibilities.  For some maybe it's the Kubler-Ross stages.  You know.

• Denial
• Anger
• Bargaining
• Depression
• Acceptance

Whatever it is.  However it works.
Nine men.  Stretching to March 2014.
Terry was awed, though he didn't mention just how far into the future those Ohio dates stretched.**
But as the kids say, that was so Yesterday.
This morning's Ohio Supreme Court's case announcement changed all that, stretched the enormity more than two years into the future.

• Arthur Tyler - May 28, 2014
• William Montgomery - August 6, 2014
• Raymond Tibbetts - October 15, 2014

So now it's 12. Twelve men. Twelve murder victims. Lined up. Scheduled. More than two years into the future. Two fucking years.

Waiting
Wondering

Hoping
Fearing
Dreaming
Wishing for . . .

Dying
In De vita et moribus Iulii Agricolae, Tacitus recounts the words of the Chaledonian chieftain Calcagus decrying the behavior of Rome and the Roman legions.

ubi solitudinem faciunt pacem appellant.
Where they create a desolation they call it peace.

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*Terry's list of 9 doesn't include Lott, though it does include Donald Palmer who, as his list indicates, had already been executed.  Not surprisingly, Texas is second with 6 (he says 8, but he's counting two men already executed there) serious execution dates, but they're all this year. 
**You could derive it from what he posted, but he didn't actually point it out.