One Killing that Didn't Happen and One Killing that Won't

First to Georgia where the Board of Pardons and Paroles said it reviewed the record and the pleas from lawyers and 21 witnesses.  And then offered Kelly Gissendaner the finger.

Die, bitch! Fuck you!

Which would seem to have ended things since the courts were out of it by then and the governor has no clemency power.  And so at 7 this evening, Kelly would be killed.

Except what the Governor can't and the Pardon & Parole folk won't . . . .

It seems there's snow in the Peach Tree State.  AP explains the problem

Jackson [where the killin's to happen] is on the southern fringe of an area that forecasters predicted would get up to 2 inches of snow on Wednesday. However, the forecast for Gissendaner’s hometown was for heavier snowfall, which would have made it difficult for prosecutors, witnesses and supporters to make the trip.

To which the Board of P & P might well have told Mother Nature to go fuck herself.

Instead, they put off killing Gissendaner until Monday evening.  They being god fearing types, I suppose.  And of course, they wanted to make sure that everyone could get a good seat.

* * * * *

It's now clear and settled that the Georgia Board doesn't care that the victim's kids want his killer to live, though if weather is an act of god, perhaps she takes a different view.  

Or maybe it was just chance.

Meanwhile in Las Vegas, where they know a lot about chance, it seems they also know something about knowing when to fold 'em.  At least, the prosecutor does.

It was almost four years ago that Mike Portaro was shot and killed.  Last week, a jury found Brandon Hill guilty of the murder.  The prosecutor was going for a death sentence.  But Monday Mike's mother, Cynthia Portaro, came to court. . . .  Here's Karen Castro for KLAS-TV.

Cynthia Portaro stood in front of a courtroom asking a judge to spare her son's killer.
"We do not ask that the court pursue the death penalty," she said.
Just as Cynthia was returning to her seat, Hill got up and came face-to-face with the woman who potentially saved his life.
"Thank you for forgiving me," said Hill. "I'm sorry for everything that you've been through. If I could take it back, I would."
"I hope you find peace, you still have a life and destiny," she told Hill.

And then, outside the courtroom, the mother of the killer and the mother of his victim hugged.

And the prosecutor withdrew his request for execution.

"I felt a sense of relief that there is no hatred, animosity, anger because if you live in Christ, you cannot live with those things," Cynthia Portaro said.

A friend of mine, a sometime capital defense lawyer, said once that "the death penalty brings out the worst in everyone."  He didn't add, "except when it brings out the best."