Okla. death penalty foe commits suicide

Source: Associated Press

NORMAN, Okla. - Defense attorney Lisa McCalmont was well-known nationally as an outspoken critic of lethal injection and amassed a trove of information about problems with the three-drug cocktail that is at the very center of a case the U.S. Supreme Court will hear early next year.

Colleagues say McCalmont, 49, was looking forward to the Supreme Court case as a momentous event in her career.

But then, last week, she hanged herself at her home in Norman — a suicide that stunned and baffled some of those who knew her.

"She seemed like she was on top of the world," said Dr. William Kinsinger, an Oklahoma City anesthesiologist who worked with McCalmont on a capital case. "I'm absolutely dumbfounded."


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071107/ap_on_re_us/death_penalty_suicide;_ylt=Ao3QAwcwjMHK3ZBTc3KFLZ3BF4l4

In agreeing to hear the case, the Supreme Court appears to have put a halt to executions in the U.S. for now.

Wow.

People who are looking forward to something do not kill themselves.

But these days, it pays to be suspicious.

Does anyone else hate living in a banana republic?

Chicago anti-war musician burns himself to death in rush hour traffic
Wednesday, November 08 2006 @ 12:21 AM PST
http://www.infoshop.org/inews/article.php?story=2006110800212324

The Value of a Life: Andrew Veal
http://www.reachm.com/amstreet/archives/2004/11/08/the-value-of-a-life-andrew-veal/


Malachi Ritscher
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Malachi Ritscher (Mark David Ritscher; January 13, 1954 – November 3, 2006) was a musician, recording engineer, and anti-war protester.

Ritscher came into the national spotlight after committing self-immolation on the side of the Kennedy Expressway near downtown Chicago during the morning rush hour of Friday November 3, 2006, as a protest against the Iraq war and more generally against "the mayhem and turmoil caused by my country." Ritscher's suicide is one of only nine reported incidents of self-immolation performed as an act of protest in American history.

More:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malachi_Ritscher

. . . sure.

From the article:

Friends and associates, some who had known her for years and others who had worked closely with her in recent months, all said they were mystified about why McCalmont decided to take her own life just two months before the lethal injection issue was due to be considered by the U.S. Supreme Court.

and:

Fischman called the loss for McCalmont's death row clients immeasurable. "She called them her guys. She lived for helping her guys."