Where I Stand — Mike O’Callaghan: Only tears for Samantha

Tuesday, July 23, 2002 | 8:52 a.m.

THE LOS ANGELES TIMES reported July 17, 2002, "Samantha was abducted shortly before 7 p.m. Monday as she played with a 5-year-old friend, Sarah, on a low wall outside their condominium complex in Stanton, a working-class city in northern Orange County.

"Sarah said Tuesday that a man in a light green car drove past them slowly, then turned around and came back and parked in front of them. The man got out and walked up to the two girls.

"The bad guy said, 'You see a little Chihuahua?' Sarah said.

'Samantha asked the man how big the dog was, bending down to use her hand to suggest a height. The man scooped Samantha up, grabbing her under the arms and carrying her screaming to his car, then drove off, Sarah said. ..."

After Samantha Runnion's little naked and abused body was found, the same newspaper told readers, "Detectives believe the kidnapper held her for several hours, sexually assaulting and eventually asphyxiating Samantha sometime Tuesday. Officials suggested the girl fought back, scratching her attacker's face and arms.

"Her body was found in the open off a mountain road in the Cleveland National Forest. The killer posed the body in such a way the FBI believes it amounted to a 'calling card' and a warning that he would strike again."

Since then a suspect has been arrested and is being held. I don't know if that man is guilty of the gruesome crime but the police have more than enough DNA, tire tracks and other evidence to convict the man who did commit it. The man now in custody, Alejandro Avila, two years ago was acquitted of molesting some young girls. Only a confession or trial by jury will determine if Samantha is his victim.

Eventually somebody will be brought to trial and convicted for the kidnapping and murder of this 5-year-old girl. In the meantime, let's hope her little body is viewed and photographed so the people who don't believe in the death penalty can have some second thoughts.

Then let them come forth and express their reasons why the torturer and killer deserves to live. If the convicted person is a racial minority or declared "sick" by a psychologist hired for his defense, should we all shed tears if the jury gives him a death sentence? I'll save my tears for a human being worthwhile, like little Samantha. And I won't be lighting a candle outside the death chamber when he's executed. An even better and more reasonable question would be, why wouldn't the jury give the beast the death penalty?

Decent people all over our nation have been shocked by one brutal child abduction, abuse and murder after another. The badly decomposed body of 7-year-old Danielle van Dam was found not far from San Diego in late February. An arrest was made and the defense of the suspect resulted in Danielle's parents undergoing a grilling as severe as his, because of their lifestyle. Now that the judge has come back from vacation that trial should end this week.

Even today, as the neighbors and parents of 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart search for her in and around Salt Lake City, I imagine some defense lawyers are ready to find excuses for her kidnapper. A little more time and concern shown for the victims and their families would be helpful in making ours a more compassionate society.

The drive to weaken and eventually do away with the death penalty in Nevada will be in full force when the 2003 Legislature meets. Maybe going over the crime scenes as photographed and the thoughts of a screaming child could help legislators make good decisions. Legislators, after hearing all of the testimony, should then go home and play with their little children, grandchildren, nieces or nephews and not succumb to the nonsense put forth by those against the death penalty.

We must do our best to protect each of these little ones and eliminate from our society those who prey upon them. Anything less than the death penalty is insufficient for the people who eagerly take young lives and sexually abuse them in the process.

Yes, just think about the testimony of Samantha's playmate who told of her struggling, scratching and screaming as she was dragged into the car of a stranger.