The Story of George Hatton Smithey

It's news no parent wants to hear, but deep down when child psychologists approached the Smithey's about their child George, they were not all that surprised to learn that their son was mentally deficient.  The clues were always there; he was slower than the other boys to learn basic skills.  Simple things like reading and writing, learning to speak, had all taken far longer than expected.  Like many parents they had simply hoped their son would grow out of the problem, or perhaps exhibit some other positive trait.

The results of the testing were pretty conclusive.  The well funded public schools were quick to identify potential problems so that appropriate social services could kick in and help those with special needs.  Once George had been diagnosed with a very low IQ, educators reacted quickly and transferred the boy to another school, where he could receive more specialized assistance and more face time with educators.

To say that George Smithey was successful at school would be an overstatement.  He was easily distracted, and a bit of a trouble maker.  But persistence and an abundance of patience on the part of the educators and professionals paid off, and the young boy grew up learning the basic life skills he would need later in life.  He learned to read and write, and perform basic math.

When he turned eighteen, a career placement adviser helped him earn an internship at a local hotel.  Over the next few years he was mentored by a social worker, and his employers who received a tax break for providing special needs individuals with employment, and he settled in the baggage department where he worked as a bell hop.

George didn't have a remarkable career.  He didn't have a lot of ambition for promotion.  But unusually, he stayed at his job for close to forty years before retiring on a comfortable pension.  Regular guests at the hotel would often ask, "Where's George?" when they checked in.  Despite growing feeble and weak in his old age, George would drop by at least once a week and meet the staff who had become like a family to him.

George Smithey passed away in his sleep at the age of 76, alone in his small apartment in the city.  His body was found the next day by his most recent social worker who had known him for twenty years.  At his funeral most of the hotel staff and several social workers whose lives he had touched showed up to pay tribute.

***

Sadly though, this wasn't what happened at all.  Yes, I lied.  Sorry.

What actually happened is no one helped George Smithey at all.  He grew up without support, a proper education, and quality social services.  After dropping out of school he became a drug addict, and with no means to raise money to support his expensive habit he turned to crime.  On April 5th, 1988 he broke into a trailer to steal money and attempted to rape the occupant.  He killed her while her two children aged four and six played outside.  They later discovered her body.  She had been stabbed to death.

The defense at his trial was quick to point out that the accused was mentally retarded, but that kind of leftist liberal crap was quickly rejected by the judge who wanted to see some justice in the case.

George Smithey was convicted of murder, and sentenced to death.  He was sent to California's notorious San Quentin prison to await execution.

It was a pretty long wait.  After serving twenty two years, seventy year old George Smithey had his death sentence commuted to life in prison, without the possibility of parole.  Apparently the Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that it was unconstitutional to kill a mentally retarded person.

It is not clear if Smithey ever learned that his execution had been revoked.  He was recently found in dead in his cell; hanged by his own bed sheets.  There was no suicide note.

***

Now call me a bleeding heart liberal, or attack me for not knowing all the details of this case.  Perhaps even mention Hitler, Nazis, or a slippery slope.  But the reality is that our society creates many of the problems in the criminal justice system, by ineptitude, apathy, and a lack of compassion for human life.

Who's to say what would had become of George Smithey or his victim had he received proper help from the government.  Maybe it was always his fate to become a drug addict and kill an innocent person.  The problem though is that our society does very little to help anyone at all.  Poor people who are lucky enough to have a home are shoveled into the nearest trailer park or projects, where violence and drugs are rife.  Poor people who break the law are thrown in jail at an astonishing rate; making us world leaders in incarcerating people.

There's rarely a support system that tries to head off any of these horrific crimes.  Just a grieving family calling for the blood of the criminal in question; even if that criminal is mentally retarded.  We are fed the right wing lies that killing people will act as a 'deterrent' to other criminals who will supposedly mend their ways if they see some news of executions in the newspapers they don't read.

After 22 years in prison, George Smithey decided to finally end his life.  The pain of his existence will probably be felt by all the families concerned for decades to come.  My question is whether this pain could have been prevented if we'd spent the same money we spent punishing him, on social services designed to prevent the disadvantaged turning to crime in the first place.

When you treat people like crap and offer no help for those living in grinding poverty or a disability, crime is the inevitable byproduct.  I believe that it is better to spend money on crime prevention and social services, rather than the horrific cost in human life and tax dollars on punishing people for crimes they may not have committed in a society designed to protect the vulnerable, rather than cast them into the wilderness.