每天读一篇英语小故事：Please Don’t Hurt Me!

英语自学网

　　Henry killed a 14-year-old girl. He killed her after breaking her thumbs,
kicking and breaking most of her ribs, striking her repeatedly in the head with
his thermos, and stabbing her more than 45 times with a #2 pencil. She bled to
death. He killed her after he had kidnapped her and raped her repeatedly for
four weeks. He had kept her in the basement of his parents’ house. His parents
had disappeared years ago.
        　　The girl had been walking by the house when Henry invited her in to see
some new puppies. The puppies were also found stabbed to death. Henry was
caught, convicted, and sent to prison for the girl’s brutal killing. He was
sentenced to death by injection. That was 30 years ago. For the past 30 years,
Henry has been fighting his death penalty. During that time, taxpayers have
spent more than $30,000 a year on Henry’s room and board, medical and dental
care, and legal help.
        　　A month ago, it looked like Henry was finally going to meet his Maker. But
his lawyer filed one final argument, claiming that death by injection was quite
painful; Henry shouldn't suffer in his final moments. One hour before Henry was
scheduled to die, the California Supreme Court agreed; the drugs injected into
Henry might cause him to suffer. Such suffering would be “cruel and unusual”
punishment, a violation of the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
        　　Henry remained in his warm cell. He would die only when the state figured
out a way to kill Henry without making him say “Ouch!”
        　　The parents and siblings of the brutally murdered girl were not even
surprised. Her dad said, “He’ll die of old age in his sleep, and his survivors
will collect a million-dollar settlement because the guard forgot to put a candy
mint on Henry's pillow that night.”