TIM SWARENS

Swarens: No, Amanda Blackburn’s accused killers aren’t ‘animals’

Tim Swarens
tim.swarens@indystar.com

The legal analyst for FOX News grew more agitated the longer she spoke Tuesday night about a murder case that has horrified Indy for more than two weeks.

“They got rid of the electric chair in Indiana in 1995,” Katie Phang, a Miami-based trial lawyer and regular guest on Greta Van Susteren’s talk show, said. “And I think frankly they should bring it back for these three animals that were involved in the murder of Amanda Blackburn.”

Let’s think about that comment, echoed by others in our city. Not to debate the ethics of the death penalty, or to argue over whether a particular means of execution is more appropriate than another (Indiana uses lethal injection).

And not about whether an officer of the court should have publicly convicted suspects immediately after their arrest. (For the record, only two men, not three, have been charged in Blackburn’s murder thus far).

No, I want to focus on the use of the word “animals” to describe Amanda’s accused killers.

It’s the wrong word, and, more important, it’s one that sends the wrong message.

Hear me out, please. I am in no way defending those accused of this barbaric crime. If convicted, these men should never taste another day of freedom again. And if Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry does decide to pursue the death penalty, I won’t object.

But I do object to using words such as “animal” to dehumanize the accused — not for their sake. But for our own.

Larry Taylor, from left, and Jalen Watson are escorted from court at the City County Building after their first hearing in the Amanda Blackburn murder.

Who killed these people? 5 unsolved Indy homicide cases in 2015

The fact is these young men are products of our community. They grew in our midst from the innocent children we all are at birth to become the dangerous predators they appear to be today. They attended our schools, lived in our neighborhoods, mingled with the rest of us on our streets.

As ugly as it is to think about: Our city, parts of our culture, helped to mold them into criminals so wanton that they invaded homes, terrorized the innocent, and, in a last despicable act, apparently murdered a young woman and her unborn child.

Those facts should prompt us to ask why this happened in our city? Why has Indy suffered through another year marred by rampant violence? Why are we losing so many of our children to criminal depravity? Why have we failed as a community to successfully intervene in so many wasted lives?

An earlier conversation about such questions lingers in my mind. Jay Height, who for 20 years has poured himself into trying to rescue thousands of young men and women from paths to destruction on Indy’s Eastside, reminded me of another crime that shocked Indy at the time.

“Remember the Fourth of July shooting in Downtown a couple of years ago? The shooter was nicknamed “Monster,” Height said this spring. “These are our children. Monster is our kid. We need to understand that every kid is going to be mentored by somebody. The question is by who?”

Compare the idea of “Monster is our kid” to that of execute “these three animals.”

One approach speaks to collective ownership — not of the crime, of course, but of the opportunity and the obligation to work together to prevent future horrific acts. To step in as neighbors, coaches, tutors and mentors when families fail; to invest generously in organizations like Height’s Shepherd Community Center; to insist as citizens and voters that elected leaders reform the justice system.

The other approach speaks of distancing ourselves from the sicknesses that give rise to the violence that plagues our city day after day, year after year.

Ownership is hard and messy; distancing is easier and cleaner. But we can’t distance ourselves. This is our home, our beloved city. And we must fight for it together.

So, by all means, if convicted, let’s punish Amanda Blackburn’s killers severely. They deserve it, and we must demand it.

But our work doesn’t come close to stopping there.

Amanda Blackburn's death: What we know

Indianapolis pastor and his wife met on a blind date

Police: He watched Amanda Blackburn bleed

Email Star opinion director Tim  Swarens at tim.swarens@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter @tswarens.