Letter to the editor: Stop applauding killing of health care CEO

Commentary

OPINION:

“Laws made by common consent must not be trampled by individuals.” So wrote George Washington in a letter to Col. Garrett Van Meter in 1781.

Were this not the case, anyone could rightly consider himself lawgiver, judge, jury and executioner. That is precisely what happened on Dec. 4 of this year, when 26-year-old Luigi Mangione is accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

Mr. Mangione did not know Thompson, who had not caused him any harm. Yet in his sick, twisted mind, Mr. Mangione believed that Thompson should be killed because the man worked in the health care industry.

Let us recall the words of Associate Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter in 1946: “If one man can be allowed to determine for himself what is law, every man can. That means first chaos, then tyranny. Legal process is an essential part of the democratic process.”

Those who have made light of this killing should think twice. Some looking at the situation with mirth and cheering for the killer could very easily be the next victims of a self-appointed avenger.

Instead of high-fiving the violent act, these people should consider all the innocents killed this year and in the past five years by those who have decided who shall live and who should die according to their particular brand of justice.

As Chief Justice Earl Warren said in 1959, “Life and liberty can be as much endangered from illegal methods used to convict those thought to be criminals as from the actual criminals themselves.”