Al Martinez

Al Martinez (July 21, 1929 – January 12, 2015) was a columnist for the Los Angeles Times. Quotes The people are never at their best demanding blood. I don't like murder. I've seen too damn much of it in three decades as a reporter. But I don't like legal executions either. I've seen them too.I stood close to the window of the gas chamber and watched Barbara Graham die. She gasped and strangled and strained against the straps that bound her. Saliva sprayed the air like a fine mist. Foam bubbled at her mouth.I lack the capacity to distance myself from death. I can't cheer with the people. No more blood. Column in the Los Angeles Times (March 1992). Quoted in Kathleen A. Cairns, Proof of guilt : Barbara Graham and the Politics of Executing Women in America (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2013), ch. 9, p. 159 External links Category:1929 births Category:2015 deaths Category:Journalists from Los Angeles Category:Columnists from the United States Category:People from Oakland