纽约时报 美德州14孩母亲被判死刑--两党认为应该赦免

 

 

    From Houston — In less than a week, Texas is set to execute Melissa Lucio, a mother of 14 who was convicted of murder in the death of her 2-year-old daughter more than a decade ago.

    休斯顿报道——在不到一周的时间里，德克萨斯州将处决14个孩子的母亲梅丽莎·卢西奥，她十多年前因杀害两岁女儿而被判谋杀罪。

    The execution would be the first of a Hispanic woman in Texas,这将是德克萨斯州第一个西班牙裔妇女被处决的案件，and it has drawn¹ widespread attention — from a 2020 documentary to a recent segment on “Last Week Tonight With John Oliver” — because of new evidence and expert testimony² casting strong doubt about her guilt³.

    该事件——从2020年的一部纪录片到最近的《约翰·奥利弗上周今夜秀》的视频片段中——引起了广泛关注，因为新的证据和专家证词对她的罪行产生了强烈的怀疑。

    Ms. Lucio’s case has also done something rare in the intensely polarized political climate of Texas:

    在德克萨斯州两极分化严重的政治气候中，卢西奥的案子也引发了一些罕见的事情：

    It has brought Democratic and Republican lawmakers together in mutual⁴ outcry.

    它让民主党和共和党议员走到了一起，共同发出了强烈的抗议。

    Scores of legislators have called for clemency⁵ or at least a reprieve⁶, including those who are ordinarily vigorous backers of the death penalty.

    许多立法者呼吁赦免或至少缓刑，这些呼吁者中包括那些通常大力支持死刑的人。

    “It will be a historic, irreversible blunder on the part of the State of Texas if we go forward with this,” said State Representative Jeff Leach,“如果我们继续这样做，那将是德克萨斯州的一个历史性的、不可逆转的错误，”州众议员杰夫·利奇说。

    a Republican from north of Dallas who has been a leading voice in Texas urging a halt to the execution.

    他是一位来自达拉斯北部的共和党人，他一直是德克萨斯州敦促停止处决的主要声音。

    “I’ve never seen a more troubling case than the case of Melissa Lucio.”

    “我从未见过比梅丽莎·卢西奥更令人不安的案件。”

    Five of the jurors in her case have also come out in favor of clemency or a reprieve, citing in part the new evidence.

    参与此案的五名陪审员也表示支持宽大处理或缓刑，部分援引了新证据。

    “I voted to sentence Melissa Lucio to death. I was wrong,” one wrote in The Houston Chronicle.

    “我投票赞成判处梅丽莎·卢西奥死刑。 我错了，”其中一人在《休斯顿纪事报》上写道。

    The challenges to Ms. Lucio’s execution highlight familiar failings of the nation’s criminal justice system,卢西奥被处决所面临的挑战，突显了美国刑事司法系统常见的缺陷，including a confession⁷ given after hours of interrogation, evidence presented as scientific that has since been questioned, an inadequate⁸ defense⁹ and gender¹⁰ bias¹¹.

    包括在数小时的审讯后认罪的供词、质问后被认为是科学的证据、辩护不足以及性别偏见。

    “Police targeted Melissa because she didn’t fit their image of how a grieving mother should behave” in the aftermath of her daughter’s death, said Sandra Babcock,“警方锁定梅丽莎是因为她不符合他们眼中悲伤的母亲在女儿死后应该表现出的样子，”桑德拉·巴布科克说，one of Ms.Lucio’s lawyers and the director of the Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide.

    她是卢西奥女士的律师之一，也是康奈尔全球死刑中心的主任。

    Ms. Lucio’s daughter Mariah died at home.

    卢西奥的女儿玛丽亚在家中去世。

    Her lawyers have said that Mariah went down for a nap and did not wake up and that, two days earlier, she had fallen down a flight of stairs.

    她的律师说，玛丽亚打了个盹，没有醒来，而两天前，她从一段楼梯上摔了下来。

    An autopsy¹² said the cause of death was blunt force trauma¹³ to the head.

    验尸报告说死因是头部受到钝器重击。

    The fact that Ms. Lucio is on death row at all is an outlier.

    卢西奥女士被判死刑是一个例外。

    It is rare for prosecutors¹⁴ to seek the death penalty in a case where a mother has been charged with killing¹⁵ her children, her lawyers said.

    她的律师说，在母亲被指控杀害子女的案件中，检察官要求判处死刑的情况很少见。

    One issue her lawyers are raising is the legal provision — unique to Texas — under which prosecutors must prove a person’s “future dangerousness” in order to secure a death sentence.

    她的律师提出的一个问题是德克萨斯州独有的法律条款，根据该条款，检察官必须证明一个人的“未来危险程度”，才能获得死刑判决。

1 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

2 testimony   

n.证词；见证，证明

参考例句：

• The testimony given by him is dubious.他所作的证据是可疑的。
• He was called in to bear testimony to what the police officer said.他被传入为警官所说的话作证。

3 guilt   

n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责

参考例句：

• She tried to cover up her guilt by lying.她企图用谎言掩饰自己的罪行。
• Don't lay a guilt trip on your child about schoolwork.别因为功课责备孩子而使他觉得很内疚。

4 mutual   

adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的

参考例句：

• We must pull together for mutual interest.我们必须为相互的利益而通力合作。
• Mutual interests tied us together.相互的利害关系把我们联系在一起。

5 clemency   

n.温和，仁慈，宽厚

参考例句：

• The question of clemency would rest with the King.宽大处理问题，将由国王决定。
• They addressed to the governor a plea for clemency.他们向州长提交了宽刑的申辨书。

6 reprieve   

n.暂缓执行（死刑）；v.缓期执行；给…带来缓解

参考例句：

• He was saved from the gallows by a lastminute reprieve.最后一刻的缓刑令把他从绞架上解救了下来。
• The railway line, due for closure, has been granted a six-month reprieve.本应停运的铁路线获准多运行6 个月。

7 confession   

n.自白，供认，承认

参考例句：

• Her confession was simply tantamount to a casual explanation.她的自白简直等于一篇即席说明。
• The police used torture to extort a confession from him.警察对他用刑逼供。

8 inadequate   

adj.(for,to)不充足的，不适当的

参考例句：

• The supply is inadequate to meet the demand.供不应求。
• She was inadequate to the demands that were made on her.她还无力满足对她提出的各项要求。

9 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

10 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

11 bias   

n.偏见，偏心，偏袒；vt.使有偏见

参考例句：

• They are accusing the teacher of political bias in his marking.他们在指控那名教师打分数有政治偏见。
• He had a bias toward the plan.他对这项计划有偏见。

12 autopsy   

n.尸体解剖；尸检

参考例句：

• They're carrying out an autopsy on the victim.他们正在给受害者验尸。
• A hemorrhagic gut was the predominant lesion at autopsy.尸检的主要发现是肠出血。

13 trauma   

n.外伤，精神创伤

参考例句：

• Counselling is helping him work through this trauma.心理辅导正帮助他面对痛苦。
• The phobia may have its root in a childhood trauma.恐惧症可能源于童年时期的创伤。

14 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

15 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。