Who’s a good boy? Who? Are you a good boy? Yes you are!
His name is Yoda. Don’t let the name fool you. He is a 4 year old male Belgian Malinois and he will bite your head off. This is the warrior that was sent in to flush out escaped convict Danilo Cavalcante from the brush where he had been hiding.
I was able to catch some of the newscasts right after he had been captured after 2 weeks on the run. The atmosphere was definitely festive. So much so that they actually had a photo opp with Cavalcante in the center. I love this picture.
From Wikipedia:
Danilo Souza Cavalcante is a Brazilian national who fled to the United States after authorities issued a warrant for his arrest in Tocantins in 2017 in connection with the shooting death of Valter Júnior Moreira dos Reis, a Brazilian student.
In the United States, he was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for yet another murder: the stabbing of his ex-girlfriend, Deborah Brandão, also Brazilian, in April 2021.
Capital punishment is legal in Pennsylvania. But there have been no executions in Pennsylvania since 1999, and only three since 1976 (all occurring in the 1990s, during the governorship of Tom Ridge). At the time of a 2022 report, there were 128 people on death row in Pennsylvania, making it the 7th largest death row in the United States.May 1, 2023. (FYI- There are 139 on death row in NC and no one has been executed since 2006).
OK. The death penalty is still legal in Pennsylvania. Questions come to mind. What good is a punishment if never carried out? How much is it costing to keep these miscreants alive? How is this fair to the victims families?
Back to Cavalcante. Is there anyone more deserving of being put to death? He fled a murder rap in Brazil only to come here and kill his ex-girlfriend. I liken his case to a dog that kills a chicken. Once it has tasted blood it will repeatedly search out chicken coops and do it over and over again. The only way to stop the behavior is to kill the dog. Problem solved.
The only way for the death penalty to be a deterrent is for it to be used as quickly as possible after conviction. With the advances made with DNA testing wrongful convictions are a thing of the past.
Fortunately, this episode with Cavalcante had a happy ending.
But while he was out, what if he had visited the chicken coop again?
Lee Haywood
Lee Haywood is a franchise owner for Winzer USA, an MRO supply company based in Plano, TX. He services industrial and government accounts across NC. Lee and his wife Brenda reside in Summerfield, NC and have been married for 39 years. He considers himself to be quite the dude.