Flynt Doesn't Want Guy Who Paralyzed Him Executed

Joseph Paul Franklin is set to be executed next month for a series of murders. Franklin also shot and paralyzed Hustler publisher Larry Flynt in 1978—but Flynt doesn't want him executed, he reveals today in a guest column for the Hollywood Reporter. "Supporters of capital punishment argue that it is a deterrent which prevents potential murderers from committing future crimes, but research has failed to provide a shred of valid scientific proof to that effect whatsoever," Flynt writes.

In addition, execution costs taxpayers more than a life sentence does—and in Flynt's opinion, a life spent in prison is the more severe of the two sentences anyway. "As I see it, the sole motivating factor behind the death penalty is vengeance, not justice, and I firmly believe that a government that forbids killing among its citizens should not be in the business of killing people itself," Flynt concludes. Click for his full column. (More Larry Flynt stories.)