Larry Flynt: Don't execute shooter

HOLLYWOOD, Oct. 18 (UPI) -- Larry Flynt said Missouri should not execute Joseph Paul Franklin, the man who allegedly admitted to shooting and paralyzing the Hustler publisher in 1978.

In a guest column for The Hollywood Reporter, Flynt said he'd "love an hour in a room with [Franklin] and a pair of wire-cutters and pliers, so I could inflict the same damage on him that he inflicted on me."

"But, I do not want to kill him, nor do I want to see him die," Flynt wrote.

He argued capital punishment hasn't been proved a deterrent to potential murderers and the cost of execution is higher than imprisoning inmates for life.

"Execution has been proven to be far more expensive for the state than a conviction of life without parole, due to the long and complex judicial process required for capital cases," Flynt wrote.

Flynt said he's not happy with the decision by the Missouri Supreme Court to execute Franklin Nov. 20.

"I have had many years in this wheelchair to think about this very topic. 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," he said.