Yes.
I think there is murder and then there is killing.
Couey - the guy who kidnapped, raped and buried the 8 year old alive in a garbage bag in Florida murdered a little kid. Did she deserve to die? No. Does he. Yes. Life in prison means that his life has been held in higher regard than the life of the child he took. In evaluating the cost to keep him alive for the next 25 years vs the cost of execution from a $$$ standpoint, it makes sense to exterminate him now. From an emotional and mental standpoint it also makes no sense to keep him alive - living he is a constant reminder of the crime, a living momento of the murder and the thief that stole a family's future - dead, the door gets closed tighter and faster.
The guy who took a tire iron to the 83 year old ladies head and smashed it in until she died. He wants to go now, he accepts responsibility for what he has done and wants lethal injection to get it done with rather than sit in prison for 30 years. The ACLU has decided that he has no rights to request that the government kill him.
This boils down to a lot of things - euthanasia, the right to a person to end their life with assistance and the right of society to free up prisons of known, confirmed, convicted, (only 100% certain) prisoners who have murdered who will never be allowed to walk free again. sammieswife.