The Beautiful Humanity of Death Row

[OK Corgi Rancher]

Beware of the premise that everyone on death row is guilty. Is executing an occasional innocent person ok?

Innocent of what?

I don't trust our legal/justice system 100%. But I trust it more than I trust statistics that show 1 in 10 people executed are "innocent".

But the answer to your question is, no, a truly innocent person should not be executed for a crime they didn't commit. But the system isn't, and can never be, perfect.

 

[turkeyrun]

Odd how newspaper editors/owners, most all media bosses withhold these details of crimes committed by death row inmates. What is their motive?

To get the azzhats released to create more sensationalized headlines. Media loves chaos.

 

[turkeyrun]

Beware of the premise that everyone on death row is guilty. Is executing an occasional innocent person ok?

If a jury of 12 can unanimously say death penalty, there is no doubt.
One innocent may get a wrong conviction. Having a Spread Eagle prosecutor, that is known to conceal evidence and manufacture evidence, in order to get a conviction, could convict innocents. Any prosecutor or defense attorney manufacturing or concealing evidence should replace the prisoner and serve out their sentence.


For those who confess, are caught in the act, or have positive identification from a witness; absolutely. Taxpayers paying 25+ years, awaiting final sentencing is BS.
Hanging, at noon Saturday, on the court house Square would be a deterrent and guarantee of no repeat offenders.

 

[TedKennedy]

If a jury of 12 can unanimously say death penalty, there is no doubt.
One innocent may get a wrong conviction. Having a Spread Eagle prosecutor, that is known to conceal evidence and manufacture evidence, in order to get a conviction, could convict innocents. Any prosecutor or defense attorney manufacturing or concealing evidence should replace the prisoner and serve out their sentence.

Ada, Oklahoma.

All it takes is a crooked DA, a crooked cop or a witness willing to lie. Get them all together and a horror story unfolds.

 

[turkeyrun]

Ada, Oklahoma.

All it takes is a crooked DA, a crooked cop or a witness willing to lie. Get them all together and a horror story unfolds.

Spread Eagle had multiple convictions, as ADA in Kommiefornia, set a record.
Had been caught and admitted to withholding evidence and manufacturing evidence to gain a conviction.
None were death penalty cases, but she should have to serve those sentences.

 

[gerhard1]

I look at the picture of that little 7-year-old girl and I think of one or more of my grandkids going through what she went through. I agree with most of you: how in God's Name could anyone befriend a monster like that?

It makes me sick.

 

[WoodsCraft]

Beware of the premise that everyone on death row is guilty. Is executing an occasional innocent person ok?

There are precious few folks on death row who do not have a criminal history and in many cases a very lengthy one at that. There are even fewer folks who had no criminal history at all who were convicted of a capitol crime and placed on Death Row.

I would much rather the odd "innocent man" get more punishment than he had coming for his crimes than to not meter out the much needed punishment the vast majority of these men have coming to them.

 

[TedKennedy]

There are precious few folks on death row who do not have a criminal history and in many cases a very lengthy one at that. There are even fewer folks who had no criminal history at all who were convicted of a capitol crime and placed on Death Row.

I would much rather the odd "innocent man" get more punishment than he had coming for his crimes than to not meter out the much needed punishment the vast majority of these men have coming to them.

Interesting. I wonder if you'd feel the same way if your son or grandson was locked up for a crime he didn't commit?

 

[Big50]

Just because a Judge and jury says you're guilty doesn't make it so.

 

[okcBob]

There are precious few folks on death row who do not have a criminal history and in many cases a very lengthy one at that. There are even fewer folks who had no criminal history at all who were convicted of a capitol crime and placed on Death Row.

I would much rather the odd "innocent man" get more punishment than he had coming for his crimes than to not meter out the much needed punishment the vast majority of these men have coming to them.

Well you certainly don’t subscribe to the famous Blackstone ratio of “It is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer.“
Or as Ben Franklin stated it as: "it is better 100 guilty Persons should escape than that one innocent Person should suffer".

The American legal system echoes these common law values & has long erred on the side of protecting innocence.

A similar principal is in the Bible: “Abraham drew near, and said, "Will you consume the righteous with the wicked? What if there are fifty righteous within the city? Will you consume and not spare the place for the fifty righteous who are in it?.. What if ten are found there?" He [The Lord] said, "I will not destroy it for the ten's sake."

These long-standing US legal principles are the opposite of authoritarians from China, for example, in the 1930s: "Better to kill a hundred innocent people than let one truly guilty person go free"and during uprisings in Vietnam in the 1950s: "Better to kill ten innocent people than let a guilty person escape." And don’t forget Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge adopted a similar policy: "better arrest an innocent person than leave a guilty one free."

I’d rather live by the US system than the authoritarian police state, but you do you.