When will we finally become civilized and get rid of the atrocity that is the death penalty?

[Tommy_Carcetti]

http://news.yahoo.com/wrong-man-executed-texas-probe-says-051125159.html

..Wrong man was executed in Texas, probe says
By Chantal Valery | AFP – 10 hrs ago

He was the spitting image of the killer, had the same first name and was near the scene of the crime at the fateful hour: Carlos DeLuna paid the ultimate price and was executed in place of someone else in Texas in 1989, a report out Tuesday found.

Even "all the relatives of both Carloses mistook them," and DeLuna was sentenced to death and executed based only on eyewitness accounts despite a range of signs he was not a guilty man, said law professor James Liebman.

Liebman and five of his students at Columbia School of Law spent almost five years poring over details of a case that he says is "emblematic" of legal system failure.

DeLuna, 27, was put to death after "a very incomplete investigation. No question that the investigation is a failure," Liebman said.

_______________________________________________________________ (More at link)


The thing for me is even if this guy was 100% guilty, killing him in the name of "justice" achieved absolutely nothing. But the fact that this innocent man was horrifically killed in this brutal charade makes this story all the more blood boiling.

[ceile]

1. That's horrible...

Gosh, I love my state...

[Tommy_Carcetti]

8. Every state has something of which to be ashamed, trust me.

Here in Florida we get our fair share of it (although I still woudn't trade living here for any other state spare perhaps Hawaii), but trust me, name a state and there's at least one major embarassing aspect associated with it.

[SammyWinstonJack]

2. rec

[cali]

3. When the rest of the country becomes more like New England

don't hold your breath.

[duhneece]

5. Or more like New Mexico

Although our governor and r's want it reinstated.
NM has voter-verified, auditable trail voting...no black box voting for several years
NM has medical cannabis.

Just saying.

[catbyte]

4. Probably about the time same sex marriages are accepted.

Both issues seem to be on a similar trajectory. There are several states where the governor has refused to carry out the DP and legislators are abolishing it. Martin Luther L king was right when he said, "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice."

Diane
Anishinaabe in MI & mom to Leo, Sophie, Taz & Nigel, members of Dogs Against Romney, Cat Division
"We ride inside--HISS!”

[supraTruth]

6. Or the RAYgunESCALATED Drug War BANKRUPTING our States is ENDED!

[TheKentuckian]

7. I think on the time scale of the universe, even a being as old as the human race

would have far too little data to hazard a guess on such a thing.

It may well bend to entropy. Who knows what it bends to over such a looooong arc, especially from such a very limited perspective in both time and scope.

King made a statement of faith designed to bolster spirits in a long battle not an assessment based on observation.

The Universe is a big place that has been around a long time but is still very young according to it's span and I suspect what we do has more immediate impact on our little perspective than some bent toward justice.
Chances are, there will be no justice that we don't make that we will know of.

[IDFbunny]

9. Humane execution is civil

What is cruel is long and lifetime prison sentences. Prisons are hell on earth. Nobody comes out of them better off when they went in.

Mistakes are always going to be made. I'm not sure how much better off Carlos would be if he had been wrongfully in prison for 26 years and then exonerated.

The Chinese have it right, but for the wrong reasons. The Chinese do not generally believe in lengthy prison sentences because the product becomes a useless drain on society. The Chinese perspective is that they either release a productive worker or he is too damaged, or dangerous to keep alive.

We don't seem to care how much damage we do to individual felons. We don't dare that sex offenders can't find work. We really don't care how much they suffer. We think nothing of putting 6 year olds on sex offender registers, or putting 15 year old boys on there for have sex with his 15 year old girlfriend. We don't seem to care that we have 25% of the worlds prison population.

[ieoeja]

10. Comparing our attitude towards "justice" to the Bill of Rights is tragic.

"You give up you rights when you commit a crime," I have heard from so many people on both sides of the aisle. If that is so, then what exactly was the purpose of 40-50% of the Bill of Rights?


Amendment IV (for people suspected of a crime)

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.


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Amendment V (for people accused of a crime)

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.


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Amendment VI (for people accused of a crime)

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.


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Amendment VII (not entirely certain this applies to crimes or to civil suits)

In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.


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Amendment VIII (for people convicted of crimes)

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.


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[Tommy_Carcetti]

11. "I'm not sure how much better off Carlos would be if he had been wrongfully in prison for 26 years..

...and then exonerated."

Well, for starters, he'd be alive. And able to salvage at least the remainder of his life. So, ummm, yeah.

And I'm still not clear exactly how the Chinese have it right, whether it be for the right or wrong reason. Really? China? That's our model?

[IDFbunny]

12. Yeah, life in prison is a worse fate than a humane execution.

Carlos would have endured 26 years of psychological torture just to start anew approaching his 60's.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

14. But I still don't understand how you are claiming that it's better he was executed than exonerated.

Perhaps Kurt Bloodsworth would be better off dead as well:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirk_Bloodsworth

Prison is a horrible place, I know that, and for people who are actually guilty of horrible crimes I don't have that much sympathy for them being there, but still.....you are saying that it is better for someone who is wrongly convicted of a crime die in a ritualistic killing by the state instead of seeing their exoneration, and I'm telling you that makes no sense whatsoever.

[IDFbunny]

15. not quite

If I was given a choice of firing squad or 26 years of prison followed by acquittal I am just not sure what choice I would make. I am not sure, having lost my 30 and 40's if it would be worth it to live my last years in poverty.

I do sympathize with the rightfully convicted also. They are still human beings capable of feelings and caring for others, most of them anyway. The punishment of prison is so total that they are treated like monsters instead of humans. Some of them really are monsters and the death penalty is more than appropriate for them.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

16. I have a hard time calling any human being a monster.

Even those on death row.

There are highly flawed human beings doing highly flawed things, for reasons we cannot always comprehend. But to call any human being a monster de-humanizes a human being, and that disturbs me. And the death penalty is essentially akin to the idea of pitchforks and torches against Frankenstein's monster, all disguised as justice. People think by killing someone who has done an evil deed, we are somehow killing evil itself, and that's just a flawed, antiquated way of thinking.

[jeff47]

13. Shortly after a rich person is wrongly executed. (nt)