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In reply to the discussion: Executed Killer Dennis McGuire Gasped And Snorted For 15 Minutes Under New Lethal Drug Combo [View all]markpkessinger
(8,392 posts). . . manages to deal with these problems without resorting to state-sanctioned murder?
Look, I am 100% opposed to capital punishment, but I can't honestly say I lose a great deal of sleep over a case like this particular one. But here's the problem: although this case may seem to be cut-and-dried, and an "easy call" as it were, the fact of the matter is that many cases are NOT so easy. And there is no way to ensure that capital punishment will be used only in these "easy" cases. Trying to justify state-sanctioned killing by pointing only to the most egregious cases and cases in which there is virtually no doubt as to a defendant's guilt, without being able to justify it in those cases that aren't so easy or clear, is fundamentally morally dishonest, because there is no way to have one without the other.