I think there are acts that PERMANENTLY disqualify a person from participation in human society.

[pnwmom]

10. Let's agree that some people might deserve the death penalty. How do you make certain

that no person is ever falsely convicted and sentenced to the death penalty?

And, an even bigger question to me, how do you keep the prosecution from using the fear of the death penalty to get innocent defendants to agree to a plea bargain?

The overwhelming number of cases (more than 95%) get settled without a trial. This isn't because our police and prosecutors are so brilliant in doing their jobs. It's because they use the FEAR to get their targets -- even innocent people -- to accept a plea bargain.

How many people, faced with all the resources of a state prosecuting them for a capital crime, would take a chance on the death penalty? Would be able to afford the lawyers and experts capable of going up against the state and its huge resources? And even if they could, wouldn't be scared shitless that they could be convicted anyway -- AND SENTENCED TO DEATH. So every year, innocent people accept plea bargains because the alternative is worse.

I personally know someone this happened to. As in many of these cases, there was an accidental death with no witnesses, no DNA, etc., but a grandstanding prosecutor who stood to gain politically. The husband was accused, though there was no motive, no history of violence, and no real evidence. Even the wife's parents, and all the wife's close friends, joined the long list of witnesses who supported the husband.

For months, the prosecution tried to make the man cop a plea, hanging the threat of the death penalty over his head, but he wouldn't relent. Fortunately, he owned a business and had assets that he could sell so he could afford the millions he needed to pay for his defense.

After two hung juries (the first 11 to 1 for not guilty, but they did it again anyway), the prosecution finally acknowledged that they didn't have the evidence to prove the case!

But what if this man lacked the assets to hire good attorneys and pay for experts to counter the state's experts? He would have had to join all the defendants every year who give up and plead guilty because the possibility of the death penalty was too awful to contemplate. (Or the others who plead guilty for a sentence of 10 years instead of life.)

You tell me: in states where there is a death penalty, how can we prevent prosecutors from using this threat to coerce innocent -- but frightened -- people into signing plea agreements?