One thing I've noticed about people who try to defend morally indefensible positions:

[Maedhros]

32. "Potential, sort-of-innocent lives lost to execution?"

What kind of bullshit is that?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/28/innocent-death-penalty-study_n_5228854.html

While in a conversation with his lawyer Taylor Koss, left, Jonathan Fleming, center, observes his lawyer's son Max, 6, as he uses a tablet computer on Friday April 18, 2014 in New York. Fleming was exonerated of murder after almost 25 years behind bars. The weeks since his release have been a mix of emotional highs and practical frustrations. ?Coming back, you know, it?s been hard. ... It?s a lot to have to catch up on.

More than 4 percent of inmates sentenced to death in the United States are probably innocent, according to a study published Monday that sent shock waves across the anti-death penalty community.

What the researchers call a "conservative estimate" about the number of wrongfully convicted death row inmates is more than double the percentage of capital defendants who were exonerated during more than three decades that were studied. That means innocent people are languishing behind bars, according to the study.

“The great majority of innocent people who are sentenced to death are never identified and freed," said Samuel Gross, lead author of the study and a University of Michigan Law School professor, in a statement. "The purpose of our study is to account for the innocent defendants who are not exonerated."

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/innocence-and-crisis-american-death-penalty

THE EXONERATED: A Numerical Summary

TOTAL EXONERATIONS SINCE 1973
116

EXONERATIONS BY STATE
Florida 21 California 3
Illinois 18 Missouri 3
Louisiana 8 Indiana 2
Arizona 7 Massachusetts 2
Oklahoma 7 South Carolina 2
Texas 7 Idaho 1
Alabama 5 Kentucky 1
Georgia 5 Maryland 1
North Carolina 5 Mississippi 1
Pennsylvania 5 Nebraska 1
New Mexico 4 Nevada 1
Ohio 4 Virginia 1
Washington 1

EXONERATIONS BY RACE
Black 58 Latino 12
White 45 Other 1

EXONERATIONS BY GENDER
Male 115 Female 1

EXONERATIONS BASED UPON DNA EVIDENCE
14

BASIS FOR EXONERATION
Acquittal 40 Pardoned 7
Charges
Dropped 69

AVERAGE NUMBER OF YEARS OF
INCARCERATION BEFORE EXONERATION
9
TOTAL YEARS OF INCARCERATION BEFORE EXONERATION
1,042

Off to the ignore list for you.