On Why The Death Penalty Should Be Abolished
Monday, September 12, 2011
I found an article in one of my favorite sites to visit, Skepchick, about the sad case of Cameron Todd Willingham. The New Yorker had an in-depth article about his case back in 2009 called
Trial By Fire. As it turns out, the "science" behind the evidence was wives-tale science and Mr. Willingham was indeed innocent. Too bad this evidence didn't come to light 5 years earlier; the state of Texas killed Willingham in 2004.
For crimes he didn't commit.
The long article is well-worth the read. It picks apart the case bit by bit and dramatically introduces the actual science behind fires and how they spread; the science that would have exonerated Willingham.
The article is flying around the internets again in the wake of Governor Perry's applause-laden response to NBC's Brian Williams' charge that he has killed more people (234) than any other Governor in our history.
I do not mean this post to be an anti-Perry screed or a missive critical of "conservative Christians." Rather, I mean it to be an anti-death penalty piece. While it indeed shocks me that people who vaunt their Christian Cred would be so supportive of the death penalty, I have to remember to take their brand of evangelical Christianity along with their conservative nature. Guns and the death penalty are OK by this breed of conservative, and it is what it is. It ain't changing.
I would ask, however, that they remember that Jesus suffered the death penalty as well.
That snark aside, that anybody who is innocent dies at the hands of the state is terrible. That they get convicted on evidence akin to folklore is unimaginable. While I only care about Rick Perry inasmuch as he is a possible frontrunner for Republicans, I do have to say that I am massively disturbed by his dismissive attitude towards people on death row. In essence, he responded to Williams' question regarding sleepless nights for sending people to their deaths with a statement about Texas' due process being so "thoughtful" that nobody innocent could possibly be put to death.
This, of course, flies in the face of reality, in which innocent people are put to death (see the article I link above). Perry is an interesting case study in that he actually went as far a firing a panel of investigators who were about to prove Willingham's innocence. Maybe because he didn't want the political hit of having killed an innocent man, maybe to bury his head in the sand, maybe any number of maybes; what he does by his deeds and words is help prove that the state killing anyone is unreasonable, irrational, wrong-headed, barbaric and dangerous. A state which is allowed to kill its citizens, whether through a fair trial, a kangaroo court, scientifically-valid evidence, or wives-tale witch-doctor nonsense, is not a state I wish to live in.
Again, this article's step-by-step move through the process for Willingham is so very telling of the flaw of the death penalty. On top of that, Willingham was given a court-appointed attorney who was equally convinced of his guilt and provided half-assed defense of a "guilty" client in hopes Willingham was convicted. This speaks to our public defense system and the need for well-trained attorneys, with decent funding, and workloads that allow for an attorney to mount a decent defense (as well as for oversight in some way so that if a "bad" attorney is mis-handling a case a different attorney can come on board). Just because a defendant can't afford a top-notch attorney to represent them against the state doesn't mean they shouldn't have access to one.
We do have a great system of justice here, regardless of how idiots like Nancy Grace abuse it in the MSM. We are innocent before being proven guilty, as opposed to the Napoleonic system of justice we see elsewhere whereby it is on a person to prove their innocence in front of a state who has accused them. But even then we have gaps, as the Innocence Project so clearly shows given that to date, 273 people have been exonerated across the country. That even one innocent person has spent any time at all in prison is terrible, but thankfully, even law enforcement (by and large) supports the Innocence Project; judges, cops, prosecutors and defense attorneys want to make sure we're doing this justice thing right. But that even one person is killed by the state is unacceptable, especially when you add to that lazy or callous attorneys and "investigators" with reputations to protect. Then it becomes a matter of life-and-death for our Democracy.
