http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/california-inmate-released-25-years-death-row-54597139
appeals. appeals. appeals. Just kill the bastard.
“false medical testimony”
the other day there was a discussion among the forumites. and said why do these appeals take so long.
well I think we have the answer now.
Allan
If guilt could be absolutely guaranteed I’d have no problem with executions. Unfortunately mistakes do happen and innocent people do get convicted and in at least two cases in the modern era they get executed - Ruben Cantu and Cameron Todd Willingham. As such I’m very torn on the issue. I absolutely believe some people deserve to be die in a slow and painful way for their actions but I also believe that the risk of executing even one more innocent person outweighs that.
A forensic pathologist concluded that the girl died from injuries idicative of being sodomized, and several doctors testified that the girl’s injuries were caused by sexual assault.
If any of the doctors are still practicing medicine they should have their licenses revoked, and they should be open to civil suit and extreme monetary penalties.
I used to favor the death penalty.
I’ve about changed my mind because of cases like this.
Question in my mind:
In prison 25 years.
Is it after 20 years that they don’t recall things they did or didn’t do back then? How good is your memory on things you did 20 years ago?
After DNA testing came out and few other things over the years I’ve looked at death penalty little different then I did couple decades ago.
I am adamantly opposed to the death penalty in this country. If there was never another execution here that would suit me.
In my opinion the causes for it taking so long to perform the actual executions is in part because society in general, though still allowing death penalty verdicts, is generally opposed to the actual execution of executions. I think this is what has lead to such constructs as “automatic appeal laws” in some states, as well as seemingly friendly appeal processes across the board.
Now with evermore frequent stories of the once convicted death row inmate being removed from death row thanks to the advancement of modern forensics, DNA testing etc. I feel we will see even more reticence to the death penalty.
Considering the millions it can cost to execute, plus the growing cost of getting it wrong, well I see death penalties becoming obsolete.
I will admit thou when they put Timothy McVeigh down I didn’t shed any tears.
SCOTUS will have to rule it unconstitutional before they end nationwide.
I don’t believe they will do that.
As long as it is up to the states, a few states won’t give it up (Texas for one). It’ll take another 50 years to get rid of it.
McVeigh, Bundy, Gacy and a bunch more needed it. The problem is some innocent people go down so we can get the real ones.
Too bad some folks don’t have this sort of compassion for unborn babies who are truly innocent. Some get very cranky over a 48 hour waiting period for that. 
I have always called for the utmost due process concerning the death penalty.
To that end, I believe the death penalty should be applied ONLY where there is absolute physical evidence directly tying the defendant to the victim. NO circumstantial cases should ever be eligible for the death penalty.
The death penalty should be reserved for only the most particularly heinous cases, so I would require a higher level of aggravating factors before the death penalty could be invoked.
I support the current appellate system.
It CAN be speeded up without sacrificing due process, in a very simple manner.
Simply get our 140 vacant Federal Judgeships filled and created all new necessary Federal Judgeships and fill those.
Much of the delay is because we are way shorthanded on Federal Judges.
Here is my problem anytime anyone tries to drag abortion into this issue. The best way to prevent abortion is to prevent the pregnancy in the first place. That means readily available birth control, sex education, and insurance coverage . . . . .yet the staunch anti abortion people oppose those things. Its mind boggling to me.
My compassion for human life is not predicated on what I might view as the guilt or innocence of the human life in question.
I wouldn’t blame Mr. Benavides should he decide to return to his native Mexico. It couldn’t be any worse than sitting on Death Row for 25 years.
Could the reason it takes so long for execution to take place be the length of apellate process and release of any results of forensic testing that may exonerate the inmate or affirm his or her conviction?
Not a supporter of the death penalty, citing violation of the 8th Amendment; possibility of conviction of innocent; and financial resources used in housing on death row and the long appelate process. These individuals could be serving with the General Population and alive for release should their exoneration come.
I do. Don’t believe in abortion except in very dire cases. How does it always find its way to death penalty threads?
Some women who become unexpectantly pregnant are not teens, but in their 40s, even perimenopausal. Others were using medication that weakens hormonal bc and became unexpectantly, perhaps unwanted, pregnant. Some who make it to PP are repeat customers for abortion. IMO it really is a bit more complicated than sex ed and free bc.
We shouldn’t be executing people at all.
Intentionally taking the life of another, whether by war, the courts, or in an abortion clinic, in my mind they cannot be separated in the question of “should this life be taken”.
My reticence to the death penalty and abhorrence to the death dealt in needless warfare were personal decisions that came to me after weighing what evidence I could see and went against my youthful eagerness to apply death to others.
The evidence against the death penalty grew with the more I learned about the “justice system” and how it can be brought with flawed results, especially with the wrongful convictions of an ever growing number of death penalty cases. There was also the information I was gathering about how much systemic negative bias there was in the “justice system” from blatant racial bias through the many levels of socio-economic bias.
The more I learned, the more I saw that we, the so called pool of peers in the “jury of our peers” are unfit or should I say unqualified deciders for another’s life or death.
You can say “but what if there is no ‘death penalty’ and the only option to keep a murderer off the street is ‘life without parole’, will we not still be unqualified in deciding another’s ultimate fate?”
Yes. That is a very valid point. However if a person is put to death and evidence then comes out that exonerates that person there is no recourse, they are dead, whereas a person given a life sentence can still be freed if it comes to light they are innocent. Not a perfect solution to the flaws in our justice system, but still far better than the alternative.
Hope you stuck with me on this.
It was my personal objection to abortion, an objection I had always held, that was the final factor in my becoming anti death penalty.
The revelation that came to me that we are playing at being God, with abortions and with juries deciding to destroy life in courtrooms, and with our seeming penchant, as a nation, for taking life in truly needless wars.
I had the epiphany that I could not support the willful taking of life, other than as you said about abortion, “except in very dire cases”.
And that’s why I’m pretty much opposed to the death penalty. Don’t get me wrong there are some folks who deserve a bullet to the back of the skull (child rapists come to mind) but until the accuracy of conviction is 100% I just cannot support it. I’d rather let 10 guilty men go free over executing one innocent person.
