Wednesday, April 10, 2002

The Death Penalty is Serious

According to this article, the 100th prisoner on death row to be released walked out of prison Monday. He had been there since his conviction in 1991 -- but with the almost inevitable incarceration before trial, he probably spent at least twelve years institutionalized for a murder DNA testing proved he did not commit.

He is much more forgiving than I would be under similar circumstances, saying "Everything's brand new. It's like life's starting again, and I can't dwell on what I've lost. I only have a little bit of my life left, and I don't want to ruin it with anger."

Don't get me wrong, I am not a bleeding heart softy. I am for the Death Penalty.

I am from Texas -- after all -- where we hang them high and often. (Hanging stopped in the 70s, but you get the point)

However, I think it is ludicrous how we have chosen to apply the death penalty in America. The inequities of the system, where the majority on death row are minorities and/or poor and the tales of trial lawyer incompetence are rampant. Many Texas prisoners are not even US citizens.

I am not saying most people on death row don't deserve to be there. I just feel ashamed every time I think of Texas lawyers sleeping through their cases. A man is on trial for his life, and that is "adequate representation?"

If a state chooses to exact the maximum penalty, it should shoulder the financial responsibility of ensuring that penalty is applied fairly, without prejudice, and only after "death qualified" lawyers have handled the initial trial and any resulting appeals.

A lawyer would be "death qualified" after second seating -- which is assisting in lawyerese -- two death penalty cases. And the state should fund a special type of public defender team which would only handle death penalty cases for those too poor to pay for a death qualified lawyer.

Trial judges should become "death qualified" by observing at least two death penalty cases.

Yes, this would cost money, but it would also result in future savings. Appeals are costly -- very costly. Just think of the number of people involved in the judicial system and the daily cost of keeping the prisoner, etc. Better lawyers and judges at the trial level would result in fewer appealable errors.

But there is also the cost on the innocent. Krone, the prisoner released Monday by Arizona, spent his 30s locked up. What is the value of a life?

I know mine is supposedly $2,189,568.00, as determined by www.humanforsale.com -- but what about Krone and the other 99?

There is also the cost on the family of the victim. Believing justice was done and waiting years to witness the final act -- only to learn the con they have hated and whose death they have anticipated for so many years did not kill their mother/daughter/father/brother/child. How horrible to feel the pain all over again. What price their loss of closure?

Plus what about the cost on the victims who suffer because the wrong man is jailed and the guilty man remains free to commit further crimes? In Krone's case the real murderer was a known sex offender. I wonder how many other women suffered because Krone was locked up in his place?

I remember thinking DNA would revolutionize criminal law. I felt pretty sure that states would immediately start testing evidence -- even evidence from cases on appeal. A positive result would stop many appeals in their tracks -- saving time and money. A negative result suggesting another perp would lead to justice, possibly get the real violent offender off the street, and also stop the appeals process. Not bad for a $500.00 outlay -- less than the cost of keeping a Texas death row prisoner for ten days.

What an idealist I was.

More info about innocent people on death row can be found here.

"If statistics are any indication, the system may well be allowing some innocent defendants to be executed…Serious questions are being raised about whether the death penalty is being fairly administered in this country. Perhaps it's time to look at minimum standards for appointed counsel in death cases and adequate compensation for appointed counsel when they are used."

-- Sandra Day O'Connor 7/2/2001, speech to the Minnesota Women Lawyers group

posted by Bohica at 12:00 PM