I’d tend to agree. Back room confessions are illegal now, but police and prosecutors can still bring an awful lot of persuasive force to bear.
You might want to bone up on the old constitution, there, pal.
Good point. However, Rick, what would be your reaction to the “O.J solution”? A wrongful death suit against the perjured witness?
Damn, you’re fucked up.
Fuck you, shithead.
That’s certainly possible.
But… the witness in question is likely judgement-proof.
Thanks, Duke of Rat. That was pretty darn sad. If Garza is to be believed, it seems Cantu could have informed the authorities, or at least his own counsel, about Garza’s accomplice. He chose not to–again, according to Garza–due to some ‘street oath.’
I am by no means exonerating the DA, and by extension, the State, but still, why not save yourself if you can? This whole mess is very strange and very sad, if you ask me.
Curiously quite from all of those who are death penalty supporters.
Like many here, I’m anti-death penaly for just the reason presented in this story. The system is composed of people and people are notoriously unreliable. You don’t get a second chance if you get the death penalty case wrong. For that reason alone, it should be outlawed.
I’m against it on moral grounds, I don’t want to be a party to murder even if it is society doing it and not me personally. Even if I had no moral objections, until police, prosecutors, judges, witnesses, and juries all become perfect we have the chance of catastrophic failure. I’d rather keep 1,000 convicted alive for decades if it meant that 1 of them was later exonerated.
I believe the conventional wisdom is that the ones being put to death are guilty of something but not necessarily what they were convicted for.
From Duke of Rat’s link (bolding mine):
If I’m reading Shodan’s posts correctly, I don’t think its fair to say he asserted no innocent people have been wrongly executed. It seems to me, Shodan was saying, at the time, no known innocent people had been put to death since the death penalty’s reinstatement. I think there’s a difference. It’s subtle, no doubt, but a difference nonetheless.
I read that part, too, Lute Skywatcher. I don’t think he killed him/her, though. As far as I know, civilians aren’t executed for shooting and wounding a person, police officer or not.
I hope a strip joint, Flying J and oil refinery open next door to your Houston home. No zonin’! Yee-haw!
So - was this a woosh, or the most unintentionally ironc post in the whole thread?
Hey, bite me.
I’m really sick and tired of the suck-ass attitude toward Texas that people display simply because they don’t like the death penalty.
I think we need, as a nation, to overhaul the concept of capital punishment to make sure that it is given only in cases supported by hard evidence, such as photos, fingerprints, apprehension at the scene, and/or DNA. And I would further overhaul it and say that if a conviction is returned in such a case, the defendant gets his automatic appeal to the Court of Criminal Appeals (or whatever it is in your state), and if the conviction is upheld, he is executed within 24 hours.
Maybe not but it this case I can see how the DA was pushing for a conviction on the robbery/murder. I’m not saying I agree with it but I do understand it.
Revtim,
I’ve started a discussion based on your remark here (no, it’s not the Pit - it’s GD).
Zev Steinhardt
That was my read, as well, although there’s plenty of other stuff in that quote to sent my Outragometer a-twirlin’.
What are the odds this guy has any money to sue for?