The criminal justice system is imperfectly constructed. It’s also administered by humans, which means there are necessarily going to be mistakes – even terrible ones. It’s baffling to me that you think we can address these faults by disregarding legal protections for the accused and abandoning the rule of the law.
Well, no, if there was no question about that he would have been convicted. Hell, even I don’t think that’s literally true.
And what the hell are they to you, who explicitly calls for their abrogation when they lead to a result you don’t like?
I happen to live in Harris County, Texas and as a person who thinks the Death Penalty is something we should have cast out of our Penal System long ago, I am appalled by both its use and misuse. The denizens of my fair city are far too willing to send the convicted off to the “drip” and I want that to change. OTOH we do happen to live in a Nation ruled by Laws and ever since the Magna Carta our system of Laws has gradually improved our lives, not in a linear matter but more a step forward, a small retreat, step forward manner. This process can be quite maddening and Zimmy is a glaring example. The thing is, we can change Laws the we abhor, that we find unjust. You assert that the system is broken and we should throw out the baby with the bathwater, but then who exactly decides what is just and unjust, lawful or not. Second Stone the bringer of Justice?
Right now, on our “Pale Blue Dot” there is an example of what you are advocating, a small group of “Just Men” enforcing the Law as they see it to be right, we currently call them Islamic State.
No, I am not accusing you of being a terrorist but just pointing out that your line of thinking can lead us there.
Which brings us back to the Death Penalty. It is highly unlikely that I would ever end up on a jury in a Capital Crimes case but I hope that I could follow the Law and not my personal beliefs, no matter how bad a taste it left in my mouth nor the awful pangs of conscience I would be left with because that is how I would expect to be judged were I the defendant. Fairly but within the law.
This probably makes no sense to you, but I think it does to sane people.
The alternative is to go through life like Dick Cheney and shooting my friends in the face while starting wars for profit and fun while believing in nothing.
At the risk of hijack, I’d like to note that it is perfectly within the law to not issue a death penalty in a capital case. That’s why there is a penalty phase; it’s not automatic. It’s perfectly valid and legal for a juror to vote for conviction and against death. (That’s why prosecutors death-qualify the jurors in such a trial, so that the scales of justice are already tipped.)
This being the reason that it is highly unlikely I would ever serve as a juror in a Capital case, I am anti Death Penalty. Persons are routinely convicted of Capital crimes here and not given the drip, Kelly Ziglers last big case for example, unfortunately the darker your skin color the more probable you get to die for your crime.
The real point I was trying to make is that IMO tis better to live with laws that you disagree with and have a chance to change or modify than to live without laws at all and be judged arbitrarily.
