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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsLast Night Steve Smith Was Executed In Ohio.
and although I am against the dp in all cases, including this one, I was glad of his departure from this planet.
A man convicted of killing a 6-month-old as he raped her was executed Wednesday despite his arguments that he never meant to hurt her.
Steve Smith, 46, was executed by lethal injection for the September 1998 killing of his live-in girlfriends daughter, Autumn Carter, in Mansfield in northern Ohio.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/ohio-man-set-to-be-executed-in-1998-killing-of-baby-girl-who-was-raped/2013/05/01/de30cf46-b22b-11e2-9fb1-62de9581c946_story.html
aikoaiko
(34,170 posts)Certainty of agency + heinous crime + no compelling mitigating circumstances = death penalty
Katashi_itto
(10,175 posts)HappyMe
(20,277 posts)Logical
(22,457 posts)So if the jury is Super Duper 100% sure he did it then you are ok?
Wow, you think the jury says "we'll, I am not sure but death still sounds ok"
Maybe one of the worst logic I have ever seem!
Read about the innocence project and get back to me!
aikoaiko
(34,170 posts)But it could be.
Yes, I think juries convict even when their is some doubt.
Logical
(22,457 posts)hfojvt
(37,573 posts)but in Joseph Heller's "Picture This" he writes of the Socrates trial that something like 73 of 90 found Socrates guilty and 77 of 90 voted to sentence him to death, and thus 4 people voted to put him to death for a crime they did not think he committed.
But certainty could mean that the big black guy was found weeping over the dead girl and said "I tried to take it back, but it was too late." (from the movie "The Green Mile"
But presumably there are cases when you can be more certain than others. For example, if you capture the shooter at Newtown with the gun in his hands, then you can be pretty sure you have the right guy.
Logical
(22,457 posts)premium
(3,731 posts)Generally, I'm against the DP except in the most extreme cases, and this would qualify, IMO, as the most exteme case.
Good fucking riddance to this monster.
Nye Bevan
(25,406 posts)when I called for life without parole for the Boston bomber.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=2739237
At least I am consistent in that I oppose the death penalty in all circumstances.
Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)cali
(114,904 posts)sentence. Go back to my op and read, honey. I state quite clearly that I oppose it all the time including in this case.
Nye Bevan
(25,406 posts)cali
(114,904 posts)Here's the post you're linking to:
cruel and unusual punishment. clearly illustrated by the psych study
I just can't get behind it as a concept.
It's in reference to supermax prisons.
wow. what an "accusation"
Honesty. try it.
Bake
(21,977 posts)He could have -- indeed, should have -- been rotting in prison for the rest of his miserable life. I have no sympathy for him, but I **am** opposed to the DP for a number of reasons. This monster rotting in jail wouldn't have bothered me in the least.
I won't mourn him, though.
Bake
Then again, housing somebody for many decades in prison isn't cheap either.
There are probably studies on this. How much is spent executing vs. housing in prison for 40 years?
progressoid
(49,991 posts)As odd as it may seem, in our legal system it is more expensive to execute someone.
Bake
(21,977 posts)Becuase of the numerous appeals, and most defendants having public defenders, the cost to litigate/prosecute all the way to execution far outstrips the cost to feed and house the defendant for life.
Bake
Orsino
(37,428 posts)...so it's sad that we think that a cost-benefit analysis is going to be the most persuasive argument.
But the by-definition irrevocability and demonstrable fallibility aren't swaying legislatures, much less the moral quandary.
Cirque du So-What
(25,939 posts)However, in this case, the only reason I can cite for my opposition is the cost of enforcing the death penalty vs. life in prison. If (and this is a BIG 'if') there were ever a justified execution, this comes close to it AFAIC.
one_voice
(20,043 posts)evil. He should have rotted in jail.
This is when you say (if you believe in a higher being) dear God, if someone has to die today, may I make a suggestion.