Comments on: What do you think about the death penalty?

By: Wow

Wow — Tue, 06 Jun 2017 08:37:28 +0000

All the people released from death row were possibly innocent, they were certainly not guilty enough for death, “mike”.

If the jury is infallible and therefore “guilty” means they really ARE guilty, then their release is also infallible because that’s why they released them.

Legal technicalities get people convicted. You cannot avoid it unless you’re claiming to be omniscient which requires omnipresence.

And that’s all ignoring the fact that the government can lie. See any banana republic, including the USA.

By: MikeN

MikeN — Tue, 06 Jun 2017 07:45:23 +0000

All the people released from death row were not innocent. Many were because of legal technicalities, like illegal searches.

By: Charles D. Raby

Charles D. Raby — Tue, 06 Jun 2017 02:04:22 +0000

Dudley Sharp… I have to agree with you, I think Nitrogen gas will replace injection. Which is why I do my deep breathing exercises every day, I plan to lie there a long ass time!
But man, Texas law clearly states they do ‘death by intravenous drugs with the significant amount to cause the death of the prisoner’. So there will be long legal battles, because juries in Texas are under the impression, as you stated, that it’s quite painless and peaceful. Would a jury had sentenced us to death knowing we would be shot? Gassed? Electrocuted? It would only take ONE juror to have a problem with the thought of them shooting us, and the legal battles will start the moment they switch methods.
In other states that have already switched, they had 2-3 different methods on the books, which is why they aren’t challenged. But here in Texas, there is just one method; injection. So that will be more millions in dollars for legal battles, that could be better spent elsewhere. I would like you and everyone else to take a look at my case and see what you think. Find me at http://www.savecharlesdraby.com/

By: Charles D. Raby

Charles D. Raby — Tue, 06 Jun 2017 02:00:46 +0000

Zebra, you said it! Many miss the obvious facts; innocent people are sentenced to death and executed. And you spoke of the almighty dollar as a factor as well. I cannot speak on other states, but here in Texas, there have been a lot of guys who have been winning a ‘do over’ for a new punishment hearing/trial. And a lot of them have been given Life as a deal, even before it gets that far.
But just think on this…the state of Texas has spent MILLIONS of dollars of tax payer money senteneing that individual to death. First they tell the jury that nothing short of executing these people, will do. Then they waste all those millions trying to kill them in their appeals, but once they win a new punishment trial, all of the sudden they are worthy of a Life sentence. What changed? Nothing! They are still the same person that killed someone, but now they’re worthy of Life. I am not saying this to throw salt on them, I am glad they got Life. But what changed? Other than the millions and millions of dollars wasted on trial and appeals? Think of all the money they would have saved, money that could have gone to teachers; some of the lowest paid people in the state. Or students, roads, etc, not to mention the pain and suffering of both families. Why not just give them Life from the start?

By: Charles D. Raby

Charles D. Raby — Tue, 06 Jun 2017 02:00:05 +0000

Bruce ]ensen…man you hit the nail right on head, and I bet you aren’t even an attorney! Innocent people have died. You always hear about people who support the DP, saying if you have to kill one innocent to get a hundred guilty, it is worth it. A small price to pay. But I never hear anyone ask them, would they want to be that falsely accused, innocent person? Would they feel the same, if it was their loved one? A son, brother, uncle, friend, whoever they truly know is innocent? Would they still say it’s ok to kill one innocent to get the 100 guilty? I don’t think they would. People are all for killing someone they don’t know, but their outlook changes in the blink of an eye once their loved one is fixing to be taken down.
They will never televise an execution, but they should teach about it, and other laws, in the schools. You said you sat on a jury in a first degree murder case. Man I imagine that was something. I would like you and everyone else to take a look at my case and see what you think.

By: Charles D. Raby

Charles D. Raby — Tue, 06 Jun 2017 01:58:57 +0000

Hello, a RickA, a Friend of mine was reading and suggested that I write…I am a Texas Death row inmate, so maybe you’d like hearing from me? My name is Charles D. Raby, and you can learn more about me, including how to reach me, at: http://www.savecharlesdraby.com/ A state never actually murders anyone, just like a soldier never murders an opposing solider. That may be true in some cases, but here in Texas when a death certificate is issued for a man or woman that has been executed, the death warrant says “Cause of death Homicide”. Yes, it is a legally justified killing. But it is still a killing.
As for your thought that the state does not actually execute innocent people, I beg to differ on that. Take a look at Todd Willingham, or Carlos Deluna. There have been over 100 men and women released from Death Row throughout the states. Smarter people than I have said, that if you do the math, that’s one in every hundred. All of them have been released from Death Row in recent times, due to new DNA testing.
But think of all the ones before that, or the ones executed for faulty witness identification, which seems to be the leading factor. They could never prove their innocence as they do now, because DNA didn’t exist as it does now. But back then? Texas has executed close to 500 people since the reinstatement of capital punishment. Compare that to the number of all those who have been released from Death Row in recent times…do you really think somewhere down the line they didn’t kill an innocent person?
Todd Willingham was convicted on outdated fire expert’s testimony. The expert was one of those ‘good ol’ boys’ who just flat out refused to change his way of thinking and doing things, even when confronted with the science of understanding fires. He refused to read anything, he is the expert, and because of his outdated ‘expert’ opinion, Todd Willingham was judicially murdered. ‘Murdered’ being the key word.
I would like you to take a look as my website RiokA. I would really like your thoughts on what you see there. If you say you’re an attorney, then yea, I’d like your thoughts.

By: Wow

Wow — Wed, 03 May 2017 21:53:13 +0000

Any judge asking such a question of a juror can be told to take a glass of get lost. They have no right to do so, and there’s no evidence for the death penalty, it’s only evidence that there is enough evidence for a guilty verdict, and the case has to be for the death penalty, upon which the burden of proof is massively raised, and there has to be unanimity. There’s no “evidence supporting the death penalty” in the court case, only the charge that is punishable by the death penalty.

And the juror can vote no and override the others, since it has to be unanimous.

And the judge isn’t asking whether he should award a sentence of death, the judge only asks if the defendant is guilty or not of a charge that carries such a penalty. The judge DOES NOT have to give the death penalty. They can decide not to award that on a guilty verdict. The jurors are not asked if the punishment is death, and the judge therefore doesn’t even have to ignore them, their opinion on the sentence is not asked, not given and not allowed.

By: RickA

RickA — Wed, 03 May 2017 17:04:11 +0000

zebra #211:

In many states, if the prospective juror is not willing to impose the death penalty, if the facts support it, they can be excluded from the jury. So I think it is very possible that the 57% might be stricken from the jury (if they were selected for jury duty in the first place) – if they were chosen to sit on a death penalty case in the first instance.

Polls are interesting – but in this case I am not sure they matter much.

By: BBD

BBD — Tue, 25 Apr 2017 11:14:46 +0000

MikeN

BBD, I consider it a benefit to society to have a killer or rapist be put to death.

Why? How does killing them benefit society? You need to *explain* this.

Before doing so, read zebra’s quote from the DPIC carefully.

By: zebra

zebra — Tue, 25 Apr 2017 09:57:13 +0000

From Death Penalty Information Center:

A recent poll by researcher Craig Haney, a Professor of Psychology at the University of California – Santa Cruz, has found that a “strong majority” of Florida respondents prefer life without parole to the death penalty for people convicted of murder, even as many harbor continuing misconceptions about capital punishment that would predispose them to support the death penalty.

In Haney’s survey of more than 500 jury-eligible respondents who were asked to choose between Florida’s statutorily available sentencing options, 57% chose life without parole, while 43% chose the death penalty, as the appropriate punishment for a person convicted of murder.

The preference for life held true, Haney said, across racial groups, genders, educational levels, and religious affiliation. The Florida results are consistent with recent polls in other death penalty states, such as Kentucky and Oklahoma.

Dr. Haney found that Floridians held two common misconceptions about the death penalty that affected their views on the issue: 68.9% mistakenly believed that the death penalty was cheaper than life without parole, and 40.2% mistakenly believed that people sentenced to life without parole would be released from prison.

Haney said “support for the death penalty plummeted” to 29% if the life sentencing option was combined with a requirement that these prisoners be required to pay restitution to victims’ families. In addition, when Floridians were given the option of diverting the $1 million per case currently spent on the death penalty to investigate unsolved rapes and murders, only one quarter still supported capital punishment.

Dr. Haney’s research also found that a majority of Floridians oppose the death penalty for defendants with serious mental illness, do not believe the death penalty is a deterrent, and agree that most religious opinion opposes capital punishment.

Haney said asking people simply if they support the death penalty is inadequate because “[t]hat question offers a limited and often flawed snapshot of voter attitudes, capturing only abstract support or opposition, but failing to expose strong preferences and deeper pragmatic thinking.”

Just sayin’

Science is about facts.