An Eye For An Eye
Two adult women and a young boy are stabbed to death, dismembered and stuffed into a tree. The man responsible receives life in prison b/c he cooperated with authorities by giving up the location of the bodies and agreeing to plead guilty.
A man kills his girlfriends daughter and then kills an elderly couple in his flight to leave the state, leaving them dumped in two different states. He receives life in prison by agreeing to plead guilty and drop his extradition from West Virginia.
Meanwhile a man was executed this past week here in Ohio with very little fanfare. His crime, he killed another man in a jail house fight. Why him and not the others despite the heinous nature and the taking of extremely innocent lives? He made the ultimate mistake of pleading not guilty. You see, we don't execute people who plead guilty, we only execute people who claim innocence.
In the past 18 years 17 death row inmates have had their convictions overturned and were set free. They served a combined 209 years in prison for crimes they didn't commit. As of Jan. 1 2010 there were 3,261 people on death row in the U.S., 5 of those people plead guilty to their crimes all of the others claimed innocence. I'm not saying any of these inmates are innocent, in fact they're more than likely all guilty. But what puts them on death row is the fact that they challenged the State to prove them guilty. If you go along with program, plead guilty and save the state a boatload money (average cost of a death penalty trial is $1.26 million) you can live out your life with 3 meals and a cot, a free gym membership and in Ohio, a tv in your cell for a $1. a month. But if you want to plead your innocence you can pay with your life.
Why do we even have a death penalty? Uh,oh yeah, its a deterrent. Was it a deterrent to an upstanding church going family who strangled their wife/daughter-in-law and dumped her in septic tank or the man who shot another b/c there was only 3 grams of cocaine in the bag when he paid for 4?
How about "victims deserve an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth"? See above, you're only going to get it when you have a trial and to the State your eye or tooth isn't worth $1.26 million. Then there's also the fact that your going to have to outlive the inmate to get your closure. The longest time on death row prior to execution is 33 years. Florida has man on death row thats been there for 37 years.
How about "its best to just sentence them to death than have to pay for them the rest of their lives"? That doesn't quite work either b/c the average post conviction costs of a capital murder case is $2.9 million dollars. That includes incarceration and all the automatic appeals processes that go along with a death sentence.
So, why do we even have a death penalty? Beats me.
A man kills his girlfriends daughter and then kills an elderly couple in his flight to leave the state, leaving them dumped in two different states. He receives life in prison by agreeing to plead guilty and drop his extradition from West Virginia.
Meanwhile a man was executed this past week here in Ohio with very little fanfare. His crime, he killed another man in a jail house fight. Why him and not the others despite the heinous nature and the taking of extremely innocent lives? He made the ultimate mistake of pleading not guilty. You see, we don't execute people who plead guilty, we only execute people who claim innocence.
In the past 18 years 17 death row inmates have had their convictions overturned and were set free. They served a combined 209 years in prison for crimes they didn't commit. As of Jan. 1 2010 there were 3,261 people on death row in the U.S., 5 of those people plead guilty to their crimes all of the others claimed innocence. I'm not saying any of these inmates are innocent, in fact they're more than likely all guilty. But what puts them on death row is the fact that they challenged the State to prove them guilty. If you go along with program, plead guilty and save the state a boatload money (average cost of a death penalty trial is $1.26 million) you can live out your life with 3 meals and a cot, a free gym membership and in Ohio, a tv in your cell for a $1. a month. But if you want to plead your innocence you can pay with your life.
Why do we even have a death penalty? Uh,oh yeah, its a deterrent. Was it a deterrent to an upstanding church going family who strangled their wife/daughter-in-law and dumped her in septic tank or the man who shot another b/c there was only 3 grams of cocaine in the bag when he paid for 4?
How about "victims deserve an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth"? See above, you're only going to get it when you have a trial and to the State your eye or tooth isn't worth $1.26 million. Then there's also the fact that your going to have to outlive the inmate to get your closure. The longest time on death row prior to execution is 33 years. Florida has man on death row thats been there for 37 years.
How about "its best to just sentence them to death than have to pay for them the rest of their lives"? That doesn't quite work either b/c the average post conviction costs of a capital murder case is $2.9 million dollars. That includes incarceration and all the automatic appeals processes that go along with a death sentence.
So, why do we even have a death penalty? Beats me.
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