When I wrote this post, one of my auditors declared that Governor Kaine would not stop executions in Virginia.
But, he has now - for a while - and for a pretty good reason.
2 comments:
Anonymous
said...
(This comment was also posted on another blog but it applies here.)
I used to take the standard Republican view that if you were charged by Police, that you were probably guilty, and if you were convicted, then you were certainly guilty.
I know differently now. I know that some people are so twisted that they will walk right into a courtroom and lie before the judge, jury and God, just to get a conviction.
This probably happens in every court, on every day to some extent. Since I have been observing Virginia's courts, I have seen prosecutors suppress evidence that they know will help exonerate the accused, I have seen judges disallow evidence that would prevent a conviction, I have seen local cops, State Troopers and even federal agents make things up, lie or embellish testimony in the hopes of getting a conviction.
The chief problem is that there is absolutely no incentive for cops, prosecutors and judges, to protect the rights of the accused. Sure you get a court appointed attorney, but especially here in Vahginyuh, the system is stacked against anyone who is accused, and we falsely convict people here EVERY DAY.
Until cops and prosecutors stop treating our justice system like a baseball box score, where only the number of your wins matters, the citizens will not have justice, or even fairness.
Why anyone would trust such a fallible, and often corrupt judicial system to murder someone, makes no sense. This is the same league of bureaucrats who can't get a parking ticket straight, so why should anyone trust them to execute the right perpetrator?
In the above case, even if the guy is guilty, killing him does not restore the life of the murdered cop. As a People, we do not need to satisfy a sense of revenge through state sponsored murder, especially when there is a possibility that the soul of the accused can still be redeemed, or that person may even be exonerated by new evidence, however unlikely that possibility.
In the most egregious examples of murder, life without parole is the humane choice and also allows for the possibility, however slim, of new evidence being discovered at a later date.
More of my fellow Republicans are awakening to the gaping holes in our justice system and are joining those who oppose state sponsored murder.
During the next election, the gubernatorial candidate who opposes the death penalty, shall be the man who will be elected. That man could be a Republican, but only if Bob McDonnell awakens to this key issue in time; otherwise, Creigh Deeds shall be our Governor.
It is the Twenty-First Century. It is well past time that we ended state sponsored murder in the Commonwealth.
I used to take the standard Republican view that if you were charged by Police, that you were probably guilty, and if you were convicted, then you were certainly guilty.
I know differently now. I know that some people are so twisted that they will walk right into a courtroom and lie before the judge, jury and God, just to get a conviction.
This probably happens in every court, on every day to some extent. Since I have been observing Virginia's courts, I have seen prosecutors suppress evidence that they know will help exonerate the accused, I have seen judges disallow evidence that would prevent a conviction, I have seen local cops, State Troopers and even federal agents make things up, lie or embellish testimony in the hopes of getting a conviction.
The chief problem is that there is absolutely no incentive for cops, prosecutors and judges, to protect the rights of the accused. Sure you get a court appointed attorney, but especially here in Vahginyuh, the system is stacked against anyone who is accused, and we falsely convict people here EVERY DAY.
Until cops and prosecutors stop treating our justice system like a baseball box score, where only the number of your wins matters, the citizens will not have justice, or even fairness.
Why anyone would trust such a fallible, and often corrupt judicial system to murder someone, makes no sense. This is the same league of bureaucrats who can't get a parking ticket straight, so why should anyone trust them to execute the right perpetrator?
In the above case, even if the guy is guilty, killing him does not restore the life of the murdered cop. As a People, we do not need to satisfy a sense of revenge through state sponsored murder, especially when there is a possibility that the soul of the accused can still be redeemed, or that person may even be exonerated by new evidence, however unlikely that possibility.
In the most egregious examples of murder, life without parole is the humane choice and also allows for the possibility, however slim, of new evidence being discovered at a later date.
More of my fellow Republicans are awakening to the gaping holes in our justice system and are joining those who oppose state sponsored murder.
During the next election, the gubernatorial candidate who opposes the death penalty, shall be the man who will be elected. That man could be a Republican, but only if Bob McDonnell awakens to this key issue in time; otherwise, Creigh Deeds shall be our Governor.
It is the Twenty-First Century. It is well past time that we ended state sponsored murder in the Commonwealth.
2 comments:
(This comment was also posted on another blog but it applies here.)
I used to take the standard Republican view that if you were charged by Police, that you were probably guilty, and if you were convicted, then you were certainly guilty.
I know differently now. I know that some people are so twisted that they will walk right into a courtroom and lie before the judge, jury and God, just to get a conviction.
This probably happens in every court, on every day to some extent. Since I have been observing Virginia's courts, I have seen prosecutors suppress evidence that they know will help exonerate the accused, I have seen judges disallow evidence that would prevent a conviction, I have seen local cops, State Troopers and even federal agents make things up, lie or embellish testimony in the hopes of getting a conviction.
The chief problem is that there is absolutely no incentive for cops, prosecutors and judges, to protect the rights of the accused. Sure you get a court appointed attorney, but especially here in Vahginyuh, the system is stacked against anyone who is accused, and we falsely convict people here EVERY DAY.
Until cops and prosecutors stop treating our justice system like a baseball box score, where only the number of your wins matters, the citizens will not have justice, or even fairness.
Why anyone would trust such a fallible, and often corrupt judicial system to murder someone, makes no sense. This is the same league of bureaucrats who can't get a parking ticket straight, so why should anyone trust them to execute the right perpetrator?
In the above case, even if the guy is guilty, killing him does not restore the life of the murdered cop. As a People, we do not need to satisfy a sense of revenge through state sponsored murder, especially when there is a possibility that the soul of the accused can still be redeemed, or that person may even be exonerated by new evidence, however unlikely that possibility.
In the most egregious examples of murder, life without parole is the humane choice and also allows for the possibility, however slim, of new evidence being discovered at a later date.
More of my fellow Republicans are awakening to the gaping holes in our justice system and are joining those who oppose state sponsored murder.
During the next election, the gubernatorial candidate who opposes the death penalty, shall be the man who will be elected. That man could be a Republican, but only if Bob McDonnell awakens to this key issue in time; otherwise, Creigh Deeds shall be our Governor.
It is the Twenty-First Century. It is well past time that we ended state sponsored murder in the Commonwealth.
I used to take the standard Republican view that if you were charged by Police, that you were probably guilty, and if you were convicted, then you were certainly guilty.
I know differently now. I know that some people are so twisted that they will walk right into a courtroom and lie before the judge, jury and God, just to get a conviction.
This probably happens in every court, on every day to some extent. Since I have been observing Virginia's courts, I have seen prosecutors suppress evidence that they know will help exonerate the accused, I have seen judges disallow evidence that would prevent a conviction, I have seen local cops, State Troopers and even federal agents make things up, lie or embellish testimony in the hopes of getting a conviction.
The chief problem is that there is absolutely no incentive for cops, prosecutors and judges, to protect the rights of the accused. Sure you get a court appointed attorney, but especially here in Vahginyuh, the system is stacked against anyone who is accused, and we falsely convict people here EVERY DAY.
Until cops and prosecutors stop treating our justice system like a baseball box score, where only the number of your wins matters, the citizens will not have justice, or even fairness.
Why anyone would trust such a fallible, and often corrupt judicial system to murder someone, makes no sense. This is the same league of bureaucrats who can't get a parking ticket straight, so why should anyone trust them to execute the right perpetrator?
In the above case, even if the guy is guilty, killing him does not restore the life of the murdered cop. As a People, we do not need to satisfy a sense of revenge through state sponsored murder, especially when there is a possibility that the soul of the accused can still be redeemed, or that person may even be exonerated by new evidence, however unlikely that possibility.
In the most egregious examples of murder, life without parole is the humane choice and also allows for the possibility, however slim, of new evidence being discovered at a later date.
More of my fellow Republicans are awakening to the gaping holes in our justice system and are joining those who oppose state sponsored murder.
During the next election, the gubernatorial candidate who opposes the death penalty, shall be the man who will be elected. That man could be a Republican, but only if Bob McDonnell awakens to this key issue in time; otherwise, Creigh Deeds shall be our Governor.
It is the Twenty-First Century. It is well past time that we ended state sponsored murder in the Commonwealth.
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