is it worth 1,000 tookies being spared execution if...

[RepublicanElephant]

one innocent death row inmate is spared?

the issue is NOT tookie.

almost every other week in this country someone is set free because of dna evidence. even if tookie is not, what about the innocents still waiting on death rows around the country?

i'd rather see a thousand tookies rot in prison for life, than see a single innocent human being put to death in my name.

i thought this was what all liberal progressives believed.

guess not.

[Webster Green]

1. It is dis-heartening...

...to see (ahem) "progressives" cheering on this 9th century style bloodlust for revenge.

[Poppyseedman]

2. What does DNA evidence have to do with Tookie?

This is a murder trial, not a rape trial.

Granted there have been people (very few) on death row exonerated by DNA evidence, but there have been plenty of people exonerated by DNA evidence who are not on death row, but still in prison. As the prison population ages and as more people who are put in prison by DNA evidence, wrongly incarcerated accused inmates will decrease.

To answer your question: is it worth 1,000 tookies being spared execution if...one innocent death row inmate is spared?

No. Tookie is a con man. He murdered four innocent people in cold blood. He should pay with his life.

[RepublicanElephant]

3. i didn't think there was anything worse than shedding innocent blood...

whether it's tookie, bush or the state of california doing it.

[Poppyseedman]

4. When Tookie is put to death, there won't be any innocent blood

shed.
I've actually researched this subject and there is only ONE case where an innocent man was probable put to death by the state in modern times in Texas. There are several others yet to be proved. The rest of the so called "innocent inmates" have serious holes in the cases that "prove" their innocence.

Granted one innocent is one to many, but the system works. It's an ugly system to deal with the ugly side of humanity

[Cooley Hurd]

10. "...but the system works."

'Nuff said.

As long as justice isn't foolproof (see above), irrevocable sentences should never be imposed.:thumbsdown:

[bowens43]

5. The death penalty is wrong , always and absolutely.

[Selatius]

6. How many innocent people have been executed in America?

I'm probably asking a question with no answer because if the truth says innocent people were killed, chances are somebody already covered it up. Given the number of people on death row who have been exonerated, it would be a matter of statistical reality to say that the longer the current situation is allowed to continue, the chance of an innocent man being put to death will continue to grow.

[mondo joe]

7. But it is about Tookie right now. I'm against the DP, but also against

special celebrity exemptions.

[goclark]

8. I'm against it too ~ everyone is a celebrity in their mother's eyes

To be against the DP, I must be about beliving that killing anybody(guilty as sin or not) is BARBARIC.

It was barbaric in Viet Nam.

It was barbaric in Japan (I have been to Japan and toured the museum to see the pictures of innocent children destroyed and their school houses bombed to pieces.

As a teacher, that did it for me, I decided I would study War No More.

And that extended to my view of the DP.

It is no about Tookie to me, Tookie can rot in jail forever as far as I'm concerned.

But, as an educator, I don't believe that we teach our children by killing people that did even the worst of crimes.

We are better than that, at least I want my children to know that I do not support that stance.

I don't want them to solve problems by taking the easy way out, the DP is the easy way out for society.

When Arnold, our "moral" leader, decides if this man,or any man, lives or dies,he will be doing it not the good of society. He will be doing it for the political good of Arnold.

That is not Good Enough for me.

Arnold " The Celebrity" will be using his celebrity to decide if a so called celebrity(Tookie) lives or dies.

The irony floors me.

[mondo joe]

9. Yes. And so I oppose this exemption. Either end the DP or leave it in

place. But I hate to see one celebrity pulled out while there are people left on death row across the country.

[RepublicanElephant]

11. once again, this issue is NOT about tookie williams...

Lynnell Burkett: Former DA Millsap now rejects capital punishment

"A former San Antonio district attorney who five years ago called himself a "lifelong supporter of the death penalty" now opposes it. Sam Millsap also must live with the knowledge that a man whom he prosecuted in a capital case likely was innocent, although he was executed. In 2000, Millsap, writing in the Express-News, called for a moratorium on the death penalty in Texas. In that commentary, he expressed confidence that 'every person sentenced to die while I was district attorney was guilty of the crime for which he was convicted.' However, he said at the time, he no longer was convinced that the state's legal system could guarantee protection of the innocent in all capital cases. Fast-forward to 2005. An in-depth investigation by the Houston Chronicle reached the conclusion that Ruben Cantu, who was sentenced to die while Millsap was DA and later executed, most likely was innocent. Those whose testimony condemned him have recanted."

http://www.mysanantonio.com/opinion/columnists/lburkett/stories/MYSA120905.2O.burkett.1bba740c.html

[goclark]

12. Awesome! Thank you for sharing that valuable information nt

[applegrove]

13. Executions are morally robbing of the communities that do them.

And it is cheaper to keep someone in jail their whole life.

For Christ's sake - stop it with the executions. And don't make it about the criminals - cause execution is not about them - it is about a poison in society at large.

For sure innocent people will be killed. So too will criminals.

I think the death penalty plays into the hands of people like Rumsfield who want perpetual war and hate the peace movement.