Texas executed and innocent man

[Turtle]

The problem with this is someone actually thinks you can be 100% safe while at the same time be breathing. Life isn't 100% safe, so to expect some solution for people who kill to be be 100% safe, is unrealistic. Killing innocent people is certainly not the way to achieve 100% safety. It's a great comedic oxymoron, tho .

 

[layoutshooter]

The problem with this is someone actually thinks you can be 100% safe while at the same time be breathing. Life isn't 100% safe, so to expect some solution for people who kill to be be 100% safe, is unrealistic. Killing innocent people is certainly not the way to achieve 100% safety. It's a great comedic oxymoron, tho .

No one said that life is 100% safe. 100% safety from the actions of a convicted murderer IS possible, and it should be done. I believe it can be done WITHOUT capital punishment.

There is NO valid excuse for a convicted murderer to EVER kill again, or escape etc. NONE. It just cannot be allowed to happen. If it takes a "new" kind of prison, so be it. That convicted murderer who escaped from that Michigan prison PROVES that life in prison is NOT enough to protect society, not if escape is possible.

I never said that the murderer had to be kept 100% safe, I said WE have the right to be kept 100% safe from the convicted murderer.

Again, there is NO valid excuse for a convicted murderer to ever kill again.

Allowing innocent people to be killed to avoid innocent people being killed is strange to me. Either way, the innocent is dead.

The goal is to avoid both, which CAN be done.

 

[KickStarter6]

Re: Texas executed an innocent man

Lock 'em up, throw away the key. Problem solved!

I can't think of far better things for them to do than that lol. Studies show that for drug crimes the abandonment of mandatory minimum sentences and increase of counseling helps reduce both drug and drug related violence. That in an if itself would lower the prison population in America. It looks like they're gonna build a prison for you and me to live in

 

[cheri1122]

Re: Texas executed an innocent man

We can never be guaranteed safe from being 'homicided' [love that word!], no matter how many prisons are built, or how escape proof they are. Until we understand how the human mind functions, and can predict irrational behavior, delusional people will live among us.
Killing people to prove how serious we are about "thou shalt not kill" is more delusional than any of the crazy thoughts a paranoid schizophrenic can have.

 

[cheri1122]

Re: Texas executed an innocent man

That's pretty ****ed up. It amazes me that a jury, even one in Texas, would convict someone of capital murder on the strength of the testimony of a jailhouse informer. Even if he genuinely did confess to another inmate, it still isn't trustworthy, because it's well known that people will admit to all kinds of stuff in prison to make themselves appear more badass than they are. But to convict someone based on disputed forensic evidence and a he-said/she-said testimony is ridiculous. Even for Texas.

I hope they throw the former prosecutor into the same prison.

The jury was shown a lot of prejudicial stuff, like witnesses who said he didn't try to run back into the burning house, and he was seen [gasp!] drinking beer and laughing several days after the funerals - things like that go a long way to portray someone as a "monster". Especially with little to contradict it, and his [let me guess? court appointed?] attorney put on only one character witness to balance the picture. With the [later discredited] report of arson, it wasn't hard to convict the man.
What surprises me is that Governor Perry would discount the authority of a forensic fire expert, and the Forensic Science Professional Committee's agreement that the fire wasn't arson, and refuse to grant a stay of execution, because "he's a monster".
I think Perry should go to that same prison, along with the crooked prosecutor, because that's where they belong.

 

[Turtle]

Re: Texas executed an innocent man

The jury was shown a lot of prejudicial stuff, like witnesses who said he didn't try to run back into the burning house, and he was seen [gasp!] drinking beer and laughing several days after the funerals - things like that go a long way to portray someone as a "monster". Especially with little to contradict it, and his [let me guess? court appointed?] attorney put on only one character witness to balance the picture. With the [later discredited] report of arson, it wasn't hard to convict the man.

That's what happens when the prosecution is more concerned with winning than they are the truth. And it's why Ragman has a very, very strong argument.

What surprises me is that Governor Perry would discount the authority of a forensic fire expert, and the Forensic Science Professional Committee's agreement that the fire wasn't arson, and refuse to grant a stay of execution, because "he's a monster".
I think Perry should go to that same prison, along with the crooked prosecutor, because that's where they belong.

I can give Perry a pass on that. One, it's not like Perry was an active participant in all this, or even witnessed the entire trial or even knew of the daily details. Two, most people convicted of a crime by a jury of their peers are, in fact, guilty, and by the time the case gets to the governor for a stay of execution it's gone through a gazillion legal procedures and none of them overturned the verdict, so when people get to the governor they're motivated out of desperation. Virtually every single execution ends up before the governor in the same desperate fashion, and after taking a look at case after case that never should have been presented to the governor, they eventually get tuned out. Boy who cried wolf and all that. Perry has a million unaccompanied Hondurans he has to deal with, and doesn't have time to look into one more wolf story, even if there really is a wolf there this time. No, the fault with this isn't the governor's, it's with the prosecutor.

 

[cheri1122]

Re: Texas executed an innocent man

If Perry [or any governor] hasn't time to give a matter of literal life or death the careful attention it deserves, they should delegate it to someone who does. He could have had a trusted aide study the information - heLL, maybe he did, and nobody cared enough to do the job well, because why upset the applecart?
'Law & order' politicians are too afraid of appearing 'soft', if they acknowledge that the law can make mistakes - especially where juries are involved. I believe Perry was more concerned with his political image than with the life or death of a condemned man, because everything I've read about him supports that belief. Too bad for Cameron Todd Willingham his last chance was Governor Rick Perry.

 

[Turtle]

Re: Texas executed an innocent man

You know, the prosecutor is a Republican, too. It's OK to spread it around.

 

[cheri1122]

Re: Texas executed an innocent man

You know, the prosecutor is a Republican, too. It's OK to spread it around.

I said "I think Perry should go to that same prison, with the prosecutor". Was that unclear?
Prosecutors have a great deal of power, and frequently, political ambitions, which is not an optimum combo for obtaining justice, IMO.
And just FYI: there are some Republicans I really like, believe it or not. It's just too bad that they feel they have to appear further 'right' to appease the idiots in charge of gerrymandering, pandering to the lunatic fringe, and the allocation of party funds.

 

[Ragman]

Re: Texas executed an innocent man

. In a study of executions in 34 states between 1973 and 1995, Columbia University professor James Liebman found that: “An astonishing 82 percent of death row inmates did not deserve to receive the death penalty. One in twenty death row inmates is later found not guilty.” - See more at: http://madamenoire.com/73840/exonerated-after-execution-12-men-and-one-woman-found-innocent-after-being-put-to-death/

Wow . . .82% . . . 1 in 20 later found not guilty!======== Yep, time to end the madness.

Exonerated After Execution: 12 Men (And One Woman) Found Innocent After Being Put to Death | MadameNoire

 

[KickStarter6]

Re: Texas executed an innocent man

. In a study of executions in 34 states between 1973 and 1995, Columbia University professor James Liebman found that: “An astonishing 82 percent of death row inmates did not deserve to receive the death penalty. One in twenty death row inmates is later found not guilty.” - See more at: http://madamenoire.com/73840/exonerated-after-execution-12-men-and-one-woman-found-innocent-after-being-put-to-death/

Wow . . .82% . . . 1 in 20 later found not guilty!======== Yep, time to end the madness.

Exonerated After Execution: 12 Men (And One Woman) Found Innocent After Being Put to Death | MadameNoire

Wouldn't it have been easier to say 13 people instead of 12 dude one woman?

 

[Turtle]

Re: Texas executed an innocent man

I said "I think Perry should go to that same prison, with the prosecutor". Was that unclear?

No, it was very clear. It's also clear you have a clear disdain for Perry, thus he can do no right, regardless of what he does.

Prosecutors have a great deal of power, and frequently, political ambitions, which is not an optimum combo for obtaining justice, IMO.

Agreed

And just FYI: there are some Republicans I really like, believe it or not.

I'll take or not for $500, Alex.

It's just too bad that they feel they have to appear further 'right' to appease the idiots in charge of gerrymandering, pandering to the lunatic fringe, and the allocation of party funds.

There's another side to that coin.

 

[Ragman]

Re: Texas executed an innocent man

I find it interesting that the Texas crowd has been awfully quiet on this subject. <stir stir stir>

 

[LDB]

Re: Texas executed an innocent man

It's all been covered many times. Proper procedures would insure only the guilty are executed. It should be done properly. It's a terrible thing when an innocent is murdered. That should never happen under any circumstances.

 

[muttly]

http://static.cnhi.zope.net/corsicanadailysun/images/City_of_Corsicana_response.pdf

 

[muttly]

A statement from his former wife.
From article:

In 2009, she unleashed a startling accusation that Willingham confessed the crime to her when she visited him on death row. Though she hadn't said this to investigators or during his trial, Kuykendall said she threatened to divorce Willingham the night before the fire.

She stood by that claim in her statement to HuffPost

"I did not want to believe that he could kill our children either, but he did," she said. "Shortly before his execution, I spoke to Todd about the murders and he admitted his guilt to me."
http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/2058042/

 

[davekc]

The problem is not the death penalty, it is how cases are prosecuted. If you want to fix the problem, you have to address where the problem is coming from.

 

[Pilgrim]

Assuming this guy is found mentally competent to stand trial, how would we all feel about execution for him? He tried to kill an entire family(7 people), but one teenager survived. There's no doubt about his guilt - only his mental stability. This is the type of sub-human debris for which the death penalty is entirely appropriate. If he does succeed with his insanity defense, he should be confined the rest of his life to an institution for the criminally insane.

Spring shooting suspect Ron Haskell?s attorney plans insanity defense

 

[LDB]

That's the mode of some. Blame the wrong thing or person because they're easier to go after than the real problem and those who will suffer for the stupidity usually just accept it and go on.