Killing in the name of
People wonder why I am against the death penalty. Well, for starters check out CNN’s article about Roger Coleman of VA.
If the tests show Roger Keith Coleman did not rape and murder his sister-in-law in 1981, it will mark the first time in the United States an executed person has been scientifically proved innocent, say death penalty opponents, who are keenly aware that such a result could have a powerful effect on public opinion.
Not so sure I agree that it is the first time someone was proven innocent after being put to death, although perhaps it is the first where it is conclusive. I recall in my previous research that in NJ alone there were something like 23 cases (as of a few years back) where evidence was found post execution that linked other people to the crimes people were executed for. The distinction between those cases that I’d previously researched and this current case is that now may be the first time someone who has been put to death is going to be conclusively proven not guilty.
Many Americans are on the fence about the issue and the lowest number of Americans in history currently approves of our death penalty. This case will undoubtedly a lot of press if the tests go the way many people think they will and the percentage of the US that supports the death penalty may take another hit.
“I think it would be the final straw for a lot of people who are on the fence on the death penalty,” said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington.
I know I’m biased and this piece is therefore biased, but I hope this could open up the eyes of many who have never questioned the death penalty. I stand against it for a slew of reasons, which I won’t be getting into today, but I hope that seeing proof that an innocent man was killed by our government because of the flaws of our justice system may at least show people that major reform in the death penalty and the entire criminal justice system is needed.
The case drew international attention as the well-spoken Coleman pleaded his case on talk shows and in magazines and newspapers. Time magazine featured the coal miner on its cover. Pope John Paul II tried to block the execution. Then-Gov. L. Douglas Wilder’s office was flooded with thousands of calls and letters of protest from around the world.
If so many people thought he was innocent, how come only now is the retest being done, a decade too late to spare the man’s life? Wherever you stand on this, you can’t deny the frightening possibility of many men being put to death for doign absolutely nothing wrong. If that doesn’t scare you, try watching A Clockwork Orange.
January 4th, 2006 at 11:39 am
Indeed. The arguments FOR the death penalty: that the punishment fits the crime, or that it prevents others from committing the same crime, don’t work for me. If we are a society that does not respect human life, how can we demand respect of ourselves? Even if everyone was defintely guilty (which is obviously NOT certain), we cannot teach people that killing people is wrong by killing people who kill people.
January 4th, 2006 at 1:25 pm
Right, it’s all barbaric. People who say “an eye for any eye” and whatnot…..the Code of Hammurabi is a little outdated.
Want proof? This is No. 194 of the Code. (eye for an eye is like 196):
“If a man give his child to a nurse and the child die in her hands, but the nurse unbeknown to the father and mother nurse another child, then they shall convict her of having nursed another child without the knowledge of the father and mother and her breasts shall be cut off. ”
Yeah yeah they are not saying the Code of Hammurabi should reign again (although it would make things interesting), but you get the general older way of thinking analogy.
January 4th, 2006 at 1:27 pm
that happened in front of me at a hospital once.
January 4th, 2006 at 5:33 pm
that guy is a little creepy though….keep him away from children. i was never one for the death penalty as hardass as i can be, but the most recent one to date…the crips dude, made me think: Why should this pathetic killer deserve my sympathy? they say the cost of killing a man is more than keeping him in jail —very true and it’s a reason why i’m against it—but fuck it , I say it’s can be money well spent……my ass hurts from this fence.
January 4th, 2006 at 7:02 pm
mike, though it may be a bit more christian in tone than what i write on here, i wrote about the crips dude in my blog
January 5th, 2006 at 4:33 pm
[…] I am going to piggy-back on the esteemed Justin Harlen, and his recent thoughts on executions. If there was ever a topic to talk about around the dinner table, it’s the death penalty. Governor Arnold has recently turned down clemency for the oldest death row inmate in the country. Last month he did the same for Stanley “Tookie” Williams. This got major press when lots of celebrities came out in support of Williams, although to no avail. […]
January 10th, 2006 at 6:42 pm
[…] Given the debate posed on this very site in recent times, can there be any doubt that the Filter is one of the biggest forces for good in the country? I think not. Email to a friend :: :: Permalink […]
January 13th, 2006 at 8:07 am
HA! DNA testing just proved this piece of shit Roger Keith Coleman did, indeed, rape and nearly behead his sister-in-law. So, in addition to being a murdering, raping low-life scumbag, he’s also a habitual liar who nearly worked the system well enough to not only elude the death penalty, but be exonerated of this crime altogether.
And to think how close this filth was to walking the streets a free man again.
http://www.nj.com/newsflash/jersey/index.ssf?/base/national-58/1137154152212460.xml&storylist=njhomepage