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The death penalty should be abolished, end of discussion. If even a single innocent person is murdered , then an obscene and heinous crime has been committed by the state.
Let's not forget that someone else was also murdered too
> In an effort to prevent his execution, Lee's attorney sought in the post-conviction appeals process to finally have the DNA evidence in the case tested for the first time. [...] Their request was denied. "The reasoning given by the judge was it wouldn't matter, that there were three people who saw him at or near that neighborhood on that day and time and honestly the DNA just wouldn't matter," Short said. Wow. Like…
> Asked about the new DNA evidence, Rutledge repeatedly insisted Lee was "lawfully executed" and pointed to the testimony of an eyewitness who purportedly saw Lee enter Reese's home that day and then leave, "erratically," 20 minutes later.
There’s also more context here for anyone interested in the case: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ledell_Lee
As for the DNA findings:
> In April 2021, new DNA testing found "unknown male" DNA on the murder weapon and bloody clothes found at the scene. However, the test also "found moderate support" that blood on Lee's left shoe could have belonged to Reese.
EDIT: Apparently, a “tire thumper” looks a lot like a small wooden bat, so there’s not as much confusion as I thought about the murder weapon. I mistakenly thought the prosecution was alleging a “tire iron” was the murder weapon.
https://www.thv11.com/mobile/article/news/crime/ledell-lee-d...
Would it be possible to pass a law where judges and prosecutors are punished if someone is executed and it’s later found they were not guilty? Would it be a good or bad idea?
If the country in question has a good track record of punishing judges, prosecutors, and LEA, then it would be abolishing the death penalty _de facto_, as no-one would take that sort of risk over just imprisoning the person for life. If the country does not have a good track record, it doesn't really change anything.
(Just devils' advocate, I live in a country without it or a need for it.)
Would it be possible to pass a law where judges and prosecutors are punished if someone is executed and it’s later found they were not guilty? Would it be a good or bad idea?
If the country in question has a good track record of punishing judges, prosecutors, and LEA, then it would be abolishing the death penalty _de facto_, as no-one would take that sort of risk over just imprisoning the person for life. If the country does not have a good track record, it doesn't really change anything.
And to make it more balanced, you could also punish them for exonerating someone later found guilty (with the available evicence at the first trial re-examined).
Just rough ideas, which might not work at all, but still, as it is judges have no skin in the game (not even their reputation, sometimes it's even the inverse: some judges purposefully give harsh senteces, e.g. to blacks to score political points they'll later exploit).
> In an effort to prevent his execution, Lee's attorney sought in the post-conviction appeals process to finally have the DNA evidence in the case tested for the first time. [...] Their request was denied. "The reasoning given by the judge was it wouldn't matter, that there were three people who saw him at or near that neighborhood on that day and time and honestly the DNA just wouldn't matter," Short said. Wow. Like…
If I murder someone with my kitchen knife, my wife and her fathers DNA will be on the murder weapon.
If you buy a gun from someone and then go shoot someone with it, it might have the sellers DNA on it.
So it’s sometimes the case that DNA can’t really create reasonable doubt.
Would it be possible to pass a law where judges and prosecutors are punished if someone is executed and it’s later found they were not guilty? Would it be a good or bad idea?
No. It's not possible. It would be horrible idea. Law is a process, punishing people who do their duty for the errors in the process when they have not been involved in misconduct would not be justice. Death penalty itself is wrong.
There are tons of ways to perform badly without misconduct. Companies punish/fire/demote/etc employees who underperform all the time, for example. Or who make bad decisions consistently. Or even a single costly bad decision.
Why should "life of death judging" officials, highly paid at that, get a free pass?
The death penalty should be abolished, end of discussion. If even a single innocent person is murdered , then an obscene and heinous crime has been committed by the state.
How much of your salary are you willing to pay to house violent criminals for the rest of their life? Let's not forget that someone else was also murdered too