I can think of no clearer litmus test for your humanity than how you feel about this case.
The family of the officer that was slain wants, "Justice" to be done. The Death Penalty is not a deterrent. There are numerous studies showing this. But I'll be honest, if someone killed a member of my family, I'd probably want them to die.
But only if I was sure it was them.
A case with no physical evidence and especially one in which seven of the nine witnesses said that they were coocerced is not one that generates certainty. You do not put someone to death because you THINK it might be them. You do not put someone to death because you have a hunch it might be them. You only do so when there is absolutely no doubt and the crime in question is absolutely monstrous.
Quite frankly, when George W. Bush and his cronies are walking around free, then I don't think this nation has the moral justification to put anyone to death, much less someone who has had so many people recant their testimony.
The fact that multiple judges have still found him sufficiently guilty not to lift the stay doesn't mean much. This is the same justice system that allowed Citizens United to pass. This is the same justice system that has failed to prosecute the guilty and has harassed and destroyed the lives of the innocent.
I believe that there is something unknowable out there, something powerful. I don't claim to know what it is, despite many attempts to figure it out, but I do believe that there is something larger than ourselves in the spiritual realm, and if it has the slightest sense of true justice, the death of this man will curse and condemn this country like nothing we have done since Abu Gharib.
I know I stand as witness.
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