New Hampshire's Concord Monitor carries the editorial, "No justice in spending a fortune on execution," today.
The state is spending millions of dollars in an effort to execute Michael Addison, the admitted killer of Manchester police officer Michael Briggs. Prosecutors should have stopped long ago, and accepted Addison's offer to plead guilty to capital murder in exchange for a sentence of life in prison with no chance of parole. Briggs's death was a great tragedy that killing Addison will do nothing to remedy. Few experts believe that capital punishment serves as a deterrent to murder. Spending millions more in an effort to put Addison to death would compound that tragedy.
Since New Hampshire has the death penalty, Attorney General Kelly Ayotte is obligated to seek it when there's strong evidence that a capital offense has been committed. But she also has the option of accepting offers to plead guilty to capital murder in exchange for a life sentence.
According to records unsealed by the court on Tuesday, Addison agreed to such a deal last spring, but Ayotte declined to accept it. Since then, a fortune has been spent to try and sentence him.
At a hearing earlier this week, jurors found Addison eligible for the death penalty. They'll now spend weeks listening to evidence that bears on whether he should be executed. If they vote yes, the sentence will certainly be appealed in a process that will cost millions more. Since the state hasn't executed anyone in so long, there's no way of estimating how much the bill will be. The process will drag on for many years.
And:
In many states, the vast sums spent on capital murder cases rob the judicial system of resources desperately needed to provide timely justice in other cases. Generally, programs that defend the indigent are hit the hardest. The attorney general's office says that won't be true here. But that doesn't mean that no one will suffer because of the wasted millions. Who knows what services people won't get in order to pursue a state-sanctioned killing, or whose jobs will be cut?
The cost of executing Addison is hardly the sole reason the death penalty should be abolished. But in a year when every state dollar is precious, the impact of that cost will no doubt be dramatic.
Kentucky's Lexington Herald-Leader has the OpEd, "Death penalty is not one of the options we need," in today's paper. It's by Patrick Delahanty.
In all likelihood Marco Allen Chapman will soon realize his desire to die at the hands of the state. "I should be able to do what I want to do," Chapman recently told a judge, "and go ahead and have the execution put forth."
Chapman's desire to do what he wants to do — die — raises the issue of the use of the death penalty in a way that should force reconsideration of the monstrous practice we have in place here.
And:
Do you suppose legislators anticipated a system in which the majority of those sentenced to death in Kentucky were sentenced to death unfairly? In fact, courts have found that more than 60 percent of Kentucky's death sentences were unjustly imposed and overturned them. No one would consider flying if they knew 60 of every 100 planes would crash. Should the death penalty even be an option?
Chapman's case is different. We know we got the right guy because he says so. We know he wasn't tried unfairly because he refused a trial. We know no court will overturn the conviction because he fired his attorneys. He waived all his appeals. He wants to die.
And that is another reason to ask: Should the death penalty even be an option? What if we did not have the death penalty? In the past Chapman had tried to kill himself by hanging and cutting his wrists. If we did not offer him the death penalty, what method would he have chosen now? Is it possible that our own public policy led Chapman to take two lives — so he could do what he wanted to do?
Kentuckians are rethinking the value of this punishment. In 2006, the University of Kentucky surveyed Kentuckians. They asked each respondent to choose one of the sentences available under Kentucky law to punish a capital offender. Two-thirds selected a sentence other than death, the most popular being life without the possibility of parole.
Those directly affected by murder — surviving family members — are asking if the death penalty should be an option. In fact, several asked Gov. Steve Beshear to consider the effect executing Chapman would have on others, especially his own innocent family members.
The next post will be a news article from the Herald-Leader regarding representing death row volunteers who waive their appeals.
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