What's Wrong with the Death Penalty?

First of all, let me tell you that I feel like a hypocrite writing this article because for the last 40 years I was a proponent for the death penalty. I had that "an eye for an eye, you kill, you should be killed" mentality. Why should I spend my tax dollars supporting your murdering ass when a bullet only costs 43 cents? It costs around $30,000 a year give or take to house an inmate in a typical state prison so strap them down...... gas 'em,.... fry 'em,.... shoot 'em ...or put 'em down like a dog. I don't give a shit as long as they're not alive anymore!

That was then, this is now. I have changed my view on the death penalty because now I know someone who is facing it and it hits a little to closer to home. Now you know why I feel hypocritical about writing this. I didn't care about all those people waiting to be executed because I didn't know them. Now that I do know someone, it's important. What an arrogant, judgmental, piece of crap I am, huh? Well, it's better late than never and I finally see just how wrong this form of punishment is. If you want to chastise me, send your comments to Your Higher Power or Idontgiveashit.com.

Throughout history man has sought to kill people for various crimes in various ways. From crimes as petty as saying the wrong thing at the wrong time all the way to murder, man justs loved to invoke the death penalty. Most countries have abolished the death penalty. But the United States of America, supposedly the most civilized country in the world, still uses the death penalty. This is the most barbaric form of punishment there is. Why do we still use the death penalty? There is no clear cut answer to this question. Religion? Politics? REVENGE?! No matter the reason, a vast majority of people are starting to see huge problems with the death penalty including myself.

Let's start with the moral and religious factors. People will refer to the Bible for and against the death penalty. It all depends on which chapters you think are more relevant. I will not quote the Bible directly because, while I believe in God, I don't believe in the Bible. But that's for another discussion. Basically the Good Book says it's OK to kill your fellow man if he has killed someone. I'll buy that. It also says that God is the only one allowed to judge mankind. I'll buy that too. Now before you start sending me quotes from the Bible and telling me I'm going to Hell, don't. I'll just ignore and delete any comments like that. There are arguments for both sides but I'm taking the side where God makes the call whether someone lives or dies. Does the executioner have a moment where he wonders if he's going to Hell for throwing the switch? How about the judge who hands down the sentence or the jury who recommends death? Or the prosecutor who charged the defendant with capital murder to begin with. If I ever get the death penalty, I'm going to be one happy some' bitch knowing I'm taking all those folks to Hell with me. Oh wait, I'll repent for my sins and they're on their own.

OK, the legal stuff. I'm going to start off with an example of something that happened right here in my area. On July 4, 2002 Broome County Sheriffs Deputy Kevin Tarcia was shot to death and ran over with a pick-up truck by David Sweat and Jeffrey Nabinger and a third party who I will not name because he was not charged in the murder but I feel he is just as accountable. Both were charged with 1^st degree capital murder. The DA was seeking the death penalty. Well both Nabinger and Sweat cut a deal with the DA to avoid the death penalty and were sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. I don't think it was a year later that New York's death penalty laws were found unconstitutional and anyone on death row automatically got life sentences. If I were Nabinger and Sweat, I would be super pissed. If there was no death penalty to begin with, I would have rolled the dice and pled not guilty. At that point they would have nothing to lose. They might have even had the charges reduced to 2^nd degree murder and received 25 years to life. Yep, that's right, parole for cop killers. The point I'm trying to make is the death penalty changes the way trials are handled and the choices that defendants are forced to make. Nabinger and Sweat were guilty, no doubt about it. But just suppose for a moment that they weren't. This is a no win situation for both unless there was an acquittal. Only 2 things can happen and they're both bad. #1 they plead guilty to a crime they didn't commit to save they're lives which they did. or. #2 they are found guilty and sentenced to death for a crime they didn't commit. For the record, it would have cost the County of Broome about $2 million to try both their cases.

The final thing I want to address is the mistakes and the "win at all costs" approach by prosecutors and police. There are too many cases where a prosecutor or prosecutors have intentionally held exculpatory evidence from the defense just to win a case. The police selectively give evidence to the DA.Heres the attitude they have: Hey! I got myself a raise and I won the case to boot! To hell with the guy who's gonna fry and die. That loser motherf***'er was probably guilty of something anyway so what's the big deal if I forgot to mention that he couldn't have possibly done it.? What a completely messed-up attitude to have when it comes to a death penalty case or for that matter, any case. Refer to Texas v. Michael Perry and you'll see what I mean (Michelle babe, ya knew I was going to mention him eventually, didn't ya?) They treated his case like a traffic ticket with no urgency on either side. Yes, Michael Perry is THE greatest example of police corruption, prosecutorial misconduct and how the system can be twisted around just to win a case. I will not go into specific details with his case, you'll need to check out the investigative series that TAZ has on this website. But let me give you a preview of what you'll find: A murder for hire; a double cross; stepdaddy's little girl; let's pin the tail on the other guy; he said, she said; was I supposed to know that now?; Michael, you have nothing to worry about; divide and conquer;and finally,oops. Let me quote a very worth wild organization, Project Innocence-"Out of a sample of 130 exonerated convicts through DNA, 35 falsely confessed".

Michael Perry(I won't mention he's one my best friends and that I love him like a brother) "confessed" to a crime he did not commit but the State of Texas is going to kill him anyway. The confession was beaten out of him like any good confession is.

My God, what else do you need to hear or read to realize that the death penalty is just plain MESSED UP!!!

The bottom line is the more a detailed look we have into the death penalty, the more all of us should realize just how messed up and WAY behind the times of civilized men this penal system of ours has become. Anyone with a backbone should stand up to our government and scream at them: THIS IS ENOUGH!!! STOP KILLING OUR CITIZENS AND GET IN TO THE 21ST CENTURY!!

Put them in prison if you will, just stop killing people for the votes, religious beliefs, win-loss ratios or just to satisfy your local neighborhood fat ass sheriff who would drop a dime on his own mother if it meant keeping his aforementioned ass out of jail or his job safe.

This is just my opinion and no others, don't sentence me to death for what I believe in, it just might catch on!