Friday, April 19, 2013

IS EXECUTION CLOSURE? Of course.

IS EXECUTION CLOSURE? Of course
Dudley Sharp, independent researcher, death penalty expert, former opponent, 832-439-2113, CV at bottom

Closure and support of the death penalty are very different things. 100% of capital murder survivors can support the death penalty, with 0% finding that do not get emotional/psychological closure from it, as reality, closely, reflects.

I know many survivors in murder cases.  0% find emotional/psychological closure, with any sanction.

No one expects that type of closure. Why would they? Their loved ones were unjustly murdered and the murderer is justly sanctioned.


For those who have lost loved ones to murder, the execution or other death of the murderer(s) brings three types of closure.
1) Sparing Innocents. The trauma of losing a loved one to murder is horrific. Survivors do not want anyone else to face that. The closure of execution is that it is the only sanction which guarantees that the murderer cannot murder or, otherwise, harm, again. It is a call for mercy. Living murderers do harm and murder, again. Executed ones do not. Obvious. 
Survivors want there to be no chance of more innocents being murdered or otherwise harmed. Execution is the only guarantee. 
Those opposing execution are willing to chance more innocents harmed. They are willing not to close that future harm.
2) Justice. The survivors find that execution is the most just sanction and when the execution takes place, justice has been served, a claim confirmed by the jury, which imposed the sanction. Such is the same for all survivors or victims in any cases where the survivors and victims  approve of the sanction, whether execution or other.
3) Chapter. All survivors/victims are different and have different paths that they must follow. For many, it is going through various stages, which can be described as chapters in a book, chapters which differ as they go through their lives. The execution/sanction is the closing of the legal chapter.

Emotional/psychological closure

The confusion with "closure" is when some imply that execution or other sanctions can bring psychological and/or emotional closure to the devastation suffered by the murder victim's loved ones.

I know of no victim survivor who believes that execution or other sanction could bring that type of closure. How could it? No punishment can, nor is that the intention or expectation.


No one, other than the clueless, would expect that type of closure.Their loved ones were unjustly murdered, often with torture, and the murderer is justly sanctioned.


The concept of emotional "closure" via execution is, often, a fantasy perpetrated by anti-death penalty folks, just so they can denounce it, with a talking point, as in: "Those supporting capital punishment claim that closure is a major reason to support the death penalty - but there is no closure."


Does anyone believe that rape victims have "all-of-a-sudden" emotional/psychological closure because their rapist is justly sanctioned? Of course not. It's absurd and lacks all empathy.
All violent crime victims and survivors of those murdered travel different paths in healing with some, tragically, finding little and, others, rising, powerfully, like a phoenix from the ashes and everything in between.
Do any survivors, ever, leave behind all emotional, psychological trauma from such violence? I don't know but doubt it and think it would be, exceedingly, rare.
Do we think that any sanction would magically, "all-of-a-sudden" erase all emotional, psychological harm from rapes and murders? Of course not.
There is no balancing of the scales, here. There is no comparing the unjust taking of an innocent life by a guilty murderer and the just taking of that murderer's life.

Some cases.


Murder victim "Mary Bounds' daughter, Jena Watson, who watched the execution, said Berry's action deprived the family of a mother, a grandmother and a friend, and that pain will never go away."


"We feel that we have received justice," she said Wednesday after the execution. "There's never an end to the hurt from a violent crime. There can never fully be closure. You have to learn to do the best you can. Tonight brings finality to a lot of emotional issues."

Ina Prechtl, who lost her daughter Felecia Prechtl. to a rape /murder said, after watching Karl Chamberlain executed: "One question I ask myself every day, why does it take so long for justice to be served?" It took 17 years for the execution (both the above from "Texas executes 1st inmate since injection lull", 6/11/2008, MICHAEL GRACZYK, Associated Press Writer, HUNTSVILLE, Texas).


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NOTE: The unjust, cruel delays are, in large part, the fault of irresponsible judges, who should be condemned. Virginia, since 1976, has executed 113 murderers, within 7 years of full appeals, on average. How? Responsible management.
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Dr. Willam Petit, Jr., whose wife Jennifer, daughters Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11, suffered through torture, being burned alive and murdered, in a home invasion, stated: "It’s helpful that justice has been served with an appropriate verdict (the death penalty). I don’t think there’s ever closure. I think whoever came up with that concept is an imbecile. . . . many of you know it who have lost a parent or a child or a friend, there’s never closure. There’s a hole… it’s a hole with jagged edges and over time the edges may smooth out a little bit, but the hole in your heart and the hole in your soul is still there. So there’s never closure." Dr. Petit was nearly beaten to death in the same attack.
"Suffering has no redemptive value", By SHMULEY BOTEACH The (Bergen) Record, November 18, 2010 
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"(Kidnap/rape/murder victim) Cheryl Payton's sister, Susan Payton, said, "On this (execution) day, we're uncertain that you could define today as closure. It is like a chapter in a book that you just read the next chapter and you hope that the next chapter might be better" ("Victim’s Family Reacts To Execution", by Steve Alexander, WKRG, Mobile News, Alabama, May 27, 2010).

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"There may not be closure today. I think there is peace," said Judge Brendon Sheehan said, after the execution of his father's murderer. ("Judge Says 'No Closure' After Execution of Father's Killer" By Bill Sheil, Fox 8 I-Team Reporter, Cleveland, Ohio, February 18, 2011)

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"(daughter Pam Gay Carter's) theory about the death penalty is there are some crimes that are so reprehensible that that is the ultimate option, because it is not about revenge. It is about keeping another person safe. I want to make sure that this does not happen to anybody else, that nobody has to go through what I and my family has had to go through,” “The main thing it would have done for me, I think, is so I could say, ‘Mom (Gay Carter), he’s not going to hurt anybody else,’ because that’s what this is about, not letting him hurt someone else.” (Daughter of Oklahoma death row inmate’s victim gives exclusive first television interview to KFOR, by: Joleen Chaney/KFOR Posted: Oct 27, 2021)
 
Gay Carter was an Ok corrections kitchen worker, stabbed 16 times, with a shank, by John Grant, incarcerated for multiple armed robberies, at the time of Gay's murder.
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“Right now, it's a feeling more of relief . . . there's a little more closure for the whole family. I wanted that closure.”  Mary Ann McEntee, mother of Holly Washa, a rape/torture/murder victim, upon hearing of her daughter's murderer's execution.


"She said thousands of dollars in tax money was wasted in the past 19 years to house, feed and clothe Brown."


"Over the next 36 hours, Washa was tortured and raped in a Seattle motel"  "Brown was arrested four days later in California, after a brutal rape and knife attack on a 33-year-old woman in a hotel there. That victim lived to call 911."  ("Relief found in killer's execution", John Ferak, (Omaha) WORLD-HERALD, September 15, 2010, 6:14 am)

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Wendy Cadwalader's daughter, 20 year old Carrie Martin, was murdered in 2004. Her murderer, serving life, died, in prison, January 2020.

Wendy: “I honestly now feel closure. I cannot explain the feeling that took over my body. It’s like a relief. It’s done. I don’t have to worry about more appeals or seeing him again in court,” Cadwalader said. “I feel awful saying this because he has a family, too. In all honesty, his family were just as much victims as we were. My heart goes out to them. But, for me, it’s a relief.”  

While she feels closure, Cadwalader knows (the murderer's) death won’t ever end the despair she feels over the loss of her beloved daughter. “It’s not bringing Carrie back by no means." 

Visiting Carrie's grave, “I told her she could rest in peace now."

("Woman Finds Closure in Death Of Man Who Killed Her Daughter", Wilkes-Barre Citizens Voice, Januart 3, 2020, https://www.citizensvoice.com/news/woman-finds-closure-in-death-of-man-who-killed-her-daughter-1.2578619 )

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600+ pro death penalty quotes from murder victim's families &
3300+ from some of the greatest thinkers in history
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Additional research,w/sources, w/fact checking/vetting & critical thinking, as required of everyone.  
 
The Death Penalty: Justice & Saving More Innocents
and
Students, Academics & Journalists: Death Penalty Research
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Partial CV

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Sister Helen Prejean: A Critical Review

Sister Helen Prejean: A Critical Review
Dudley Sharp

The parents of rape/torture/murder victim Loretta Bourque, a "Dead Man Walking" Case

" . . .makes you realize the Dead Man Walking truly belongs on the shelf in the library in the Fiction category."

"Being devout Catholics, 'the norm' would be to look to the church for support and healing. Again, this need for spiritual stability was stolen by Sister Prejean." (1)

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Case Detective Michael Vernado, in the rape/torture/murder of Faith Hathaway, a Dead Man Walking Case

"I wouldn't have had as much trouble with (Prejean's) views if she would have told the truth . . ." " . . . (Sr. Prejean) based her book on what was in I guess a defense file and what (rapist/murderer) Robert Willie telling her." (1)

" . . . she's trying to mislead people in the book. And that's something that she's going have to work out with herself." "(Sr. Prejean's) certainly not after giving anybody spiritual advice to try to save their soul." (1)

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DEATH OF TRUTH: (1)

Book Review: "Sister Prejean's Lack of Credibility: Review of "The Death of Innocents", by Thomas M. McKenna (New Oxford Review, 12/05). www.newoxfordreview.org/reviews.jsp?did=1205-mckenna

"The book is moreover riddled with factual errors and misrepresentations."

"Williams had confessed to repeatedly stabbing his victim, Sonya Knippers."

"This DNA test was performed by an independent lab in Dallas, which concluded that there was a one in nearly four billion chance that the blood could have been someone's other than Williams's."

" . . . despite repeated claims that (Prejean) cares about crime victims, implies that the victim's husband was a more likely suspect but was overlooked because the authorities wanted to convict a black man."

" . . . a Federal District Court . . . stated that 'the evidence against Williams was overwhelming.' " "The same court also did "not find any evidence of racial bias specific to this case."

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Does Truth Matter? Sr. Prejean, The Church & U of Notre Dame https://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2022/09/does-truth-matter-sr-prejean-church-and.html 
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Prejean finds that THERE IS NO GREATER SUFFERING , MENTALLY, THAN BEING A GUILTY MURDERER ON DEATH ROW (2)

Did she consider the mental suffering of a parent who lost their innocent daughter to a rape/murder or, possibly, the mental (and physical) suffering of that girl, as she was being raped and murdered?

Of course the sister considered it and she made her choice - the murderer.


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MUCH MORE FOUND IN FOOTNOTE 1


(1) "Sister Helen Prejean & the death penalty: A Critical Review"
http://homicidesurvivors.candothathosting.com/2009/05/04/sister-helen-prejean-the-death-penalty-a-critical-review/


(2) Prejean: Death penalty is torture, TimesLeader.com online, October 1, 2012,
www.timesleaderonline.com/page/content.detail/id/541638/Prejean--Death-penalty-is-torture.html?nav=5010

Also see
Sr. Helen Prejean: "Botched" Nun
http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2014/09/sr-helen-prejean-rebutted-again.html


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Rebuttals to common anti death penalty deceptions, used by Sr. Prejean and others.

The Innocents Frauds: Standard Anti Death Penalty Strategy
http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-innocent-frauds-standard-anti-death.html

The Death Penalty: Mercy, Expiation, Redemption & Salvation
Is Execution Closure? Of Course
http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2013/04/is-execution-closure-of-course.html

95% of Murder Victim's Family Members Support Death Penalty
US Death Penalty Support at 80%: World Support Remains High
http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2012/04/us-death-penalty-support-at-80-world.html


Killing Equals Killing: The Amoral Confusion of Death Penalty Opponents
http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-catechism-death-penalty.html

"Moral/ethical Death Penalty Support: Modern Catholic Scholars"
http://www.prodeathpenalty.com/DP.html#F.Christianity

Catholic and other Christian References: Support for the Death Penalty,

much more, upon request

THE INNOCENT FRAUDS: ANTI DEATH PENALTY STRATEGY

updated 6/2023

Innocent Frauds: Standard Anti Death Penalty Strategy
Dudley Sharp, independent researcher, death penalty expert, former opponent, 832-439-2113, CV at bottom
 
updated 6/2023

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Related topics, below

No Death Penalty = More Innocent Deaths and

THE DEATH PENALTY: SAVING MORE INNOCENT LIVES
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At least since Sacco and Vanzetti, the anti death penalty movement has been presenting guilty murderers as innocent (1).  


Though Sacco and Vanzetti's guilt was well known to a small cadre of anti death penalty folks and anarchists, they still allowed riots and other violence to take place, based upon the fraud of their innocence (1), in a well  orchestrated campaign, similar to those of today, such as the Troy Davis case (8) or the 166 "exonerated" or "innocent" frauds (2).


These frauds are easily discovered by basic fact checking yet, many in the media and academia advance these frauds, instead of exposing them.


So often, it seems, that willful ignorance is, now, the default position for absolute certainty.


False innocence claims: the many, the blatant, the legendary:


1) see Sacco and Vanzetti, within both:


An infamous, worldwide scam.

a) Guilty: Sacco and Vanzetti

http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2013/08/guilty-sacco-and-vanzetti.html

"(Author Upton) Sinclair met with Fred Moore, (Sacco and Vanzetti's defense) attorney, in a Denver motel room. Moore "sent me into a panic," Sinclair wrote in the typed letter that Hegness found at the auction a decade ago."

"Alone in a hotel room with Fred, I begged him to tell me the full truth," Sinclair wrote. " ... He then told me that the men were guilty, and he told me in every detail how he had framed a set of alibis for them."



2) Roger Keith Coleman

The classic, worldwide Cause Celebre, anti death penalty case is put together like this:

A 14 year, anti death penalty fictional odyssey.

Imagine facts that evidence won't support, but make it real, anyway. And keep it going for years and years (a).

Anti death penalty activist Jim McCloskey championed Coleman's innocence (a). He created a case of an innocent on death row/executed and knew the media would come.  And, boy, did they.

Here is McCloskey's assessment of the state's case against Coleman:

"The (state's) case was built on innuendos and lies and ludicrous, insane theory that falls flat in the face of common sense." (b)

The classic quote of anti death penalty infamy, duplicating so many other idiocies.

"In the weeks before Coleman was put to death, his picture was on the cover of Time magazine ("This Man Might Be Innocent. This Man Is Due to Die"). He was interviewed from death row on "Larry King Live," the "Today" show, "Primetime Live," "Good Morning America" and "The Phil Donahue Show." (a)

Sound familiar? No fact checking/vetting/research. Just jump on the bandwagon.

"Opponents of the death penalty also seized on the case, staging vigils outside the governor's mansion in Richmond and the Greensville Correctional Center, where the execution was due to take place. Pope John Paul II made a public plea for mercy, and Mother Teresa personally phoned the governor's chief counsel. What started out as a shocking crime in a remote corner of Virginia became an international cause celebre (a)."

Sound familiar? 

"McCloskey and (Coleman attorney) Behan  . . .  concluded that Coleman had been framed by police and prosecutors . . .  and when the (blood) test implicated Coleman as the killer, they sought to discredit their own expert. And they accused a local man of being the "real killer," a claim they stuck with even after they learned of information indicating he had the wrong blood type." (a)

No surprise. Police bad. Prosecutors bad. "innocent" murderer must be saved. 

"(DNA expert) Blake says that this was the moment when Coleman's defenders lost their ethical bearings. Fixated on Coleman's innocence, they ignored or discredited evidence that pointed to his guilt: "Somewhere along the way these people who were supposed to be in the fact-finding business abandoned their responsibility to facts and truth, and started operating on belief." (a)

Standard.

"I had serious problems with (Theresa Horn's) credibility," says Tommy Scott, the former prosecutor. "But Arnold & Porter (Behan's law firm) and Jim McCloskey and the national media bought into it hook, line and sinker." (a)

Of course. Very" normal".

Horn had come up with a story on an alternate suspect, the "real killer".

"Back in Grundy, a scrappy community of 1,500 in the heart of Appalachia, many people were appalled. They viewed Coleman's supporters as a powerful group of lawyers, activists and journalists who were blinded by their loathing of the death penalty and taken in by a clever psychopath." (a)

   . . .  and so they were.

"They were trying to build this case for Roger's innocence, and they didn't care who they threw to the dogs," says Pat Hatfield, the victim of an earlier incident, in which Coleman had exposed himself and masturbated in front of her at the public library . . .

"It didn't matter whose life was destroyed as long as they could save Roger." (a)

Standard.

Coleman's last words:

"An innocent man is going to be murdered tonight. When my innocence is proven, I hope Americans will realize the injustice of the death penalty as all other civilized countries have." (a)

Lying with his last breath. Murderers have no trouble lying. Obvious to most.

Two years after Coleman's execution, Arnold & Porter paid a substantial sum to settle a libel claim by the man it had identified as the "real killer." and stated: "We complied with our professional responsibility and stand by our representation of Roger Coleman." (a).

Yes, of course they do.

As McCloskey could have said, accurately,

"The case for Coleman's innocence was built upon innuendos and lies and a ludicrous, insane theory that falls flat in the face of common sense."

Coleman was proven guilty by DNA, as McCloskey concedes.

But, anti death penalty folks just moved forward with the same nonsense.

a) Burden of proof Jim McCloskey desperately wanted to save Roger Coleman from the electric chair. Washington Post, Glenn Frankel May 14, 2006, Washington Post archive

b) Freedom Fighter,  Trip Gabriel, New York Times, May 10, 1992,
https://www.nytimes.com/1992/05/10/magazine/freedom-fighter.html 

more here:

Women who survived Roger Keith Coleman often get overlooked, ALYSSA OURSLER,  BRISTOL HERALD COURIER Mar 11, 2018,
https://www.heraldcourier.com/news/women-who-survived-roger-keith-coleman-often-get-overlooked/article_aacb6f21-aed9-5b56-857e-4d641b32ad5c.html 

Va.: DNA Confirms Executed Man's Guilt

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Innocent Frauds
Does Truth Matter? Sr. Prejean, The Church & U of Notre Dame https://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2022/09/does-truth-matter-sr-prejean-church-and.html 
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3)  The Blatant Fraud - The (now) 166 "exonerated" from death row

The Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) simply decided to redefine both "exonerated" and "innocent", in the same fashion as if they redefined "lie" as "truth" (and) and then stuffed a bunch of cases into those fraudulent definitions. It's that basic, as simple fact checking confirms.


a)  The "Innocent", the "Exonerated" and Death Row
http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-innocent-exonerated-and-death-row_19.html

"An Open Fraud in the Death Penalty Debate: How Death Penalty Opponents Lie

This is a look at how well destroyed the "EXONERATED" and/or "INNOCENTS" list is and how it has been so deceptively used by the anti death penalty movement."

b)  Death Row, "Exonerations", Media  & Intentional Fraud  
https://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2019/06/death-row-exonerations-intentional-fraud.html

4)  Florida & Texas: The 83% error rate in "exoneration" claims. 

Florida

4 of the 24 "exonerated" may be innocent, as found in 2 studies by a Florida state agency, the Florida Commission on Capital Cases.  It is no surprise that the 24 "exonerated" claim comes from the deceptive DPIC. The Florida media just laps the 24 "exonerated" fraud up, with zero fact checking, as has become way to common.

This may represent the worst case of media deception, as the Florida media has known the real numbers since 2002 (updated 2011)  but refuses to use them, instead, pushing the well known DPIC deception of the 23/24 "exonerated". That is how bad it has gotten.

From page 5 (2002 study) and page 7 (2011 study):

"The guilt of only four defendants was subsequently "doubted" by the prosecuting office or the Governor and Cabinet members: Freddie Lee Pitts and Wilbert Lee were pardoned by Governor Askew and the Cabinet, citing substantial doubt of their guilt, Frank Lee Smith died before the results of DNA testing excluded him as the perpetrator of the sexual assault, and the State chose not to retry James Richardson due to newly discovered evidence and the suspicion of another perpetrator." 

"doubted", not confirmed.

a)  Case Histories: A Review of 24 Individuals Released from Death Row (2002), FLORIDA COMMISSION ON CAPITAL CASES, Locke Burt, Chairman, June 20, 2002, Revised: September 10, 2002 - This file cannot be found, likely, because the (b) report, just below, is an update of this one.

b)  TRULY INNOCENT?: A Review of 23 Case Histories of Inmates Released from Florida‘s Death Row Since 1973, Commission on Capital Cases, The Florida Legislature, Roger R. Maas, Executive Director, May 13, 2011
http://www.floridacapitalcases.state.fl.us/Documents/Publications/casehistory05-13-11%20Report.pdf

Texas

The Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) claims 12 death row "exonerations" in Texas.

By Texas law, Texas has only identified one former death row inmate , Anthony Graves, as actually innocent  . . . 

well, actually, no  . . .

"Actual innocence" in the Graves case was decided by a "belief" standard, not an evidence standard, with this exception "no credible evidence exists that inculpates the defendant" , crossing the well known evidence line:

"Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence."

By this amendment, any guilty murderer with "absence of evidence" - POOF  -  becomes "actually innocent".

The belief "standard" had to be amended into the law, because there was no evidence to establish Grave's innocence, as the law, previously, required such evidence to prove innocence, thereby requiring the judge to find  that the Graves case did not qualify for that finding, which was the case. 

How better to declare Anthony Graves "actually innocent" than to avoid a standard of evidence establishing innocence and replace it with "belief" and absence of evidence.

Done.

Another case, that of Michael Blair, must be included as a proven innocent, but was excluded for compensation, under a provision of the law. He remains a lifer with four sexual assaults on children convictions.

I am told that Randall Dale Adams, put on death row for the murder of Dallas police officer Robert Wood, is a slam dunk innocence case, made famous by "The Thin Blue Line" film (1988). I just haven't looked at the case, yet.

So, 2 or 3 out of 12, meaning a  75-83% error rate in the Texas death row "exoneration" claims.  There are no other death penalty cases pending.

"Innocents" & Texas' Death Row: The "Exoneration" Frauds Continue
http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2015/09/innocents-texas-death-row.html


5) "The innocence tactic: Unreliable studies and disinformation", reports By United States Congress, Senate, 107th Congress, 2d Session, Calender no 731, Report 107-315. The Innocence Protection Act of 2002, (iv) The innocence tactic: Unreliable studies and disinformation, p 65-69    http://alturl.com/6j7oc

"Death penalty opponents have decided that, if a large enough risk of mistaken executions does not exist, they will invent it."

And that is, exactly what they have done.

6) Jesse Tafero among others

"The Myth Of Innocence"­, Joshua Marquis, pu­blished in the Journal of Criminal Law & Criminolog­y - 3/31/2005, Northweste­rn University School of Law, Chicago, Illinois

"Having largely abandoned the moral arguments against capital punishment, the modern abolition movement is now based on a trio of urban legends: (1) the death penalty is racist at its core; (2) those accused of capital murder get grossly inadequate representation; and (3) a remarkable number of people on death row are innocent."

7)  Joseph O"Dell

see section III. Death Of Truth: Sister Prejean's book "The Death Of Innocents: An Eyewitness Account of Wrongful Executions":

"(Prejean's) book is moreover riddled with factual errors and misrepresentations."

" . . . despite repeated claims that (Prejean) cares about crime victims,  implies that the victim's husband was a more likely suspect but was overlooked because the authorities wanted to convict a black man." 

" . . . a Federal District Court . . . stated that 'the evidence against Williams was overwhelming.'  " "The same court also did "not find any evidence of racial bias specific to this case."

But, "Williams had confessed to repeatedly stabbing his victim, Sonya Knippers."

"This DNA test was performed by an independent lab in Dallas, which concluded that there was a one in nearly four billion chance that the blood could have been someone's other than Williams'."

from

Sister Helen Prejean: Does Truth Matter?:
Dead Man Walking & The Death Penalty
http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2016/01/sister-helen-prejean-does-truth-matter.html 

8) Exoneration Inflation

"Exoneration Inflation: Justice Scalia’s Concurrence in Kansas v. March", by Ward Campbell, Supervising Deputy Attorney General, California Department of Justice, p 49, The Journal of the Institute for the Advancement of Criminal Justice, Issue 2, Summer 2008
http://www.cjlf.org/files/CampbellExonerationInflation2008.pdf

"The more conservative approach of the court in Quinones I only recognized “actual innocence” in one‑half of one percent of the 7,084 death sentences imposed between 1973 and 2001." (NOTE: Sharp: My assessment, based upon multiple additional reviews,  is o.4% through 2016).

"By deflating the DPIC List, Justice Scalia’s concurring opinion in Kansas v. Marsh contributes to an honest and realistic assessment of that actual risk."


9) "The Innocent and the Shammed"
by Joshua Marquis, Published in New York Times, 1/26/2006,  http://coastda.blogspot.com/2006/01/innocent-and-shammed-nyt-oped.html

" . . .nothing is gained by deluding the public into believing that the police and prosecutors are trying to send innocent people to prison. Any experienced defense lawyer will concede that he would starve if he accepted only "innocent" clients. Americans should be far more worried about the wrongfully freed than the wrongfully convicted."

Sharp: Since 1973:

about 22,000 additional innocents have been murdered by those KNOWN murderers that we have allowed to murder, again -  recidivist murderers.

about 440,000 additional innocents have been murdered by those KNOWN criminals that we have allowed to harm, again - recidivist criminals.


10) "Troy Davis & The Innocent Frauds of the anti death penalty lobby",
http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2011/11/troy-davis-innocent-frauds-of-anti.html

"The Troy Davis campaign, like many before it, is a simple, blatant fraud, easily uncovered by the most basic of fact checking.

The case for Davis' guilt is overwhelming, just as were his due process protections, which may have surpassed that of all but a few death row inmates."


11) 
A Complete Compilation:
Cameron Todd Willingham: Media Meltdown & the Death Penalty
When Media & Anti-death Penalty Advocates Are the Same 
and
A Repudiation of Journalism, by Journalists?
The Society of Professional Journalists & The Sigma Delta Chi Award: 

The state of the forensics in the Cameron Todd Willingham case is this:

1) Of all of the forensics reports, that I have read, which find fault with the arson findings, none exclude arson. They conclude that the fire could be either arson or an accident.

2) Other reports continue to find for arson.

Other, non fire forensic, evidence against Todd Willingham not only continues to find for guilt but there is, now, more and stronger evidence against him.

Expert witnesses:

We have all seen where there are equally qualified experts in a trial that have opinions that are complete opposites. In some cases, there can be credible disagreement. In others, we respond with a deserved cynicism,

With the Willingham fire, no credible person has denied that the fire could be arson.

Dr. Hurst demurred. “I never had a case where I could exclude arson,” he said. “It’s not possible to do that.”(a)

Sadly, but in character (b), Barry Scheck and the Innocence Project have stated, flatly, that it wasn't arson and that Willingham was an innocent executed (c) All that Scheck and the IP are doing is injuring the credibility of forensic science. Evidently, for them, the find their agenda worth it. Former Texas Governor Mark White, now an anti death penalty activist, appears headed down this path, as well.

(a) "Family’s Effort to Clear Name Frames Debate on Executions", John Schwartz, New York Times,  October 14, 2010,
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/15/us/15execution.html?_r=1

(b)  The Innocence Project Invents False Confessions
http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-innocence-project-invents-false.html

(c) New Report Shows that Cameron Todd Willingham, Executed in Texas in 2004, Was Innocent, NEWS RELEASE, Innocence Project, 8/31/09
http://www.innocenceproject.org/Content/New_Report_Shows_that_Cameron_Todd_Willingham_Executed_in_Texas_in_2004_Was_Innocent.php


12) "Carlos DeLuna: Another False Innocence Claim?" Maybe? Probably?
http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2012/05/carlos-deluna-another-false-innocence.html

"Paul Rivera, a Corpus Christi police investigator who transported DeLuna between city and county jails, said the study's researchers asked him years ago to reread the DeLuna case.

Rivera said he took his time combing through the investigation reports and transcripts. In the end, he drew the same conclusion."

"I know exactly what happened," he said. "DeLuna stabbed Wanda Lopez when she was on the phone and she was screaming for help."

"Rivera, who investigated more than 200 murders in Corpus Christi, said at least nine of those people were on death row and no one questioned his investigations or methods before DeLuna's case."

"The Columbia researchers are adamant about trying to abolish the death penalty, he said. "I don't know why these people are so vicious," he said."

b)  "Report questioning execution doesn't sway lawyers"  MICHAEL GRACZYK, Associated Press, CNS NEWS, May 16, 2012 - 9:15 PM, http://cnsnews.com/news/article/report-questioning-execution-doesnt-sway-lawyers#sthash.Xqa96lzy.dpuf

"DeLuna claimed the killer was a man named Carlos Hernandez whom he'd met in the Nueces County jail. The county's former prosecutor who tried DeLuna, Steve Schiwetz, said records showed DeLuna had never been in the jail at the same time as a Carlos Hernandez. He also said investigators gave defense attorneys photos of every Carlos Hernandez who had been jailed in Nueces County and showed them to DeLuna, who refused to identify any of the photos as the killer." 

"It still bothers me to this day he wouldn't," (DeLuna's defense counsel) Lawrence said.

"The conclusion I come to is he's making it up, giving a phony name, hence the phantom Carlos Hernandez," Schiwetz said. "What am I supposed to do?" Schiwetz . . . believes Hernandez either didn't exist or had no connection to the case. Nothing so far, he said, has "changed my mind as to who did it."


c)  Carlos DeLuna: "At the Death House Door" Can Rev. Carroll Pickett be trusted?
http://homicidesurvivors.candothathosting.com/2009/01/30/at-the-death-house-door-can-rev-carroll-pickett-be-trusted/

Pickett:  (In 1989) "I was  so 100% certain that he couldn't have committed this crime. (Carlos) was a super person to minister to.  I knew Carlos was not guilty. " "I knew (executed inmate) Carlos (De Luna) didn't do it."

REPLY:  There is this major problem. It appears that Rev. Pickett is, now, either lying about his own 1989 opinions or he is very confused.

In 1999, 4 years after Rev. Pickett had left his death row ministry, and he had become an anti death penalty activist, and 10 years after De Luna's execution, the reverend was asked, in a PBS Frontline interview,


"Do you think there have been some you have watched die who were strictly innocent?"


Pickett's  reply: "I never felt that."



13) Gary Graham: Hollywood, Murder and Texas: 

A CASE STUDY OF LIES, HALF-TRUTHS AND  INTIMIDATION
https://prodeathpenalty.com/graham

"C. (1) Gary Graham's defense claims have been reviewed and rejected 9 times by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (the highest criminal court in Texas), 2 times by the Texas Supreme Court, 4 times by the U.S. Supreme Court and in a total of thirty-three (33) judicial or executive proceedings. (Houston Post, July 29, 1993 and subsequent events, as of 9/8/96.)


(2) a. Federal District Court Judge David Hittner ruled that all of Graham's new evidence is not sufficient to entitle him to a federal hearing and refused Graham a hearing or a stay of execution. He also stated that several of Graham's new witnesses were not credible. (Houston Post, August 16, 1993 and Houston Chronicle, August 14, 1993.)

b. After a thorough review of all the "new evidence", by himself and his staff, Texas Attorney General Dan Morales stated, "...that none of that new information is credible. There is no new evidence. Graham is stalling for time." The "new evidence" and "revised" witness statements are ""stoned-cold manufactured evidence." (Houston Chronicle, August 15, 1993, Houston Sun August 16, 1993 and The Texas Observer, August 20, 1993.)


14) Julius and Ethel Rosenberg 


For decades and internationally, one of the biggest "innocent" executed cases.

Rosenberg Lies Never Cease:
Sons seeking to exonerate their long-dead parents for their spying for Stalin are resorting to dishonest evasions, By John R. Schindler, Observer, 10/17/16
http://observer.com/2016/10/rosenberg-lies-never-cease/

"Code-phrases such as being “devoted” and “well-developed politically” reveal that Ethel was a committed Stalinist in whom the Soviet secret police placed trust." "Ethel was a such a willing and witting member of the Soviet espionage apparat in mid-1940s America that she was setting up her own sister-in-law as a candidate for recruitment by the KGB." 

"What totally undermines the Meeropols’ case, however, is that Feklisov at one point refers to Ethel as a “probationer” (cтажёр in Russian). This word appears regularly in VENONA messages and was old school KGB-speak for agents, that is foreigners who worked wittingly for Soviet intelligence. That closes any debate about how Feklisov viewed Ethel Rosenberg."

"The awful truth is that Ethel Rosenberg, a committed Communist, loved Stalin more than her own children." "Nobody who understands Soviet intelligence and has read the relevant VENONA messages with open eyes has any doubt that Ethel Rosenberg was an agent of the KGB. She was witting regarding a large degree of her husband’s enormous treason, perhaps all of it. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were fanatical Communists in a manner we now associate with jihadists. The cause was their life; it mattered more than anything, even family."

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"Grasping at Straws to Try to Exonerate Ethel Rosenberg", OPINION  COMMENTARY, By RONALD RADOSH, Wall Street Journal, July 19, 2015

"It never occurs to these reporters that at the early stage of his arrest David Greenglass was desperately trying to protect his sister and to convince the government to leave her out of the indictment. We also know that when he first went for legal advice, he even left Julius out of his confession."

"Even in other parts of the same transcript, largely ignored in the press reports, Greenglass has his sister Ethel present and knowledgeable, as when he says she was present at a meeting with Julius and a courier for his group, Ann Sidorovich."

"Hard evidence for Ethel’s guilt can be found in the Venona decrypts of KGB messages to its operatives in the U.S., and in the notebooks of KGB files meticulously copied in the 1990s by Alexander Vassiliev,who fled Russia in 1996 and had them smuggled into London."

"A Nov. 21, 1944, Venona decrypt has Julius telling the KGB that he and his wife both recommend the recruitment of Ruth Greenglass, David’s wife. On Nov. 27, KGB agent Leonid Kvasnikov cabled that they considered Ethel 'sufficiently well developed politically. Knows about her husband’s work” as well as that of other agents. He characterizes her “positively and as a devoted person.' "

"In Vassiliev’s notebooks, an entry from the KGB says about Julius that 'His wife knows about her husband’s work and personally knows ‘Twain’ and ‘Callistratus.’ [code names of Soviet agents.] She could be used independently, but she should not be overworked. Poor health."

"Another entry, about a meeting held on May 12, 1944 with Ruth, Ethel and Julius, reports that when told by Julius that they had to keep silent, 'Ethel here interposed to stress the need for utmost care and caution in informing David of the work in which Julius was engaged and that for his own safety all other political discussion and activity on his part should be subdued.' "

" . . . there is substantial evidence that Ethel Rosenberg was guilty as charged. Journalists could have found that evidence if they had taken the time to look." Mr. Radosh, an adjunct fellow of the Hudson Institute, is the author, with Joyce Milton, of “The Rosenberg File” (Yale University, 1997 revised edition).

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". . . as John Earl Haynes, Harvey Klehr and Alexander Vassiliev have revealed in Spies . . . 

Ethel Rosenberg was not only aware of the network her husband had put in place, she herself suggested that her brother David Greenglass be recruited by the KGB since he was stationed at Los Alamos. "

"Second, and most importantly, Julius Rosenberg was not only aware of the Manhattan Project, he recruited a second atom spy, Russell McNutt, precisely because he thought that McNutt would be able to gather atomic bomb information from the plant at Oak Ridge, Tennessee."  from  Son of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg Admits One Parent's Guilt, BY RON RADOSH, PJ Media,  APRIL 8, 2011, https://pjmedia.com/ronradosh/2011/4/8/the-confused-admission-of-his-parents-guilt-by-the-rosenbergs-youngest-son-robert-what-does-it-mean/2/

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The Venona Intercepts, 1995


The US Government has direct evidence of Julius Rosenberg, and others', involvement with the Soviet's, as spies for atomic secrets, with intercepted communications between the Soviet's and some of their US spies, from 1944. These Venona  intercepts were released in 1995.  There was more than enough evidence that Ethel, at least, knew of his spying and chose not to report it, enough for a conspiracy, which was the charge and why they were executed.


The above evidence is clear that Ethel was actively involved.

Folks look past the obvious.


Both Ethel and Julius had ample time to come forward and proclaim Ethel innocence and, to, at least, save one parent for their children. They chose not to. instead, they both chose that Ethel should die, leaving their children to be orphaned, a decisive indicator of  guilt for them both, as well as their devotion to the cause, which was stronger than their love for their children, which, rationally,  could not be more obvious.

Direct evidence of Ethel's guilt came later, as did more evidence of the damage that the Rosenberg spy ring caused, as reviewed above.

Rosenbergs Redux, BY RONALD RADOSH AND STEVEN USDIN, DECEMBER 6, 2010
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/politics/79648/rosenbergs-redux-julius-ethel-communist-spies

From which:

"As for Ethel Rosenberg’s role, the evidence is unequivocal. She recruited her brother as an atomic spy and provided logistical support to Julius's espionage activities. She knew at least two Soviet intelligence officers, and they considered her a loyal and trustworthy compatriot."

NOTE: This, below,  is a "rebuttal" to Radosh and Usdin's article above, by Michael Meeropol, one of the Rosenberg's sons. The rebuttal is so weak, that it should be viewed as a complete concession, with the exception of the date Julius became a spy.


In Response to Ronald Radosh and Steven Usdin, Michael Meeropol, Letter to New Republic, published 2/1/2001
http://ncrrc.org/in-response-to-ronald-radosh-and-steven-usdin/

Also read:
Defining Espionage Down Review of 'Ethel Rosenberg: An American Tragedy' by Anne Sebba
by Ronald Radosh, Commentary, JULY/AUGUST 202


15)   The Innocence Project Invents False Confessions

http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-innocence-project-invents-false.html

"Dr. Welner demonstrated how poor scientific methodology and an anti-police agenda among declared scholars in this novel area of scientific interest result in inflated perceptions of the prevalence of false confessions.


These include false representations by The Innocence Project that the proportion of false confessions in wrongful conviction cases is 25 percent when that percentage is in actuality close to 10 percent."



16)  The Death Penalty: Do Innocents Matter?

http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-death-penalty-do-innocents-matter.html

"Well known anti death penalty scholars "(Charles) Black and (Hugo Adam ) Bedau said they would favor abolishing the death penalty even if they knew that doing so would increase the homicide rate by 1,000 percent." 


They would chose sparing the lives of 1300 guilty murderers (executed from 1973-2013) over saving an additional 6.3 million innocent lives, taken by murder.

Anti death penalty. academic leaders make that argument.  Astounding. "

17)   Larry Griffin 

The case of guilt against Larry Griffin grew stronger with this newest investigation:

See Summary, page 11-13, “Report of the Circuit Attorney: On the Murder of Qinton Moss and Conviction of Larry Griffin”, 7/12/07,
http://stlcin.missouri.org/circuitattorney/ca-reports.cfmiffin

Report defends 1995 Missouri execution, USA Today, 7/12/07
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-07-12-3637505577_x.htm


18) Ruben Cantu

In the Matter of Juan Moreno Investigation Relating to The State of Texas v. Ruben Cantu, Cause No. 85-CR-1303
https://files.deathpenaltyinfo.org/legacy/files/pdf/ReedCantuRpt.pdf   

and this

Garza is a member of the Mexican Mafia. Garza's "conscience" took 20 years to affect him.
 
Garza states: "Me and (Cantu) would just do everything together. We were like bread and butter."
 
sharp:  Exactly, like the robbery/murder of Pedro Gomez and robbery/attempted murder of Juan Moreno.
 
Both Moreno and Garza had 8 years to come forward, after Cantu's death sentence and prior to Cantu's execution. They didn't.
 
Does anyone need to wonder about someone's conscience, which allows them to let eight years go by, after Cantu is sentenced to death, then watch an allegedly innocent person be executed, but  then they wait 20 years to come forward, 12 years after the execution, because their conscience is, only, now, somehow, important?
 
One wonders why they both concluded, independently, that Cantu's life wasn't worth saving.
 
What honorable, truthful person, knowingly, allows an innocent person to be killed, when they could have stopped it, with no down side to themselves?
 
There isn't one. 

read, here
 
Guilt leads inmate to try clearing executed friend:
CANTU CASE: DEATH AND DOUBT, Lise Olsen, Houston Chronicle, 11/21/05

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Related Topic      No Death Penalty = More Innocent Deaths



 New death penalty statutes were enacted in 1973, after Furman v Georgia (1972) overturned all death statutes. The US Supreme Court approved some new statutes in 1976 within Gregg v Georgia.

Since 1973:

1) no credible claim of an innocent executed in the modern era, post 1972 ("The Innocents Fraud", above);

2) the death penalty protects innocents, in three ways, better than does life without parole (LWOP): enhanced due process, enhanced incapacitation and enhanced deterrence ("The Death Penalty: More Protection for Innocents", below);

3) 5000 die/yr in US criminal custody.  33/yr, on average, are executed. (Innocents More At Risk Without Death Penalty, below );


Since 1973:

4) from 14,000 - 28,000 additional innocents were murdered by those murderers that we allowed to murder, again - recidivist murderers. since 1973. See "The Death Penalty: Saving More Innocent Lives", below ; and


5) some 500,000 innocents have been murdered by those known criminals we have allowed to harm again - recidivist criminals. See "The Death Penalty: Saving More Innocent Lives", below.

A true concern for innocents would result in many more death sentences and many fewer criminals released.


THE DEATH PENALTY: SAVING MORE INNOCENT LIVES
Innocents More At Risk Without Death Penalty
http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2012/03/innocents-more-at-risk-without-death.html

Catechisn & State Protection
https://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2014/10/catechism-state-protection.html

Deterrence, Death Penalties & Executions
https://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2019/04/deterrence-death-penalties-executions.html  



LIFE: MUCH PREFERRED OVER EXECUTION

99.7% of murderers tell us "Give me life, not execution"
http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2012/11/life-much-preferred-over-execution.html

Murder Victims' Families for Death Penalty Repeal: More Hurt For Victims:

95% of murder victim's families support death penalty
http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2012/04/victims-families-for-death-penalty.html

"Opponents in capital punishment have blood on their hands", Dennis Prager, 11/29/05,
http://townhall.com/columnists/DennisPrager/2005/11/29/opponents_in_capital_punishment_have_blood_on_their_hands

"A Death Penalty Red Herring: The Inanity and Hypocrisy of Perfection", Lester Jackson Ph.D.

http://homicidesurvivors.com/2009/11/03/a-death-penalty-red-herring-the-inanity-and-hypocrisy-of-perfection.aspx

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600+ pro death penalty quotes from murder victim's families &
3300+ from some of the greatest thinkers in history
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Additional research,w/sources, w/fact checking/vetting & critical thinking, as required of everyone in a public policy debate 
 
1) The Death Penalty: Justice & Saving More Innocents
and
Students, Academics & Journalists: Death Penalty Research
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Partial CV