Rebuttal of "Executioner's Swan Song?" in Salon, 02/08/2000, by Michael Kroll, founder of The Death Penalty Information Center
Kroll's reflects another perfect example of the constant pattern of DPIC deceptions.
Letters to the editor, SALON, 2/11/2000
Michael Kroll makes significant errors of fact and logic in his essay "Executioner's swan song?"
Kroll states that "In all, 84 people have been freed from death row since capital punishment was restored." Well, no. About 2,000 have been released.
What Kroll is implying is that 84 are factually innocent. If one reviews those cases on the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) website, one finds that only about 25 of those cases claim to be factual innocent with evidence to support that claim.
Kroll bows: "Pope John Paul (II) unequivocally called for the end of capital punishment." So what? Is there any other government or social policy whereby journalists, such as Kroll, would call on religious leaders to affect government policy? And the Pope's position on abortion, birth control, etc., is?
Kroll proclaims that even Russia has ended the death penalty. He failed to mention that the decision was strictly economic. In order to receive the financial benefits of joining the European Union, countries must end the death penalty. The majority of Russians, and many other countries' populations who are members of the E.U., favor the death penalty.
Kroll grossly misinterprets the U.S. Supreme Court, by finding that the court established that "even actual innocence is not necessarily grounds for relief."
Well, let's see what Justice O'Connor said in that court decision: "The execution of a legally and factually innocent person would be a constitutionally intolerable event."
Kroll invokes Sister Helen Prejean's popular book "Dead Man Walking" -- made into a movie -- "The Green Mile" and "The Hurricane," saying that they "cannot fail to have a profound impact."
Possibly true, but what sophomoric swooning.
"Dead Man Walking" established that a death row inmate was an absolute liar until the moment just before he was to be executed and that it was such moment of truth that caused him to fess up and, thereby, claim redemption. "The Green Mile" is absolute fiction. And "The Hurricane" is being blasted by journalists, prosecutors and the murder victim's families as no less than an absolute sham.
In viewing the totality of Kroll's essay, it is surprising that he doesn't invoke another book/movie, "Alice in Wonderland," as his life story. . .
Dudley Sharp, Justice For All, a Texas based criminal justice reform organization
