Wednesday, March 27, 2019

Media Disaster: Editorial Board, Boulder Daily Camera

Media Disaster
REBUTTAL - Abolish the death penalty in Colorado, Editorial Board, Boulder Daily Camera, 02/09/2019 - updated 9/2021
Dudley Sharp, independent researcher, death penalty expert, 832-439-2113, CV at bottom
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NOTE: In perfect sync with this rebuttal, a journalism professor at UC Boulder, Jan Whitt, replied with an UNSUBSCRIBE IMMEDIATELY (3/26/2019 1:16:41 PM EST), just 32 minutes after I sent it. The perfect irony didn't enter her thinking: "DON'T EDUCATE IMMEDIATELY".  No surprise.
======

sent 3/26/2019 12:44:42 PM EST

 To: Colorado General Assembly
Colorado Association of Chiefs of Police
Colorado Prosecutors
League of Women Voters, Colorado
CUINDEPENDANT, News Corps & Journalism/UCB

 Media Throughout Colorado

 Re:  REBUTTAL - Abolish the death penalty in Colorado, Editorial Board, Boulder Daily Camera, 02/09/2019

 From: Dudley Sharp, pro death penalty expert, former opponent, 832-439-2113, CV at bottom

 Preface:  For the 20 years of my research experience, it is the norm for media opinion and news stories to lean anti-death penalty and, often, to be exclusively anti death penalty (1). Such has, greatly, perverted the debate in the public square, with fact checking/vetting, willfully, extinct within the media, on this topic (1) and, likely, many more.

 DC is Boulder Daily Camera quote/point, followed by my REBUTTAL.

 1) DC: " If the worth of a public policy is its ability to achieve policy objectives, then capital punishment is a failure. It hasn't been shown to deter crime. It's not cost-effective. It's unevenly applied."

 REBUTTAL: The DC thinks the death penalty manages itself - "its ability". The death penalty's failures are all management and all fixable. 

 Judges are the case managers (2), with legislators, governors, attorney generals, prosecutors and citizens all sharing in that irresponsibility. 

 The media has a responsibility, as well, as follows . . .

 For example, better management is exemplified by Virginia, which has executed 112 murderers within 7 years of FULL appeals, on average, since 1976 (2), Colorado judges have allowed the Colorado death penalty protocols to get, completely, out of control, intentionally (3). 

 2) DC: no deterrence

Rebuttal: The deterrent effect of severe sanctions and severe negative incentives has never been negated and cannot be.  The evidence that some are deterred is overwhelming (4). The evidence that none are deterred is non-existent (4).

 Absent the death penalty/executions, we risk sacrificing more innocent lives. With the death penalty/executions, we "risk" saving more innocent lives.

 Pick your risk.

 Nobel Prize Laureate Gary Becker: “the evidence of a variety of types — not simply the quantitative evidence — has been enough to convince me that capital punishment does deter and is worth using for the worst sorts of offenses.” (NY Times, 11/18/07)

 "(Becker) is the most important social scientist in the past 50 years The NY Times, 5/5/14

 Murder Rates: DC seems unaware that, as an, almost, iron clad rule, you cannot measure deterrence by murder rates (5)   and, therefore, DC chose a study that was "unaware" of that fact, as well.  It was not a National Research Council study. They only published it.  Anti-death penalty professor Nagin was the primary author, whose academic chair is funded by an anti-death penalty trust, with Nagin's study funded by two, well known, anti-death penalty groups, that provide millions of dollars to anti-death penalty groups. Conflicts of interest are rarely that spectacular and, boy, can you tell. Take a look (6), as you didn't vet, before.

 FYI for DC, the lowest US murder rates are, routinely, in death penalty New Hampshire, just as the highest murder rates are, routinely, in death penalty Louisiana. Death penalty US has a 5/100,000 murder rate, no death penalty El Salvador is routinely, around, 80, no death penalty Canada 1.68, death penalty Singapore 0.38. Texas is in the middle of murder rates in US states and has lower rates than 6 non death penalty states. It's the same "pattern" all over the world.

 Radelet and Lacock: It appears DC "forgot" to read the survey: the response to question 12 finds that 92% of the criminologists agree that the death penalty may deter some and the response to question 8 found that 61% of the criminologists found some support for the deterrent effects of the death penalty through the empirical, social science studies (7).

 24 US based studies finding for death penalty/execution deterrence, since 1996 (4), with the greatest findings being 28 murderers deterred by each execution, an annual average of 900 innocents saved, that being 5%, which qualifies as "some" deterred, but a percentage which may "disappear" within the various shifts, by other means, which occur, annually, in US murder rates.

 3) DC: too expensive

 REBUTTAL:  With near 6 million Co citizens, if a $4 million cost (8), from pre-trial to execution, death penalty costs would be less than $0.07 (7 cents)/citizen/year for 10 years, with similar costs for life without parole (LWOP), for 50 years, as per:  average cell costs for Level V maximum security are $48,219/inmate/yr. (9), or $1.2 million for 25 years, and $80,000 (10) for 25 years for geriatric care prisoners, or  $2 million (8), for a $3.3 million total, inclusive of pre-trial, trial and appeals , which can last a lifetime (8). (See LWOP plea credit below) . . .

 That being 11.6  cents ($0.116) extra per Coloradan, for 1 year, only, in extra costs for the death penalty. Do you think Coloradans would spend that 11.6 cent option for their worst murderers? Of course.

 With death penalty repeal, there is no plea bargain to LWOP, which is a death penalty cost credit, reducing death penalty costs, and all future LWOP cases will have to go to trial, with appeals that can last for life, and any pleas will have to have parole options, morally untenable in all the previous cases.

 The DC appeared oblivious to the fact that the 2016 Susquehanna University Political Review cost study compared death penalty case costs to GENERAL POPULATION costs.  

This is a normal scam by anti-death penalty academics (11), easily understood as such - we are not looking at general population inmate cost, but death penalty equivalent LWOP cases and costs, which raise costs, considerably, as I just demonstrated. DC, could you not see that?

 4) DC: "unevenly applied"

 REBUTTAL: If DC looked at race/ethnicity/gender/class in the context of all capital/death penalty eligible cases, instead of the normal anti-death penalty deception of using population counts, in the modern, post Gregg v Georgia (1976) era, in Co, it is, more than likely, evenly applied (10).

 Class, for example: We execute 0.2% of our murderers.  It is, solely, dependent upon one's definitions of poor and rich, as to whether the rich, a vast minority of capital murderers, are executed at rates higher or lower than the poor, the vast majority of capital murderers.

We, the people, spared no expense defending (poor) Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, executed four years after sentencing.

 Race

 DC: "More than three-quarters of executions stem from cases involving a white victim, yet only half of murder victims in America are white. "

 Rebuttal: If DC looked at capital murder victims, only, WHICH THEY DID NOT, they might find the three-quarters is what it should be (12).

 DC: "White and black inmates make up equal shares of the death row population — 42 percent — even though the country's population is 61 percent white and 13 percent black."

 Rebuttal: NOTE That deceptive population count I referenced, earlier. Its about capital murderers, not population counts. DC, just look up   "murder rate "by offender" race ethnicity" UCR" -. Then look up "fact checking" and vetting.

 Nationally, white murderers are twice as likely to be executed, as are black murderers (12) and have an execution rate 41% higher than black death row inmates (13).

 From 1980-2008, for the White–Black comparisons, the Black level is 12.7 times greater than the White level for homicide, 15.6 times greater for robbery, 6.7 times greater for rape (14).

 Robbery and rape murders are the most common death penalty crimes, most likely, raising those numbers, when looking at robbery/murders and rape/murders.

 There is no race of the defendant nor race of the victim bias effect within capital punishments (12).

 5) DC: "There is growing public revulsion with the practice"

Rebuttal

Death Penalty Support 72-86% depending upon question (8/2021)
New Evidence of Broad Support for Death Penalty | RealClearPolicy
Joseph M. Bessette & J. Andrew Sinclair, RealClearPolicy August 16, 2021 https://www.realclearpolicy.com/2021/08/16/new_evidence_of_broad_support_for_death_penalty_790059.html#! 
 
This study reflects well known polls, for the last 15 years, reflecting much higher  death penalty polls than by the oft quoted, much less accurate Gallup.

Death penalty support goes to 70-86% when identifying the most revolting murders (15).

 Execution support was 81% for Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, with near equal support over all demographics. 58% of those who OPPOSE execution, supported McVeigh's execution (16).  That will be the case with any of our worst death row cases.

 Nowhere in DC's long article did they describe their revulsion of innocents murdered.  

 6) DC: "Its value to justice is increasingly dubious"

 REBUTTAL: All of DC's claims are not dubious, but are false, including that one.

 7) DC: "Since 1973, more than 160 death row inmates have been set free because evidence showed they were innocent."

 REBUTTAL:  These innocence claims have been well known as false since about 1997, when the numbers started being published at 69.

The current claim by death penalty opponents is that 164 (1.8%) (17) were "exonerated", wherein they thought it a good idea to redefine both "innocent" and "exonerated", as redefining lie as truth, and then stuck a bunch of cases into those "revised" definitions (18), just as with the 69, in 1997.

 NY Times reported "innocent" claims to be 71% false (19). Today, that being 116 false claims of the 164 claimed "exonerated", or 48 (0.6%) proven innocent, all of whom have been released (17,18). The false claims of innocence range from 71-83%.

 All DC had to do was call up the source and ask, "How many of those 164 have been confirmed as factually innocent, by  independent sources that can be confirmed as accurate?" DC didn't do it. It would take all of 3 minutes.

 We might have proof that innocents were executed as recently as 1915 - two brothers from South Carolina. Tragic.

 The major innocents problem, nationally, as within all states, is this:

 Since 1973:

 21,000 innocents have been murdered by those KNOWN murderers that we have allowed to murder, again -  recidivist murderers (20);

 440,000 innocents have been murdered by those KNOWN criminals that we have allowed to harm, again - recidivist criminals (20).

 DC, your revulsion over those murders? Did you, ever, consider them?

 Living murderers harm and murder, again. Executed ones do not.

 Where are the innocents at risk?

 8) DC: "In 2011, Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter took the extraordinary step of granting a posthumous unconditional pardon to Joe Arridy, who had been executed in 1939 for a murder in Pueblo. "(An) overwhelming body of evidence indicates the 23-year-old Arridy was innocent, including false and coerced confessions, the likelihood that Arridy was not in Pueblo at the time of the killing, and an admission of guilt by someone else," Ritter proclaimed."

 REBUTTAL:  Just a little fact checking found major problems with this pardon (21).

DC, please withdraw from the ignoble groups that eschews fact checking/ vetting.

 From my 20 years experience - Daily Camera will not give a damn. 

 I hope that others do.
1)  The Death Penalty: HOW MEDIA MURDERS THE TRUTH     https://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2015/09/courts-states-put-death-penalty-on-life.html

 and

 I rebutted all points in the Durango Herald's "Abolish it" (3/11/19). They removed all my comments and failed to correct their article. Sadly, not uncommon. I retained the corrections.

 2) See Virginia

 Saving Costs with The Death Penalty
http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2013/02/death-penalty-cost-saving-money.html

 3) See Colorado within

 JUDGES AS JACKASSES; THE DEATH PENALTY  https://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2016/11/judges-as-jackasses_4.html  

 4)   OF COURSE THE DEATH PENALTY DETERS: A review of the debate and
MURDERERS MUCH PREFER LIFE OVER EXECUTION
99.7% of murderers tell us "Give me life, not execution"
http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2013/03/of-course-death-penalty-deters.html 


 c) "Death Penalty, Deterrence & Murder Rates: Let's be clear"
http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2009/03/death-penalty-deterrence-murder-rates.html

 6) Death Penalty Deterrence: Defended and Advanced
http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2013/06/death-penalty-deterrence-defended.html

 7) Deterrence and the Death Penalty: A Reply to Radelet and Lacock https://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2009/07/deterrence-and-death-penalty-reply-to.html

 8) Using the unconfirmed ACLU numbers of $3.5 million for death penalty and $150,000 for LWOP.

 9) COLORADO DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS Cost Per Offender by Facility FY 2017-18, https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B21TrpBx507cSktYUk9XaXg1WFRFSE4wZU5oVHI1VmZyUEFz/view

 10) I could not find a geriatric prison cost breakdown in Co. 

 With average prisoner costs in Co at $109/day, the geriatric care cost would be $218/per day, as per

 "Elderly prisoners are twice as expensive to incarcerate as the average prisoner", At America's Expense: The Mass Incarceration of the Elderly. American Civil Liberties Union; New York, NY: June, 2012, https://www.aclu.org/americas-expense-mass-incarceration-elderly

 11)  Saving Costs with The Death Penalty
http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2013/02/death-penalty-cost-saving-money.html

12) RACE & THE DEATH PENALTY: A REBUTTAL TO THE RACISM CLAIMS

 13) From 1977-2012, white death row murderers have been executed at a rate 41% higher than are black death row murderers, 19.3% vs 13.7%, respectively. ( Table 12, Executions and other dispositions of inmates sentenced to death, by race and Hispanic origin, 1977–2012, Capital Punishment 2012, Bureau of Justice Statistics, last edited 11/3/14)

 14)  REASSESSING TRENDS IN BLACK VIOLENT CRIME, 1980.2008: SORTING OUT THE "HISPANIC EFFECT" IN UNIFORM CRIME REPORTS ARRESTS, NATIONAL CRIME VICTIMIZATION SURVEY OFFENDER ESTIMATES, AND U.S. PRISONER COUNTS, See pages 208-209, FN 5,  DARRELL STEFFENSMEIER, BEN FELDMEYER, CASEY T. HARRIS, JEFFERY T. ULMER, Criminology, Volume 49, Issue 1, Article first published online: 24 FEB 2011  http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1745-9125.2010.00222.x/

 15)  86% Death Penalty Support: Highest Ever - April 2013
World Support Remains High
95% of Murder Victim's Family Members Support Death Penalty
http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2013/11/86-death-penalty-support-highest-ever.html

 16) Vast Majority of Americans Think McVeigh Should Be Executed, May 2, 2001,

 17) The Innocence List, DPIC, as of November, 2018,

18)  see sections 3 and 4
The Innocent Frauds: Standard Anti Death Penalty Strategy
http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-innocent-frauds-standard-anti-death.html

 and

 The "Innocent", the "Exonerated" and Death Row:
An Open Fraud in the Death Penalty Debate: How Death Penalty Opponents Lie 
http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-innocent-exonerated-and-death-row_19.html

 19) Liptak: "To be sure, 30 or 40 categorically innocent people have been released from death row," (NY Times, 1/23/05),  At the time of the article, there were 119 listed on the Innocence List (fn 13)  35 innocent, as per average by Liptak, means a 71% error rate with the 119. 'The Death of Innocents': A Reasonable Doubt, by Adam Liptak, NY Times, JAN. 23, 2005
Posted by at

Tuesday, March 26, 2019

Gov. Newsom: Dead Wrong on Death Penalty

California Gov. Newsom: Dead Wrong on All Death Penalty Points
Dudley Sharp, independent researcher, death penalty expert, 832-439-2113, CV at bottom

updated 3/2023

The Governor lied and lied and lied . . .

"As a gubernatorial candidate, Newsom solemnly pledged to abide by the voters' death-penalty decisions, despite disagreeing with them. He promised to be "accountable to the will of the voters" and not let his "personal opinions" interfere with "the public's right to make a determination" about capital punishment. His spokesman last year told the San Francisco Chronicle that Newsom "recognizes that California voters have spoken on the issue and [would] respect the will of the electorate." In editorial-board meetings, Newsom agreed that "it would be an affront for a governor to say 'Here's what I'm going to do by fiat.' " (Gavin Newsom's death-row betrayal, by Jeff Jacoby, The Boston Globe March 20, 2019)

 Newsom lied, of course, and his deceptions continue.

Newsom's, alleged, concerns over the death penalty (bold), followed by my comments.

Bias by race:

Nationally, white murderers are twice as likely to be executed, as are black murderers (1) and have an execution rate 41% higher than black death row inmates (2).

From 1980-2008, for the White–Black comparisons, the Black level is 12.7 times greater than the White level for homicide, 15.6 times greater for robbery, 6.7 times greater for rape (3).

Robbery and rape murders are the most common death penalty crimes (4).

There is no race of the defendant nor race of the victim bias effect within capital murders (5).

Bias against the poor

We execute 0.2% of our murderers (6).  It is, solely, dependent upon one's definitions of poor and rich, as to whether the rich, a vast minority of capital murderers, are executed at rates higher or lower than the 0.2% of the poor, the vast majority of capital murderers.

We, the people, spared no expense defending (poor) Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh (7), executed four years after sentencing (8).

Too expensive

The two recent Ca studies for death penalty vs life costs are a sham (9).

Both studies included $15,000/yr for capital murder lifers, when the "average" cell cost was more than $45,000/yr (10)  (Now $80,000/yr, 2017-2018 (10a)), with high security cells up to $174,000/yr. (11), or about $5 million, for 50 years, at $100,000/yr/inmate, for capital murder lifers, WHICH DOES NOT INCLUDE pre trial, trial, nor appeals costs, nor specific geriatric care, being 3-9 times average cell cost (12), adding millions more to the total, resulting in life being more expensive than the death penalty, all left out of those "studies".

Repeal of the death penalty ends life without parole pleas, leaving only life with parole, as a plea.

Innocents at risk

Newsom parrots that 1 out of 25 death row inmates are innocent. Nonsense.

The current claim by death penalty opponents (DPO) is that 164 (1.8%) (13) were "exonerated", wherein DPO thought it a good idea to redefine both "innocent" and "exonerated", as redefining lie as truth, and then stuck a bunch of cases into those "revised" definitions (13,14,15).

NY Times reported "innocent" claims to be 71% false (16). Today, that being 116 false claims of the 164 claimed "exonerated", or 48 (0.6%) proven innocent, all of whom have been released (16). The false claims of innocence range from 71-83% (17) .

That deception is the foundation of the 1 out of 25 "study" (18).

We might have proof that innocents were executed as recently as 1915 - two brothers from South Carolina (19). Tragic.

The major innocence problem, nationally, as within California, is this:

Since 1973:

20,000 innocents have been murdered by those KNOWN murderers that we have allowed to murder, again - recidivist murderers (20);

500,000 innocents have been murdered by those KNOWN criminals that we have allowed to harm, again - recidivist criminals (20).

Living murderers harm and murder, again. Executed ones do not.

Where are the innocents at risk?

No deterrence

The deterrent effect of severe sanctions and severe negative incentives has never been negated and cannot be.  The evidence that some are deterred is overwhelming (21). The evidence that none are deterred is non existent (21).

Absent the death penalty/executions, we risk sacrificing more innocent lives. With the death penalty/executions, we "risk" saving more innocent lives.

Pick your risk.

Nobel Prize Laureate Gary Becker: “the evidence of a variety of types — not simply the quantitative evidence — has been enough to convince me that capital punishment does deter and is worth using for the worst sorts of offenses.” (NY Times, 11/18/07)

"(Becker) is the most important social scientist in the past 50 years The NY Times, 5/5/14

Bias against the mentally ill

Newsom is, fully, aware that competency is considered pre trial, trial and within appeals, to determine if the defendant/convicted party is, legally, competent to be held responsible for their crimes.

Polling

Poll support is 70-86%, with actual cases (22).  For example, ask: Do you support  a death sentence in cases wherein children have been raped/tortured/murdered? With answer options of -- sometimes -- always -- never.

Execution support was 81% for Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, with near equal support over all demographics. 58% of those who OPPOSE execution, supported McVeigh's execution (23) - the "sometimes" component is huge.

Death Penalty Support 72-86% depending upon question (8/2021)
New Evidence of Broad Support for Death Penalty | RealClearPolicy
Joseph M. Bessette & J. Andrew Sinclair, RealClearPolicy August 16, 2021 https://www.realclearpolicy.com/2021/08/16/new_evidence_of_broad_support_for_death_penalty_790059.html#! 
 
This study reflects well known polls, for the last 15 years, proving much higher  death penalty support than by the oft quoted, much less accurate Gallup.

Death penalty problems? Nope. Management problems

Human management is irresponsible, not the death penalty. Newsom is oblivious.

Responsible management exists in Virginia. Since 1976, Virginia has executed 112 murderers, within 7 years of FULL appeals, on average (24).

Had California management been responsible, as Virginia, there would, now, be 47 murderers on death row, not 737 (25).

Newsom has shown his contempt for truth, justice, jurors, citizens, innocent rape/torture/murder victims and their survivors.

Murderers and their advocates are jubilant.

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600+ pro death penalty quotes from murder victim's families &
3300+ from some of the greatest thinkers in history
http://prodpquotes.info/ 
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FN

1)  56% of those executed are white, 34% black (a). The Black level is 12.7 times greater than the White level for homicide (fn 3).

(a) although a very untrusted anti-death penalty site, this stat is correct - DPIC, Facts About The Death Penalty, March 12, 2019, https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/documents/FactSheet.pdf

NOTE:   2016 - 20 prisoners were executed, 16 white, 2 Hispanic, 2 black. 70 prisoners released from under sentence of death by means other than execution, p 2, Highlights, BJS Capital Punishment Report, 2016, April, 2018, 

2) From 1977-2012, white death row murderers have been executed at a rate 41% higher than are black death row murderers, 19.3% vs 13.7%, respectively. ( Table 12, Executions and other dispositions of inmates sentenced to death, by race and Hispanic origin, 1977–2012, Capital Punishment 2012, Bureau of Justice Statistics, last edited 11/3/14)

3)  REASSESSING TRENDS IN BLACK VIOLENT CRIME, 1980.2008: SORTING OUT THE "HISPANIC EFFECT" IN UNIFORM CRIME REPORTS ARRESTS, NATIONAL CRIME VICTIMIZATION SURVEY OFFENDER ESTIMATES, AND U.S. PRISONER COUNTS, See pages 208-209, FN 5,  DARRELL STEFFENSMEIER, BEN FELDMEYER, CASEY T. HARRIS, JEFFERY T. ULMER, Criminology, Volume 49, Issue 1, Article first published online: 24 FEB 2011  http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1745-9125.2010.00222.x/pdf

4) You have to go through each "Offender Information" link, Death Row Information, Offenders on Death Row, Texas Department of Criminal Justice,

5) paragraphs 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7 & 8
RACE & THE DEATH PENALTY: A REBUTTAL TO THE RACISM CLAIMS

6)  Using average of 18,000 murders per year (1973-2018), with 1493 executions, or 0.18%, see FBI data at Disaster Center, http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/uscrime.htm

7) McVeigh defense cost U.S. $15 million, Chicago Tribune, 10/28/2001

8) 1997-2001

9) Death Penalty Costs: California

10) ibid

10a) Figure 1, (Prisons plus Administration),  Total Expenditures for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation,  2017-2018 Proposed, The 2017-2018 Budget, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, March 1, 2017,

also see

$10,000-$40,000/yr/inmate (2012), additional, ONLY for geriatric prisoner medical care from
Medical Expenditures for Older Inmates, IV. Aging Bodies, Soaring Costs, Old Behaind Bars, Human Rights Watch, 1/27/12, 

11) ibid, 9

12)  Older prisoners  (2005 and 2011) cost 3-9 times more than younger prisoners, from: Human Rights Watch. Old Behind Bars: The Aging Prison Population in the United States. Human Rights Watch; Jan 27, 2012 & American Civil Liberties Union. At America's Expense: The Mass Incarceration of the Elderly. American Civil Liberties Union; New York, NY: June, 2012

13)  The Innocence List, DPIC, as of November, 2018,

14) ibid,  The modern era of death penalty cases did not begin until after Gregg v Georgia, 1976, however, based upon the numbers, the end of 1978, is when we finally resolved all the Gregg issues, in the modern era, which means, we should omit 34 of those cases (1963-1978), bringing the number down to 130, minus the 71%, or 38 innocents - see

TABLE 16 Prisoners sentenced to death and the outcome of the sentence, by year of sentencing, 1973–2013, Capital Punishment, 2013, Statistical Tables, Bureau of Justice Statistics, December 2014,

15)  see sections 3 and 4
The Innocent Frauds: Standard Anti Death Penalty Strategy
http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-innocent-frauds-standard-anti-death.html

and

The "Innocent", the "Exonerated" and Death Row:
An Open Fraud in the Death Penalty Debate: How Death Penalty Opponents Lie 
http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-innocent-exonerated-and-death-row_19.html

16)  Liptak: "To be sure, 30 or 40 categorically innocent people have been released from death row," (NY Times, 1/23/05). At the time of the article, there were 119 listed on the Innocence List (fn 13) 35 innocent, as per average by Liptak, means a 71% error rate with the 119. 'The Death of Innocents': A Reasonable Doubt, by Adam Liptak, NY Times, JAN. 23, 2005

17) ibid, fn 15

18)  The 4.1% "Innocent" on Death Row: More Nonsense

19)  South Carolina pardons black brothers convicted of 1913 killing, By Alex Spilliu, The Telegraph, 18 Oct 2009, 

20) Section 4 b and d


21) OF COURSE THE DEATH PENALTY DETERS: A review of the debate
and
MURDERERS MUCH PREFER LIFE OVER EXECUTION
99.7% of murderers tell us "Give me life, not execution"
http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2013/03/of-course-death-penalty-deters.html

22)  86% Death Penalty Support: Highest Ever - April 2013
World Support Remains High
95% of Murder Victim's Family Members Support Death Penalty
http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2013/11/86-death-penalty-support-highest-ever.html

23) Vast Majority of Americans Think McVeigh Should Be Executed, May 2, 2001,

24)  Path to execution swifter, more certain in Va. , FRANK GREEN, Richmond Post-Dispatch, December 4, 2011 Page: A1 Section: News Edition: Final 
http://www.timesdispatch.com/archive/path-to-execution-swifter-more-certain-in-va/article_6a4bf4fc-bff8-52b5-be5b-7d2598439957.html

25)  See Virginia and California

With executions (72%) and other removals (23.4%), Virginia has cleared 95.4% of their death row cases, which would have resulted in California, now, having 47 inmates on their death row, not 737. Virginia has has 2 more executions, since this report.

Table 17, page 20,  Capital Punishment, 2013, Statistical Tables, Bureau of Justice Statistics,  December 2014, (THE LAST YEAR OF THAT DATA SET)

====== 
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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
(7 pro-death penalty experts listed)
Posted by at

Friday, March 22, 2019

Colo. Gov. Ritter's pardon of Joe Arridy: HUGE Problem

Subject: HUGE problem: Gov. Ritter's pardon of Joe Arridy

 From: sharpjfa@aol.com, 

 To: scott.tobia@westword.com, tracy.kontrelos@westworld.com, Patricia.Calhoun@westworld.com

 Cc: evan.dreyer@state.co.us, tyler.smith@state.co.us, jsuthers@springsgov.com, publiccomm@springsgov.com, Wendy.Hartzell@colostate.edu, Bill.Ritter@colostate.edu, William.Ritter@colostate.edu, tharmon@chieftan.com

 Sent: 6/23/2016 2:51:34 PM Eastern Standard Time

 Subject: HUGE problem: Gov. Ritter's pardon of Joe Arridy

To: Scott Tobias, Publisher, Westworld
Tracy Kontrelos, Associate Publisher, Westworld
Patricia Calhoun, Editor, Westworld
Mayor Suther, AG when Ritter was Governor
Evan Dreyer, assistant to Gov. Ritter
Tyler Smith, assistant to Gov. Ritter
Former Gov. Bill Ritter

 RE: Joe Arridy was the happiest man on death row, BY ALAN PRENDERGAST, Westworld, SEPTEMBER 20, 2012

From: Dudley Sharp, independent researcher, death penalty expert, 832-439-2113, CV at bottom

 There is a major problem with the Governor's pardon.

 The pardon states:

 "Mr. Aguilar had, however, always maintained that he had never met Mr. Arridy (Pardon, p3, para 1)."

 This is, in fact, totally, untrue.

 From the referenced article, Alan Prendergast wrote and has confirmed the accuracy of all material in his article:

 "Several days into his interrogation, Aguilar gave a statement in which he claimed to have met Arridy in a park a few hours before the murder. The two of them plotted the attack on the Drain girls — Aguilar had already learned that the parents were going out that night — and then carried it out together. Much of the "confession" consisted of terse yes-no answers to leading questions ("Then Joe assaulted the big girl, didn't he?")."

 Although Aguilar later recanted, which is irrelevant, with regard to the Governor's false statement, both as a matter of reason and of fact, Aguilar's confession of guilt is much more credible that is his, later, recantation.

 There is zero reason for Aguilar to falsely confess, yet every reason for him to recant.

 Arridy, also, twice, spontaneously, verified that he knew Aguilar, by calling him Frank, in front of witnesses, when they were brought together and another time when Arridy was presented the ax/hatchett and identified it as Frank's.  

 Arridy also stated that he knew Aguilar and that they committed the crimes, together.

Prendergrast confirms:

"Taylor brought the hatchet head recovered from Aguilar's house. Asked if he recognized the hatchet, Arridy said that it belonged to someone named Frank.", Aguilar's first name.

 "Amid highly publicized security, Arridy was taken to Pueblo and escorted through the Drain home, where he re-enacted the scenario he'd provided about he and Frank turning off lights and attacking the girls. Then he was taken to police headquarters for a confrontation with Frank Aguilar, witnessed by several officers.

"That's Frank," Arridy said."

 He, later, stated, that he had never met Aguilar.

 "When asked why he participated in the murder, Arridy said, 'Just for meanness and I am sorry now. If they will just let me alone, I’ll be good after this.'  " (75-year-old case still compelling today, Tracy Harmon, The Pueblo Chieftain, February 24, 2014)

 Given those known facts, all confirmed as true, by Prendergrast, the Governor could, hardly, have been more in error, completely contrary to the known, public facts.

 I am unaware of a more inaccurate pardon. (NOTE: I found another one).

 Are you aware of anyone who fact checked either one or both of Perske's book on this case and/or the brief submitted in support of the Arridy pardon?

 Did the Governor fact check David A. Martinez' or others' research on this case?

Was there an opposing state counsel report, to investigate Martinez' or others' pro pardon research, to ensure a balanced review?

If so, where are the Governor's and/or state counsel's review?

 I am just beginning my research on this case and any direction would be appreciated, if you have any.

 If not, thank you for your time.

 I am a pro death penalty expert, a former, opponent, who has detailed many false claims of innocence in death penalty cases (1).

 Sincerely, Dudley Sharp

 1)  The Innocent Frauds: Standard Anti-Death Penalty Strategy
READ SECTIONS 3&4 FIRST
http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-innocent-frauds-standard-anti-death.html

======
600+ pro death penalty quotes from murder victim's families &
3300+ from some of the greatest thinkers in history
http://prodpquotes.info/ 
 
 
Additional research,w/sources, w/fact checking/vetting & critical thinking, as required of everyone.  
 
1) The Death Penalty: Justice & Saving More Innocents
and
Students, Academics & Journalists: Death Penalty Research
======
 
Partial CV
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Friday, March 08, 2019

Conservatives & The Death Penalty

Conservatives & The Death Penalty:
Another Rebuttal of Their Anti-Death Penalty Position
Dishonesty or Willful Ignorance?
Dudley Sharp, independent researcher, death penalty expert, former opponent, 832-439-2113, CV included

 sent 1/19/2018

 To: Representative Steve Handy

 cc: Governor Gary Herbert and staff
Utah House, Senate and staff
Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Interim Committee
Attorney General Sean Reyes and staff
Utah Prosecution Council
Utah Sheriffs' Association
Utah Appellate Courts
Libertas Institute - Utah
Students For Liberty
Young Americans for Liberty

 Media throughout Utah

 From: Dudley Sharp, independent researcher, death penalty expert, former opponent, 832-439-2113, CV at bottom

 Dear Rep. Handy:

 I hope, this time, you will fact check.

 Here is a rebuttal, below, to (one of many) conservatives who refuses to fact check.

 In a message dated 12/14/2017 1:08:57 PM Central Standard Time, sharpjfa@aol.com writes:

 To: Richard Viguerie (c/0 http://www.conservativehq.com/Contact)

 bcc: All editors and commentary writers, Washington Times

 copied to Oliver North, Jay Sekulow, Ron Paul, Michael Steele, Ramesh Ponnuru

 Re:  "Republicans reconsidering the death penalty", Richard Viguerie, Washington Times, December 13, 2017

 From: Dudley Sharp. death penalty expert, former opponent

 I fully rebutted all of Viguerie's anti-death penalty points in 2009 (1). I send him my rebuttal. He did not respond. He couldn't.

 ======
August 20, 2019

Full Rebuttal of Hannah Cox, National Manager,
Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty (CCADP),
within Comment Section
======

 To repeat, with his present op/ed, many points of which are the same, as in 2009:

 1) Why conservative support for the death penalty has dropped.

 Viguerie:" . . . what caused this drop in conservative support in the first place? His answer: " . . .  an ongoing educational campaign to inform conservatives of the death penalty’s many practical failures."

 Sharp rebuttal: It is a misinformation campaign, which duplicates the liberal anti- death penalty claims, which have been rebutted for years (1,2).

 Viguerie, for example, extols the efforts of the Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty (CCADP), a group owned and controlled by a very well known liberal anti-death penalty group, Equal Justice USA, which counts as its financial supporters many liberal groups, inclusive of George Soros (fn 1 from 1), all detailed for Viguerie in 2009 (fn 1 from 1).

 Here is a review of all of Viguerie's education points, which he claims are reasons to do away with the death penalty.

 2) limited government

 Sharp Rebuttal: Death row represents 0.04% of the criminals, currently, within the criminal justice system. Possibly, death row is the smallest of all government components.

 3) Costs

 Sharp Rebuttal:  There appears to be three or more states where the death penalty saves money over life without parole (LWOP) (3).  In those states where the death penalty might be more expensive than LWOP, that is not the fault of the death penalty, but of management (4).  Fix them.

 For example, Virginia has executed 112 murderers, since 1976, within 7 years of appeals, on average (3). All states would save money over LWOP, if they don't already, by duplicating that protocol. If Virginia can do it, all states can.

 Death row is a small component, of the total corrections cost, within each state.

 4) Catholics

 Sharp Rebuttal to Viguerie's points.

 The Catholic Church has supported the death penalty for over 2000 years (5).

 Some in the Church, as with Viguerie, have accepted a confusion, since 1995, that justice is no longer primary, which, clearly, is contrary to Church teachings, for 2000 years, through today (5,6).

 In addition, the new teachings, 1995 forward, are based upon the secular confidence in criminal justice systems, which as you might notice, Viguerie has no confidence in any government programs, with some in the Church saying, because criminal justice systems have the means to protect us from unjust aggressors, without using the death penalty, that we should chose less severe sanctions.

What Viguerie and the Church should know is that such is, in fact, not the reality of the situation.

Innocents are much better protected when we use the death penalty/executions (7) and the reality of the criminal justice system is that it allows criminals to harm, over and over, again (7, 8).

For some odd reason the Church and Viguerie are willing to sacrifice more innocents, to make sure that all murderers live.

5) Support for the death penalty is at a 45-year low, some surveys showing that a clear majority prefers repealing and replacing the death penalty

Sharp Rebuttal: I have not seen the polls that show "a clear majority prefers repealing and replacing the death penalty".  I suspect Viguerie has not, either. California, the bluest of blue states, just voted, by popular referendum, to keep the death penalty and to speed up appeals.

A primary problem with the polling is that the media will only chose to show those polls that they like, which, usually means the ones with the lowest support (9).

For example,

---  there was a 2013 poll showing 86% death penalty support in the US (9). Not one media source carried it, even though it was by Angus Reid, the #1 most accurate pollster in the 2012 presidential election (9).

----  every year Gallup comes out with their death penalty poll, the media only picks up the lowest support numbers from Gallup, even though, almost every year, there is another poll result, within that same Gallup release, that has about 10% higher death penalty support (9).

I, strongly, suspect other topics of polls are handled, similarly, by the media.

We all know that the questions asked and the answers provided, by the polling companies, direct the outcome.  With the death penalty, those variables can provided 10-40% swings (9).

6) Mistakes

Sharp Rebuttal: Since 1976, after Gregg v Georgia, the case that approved new death penalty statutes,  there have been about 0.4% of death row inmates proven to be actually innocent and released from death row, which equals a 99.6% accuracy rate for actually guilty convictions and a 100% rate of freeing the actually innocent, very likely, the most accurate government program.

The current anti death penalty claims of 160 "exonerated" from death row, have been a well known deception, at least since 1996, when the number was 69, Anti death penalty folks have, simply, redefined both "innocent" and "exonerated" and then stuffed a bunch of cases into those perverted definitions. Their claims are 70-83% false, depending upon review, as detailed (10).

There is no known innocents executed since 1913 (date changed), if then.

We can speculate, but then we can also speculate that these number may be higher:

Since 1973:

16,000 innocents have been murdered by those KNOWN murderers that we have allowed to murder, again - recidivist murderers and
400,000 innocents have been murdered by those KNOWN criminals that we have allowed to harm, again - recidivist criminals (7,8).

Viguerie, where do you think the mistakes are? This goes to the #1 concern for the anti death penalty movement - it is imperative that all murderers must live, no matter the cost.

7) "far too often botch these executions — something the public clearly has no appetite for."

Sharp Rebuttal:  Possibly, about 1% of lethal injections have been botched - a pretty good record. The claim that 7% are botched is, simply, false, as fact checking proves (11).

Mr. Viguerie is voicing the willful ignorance of conservatives, not their concerns.


1)  Rebuttal to Richard A. Viguerie
Dudley Sharp, 7/09
http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2013/10/rebuttal-to-richard-vigueries-when.html

2) The Death Penalty: Justice & Saving More Innocents
http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-death-penalty-justice-saving-more.html


4)  Judges Responsible For Grossly Uneven Executions
http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2013/11/judges-responsible-for-grossly-uneven.html

and

Judges as Jackasses

5)  By Man Shall His Blood Be Shed: A Catholic Defense of Capital Punishment, 2017, Edward Feser and Joseph M. Bessette, (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, $24.95). Visit ignatius.com or call 1-800-651-1531. ''

6)   Critical Dismay:  The Catholic Church's Latest (2018)Death Penalty Catechism Amendment (added 3/19)
https://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2019/02/critical-dismay-catholic-churchs-latest.html

 Catholic Church: Problems with Her Newest Death Penalty Position:
The Catechism & Section 2267     


8)  Catechism and State Protection

9)  86% Death Penalty Support: Highest Ever - April 2013
World Support Remains High
95% of Murder Victim's Family Members Support Death Penalty
http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2013/11/86-death-penalty-support-highest-ever.html

10)  The Innocent Frauds: Standard Anti Death Penalty Strategy
READ SECTIONS 3&4 FIRST
http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-innocent-frauds-standard-anti-death.html



Partial CV, Dudley Sharp



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