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No, no. Here is what you wrote. We average about 35,000 murders a year. How many innocent people have been executed? My answer is that for starters, about 35,000 people. You know, the ones that were murdered. They were executed by their assailants. I thought you were giving me a trick question.

As to how many innocent people the state has executed, I have no idea. That is an impossible number to arrive at. Every once in a while we get confirmation, though, that it is more than we know - details of a case come out that show someone was wrongly convicted.

It's like having faith. Not always but sometimes you get the evidence you need to support your position. In my thinking, news of an innocent person wrongly put to death or released from death row.

The only other way to argue the death penalty is one of two ways:

1). Our system of justice is infallable, especially now with DNA testing. We could never make a mistake and condem an innocent person.

2). If one or two innoncent people are executed for crimes they did not commit, well, that is a price that must be paid. Society needs the death penalty.

Do you see it any other way?