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Did Texas execute an innocent man?
Houston Chronicle ^ | Nov. 19, 2005 | LISE OLSEN

Posted on 11/19/2005 4:20:16 PM PST by Ninian Dryhope

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To: Ninian Dryhope

I have a question, because I couldn't read after Mr. Sweetness and Light pulled a gun on the cop over a pool game: If it wasn't him (and the accomplice says so) who was it?


21 posted on 11/19/2005 4:42:40 PM PST by AmishDude (Mathematics -- better than science, harder than science, and always true. Always.)
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To: rwfromkansas

A brilliant argument. Your superior wit and intellect is obvious; please don't abuse me with it - I can't take much more!


22 posted on 11/19/2005 4:43:16 PM PST by al_again
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To: Ninian Dryhope

Well only one person was authorized to have a weapon in that bar. He shot the office four times and only by the grace of God did he escape the death penalty for that incident.

Those against the death penalty sometimes make a great case in a vaccum. Who makes the case for those who died at the hands?

In California we're going over the case of Tookie Williams, (sp?). Here's the co-founder of the Crypts who gunned down four innocent people.

His supporters ghost wrote a book for him, and claim he has prevented 150,000 kids from joining gangs. Sounded pretty good until the prison officials outed him for what they say is his continued direction of the gang from prison. Evidently his visitors are rather unsavory.

These people who are so willing to sell out the victims of these rabid killers disgust me.

When Williams killed his victims he had a full head of hair and was buffed to the max, one of the most powerful and violent individuals you could imagine.

Today he's a balding soft spoken person of average size and weight, looking like somebody's grandpa. His supporters want clemency.

His victims didn't get mercy. Niether will the Tookster if my view prevails.


23 posted on 11/19/2005 4:44:32 PM PST by DoughtyOne
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To: Ninian Dryhope

Liberals are sooooooooooo boring.


24 posted on 11/19/2005 4:44:55 PM PST by LibWhacker
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To: RadioAstronomer
Convenient recantation. A prosecutor who changed his mind. Well, if that's true, assuming it is, there's plenty of blame to go around. But its a little too glib to me and we all know a mudererer would say and do anything to wriggle out of his fate.

(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie.Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")

25 posted on 11/19/2005 4:45:03 PM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)
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To: al_again

Your idea that the death penalty is wrong because sometimes people get offed who are innocent really is quite lame.

You could use the same argument for any kind of punishment.

Dying in prison of natural causes is just as bad as languishing in jail for 10 years and then getting a little shot.


26 posted on 11/19/2005 4:46:31 PM PST by rwfromkansas (http://www.xanga.com/rwfromkansas)
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To: warrior9504
The challenge is that the current standard for criminal conviction is 'beyond a reasonable doubt'. How do you get a higher standard than that???

For some crimes - I absolutely believe that the death penalty is the appropriate punishment. Unfortunately, the penalty is applied to the most heinous crimes - where the pressure to convict is incredibly high and the 'reasonable doubt' standard is subverted by the 'It's probably him and we can't take a chance of putting this person back on the street'.

I have gone back and forth on this issue numerous times in my life but I keep coming back to the mistaken conviction scenario. This happens much more often than people would like - just look at all the people on death row who have been exonerated by DNA evidence.

I do appreciate the higher standard argument I just don't see how it could reasonably be done.
27 posted on 11/19/2005 4:50:41 PM PST by al_again
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To: rwfromkansas
Dying in prison of natural causes is just as bad as languishing in jail for 10 years and then getting a little shot.

I suspect people in that position ,might disagree with you...

I can understand and appreciate why people do support the death penalty. At the same time, I think those that support it must be intellectually honest and admit that a certain number of innocent people will be put to death by the state. For some, this is acceptable for the 'greater good' argument. I, on the other hand, do not think this is acceptable.

28 posted on 11/19/2005 4:56:42 PM PST by al_again
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To: All
Ruben Cantu, 17 at the time of his crime, had no previous convictions, but a San Antonio prosecutor had branded him a violent thief, gang member and murderer who ruthlessly shot one victim nine times with a rifle before emptying at least nine more rounds into the only eyewitness - a man who barely survived to testify....................

Worse, some think Cantu's arrest was instigated by police officers because Cantu shot and wounded an off-duty officer during an unrelated bar fight. That case against Cantu was dropped in part because officers overreacted and apparently tainted the evidence, according to records and interviews.

No record but he has shot and wounded a off-duty officer. Does anything else need to be said?

29 posted on 11/19/2005 4:58:17 PM PST by pepperhead (Kennedy's float, Mary Jo's don't!)
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To: rwfromkansas
Your idea that the death penalty is wrong because sometimes people get offed who are innocent really is quite lame.

I dunno. I used to be staunchly pro-death penalty, until I realized someone like Bill Clinton could be elected President of the United States.

Now I'm only moderately pro-death penalty.

If the libs ever gain total control, I wouldn't want to find myself accused of "hate-speech" or something similar, with Lawrence Tribe or Janet Reno deciding if I should live or die.

30 posted on 11/19/2005 4:58:50 PM PST by daler
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To: al_again

Do you think it acceptable for people to die in prison when they are innocent? To never enjoy life again?

It would be better to die for many than to never enjoy life again.


31 posted on 11/19/2005 4:58:59 PM PST by rwfromkansas (http://www.xanga.com/rwfromkansas)
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To: al_again

I mean, what do you propose we do about those are are unjustly imprisoned and die there of natural causes? You only seem to think it is a big deal when people are unjustly executed. I believe it is a big deal to just be put into jail when you are innocent, but unfortunately, only God is perfect.

We will get it wrong sometimes. That does not mean we simply throw out the baby with the bath water and cry we are failures. It means we work constantly to find better standards for conviction, better ways to determine guilt etc.

We don't decide to stop punishing people just because some innocents get convicted.


32 posted on 11/19/2005 5:02:44 PM PST by rwfromkansas (http://www.xanga.com/rwfromkansas)
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To: Ninian Dryhope
He told the Chronicle he's sure that the person who shot him was not Cantu, but he felt pressured by police to identify the boy as the killer.

When you are looking at a lineup and you know the crime is murder realize its for all the marbles and don't finger someone to keep a lawman happy unless you really think he done it.

What is so complicated about that ?
33 posted on 11/19/2005 5:04:12 PM PST by festus (The constitution may be flawed but its a whole lot better than what we have now.)
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To: daler

"If the libs ever gain total control, I wouldn't want to find myself accused of "hate-speech" or something similar, with Lawrence Tribe or Janet Reno deciding if I should live or die."

Your point is well taken. I have those same fears about the Patriot Act if someone like Hillary were in control of the justice department. Like you, I no longer support the death penalty as I once did.


34 posted on 11/19/2005 5:29:57 PM PST by Pepper777
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To: al_again

It is the law that needs to be corrected not the punishment. Blame the judges that will only follow the rules after the trial and the system that will not allow newly discovered (facts) to even be considered because it was late or not brought up in time. (cant make his highness the judge look bad) Also the use of retard lawyers that can only make a living off of poor people who the judges think get what they can pay for.


35 posted on 11/19/2005 5:38:09 PM PST by bdfromlv (Leavenworth hard time)
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To: daler

"If the libs ever gain total control, I wouldn't want to find myself accused of "hate-speech" or something similar, with Lawrence Tribe or Janet Reno deciding if I should live or die."

That is why we have the 2nd amendment.


36 posted on 11/19/2005 5:41:07 PM PST by ol painless (ol' painless is out of the bag)
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To: rwfromkansas
We don't decide to stop punishing people just because some innocents get convicted.

It's a bit of a stretch taking being against the death penalty as being against punishment; don't you think?

37 posted on 11/19/2005 5:46:39 PM PST by al_again
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To: bdfromlv
Also the use of retard lawyers that can only make a living off of poor people who the judges think get what they can pay for.

That is definitely part of the problem. Public defenders need to be banned from representing capital cases!

38 posted on 11/19/2005 5:48:30 PM PST by al_again
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To: Ninian Dryhope

The lesson here is that you don't want to hang around in gangs, whose business is crime and self-preservation.
I feel very sorry for someone killed by a drunk driver, but this man just made some really bad decisions that cost him his life. If I were a jury member, I wouldn't lose sleep over it.


39 posted on 11/19/2005 5:53:18 PM PST by kittymyrib
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To: Ninian Dryhope

I wasn't there so I don't know what actually happened, but I do know that most Texans are good and decent people who don't kill folks for no good reason. I would have to assume that the executed murderer didn't fit into that category and I will not soon start forming my opinions based on what the Houston Comical reports. They are an embarrassment to us normal people who live here.


40 posted on 11/19/2005 5:56:28 PM PST by KarinG1 (Some of us are trying to engage in philosophical discourse. Please don't allow us to interrupt you.)
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