If you don't meet Jesus on death row, you will never meet him.
I think innocent men have been executed. I am also a strong supporter of the death penalty. It is a foregone conclusion that nothing created by man is perfect, but we don't let that hamstring us. We don't refuse to build skyscrapers becuase an innocent person may be killed during construction and we don't abolish cars.
Accidents happen. That is life.
If General Motors started manufacturing vehicles that every once in a while exploded for no good reason, the public would demand it to be removed from production and either fixed or scrapped altogether. Whereas there will always be instances of innocent people going to jail, when it's a matter of life and death, I don't think we can support a system which so obviously favors the O.J. Simpsons of the world over you or me.
Since we can't realistically devise a system that provides equal representation to every single criminal, I feel that we should err on the side of the handful of innocents that are going to have their lives cut short in the name of "justice". Even if it means a thousand other bona fide murderers will spend the rest of their lives in jail cell instead of on a gurney, I think the lives of a few innocent people are worth it.
I wouldn't want to be a victim of that sort of "accident".
There's a big difference between accidents occurring and the government deciding that a person should be put to death.