Right. I understand the difference, but I think we can agree that there have been people who have been executed over crimes of passion because the legal process or even some of the circumstances made it appear different.
But I do agree, and feel that the vast majority of inmates with capital punishment sentences deserve to be there for what they did.
In this, there are no solutions, only trade-offs.
A person, once executed, cannot be brought back if it was a mistake. Then again, neither can a violent killer commit more murders after execution, whereas if put in prison he is a danger to other inmates and to his guards.
Meanwhile, we let violent criminals back on the streets, because there is no more room in the prisons to hold them. The blood of those killed and wounded by released criminals should also be a concern.
I would suggest that criminals with multiple violent-crime convictions (like more than three) be brought back before the jury after their latest conviction, the jury be given their ENTIRE criminal record, including any previously-sealed juvenile record, and asked to decide if it would be better that this criminal be put to death, rather than risk him being put back on the streets among them some time in the future.