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An Alabama inmate was put to death by lethal injection on Thursday after a deadlocked Supreme Court refused to stay his execution, The Associated Press reported. The inmate, Ronald B. Smith, had been sentenced to death by a judge despite a jury's recommendation of life without parole.
Mr. Smith was convicted in 1995 of murdering Casey Wilson, a convenience store clerk, the previous year. By a vote of 7 to 5, the jury rejected the death penalty and recommended a sentence of life without parole. The judge overrode that recommendation, sentencing Mr. Smith to death.
[...] In January, the Supreme Court struck down Florida's capital sentencing system, which also allowed judicial overrides of jury recommendations of life sentences. "The Sixth Amendment requires a jury, not a judge, to find each fact necessary to impose a sentence of death,"
Should judges be allowed to overrule a jury's decision for sentencing?
(Score: 2) by GungnirSniper on Monday December 12 2016, @02:33AM
Is it not worse than death to be encaged for life? For should an innocent man be freed after so long, he cannot functionally rejion society.
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(Score: 3, Insightful) by AthanasiusKircher on Monday December 12 2016, @04:12AM
I remember back in my early 20s making a similar argument about the death penalty. I know the stories about ruined lives after exoneration and prison time. But now I think much differently -- the death penalty is irrevocable, so the person has no choice to continue living and hope for exoneration.
If we're not going to abolish the death penalty completely, if you want to make that argument, at least we should let prisoners have the choice rather than simply killing them... Only to find out later that they were innocent. In no way should we view sentencing someone to death as a "humanitarian" measure.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 12 2016, @11:04AM
How about this? Whenever a person who has been executed is later found to be falsely accused, the judge and/or jury (depending on who decided the death penalty) is automatically convicted of the murder of an innocent person. After all, court transcripts will show plenty of evidence that they actually did sentence the person to death, so no need for lengthy trials.
That should cut down the use of the death penalty to cases where there is absolutely no doubt. At least if you believe the death penalty to be a deterrent.
(Score: 2) by GungnirSniper on Wednesday December 14 2016, @04:31AM
What do you do then when the prosecution, police, or others fail to report exculpatory evidence?
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