My problems with the death penalty have much more to do with its uneven application by race, leaning heavily on coerced testimony and shaky evidence and depending on the actions of politically ambitious prosecutors. Far too often, this leads to the conviction of the wrong person.
But this one? I think we have it nailed, and if anyone deserves to die, it’s her.
I’m on the same page as you where the the death penalty is concerned. In addition to the objections you mention, it also seems to me that a lot of cops and prosecutors seem to be so focused on securing a conviction that they lose sight of the question of actual guilt or innocence.
Having said that, some cases such as this, leave me thinking that the accepted methods of execution are far too humane.
I disagree: If one person, for what are considered “good” reasons, can be put to death, so can others, for reasons which are not so “good, which may be unfounded, all the usual arguments.
Plus, when a person spends life in prison, he or she has plenty of time to consider the wages of his or her bad acts here, in this world, during their lives. Given that there may not be a hell, much better to let them contmplate their lives, their actions, their fate for a good long time.
I’ve always wondered how awful Timothy McVeigh would feel on realizing that his attack on the United States was far less “successful,” at least numerically, than Al Qaeda’s. He may have gone to his death in the false pride of his “accomplishment.” Had he lived he would kow the folly of his vanity.
And there were those lingering questions about who he may have been working with….