Do we have the Death sentence in WA? Yes. First since 2001 may happen...

[uppityperson]

http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20081122/NEWS/311229996

WALLA WALLA -- A sturdy metal gurney, topped by a thin foam mattress and backboard, dominates the small chamber that awaits Darold Ray Stenson for his Dec. 3 execution at the Washington state Penitentiary.

Stenson, 55, was convicted of aggravated murder for the 1993 shooting deaths of his wife and a business partner while his three young children slept nearby in his Clallam County farmhouse.

Eight men sit on Washington's death row, but Stenson would be the first inmate put to death since 2001 if none of his pending appeals is granted. A federal appeals court lifted a stay last month, and prison officials are preparing for the execution to go forward as scheduled.

Several walkthroughs have already been conducted, with another still to come next week.

The prison also opened the execution chamber to a media tour Thursday as part of the preparations....(more)

[merwin]

1. "if none of his pending appeals is granted."

Horrendous grammar. Who wrote this, a 5th grader?

As to the execution, when will we outlaw this barbaric practice?

[Wash. state Desk Jet]

2. Most likely when 5th. graders stop growing up to become

Murdering spouses ,sex offenders /rapists,murdering bank robbers ,identity theft scumbags,terrorist in general and so fourth. Where do think we live in the U.K. or la la land or something? Get real. If the death sentence could be ruled out it would be, but it is required ,which is why it remains. I suppose if a member of your family were murdered ,you would not want the poor scumbag put to death. Wake up, this is America.

Show me a rehabilitation method that actually works.Than take a look at that old revolving door. Show it to me here or in the United Kingdom,that's England,. Fact is,you won't find a effective way to correct or rehabilitate that problem,that age old problem. What do you do with a human being who is more animal than human.

Keep animals like Ted Bundy and Gary Ridgway in prison for life because of our humanity,study the scum ,understand what made it, ( or the entity) as Bundy called it, go wrong. Duncan too,no doubt.

Again, get real, our humanity only goes so far. Execute the scum to keep the scum from running rampant. Like it or love it ,it works. Some of the scum will be executed from time to time and the murder rate drops. Isn't that the only thing in place we have that actually works? Tell me truthful now.

Your argument or opinion comes down to a rock. It only goes so far and than views change,the majority will say, execute those scumbags. The murder rate drops, the death sentence is ruled out, only to be reinstated ten years later. Isn't that the truth? It is the truth because the voters say so. And you are not above that in any way shape or form. Be it from the 5th. or 10 th. power ! Call that- powers that be.

[uppityperson]

3. I don't believe in the death penalty, would be happy to have someone locked up forever, even if they

killed a family member of mine. Unless there was some way of absolute proof, never someone who was convicted wrongly. And even then I would have my doubts. I would like them incarcerated, forever.

I have heard the argument that locking someone up forever is more harmful to them than killing them. Torture, as it may be. But I am fine with that.

As far as letting the majority rule for punishments, I disagree. I do not believe in stoning to death a young woman or teen who has been raped, though societies where that happens agree it is ok. It does not stop rapists. It stops reports.

I do not believe the death penalty stops many murders, but also agree about not having rehab methods that work. Rehab for murder? No. Lock them up for life, no parole. Rehab for lesser crimes is a possibility, but our society, the Powers that Be, don't see this as necessary, preferring that revolving door.

[Wash. state Desk Jet]

4. The reason the death sentence is removed

when the crime rate drops, is a fail safe way of keeping politicians from obtaining capital gains by it. Prosecutors become state attorney generals or even governors or even the president through prosecuting cases through to the maximum penitently of the law. It is through political corruption, right down to the sheriff where the innocent end up on death row.

That is why the death sentence is revoked.
At the same time, we cannot eliminate it completely because of our humanity.In the U.K. for example, the murder rate is not nearly as low as their government will have the people believe. A recent case is the Suffolk murderer who has a history that compares to Gary Ridgeways, yet he was convicted of only five. No doubt the scumbag killed fifty over twenty years plus. But it will never make it's way to public awareness.OK, so the going Brittish view is keep them alive,but is it? The truth is kept from the people to keep that view in tact. That view is not necessarially the will of the people,politically or otherwise.And America streachs three thousand miles from one end to the other.Not to mention the population difference.

The death sentence is restored through public outrage, that's the vote.
A governor takes it to the people, that's the way it is. The death sentence is voted out the same way.

As a matter of conscience,we all disagree with the death sentence, but our humanity only goes so far and no further.
Their are those that have no conscience, that is what a scumbag is.
There is just one language in law scumbags do in fact understand, and that is death.

And until we can do better than that in real time, the death sentence remains a option in the language of the people. After all our government is one big bureaucracy? Real time is real life. There are no bushy plants in front of it,or buffer zones, real life is a clear view to it.

The revolving door swings and cold blooded scumbag murderers walk right through that door. Build more prisons,? Who is going to pay for that willingly? As it is, there is not nearly enough cops and resources to catch and convict the criminals . When our humanity can provide some clear view solutions to the existing problems,than we may clearly address the issue of the death sentence through our humanity.

But not until. In my personnel philosophy ,what works is results.

[merwin]

8. Silly me, I thought it was because the countries that get rid of it are more civilized.

We are the ONLY western industrialized nation that uses it still.

If it was only a political thing, wouldn't other countries reinstate it when the crime rate shoots up again?

[merwin]

5. Did you know that it costs more to execute someone than to lock them up for life?

Plus there's the fact that we really don't know how lethal injection affects the person before they die. There is a very real possibility that they are in excruciating pain but can't scream or move because he has been paralyzed by drugs. And the people administering the lethal injections are barely trained to draw blood let alone inject someone with lethal drugs properly.

Plus the fact that even one person executed wrongly is too many.

[Wash. state Desk Jet]

6. Do you know

that nothing on earth is perfect except the earth itself? Do you know that perfect is a myth? Perfect is nothing more than a point of cut off. It cannot be improved upon further at a given point in time. You are out of your league.

[merwin]

7. When did I ever say anything was perfect?

I'm just saying that one innocent man put to death is too many.

[Wash. state Desk Jet]

9. A mistake in a imperfect fact of life.

If it were possible to know that there will be no mistakes in judgment re-guarding exaction ,than all measures would apply. If for example one in three hundred may be a mistake in judgment ,would you set the other 299 free? The death sentence will always be voted down when the crime rate drops so that self serving scumbags cannot build political careers by sending convicts to death without all things legal being in place.What I just wrote is in direct connection to the increase of the expected margin of error,whatever that number may be.That margin of error increases when scumbag politicians or wannabees build cases by suppressing evidence in order to obtain a conviction. That's the real world.The law is not perfect.The law not being perfect within a given expected margin of error is acceptable to the voting populace in view of the greater good.

And so nothing being perfect is in direct connection to the fact that there is a margin of error, meaning there will be mistaken justice within a margin of error.That;s the mistaken sacrificial lamb.Which means there is such a thing as unspeakable justice ,and it too is blind. However a blind fact.Sure it cost's a lot of money to bring a death sentence conviction to the highest court in the land. How much more than that can you want? Or the truth is, there just isn't any more than that, isn't it?And until we actually have a better way about it, the fact will remain in this country.

[merwin]

10. Your argument is flawed from the second sentence.

Where did I say you should set the other 299 free? Hell, lock them up in life, but let them at least have the opportunity to gather evidence if they are, in fact, innocent.

And your argument of the death sentence being purely political seems to come from thin air. Do you have any facts to back this up? Do you have any facts that show that the death penalty causes crime rates to go down? Because from what I can tell, states with the death penalty actually have HIGHER crime rates.

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/deterrence-states-without-death-penalty-have-had-consistently-lower-murder-rates

(on edit)
A question... Why is it that you are so insistent on killing people? What about the execution is better than a life spent in a tiny jail cell?

My final point that I'm going to make (being that neither of us is going to change our minds), is...

Would you feel the same if you were the one innocent person with one day left to live? Would you be talking about how mistakes are a fact of life? If the mistake is avoidable, then it should be avoided. In this case, there is no benefit in terms of punishment between killing someone and locking them up for life. Why impose that margin of error when it is not necessary, especially when the result is so permanent.

[Wash. state Desk Jet]

11. Lock them up for life?

What world do you live in ?The revolving door exists because the prisons and jails tend to burst at the seams from time to time. Over populate if you know what I mean. OK so you do not believe in capital punishment,fine and so what.

The death sentence is not going to be abolished in this country until science finds the way.Like it or love it !Does terminated seem more so easy going ~!

[uppityperson]

12. Prisons are overflowing with people who don't need to be there.

People are incarcerated wrongly, or for stupid bs. The "war on drugs" contains marijuana to make sure the numbers are there to back the high spending. Who makes money off "the war on drugs"? That is a place to look.

I would rather a minor drug user be set free and a convicted killer be locked up for life than keep the minor offender in prison and kill the convicted killer because mistakes in convictions happen and it is very difficult to bring someone back to life after they are dead.

[uppityperson]

14. update posted below. Stay ordered. New DNA testing ordered. eom

[uppityperson]

13. UPDATE: Stay and additional DNA testing ordered, new info he may have been framed.

THIS is why I don't believe in the death penalty.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008434965_webexecution25m.html

Judges delay execution of man convicted of two slayings in Clallam County

Two judges today have issued separate stays of execution for Darold Ray Stenson, who was scheduled to be executed next week.

A judge in Clallam County granted a stay and ordered additional DNA testing in the case after a prison inmate came forward with new information indicating that Stenson may have been framed for the 1993 shooting deaths of his wife and a business partner. Clallam County Prosecutor Deborah Kelly said she intends to appeal the judge's ruling, perhaps as early as today.

At the same time, U.S. District Judge Lonny Suko issued a separate stay in a conference call with lawyers. State Attorney General Rob McKenna said his office was asking an appeals court to vacate Suko's order and allow the execution to proceed as scheduled on Dec. 3....(more)

[Wash. state Desk Jet]

15. Convicts do lie

And politics do play a major roll in the process.
If the system worked the way you say it should work ,that reason would apply. It's not about pot peddlers vs. the capital crimes inmate dwelling for space in the prisons/jails. And crack cocaine is still to going street drug. Far far worse than pot or even lsd. Turns the user more animal than human.

It appears there is enough newly discovered evidence or information pertaining to the case for judges to rule in favor of a stay. There is a reason I voted against Mc Kenna.

And there is no question the case is political.
And the death sentence is not about thinning out the prison population. It is about reducing the capital crime rate='s cold blooded murder.The death sentence is a direct result of rising capital crime numbers,murders.

Sorry there is a bit of New York mind at play here ,and at some point I cannot find mercy for a cold blooded killer/rapist/child molester,thief,terrorist and all around general scumbag.

And I would vote the death sentence down on the reverse principal when the murder rate drops so that crooked self serving politicians and want to be's are not granted the opportunity to make a name for themselves by the death sentence and prosecution through less than honorable means. There is no ethical or unethical,right or wrong where it comes down to layers on show in the court room,only win or lose. Wnning is all that counts.
That's the cold truth. Not to mention sloppy police work.

[uppityperson]

16. Winning is all that counts and people are convicted wrongly. Until that changes, I am against the DP

"The death sentence is a direct result of rising capital crime numbers,murders."

Do you mean as more people get murdered, the death penalty gets put back into play? That the death penalty only is legalized when there are more murders?

You do not have to feel mercy for a scumbag. Keeping them alive, in prison forever is not being merciful. It would be nice to feel mercy for those who are convicted wrongly though.

[Wash. state Desk Jet]

17. Take a look at a thing called in house murders

in the prison system ,and ask the question, what does a life sentence really mean. Convicts only do half the amount of time they are sentenced. Add the revolving door and that number reduces to,maybe 1/4 th. of the time in total served. Now is that justice?

Keep the capital crime convicts in for life, better than the death sentence? What about in house murders, or what is nothing to lose? These issues are reality ,just as real as the light of day.It is not out of site ,out of mind.

And yes, the capital crime rate rises and the death sentence is restored.It is always there, it is not always applied . When a state does not have the death sentence ,they get life without the possibility of parole. That's the scumbags that are convicted of capital crimes, The Most Heinous,where otherwise the death sentence would apply. But that does not mean the death sentence is or was abolished. Every state has it on the books. It seems to come back about every ten years.And that equates directly to the rise in capital crimes. The Most Heinous.

On the federal level,it is a bit of a different story. Each and every state has the option of invoking or revoking the death sentence. The escalation or de/escalation of the capital crimes will predict the outcome.

The fact is ,there is no cure for the criminal psychopath. And I have no sympathy or hope for those scumbags.One day perhaps, science will find a way to alter their behavior ,brain chemistry ,what ever,re/wire them what ever the hell.Until that day, as they say in New York, fry them.