Georgia wants to make it easier to kill

[CatWoman]

Bill would make death sentences easier
Proposal would drop unanimity requirement
By Greg Bluestein
ASSOCIATED PRESS

ATLANTA - Two juries decided that William Kenny Stephens was guilty of murdering a Richmond County investigator and both unanimously decided he should get the death penalty.

But after legal miscues prompted a third trial, a sole juror voted against capital punishment and Stephens was sentenced instead to life without parole.

House Majority Whip Barry Fleming, R-Harlem, said he's determined to make sure a similar situation is never repeated.

He and other legislative leaders introduced a measure Monday designed to stop death penalty opponents from "sabotaging" capital punishment cases. It would rewrite Georgia law to allow up to three jurors to vote against the death penalty, instead of the unanimous vote that's now required.

"This will keep a handful of jurors who don't tell the truth from sabotaging the death penalty," said Fleming, a lawyer who works for an Augusta firm specializing in business defense.

Defense attorneys and constitutional law experts are loudly warning that the measure would almost certainly lead to a legal challenge.

http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/news/politics/16576049.htm

[JohnLocke]

1. Wow.

In the ancient Jewish Sanhedrin (court), a defendant could not be put to death even if all the judges agreed. It was thought that if there was unanimity a fair hearing had not been given.

http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/tsa/tsa01.htm

[PDJane]

2. There are countries

That do not have the death penalty anywhere. I live in one.

I think I am grateful. I have yet to see what the death penalty accomplishes besides revenge....and the justice system is not infallible enough to trust with life and death decisions.

[ninkasi]

3. Many people

have had their convictions overturned due to DNA evidence exonerating them of the crime. It's no secret that blacks, and hispanics, are incarcerated in much greater numbers than caucasians. When the justice system becomes equal, we can discuss sentencing. Until then, I applaud jurors who vote to prevent death penalty sentences.

I am opposed to the death penalty myself, but I truly believe that many innocent people have been executed. How can we, in conscience, execute people when our justice system is so biased, and corrupt?

[Pithlet]

4. Yeah, the justice system actually working. Can't repeat that, can we?

The death penalty needs to be flat out abolished in this country. It's pretty scary when the jury system isn't good enough for them.

[foo_bar]

5. the last 500 years seem progressive in hindsight

The first expression of the formulation is found in Sir John Fortescue's De Laudibus Legum Angliae (c. 1470), where he states that "one would much rather that twenty guilty persons should escape the punishment of death, than that one innocent person should be condemned, and suffer capitally." Similarly, on October 3, 1692, while decrying the Salem witch trials, Increase Mather adapted Fortescue's statement and wrote, "It were better that Ten Suspected Witches should escape, than that the Innocent Person should be Condemned."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackstone's_formulation