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Enough is Enough: Miami Attorneys Ask Should We Abolish the Death Penalty?
In Florida hanging was one of the earliest forms of state-sanctioned execution. Florida lawmakers later replaced hanging with the electric chair, and have now switched to lethal injection.
MIAMI, FL, September 29, 2011 /Florida PR News/ -- Execution has evolved to become arguably more humane.
In Florida, as in many other states, hanging was one of the earliest forms of state-sanctioned execution. Florida lawmakers later replaced hanging with the electric chair, but "Old Sparky" is no longer the primary method of execution - that honor now belongs to lethal injection, a drug cocktail that stops the condemned's breathing and heart.
In 2010, Martin Grossman, convicted of homicide, was the latest Florida man to suffer the death penalty.
Putting Innocent People to Death
The methods of execution may have changed, but one important question remains: Are we sure that we aren't putting innocent people to death? In several cases, DNA evidence has cleared many people who awaited execution on death row.
So the question goes beyond whether or not you support the death penalty.
If we put just one innocent person to death - as it appears the state of Georgia might have done with the recent execution of Troy Davis - that one death casts doubt on the entire business of capital punishment.
As Nathan Thornburgh reports for TIME, clemency boards in pro-death penalty states like Texas, Georgia and Florida, are designed to act as legal "safety valves" for those whose guilt is not beyond a reasonable doubt. "It's a last resort," Thornburgh writes, "not to retry a case, but to ensure that a conviction is so ironclad that there is no doubt that it merits the ultimate punishment."
A Miscarriage of Justice
Whatever you want to call it - call it human error or out-and-out bias - clemency boards and governors do not always dispense justice based on the law and facts. Too often, it appears as though politics trumps fairness.
In Davis's case, who was convicted of murder more than 20 years ago, and whose case has wound its way through the system to today, there appears to be plenty of reasonable doubt. And maybe he was guilty. Maybe he wasn't. Was he a "bad" man? Was he "good"?
Does it matter?
Thornburgh writes a big black zero for the number of pieces of physical evidence actually linking Davis to the crime. And yet Georgia's clemency board refused to alter course.
Ferrer Shane, PL are Florida criminal defense attorneys and Miami personal injury lawyers, that represent traffic violation and accident victims throughout south Florida. For more information about their law firm, visit their Web sites, http://www.miamitrafficlaw.com/ and http://www.ferrerlaw.com.
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