Still think Texas has never executed anyone who was innocent?

OK, that's a good example. But keep in mind that everyone who has ever been executed was at some point considered a guy who absolutely did it.

 

Yeah, I always hate the idea that we're going to have this multi-tiered conviction system:

1) Beyond a reasonable doubt.
2) OK, this time we're really, really, really convinced he did it! And we mean it!

 

Yes, I agree. That's why I don't get bent out of shape about the long appeals process in which someone who is convicted gets tons of chances. And it's why I support things like the Innocence Project. If somehow I found myself sent back in time, when from sentencing to execution was a matter of hours/days/weeks, I don't think I could vote to sentence someone to death. But in this world we live in, I believe I could, though I would take no joy in doing so.

 

Killing them doesn't do this, either.

 

Wait, what's Spartacus? Isn't this already on Showtime?

 

Then it isn't murder.

 

As long as we have trial by jury, setting some sort of guilt threshold is a joke. You can tell them "beyond a reasonable doubt," but juries know there was a crime and they want someone to be punished for it.

 

This is why I could never be on a jury. I will always have that doubt.

 

God has the right to destroy life. He gives it to all. In Sodom and Gomorrah, He rescued the righteous before destroying the cities.

God forbids murder, but He sanctions capital punishment. Therefore, it is just and right.

 

If we're going to have capital punishment, then let's even things out and bring a little accountability to the process.

If it's proven that an innocent person is put to death, as it appears in this instance, then the foreman of the jury that convicted him -- and the prosecutor(s) who argued the case -- ought to also get the needle for their roles in the homicide.

 

Really? Did the OJ jury know that?

 

So, whatever babies and young children in those cities weren't considered righteous enough for God? They're little kids. What, the babies pooped the wrong way for him?

God also was going to destroy Nineveh, and did kill the first-born of Egypt. Kids and babies, who in all probability, had little to do with the evil.

In other words, God really has some issues to work out.