TV anchor attacked. UPDATE: Suspect in custody. NEW UPDATE: Suspect found guilty

Re: TV anchor attacked UPDATE: Anchor dies Saturday

It shouldn't be an emotional decision, exactly.

 

Re: TV anchor attacked UPDATE: Anchor dies Saturday

So Waylon, what is a fair punishment? While some feel the death penalty is revenge, that's not it at all in some cases.

Nothing brings Ms. Pressly back, nothing will make her family whole again. The death penalty exists (where it exists) for cases just like this -- a murder so senseless and so violent that our civilized society determines that no other punishment is just.

 

Re: TV anchor attacked UPDATE: Anchor dies Saturday

Then, as unemotionally as I can, I say this:

Kill them all. You get 3 appeals. Then you die.

 

Re: TV anchor attacked UPDATE: Anchor dies Saturday

For me, this argument gets down to the point of the justice system. What is our goal?
I'd say we want to prevent crimes as much as possible. This can be done many ways. I'm for rehabilitation when it's possible (I'd say it virtually never is in murder cases).
I am for punishments as a way to deter crime, but I think people who kill are crazy. They don't consider consequences of actions, so capital punishment is not a deterrent for them.
I am also for doing what is necessary to keep those we believe would commit crimes again from doing so. Capital punishment obviously does, but there's too much of a risk of executing the innocent. Instead, you lock them up for life with their only chance of getting out proving they were actually innocent.
I don't believe in any case the justice system should be used to exact revenge. In fact, I'll have to give it some more thought, but I really don't think punishment should even enter the picture. Restitution and crime prevention are the goals.

 

Re: TV anchor attacked UPDATE: Anchor dies Saturday

Remove the person from society. No chance for parole. Maximum security prison.

I don't believe that the goal of the system should be "justice" as in evening scores.

 

Re: TV anchor attacked UPDATE: Anchor dies Saturday. UPDATE: Suspect in custody.

Death penalty is bad law.
The state executes someone and then you find out that the DA rigged evidence or the cops cooked it up.
You can let a guy out of prison, you can't give an innocent person their life back.

 

Re: TV anchor attacked UPDATE: Anchor dies Saturday

They should execute only in the case of irrefutable evidence. None of this one eyewitness stuff. You have clear video, or more than three rock solid eyewitnesses, that kind of thing. Or if there is an airtight confession. In those cases it's better than taxpayers footing the bill to house them for life. Otherwise I agree with the 0/1000 statement.

 

Re: TV anchor attacked UPDATE: Anchor dies Saturday

can the death penalty discussion be taken to a different thread?

 

Re: TV anchor attacked UPDATE: Anchor dies Saturday

Obviously there should be irrefutable evidence regardless of what the conviction is. But I think if there is an abundance of evidence, and the prosecutor can decide between death or a life sentence, I think the D.A. should confer with the family of the victim. They live with what happened longer and more emotionally than anyone. If the family feels its harder for them to move on knowing the person is still around, then that should matter. If the family thinks it's better for the person to live being deprived of his rights, then that should be taken into account as well.

 

Re: TV anchor attacked UPDATE: Anchor dies Saturday

I dunno... I think as it applies to this case, it's warranted.
In general, yes, another thread.

 

Re: TV anchor attacked UPDATE: Anchor dies Saturday

They're showing clips of her work on "Today" right now ... really, really, really hard to watch.