Oops

I think perhaps the most compelling argument against the death penalty (besides the whole "morally wrong" aspect of it) is the fact that you can't undo it once you've done it. You could ask Ruben Cantu about this, but Texas executed him in 1993. Chalk another one up for the Lone Star State.

But it turns out that Cantu was innocent.

Oops.

He was executed for the murder of Pedro Gomez, but Juan Moreno, the eye witness in the case, has since recanted his story, saying he lied about Cantu because of police pressure. Apparently Cantu had gotten into a bar fight and shot a cop months after the Gomez murder. He was never charged for this shooting, but a fellow officer and friend of the wounded cop "felt compelled" to reopen the Gomez case and he implicated Cantu.

Despite having seen photos of Cantu on three different occasions where he did not identify him, Moreno finally indicated that Cantu was indeed the shooter in the Gomez case. The fact that he'd been taken into the police station and was an illegal immigrant at the time probably had nothing to do with this.

Yeah. Right.

So Cantu was executed for a murder that he did not actually commit. The eye witness in the case was pressured by the police into condemning this guy to death. Bet you he doesn't sleep too well.

No longer with us.


This is just one example of what can happen with the death penalty. How many other innocent people have been killed for crimes they did not commit? We'll probably never know.

Just pray it's never you.

Funeral songs:

Various - Spreading The Virus
(better an infinity of open sewers than a pinpoint of censorship)

Various - DJ Abstract 11: The Headcrush Party
(roaring out of the gates and into your face)

Cranes - Particles & Waves
(delicate and pure)

Redman - Doc's Da Name 2000
(indelicate and impure)

Scorn - Greetings From Birmingham
(buzz buzz beat beat bang)