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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2013/07/08 13:34:39
Subject: Attorneys pitch mercy for condemned Ohio man
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Blood Angel Captain Wracked with Visions
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http://news.yahoo.com/attorneys-pitch-mercy-condemned-ohio-man-061652438.html
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Defense attorneys and prosecutors plan an unusual combined plea for the life of a death row inmate who fatally stabbed a neighbor 17 times.
Both sides were scheduled to address the Ohio Parole Board Monday on behalf of condemned killer Billy Slagle at a hearing normally divided between arguments for and against an inmate's life.
Attorneys for Slagle, 44, have long argued his sentence should be commuted to life without parole, citing his age — at 18, he was the minimum age for execution in Ohio when the crime happened — and a long history of drug and alcohol abuse.
A divided parole board rejected that argument two years ago, but the final decision was put on hold by Gov. John Kasich, who delayed the execution by two years while a federal judge weighed challenges to Ohio's execution procedures.
Slagle's defense team plans to renew its arguments Monday, this time joined by prosecutors from Cuyahoga County. Last week, chief prosecutor Tim McGinty reversed his office's long-standing position on the 1986 case and said he was asking Slagle's sentence be commuted to life without parole. He used the same arguments as Slagle's attorneys, adding that since life without parole was not an option at the time, jurors made the only choice they could to ensure Slagle never be freed.
In 1996, Ohio law changed to allow jurors to choose between death and life without parole. In 2005, lawmakers added a provision allowing prosecutors to pursue life without parole in non-death penalty cases.
McGinty said in a statement Friday that Slagle's case doesn't fit the criteria he would use today for a death penalty case.
Kasich is not commenting. Slagle's execution is scheduled for Aug. 7.
It's unclear if a sitting Ohio prosecutor has ever asked that a death row inmate under his office have the sentence commuted.
Last year, a former Mahoning County prosecutor pleaded for clemency for a man he put on death row, saying he had come to believe inmate John Eley was not as responsible as a co-defendant who was acquitted in a fatal 1986 robbery. The parole board recommended against clemency, but Kasich commuted Eley's sentence.
Last year in Alabama, a man convicted of the 1996 killing and robbery of two people at a pawn shop had his death sentence changed to life in prison without parole. Shelby County District Attorney Robbie Owens first agreed to drop the death sentence for LeSamuel Gamble in 2007 after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that defendants who were under 18 when the crime was committed couldn't be executed. Gamble was 18.
Owens said at the time he supported changing Gamble's sentence since a 16-year-old co-defendant who fired the fatal shots was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
In 2011, an Arkansas prosecutor worked on a plea deal for three convicts known as the West Memphis Three, including one man on death row.
In a 1997 Virginia case, then-Gov. George Allen commuted the death sentence of William Saunders, saying he was swayed by a prosecutor and judge who said Saunders was not the same violent man sentenced to death seven years earlier.
Cuyahoga County has long had a reputation for heavy use of capital punishment indictments with relatively low numbers of death sentences. McGinty had promised to reduce the number of death penalty charges when he ran for the office.
For those interested in what he was convicted of - http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2011/09/ohio_parole_board_says_clevela.html
Billy Slagle was 18 when he broke into Mari Anne Pope's house looking for money to buy alcohol in the early morning hours of Aug. 13, 1987.
He ended up stabbing her 17 times with a pair of sewing scissors he found in the house. Two child witnesses heard Pope, 40, praying before the attack. Police later found a broken rosary near her body. . . Pope was an innocent victim who was brutally murdered with children nearby, the board's report noted. Pope was a babysitter and friend of the children.
Slagle also demonstrated a violent streak less than a year before the murder, the board said. Slagle attacked a couple he had been staying with when they asked him to leave in October 1986. Slagle hit the wife in the head with a meat hook and stabbed her husband in the leg with a pair of scissors.
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2013/07/08 13:41:30
Subject: Attorneys pitch mercy for condemned Ohio man
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Wrathful Warlord Titan Commander
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Seems like good financial sense to end him now rather than let him rot for 50 odd years at tax payers expense.
Well done Ohio. Good justice and a sound fiscal hand.
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How do you promote your Hobby? - Legoburner "I run some crappy wargaming website " |
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2013/07/08 14:47:42
Subject: Re:Attorneys pitch mercy for condemned Ohio man
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Tea-Kettle of Blood
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Billy Slagle was 18 when he broke into Mari Anne Pope's house looking for money to buy alcohol in the early morning hours of Aug. 13, 1987.
He ended up stabbing her 17 times with a pair of sewing scissors he found in the house. Two child witnesses heard Pope, 40, praying before the attack. Police later found a broken rosary near her body. . . Pope was an innocent victim who was brutally murdered with children nearby, the board's report noted. Pope was a babysitter and friend of the children.
Slagle also demonstrated a violent streak less than a year before the murder, the board said. Slagle attacked a couple he had been staying with when they asked him to leave in October 1986. Slagle hit the wife in the head with a meat hook and stabbed her husband in the leg with a pair of scissors.
Save your taxpayers some money and euthanize him.
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2013/07/08 15:05:26
Subject: Attorneys pitch mercy for condemned Ohio man
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Longtime Dakkanaut
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Execution costs more than life in prison. I'm really tired of having to explain this in every single thread this comes up in.
Plus, if money is your justification for life vs death, I think you're a monster.
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This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2013/07/08 15:06:19
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2013/07/08 15:14:31
Subject: Attorneys pitch mercy for condemned Ohio man
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Longtime Dakkanaut
Sheffield, City of University and Northern-ness
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Rented Tritium wrote:Execution costs more than life in prison. I'm really tired of having to explain this in every single thread this comes up in.
Plus, if money is your justification for life vs death, I think you're a monster.
^ this is roughly what I was going to put, but he's put it much more politely than me.
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2013/07/08 16:07:41
Subject: Attorneys pitch mercy for condemned Ohio man
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The Conquerer
Waiting for my shill money from Spiral Arm Studios
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Rented Tritium wrote:Execution costs more than life in prison. I'm really tired of having to explain this in every single thread this comes up in.
Plus, if money is your justification for life vs death, I think you're a monster.
It only costs more because of our ridiculous amount of pleas we allow, meaning nobody ever gets executed for decades.
Seriously, we should put some sort of limit on the number of pleas and a hard execution data. Say 5 years max.
If you have indeed been wrongly convicted, you have 5 years to prove it.
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Self-proclaimed evil Cat-person. Dues Ex Felines
Cato Sicarius, after force feeding Captain Ventris a copy of the Codex Astartes for having the audacity to play Deathwatch, chokes to death on his own D-baggery after finding Calgar assembling his new Eldar army.
MURICA!!! IN SPESS!!! |
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2013/07/08 16:28:14
Subject: Attorneys pitch mercy for condemned Ohio man
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Decrepit Dakkanaut
Mesopotamia. The Kingdom Where we Secretly Reign.
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Rented Tritium wrote:Execution costs more than life in prison. I'm really tired of having to explain this in every single thread this comes up in.
Plus, if money is your justification for life vs death, I think you're a monster.
That's ironic, don't you think?
Anyway, to me, money is no object for exterminating this sort of vermin. Euthanizing someone for breaking into a house and killing someone for no reason is something I won't lose any sleep over.
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Drink deeply and lustily from the foamy draught of evil.
W: 1.756 Quadrillion L: 0 D: 2
Haters gon' hate. |
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2013/07/08 16:48:09
Subject: Attorneys pitch mercy for condemned Ohio man
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Longtime Dakkanaut
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Monster Rain wrote: Rented Tritium wrote:Execution costs more than life in prison. I'm really tired of having to explain this in every single thread this comes up in.
Plus, if money is your justification for life vs death, I think you're a monster.
That's ironic, don't you think?
Anyway, to me, money is no object for exterminating this sort of vermin. Euthanizing someone for breaking into a house and killing someone for no reason is something I won't lose any sleep over.
The innocence project proves that there are things to lose sleep over here. Automatically Appended Next Post: It's funny that the basis for the "ridiculous amount" of appeals is a constitutional one, but the people who want less appeals will beat their chests about the constitution in every other thread.
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This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2013/07/08 16:50:15
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2013/07/08 16:50:48
Subject: Attorneys pitch mercy for condemned Ohio man
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[DCM]
The Main Man
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Rented Tritium wrote: Monster Rain wrote: Rented Tritium wrote:Execution costs more than life in prison. I'm really tired of having to explain this in every single thread this comes up in.
Plus, if money is your justification for life vs death, I think you're a monster.
That's ironic, don't you think?
Anyway, to me, money is no object for exterminating this sort of vermin. Euthanizing someone for breaking into a house and killing someone for no reason is something I won't lose any sleep over.
The innocence project proves that there are things to lose sleep over here.
I'm asking because I'm genuinely curious, not to be snarky: I know that there have been multiple older death penalty convictions overturned due to new DNA evidence being used. Have there been any more recent death penalty convictions overturned in which DNA evidence was used from the start?
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2013/07/08 16:52:44
Subject: Attorneys pitch mercy for condemned Ohio man
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5th God of Chaos! (Yea'rly!)
The Great State of Texas
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I'm ok with Life on a chain gang. But we need to bring back chain gangs.
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-"Wait a minute.....who is that Frazz is talking to in the gallery? Hmmm something is going on here.....Oh.... it seems there is some dispute over video taping of some sort......Frazz is really upset now..........wait a minute......whats he go there.......is it? Can it be?....Frazz has just unleashed his hidden weiner dog from his mini bag, while quoting shakespeares "Let slip the dogs the war!!" GG
-"Don't mind Frazzled. He's just Dakka's crazy old dude locked in the attic. He's harmless. Mostly."
-TBone the Magnificent 1999-2014, Long Live the King!
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2013/07/08 16:55:12
Subject: Attorneys pitch mercy for condemned Ohio man
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[DCM]
The Main Man
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Frazzled wrote:I'm ok with Life on a chain gang. But we need to bring back chain gangs.
You should check out the book In Defense of Flogging by Peter Moskos, Frazzled. Everyone even slightly interested in the criminal justice system should, really.
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2013/07/08 17:04:26
Subject: Attorneys pitch mercy for condemned Ohio man
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Decrepit Dakkanaut
Mesopotamia. The Kingdom Where we Secretly Reign.
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Rented Tritium wrote: Monster Rain wrote: Rented Tritium wrote:Execution costs more than life in prison. I'm really tired of having to explain this in every single thread this comes up in.
Plus, if money is your justification for life vs death, I think you're a monster.
That's ironic, don't you think?
Anyway, to me, money is no object for exterminating this sort of vermin. Euthanizing someone for breaking into a house and killing someone for no reason is something I won't lose any sleep over.
The innocence project proves that there are things to lose sleep over here.
No it really doesn't. It's also rather beside the point, since the choice here isn't "Death Penalty or Freedom" but "Death Penalty or Life Without Parole". Automatically Appended Next Post: Frazzled wrote:I'm ok with Life on a chain gang. But we need to bring back chain gangs.
Do they still have that rock-breaking thing that you used to see in movies?
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This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2013/07/08 17:05:05
Drink deeply and lustily from the foamy draught of evil.
W: 1.756 Quadrillion L: 0 D: 2
Haters gon' hate. |
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2013/07/08 17:09:50
Subject: Attorneys pitch mercy for condemned Ohio man
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Longtime Dakkanaut
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Monster Rain wrote:
No it really doesn't. It's also rather beside the point, since the choice here isn't "Death Penalty or Freedom" but "Death Penalty or Life Without Parole".
The risk of false conviction very much plays into whether or not we should require a lot of appeals. You cannot release them if you have already killed them. What's the hurry?
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This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2013/07/08 17:10:36
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2013/07/08 17:09:57
Subject: Attorneys pitch mercy for condemned Ohio man
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Rogue Daemonhunter fueled by Chaos
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I think there's a very reasonable argument being made here by, well, both sides of the original case.
This is, by nearly any modern definition, a very weak death penalty case. You're not supposed to re-try cases, and burglary plus murder = felony = potential death penalty, but this doesn't strike me as a typical cold blooded killing.
Regardless, the overall point is that the option for life without parole was not availabe to the jury, it would be available now, and nobody seems to seriously think he'd get the death penalty under modern rules. Toss in his age and likely altered state of mind, and I'd commute the sentence.
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2013/07/08 17:13:56
Subject: Attorneys pitch mercy for condemned Ohio man
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Decrepit Dakkanaut
Mesopotamia. The Kingdom Where we Secretly Reign.
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Rented Tritium wrote: Monster Rain wrote:
No it really doesn't. It's also rather beside the point, since the choice here isn't "Death Penalty or Freedom" but "Death Penalty or Life Without Parole".
The risk of false conviction very much plays into whether or not we should require a lot of appeals. You cannot release them if you have already killed them. What's the hurry?
I think I see the root of the problem:
I'm not saying they shouldn't get appeals.
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Drink deeply and lustily from the foamy draught of evil.
W: 1.756 Quadrillion L: 0 D: 2
Haters gon' hate. |
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2013/07/08 17:14:25
Subject: Attorneys pitch mercy for condemned Ohio man
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Decrepit Dakkanaut
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Death penalty thread! My standby:
Death by trebuchet, guillotine, or other French device.
Put it on TV.
Get some sponsors like Miller Light.
Get some ring girls in revealing outfits.
Use any earnings to pay to the victims surviving family and cover execution costs.
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DA:70S+G+M+B++I++Pw40k08+D++A++/fWD-R+T(M)DM+
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2013/07/08 17:15:41
Subject: Attorneys pitch mercy for condemned Ohio man
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Decrepit Dakkanaut
Mesopotamia. The Kingdom Where we Secretly Reign.
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I think "The Running Man" could get a spot on Fox, don't you?
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Drink deeply and lustily from the foamy draught of evil.
W: 1.756 Quadrillion L: 0 D: 2
Haters gon' hate. |
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2013/07/08 17:15:52
Subject: Re:Attorneys pitch mercy for condemned Ohio man
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The Conquerer
Waiting for my shill money from Spiral Arm Studios
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Why should age have anything to do with it?
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Self-proclaimed evil Cat-person. Dues Ex Felines
Cato Sicarius, after force feeding Captain Ventris a copy of the Codex Astartes for having the audacity to play Deathwatch, chokes to death on his own D-baggery after finding Calgar assembling his new Eldar army.
MURICA!!! IN SPESS!!! |
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2013/07/08 17:18:48
Subject: Attorneys pitch mercy for condemned Ohio man
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5th God of Chaos! (Yea'rly!)
The Great State of Texas
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Rented Tritium wrote: Monster Rain wrote: No it really doesn't. It's also rather beside the point, since the choice here isn't "Death Penalty or Freedom" but "Death Penalty or Life Without Parole". The risk of false conviction very much plays into whether or not we should require a lot of appeals. You cannot release them if you have already killed them. What's the hurry? Justice delayed is justice denied is typically the argument, plus the cost, plus the threat to other inmates and jailors from continued existence of dead men walking.
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This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2013/07/08 17:19:37
-"Wait a minute.....who is that Frazz is talking to in the gallery? Hmmm something is going on here.....Oh.... it seems there is some dispute over video taping of some sort......Frazz is really upset now..........wait a minute......whats he go there.......is it? Can it be?....Frazz has just unleashed his hidden weiner dog from his mini bag, while quoting shakespeares "Let slip the dogs the war!!" GG
-"Don't mind Frazzled. He's just Dakka's crazy old dude locked in the attic. He's harmless. Mostly."
-TBone the Magnificent 1999-2014, Long Live the King!
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2013/07/08 17:19:54
Subject: Re:Attorneys pitch mercy for condemned Ohio man
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Rogue Daemonhunter fueled by Chaos
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Overall cuplability. We don't execute minors, because they're held to not fully understand consequences. I doubt an 18 year old is magically 100% adult in his thinking because of a birthday.
usually death penalty analysis considers a ton of factors, from the nature of the crime to any mitigating circumstances. There are usually a lot of different factors, both aggravating and mitigating. Outside of perhaps the gruesome manner of the death (which, ironically, should not matter), I dont' see any real aggravating factors. There's nothing that leaps out at me to suggest this should be a capital case, aside from, I suppose, the sympathetic nature of the victim (which should not be a factor, but is almost always the biggest factor).
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2013/07/08 17:23:25
Subject: Attorneys pitch mercy for condemned Ohio man
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The Conquerer
Waiting for my shill money from Spiral Arm Studios
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Rented Tritium wrote: Monster Rain wrote:
No it really doesn't. It's also rather beside the point, since the choice here isn't "Death Penalty or Freedom" but "Death Penalty or Life Without Parole".
The risk of false conviction very much plays into whether or not we should require a lot of appeals. You cannot release them if you have already killed them. What's the hurry?
With the near universal use of DNA evidence collecting and other advanced forensics, the probability of false convictions on something so major is dwindling.
The window of time the defense has to prove otherwise should change to reflect that.
You are not going to have any more people exonerated after 20+ years due to DNA analysis.
And this isn't a case of guilt being questioned, nobody is questioning his guilt.
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Self-proclaimed evil Cat-person. Dues Ex Felines
Cato Sicarius, after force feeding Captain Ventris a copy of the Codex Astartes for having the audacity to play Deathwatch, chokes to death on his own D-baggery after finding Calgar assembling his new Eldar army.
MURICA!!! IN SPESS!!! |
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2013/07/08 17:30:07
Subject: Attorneys pitch mercy for condemned Ohio man
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Rogue Daemonhunter fueled by Chaos
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Grey Templar wrote:
And this isn't a case of guilt being questioned, nobody is questioning his guilt.
Well, nobody is questioning if he killed the woman. I'm sure there's some controversy over the natuer of his guilt regarding what exact crime he committed, but you are broadly correct.
The nature of his conviction is probably not a controversy. Hell, by all accounts this isn't even a legal appeal. It's simply an attempt to get the parole board to commute a sentence.
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2013/07/08 17:35:59
Subject: Attorneys pitch mercy for condemned Ohio man
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Longtime Dakkanaut
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Grey Templar wrote:
With the near universal use of DNA evidence collecting and other advanced forensics, the probability of false convictions on something so major is dwindling.
The window of time the defense has to prove otherwise should change to reflect that.
Yeah, we're so good at justice now that we don't need to give those constitutionally required appeals.
You are not going to have any more people exonerated after 20+ years due to DNA analysis.
Right, it will be because of some new technology that we're not aware of yet.
And this isn't a case of guilt being questioned, nobody is questioning his guilt.
Sure, but you don't throw principle out the window because THIS case is really easy. How unquestioned does it have to be before we throw out due process?
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2013/07/08 17:44:06
Subject: Re:Attorneys pitch mercy for condemned Ohio man
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The Conquerer
Waiting for my shill money from Spiral Arm Studios
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Again, I am not saying they should get no appeals.
I'm saying they should have an unlimited number of appeals, but only a limited amount of time. If you can't prove you are innocent within 5 years too bad. At this point in time, if the process lasts for more than that time you are almost certainly not going to find anything new that tosses all the other evidence out the window.
And I'm not sure what other advancement could be made that would make DNA obsolete.
Finding a person's DNA or finger print at the crime scene, plus having motive, is not going to be proven wrong. Any other advancements will only reaffirm what happened.
So unless we develop the ability to question the dead victim or send a probe back in time nothing is going to invalidate DNA.
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Self-proclaimed evil Cat-person. Dues Ex Felines
Cato Sicarius, after force feeding Captain Ventris a copy of the Codex Astartes for having the audacity to play Deathwatch, chokes to death on his own D-baggery after finding Calgar assembling his new Eldar army.
MURICA!!! IN SPESS!!! |
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2013/07/08 17:53:08
Subject: Re:Attorneys pitch mercy for condemned Ohio man
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Rogue Daemonhunter fueled by Chaos
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Grey Templar wrote:Again, I am not saying they should get no appeals. I'm saying they should have an unlimited number of appeals, but only a limited amount of time. If you can't prove you are innocent within 5 years too bad. At this point in time, if the process lasts for more than that time you are almost certainly not going to find anything new that tosses all the other evidence out the window. You do not seem to understand how appeals of criminal convictions work. Rarely is it a question fo new evidence appearing. Even when it is, the challenge isn't to find it, it's to get an appeals court to order a new trial, which is, of course, the only way to "prove" anything. Most of the time, appeals to criminal convictions are questions of law (meaning decisions by a judge), such as if some evidence was properly admitted, or if there was an error in the procedure. Finally, appeals take time mostly because the legal system takes a while. For the most part, a convicted defendent will have three major appeals: the first courts of appeals of his state, his state supreme court, and SCOTUS. Some appeals courts (like the feds) allow for en banc review, which is a half appeal, but that's rarely granted on meat and potatos cases. After that, it's bascially "hail mary" appeals to federal court, which have about a 2% success rate. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habeas_corpus_in_the_United_States#Federal_habeas_corpus_statistics If your argument is "legal matters should resolve themselves more quickly," then I think most people would agree. But if you're saying that a person shoudl be execute while awaiting their appeal... that's pretty callous.
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This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2013/07/08 18:00:36
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2013/07/08 17:58:52
Subject: Re:Attorneys pitch mercy for condemned Ohio man
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The Conquerer
Waiting for my shill money from Spiral Arm Studios
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The judicial system should work more quickly.
And I am of the opinion that evidence is evidence. The ease at which good solid evidence can be ruled as inadmissible is just silly. Unless it can be shown that it was falsified it should be allowed.
If it was obtained illegally, that should be a separate legal matter. If evidence was seized unlawfully, it could still be used, but the individuals who obtained it would suffer consequences of some sort.
It just seems wrong for someone to walk away from a murder because of an error in procedure. What sort of error could make the difference between an innocent and guilty verdict?
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This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2013/07/08 17:59:41
Self-proclaimed evil Cat-person. Dues Ex Felines
Cato Sicarius, after force feeding Captain Ventris a copy of the Codex Astartes for having the audacity to play Deathwatch, chokes to death on his own D-baggery after finding Calgar assembling his new Eldar army.
MURICA!!! IN SPESS!!! |
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2013/07/08 18:11:40
Subject: Re:Attorneys pitch mercy for condemned Ohio man
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Rogue Daemonhunter fueled by Chaos
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Grey Templar wrote:The judicial system should work more quickly. And I am of the opinion that evidence is evidence. The ease at which good solid evidence can be ruled as inadmissible is just silly. Unless it can be shown that it was falsified it should be allowed. If it was obtained illegally, that should be a separate legal matter. If evidence was seized unlawfully, it could still be used, but the individuals who obtained it would suffer consequences of some sort. That's an understandable opinion, because it's natural to look at a process that allows for windfalls to occur as flawed. It is, however, a terrible opinion. Evdience is gathered by police and presented by prosectors. Who, exactly, is going to investigate and press charges against cops and prosecutors that illegally obtain evidence? Federal courts, at one time, had exactly the respect for the integrity of police that they should, which is to say about none. Further, courts cannot create a crime. They can't make create the laws that would allow that, and no jurisdiction has chosen to do so. The only rememdy a court itself can create would be exclusion. Not allowing tainted evidence is the quickest, cheapest, and most effective way to stop illegal searches. It just seems wrong for someone to walk away from a murder because of an error in procedure. What sort of error could make the difference between an innocent and guilty verdict? Well, this is one of those things that's scarier in "law and order" than in real life. Keep in mind, ~90% of criminal cases are resolved by plea bargain. Most cases that go to trial result in convictions, and most remanded cases that require a new trial also result in conviction. One of the most infamous cases was Arizone v. Miranda. You know, the guy not read his rights? sCOTUS sent it back, and even without that confession the state got a conviction. There's a more philosophical argument about how its more important for the State itself to be lawful than it is the citizens, but I have a feeling that's not going to go over well.
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This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2013/07/08 18:12:21
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2013/07/08 18:30:56
Subject: Attorneys pitch mercy for condemned Ohio man
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Renegade Inquisitor de Marche
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Well if the guy making the rules isn't following those rules there's no point in anyone else following them...
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This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2013/07/08 18:31:14
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"Purp.. Im pretty sure I have a gun than can reach you...."-Nicorex
"That's not really an apocalypse. That's just Europe."-Grakmar
"almost as good as winning free cake at the tea drinking contest for an Englishman." -Reds8n
Seal up your lips and give no words but mum.
Equip, Reload. Do violence.
Watch for Gerry. |
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2013/07/08 18:37:39
Subject: Re:Attorneys pitch mercy for condemned Ohio man
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Longtime Dakkanaut
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Grey Templar wrote:
It just seems wrong for someone to walk away from a murder because of an error in procedure. What sort of error could make the difference between an innocent and guilty verdict?
You seem to be having a problem with the very thing that makes our justice system so fantastic.
The fact that even someone who we all know is guilty will walk if the proper procedures aren't followed is the ONLY reason procedures are getting followed for everyone else.
Equal protection means we follow procedures NO MATTER WHAT and we throw out evidence that wasn't handled properly. This is for the protection of ALL accused.
You cannot just say "well this guy is a fething murderer, so let's just ignore due process".
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2013/07/08 18:39:09
Subject: Re:Attorneys pitch mercy for condemned Ohio man
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Longtime Dakkanaut
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You know, we could always just not go out of our way to kill people. I mean I get that concepts like "We should avoid killing other human beings if at all possible" can kind of seem like far-fetched crazy talk, but it's actually worked on a fair number of occasions.
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This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2013/07/08 18:39:43
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