Death Penalty News - Ann

Death Penalty News - Ann Coulter is right about so many things. She's a firebrand, to be sure, a shoot from the hip kinda pundit, and that's what I like about her. And much of the abuse she takes from the liberal press stems from her accuracy, not inaccuracy.

But if there's one thing Ann Coulter says that drives me nuts, it's her constant poo-poohing of the one, conclusive reason to oppose the death penalty; it is prescribed in error way too often. And in my opinion, once is too many.

Here's another case, from the Strib:

"Charges were dropped Tuesday against a man who spent 20 years on Pennsylvania's death row for a murder that DNA evidence says he did not commit.

The decision makes Nicholas Yarris the first Pennsylvania death row inmate cleared by DNA evidence, but he will remain jailed pending appeals on crimes he committed after escaping from sheriff's deputies 15 years ago.

Prosecutor Sheldon Kovach filed the motion Tuesday to drop the rape and murder charges in the 1981 death of a woman in the Philadelphia area. 'The commonwealth would not have sufficient evidence at this point to proceed,' he said."

Now, here's the rub: the likes of Coulter will respond "See? the DNA got him off death row!".

True - two decades later. Here's the rub - according to Yarris' supporters, the prosecution spent the better part of this past decade doing its best to prevent the DNA from the case from getting a proper analysis.

Coulter's a lawyer - and I'd suspect she'd never give the notion of prosecutorial malfeasance any credit. In this case, it'd seem to have happened.

And to me, it's not worth the risk. Life without parole is a better, cheaper - and safer - option.

The only capital punishment I support is the kind delievered by an armed citizen, in justifiable self-defense.

Posted by Mitch at December 11, 2003 05:13 AM