A Few More Thoughts on Capital Punishment

The execution of train robber and murderer Tom Ketchum in 1901.

The American Catholic has some more thoughtful ruminations on Capital Punishment.

Abortion and the Death Penalty

The blog Catholic Anarchy has a post criticizing conservative pro-life Catholic blogs for not condemning the execution of Troy Davis here in Georgia as a "Lynching." Here is the comment which I posted in response:

As an attorney and a former Assistant District Attorney in the State of Georgia, (and one of the “pro-life Catholic bloggers” you are criticizing) I am hesitant to call a Judicial execution a “Lynching.” This Defendant was convicted by a jury, and his case was exhaustively reviewed by Courts all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court. (I will admit that before I was a Catholic, in my prior career as a State Prosecutor I have prosecuted a man for murder who is currently still on Georgia’s Death Row, so my opinions may be held to be suspect.) However, without personally examining the trial transcripts and evidence, as the Appellate Courts and the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles presumably did, I am not willing to second guess the opinions of all those Judges and declare the execution “a Lynching.” I will agree with you that this case is more evidence of why the death penalty should be abolished. In the event that it is later discovered that Mr. Davis was factually innocent, as he and his witnesses claimed, the carrying out of the sentence will make the State of Georgia look pretty barbaric. Catholics should be pro-life across the board. The government should not be in the business of killing people and doctors should not be in the business of killing babies. You are correct, we should be against the Death Penalty and against abortion. However, Mr. Davis got a trial and a bunch of hearings, what due process does an aborted baby get?

Troy Davis Dies by Lethal Injection: MyFoxBOSTON.com

Iran Hangs Man Who Claimed to Be God

Iran executed a man who claimed that he was God. Read the full story here. I guess it's not too safe to be mentally ill in the Islamic Republic . . .

Iran Hangs Former Soccer Player's Mistress

Justice Iranian style: the "temporary wife" of a soccer player who murdered her lover's wife was executed by hanging. The son of the victim was allowed to pull the chair out from under her feet. Read the full story here.