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DNA test casts doubt on executed Texas man's guilt

danarhea

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DALLAS – A DNA test on a single hair has cast doubt on the guilt of a Texas man who was put to death 10 years ago for a liquor-store murder — an execution that went forward after then-Gov. George W. Bush's staff failed to tell him the condemned man was asking for genetic analysis of the strand.


The hair had been the only piece of physical evidence linking Claude Jones to the crime scene. But the recently completed DNA analysis found it did not belong to Jones and instead may have come from the murder victim.

Here we go again. Another day, and another innocent man found to have been murdered by the State of Texas, and another day that my stance against the death penalty is affirmed.

I know, I know, I created a thread in which I expressed my pleasure that the home invader in Connecticut was given the death penalty for torturing and murdering a mother and her two kids, and so this thread makes me seem hypocritical, doesn't it? No, it doesn't. I can be happy that a monster is going to be toasted, and still be against the death penalty. Monsters deserve death, but innocent people do not. It is pretty plain and simple. Given a choice, I would much rather see the Connecticut monster spend life in prison instead of seeing innocent people murdered by the State of Texas. It is an issue of morality with me, and it is not moral to murder innocent people, even if the State sanctions it.

In regard to Bush, he was not given the information he needed that could have pardoned this innocent man. This is in stark contrast to Rick Perry, who put an innocent man to death for arson, when he knew that there was a possibility he could have been innocent, and then fired every member of the State Forensics Board and replaced them with political cronies, who then quashed the investigation, in order to cover it up. But, you know, it doesn't matter. If you support the death penalty, and are the man at the top, who oversees it's implementation, then you have blood on your hands. And so does every citizen who supports the death penalty. They have blood on their hands too. Since so many people argue the Biblical idea of "an eye for an eye" in their support of the death penalty, then they stand convicted of murder by their own words, and if you believe in an afterlife, there will be hell to pay for those who stood by and supported the State when it murdered innocent people. Why is that? Because the Bible says so. You just can't have it both ways. Murder is murder, whether done by an atheist slimeball with a gun, or a Christian slimeball who aids and abets throwing the switch on an innocent man. Again, the Bible says so. Murder is murder, and there will be consequences in the afterlife.

I will now put on my flameproof suit, and get ready for the flames that are about to come my way. No problem. Let the flames ensue. I stand by what I have posted, and I am sure that God backs what I have written too.

Article is here.
 
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I think the death penalty should be used only when there is definitive proof and no gray area what so ever if even used at all. I am not a fan of the death penalty, I think a life of hard labor would be a better sentence. But I do think for states that do have the death penalty that the convicted must have certain proof of their crime.
 
Here we go again. Another day, and another innocent man found to have been murdered by the State of Texas, and another day that my stance against the death penalty is affirmed.

I know, I know, I created a thread in which I expressed my pleasure that the home invader in Connecticut was given the death penalty for torturing and murdering a mother and her two kids, and so this thread makes me seem hypocritical, doesn't it? No, it doesn't. I can be happy that a monster is going to be toasted, and still be against the death penalty. Monsters deserve death, but innocent people do not. It is pretty plain and simple. Given a choice, I would much rather see the Connecticut monster spend life in prison instead of seeing innocent people murdered by the State of Texas. It is an issue of morality with me, and it is not moral to murder innocent people, even if the State sanctions it.

In regard to Bush, he was not given the information he needed that could have pardoned this innocent man. This is in stark contrast to Rick Perry, who put an innocent man to death for arson, when he knew that there was a possibility he could have been innocent, and then fired every member of the State Forensics Board and replaced them with political cronies, who then quashed the investigation, in order to cover it up. But, you know, it doesn't matter. If you support the death penalty, and are the man at the top, who oversees it's implementation, then you have blood on your hands. And so does every citizen who supports the death penalty. They have blood on their hands too. Since so many people argue the Biblical idea of "an eye for an eye" in their support of the death penalty, then they stand convicted of murder by their own words, and if you believe in an afterlife, there will be hell to pay for those who stood by and supported the State when it murdered innocent people. Why is that? Because the Bible says so. You just can't have it both ways. Murder is murder, whether done by an atheist slimeball with a gun, or a Christian slimeball who aids and abets throwing the switch on an innocent man. Again, the Bible says so. Murder is murder, and there will be consequences in the afterlife.

I will now put on my flameproof suit, and get ready for the flames that are about to come my way. No problem. Let the flames ensue. I stand by what I have posted, and I am sure that God backs what I have written too.

Article is here.

But but we all know that Texas is so freaking perfect .... never ever breaks basic human rights or the law in its never ending goal of executing as many people as possible..








yes that was ironic.

Just another case of many I suspect that are out there. No one tries to help the already executed after all..
 
As long as there is a possibility that even ONE innocent person could be wrongly executed, I will remain firmly against the death penalty. You can always compensate someone for wrongful imprisonment, but you can't bring them back to life when the justice system ****ed up again.
 
I'm against the death penalty because it sets a bad example. It justifies the rationalization of murder.

That's all. Just a poor example of how people should behave. If the government can target a demonstratably harmless (locked up, alone if necessary) and helpless (housed, fed and controlled by the state directly) person for a good enough reason, I believe it inclines the citizenry to such.

Counter to popular claim, capital punishment actually encourages murder via practical demonstration of targetting the harmless and helpless.
 
I'm against the death penalty because it sets a bad example. It justifies the rationalization of murder.

That's all. Just a poor example of how people should behave. If the government can target a demonstratably harmless (locked up, alone if necessary) and helpless (housed, fed and controlled by the state directly) person for a good enough reason, I believe it inclines the citizenry to such.

Counter to popular claim, capital punishment actually encourages murder via practical demonstration of targetting the harmless and helpless.

I've often had similar thoughts. It always strikes me how societies where the death penalty is still legal seem to be more violent and have more violent crime in general than those where it's been abolished.
 
Last I checked, those stats don't hold up (given different context, actual raw numbers in some cases, etc); however, the logic does.
 
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Everyone's guilty of something.

Set stricter proof requirements and move on.
 
I've often had similar thoughts. It always strikes me how societies where the death penalty is still legal seem to be more violent and have more violent crime in general than those where it's been abolished.

Using such simplistic logic as that, we can find that since Canada abolished the death penalty in 76, their violent crime rates have increased. Obviously, abolishing the death penalty results in more violence.
 
Here we go again. Another day, and another innocent man found to have been murdered by the State of Texas, and another day that my stance against the death penalty is affirmed.

I know, I know, I created a thread in which I expressed my pleasure that the home invader in Connecticut was given the death penalty for torturing and murdering a mother and her two kids, and so this thread makes me seem hypocritical, doesn't it? No, it doesn't. I can be happy that a monster is going to be toasted, and still be against the death penalty. Monsters deserve death, but innocent people do not. It is pretty plain and simple. Given a choice, I would much rather see the Connecticut monster spend life in prison instead of seeing innocent people murdered by the State of Texas. It is an issue of morality with me, and it is not moral to murder innocent people, even if the State sanctions it. I will now put on my flameproof suit, and get ready for the flames that are about to come my way. No problem. Let the flames ensue. I stand by what I have posted, and I am sure that God backs what I have written too.

You can't have it both ways just because you say so. You either support the death penalty or you don't. "I only support it if you're guilty" is full-on support. Why can't you just say, "This case makes me rethink my position on the death penalty?" That would be honest. Your post is hypocritical.

If you're correct that God has special punishments awaiting those who support the death penalty, then you do need that flameproof suit just as surely as the rest.
 
Here we go again. Another day, and another innocent man found to have been murdered by the State of Texas, and another day that my stance against the death penalty is affirmed.

Hold on. Barry Scheke, of the Innocence Project, has stated that the hair evidence does not prove that this man was innocent; it only proves that the evidence was insufficient for this crime and for this instance of the death penalty being imposed.

Big difference.

While I agree that the evidence and the total handling of this case MAY have lead to the unmerited execution of an innocent man, you also have to remember that even the guilty of the most heinous of crimes will do anything to avoid conviction, let alone the death penalty, and claim innocence. Guilty people have been known to roll the dice on DNA evidence. We have to stand by those results, but those results do not always guarantee that the person was innocent.

It's an irreversible sentence; we all know that. Nor do I support the death penalty, in case one may ask.
 
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Here we go again. Another day, and another innocent man found to have been murdered by the State of Texas, and another day that my stance against the death penalty is affirmed.

I know, I know, I created a thread in which I expressed my pleasure that the home invader in Connecticut was given the death penalty for torturing and murdering a mother and her two kids, and so this thread makes me seem hypocritical, doesn't it? No, it doesn't. I can be happy that a monster is going to be toasted, and still be against the death penalty. Monsters deserve death, but innocent people do not. It is pretty plain and simple. Given a choice, I would much rather see the Connecticut monster spend life in prison instead of seeing innocent people murdered by the State of Texas. It is an issue of morality with me, and it is not moral to murder innocent people, even if the State sanctions it.

In regard to Bush, he was not given the information he needed that could have pardoned this innocent man. This is in stark contrast to Rick Perry, who put an innocent man to death for arson, when he knew that there was a possibility he could have been innocent, and then fired every member of the State Forensics Board and replaced them with political cronies, who then quashed the investigation, in order to cover it up. But, you know, it doesn't matter. If you support the death penalty, and are the man at the top, who oversees it's implementation, then you have blood on your hands. And so does every citizen who supports the death penalty. They have blood on their hands too. Since so many people argue the Biblical idea of "an eye for an eye" in their support of the death penalty, then they stand convicted of murder by their own words, and if you believe in an afterlife, there will be hell to pay for those who stood by and supported the State when it murdered innocent people. Why is that? Because the Bible says so. You just can't have it both ways. Murder is murder, whether done by an atheist slimeball with a gun, or a Christian slimeball who aids and abets throwing the switch on an innocent man. Again, the Bible says so. Murder is murder, and there will be consequences in the afterlife.

I will now put on my flameproof suit, and get ready for the flames that are about to come my way. No problem. Let the flames ensue. I stand by what I have posted, and I am sure that God backs what I have written too.

Article is here.
Just finished reading a book by the law professor in charge of death-row inmate appeals in Texas. Oddly enough, it seems that the Texas governor cannot issue a stay of execution unless it is initially recommended by the Prisoner Review Board. In Texas, this board never recommends leniency for a capital crime. It appears to be a political quid-pro-quo system. The governor appoints the PRB members, who in turn insulate him from any political/legal fallout concerning stays of execution.
 
Here we go again. Another day, and another innocent man found to have been murdered by the State of Texas, and another day that my stance against the death penalty is affirmed.

I know, I know, I created a thread in which I expressed my pleasure that the home invader in Connecticut was given the death penalty for torturing and murdering a mother and her two kids, and so this thread makes me seem hypocritical, doesn't it? No, it doesn't. I can be happy that a monster is going to be toasted, and still be against the death penalty. Monsters deserve death, but innocent people do not. It is pretty plain and simple. Given a choice, I would much rather see the Connecticut monster spend life in prison instead of seeing innocent people murdered by the State of Texas. It is an issue of morality with me, and it is not moral to murder innocent people, even if the State sanctions it.

In regard to Bush, he was not given the information he needed that could have pardoned this innocent man. This is in stark contrast to Rick Perry, who put an innocent man to death for arson, when he knew that there was a possibility he could have been innocent, and then fired every member of the State Forensics Board and replaced them with political cronies, who then quashed the investigation, in order to cover it up. But, you know, it doesn't matter. If you support the death penalty, and are the man at the top, who oversees it's implementation, then you have blood on your hands. And so does every citizen who supports the death penalty. They have blood on their hands too. Since so many people argue the Biblical idea of "an eye for an eye" in their support of the death penalty, then they stand convicted of murder by their own words, and if you believe in an afterlife, there will be hell to pay for those who stood by and supported the State when it murdered innocent people. Why is that? Because the Bible says so. You just can't have it both ways. Murder is murder, whether done by an atheist slimeball with a gun, or a Christian slimeball who aids and abets throwing the switch on an innocent man. Again, the Bible says so. Murder is murder, and there will be consequences in the afterlife.

I will now put on my flameproof suit, and get ready for the flames that are about to come my way. No problem. Let the flames ensue. I stand by what I have posted, and I am sure that God backs what I have written too.

Article is here.

I have to agree with dana. In theory, I have no problem with the death penalty. Someone like John Wayne Gacy or Jeffery Dahmer should be put down like the mad dog that they are as quickly as possible. It's not barbaric. It's not cruel. It's justice. The only thing society owes monsters like that is a swift death.

The problem I have with the death penalty is how we practice it. Not every death row inmate is an unquestionably guilty serial killer who had the bodies of his victims in his home. In a system with falible humans as the lawyers, judges, and juries, its quite possible, perhaps even inevitable that an innocent man will be executed. As another poster said, that is a wrong we can never right. You can compensate someone for being wrongfully jailed. You can't dig up a corpse and say "Ooops, our bad."

Plus, studies have shown the death penalty has no deterent affect over life without parole and its more costly to exhaust an condemned convict's appeals in order to execute them than it is to simply imprison them for life. So the death penalty has no practical or monetary benefits to us.

For the record, I used to be an avid supporter of the death penalty, but when half the death row inmates in my state (Illinois) were later exonerated, I began to rethink my position and realized just how possible it is to execute an innocent man.
 
As noted above, this test only calls into question one part of the prosecution's case. It doesn't mean the guy isn't guilty as ****.

There's also this:

Jones' criminal record dated back to 1959. While serving a 21-year prison sentence in Kansas, he poured a flammable liquid on his cellmate and set him on fire, killing him. Three days after the Texas shooting, he was identified as the robber of a suburban Houston bank. He was arrested nearly three weeks later in Fort Myers, Fla., where he was charged with robbery and bank robbery there.

From the death chamber gurney, he did not acknowledge guilt but told relatives of the liquor store owner he was sorry for their loss.

This guy killed AT LEAST one person. Good riddance to bad rubbish.
 
As noted above, this test only calls into question one part of the prosecution's case. It doesn't mean the guy isn't guilty as ****.

There's also this:



This guy killed AT LEAST one person. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

Excellent point. Throwing the innocent word around could not be a bigger miscarage of justice.
 
So India, South Korea, the Philipines and Japan are somehow savage countries Deuce?

According to the map the Philippines have no death penalty. Although saying America is equal to Sudan or the KSA is also false. Certain states have outlawed the death penalty. It's also not a very frequent punishment (frequency must also be taken into account along with method).
 
So India, South Korea, the Philipines and Japan are somehow savage countries Deuce?

The Philippines has no death penalty.

South Korea has it on the books but not been carried out since 1997 (so the map is wrong). There is a debate going on about removing it from the books, but there has sadly been a set back since the constitutional court has basically ruled that the constitution would have to be changed to accommodate the change.

India rarely uses the death penalty since the Indian supreme court has said it should be only used in extreme rare cases. Also from what I can read, there has not been a carrying out of a death penalty case for a long time (map is wrong.. should be light blue)

Japan does have it and uses it, but in no way the same amount as the US. The amount of executions a year can be counted on two hands, and normally even on one. This law is in part a left over from the old Japanese Imperial rule and the remake of Japan by the US.

In fact if you add the amount of people actually executed together from all the mentioned countries in 2009, then it would not even come close to that of the US number of 52 executions.
 
I have no problem with the idea of the death penalty, I just think we need to be a lot more cautious about handing it out.
 
It is the best!.. it is never wrong!.. it works fast, and is 100% colour and money blind!

Can you point to anyone who has ever said its never wrong or are these nonsensical claims just going to repeat themselves? Not every country can vote for the candidate Al Qeada wants in power under the threat of an attack.
 
It is the best!.. it is never wrong!.. it works fast, and is 100% colour and money blind!

Sure it's not foolproof and can be quite tedious, but the American justice system is one of the best. But even with such a fair judicial system in place, mistakes are still made. This is one of the reasons why I am against the death penalty.
 
Sure it's not foolproof and can be quite tedious, but the American justice system is one of the best. But even with such a fair judicial system in place, mistakes are still made. This is one of the reasons why I am against the death penalty.

Did you read my mind before you posted? :mrgreen:
 
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