Death Penalty Loopholes...

16 years ago, Michael Ross was convicted of murdering 8 women after having raped most of them. He has since admitted his guilt...there will be no overturning of this conviction, no newly found evidence to prove his innocence. He is guilty of the crimes of which he has been convicted.

So?

Well, his sentance was unusual for Connecticut...he was given the death penalty. His execution will be the first in the state in 60 years.

Again, so?

He has given up his fight to delay his execution. After 16 years of appeals and legal manouvers to delay his punishment, he has decided to conceed to the inevitable...

...and his father and former public defenders have decided to attempt to use this concession as evidence of his mental instability and use that as a reason to appeal his sentence, if not his conviction.

Mr. Ross has stated that he is ready to die, as sentenced...his father and the former public defenders are filing this appeal completely against his will.

One of the reasons given for why people should be against the death penalty is that the cost of compliance is quite high. In many cases, the cost of the many years of legal bills (with the state frequently needing to fund both sides of the battle) is higher than if the convicted person were simply incarcerated for life. Silly me, I had always assumed that if convicted criminals would just take their punishment, rather than filing frivoulous* appeals, we would be better off as a society.

But let's look at the most serious issue this appeal sets up...if Mr. Ross gets a permanent stay of execution, there will be a rash of death row inmates clamouring to be executed, and lawyers will rush to say that this is proof that they can never be executed.



*as opposed to substantive appeals, which, of course, I strongly believe they should file