The risks of deadly judgments

By Julie O'connor

John William King doesn't deserve to live. The world would be a better place without a white supremacist who brutally tied a black man to the back of a pickup truck and dragged him for three miles until his body was torn to pieces. After centuries of racist murderers going free after committing brutal crimes, many would consider it a privilege to personally administer King's lethal injection.

Unfortunately, however, a Texas jury's decision to sentence King to death is also a sentence on the innocent lives of many other white and black Americans. While it may be difficult to recognize through our understandable rage at his savagery, sentencing King to a well-deserved death is not possible without also weakening the justice system and threatening innocent Americans of all races.

If ever there was a case that cried out for the death penalty, this is it. No one could make a compelling argument for sparing King's life. He has few redeeming qualities—not only is he completely unrepentant, he hopes to inspire others to racist violence. In addition, an eight-inch makeshift knife was found in King's jail cell, evidence that even while incarcerated, King is a continual menace. Finally, and perhaps most compelling, if King were sentenced to life imprisonment, under Texas state law he would be eligible for parole after 40 years. King in his 60s would no longer be a sneering young man, and the savagery of his crime might be forgotten. It is conceivable that he could be set free.

For King, capital punishment is justice. But was it justice for Walter McMillan? After being wrongfully convicted, McMillan served six years on Alabama's death row. When it was finally discovered that he was innocent and he was freed, McMillan had already lost his logging business and his marriage.

And what about Sonia Jacobs? Convicted of killing two police officers, she endured five years on death row in Florida and served 12 more years in the general prison population before her conviction was overturned in 1992. Jacobs went to prison as a wife and mother. She came out as a grandmother—and widow.

Joseph Burrows, Carl Lawson, and Rolando Cruz can all recount similar stories. One black, one white, and one Hispanic—all three innocent men recently freed from death sentences for crimes they did not commit. While on death row together, they talked about their innocence and dreamed of freedom. A housepainter from a small town in Illinois, the 45-year-old Burrows says that the system almost killed him. After being freed from death row, he now has nightmares and has trouble holding a job. Three times the state set a date to kill him. Burrows says he will never be the same.

These cases are not flukes. For every seven executions in the United States since 1976, one condemned inmate has been freed. Last week, Anthony Porter, who spent 16 years on death row in Illinois, was set free because five journalism students at Northwestern University and their professor investigated his case and found evidence that led another man to confess to the murders. Porter's case marked the 10th time since Illinois reinstated the death penalty in 1977 that a death row inmate had been freed because he was, in fact, innocent.

These people were lucky that their innocence came to light before their execution dates. Humans make mistakes. Humans made the justice system, so the justice system makes mistakes. But simply saying "oops" won't cut it when it comes to the death penalty. It is an unfortunate truth that if we support killing King, we also support jeopardizing the lives of McMillan, Jacobs, Burrows, Lawson, Cruz, Porter, and many other innocent people of all races. And, in addition, we support killing those people whose innocence is not discovered by the state in time to save their lives. Life imprisonment without parole seems to provide the best balance of protecting the innocent while punishing the guilty.

It is a shame that there is no easy way to rid society of people like King. But it would be far more shameful to sentence innocent Walter McMillan to death than John William King to life imprisonment.

Julie O'Connor is a freshman in Davenport.

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