A good prosecutor has a lot of work to do. The General Assembly recently passed a bill that now moves to the Governor's desk to expand who is eligible for the death penalty. If this bill is signed, people present at (before/after too) a death penalty eligible crime, but did not actually pull the trigger can be sentenced to the death penalty.
A prosecutor should have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant eligible for the death penalty actually pulled the trigger. If this ends up with less death penalty eligible defendants because of a lack of evidence, the defendants still can be found guilty and sentenced to life without parole. I urge the Governor to veto the bill, and the General Assembly not to override the veto.
2 comments:
The only thing that should get death is the death penalty. State sponsored murder is the wrong path to follow.
Government can't even get a parking ticket right, so we surely mustn't trust these same bumblers to murder people on our behalf.
This is one instance where Tim Kaine will have a chance to prove to all of the "moderate Republicans" who supported him that we did the right thing.
The next step is to follow Delegate Frank Hargrove's lead and get Virginia out of the murdering business altogether.
This vote is a glaring example of where our Delegates, especially my Republicans, are out of step with the rest of Virginia, America and the World.
Get with it guys, state sponsored murder, is still murder.
It is absolutely counter-intuitive to be expanding the death penalty when the whole rest of the world is waking up to realize life sentences are cheaper and better punishment.
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