Kelly Gissendaner Executed

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

It's all so arbitrary isn't it? Who gets the death penalty and who doesn't is such a slapdash process that it is pretty much impossible for it to function as a deterrent.

In 1972 existing death penalty laws were struck down as arbitrary and new ones, upheld in 1976, were supposed to be free of arbitrariness. Didn't work, unsurprisingly.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Sounds like an appropriate capital case.

I don't remember any death penalty case discussed on this forum where you wouldn't think it was appropriate.

This case is hardly "appropriate", given that the actual killer didn't receive the death penalty. Disproportion in sentencing was a ground for a number of commutations since 1976.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Sounds like an appropriate capital case.

I don't remember any death penalty case discussed on this forum where you wouldn't think it was appropriate.

This case is hardly "appropriate", given that the actual killer didn't receive the death penalty. Disproportion in sentencing was a ground for a number of commutations since 1976.

The mastermind, if you will, is always the highest target for District Attorneys.......

That doesn't make it less arbitrary and disproportionate.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

I partially redact my previous statement:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/richard-glossip-execution-stay_560bd2f3e4b0dd850309dcb5?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000063

Hopefully 37 days will be enough for the defense to make a new case.

Unfortunately, Oklahoma is so obsessed with the death penalty public officials seldom care about innocence, more interested in putting more and more people to death to appear "tough".

Grisham's "The Innocent Man" covers this better than any other book I can think of.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Addressing the disparity in sentencing issue again, I don't see how can we consider her more guilty (and thus the one more deserving death penalty) than an actual triggerman. True, she initiated the whole business, but he made a conscious decision to fire the shot. The justice would dictate both receiving the same sentence (and for the record, I'm deeply opposed to the death penalty). Such arbitrary disparity in sentencing is a common ground for clemency actions, as you can see there.

As of prosecutors making deals, it's really a rotten and abused business. I again heartily recommend "the Innocent Man". Grisham made an amazing work in the field of nonfiction.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Addressing the disparity in sentencing issue again, I don't see how can we consider her more guilty (and thus the one more deserving death penalty) than an actual triggerman.

You guys don't watch the news?  Prosecutors give people deals to avoid the death penalty all the time.  Killer took the deal.  Where's the confusion?

Again, doesn't mean it's not arbitrary. Deals system is one of the most abused in American law.