Reply ID: uxpt
Wednesday October 17, 2012

Dear Jess

I did get your comments before, I responded to them, but as you know I was having problems with mail being thrown away. I guess my reply made it into the trash.

I agree with you... We need laws, that's a given, the world would be total chaos without them. We need laws that are fair and unbiased. We need sentences to punish and deter people from committing unlawful acts against their fellow man. The death penalty in America does not work. It does not deter murder, it serves no purpose other than committing a vengeful act against your fellow man. Where are death row inmates at? The Dept of Corrections. The death penalty is not the act of correcting. It's an act of vengeance. This sentence is arbitrarily and capriciously handed out here in America. Look at my case, it only became a death penalty case when I refused to take a plea deal, and opted for what is supposed to be a constitutional right to a trial by a jury of my peers. Because I opted for this trial, I may die. Where is the fundamental fairness and impartiality in threatening to kill me for seeking out what is supposed to be a constitutional liberty here in America?

I can show you case after case of men who are doing life sentences, or serving 15, 20, 25 years in open population for murder cases far more severe than men who are sitting here under the sentence of death. It's the luck of the draw. And that goes to show you, that there's nothing fair about it.

I understand the act of vengeance. That little 14 year old girl who was shot by the cowardly Taliban, if that was my daughter, I'd kill every cowardly Taliban member I could get to. I'm a very vengeful person. I can forgive, in time. But in the heat of the moment, or losing someone that I love... yes, I can hold a grudge.

The legalized murder of our citizens under the guise of justice - it's a fraud. It does not work. And it's not justice. And we've made too many mistakes in this country with the death penalty placing innocent men and women on death row. Some of which we corrected before they were murdered, others unfortunately were murdered under the mantle of justice. Yeah, they received a trial, albeit unfair, but they got their due process under law. Twelve jurors and the U.S. legal system murdered them. Which proves that fallible man should not be messing around playing God, deciding who shall live and who shall die.

Nope, two wrongs don't make a right. You throw a rock, I throw it back, you may not have even thrown the rock, but it came from your direction, and I assumed wrong. Revenge doesn't work and especially not in an evolving civilized society.

Please take care and I hope to hear from you soon.

Sincerely

Ronnie
October 17, 2012

The Death Penalty by Ronald W. Clark
A rich man will walk
And a poor man will die
And America will scream
An eye for an eye
But only a poor mother will cry
For a rich woman's son
Will never die.

Written February 26, 2000 Copyright 2000