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I have a perspective to give on the death penalty. I was a juror on a capital murder trial over twenty years ago. We convicted the defendant, and also sentenced him to death. This happened in the southern state in which I resided at the time. (Michigan has no death penalty.) A few observations: First, the jury consisted of a fairly broad cross-section of the public, including a few bible-thumpers. I was surprised at the alacrity with which these folks voted to execute one of their fellow men. As it turned out, a military officer and I were the only jurors to make any arguments in favor of a life sentence versus death. In this particular case, the defendant was black and the jury was all white. At about the same time in the same state, another capital murder case was tried. The defendants were white and the jury was also white. The defendants were convicted but sentenced to life in prison. I can assure you that this second case was far more heinous than the case I was on. This convinced me that the death penalty is not applied equally in all cases. I doubt that I will ever sit in judgement of another man's life again. But if I do, I seriously doubt that I could pass a sentence of death again. Surely there are people walking this earth who deserve to die. But we now know, because of DNA testing, that many men have been unjustly sentenced to death. Postscript on the case I sat on: The defendant was given a second trial. He was convicted a second time and sentenced to life in prison. I believe he is in prison to this day.
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