Should Casey Peterson Get The Death Penalty?

How do you guys feel about it? I think he should.

I think they should chain a Cement Block to his ass and drop him in the same River.

Um.... sorry if this is dense.. but whointhewhatnow?

Is it some American thing that us europeans wouldn't know about?

Yes it's a Court Case involving a guy that murdered his pregnant wife in California.

Ugh

Do you have a link, I looked but couldn't see anything..

Opps sorry wrong first name..first name is Scott.

o.O

Here is a link http://www.courttv.com/trials/peterson/

I'm opposed to the death penalty entirely, and for one primary reason. The reason I so strongly oppose the death penalty is that the system of justice is clearly fallible, as has been demonstrated by the number of exonerations that have occurred in recent years; mostly through the use of DNA evidence.

If even one innocent person is put to death, then I don't care what arguments you make in favor of the death penalty. It musn't be used.

Besides, its a well-known fact that it costs the state more to execute a prisoner than it does to lock them up for life with no possibility of parole. You can achieve the same public safety factor with life sentences, without running the risk of killing an innocent man.

- Ace

I don't believe it cost more to execute someone. Nor if someone is guilty do I want to pay taxes to keep him alive until he's 100. If no one was ever executed..there would be Prisons everywhere..and deficits galore. What you say is Illogical in my opinion. And yes..now there is DNA to go on..so that excuse is Irrelevant. I think for those that oppose the Death Penalty should be taxed for the prisoners upkeep and those that do not oppose it should not have to pay. Lets see how many people that oppose the death penalty would volunteer to support these convicts by check marking a box..Do you support the Death Penalty..if "Yes"..you pay this Tax..If "No"..you don't.

Willow, in the United States, these type of murder trials are considered prime time entertainment.

There were 16,500 people murdered in the USA in 2003, but Americans seem to go on a blood frenzy when a young white woman gets murdered.

With events like this, you get 15 minutes of nightly coverage on the evening news on every channel, but they will not tell you of events around the world, unless of course when an American gets killed.



And Blake, yes, I think the bastard should be executed. Because of his celebrity, Scottie would probably be sent to one of our many Hiltonesque penal institutions, where the inmates have a much better standard of living than many in our inner cities.

- T -

I voted NO...only because, I know San Quentin will take care of him if you know what I mean. I know cause they did a number on my ex.

The issue has been studied and analyzed. Even the State of Tennessee came to the same conclusion in this study.

Take the extra cost of a capital trial, and toss in the money spent on appeals (with the state usually picking up the defense costs in both cases), and its actually less expensive to just lock the bastards up, and throw away the key.

Its a fact. Its a fact that most death penalty proponents aren't willing to admit, but its true nontheless.

- Ace

Do you actually believe this ?????? Meh

We already have Prison overcrowding..and can't afford to keep building new ones. I certainly don't want a Prison in my backyard.

Come now, Blake... Get your facts straight.

I don't know exactly what the US prison population is today, but it surpassed 2,000,000 sometime last year. Let's be conservative, and just peg it at 2,000,000 today.

Since 1976, there have been 944 executions in the United States. If each and every one of these executed inmates was still currently serving a life sentence today (i.e. none of them has died otherwise in the meantime), the prison population would increase by a whopping 0.0472%.

That's certainly not enough of an increase to run "deficits galore". Besides, as I pointed out in my previous post, we would actually be saving money by locking them up for life.

- Ace

Well that's the problem..there should be only one appeal..the Court System allows all these appeals for 10 years. Have one appeal..then if still guilty..take them out and hang their ass in public or National TV..and yes let everyone see it..maybe people contemplating a crime after seeing this will think twice. I say bring back the Wild Wild West!

Oh yeah... that'll go a long way towards ensuring we don't execute an innocent person. If we only allowed one appeal, all these people who have been exonerated over the years would still be lingering in prison.

Do you really want to offer LESS protection to someone you're about to kill, than you do to the general prison population at large?

- Ace

Prove it with DNA then do the Justice. If the previous convicts were not proven to be guilty with DNA..sure..let them serve the time until proven otherwise.

That's the crux of the problem, isn't it? While DNA is a powerful weapon in the prosecution of crimes, its still all subject to basic human frailty. Each and every one of those innocents who were exonerated had 12 people convinced of their guilt "beyond a reasonable doubt", yet those 12 people were wrong.

There is no absolute proof of anything, even with DNA evidence. It still comes down to a judgement by a jury of one's peers. And like it or not, those juries are sometimes wrong.

- Ace

I think the ratio of DNA is like A billion to one? That is Judge and Jury in my opinion and yes..even people like OJ Simpson get away with murder..he's a free man. Based on the DNA supposively being corrupted or planted.

The science is a billion to one, but I doubt that the practice is so good.

Take a dash of prosecutorial misconduct, add a heaping teaspoon of incompetent defense attorneys, and throw in some human error in crime labs (deliberate or otherwise), and now you have a rather significant possibility of putting that lethal injection into the wrong man.

- Ace

Burn his ass, the world's too populated as it is....one less family annihilator will not matter much. I wish I could jump into a politically correct pity party, but I think the DP is a fine way to prevent these monsters from ever breeding or hurting someone else. When you look at a 'cute' killer like Peterson and feel remorse for his hopeful execution, think to yourself, would I feel the same way about those freakin' monsters Leonard Lake & Charles Ng? Ya know, the two who kidnapped a Husband, Wife, and Infant...Killed the baby outright (hopefully), then tortured the Husband and made him watch as they raped and tortured his wife over and over and over and over...finally planting all three in a shallow grave. That case culminated in Ng running to Canada, where he was arrested on another charge. Canada blocked his extridition for awhile....until the U.S. said "Fine, you can keep him then"...just as he was to be released in Canada the country had an amazing change of heart and sent him to California...to be tried for capital murder....seems no one wants a serial killer in their back yard...hmmm?
I'm sorry if you disagree, but my stance is my own opinion and won't be swayed. I totally believe that there are people out there who cannot and will not ever be safe to be in society...I do not act as their judge (unless ordered by the municipality I live in), my society does, and it is one of the things I do like about my state and my country in general.

and no, execution does absolutely nothing to solve the prison crowding issue....that is all caused by the failed War On Drugs....one of the things I hate most about the USA.

I agree with Ace 100%. In light of the possibility of evidence analysis mistakes, evidence mishandling, prosecutorial misconduct, law enforcement misconduct and eye witness mistakes and the fact that it costs less to imprison someone for life, it only makes sense to eliminate the death penalty. Capital punishment as a substantial deterrent has been disproved in comparitive studies since 1959 (see Thorsten Sellin).

What bothers me about the Scott Peterson case is that there is NO HARD EVIDENCE. It's not even circumstancial it's conjecture. There are no eye witnesses, no DNA, no weapon and no financial motive.

My concern is that Perterson was convicted because he was a cheating, lying, asshat. If they executed all the cheating, lying, asshats in this country we could wave bye, bye to at least 50% of the country.

I'll add one more comment, and then I'm done arguing the death penalty. I've made my points...

I'm not so naive as to not realize there certainly are some scum-buckets in this world whose instant elimination from the gene pool could only be good for the whole of humanity. I take a look at some of these heinous crimes, and my gut reaction is to give them a slow, painful death too.

But justice is what justice is, and there is no way that it will ever be infallible. Anyone who believes the contrary is the naive one.

And given the permanance of death, it just doesn't make sense to me.

- Ace