Arkansas executes Ledell Lee in first death penalty use in 12 years

[GoldenBoy89]

Wuuuuh! Death! Death! Death! Yeah!

Stand aside... America is being made great again!

 

[Tallguy88]

I think people have a right to life, and you should only kill if you have to. The death penalty is never needed because they can be locked up for life is necessary.

The man set to be executed tonight was locked up for life for murder. He escape and murdered again. Now he's getting the death penalty.

 

[dgiharris]

In my state (the one in question) the public defenders in death penalty cases tend to be better than private attornies, since the public defenders have a much greater amount of experience with the cases. 99% of private criminal attornies will never argue a death penalty case.

On the surface this might seem like sound logic, however, it is skewed heavily by the economics of the situation.

Majority of people accused of death penalty cases tend to be unable to afford an attorney. So of course, public defenders will have a higher percentage of those cases. However, the underlying factors for why public defenders are unable to present you with the best defense still apply. Public defenders still have ridiculously absurd case loads, and they also do not have the budget to acquire expert witnesses or order tests or pursue expensive lines of evidence accumulation, etc.


Or put another way. I have never heard of anyone who was rich saying, "You know what, I'm going with the public defender because they see more death penalty cases."

Now, if you said, "Public defenders win 80% of their death penalty cases" then you have a solid argument.

I did some quick google fu on Public Defender Success rate in death penalty cases and couldn't really find anything. But I would guess that Public Defenders plead out majority of their cases and that the VAST majority of death penalty cases they lose at a rate way WAY higher than people who can afford to hire a private attorney.

 

[Paradoxum]

The man set to be executed tonight was locked up for life for murder. He escape and murdered again. Now he's getting the death penalty.

I'd say that high security prions should be inescapable. Or prison should be more focused on rehabilitation.

To me an escaped prisoner seems more the fault of the system than the prisoner.

 

[Tallguy88]

I'd say that high security prions should be inescapable. Or prison should be more focused on rehabilitation.

To me an escaped prisoner seems more the fault of the system than the prisoner.

Murder is the fault of the murderer. He can't chuck the blame on the system.

 

[Nithavela]

Murder is the fault of the murderer. He can't chuck the blame on the system.

Plenty of blame to go around.

 

[essentialsaltes]

Arkansas has executed Ledell Lee...
It came after the US Supreme Court rejected a challenge arguing Arkansas was unfairly rushing several executions before its supply of a lethal injection drug expires at the end of April.

He had been on death row for more than 20 years after he was convicted of beating Debra Reese to death ... in 1993.

DNA testing from a 1993 killing in Arkansas has revealed genetic material from a male other than the inmate executed for the murder four years ago, two groups said Friday.

The city of Jacksonville last year agreed to allow new tests on fingerprints and DNA evidence after the groups had sued.

---

Per Wikipedia: Lee maintained his innocence until the time of his death. Before he was executed, Lee was working with his lawyers at the Innocence Project and ACLU to conduct DNA analysis on blood and hair evidence collected from the 1993 crime scene. It had never been previously tested in the case. The state of Arkansas denied the defense request to have the analysis done.

 

[durangodawood]

....The state of Arkansas denied the defense request to have the analysis done.

The state had everything to lose and nothing to gain by allowing a DNA test on evidence.

Better just to kill the guy rather than risk everyone seeing how close the state could get to executing an innocent man.

Think of the careers on the line, the embarrassment to the state's reputation.

 

[essentialsaltes]

DNA testing from a 1993 killing in Arkansas has revealed genetic material from a male other than the inmate executed for the murder four years ago, two groups said Friday.

Further coverage.

He was executed for murder 4 years ago. Now someone else's DNA has been found on the murder weapon

 

[Yttrium]

The man set to be executed tonight was locked up for life for murder. He escape and murdered again. Now he's getting the death penalty.

Sounds like a reasonable application of the death penalty to me.

 

[Aryeh Jay]

Or is it an american misspelling?

I will check what it says in the boot.

 

[SummerMadness]

Yet again, people gleefully promote the death penalty and are quick to talk about the crime they were convicted for. They promote this as justice, but now we have evidence that the executed person may not be the killer. And the reason why some of these people are dead is because the state rushed to kill people because their supply was going to expire. Of course, once things come to light, there is silence.

And we can almost guarantee that the executed inmate is poor and from a community of color. This parading of the death penalty is no different than the lynch mob post cards of the early 20th century. The only difference now is the use of the criminal justice system to condemn yet deny the executed justice.

 

[Goonie]

I will check what it says in the boot.

Size 9?