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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>One of the reasons, I believe, that those who
support the death penalty do so with the caveat that errors will be made, but
those errors are what a civilized society pays to be safe; is that those we put
to death are most often poor, minority, unemployed, undereducated, and mentally
deficient. It's simple to count those errors as a societal cost
for our protection when they don't happen to us and the ones we
love. I used to feel that way, too, but I have come to believe there is
something wrong with a society and the people within it, who feel "the execution
of a few innocents," is a price we can afford. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Sue</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><B>From:</B> <A title=jeanlivingston@turbonet.com
href="mailto:jeanlivingston@turbonet.com">Bruce and Jean Livingston</A> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=lfalen@turbonet.com
href="mailto:lfalen@turbonet.com">lfalen</A> ; <A title=vision2020@moscow.com
href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">vision2020@moscow.com</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Tuesday, April 24, 2007 2:07
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [Vision2020] DNA exoneration
reaches 200;questions remain for justice system</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>Roger, there is no question that your arguments have some appeal, in the
sense that if we are to have the death penalty, there are some crimes that are
so heinous that they practically "cry out for it." </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>My problem with your "tinkering with the procedures" approach, in an
effort to "fine tune" the system so that our administration of justice
is fairer, is that efforts to eliminate systemic error that allows for
the conviction of the innocent will only reduce the error rate, but not
eliminate it. It seems to me that the costs of administering the
death penalty exceed the "benefit" of it, and that you also must accept as a
"cost of doing business" the inevitable execution of a few innocents.
</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I changed my views about the death penalty, which I once favored, after I
was appointed to represent Roy Roberts, a man that I came to believe was
innocent. Sadly, I was unable to spare his life or win his
release. Here is his clemency petition:</DIV>
<DIV><A
href="http://ccadp.org/clemencyroy.htm">http://ccadp.org/clemencyroy.htm</A></DIV>
<DIV>Here is an article about Roy on the Northwestern University School of
Law's Center on Wrongful Convictions:</DIV>
<DIV><A
href="http://www.law.northwestern.edu/depts/clinic/wrongful/Executions/Roberts_Missouri.htm">http://www.law.northwestern.edu/depts/clinic/wrongful/Executions/Roberts_Missouri.htm</A></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Having gone through the wringer of failing to save an innocent man's
life, I no longer accept an approach to the death penalty that amounts
to "collateral damage in the form of the execution of a few innocents is
acceptable." In my opinion, having the death penalty is not worth
that.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Bruce</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>----- Original Message -----
<DIV>From: "lfalen" <<A
href="mailto:lfalen@turbonet.com">lfalen@turbonet.com</A>></DIV>
<DIV>To: "Ted Moffett" <<A
href="mailto:starbliss@gmail.com">starbliss@gmail.com</A>>; "Bruce and Jean
Livingston" <<A
href="mailto:jeanlivingston@turbonet.com">jeanlivingston@turbonet.com</A>></DIV>
<DIV>Cc: <<A
href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">vision2020@moscow.com</A>></DIV>
<DIV>Sent: Tuesday, April 24, 2007 12:30 PM</DIV>
<DIV>Subject: Re: [Vision2020] DNA exoneration reaches 200;questions remain
for justice system</DIV></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>>I am not sure that the death penalty should be totally
abolished. Some people like Duncan surely deserve it. Maybe it should be
restricted to just a few things. In any case due to number of people that are
convicted who are innocent, there needs to be better safe guards put in place.
In regard to the Attorney General's office, It does look like they blew it on
the Idaho Falls Cace. Although it does'nt rise to the same level of
seriousness, they have also been hit and miss on enforcing the Open Meeting
Law. In some cases they have done what they should. in others they have not. I
will get into this more at a later date.<BR>> Roger<BR>> -----Original
message-----<BR>> From: "Ted Moffett" <A
href="mailto:starbliss@gmail.com">starbliss@gmail.com</A><BR>> Date: Tue,
24 Apr 2007 02:11:16 -0700<BR>> To: "Bruce and Jean Livingston" <A
href="mailto:jeanlivingston@turbonet.com">jeanlivingston@turbonet.com</A><BR>>
Subject: [Vision2020] DNA exoneration reaches 200;questions remain for justice
system<BR>> <BR>>> Bruce et. al.<BR>>> <BR>>> <A
href="http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--dnaexonerations-20423apr23,0,1071686.story?coll=ny-region-apnewyork">http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--dnaexonerations-20423apr23,0,1071686.story?coll=ny-region-apnewyork</A><BR>>>
<BR>>> I guess this is some kind of milestone...But not all these cases
are death<BR>>> penalty cases. But the question is obvious:
if this many are exonerated by<BR>>> DNA, how many on death row or
imprisoned for other crimes are innocent who<BR>>> do not have DNA
available to prove or disprove their innocence?<BR>>> <BR>>>
Likely a much larger number!<BR>>> <BR>>> The price we must pay
for a justice system, or a justice system in need of<BR>>> radical
improvement?<BR>>> <BR>>> I won't even start...<BR>>>
<BR>>> Ted Moffett<BR>>> <BR>>> <BR>>> On 4/23/07,
Bruce and Jean Livingston <<A
href="mailto:jeanlivingston@turbonet.com">jeanlivingston@turbonet.com</A>>
wrote:<BR>>> ><BR>>> > We confronted two high profile
cases in the last couple of weeks, first,<BR>>> > a declaration
of innocence in the Duke Lacrosse case in NC, and second, the<BR>>> >
apparent innocence of Rauland Grube in a murder case from
southeastern<BR>>> > Idaho, on which I posted several days
ago.<BR>>> ><BR>>> > Now appears this series of editorials
from of all places, Texas. The<BR>>> > Dallas Morning News
editorial staff reversed its 100 year stance in favor of<BR>>> > the
death penalty. In so doing, it made many of the best arguments
for<BR>>> > reconsidering our willingness to retain the death
penalty. The editorial<BR>>> > pieces are thoughtful and worthy
of all citizens' review, especially in<BR>>> > states like Idaho that
continue to have the death penalty.<BR>>> ><BR>>> > I
thought you might be interested in these recent Dallas Morning
News<BR>>> > editorials. The Morning News is historically one
of the most conservative<BR>>> > major-city newspapers in the
country, although it moderated somewhat when<BR>>> > the "liberal"
competition folded.<BR>>> ><BR>>> ><BR>>>
><BR>>> ><BR>>> > <A
href="http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/editorials/stories/DN-toy_01edi.ART.State.Edition1.43b925d.html">http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/editorials/stories/DN-toy_01edi.ART.State.Edition1.43b925d.html</A><BR>>>
><BR>>> ><BR>>> ><BR>>> ><BR>>> > <A
href="http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/editorials/stories/DN-deathmonday2_16edi.ART.State.Edition1.42d305b.html">http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/editorials/stories/DN-deathmonday2_16edi.ART.State.Edition1.42d305b.html</A><BR>>>
><BR>>> ><BR>>> ><BR>>> ><BR>>> > <A
href="http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/editorials/stories/DN-deathmonday1_16edi.ART.State.Edition1.42d1ffd.html">http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/editorials/stories/DN-deathmonday1_16edi.ART.State.Edition1.42d1ffd.html</A><BR>>>
><BR>>> > The explanation about the Dallas Morning News' editorial
slant is from my<BR>>> > sister-in-law, who resides there, reads the
paper regularly, and forwarded<BR>>> > me the above
links.<BR>>> ><BR>>> > Bruce Livingston<BR>>>
><BR>>> ><BR>>> ><BR>>> >
=======================================================<BR>>> >
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>
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href="mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com">mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com</A><BR>>>
> =======================================================<BR>>>
><BR>>> <BR>>> <BR>>
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