Clemency Granted
As most of you all know, Gov. Warner granted clemency yesterday to Robin Lovitt who was to be the 1,000th execution in America since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.
Many have accused Gov. Warner of doing this for political reasons. It has been said that it was done to pave the way for Kaine commuting all death sentences, it was done to prevent Virginia from getting the recognition of executing the 1,000th person, or perhaps for Gov. Warner to pander to the dems for his presidential bid.
Folks, you will never find a stronger proponent of the death penalty than me. I think it is a very worthy institution that should be allowed. That being said, we need to do everything we can to make sure we do not execute innocent people.
If you want someone to blame for this clemency, blame the Arlington County Clerk for destroying the scissors used in the murder. I am personally not sure that was enough evidence to stop the execution, but I understand where Gov. Warner was coming from. I am sure some of the political reasons played a role in this clemency, but former AG Mark Earley as well as Ken Starr (Lovitt's lawyer) were in favor of clemency in this situation.
I would encourage GOPs (and some dems I guess) to not point all the blame on Gov. Warner, not yet anyway. Until we find this was done for solely politcal reasons (which we never will), place the blame on the Arlington County Clerk.
I hope we can all be reasonable about this.
Many have accused Gov. Warner of doing this for political reasons. It has been said that it was done to pave the way for Kaine commuting all death sentences, it was done to prevent Virginia from getting the recognition of executing the 1,000th person, or perhaps for Gov. Warner to pander to the dems for his presidential bid.
Folks, you will never find a stronger proponent of the death penalty than me. I think it is a very worthy institution that should be allowed. That being said, we need to do everything we can to make sure we do not execute innocent people.
If you want someone to blame for this clemency, blame the Arlington County Clerk for destroying the scissors used in the murder. I am personally not sure that was enough evidence to stop the execution, but I understand where Gov. Warner was coming from. I am sure some of the political reasons played a role in this clemency, but former AG Mark Earley as well as Ken Starr (Lovitt's lawyer) were in favor of clemency in this situation.
I would encourage GOPs (and some dems I guess) to not point all the blame on Gov. Warner, not yet anyway. Until we find this was done for solely politcal reasons (which we never will), place the blame on the Arlington County Clerk.
I hope we can all be reasonable about this.
posted by GOPHokie @ 2:33 AM
6 Comments:
At 11/30/2005 10:46 AM,
Will Vaught said…
I have to agree with you on this one, blame the arlinton county prosecutor - warner did what was right...
At 11/30/2005 11:35 AM,
Anonymous said…
I have found that the best way to not kill innocent people is to not kill anyone.
At 11/30/2005 11:55 AM,
Megan said…
Executing someone should NEVER be politicized.
It should be based on facts. If there was ever a question of guilt I would hesitate to use it.
At 11/30/2005 12:28 PM,
GOPHokie said…
I agree about the death penalty not being politized, but thats American media for you.
At 11/30/2005 2:43 PM,
Anonymous said…
The reason for the stay of execution Warner did not want his name to be associated with a number not the guilt of a killer.
At 11/30/2005 7:40 PM,
GOPHokie said…
That is very possibly a reason for this as well.
I think there were many reasons this was done, some good some bad.
In the end, it was a good decision though.
Post a Comment
<< Home