According to the May 18, 1992 Time Magazine cover shown here, "Roger Keith Coleman was convicted of killing his sister-in-law in 1982. The courts have refused to hear the evidence that could save him. His execution is set for May 20." In the end, despite appeals from Pope John Paul II, plus "thousands of calls and letters of protest from around the world" to Governor Wilder's office, Coleman was executed as scheduled. The questions now are straightforward. First, was Coleman really guilty of the crime? Second, will DNA evidence using today's advanced technology "mark the first time in the United States an executed person has been scientifically proved innocent?" Third, will the testing be arranged before Mark Warner leaves office in two weeks, or will it be left to Gov.-elect Kaine, "who supports DNA retesting in the case?" Finally, will this be "the final straw for a lot of people who are on the fence on the death penalty," as Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, believes?
According to the Time Magazine article at the time:
Back in 1976 when the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty, it signaled in a series of decisions that utmost vigilance must be applied in capital cases. The court warned that death is the "most irrevocable of sanctions," and spoke of the "need for reliability in the determination that death is the appropriate punishment." But under Chief Justice William Rehnquist's leadership, the Supreme Court seems more concerned with finality than fairness.[...]
The fact that federal judges have found constitutional errors in about 40% of the death penalty cases they have reviewed since 1976 does not seem to faze the Supreme Court. Instead the court's insistent message is that defendants are represented adequately in the state courts, so federal appeals are unnecessarily redundant.
Adequately represented, huh? Then why do the poor - and poorly represented - suffer disproportionately from the death penalty, even when they commit the same exact crimes as wealthy people?
We won't rehash all the arguments against the death penalty - that it doesn't deter crime, that is not applied fairly across racial and class lines, that it is not something the government should be doing, and that it is simply not a moral option in a civilized society - in this article. Let's just express our hope that Virginia does indeed make history on the death penalty, at a time when public support for capital punishment is at its lowest levels in 26 years, and following a campaign in which the Republican gubernatorial candidate actually stooped so low as to tie Tim Kaine to Adolf Hitler, for Kaine's faith-based opposition to the death penalty.
Stay tuned.
[UPDATE 1/1/06: According to the Washington Post, Mark Warner today ordered DNA testing in the Coleman case. According to Warner, "This is an extraordinarily unique circumstance, where technology has advanced significantly and can be applied in the case of someone who consistently maintained his innocence until execution. I believe we must always follow the available facts to a more complete picture of guilt or innocence. My prayers are with the family of Wanda McCoy as we take this extraordinary step." Good for Mark Warner, who once again shows what it means to be a real leader.]
[UPDATE 1/6/06: The Washington Post today reports yet ANOTHER example why the death penalty is so risky:
Eleven jurors say, based on what they know now, they would not have convicted two Norfolk-based sailors for the 1997 rape and murder of another sailor's wife. They also contend that two other sailors were wrongly imprisoned for the crime, which a fifth man has said he committed alone.
Whoops.]