Yesterday, Good Friday of all days (is that appropriate? ironic?), Tim Kaine was presented with a strong test of his faith. Specifically:
Attorneys for Dexter Lee Vinson, a Suffolk man who has been on death row since 1999 for the abduction and killing of his ex-girlfriend, filed a formal clemency petition to Kaine. Vinson is scheduled for execution this month.
As most of remember, the death penalty was a major issue in the Kaine-Kilgore gubernatorial contest last year. Tim Kaine's opponent, Jerry W. Kilgore, even went so far as to run an ad - the "Hitler ad" - in which he had a murder victim's father accusing Kaine of being SO anti-death-penalty that he wouldn't even execute Adolf Hitler. Thus, one of the worst mass murderers and most evil men in history entered Virginia politics, if only for a brief period of time and if only in spirit.
For his part, Tim Kaine - a faithful member of the Roman Catholic church, which opposes the death penalty - stated repeatedly that he would uphold his oath of office with regards to capital punishment, given that he would be swearing on a Bible to uphold the Constitution and laws of Virginia. Kaine also said that Hitler "may deserve the death penalty," and certainly that Hitler and similar murderers do not "deserve to live in civilized society."
So what now? As Michael Shear writes, "Vinson's petition places Kaine for the first time at the intersection of his personal faith and his official duty." One possibility is that Kaine will deny the clemency request and let the execution proceed. Shear quotes Dave "Mudcat" Saunders, a senior advisor to Jim Webb, as follows:
Politically speaking, I'd hate to be the guy waiting on the clemency call from the governor, because he's going to be waiting a long time. I think Tim Kaine drew a line in the sand and said he wouldn't cross it. I just don't see politically how he can do it.
Alternatively, Kaine could grant the clemency petition. Shear quotes Jack Payden-Travers, director of Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, as follows:
Something's rotten in the state of Virginia if we go through with this execution. We know that Governor Kaine wants to do the right thing, and the right thing is to step in and say there are so many issues procedurally. This execution needs to be put on hold until they can be resolved.
Politically, of course, Kaine would be smart to let the execution proceed. As Larry Sabato, director of UVA's Center for Politics, says:
If he were to pardon the very first death penalty case, the criticism would be withering. It's the wrong time and place for a big risk for Tim Kaine.
My personal opinion? Kaine should look at all the facts of this case very carefully, of course. However, unless there is strong reason to believe that Vinson didn't do what he was convicted of doing - "capital murder, carjacking, abduction with intent to defile and sexual penetration with an inanimate object in the death of his ex-girlfriend, Angela Felton, 25, a mother of three" - then his execution should proceed. Unfortunately fo Vinson, he has about 2 7/8 strikes against him, namely that "Felton's DNA was matched to a bloodstain found on a pair of blue shorts belonging to Vinson" and also that his "fingerprints were found on the kitchen sink of the vacant house and on a pane of glass from the kitchen window."
Maybe I'm missing something here, but it sure seems like there's no doubt here, reasonable or othersie. Which means, of course, that the death sentence should be carried out, even given Tim Kaine's strong personal, faith-based views on the subject. I am anti-death penalty as well, but if I were Tim Kaine, that's what I'd do.