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   From: drp@drproctor.com   
      
   On Sun, 21 Dec 2003 14:49:42 GMT, "Ken [NY)"    
   wrote:   
      
   >On Sat, 20 Dec 2003 15:50:00 -0600, Peter H. Proctor   
   > wrote:   
      
   >>  .     When someone is executed,  the case becomes "Moot".  so formal   
   >>legal inquiry stops.   OTOH,  I can cite cases where the death penalty   
   >>woul have been inflicted, "but for" my personal involvement.     In at   
   >>least one tf these,  the person was actually innocent.      Makes ya   
   >>wnder.....   
   >   
   >	Wonder away, but I still say there have been no innocent   
   >persons executed in this country and will continue to believe that   
   >until proven otherwise.   
      
          Believe what you wish.    I know of at least one innocent   
   person that _would_ have  been executed but for the fact that I   
   accidentally became involved in his case.   
      
           Further,  the thing that established his innocence was not the   
   reason I was brought into the case,  but something I came across by   
   chance---   This is that death occured when the accused had a good   
   alibi.   
      
            So,  it was only one unlikely thing piled on top of another   
   that kept them from a lethal injection.      Had the excution   
   occurred,    this would never have been brought out.     This and   
   other stutff I have seen, including outright fabrication of evidence,   
   makes me believe a significant number of innnocents get executed.   
   Others can describe additional "near misses".   
      
   > We all should be happy that no such cases   
   >exist since it shows that the system does work correctly.   
      
          Again,  it is impossible to prove a negative.   So the   
   arguement that nobody can prove an innocent party has been exectuted   
   is technically true,  but is still a straw arguement.    The best that   
   can be said is that there is a high probability that innocent parties   
   have been executed.   
      
   .    But what the hell,  executing an innocent has even more deterrent   
   power than executing a guilty party....  "The needs of the many trump   
   the needs of the few"....   
      
   Dr P   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)