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Alabama: Where the Constitution and DNA Don't Matter
Solid evidence indicating that lethal injection is cruel and unusual has halted executions in several states over the past two years, but Alabama's not one of them. The constitutionality of the state's lethal injection protocol will be challenged in federal court this October, however Darrell Grayson, a black man convicted of robbing, raping, and killing an 86-year-old woman by an all white jury in 1982, doesn't have time to wait. He's scheduled to die at 6 p.m. tomorrow.
Grayson, who admits he doesn't remember whether or not he committed the crime because he was, well, wasted, recently filed an unsuccessful challenge to lethal injection. The 11th Circuit Court, which rules over Alabama, dismissed it because Grayson waited too long to file his appeal. Grayson has also petitioned to have DNA testing performed, but the courts have denied that request as well despite evidence that points to Grayson's innocence. Two men claim Grayson was passed out in another location at the time of the crime and his co-defendant mysteriously asked for Grayson's forgiveness before he was executed in 1999.
Grayson's request to delay the execution is pending before the U.S. Supreme Court, but things aren't looking good. Alabama Attorney General Troy King argued yesterday that "justice has been delayed too long." Ironically, justice will be denied forever if Grayson is killed before his DNA is tested and the challenge to Alabama's lethal injection procedure is resolved.
—Celia Perry
Whether or not lethal injection is cruel and unusual punishment aside. I don't have a problem with capital punishment per se if there is guilt of a horrible crime beyond a doubt; but if there is the slightest chance that this man is innocent then the courts should have a moral if not legal responsibility to delay execution until DNA testing can be done. It's been this long what will a little longer matter. Wonder how they will feel after Mr. Grayson is executed only to find out later that he was innocent...or is the state of Ala. in a hurry to drop another black man!
I have a number of issues with the death penalty despite not feeling particularly strongly either way about the theoretical moral issue of killing someone to show that killing is wrong.
1) I agree with JBT about the slightest chance of innocence. This is huge. There are few cases where there is literally zero doubt. Beyond a reasonable doubt may just not be a strong enough statement for sentencing someone to death.
2) Fairness in implementation rarely exists. I don't remember which states these were from. However, in one state, the statistic was that no one that could afford their own lawyer had ever been executed. In another, a black defendant charged with killing a white victim was 4 times more likely to be executed than if the colors were reversed. These types of situations are unacceptable.
3) In lethal injections, they typically give two injections. The first renders the victim completely immobile and unable to express pain. The second kills him/her. I guess, what we don't see didn't hurt him/her.
4) I do not believe the death penalty has been adequately shown to deter crime AND it costs MORE not less than life without parole due to much higher court costs and legal fees to prosecute for the death penalty.
5) The hypocrisy of a single party that states on one hand that all life is sacred (yecch) and on the other pushes for the death penalty really bothers me a lot. It's as if they say that abortion should only be legal when state mandated after the 75th trimester.
As for this particular case, I cannot imagine the type of mind that would worry about time of the appeal more than about actual guilt or innocence. I certainly wouldn't invite such an individual over for dinner. I would also try that person for murder if the family were able to get the DNA test and other evidence together and prove innocence after the execution. That might serve as a deterrent to ignoring the rights of the accused.