[Seattle-editorial] Article: American Death Penalty in Crisis: Arbitrary Justice?

[Gentry Lange]

Approve. Someone who agrees, please post.

Gentry

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American Death Penalty in Crisis: Arbitrary Justice?

The story of Charles Champion is going to be an interesting one to watch
throughout 2004. Champion is a young black male, from Kent, Wa., who
killed a white Des Moines police officer on March 7, 2001. There is no
evidence that Champion premeditated this killing in days or hours prior,
it happened when Champion and his friends were pulled over by police.
Champion and his family have cooperated with the authorities, and
Champion has shown sincere remorse for the death of Officer Underwood. At
present, Champion is one of very few King County criminals who could face
the death penalty if convicted.

[Link to full Story]

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Subject: [Seattle-editorial] Article: American Death Penalty in Crisis:
Arbitrary Justice?


American Death Penalty in Crisis: Arbitrary Justice?

The story of Charles Champion is going to be an interesting one to watch
throughout 2004. Champion is a young black male, from Kent, Wa., who
killed a white Des Moines police officer on March 7, 2001. There is no
evidence that Champion premeditated this killing in days or hours prior,
it happened when Champion and his friends were pulled over by police.
Champion and his family have cooperated with the authorities, and
Champion has shown sincere remorse for the death of Officer Underwood. At
present, Champion is one of very few King County criminals who could face
the death penalty if convicted.

Now juxtapose that with Gary Ridgway, the most “prolific serial killer in
U.S. history.” Ridgway pleaded guilty in King County, the same
jurisdiction that Champion is now in, to 48 counts of aggravated
first-degree murder. He premeditated the murders, he did not cooperate
with authorities until he was charged with crimes and offered a plea
bargain, and he did not show much, if any, remorse for what he did. King
County Prosecutor Norm Maleng, in Nov. 2001, said he would not offer
Ridgway a plea bargain regarding the death penalty in the Green River
Murder case, but in the end, he DID offer Ridgway life in prison without
the possibility of parole, instead of the death penalty, as part of a
plea bargain offer from King County.

A day after Ridgway’s sentencing, attorneys for Champion filed a motion
on his behalf questioning equal protection under the law and due process,
in light of the discrepancies between these two cases. On one hand, we
have a notorious serial murderer, a white man who intentionally killed
many minority women, who is offered a plea bargain for his confessions,
to avoid the death penalty. On the other hand, we have a black male, who
is offered no way to escape the death sentence, for killing one white
male. The white man who systematically killed 48 women is spared his
life. The black man who killed one white man is sentenced to death!
Yicks! It SMELLS suspicious
even if the way this is playing out is not
intentionally prejudiced, but rather, constructively racist and sexist,
it still plays out as sexist and racist.

If Ridgway’s plea bargain is allowed to stand without becoming legal
precedence, one wonders how arbitrary justice is. Are judges just writing
the laws on whims, that needn’t fit patterns of equal application? Legal
experts have predicted it is going to be hard for King County prosecutors
to argue that cases FAR less egregious than Ridgway’s deserve the death
penalty. Richard Dieter, the executive director of the national Death
Penalty Information Center, believes the Ridgway case will affect death
penalty cases nationwide. He said this was going to be “a crisis for the
death penalty.” The use of this plea bargaining by Maleng in Ridgway’s
case, has expanded the debate as to when the death penalty is
inappropriate.

King County prosecutors have argued that the Ridgway case should have no
bearing on the Champion case, saying a state Supreme Court would need to
hear the fairness issue. King County Superior Court Judge Anthony Wartnik
is expected to hear Champion’s case in May 2004, and it will be
interesting to see what his findings are. One of the prosecutors on the
Champion case is trying to argue the way out of this mess is that each
case is decided on its own merits, which is true. But there is also a
need for an equal application of justice in our courtrooms, and thus this
issue has merit, in my opinion.

And Champion’s attorneys are not the only ones using this Ridgway plea as
precedence. In Snohomish County, two young males are on trial for the
killing of Rachel Burkheimer, and their attorneys have also cited
Ridgway’s case on behalf of their clients, in an effort to protect them
from the death penalty. After all, their crimes were far less than those
of Ridgway, and Ridgway was given an offer of life without parole in
return for his admission of guilt! The death penalty is supposed to be
for the worst of the worst. If Gary Ridgway, aka the Green River Murder,
is spared the death penalty in plea bargains, that is raising the bar,
considerably, as to what is the worst. Apparently, 48 serial murders is
not the worst. And anyone under that high bar, deserves equal protection
under the law, with Gary Ridgway.



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For near-daily political ramblings from Kirsten, visit her blog at
www.kanderberg.blogspot.com
or go to her writing website at www.kirstenanderberg.com. For email
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