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

[typist at speakeasy.net]

I'll give it a try.

Judy
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Gentry Lange [mailto:g at art13.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, January 21, 2004 09:19 AM
> To: sheelanagig at juno.com, ticket9 at aol.com, editor at nwcitizen.us, 
> imc-portland-workerbees at lists.indymedia.org, seattle-editorial at indymedia.org, 
> books4prisoners at hotmail.com, editor at wafreepress.org, 
> blackthorncollective at yahoo.com
> Subject: RE: [Seattle-editorial] Article: American Death Penalty in Crisis:	Arbitrary Justice?
> 
> Approve. Someone who agrees, please post.
> 
> Gentry
> 
> _______________________________________________________
> 
> 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]
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: seattle-editorial-bounces at lists.indymedia.org
> [mailto:seattle-editorial-bounces at lists.indymedia.org]On Behalf Of
> sheelanagig at juno.com
> Sent: Tuesday, January 20, 2004 12:41 PM
> To: ticket9 at aol.com; editor at nwcitizen.us;
> imc-portland-workerbees at lists.indymedia.org;
> seattle-editorial at indymedia.org; books4prisoners at hotmail.com;
> editor at wafreepress.org; blackthorncollective at yahoo.com;
> sheelanagig at Juno.com
> 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.
> 
> 
> 
> *************************************************************************
> *********************
> For near-daily political ramblings from Kirsten, visit her blog at
> www.kanderberg.blogspot.com
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> 
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