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People v. Morgan (Cal. Supreme Ct. - Nov. 15, 2007)

By Shaun Martin

It's been a slow day today in the Ninth Circuit and California Court of Appeal. So not much about which I can intelligently comment. Plus my posts yesterday dragged on forever; sorry about that.

So I decided to go back and comment briefly on a case from several months ago that was in a different genre than the recent cases I've discussed. On a more visceral, rather than logical, level.

There are some people who are prototypical examples of why one -- at least emotionally, and often intellectually -- wants the death penalty. Edward Morgan is one of them.

Read the facts of his offense, as well as his prior history, at your peril. Maybe it's the extreme and pervasive violence against women. But something about what's here really strikes at my core.

And makes me, or at least a part of me, not care in the slightest what happens to the guy. To feel that he deserves whatever evil he begets.

Not the best way to feel, much less to set policy -- I know. Still. There's something there.

Full post as published by California Appellate Report on April 25, 2008 (boomark / email).