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Diaz Makes Compelling Plea on Death Penalty

By standdown

That's the title of an editorial from the January 2nd issue of the Hattiesburg American.  LINKMISSISSIPPI SUPREME COURT Justice Oliver Diaz Jr. did not go out with a whisper. He ended his career on the bench with a dissent in the case of Doss vs. State, issued in mid-December, that was a plea to end the death penalty.Diaz' argument was primarily a moral one: that society must recognize "even as murderers commit the most cruel and unusual crime, so too do executioners render cruel and unusual punishment."Diaz argues that his personal experiences - he was tried and acquitted of bribery while on the Supreme Court - gives him a first-hand view of the "potentially oppressive power of government prosecution."In all likelihood, his argument will fall on deaf ears in the state of Mississippi...continue to full post

Full post as published by StandDown Texas Project on January 06, 2009 (boomark / email).