On Tuesday evening, the state of Missouri murdered Marcellus Williams. He was an innocent man. The chorus of people asking for his life to be spared included the local prosecutor’s office which convicted him and had been actively involved in undoing the conviction. Think about the strength of that support.
Think about this: the victim’s family spoke out against his execution.
There was also a large public outcry. And in the end the US Supreme Court and the state of Missouri, led by the governor, decided it was OK to murder an innocent man.
I have been opposed to the death penalty my entire life. At first it was because of my Catholic school education, where it was continually reinforced that it is wrong to kill people. Over the years I’ve come to a non-religious basis for my opposition, namely that while we agree to let the state govern us, we do not give up all of our rights to the state, and we certainly do not give our right to life over to the state.
At best, when trials are conducted fairly, exhaustively, and completely procedurally correctly, the death penalty is state-sanctioned killing. At worst it is state-led murder. On Tuesday night it was state-led murder.
There was no benefit to society in taking Williams’ life. It will not act as a deterrent to other capital crimes. It will not stop someone in the heat of anger from taking a life. It won’t keep a violent abuser from killing his wife or girlfriend. It won’t stop the next mass shooter.
On Tuesday the governor of Missouri executed a Black man simply because he could. The NAACP described Williams’ killing as a lynching, and they are right. It was a white racist Republican lynching a Black man because he could. And to send a chilling message to Black people on behalf of the white nationalist GOP—and especially Black voters—as we work to send a Black woman to the White House.
Where were Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on this issue? That’s right—nowhere to be found after the Democratic Party dropped the anti-death penalty plank from its 2024 platform. Neither party will keep you safe from state-sanctioned murder, which is why that power must be removed from the hands of the state.
This seems like a good way to end this:
For most of my life, I have believed that some crimes are so especially heinous that they merit the death penalty. I still believe that. However, I stopped believing a long time ago that so-called law-and-order police, prosecutors and judges were capable of administering such a system fairly and flawlessly — and with possibly innocent life at stake, it would HAVE to be flawlessly. So I now oppose capital punishment.
well said