As some of you might know, I got selected for jury duty the week after Memorial Day. Instead of some shoplifter in a dollar store or something equally benign, I am considered for a capital murder trial. Not just a regular murder trial, a capital "this person could die" trial.
Not just any trial. This trial.
There are a couple of reasons why I am glad I wasn't on the jury:
1. I don't believe in the death penalty.
Why not? I believe that, quite frankly, too many states fuck it up. What else can you call it when innocent people die? It's bad enough that the victim dies innocently. Adding to that by killing the wrong person in retaliation is not the smartest thing in the world. Also, there are considerable racial and class rammifications in sentencing in capital cases which no one wants to look at. Also, execution of the mentally retarded (which is one of our president's hobbies as governor of Texas) is totally inexcusable.
2. I don't feel that I have the right to determine if another human should die.
With the notable self-defense exception, I don't feel that I should hold someone else's life in my hands. Sure, Clarence Fry is more fucked up than a Pinto in a NASCAR wreck but I am still not God.
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