[PEN-L:3887] death penalty for racist beast

[Jim Devine <jdevine@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

SLATE reports today: USA TODAY> describes [John William] King upon his
condemnation as "unrepentant and Smirking," and notes that he is the first
white person to face execution for killing a black person in modern Texas
history. The paper goes on to report that since the Supreme Court
reinstated the death penalty in 1976, nationwide eight whites have been
executed for killing blacks while 123 blacks have been put to death for
killing whites. Presenting this statistic without also saying the total
number of convictions of crimes of each  sort leaves the reader
ill-equipped to determine what it really means. Also, the papers don't
mention it, but this story should give pause to anyone who thinks the death
penalty is a deterrent. The unspeakable crime took place in the state that
leads the nation in executions. <

is there anyone else out there who's feeling queasy because (1) if anyone
does, John William King (and his yet-to-be-tried sidekicks) deserve the
death penalty but (2) they have a principled opposition to the death penalty?

Jim Devine jdevine@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx &
http://clawww.lmu.edu/Faculty/JDevine/jdevine.html