Michael Passaro Case

The United States should not have the death penalty as a punishment. This lies in the evidence of the Jodi Arias trial - in the murder of Travis Alexander, the Michael Passaro trial - in the murder of his child, the costs that contribute to the death penalty, and statistics shown in which most prisoners choose the death penalty over life in prison. The Travis Alexander murder is a vital piece of evidence because in the summer of 2008, Jodi Arias made headlines when she was charged for murdering her ex-boyfriend - Travis Alexander. In this case, Jodi Arias went to Travis’s home. The two had sex, took some photos together, and then got into the shower. This ended in Arias stabbing Alexander a total of 29 times, slit his throat from ear to ear, …show more content…
In this case, Passaro was in custody dispute with his second wife in November of 1998 when he doused his van with gasoline, strapped his daughter Maggie, inside and then sat down in his car before lighting it on fire. However, before he could completely get consumed in the fire, he jumped out and left his daughter in there to die. In a burning car. Passaro pleaded guilty in the murder of his daughter in the year 2000. He received the death penalty. What’s interesting about this case is that Passaro himself, requested the death penalty. According to the ABCNews about this case, “Passaro did not, and never wanted, to appeal his guilty plea, and rejected his attorney’s attempt to help him.” The article continues to read, “...Savitz argued that Passaro should not be executed he would see this as a reward, not a punishment.” Attorney Joe Savitz, stated that Passaro should not be executed because he would see it as a reward, not punishment. Savitz said that Passaro had a long-standing death wish to join his first wife, who was killed in a car accident in 1992. In this case, attorney Joe Savitz did everything in his power to prevent the execution of Michael Passaro, not because he believed Passaro was innocent, but because Passaro himself wanted the death sentence. In Savitz words, “... Passaro didn’t see the death penalty as …show more content…
Maintaining the death row prisoner costs taxpayers $90,000 more per year than a prisoner in general population. The death penalty is enormously expensive with no clear benefits. Now the real question at hand is, is it worth it to give these criminals something that they are already wanting - the death penalty - and really have no justice served? Some may argue that the price for the execution of a murderer is very much beneficial because they are no longer standing in our society. Most of these sayings are biased because their wanting of the death penalty is tied in with morals. We have to look at the bigger picture. Preventing executions forces these criminals to have to live with the actions that they chose. Preventing executions also saves the system from millions of dollars that can eventually be contributed back into the society so that there’s no financial loses and justice is still