In the beginning of the semester Professor Silverman asked the class a question, “Are you for or against capital punishment?” The majority of the class already knew where they stood on this controversial topic but I was part of the five to six people that had no idea where I stood. Through the past 14 weeks I have ample amounts of time to contemplate to figure out what my position was on capital punishment. I am now proud to say that I am wholeheartedly against capital punishment. The process of finally picking a side was very tedious and it involved looking at the facts and moral principles that went along with capital punishment. Looking at capital punishment just for what it is in theory, which is, the legally authorized killing of someone
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One of the most important factors in determining whether or not a defendant should receive the death penalty is based on the legal representation that they have. Many of the inmates on death row were unable to afford their own attorneys at trial and therefore needed state appointed legal representation. Many of the appointed attorneys are underpaid, over worked and most importantly lack experience when dealing with death penalty cases. There have been many instances in which the lawyers that were appointed to a life or death case were so inexperienced that they were completely unprepared for the sentencing phase of the trial and due to their incompetency the defendant was not given the fair trial he or she deserved. A perfect example of this can be seen in the book May God Have Mercy where due to lack of experience of defense attorneys Steve Arey and Terry Jordan who did not introduce convincing evidence that proved his innocence. In the book when Coleman’s lawyers were trying to make appeals but there was confusion and disagreements about deadlines in the state courts led to a judge’s order refusing the state habeas corpus petition. Under Virginia law, Coleman’s lawyer had 30 days to file an appeal to the refusal but due to more confusion the appeal did not arrive until the 31st day and therefore the appeal was dismissed without review. Any lawyer with experience would not have waited until the last minute to send in an appeal. As a result of their incompetence this ruling severely diminished Coleman’s chances of having his claims being heard. Even though in the end he had a more dedicated lawyer, ever her efforts were unable to help because of the mess that was created from his attorneys in the beginning of his trail
One of the most important factors in determining whether or not a defendant should receive the death penalty is based on the legal representation that they have. Many of the inmates on death row were unable to afford their own attorneys at trial and therefore needed state appointed legal representation. Many of the appointed attorneys are underpaid, over worked and most importantly lack experience when dealing with death penalty cases. There have been many instances in which the lawyers that were appointed to a life or death case were so inexperienced that they were completely unprepared for the sentencing phase of the trial and due to their incompetency the defendant was not given the fair trial he or she deserved. A perfect example of this can be seen in the book May God Have Mercy where due to lack of experience of defense attorneys Steve Arey and Terry Jordan who did not introduce convincing evidence that proved his innocence. In the book when Coleman’s lawyers were trying to make appeals but there was confusion and disagreements about deadlines in the state courts led to a judge’s order refusing the state habeas corpus petition. Under Virginia law, Coleman’s lawyer had 30 days to file an appeal to the refusal but due to more confusion the appeal did not arrive until the 31st day and therefore the appeal was dismissed without review. Any lawyer with experience would not have waited until the last minute to send in an appeal. As a result of their incompetence this ruling severely diminished Coleman’s chances of having his claims being heard. Even though in the end he had a more dedicated lawyer, ever her efforts were unable to help because of the mess that was created from his attorneys in the beginning of his trail