Alabama Executes a Man Who Didn't Actually Murder Anyone

[Themius]

The law doesn't require it to be unanimous. That's the issue.

That is true and Alabama is the only place where that is possible.

[beanman12345]

Not entirely surprised, Alabama being such a pro life state and all... oh wait.

[Themius]

Not entirely surprised, Alabama being such a pro life state and all... oh wait.

The most pro life states are the most bloodlust states.

[eschatological]

The best witness defending Woods seems to be the shooter, Kerry Spencer. From his telling, it doesn't sound like Woods was detained at the time the shooting started:

I'm not quite clear on how that fits with when the officers were killed or with the timing of when Woods was being detained in the back of the house.

Accepting Spencer's account at face value, it doesn't seem to me that Woods should be considered fully morally culpable for the killings, but it also doesn't seem incoherent that he would be held legally accountable for them. When you sit in a crack house, selling crack, hanging out with guys carrying automatic weapons and one of those guys kills someone, it's not exactly an unexpected development that no reasonable person could predict.

It seems like we're really mixing two separate arguments together in the thread - is Woods culpable and is the death penalty an acceptable punishment. Of course, there's some overlap between the two arguments, but I'm not sure people are being clear enough in how they're thinking about it. One could argue that the death penalty is acceptable, but only in cases where an individual is clearly a murderer and/or ongoing threat. Nonetheless, given the current state of the law, this doesn't seem like a grievous miscarriage of justice even if it makes an argument for a change going forward.

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That connection seems pretty unlikely to me - demographics that most favor the death penalty aren't high murder rate demographics (see here for recent Pew polling data). Elderly whites are the group that most supports the death penalty - this is one of the lowest murder rate demographics in the United States (although men favor it much more than women, so maybe there's something related to level of comfort with violence). The age gap is particularly striking - young people are much more likely to resort to violence, but support the death penalty at lower rates.

The testimony, from the officers, say that they were in the kitchen, and Woods gave himself up. They literally testified on the stand that Woods said, "Okay, I give up, just don't spray me with that mace." He wasn't put in cuffs, but he had surrendered. Most police protocol requires you to clear a house before you split officers up (IE, to take Woods to a police vehicle), so one officer, the one who survived, stayed with Woods in the kitchen, while the rest worked to clear the house. The co-defendant came out of his bedroom, saw Woods in the kitchen looking beat up, then saw the cops advancing towards him, from an adjoining hallway, and then started shooting at them. When the shooting started, Woods ran away - but not as a fugitive, just out of danger. He was found sitting on a neighbor's porch.

That is not felony murder.

And like I said, him being a crack dealer is irrelevant to felony murder. Felony murder requires discrete criminal actions, not an ongoing criminal enterprise. You'd need to charge RICO-esque charges to hold him accountable for that. Felony murder is for, say, the getaway driver who never goes in the bank during a robbery but his co-conspirators kill people in the bank.

[PC2]

How about we just stop killing people who aren't free or active combatants. When it comes to 'more life' vs 'less life' it's better to err on the side of more life.

[Moadar]

The most pro life states are the most bloodlust states.

Equating innocent life with the lives of complete scum? Sounds intellectually dishonest.

[Stormspellz]

There needs to be a bucket full of context that isn't here. He was the accomplice to murder and unless there is some migration that can be offered on his part it seems like justice was served.

hitting the deck when a shoot out starts in his house isn't exactly accompice

[Themius]

Equating innocent life with the lives of complete scum? Sounds intellectually dishonest.

Is it? One isn’t life the other is.

[ipaq]

It means that he's a monitory and the white boys in charge have no reason to listen to reality.

Please tell there was some appeals process that didn't make the press that removed all cases of reasonable doubt.

Didn't even know you kill someone without a unanimous ruling.



WTF does that even mean. As if clemency would be more appropriate after the stick the needle in his arm?

[Rogue Karl]

hitting the deck when a shoot out starts in his house isn't exactly accompice

Saw a clarification and posted since since that reply. I thought he was a active participant in the crime.

[Moadar]

Is it? One isn’t life the other is.

One is life and the other is a detriment to living people.

Good kill Alabama. Do em all.

[Themius]

One is life and the other is a detriment to living people.

Good kill Alabama. Do em all.

"Do em all" Who is all? The person who actually did the killing is alive.

[TEHPALLYTANK]

There needs to be a bucket full of context that isn't here. He was the accomplice to murder and unless there is some migration that can be offered on his part it seems like justice was served.

Except for the whole "state-sanctioned murder in revenge is okay" part. That any American thinks the death penalty is okay just shows how far behind we are as a society when it comes to our criminal justice system.

[Moadar]

"Do em all" Who is all? The person who actually did the killing is alive.

Homeboy was a crack dealer and basically lead the cops into an ambush. Hopefully they kill the other guy soon too but that does mean this wasnt some righteous shit.
[Infraction]

[Acidbaron]

Knew before i clicked the article that it was a person of colour that was trailed and executed, Something about Southern States, people in power and racism.

Shame that the death penalty still has a place in society.

[PC2]

One is life and the other is a detriment to living people.

Good kill Alabama. Do em all.

No because the human project is about learning how to fix and improve everything that is broken. Killing criminals who have already been detained isn't based on improving anything it's just an easy way out that doesn't force us to seek out the relevant knowledge in psychology, medicine, neuroscience, etc.

[Moadar]

No because the human project is about learning how to fix and improve everything that is broken. Killing criminals who have already been detained isn't based on improving anything it's just an easy way out that doesn't force us to seek out the relevant knowledge in psychology, medicine, neuroscience, etc.

When did we all sign up for the human project? I'd rather sign up for the kill people who prey on normal people project.

[Themius]

When did we all sign up for the human project? I'd rather sign up for the kill people who prey on normal people project.

People choose to do drugs mate.

[Moadar]

People choose to do drugs mate.

They sure do but dealers are also known to push them on kids. Dealers are scum, nothing negative about them getting executed.

[Themius]

They sure do but dealers are also known to push them on kids. Dealers are scum, nothing negative about them getting executed.

So now you’re creating made up children??