Years ago one of our twins died unexpectedly at a month old. We fed them and changed them
and put them to bed. When I went in a short time later to check on them before we turned in
one of the girls was already blue. Today you ask what might have been? There is nothing that
can be done. Unfortunately this poor woman was traumatized twice, once by the death of her
child and secondly by the justice system which is designed to protect us all.
It should also be remembered the death penalty in Canada was not designed for circumstancial
evidence cases, as in committing manslaughter or a lesser charge than first degree murder.
I once totally condemned the death penalty in all cases, however today we have a whole new class
of evil on the streets. Child killers, violent rapists and people without a shred of conscience and
the belief the law does not apply to them. For this reason I think the death chamber door has to
be opened just a crack to accommodate some of these people.
I agree with the concept that it will not deter one person from killing someone, it will not give an
enraged person that pause for second thought. These cases were not designed with the death
penalty in mind anyway. Death penalty cases are and should be reserved for those who
commit a violent crime with forethought and planning. Contract killings, killing police or judges,
raping and killing women and kids, that sort of thing.
I also think it should be extended to human traffickers, hard core drug dealers who sell to
children. There is a difference between selling to adults who can make up their own minds to
engage in stupidity and kooking children into the drug world.
It must also be cases where the evidence is more than circumstantial. Today DNA and other
evidence is much more clearly defined, however case like this demand that the evidence be
strong and accurate.