By Mark David Blum, Esq.

Many have been my debates over the subject of the death penalty. Finding myself reasonably torn between my inherent bloodlust for vengeance and a justified lack of trust in my government, my safe haven was in never having been asked to give a final opinion on the subject. Today, this morning, my final opinion has been determined. Count me as among those who will NEVER support a State sanctioned Death Penalty.

Let’s be clear; some folks need killing. Timothy McVeigh, the killer of Polly Klaus, Osama Bin Ladin are just a few of the persons whose deaths would cause me no sorrow. Should anybody I love ever be hurt, difficult will it be to stop me from rendering my own sentence of death. There is a valid and justified argument to be made that some folks, by the nature of their actions, have forfeited their right to life.

At the same time, trusting your government enough to give it permission to take your life is a very risky business. The November 1987 Stanford Law Review contains a listing of more than 600 Death Penalty cases that to that date, had been wrongfully secured and in some cases, wrongfully applied. It is a very difficult task to demand a citizen trust their government to (1) never make a mistake, (2) vigorously strive to rectify any mistake that they might make, (3) give you the benefit of the doubt when you tell them they made a mistake.

Remember, when you vote for a Death Penalty advocate, it is your life that you put on the table. Thomas Jefferson declared and every man who took up a rifle in his cause agreed that “certain rights are inalienable”. ‘Life’ is one of those rights once seen as being inalienable … meaning it cannot be taken from you and, arguably, meaning also that you yourself cannot give that up.

Eleven years after the Declaration of Independence, our Nation’s concept of ‘Life’ changed from being inalienable to being conditional. Mentioned nowhere in the Constitution is a ‘Right to Life’ and in fact, the word ‘Life’ itself does not show up until the Fifth Amendment. In the Fifth Amendment, the so-called right to life can be forfeited upon “due process” whatever that means.

Since then and through this date, our People have struggled with the concept of a Death Penalty. Certainly the most unchristian of actions, taking a life has been an on-again, off-again battle which swings with the temperament of the then current generation. It is mobile, inherently unfair in how is manifests, and solves nothing.

I never had to sit on a jury on a death penalty case. I have no idea how I would have voted or whether I could have even sat on such a jury.

Some civil rights lawyer ended that debate for me; for good. “Thousands of recently disclosed U.S. Justice Department records show that the FBI, in order to cultivate … informants, allowed them to frame four innocent men for … murder. Armed with those newly obtained records, the framed men - or their estates - are now seeking more than $100 million in damages from the federal government, arguing that they spent decades in prison because of a morally bankrupt conspiracy between FBI agents and gangsters.”

“Morally Bankrupt” is a gross understatement of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. How many Attorneys General and Directors of the FBI have been in office since this conspiracy started? How many times could the victims have been cleared and freed? Is there any better justification for the Second Amendment?

Let me just add two more facts to the discussion.

One: Imagine this conspiracy occurred in the State of Texas and George Bush was Governor.

Two: None of the offending Agents is in prison doing his victim’s time.

Think about this next time a candidate works on your fears and lobbies for a Death Penalty law. Think about this next time the government tries to limit your access to a gun.

As if all of this was not offensive enough; even moreso is the fact that the United States Government, after having committed this horrendous act against four American citizens, is not standing up and accepting responsibility for its actions. Our government is forcing the victims into Court and to have to fight for compensation.

In my opinion, the President of the United States himself should pay a personal visit to each of these victims and apologize on behalf of the nation. We owe them no less.