Rebuttal of death penalty comments by Senator Michael Sanchez, a defense attorney and Melissa Hill, Legislative Chair, NM Criminal Defense Lawyers Association


To: New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, State Legislature and

          media throughout New Mexico

 

RE:   Rebuttal of death penalty comments by


           1)  Senator Michael Sanchez, a defense attorney  and

           2)  Melissa Hill, Legislative Chair, NM Criminal Defense Lawyers Association

 


From: Dudley Sharp, contact info below

 


1)  Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez, a criminal defense attorney, said

 

“(that) he didn’t agree with supporters of the death penalty that ‘If you get it right 90 percent of the time, that’s good enough. That is not good enough.’  ” (1)

Rebuttal:  I have …

the innocence deception of death penalty opponents New Mexico

To: New Mexico – Governor Bill Richardson , the Legislature, prosecutors and                                           media throughout the  state   Re:  fact checking issues, on innocence and the death penalty.  (See extensive fact checking material, below)   From: Dudley Sharp, contact info below

Catholic Scholars: Support for the Death Penalty New Mexico

  To: New Mexico – Governor Bill Richardson , the Legislature, prosecutors and                                           media throughout the  state   From: Dudley Sharp, contact info below    Catholic Scholars: Support for the Death Penalty Dudley Sharp, Justice Matters, contact info below  

Cost Comparisons: Death Penalty Cases Vs Equivalent Life Sentence Cases

To: New Mexico – Governor Bill Richardson , the Legislature, prosecutors and                                           media throughout the  state   From: Dudley Sharp, contact info below   Cost Comparisons: Death Penalty Cases Vs Equivalent Life Sentence CasesDudley Sharp, Justice Matters, contact info belowIn

The Death Penalty Provides More Protection for Innocents New Mexico

To: New Mexico – Governor Bill Richardson , the Legislature, prosecutors and                                           media throughout the  state     The Death Penalty Provides More Protection for InnocentsDudley Sharp, Justice Matters, contact info below Often, the death penalty dialogue gravitates to the subject

Pope John Paul II: His death penalty errors

SEE ADDITIONAL REFERENCES AT THE END OF THIS DOCUMENT

The new Roman Catholic position on the death penalty, introduced in 1997,  is based upon the thoughts of Pope John Paul II, whose position conflicts with reason, as well as biblical, theological and traditional Catholic teachings spanning nearly 2000 years.
 
Pope John Paul II’s death penalty writings in Evangelium Vitae were flawed and their adoption into the Catechism was improper.

In 1997, the Roman Catholic Church decided to amend the 1992 Universal Catechism to reflect Pope John Paul II’s comments within his 1995 encyclical, The Gospel of Life (Evangelium Vitae). Therein, the Pope finds …

Catholic and other Christian References: Support for the Death Penalty by Dudley Sharp, Justice Matters

Cardinal Avery Dulles, SJ, 10/7/2000, “At no point, however, does Jesus deny that the State has authority to exact capital punishment. In his debates with the Pharisees, Jesus cites with approval the apparently harsh commandment, He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him surely die (Mt 15:4; Mk 7:10, referring to Ex 21:17; cf. Lev 20:9). When Pilate calls attention to his authority to crucify him, Jesus points out that Pilate’s power comes to him from above-that is to say, from God (Jn 19:1 l).Jesus commends the good thief on the cross next to him, who has admitted that he and his fellow thief are receiving the due reward of their deeds (Lk 23:41). ”
1) 2004, Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, with guidance to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, stated succinctly, emphatically and unambiguously as follows: June, 2004 “Not all moral issues have the same moral weight as abortion and euthanasia. For example, if a Catholic were to be at odds with the Holy Father on the application of capital punishment or on the decision to wage war, he would not for that reason be considered unworthy to present himself to receive Holy Communion. While the Church exhorts civil authorities to seek peace, not war, and to exercise discretion and mercy in imposing punishment on criminals, it may still be permissible to take up arms to repel an aggressor or to have recourse to capital punishment.

Inaccuracies of No Death Penalty Wisconsin

The No Death Penalty Wisconsin (NODPWI) presents many inaccuracies, by commission or omission.
The NODPWI lists “A Dozen Reasons to be Against the Death Penalty” (1). Their listed reasons are false or misleading. A review is below.
NODPWI claims: 1) Risk of Killing Innocents – hundreds of people on death row have been released/exonerated. Four were exonerated only after they died awaiting execution.

Austin American-Statesman, lethal injection, confusion & ?DOGS?

You write:
“That leaves the door open for Texas and other states to continue executing inmates using at least one drug that isn’t fit for putting down dogs.” (EDITORIAL, “How the high court may have changed the death penalty”, EDITORIAL BOARD, Saturday, June 17, 2006).
Which drug is that?
I am very surprised that you persist in this manner, particularly in light of the two emails that I sent to you, below.
Did you find something which contradicted this?

Pope John Paul II: a pro-death penalty essay

In 1997, the Roman Catholic Church decided to amend the 1992 Universal Catechism to reflect the writings of Pope John Paul II in his 1995 encyclical, The Gospel of Life (Evangelium Vitae). Therein, the Pope finds that the only time executions can be justified is when they are required “to defend society” and that “as a result of steady improvements . . . in the penal system that such cases are very rare if not practically non existent

RACE: A Death Penalty Primer – No Bias in Death Penalty Sentencing

7 studies are reviewed, herein
For emphasis, population count is totally irrelevant, regarding any consideration of class or race/ethnicity bias in the application of the death penalty. The only relevant factors in such a review are class, race/ethnic distribution of murderers and their victims in capital murders, as well as criminal history, the specific circumstances of the crime(s) and a review of individual prosecutorial jurisdictions.
Study 1: Drs. Stephen Klein and John Rolph: “After accounting for some of the many factors that may influence penalty decisions, neither race of the defendant nor race of the victim appreciably improved prediction of who was sentenced to death . . . “. “Relationship of Offender and Victim Race to Death Penalty Sentences in California”, Jurimetrics Journal, 32, Fall 1991, aka The Rand Corporation Study)
Study 2: Smith College Professors Stanley Rothman and Stephen Powers found that legal variables, such as prior criminal history and the aggravated nature of the murder, are the proven basis for imposition of the death penalty. The black/white variation in sentencing has generally been reduced to zero when such legal variables are introduced as controls. “Execution by Quota?”, The Public Interest, Summer 1994