Capital Punishment

Submitted By Veronica32
Words: 835
Pages: 4

Capital Punishment Capital punishment is a legal practice of issuing death as a penalty for committing the most terrible crimes, such as murder, rape and kidnapping. Another term for capital punishment is death penalty. Executions can be performed by lethal injection or gas, electrocution, hanging or by shooting. In the United States, 33 states currently have the death penalty, including the U.S. military. It would be good to think that the justice system is perfect but sadly there have been many cases of innocent people killed by the government who are later found innocent. Whether to execute a person who has committed a serious crime or to sentence criminals to a life sentence is a controversial issue that splits the United States up into different beliefs. Killing someone who killed someone else isn’t punishment enough; they should rot in prison and actually pay for their crimes. Wrongful executions of innocent people are injustice that can never be rectified. Death penalties should be abolished once and for all before more innocent people get executed. There are a number of mistakes that can happen when sentencing death as a penalty, it is such a serious penalty that there’s no room for errors. One example of all that can go wrong with the death penalty is the case of Carlos De Luna executed by the death penalty. Half a decade later after De Luna was executed the Chicago Tribune published a three part investigative series, disfavoring the evidence against De Luna. Carlos De Luna was sentenced for the murder of Wanda Lopez, a gas station clerk who was stabbed to death. De Luna was found hiding under a pickup truck forty minutes after the victim, Wanda Lopez, had called the emergency number for help. De Luna immediately told the police that he was innocent, he also told the police about a man by the name of Carlos Hernandez , whom he saw at the gas station when De Luna was getting out of a bar across the street from where he was drinking. De Luna said he was hiding because he was on parole and he could be sent back to jail if the police found him. The police brought the single eyewitness back to the gas station, named Kevan Baker to identify the suspect. Baker had told the police that the killer had a moustache, and wore a gray or flannel shirt. De Luna was handcuffed in the back seat of the squad car; Baker identified De Luna as the killer. However, De Luna had no mustache and his shirt was white, and the fact that he didn’t have any signs of blood on his clothing or body was ignored. Baker later told the Tribune that he was never sure if De Luna was the right man and that he only identified him because the police implied they found the right man. The prosecutors’ case against Carlos De Luna was based only on three different points. First, the 911 audio tape wasn’t evidence enough because it didn’t give the jury a clear description of the murderer, except that it was a Hispanic male. Second, was the only eyewitness identification was performed at night time and it wasn’t the formal procedure of a line up. And third, the lead prosecutor, Steve Schiwetz, told the jury that Carlo De Luna was a liar in response to his allegation…