Our legal system cannot ensure only the guilty are convicted of their crimes. Don Heller who wrote the 1978 death penalty initiative, now supports reversing it. The execution of Tommy Thompson, whom Mr. Heller believes was innocent, convinced Mr. Heller that the death penalty doesn’t work. Recently, Franky Carrillo was exonerated after 20 years in prison for a drive-by shooting he did not commit when he was 16 years old. The actual shooter tried to confess his crime at Franky’s trial, but the judge and prosecutor (Southern California) felt it was too late in the legal process to consider it. Luckily, Franky did not get the death penalty.

I have some concern about the lack of integrity in our own DA office, which makes me wonder how many innocent people are convicted of crimes they did not commit in Yolo County. One member of the Yolo DA’s Office who campaigned recently to become a judge was found to use innuendoes and half truths against his opponent, which help him to lose the election. In his (July 29, 2012) Op-ed article, Jeff Reisig (Yolo County DA) stretched the truth when he talked about the 2008 Rand Corp. study on the costs associated with the death penalty. According to the Rand Corp. website, there was no study. All I found was a written 2008 testimony read before the California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice, which expressed disappointment that their study on death penalty costs was tabled. Then there are the articles on “Cash for Convictions,” which also shows incentive to care more about convicting the accused than finding justice.

No one wants criminals to go unpunished. But having someone convicted of a crime they did not commit, allows the guilty to go free, which harms the victims and their families as well as “the someone” and their families. I realize that no legal system can be perfect. Unfortunately, there will always be mistakes. But until our legal system is more interested in justice than winning the case, we morally cannot afford the death penalty.

Teresa Geimer

Davis

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