The state can't be trusted to take a life

A possibly innocent man is at risk of execution in Oklahoma, and an unfairly maligned celebrity is trying to save him.

Whenever the subject of the death penalty comes up, I often hear people saying capital punishment should only be used in cases where we absolutely, positively, know the condemned person is definitely guilty.

The problem is, if you’re convicted of murder, by definition it’s because the jury absolutely positively knew you were definitely guilty. That’s what “beyond a reasonable doubt” means.

I’m actually not against the death penalty in principle. There are crimes so depraved and sadistic that no other punishment is appropriate. John Wayne Gacy and Timothy McVeigh deserved to die. Clifford Olson would have deserved death, if Canada still capital punishment when he carried out some of the most horrifying crimes in the nation’s history.

It’s just that I have no faith in a justice system made up of fallible human beings to ensure that only those who truly the ultimate punishment actually get it. At best, investigators and lawyers and judges and juries can make mistakes. At worst, as in …