George,

Virgil Goode is a Neanderthal, that's a "given" ... he is, like Justice Scalia, perfectly willing to see the death penalty administered as long as the T's are crossed and all the I's dotted!. ...It's the "process" that counts, no matter how seriously inhumane and flawed the system is. .."send them quickly to their death". Innocence is irrelevant.

How could any civilized human being, who,incidentally, calls himself a Christian, defend a system proven over and over again to be, as the Republican governor of Illinois, Ryan, stated, when he imposed a moratorium in his state; I paraphase, "clearly the process has failed, resulting in the imposition of the death penalty on innocent people." Virgil Goode and his ilk discount reactions such as Governor Ryan and the possibility of the innocent being executed(with he and his family members excepted).. ..if a strong stand on the death penalty garners more votes, so be it.

As some have said, "regardless, they are capable of murder and mayhem so if they might be innocent in this case, more than likely, they will kill again, at a later time." (I do not exaggerate, in one case in Texas, that was literally the reaction of a judge in a capital case).... .Fortunately, the real killer was eventually found and convicted.

So, in some cases, extermination becomes the principle role in snuffing out the life of a miscreant. Winning an election promoting the belief that legal homicide is good for society, is, in my opinion, not worth the prize!

Harry Tenney (electronic mail, August 28, 2002)