Although the death penal­ty is often described as being reserved for the ​“worst of the worst” offend­ers, in prac­tice defen­dants respon­si­ble for many mur­ders are often spared while those who com­mit­ted arguably less­er offens­es are exe­cut­ed. Oscar Veal was a con­tract killer for a large drug ring and mur­der-for-hire oper­a­tion. He was con­vict­ed of sev­en counts of mur­der and eight counts of rack­e­teer­ing con­spir­a­cy. However, in exchange for tes­ti­mo­ny about a drug orga­ni­za­tion in Washington, D.C., fed­er­al pros­e­cu­tors agreed not to seek the death penal­ty against Veal. According to the pros­e­cu­tors, “[Veal] will­ing­ly and pur­pose­ly killed sev­en men, moti­vat­ed by both greed and the desire to please the oth­er mem­bers of this vio­lent gang,” but called his coop­er­a­tion ​“extra­or­di­nary by any mea­sure,” and rec­om­mend­ed a sen­tence of 25 years in prison. Veal’s attor­ney cit­ed oth­er exam­ples in which sen­tences were reduced in exchange for valu­able infor­ma­tion. Phillip ​“Crazy Phil” Leonetti, a mem­ber of the Philadelphia mob served just 5 years despite a crim­i­nal record that includ­ed 10 mur­ders, after coop­er­at­ing with offi­cials. Salvatore ​“Sammy the Bull” Gravano, a well-known crim­i­nal who coop­er­at­ed with the gov­ern­ment, was sen­tenced to only 5 years despite his involve­ment in 19 mur­ders and other crimes.

(J. McElhatton, ​“A killer deal: Be a star wit­ness, escape exe­cu­tion,” Washington Times, January 14, 2011; DPIC com­ment). See Arbitrariness and Federal Death Penalty.

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