EDITORIALS: ​“The last man to die”

A recent edi­to­r­i­al in the Greensboro, NC, News & Record indi­cat­ed that cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment may be ​“on its last legs” in North Carolina. ​“In prac­tice,” the edi­to­r­i­al stat­ed, ​“the death penal­ty near­ly is erad­i­cat­ed. It is com­pli­cat­ed, cost­ly and no longer trust­ed.” According to the paper, use of the death penal­ty has been in steady decline. In 1999, 25 defen­dants were sen­tenced to death and anoth­er 16 were added the fol­low­ing year. In 2009, there were only two new death sen­tences in the state and only two so far in 2010. Juries and pros­e­cu­tors have grav­i­tat­ed more to sen­tences of life with­out parole. There has been a hold on exe­cu­tions in the state because of chal­lenges to the lethal injec­tion pro­to­cols and because of con­cerns about the arbi­trary imple­men­ta­tion of the pun­ish­ment. The last exe­cu­tion was in 2006. Some inmates are on death row for less heinous crimes than those com­mit­ted by peo­ple who received life sen­tences. The edi­to­r­i­al con­clud­ed, ​“Locking some­one up for the rest of his nat­ur­al life — often 50 years or more — not only pro­tects the pub­lic, it allows for errors to be dis­cov­ered and cor­rect­ed. Execution does not.” Read full editorial below.

Editorial: The last man to die
Wednesday, September 1, 2010

The last per­son exe­cut­ed in North Carolina was Samuel Flippen, put to death Aug. 18, 2006, for the mur­der of his 2‑year-old stepdaughter.

It’s pos­si­ble Flippen for­ev­er will remain the last per­son exe­cut­ed in North Carolina. The state should make sure of that.

Capital pun­ish­ment is on its last legs here. The only ques­tion is whether a hand­ful of con­demned pris­on­ers will fol­low Flippen before the end or whether the prac­tice offi­cial­ly will be brought to a halt.

A trend away from death sen­tences has been appar­ent for years. In 1999, 25 pris­on­ers were placed on death row. Sixteen were added in 2000. The num­bers have dropped to just two in 2009 and two more so far this year. Juries and even pros­e­cu­tors by and large pre­fer sen­tences of life without parole.

That’s not a soft-on-crime penal­ty. Locking some­one up for the rest of his nat­ur­al life — often 50 years or more — not only pro­tects the pub­lic, it allows for errors to be dis­cov­ered and cor­rect­ed. Execution does not.

Many mis­takes have been exposed late­ly. Not only have inno­cent men been released from prison when new evi­dence has sur­faced, but recent reports reveal that shod­dy and dis­hon­est work was turned out for years by the State Bureau of Investigation’s crime lab. In some cas­es, false evi­dence led to wrong­ful con­vic­tions — and pos­si­bly exe­cu­tions. On Monday, the pres­i­dent of the N.C. Conference of District Attorneys con­ced­ed that exe­cu­tions in affect­ed cas­es should stop pend­ing fur­ther reviews of evidence.

A mora­to­ri­um has been in effect any­way, for rea­sons that include oppo­si­tion by the North Carolina Medical Society to lethal-injection protocols.

Another con­cern is incon­sis­ten­cy. Some death-row inmates are there for crimes less heinous than those com­mit­ted by peo­ple who were giv­en life sen­tences. Only three weeks before Flippen’s exe­cu­tion for killing one lit­tle girl, David Crespi of Charlotte was sen­tenced to life in prison for mur­der­ing his 5‑year-old twin daughters.

This year, Demario Atwater was sen­tenced to life in prison for the mur­der of UNC stu­dent Eve Carson; for­mer Marine Cesar Laurean was sen­tenced to life for the mur­der of preg­nant Marine Maria Lauterbach; and the death penal­ty was ruled out in the case of a Charlotte man charged with the first-degree mur­ders of two police offi­cers because of pos­si­bly taint­ed work by a detective.

In prac­tice, the death penal­ty near­ly is erad­i­cat­ed. It is com­pli­cat­ed, cost­ly and no longer trust­ed. Still, 159 peo­ple wait for exe­cu­tion on North Carolina’s death row. Most are due fur­ther legal pro­ceed­ings of one kind or anoth­er. Most will nev­er be exe­cut­ed. Does the state real­ly want to pick out a final few for execution?

Gov. Bev Perdue should stop fur­ther exe­cu­tions and, when it returns to Raleigh next year, the General Assembly should do away with an out­dat­ed death penalty.

Leave Samuel Flippen with his dubious distinction.

(“Last man to die,” Editorial, Greensboro News & Record, September 1, 2010). Read more Editorials. See Arbitrariness and Life Without Parole.