---
title: 'NEW VOICES -- Palm Beach Post Editorial: Plea Bargain Underscores the Arbitrariness of the Death Penalty'
description: 'While applauding a life-sentence plea bargain arranged by Palm Beach County’s State Attorney in an especially heinous murder, the Palm Beach Post said the…'
canonical: 'https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/new-voices-palm-beach-post-editorial-plea-bargain-underscores-the-arbitrariness-of-the-death-penalty'
section: news
date: '2004-12-21T16:40:00-05:00'
updated: '2025-03-14T14:23:45-04:00'
source: 'Death Penalty Information Center'
---

While applauding a life-sentence plea bargain arranged by Palm Beach County's State Attorney in an especially heinous murder, the Palm Beach Post said the state had **"forfeit\[ed\] the moral standing to execute anyone else."**

The State Attorney said that he agreed to let the defendant plead guilty to killing 5 people because the life-without-parole sentnece will bring finality. The Post noted: "The state saves not only the cost of a trial; the victims' relatives - who supported the deal - do not have to relive the horror. The state will save more by avoiding years of appeals; all credible research shows that incarceration is far cheaper than litigation. Most important, \[the defendant\] never again will threaten the public."  
. . .   
 "But," the paper further stated, **"\[i\]t is impossible to craft a law that reserves capital punishment for only a certain class of criminal. Because Florida and the 37 other states where the death penalty is legal won't accept that fact, governments waste untold millions each year on post-conviction appeals over whether the facts of the case support the ultimate punishment."**   
 (Palm Beach Post Editorial, December 16, 2004). See [Editorials](/editorials?did=189&scid=43) and [New Voices](/new-voices?did=482&scid=16). See also [Victims](/victims-and-death-penalty?did=573&scid=62), and [Costs](/costs-death-penalty?did=108&scid=7).