A series of mur­der cas­es in Oregon under­scores the inef­fec­tive­ness of the state’s cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment sys­tem accord­ing to both death penal­ty sup­port­ers and oppo­nents. Jesse Lee Johnson was sen­tenced to death while two oth­er men who com­mit­ted equal­ly or more bru­tal crimes plea bar­gained to less­er sen­tences. Johnson received a death sen­tence in large part because he main­tained his inno­cence, while con­vict­ed mur­der­ers Ward Weaver and Edward Morris plead­ed guilty in exchange for not receiv­ing the death penal­ty. Weaver was found guilty of sex­u­al­ly assault­ing and killing two Oregon City girls and Morris was con­vict­ed of mur­der­ing his wife and three chil­dren in the Tillamook State Forest. Opponents of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment note that the sen­tences prove the state’s death penal­ty is arbi­trary and unfair, while sup­port­ers of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment are unhap­py that the sys­tem con­tin­ues to lack con­sis­ten­cy and is inef­fec­tive. ​“Oregon has shown for all to see, through the plea bar­gains of Edward Morris and Ward Weaver, that the admin­is­tra­tion of the death penal­ty in Oregon is now capri­cious. As such, the only respon­si­ble civ­il action at this point is for the cit­i­zens of Oregon to aban­don the death penal­ty,” recent­ly wrote William Long, a Willamette Law School pro­fes­sor. Since vot­ers rein­stat­ed the death penal­ty in Oregon, more than half of the men sen­tenced to death have had their sen­tences reversed on appeal. The state has car­ried out 2 exe­cu­tions and both were of men who chose to aban­don their appeals. No exe­cu­tions are cur­rent­ly pend­ing in the state, but 28 indi­vid­u­als remain on death row. (The Oregonian, September 24, 2004). See Sentencing.

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