San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris has announced that she will seek a life with­out parole con­vic­tion for David Hill, who is accused of mur­der­ing a city police offi­cer. Harris, who ran for office promis­ing not to seek the death penal­ty, said that in cas­es such as this it is ​“nat­ur­al to feel that we should have an eye for an eye” but argued ​“life with­out the pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole is a severe con­se­quence.” Harris stat­ed that death penal­ty cas­es in California typ­i­cal­ly drag on for years, and that this lengthy process offers lit­tle clo­sure for vic­tims’ fam­i­lies. Gary Delagnes, pres­i­dent of the Police Officers Association, said Harris’ deci­sion made sense. ​“After dis­cussing the facts of the case as best we know them at this point, we believe the dis­trict attor­ney is pur­su­ing the prop­er path,” said Delagnes, who also not­ed that San Francisco jurors are reluc­tant to impose death sen­tences. (The San Francisco Examiner, April 14, 2004) See Life Without Parole.

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