"Justice" at Work

If we, as a nation, are going to have the death penalty, is it too much to ask for some consistency in its application?

Via TalkLeft, consider the situation of Dale Bishop, who is scheduled to be executed today in Mississippi. Bishop was one of two men involved in the beating death of Marcus Gentry. Bishop held Gentry and kicked him, but he didn't deliver the fatal blows. Nonetheless, he was convicted of accessory to murder and sentenced to death. As for the guy who did deal those blows:

Gentry was beaten with an 18-ounce carpenter's framing hammer on a dirt logging road outside Saltillo on Dec. 10, 1998, after an argument. ...

Testimony identified Jessie Johnson as the one who repeatedly hit Gentry with the hammer. Johnson is now serving life without parole in the murder.

It's not clear how that happened (maybe Johnson copped a deal and testified against Bishop), but it sure seems fucked up that the guy most culpable for the death escapes the ultimate punishment while his helper gets the chair.

But wait, that's not all.

For in Mississippi, even if the jury sends the actual killer to death row, the governor can still step in:

Given [Governor Haley] Barbour's commutation of killer Michael David Graham's life sentence last week, it would seem hypocritical in the extreme for the governor to ignore Bishop's plight. A trusty at the Governor's Mansion, Graham, 54, has served 19 years of a life sentence for the 1989 murder of his ex-wife, Adrienne Klasky Graham.

Graham shot his ex-wife in the face with a 12-gauge shotgun as she sat in her car waiting for a traffic signal in Pascagoula. His ex-wife's father was across the street when the murder occurred and he saw the carnage. Graham was sentenced to life in prison.

So, shoot your ex in the face with a shotgun and not only escape the death penalty but, eventually, get a commutation from the governor!

I'm against the death penalty in all situations, as I've said many time. But I'd hope that people who generally favor capital punishment would reconsider their support in light of this kind of evidence of how capricious its application is.