Imagine walking, jogging, sleeping, driving, hanging around with friends, and being arrested by a police officer because you are poor, you have the wrong color, you are alone, you were trying to help the victim, you are mentally ill.
Imagine being accused of a murder you didn’t commit and being tried but your attorney is inexperienced, indifferent because you can’t afford a better one, so the jury never hears your version of the story.
Imagine being sentenced to death because the police lied, the key-witnesses disappeared, the DNA samples were never analyzed, the officers didn’t collect all the pieces of evidence from the crime scene.
Imagine being sentenced to death because you are poor, you have the wrong color, you are alone, you were trying to help the victim, you are mentally ill. Terrible, right?
Since 1976, more than 8500 have been sentenced to death, and most of them were poor, had the wrong color, were alone, were trying to help the victim, were mentally ill. Almost 1500 have already been executed, but till today, more than 170 have been exonerated, because as it turned out, the fact that they were poor, they had the wrong color, they were alone, they were trying to help the victim, they were mentally ill, was not enough to make them guilty. Many more people are still waiting for a fair trial and might die for a crime they did not commit.
As long as the death penalty exists, more people who are poor, have the wrong color, are alone, are trying to help the victim, will be tried and sentenced to death for crimes they did not commit. Next time it may be me, or you. You are still in favor of the death penalty?
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