There were not enough other mitigating circumstances to outweigh the aggravating ones. The US war in Iraq is an international example of the death penalty at work. The result is a death sentence for 200 children each day as they suffer from lack of food and medical supplies. The State feels justified in saying that it is the fault of Saddam Hussein that the economic sanctions are in place. Yet, as a democratic society we must take responsibility for the results of the sanctions enforced by the United States.
Citizens are responsible for the behavior of their government.
So, we must ask ourselves if we are willing to literally execute those children daily as the sanctions are doing. The death penalty is the tool of a barbaric society that has denied the possibilities for creative human transformation. Our moral imagination is lost so we carry out executions with cruise missiles, economic sanctions and lethal injection.