Followed by a review of the case by elected judges, hand picked by him, who share his pro-death ideology, with no Federal judicial oversight. If Bush is desirous of this sort of rough justice in the death penalty, think about the other social issues hanging on a 5-4 balance that his appointment to the U.S. Courts would certainly tilt against the individual. Bush says that all accused should be allowed a full day in court, but his veto of the Criminal Defense Bill in Texas belies that statement. A full day in court requires fundamental fairness. The Columbia University study reported that 3,790 of the capital cases with egregious constitutional error were the result of incompetent, inexperienced and poorly paid Defense Attorneys, this surely indicates that there is a significant lack of fairness in the prosecution of capital cases nationwide.
Fundamental fairness requires a level playing field.
Each individual accused of a crime must be provided with ample resources to defend themselves, or at least an equal measure of the resources being utilized against them. If the people are unwilling to level the judicial plain for the poorest among them, then the only solution to a system so fraught with error is to scrap it. Rid ourselves of this danse macabre . About the Free Press . Letters to the Editor .