More than 400,000 homicides cases have been charged since the Supreme Court, in 1976, allowed states to re-implement capital punishment. Somewhere between five and ten thousand of those cases, depending on the source and the way they are counted, have garnered the death penalty. In that same time, for those same numbers, death penalty opponents have cited 87 cases in which evidence later surfaced that showed the condemned to be actually innocent or raised sufficient doubts to remove them from death row. Only eight of these cases have involved DNA and we must be careful with the use of the terms describing these cases. If I could prove they held her down or used a condom or did anyone of a number of other acts I wouldn't hesitate to prosecute for rape or another offense - bit I can't.
Nothing involving humans is without risk or error.
Our system of appeals in criminal cases, and in particular capital cases has the lowest error rate of any criminal sanction in the world. I want to make you aware of a little known fact - most experienced prosecutors want a competent defense counsel. It actually makes our job easier and ensures that justice is served. Additionally I believe that when I try a case I've, perhaps unfortunately, two roles. To my mind there is nothing worse then retrying a case on the merits - memories have faded, evidence may be lost, and the victim must reawake scars that have hopefully been healed to some degree.