O'Connor: The Senior Conservative
JUSTICE DENIED
by Dick O'Connor
JUSTICE DENIED
888WebToday December 22, 2001 Dick O'ConnorWhat is Justice today? Is it the same as it was proposed to be at the founding of our nation? Have do-gooders and Utopians corrupted it to the point that we don't have Justice any more? The case of the cop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal in Philadelphia highlights the twisted logic of the liberals and those who want to eliminate the death penalty. Michael Smerconish, who writes for the Philadelphia Daily News has an excellent article dated Dec. 20, 2001, that agonizes about the fact that the killer, Mumia, is still alive and unrepentant after being sentenced to death in 1982. And at taxpayer expense. Do we owe this scum a livelihood? That is what he has made of his conviction, a livelihood.
When the Utopians are talking about abolishing drug laws, they often say that it costs $35,000 per year to confine drug offenders. Using the same figures on Mumia, we have spent $700,000 to date to keep him confined. How much more has been spent in legal fees, court costs, etc.? Do we owe this money to a convicted cop-killer? Just to let him use appeal after appeal and any technicalities to delay the imposition of Justice? How about the cop's family? The wife Maureen and his three brothers: Do they have to go through another hearing? Yes, they do, two decades later and after many searing tears.
In Naperville IL. A verdict was returned in the murder trial of Marilyn Lemak, who was convicted, of suffocating her three children. The jury had the option of returning a "guilty by reason of insanity" verdict, but after only nine hours of deliberation, they chose to ignore the insanity defense, and returned a straight "guilty" verdict. This verdict, returned on Dec.19, 2001 makes the defendant eligible for the death penalty. Already the death penalty opponents are gearing up with prayer vigils, candlelight marches, and everything else they can think of to pressure the sentencing judge to not impose capital punishment. The defense attorney has announced publicly that he "has started the long journey to appeal the verdict". Which begs the question, does the defense want to abrogate the decision of twelve good men and true? This is just another gambit in the chess game of capital punishment. Will another writer be describing the injustice of the Marilyn Lemak case in 2020? Appeals of this blatant nature should not even be considered.
The problem causing all of this agony is the appeals system. It should be sped up to allow executions to take place within two years. There must no longer be the ritual procession to the sate court, the state appeals court, the State Supreme Court, the federal court, the federal appeals court, the federal Supreme Court, etc. There has to be an ombudsman to represent the public. One to rule on the validity of such appeals. Some one (not a judge) to allow the appeal to proceed or not be admitted on its' merits. Someone to dismiss frivolous legal motions.
The writer for the Philadelphia Daily News demonstrates clearly that he is having trouble answering his children's questions about these miscarriages of justice. It is more than his children that need answers. All of America needs to know. Why???
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