End the death penalty

We are the only developed nation that continues to use the death penalty, and it’s time for us to stop. Supporters of the death penalty will tell you it is impossible to deter crime or ensure justice without it. Don’t let them deceive you—the death penalty does not deter crime, nor is it just. Our justice system is as fallible as the people who compose it, and many errors have been made in cases involving the death penalty.

Take for instance the recent case of Ledell Lee, who Arkansas executed in 2017 for the 1993 murder of Debra Reese. Nearly three years after his execution, new forensic testing is being done that could exonerate him. Nationally recognized forensic experts have criticized the state’s forensics, saying that photo lineups were biased and eyewitness misidentification was possible. The state’s shoe-print identification expert only received a single week of unsupervised training and his analysis failed to meet national standards. Five fingerprints were found at the scene and determined to not belong to Lee, yet have never been run through a criminal database. Today’s DNA testing is much more powerful than that during the trial. Lee’s lawyer was visibly drunk in court and unable to adequately represent him.

New testing might reveal the worst: that Arkansas executed an innocent person. Perhaps it will confirm Lee’s guilt. Even so, I am deeply concerned that a trial with this many mistakes could happen, and could involve an innocent defendant with inadequate counsel. It is possible: At least 156 people have been sentenced to death and exonerated since 1976. Like most Arkansans, I believe that life is sacred. Even the possibility of an innocent person being executed is enough to convince me that it is time to abandon the death penalty.

ZACHARY RENFRO

Fayetteville