To the editor:

This letter is in response to Andy Gonzales’ poorly phrased and logically bereft argument supporting capital punishment in Wednesday’s Daily. Mr. Gonzales, in the middle of your argument you state, “Christ himself regarded capital punishment as a just penalty. (Matthew 26:52)”

Christ gave the government the authority to use capital punishment as a means of maintaining social order.” Where, exactly, in the following phrase do you find Christ supporting capital punishment?

Matthew 26:52, New International Version, states, “‘Put your sword back in its place,’ Jesus said to him, ‘for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.'”

I will even give you the context of that statement. Jesus was speaking with his disciples when Judas came with a crowd of men.

Judas betrayed Jesus to them, and they captured him. One of the disciples drew his sword and attacked the crowd, but Jesus made him stop, saying the above line. So your position is that since Jesus didn’t resist and didn’t allow his companions to resist, he was implicitly sponsoring capital punishment.

That’s quite a jump when you take into account Jesus’ earlier teachings and actions.

I think a better interpretation of that passage would be that Jesus was saying violence and killing are wrong, and that he wouldn’t allow his disciples to engage in those things, even in his own defense.

Besides the moral implications, that passage also shows that Jesus understood his fate and was resigned to it. It’s quite a stretch to make that mold fit support of capital punishment.

Another pearl of wisdom you drop is, “Let’s presuppose that most cases are as bad as those in Illinois, and cases around the country should be stayed to inquire about biased trials. People in America frankly don’t care. Looking at the cases, many say prisoners get what they deserve, an eye for an eye.”

Bwah? Do you even understand what you’re talking about? In Illinois, they overturned 17 death penalty convictions in five years. Most were overturned based on new evidence.

This isn’t people getting off because someone searched their house without a warrant. These people were innocent, wrongly imprisoned and sentenced to die. Were they going to get what they deserved?

In Florida almost 75 percent of death penalty convictions are overturned or commuted to life in prison during the appeals process.

Fully 66 percent are overturned or commuted on first appeal.

Does this speak to juries getting it right the first time? Now the Florida legislature is pushing to shorten the appeals process to five years. They say this will decrease the time taken to commute or carry out a sentence, but they’re ignoring one important point.

Most death penalty convictions that are overturned on new evidence take seven years or more for that new evidence to surface.

The fact of the matter is that juries can make mistakes, defense lawyers can make mistakes, people can be swayed by their own prejudices, and generally, things can happen that cause innocent people to be convicted of crimes they didn’t commit.

During the course of a life sentence, these mistakes can be rectified. During the course of a death sentence, the chance of these mistakes going unresolved is measurably increased.

This rebuttal says nothing about the morality of the death penalty itself, but until we can be sure that the people we are executing are guilty of the crimes we have attributed to them, we should place a moratorium on capital punishment in this country.

And Mr. Gonzales, the next time you’d like to use the Bible to convince us of your moral authority, please choose passages that actually support your position.

Don’t hold up the punishments of the Roman Empire as a viable legal model for today, and don’t tell me that the crucifixion of Christ implies support of state-sanctioned execution.

Your Christian bloodlust only shows how foolish your position really is.

Eric Anderson

Alumnus

Eagan, Minn.