A Mockery of Justice

WorldNetDaily has a piece from Michael Farris on the stay of execution granted to Ronald Chambers.

It illustrates much of what's wrong with our once noble justice system in this country.

Scalia has now stayed his execution. It is stayed until the petition for certiorari is granted or denied. There is some suggestion in the media that the Court may be waiting until another case raising similar issues is decided. Michael's mother has told the press that she can't take it any more.

Here is the human cost of such judicial fooling about:

Bennie and Mabry have suffered the tragedy of every parent who loses a child – the marriages that never happened and the grandchildren that never came along, the milestones that were never achieved, the calls never received, and the hugs never given. But for Michael's parents and his devoted sister, Janna, the passage of time has not only been a reminder of that loss and the emptiness it brings, but it has been 31 years of emotional torture that arises from the lack of resolution. How can anyone blame them if they have begun to doubt the ability of our justice system to deliver anything that resembles justice?

This is what we do to people with our pathetic excuse for a justice system. We once recognized that justice should be swift, and recognized that as a benefit both for the accused and for the victim/loved ones of the victim. This is specific in the Sixth Amendment for the trial and implicit for the execution of the justice determined at that trial.

The average time today from sentence to execution for those sentenced to the death penalty is 12 years. This is beyond pathetic. It's a mockery. It mocks the victim and it mocks justice.