Carry out death penalty in a year

William Eller, Las Vegas

Monday, Oct. 10, 2011 | 2:02 a.m.

In her Sept. 30 letter, “We must learn from Davis case,” Eryn Jane Branch made one comment I wholeheartedly agree with: Troy Davis represents all that is broken about the death penalty. However, what is broken with the death penalty is that it took more than 20 years for this convicted murderer to be executed.

Davis was able to enjoy the hospitality of the taxpayers and continuously appeal his sentence, but his victim, Mark MacPhail, didn’t have that luxury. Some of Davis’ supporters whine that some witnesses recanted their testimony; however, it’s no surprise that after 20 years of pressure from Davis’ supporters some of those witnesses broke under the coercion.

Criminals for too many years have had more rights than their victims, and that needs to stop. Instead of concentrating on the “rights” of the convicted, we need to concentrate on the rights of the victims. Laws need to be changed so that convicts, no matter what their crime, have a “one-and-done” appeals process. If their appeal is denied, then the sentence is carried out. In death penalty cases, the sentence should be carried out within one year of the sentence.