College Republican Federation of Virginia

Comment from Bulldog
Time: April 2, 2008, 5:48 am

A liberal liar? *gasp* Shocking!

Comment from Archimedes
Time: April 2, 2008, 10:10 am

Wow, thought this was some kind of weird April Fool’s joke. Sadly its not. I will laugh when the Supreme Court puts egg all over Gov. Kaine’s face though. No way the Roberts Court ends lethal injection, this Court is way too cautious for something that sweeping. Can’t wait for Kaine to eat crow on this one.

Comment from J. Tyler Ballance
Time: April 2, 2008, 10:32 am

I used to take the standard Republican view that if you were charged by Police, that you were probably guilty, and if you were convicted, then you were certainly guilty.

I know differently now. I know that some people are so twisted that they will walk right into a courtroom and lie before the judge, jury and God, just to get a conviction.

This probably happens in every court, on every day to some extent. Since I have been observing Virginia’s courts, I have seen prosecutors suppress evidence that they know will help exonerate the accused, I have seen judges disallow evidence that would prevent a conviction, I have seen local cops, State Troopers and even federal agents make things up, lie or embellish testimony in the hopes of getting a conviction.

The chief problem is that there is absolutely no incentive for cops, prosecutors and judges, to protect the rights of the accused. Sure you get a court appointed attorney, but especially here in Vahginyuh, the system is stacked against anyone who is accused, and we falsely convict people here EVERY DAY.

Until cops and prosecutors stop treating our justice system like a baseball box score, where only the number of your wins matters, the citizens will not have justice, or even fairness.

Why anyone would trust such a fallible, and often corrupt judicial system to murder someone, makes no sense. This is the same league of bureaucrats who can’t get a parking ticket straight, so why should anyone trust them to execute the right perpetrator?

In the above case, even if the guy is guilty, killing him does not restore the life of the murdered cop. As a People, we do not need to satisfy a sense of revenge through state sponsored murder, especially when there is a possibility that the soul of the accused can still be redeemed, or that person may even be exonerated by new evidence, however unlikely that possibility.

In the most egregious examples of murder, life without parole is the humane choice and also allows for the possibility, however slim, of new evidence being discovered at a later date.

More of my fellow Republicans are awakening to the gaping holes in our justice system and are joining those who oppose state sponsored murder.

During the next election, the gubernatorial candidate who opposes the death penalty, shall be the man who will be elected. That man could be a Republican, but only if Bob McDonnell awakens to this key issue in time; otherwise, Creigh Deeds shall be our Governor.

It is the Twenty-First Century. It is well past time that we ended state sponsored murder in the Commonwealth.

Comment from Bulldog
Time: April 2, 2008, 5:34 pm

Well first of all, as conservatives I don’t think being “fair” is in our game plan. Justice certainly is.

Second, if you’ve gotten a parking ticket, you probably deserve it, so quit your whining and pay up.

The death penalty is not about revenge. The premise of it is that there are crimes worthy of death, not to satisfy our vengeful natures, but because such a person has made a choice that removes their privilege of continued existence on Planet Earth. Rape, murder, and child molestation are always worthy of death. Always. That said, the accused does have the right to a trial, lawyer, etc., and you can’t just execute everybody ever accused of the above crimes. No, the life taken (or scarred) cannot be restored, but you will spare others the same pain the offended have endured.
I suggest that you become a lawyer or judge yourself since you are so distrustful of lawyers and the court system.

Comment from Archimedes
Time: April 2, 2008, 5:58 pm

What century it is is irrelevant. It wouldn’t matter if it were the 31st Century. The point of the death penalty is not restorative, since as you correctly pointed out a murder victim cannot be restored. Rather, the death penalty is punitive justice, meaning it is meant to punish the offender. So the argument that a murder victim can’t be brought back by executing his murderer is irrelevant as well, since that isn’t the aim of capital punishment.

You would also do well to remember that anecdotes are not evidence, especially not of any broader, systemic problem. If you can actually prove that someone has been falsely convicted, by all means, e-mail me at our gmail account and I will be glad to post it. If not, then don’t impugn the honor of our law enforcement officials by baldly asserting that they are putting innocent people in prison.

Comment from Jacques Lemaire
Time: April 2, 2008, 6:04 pm

To call capital punishment state-sponsored murder is an affront to anyone who has actually had a loved one murdered. Try passing that bunk to the family of the policeman who’s murderer will continue to get to live his life after senselessly taking another.

Murderers take lives without reason or justice, then they get all the respect they deserve when issued the death penalty, none. Also, if you want to look at the ability of DNA evidence to free people, the don’t be afraid of the opposite. When DNA proves someone committed a crime beyond any reasonable doubt, accept the result.

Pingback from The Write Side of My Brain » Where is the Governor We Elected?
Time: April 2, 2008, 7:01 pm

[…] College Republican Federation of Virginia:  Tim “I’ll Enforce The Death Penalty” Kaine Grants Reprieve & Announces Moratorium on Execu… […]

Comment from Grozet
Time: April 2, 2008, 7:22 pm

Tim Kaine . . . Mark Warner . . . doesn’t matter, they both can’t keep campaign pledges be it taxes or the death penalty.

Comment from J. Tyler Ballance
Time: April 5, 2008, 10:11 am

The point that some seem to have missed is that, given the fallibility of our system, trusting the state to murder someone charged with a crime is imprudent.

We don’t need the state to extract revenge on behalf of a victim. The murder of a cop is no more heinous than the murder of any other citizen.

What some commentors here fail to recognize is that these laws that some of you support, could very easily be turned against any of you. All it takes is one or two people willing to lie in court against you. So, it is in everyone’s interest that our laws be constructed and our justice system function, in a way that provides humane sentencing; including the possibility for convicted murderers to be exonerated by new evidence, that may be discovered later.

Some in our Republican ranks, who have fully bought into the fantasy of an infallible system of justice, will never learn, until the power of a corrupt system is turned against them.

To you who have such blind faith in the justice system, I suggest that you can pray that the system is not turned against you, or you can work to ensure that we have humane sentencing and procedures to correct mistakes made by those in the justice system. Try, (I know this is hard for many of you self-righteous CRs), to view a scenario when you are wrongfully accused and the full force of the Government is stacked against you, and that system is geared only to “win” a conviction. All it takes is one lie and your life is over, under our current system.

Virginia must end state sponsored murder. It is neither a deterrent, nor is it just.

Comment from Archimedes
Time: April 5, 2008, 7:47 pm

Again, you charge a corruption you cannot substantiate. Since you cannot back up your claim of corruption, your argument for a soft judicial system is D.O.A. This hypothetically possible mistake does not speak at all to the justice of the death penalty either. If you could present evidence of a wrongfully executed person in VA, perhaps then you could make such an argument. However, since such a case does not exist, you cannot honestly make such a claim.

Secondly, your argument about a system that has been turned against us, particularly by dishonest officials, is a sad attempt to argue from emotion. By positing a nightmare scenario with no evidence that it is going to occur, you are merely trying to scare people into accepting your unsubstantiated view of our judicial system. This is a purely fallacious line of argument and as such merits no further refutation than this.

Comment from J. Tyler Ballance
Time: April 6, 2008, 7:16 am

Any of you CRs could glide on down to your local court house on arraignment day and just observe. If you follow any of the cases through trial, you will witness what I have referred to in the previous posts.

I was somewhat as naive as you about our judicial process, until I observed some cases in Virgina courts. I saw witnesses lying, cops withholding evidence, prosecuting attorneys acting to block the entry of evidence that would exonerate the person charged, and judges that would rule without allowing all evidence or witnesses to be heard.

It convinced me that we shouldn’t trust this, grossly flawed, system to execute people.

Visit our courts, and follow a few criminal cases to fruition. Allow your own eye-witness observations to serve as your guide. I will be glad to talk with anyone, in person, about what I have seen in our courts.

It will serve no purpose to post any more on this subject, especially when a few who post here, under fake names, simply reply to my accounts by writing that they could not have happened, when I, in fact, saw these egregious events with my own eyes.

Comment from Dean Cunningham
Time: November 12, 2008, 7:13 pm

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