November 28, 2025Nov 28 According to an article on today's CNN site, a prisoner due to be executed by firing squad in Utah in September, had his death delayed because the prisoner was suffering from dementia. A new "competency hearing" had been set for December but the prisoner died two days ago. I am against the death penalty, but primarily because there have been too many cases where it was subsequently proved that the murdered prisoner was in fact innocent. I agree that number is very small, but I cannot accept any state has the right to end a person's life without cast-iron proof - and that is near impossible to obtain in most cases. Even confessions are no guarantee of guilt. Apologies and monetary payment are no substitute for wrongly taking a life. In this most recent case, there is another issue. The prisoner had been on death row for a staggering 37 years! That is more than double the average of 18 years which death row prisoners have to wait prior to execution. I find this utterly absurd. The mental pain and anxiety anyone must go through having to wait 37 - or even just 18 - years knowing that at some time in the future you are going to die must be ghastly. I admit some of the crimes allegedly committed were probably even more ghastly, but in my view that is no reason for the state to punish a condemned person effectively twice. https://edition.cnn.com/2025/11/27/us/menzies-utah-dementia-inmate-dies
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