[Rain Man]

I'm not sure your argument of new evidence holds water in this case, MicJones. New punishments or treatments, perhaps. But in essence this guy is guilty beyond any reasonable doubt, and what he's doing now is asking for mercy.

I think that reasonable arguments against the death penalty are:

1. General "life is sacred" mantra and it's somehow better to lock the guy in a dungeon than kill him.

2. Maybe we'll come up with some way to zap the guy's brain of the bad stuff and convert him into a productive citizen. (Still seems problematic to me that Charlie Manson can go get a job at Chik-Fil-A and not be traumatic for the victim's families, etc.)

3. Maybe the guy is innocent and new technologies or evidence will one day prove it.

#3 is a biggie for me. There are innocent people who have been executed, and that's horrific. Events of recent years have turned me against the death penalty in most cases for this reason. However, #3 doesn't apply in this case, and I'm not a huge supporter of #1 and #2.