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So some dude in the PNW pled guilty today to 48 murders in exchange for the prosecutor's promise to forego the death penalty. I repeat: forty-eight murders. All women.
Maybe this is for the PB,* but does anyone else wonder about the dubious morality of vowing to seek the death penalty up to the moment the defendant pleads guilty?
Doesn't it create a troubling incentive for you to waive your right to a jury trial on innocence or guilt in order to save your life?
And doesn't it cheapen the profound difference between death and LWOP if the state's willing to waive death in order to avoid the expense of a trial?
*This is the kind of legal policy discussion we used to have on the Big Board, FWIW.
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