On the other side of the Potomac

While we're sweating the countdown on Wesley Baker here in Maryland, Governor Mark Warner of Virginia has commuted the death sentence of Robin M. Lovitt to life without parole. (Sorry to keep up this death penalty stuff. Kind of a downer, isn't it?)

A clerk disposed of the evidence after the state supreme court upheld Lovitt's conviction, and the governor is concerned that Lovitt no longer has the wherewithal to have a DNA test to support his claim of innocence.

Two observations: First, isn't it interesting that suddenly Ken Starr is a hero to a certain group of people? It's kind of like the Pope. When he says abortion is immoral, it's an improper injection of religion into public policy. But when he tries to stop an execution in some state, he's expressing a great moral truth.

Second observation is that if you really have a sincere concern about guilt or innocence, what's so great about life without parole? You know, if we had no death penalty, virtually no one would give a damn about these people. We wouldn't have high-priced law firms doing "pro bono" defense. (A friend of mine refers to this as "pro malo," by the way.) We wouldn't have people digging up new evidence of innocence. We wouldn't have commissions investigating the capital punishment system. We wouldn't have moratoriums implemented by crooked governors. We wouldn't have candlelight vigils. We wouldn't have irresponsible Eurotrash organizations condemning us at every pass. And these bastards would be rotting away in prison under life without parole. If they're innocent, how would they be helped? They wouldn't. But a bunch of death-penalty opponents would make themselves feel a little better.