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Biden Fails a Death Penalty Abolitionist’s Most Important Test

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The mystery of Joe Biden’s views about capital punishment has finally been solved. His decision to grant clemency to 37 of the 40 people on federal death row shows the depth of his opposition to the death penalty. And his decision to leave three of America’s most notorious killers to be executed by a future administration shows the limits of his abolitionist commitment. The three men excluded from Biden’s mass clemency—Dylann Roof, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, and Robert Bowers—would no doubt pose a severe test of anyone’s resolve to end the death penalty. Biden failed that test.
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Death penalty opponents cite North Carolina forensic lab concerns

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RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Supporters of a man on North Carolina's death row want a new look at the case after revelations that the state's top crime lab was plagued by overstated or falsely reported evidence.

On Monday, attorneys and four men freed from prison because of faulty evidence presented at their trials will urge a review of Melvin White's death sentence. Two of the released inmates also were on death row.

White was sentenced to death in 1996 for the slayings of an elderly Craven County woman and her boyfriend. He's always proclaimed his innocence.

The only forensic evidence linking him to the murders is the bullet-tracing work of a State Bureau of Investigation analyst who didn't describe why he concluded the casings all came from the same gun.

Source: The Associated Press, August 30, 2010
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Biden Fails a Death Penalty Abolitionist’s Most Important Test

Published
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The mystery of Joe Biden’s views about capital punishment has finally been solved. His decision to grant clemency to 37 of the 40 people on federal death row shows the depth of his opposition to the death penalty. And his decision to leave three of America’s most notorious killers to be executed by a future administration shows the limits of his abolitionist commitment. The three men excluded from Biden’s mass clemency—Dylann Roof, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, and Robert Bowers—would no doubt pose a severe test of anyone’s resolve to end the death penalty. Biden failed that test.
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