The Death Penalty Lottery: Nitrogen Gas, Honey Buns, and the Myth of Oversight
The death penalty is on full display this week, and the inconsistency is enough to give you whiplash. While the state of Texas is busy strapping men like Cedrick Ricks to the table, Alabama is running around trying to save its own from the very executions they scheduled.
Yesterday, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey commuted the death sentence of Charles “Sonny” Burton to life without parole. She went out of her way to call his execution “unjust.” This is the same administration that has overseen 25 prior executions, yet suddenly, 24 hours before Burton was set to be choked out by nitrogen gas, they found a conscience.
But don't be fooled—this isn't about "mercy." It’s about the absolute failure of a system that can't even follow its own rules.
The Trigger Man vs. The Accessory
Let’s look at the facts. Burton was involved in an AutoZone robbery in Talladega that ended in a customer's murder. Burton didn't pull the trigger. He was just there.
The man who did pull the trigger, Derrick DeBruce, escaped the death penalty years ago. How? His legal team actually did their jobs. In 2014, the Eleventh Circuit threw out his death sentence because his original attorney failed to present evidence of brain damage, seizures, and paralysis. That is the literal definition of Ineffective Assistance of Counsel. Here is the "brutal" truth most criminal defense attorneys won't tell you: most defendants have these mitigating factors. To be effective, you must have a documented trail, medical testimony and not just merely state your client’s deficiencies for the record. But, this takes time…effort… and unless you have "real counsel" instead of a checked-out public defender, a jury will gloss over the testimony. Now, the trigger man is sitting in a cell, snacking on honey buns and watching Jeopardy reruns, while Burton spent the last decade wondering if he was going to die for a crime he wasn’t in the room for when it was committed?
The Felony Murder Racket
This brings us to the Felony Murder Rule. This century-old legal principal is a prosecutor’s favorite cheat code. it allows the state to treat everyone involved in a felony—rape, robbery, burglary—as equally liable for a murder, even if they never touched a weapon.
The same court that spared the trigger man (DeBruce) upheld the sentence for the accessory (Burton). Now, Burton gets leniency because of "appearances"—his age and the fact that he’s in a wheelchair.
I have a real fucking problem with selective enforcement. Burton’s case was heard, upheld, and legally finalized. If the law is the law, why does it only apply when the Governor feels like it?
The Real Crisis: A Total Lack of Standards
The alarming issue here isn’t just Governor Ivey’s sudden change of heart. It’s that we are operating without a safety net.
Jaded Prosecutors: We have decision-makers who treat every case as a line item on a docket, losing sight of the fact that true justice must be determined case-by-case.
Lazy Defense: We have "attorneys" who aren't worth the paper their degree is printed on, too tired or too indifferent to fight for their client and only want your money.
Incompetent Judiciary: Local politics frequently props up judicial candidates who have zero criminal experience but plenty of "connections." Also, don’t bring me this shit about how Judge’s must hear civil cases so not having a criminal background isn’t important. Over 75% of every county’s docket are criminal matters and we’re playing with years and lives, not a few thousand dollars.
Out-of-Touch Congress: We have representatives who care more about saying nothing than making an impact. They want quick soundbites i.e. “We need criminal justice reform,” but won’t submit legislation to actually accomplish it because they’re not competent in what it would actually take.
We don’t have oversight. We have a theater of the absurd where your life depends on which judge you pull and how many seizures your lawyer remembers to mention. And in a world where we all have a little felon in us, you can’t make that shit make sense.
