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M of A - Perverse 'Justice': Suicide By Guilty Plea

Will this become another great perversity by the Obama administration?

The Obama administration is considering a change in the law for the military commissions at the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, that would clear the way for detainees facing the death penalty to plead guilty without a full trial.

The provision could permit military prosecutors to avoid airing the details of brutal interrogation techniques. It could also allow the five detainees who have been charged with the Sept. 11 attacks to achieve their stated goal of pleading guilty to gain what they have called martyrdom.

The military law forbids death penalties based solely on guilty pleas for two good reasons:

  • the guilty plea could be coerced
  • the guilty plea could be way for people who are not guilty to commit a form of suicide.

Such has happened for example in the case of the Beatrice Six four of which had falsely confessed in a rape and murder case and were later exonerated through DNA analysis.

by Fran (fran at eurotrib dot com) on Sun Jun 7th, 2009 at 01:24:45 PM EST
[ Parent ]
The continuation of the Bush doctrine. If he has them killed, he can brush the whole thing under the carpet, job done.

This may make sense domestically, but I'm less convinced the people he really needs to persuade will be impressed.

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Mon Jun 8th, 2009 at 08:05:31 AM EST
[ Parent ]

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