Quote Originally Posted by seth123 View Post
Just to calm things down a little, I need to point out that no one has been executed in South Dakota since
2012 as far as I can see. In addition, with the million dollar appeal system and the large number of folks with a lot more heinous criminal acts under their belts ahead of him, it is highly likely that Mr Rhines will probably die in prison in almost exactly the way the jurors had intended ( ie.. . without benefiting from the incarceration). What appears to be happening in Government, Law Enforcement ,Education, Religion and Society, is a frustration over results that causes everything to be ramped up to the point where so called "Draconian Measures" are being instituted to deal with just about anything. We are becoming the extremist we despise and the radicals and terrorists we claim to hate.
You make a fair and valid point with regard to the actuality of the death penalty in South Dakota, so it will be interesting to see if, on this occasion, the case of Rhines bucks the trend. It seems to me the important point is the extent to which judgements are being made that are based, not on law or the Constitution, but religious views, even when these conflict -the Christian demand for mercy colliding with the view of some Christians that homosexuality is sinful. If there were a true separation of politics from religion, the moral judgement of a man's sexual preference would not be relevant in deciding the sentence for the crime.