Thread by @radleybalko

If you had to point to one person as a walking, talking argument against the death penalty, you could probably just point to Arizona AG Mark Brnovich.

First, two fed courts ruled Barry Jones had inadequate representation, there's persuasive evidence of his innocence, & overturned his conviction.

Citing AEDPA, Brnovich is asking SCOTUS to ignore all that, allowing Jones to be executed on a technicality.

theintercept.com/2021/07/31/dea…

At the same time, Brnovich has vowed to execute 21 Arizona death row prisoners before he leaves office in 18 months. Which of course will generate a lot of press coverage just ahead of his run for the U.S. Senate.

latimes.com/opinion/story/…

So at the same time an AG is trying to carry out a rush of executions for explicitly political reasons, he's also asking SCOTUS to allow another man to be executed despite evidence of the man's innocence and the state's clear failure to protect that man's 6A rights.

Not sure I can think of a better example why the death penalty can't be entrusted to politicians.

And so long as we have it, it will always be politicians deciding who lives and dies.