[Newspoetry] The Insanity Plea and the Death Penalty

[Donald L Emerick]

Dear John,

To put my previous case more succinctly, I offer you its form as a minor version of Zeno's Paradox.

A.  If a person is alleged to be sane right up to the moment of execution, and then does not show this by repenting, by begging and pleading for mercy, then the allegation of sanity is so doubtful as to be legally false -- and execution of the verdicted conviction may not then be lawfully imposed by the State.

B.  However, if the person does evidence repentance, and if the overseeing judges does not forthwith grant always undeserved mercy (which could never be based on any merit, and, as thus being baseless, must then be granted to all or to none, and, if there were never any mercy whatsoever, that would be cruel and unusual, and likewise forbidden under our Constitution), then those overseeing judges must be technically, lawfully, or even morally insane, and the execution of the verdicted conviction may not then be lawfully imposed by the State, until the State regains its own sanity.

C.  Therefore, under all conditions, the State may never rationally execute any other person.  QED, said Zeno: you must be insane to take the life of any other person.  And, why else did Wise of the Ancient Peoples primordially conclude, even in the most primitive of times, that, if there were a God, He would have said, "You shall not kill another (human) being?"  And, even if there is no God, the same logical Wisdom yet haunts our own morality, down to this very day!

Thanks for listening,
Donald L Emerick

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