The Crimson White
Our View
7/31/08
Tonight, the state of Alabama was set to execute Thomas D. Arthur for the 1982 murder of Troy Wicker Jr. Last night, Arthur received a stay of execution.
According to The Birmingham News on July 30, convicted murderer Bobby Ray Gilbert, presently serving life without parole, has claimed responsibility for WickerÕs murder in a recently filed affidavit. As a result, the Alabama Supreme Court voted 5-4 to stay the execution until further notice.
Putting away all ideas of the morality of the death penalty (about which we are of split minds), we are all in agreement that it is a flawed system, and we hope the state will take every single possible avenue to ensure that a man is not killed for a crime he did not commit, even if the circumstances seem cut and dry.
There is, of course, an obvious way to figure this out: DNA testing. And yet the state of Alabama seems to be reluctant to do so, as DNA testing had not been previously used in this case. By preoccupying ourselves with some archaic notion of justice, we seem to be leaving true justice behind, not using our technology to make certain the people we punish have earned it. At the very least, the government owes that to us all.
If this ends up being some sort of red herring and a DNA test comes back confirming the prosecutionÕs case, then so be it; Arthur has been sentenced and, according to the laws of this state, will be punished. But we applaud the effort the state is making to make sure this man deserves the punishment.
Our View is the consensus view of the editorial board of The Crimson White.