Dream of a Russian Princess Monday, March 21, 2005

I will point out, in reply to a charmingly combative comment, that (1) the grounds for starving this lady to death are one brief conversation that nobody else knows anything about except her husband, who has a clear interest in getting rid of her (remarried with kids since she went into the hospital?), which makes his character a vital issue in the case (2) her family is prepared to take care of her, whether or not she is brain dead. Which she is not: She is in a persistent vegetative state but can respond to outside stimuli. As for never coming out of the PVS, it is unlikely but possible.

And let's not forget (3), the procedural corner-cutting that took place along the way--all of which would get her case thrown out of court, were her family, say, appealing a death row conviction.

@ 10:52:00 AM,

2 Comments:

At 11:28 AM, Blogger BeK said...

So...why doesn't he walk away? It'd certainly be the easier road, wouldn't it?

Could it be that he actually is trying to carry out her wishes?

 
At 4:54 PM, Blogger Aaron said...

Just a note -- death penalty cases almost never get thrown out. Like, ever. It's incredibly hard to do, no matter how badly your case was handled. Being now very close to the criminal justice system since Kathy has been working as first a death penalty clerk and now a public defender, the common notion that judges are willy nilly throwing out cases on technicalities is wholly and utterly false. The overwhelming majority of people put in front of juries get convicted, often with little real evidence, and once the conviction is in the system, it's incredibly hard to overturn (you have to actually prove your innocent or that the procedural error in the trial would have certainly altered the outcome). Civil trials are very different and get overturned all the time.

 

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