Flutterby™! : death-row follies

radio free beowulf had a link to an article about a Missouri death penalty conviction being upheld strictly on process grounds. It was a jail murder, a guard testified he saw another man running running away from the scene, but three inmates testified they saw the convicted. The three inmates have later recanted, but by this time the case is up to the State Supreme Court, and the prosecutor is arguing that innocence is irrelevant, process is what matters:

"So you would put an innocent man to death as long as he got a fair trial," Judge Ronnie White said.

Jung replied that the remedy in such a case is the governor, who has the power to pardon. The Supreme Court, however, has adopted the proposition that innocence should be considered only if a constitutional violation has occurred, he said.