An advisory tale on the death penalty

All the legislators that voted in favor of the death penalty referendum would be wise to read Christopher Ochoa's story in the May 12 edition of the Isthmus. Rep. Sheryl Albers, Rep. Jerry Petrowski and Rep. Judy Krawcyzk, the three assemblypeople that skipped the vote so it could pass the Assembly, should read it twice.

Much of the debate on the death penalty focuses on people wrongly convicted being set free by DNA evidence. Putting the wrong people to death is of course the strongest argument against the death penalty. However, the people supporting the Wisconsin referendum will say they are only asking to use the death penalty in cases where DNA confirms the conviction. Ochoa's story proves there are other ways the death penalty can bring about injustice.

Ochoa was wrongly convicted of a rape and homicide and spent 12 years in prison before the UW-Law School Innocence Project set him free. The cops scared Ochoa into a false confession by holding the threat of the death penalty over his head. One of the cops grabbed his arm and said, "This is where they stick the needle in, and I'm going to be there to watch you die."

This scene will be played out in Wisconsin at some point if the legislature decides to enact a death penalty. The pressure put on police to get a conviction in high profile cases like the one Ochoa was sent to jail for is too great for the death penalty threat not to be used in interrogations. This will produce false convictions and closure for the families of crime victims in our state. Jeanette Popp, the mother of the woman that was raped and murdered in the case Ochoa was wrongly sent to jail for, now advocates abolishing Texas' death penalty for this reason.

It's easy to think nothing like this will happen to you or that you would never confess to a crime you didn't commit so why not vote for the death penalty? And chances are that if you are white and above the poverty level, it won't happen to you. Ochoa once thought no reasonable person could confess to a crime they didn't commit either but after days of interrogation, he broke. He says, "Who the hell is reasonable in that situation? You're not normal. You're there, never been in trouble before, you've been taught to respect officers with guns." He thought for sure the justice system would figure out the truth if he could just get out of that room. Instead he lost 12 years of his life.

The fact that this will happen to anyone should be enough for folks try to pick which 12 years of their life they would subtract and then check no at the ballot box this fall.