David Riley has won a round in appeals court. This may mean a new sentencing process if appeals fail, but it’s really just a delaying tactic since he confessed to the murder in open court…
Oh, wait. Who is David Riley? Well, I know him as the crack-smoking psychopath who once pushed a pregnant 16-year old girlfriend down a flight of stairs. Florence, Alabama knows him as the man who walked into a package store, robbed his friend Scott Michael Kirtley, and then shot him twice in the back of the head. Riley’s back in the news after a successful appeal of his verdict.
It will probably surprise some readers to learn that I am ambivalent about capital punishment. On the one hand, the death penalty has been sorely abused by district attorneys across the country, and a rash of death row inmates released by DNA testing has led to widespread realization that injustice is too easy in America’s “justice” system.
And on the other hand, you have David Riley.
The question for the appellate court was not about guilt. Riley is guilty as charged and made a full, detailed confession. No, this situation arises from the way Riley ignored his attorneys’ (note the plural!) advice and took the stand in his own defense:
“We recognize that, during cross-examination by the prosecutor, Riley volunteered information about his prior juvenile adjudications and his being sent to boot camp. If that were the only mention of the juvenile adjudications and dispositions, we might find that he invited any error in that regard,” the justices who sided with Riley wrote. “However, during his rebuttal closing argument, the prosecutor specifically argued that the state of Alabama had tried to help Riley and had tried to rehabilitate him and that it had not worked, thus implying that Riley was a bad person and that he intended to commit this offense because he was a bad person.”
Frankly, I don’t see how the appellate court could take that argument seriously. Nevertheless, the endless appeals process is underway — not in a bid for freedom, but merely to extend his life as long as possible.
I understand the impetus. Survival is an instinctive drive in all living things. I’m not sure I want to live in a country that doesn’t make room for that in some way.
But on the other hand, you have David Riley.
