The execution of William Andrews showcased what supporters and opponents of the death penalty have in common: skepticism about how government and the courts handle convicted criminals.
Putting a convicted killer to death alleviates the fear victims and citizens feel when they hear about criminals being freed by parole boards or through endless court appeals, experts say."There's a great mistrust of government generally, and the death penalty is concrete evidence that the government is doing something," said George Kendall, associate counsel for the NAACP's legal defense and educational fund in New York, which opposed Andrews' execution.
"It doesn't deter crime. It's just a symbolic event that at least for now addresses the problem" for a lot of people.
Even those who see some justice in capital punishment don't have much faith in the system that enforces it.
"As a sociologist and criminologist, I believe society can mete out its own punishment. But I am cynical enough about the justice system to not trust it to take lives," Weber State University professor L. Kay Gillespie, an expert on executions carried out in Utah, told The Associated Press.
Death sentences were carried out in past centuries as a practical matter because there were no institutional prison systems to house people who were a threat to society, Kendall said.
He explained that the nation began to question the wisdom and fairness of a death penalty after World War II, when citizens saw the effects of repressive regimes and governments. Sentiments spilled into the criminal justice system, Kendall said, as people noticed the death penalty wasn't being applied to the most serious criminals and to a disproportionate number of minorities.
In 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states had to change their capital punishment statutes so that death sentences are meted out fairly. But Kendall said that hasn't happened.
The trial of Andrews and Pierre Dale Selby was Utah's test case of its new capital punishment statute, and death penalty opponents say it also depicted what can go wrong with the death penalty.
Kendall said Andrews' repeated arguments of incompetent legal counsel and racial bias during the trial are not unique and are the areas most commonly appealed.
"Most reasonable people agree that people charged with serious crimes deserve good legal representation, but the system doesn't provide for that," Kendall said.
"There is no political equipment that gives legal representation to poor people, and that is why it (the death penalty) can't work."
While Andrews had competent counsel during the appeals, Kendall said it was his trial counsel that caused the strung-out appeals process.
Kendall doesn't believe the solution is hiring expensive, top notch attorneys to defend accused killers. He and other death penalty opponents advocate "tough penalties" of life without parole.
When taking the expense of appeals into consideration, he said, it is considerably cheaper to house a person for life in prison.
Utah inmates on death row
Elroy Tilliman, black, sentenced Feb. 7, 1983, to die by firing squad for the murder of Mark Allen Schoenfeld. Ron Lafferty, white, sentenced May 7, 1985, to die by firing squad for the murder of his sister-in-law and niece. His sentence was vacated by District Court, and he is currently awaiting a new trial. Ronnie Lee Gardner, white, sentenced Nov. 14, 1985, to die by firing squad for the murder of Michael J. Burdell during an escape attempt in another murder trial. Douglas Carter, black, sentenced Dec. 27, 1985, to die by lethal injection for the murder of Eva Oleson while attempting to rob her home. His death sentence was overturned, but he was re-sentenced to die in 1991. James Holland, white, sentenced Oct. 1, 1987, to die by lethal injection for the murder of Sandy Patt. His death sentenced was vacated by the state Supreme Court in 1989. He is awaiting a new sentencing hearing. Joseph Parsons, white, sentenced Feb. 18, 1988, to die by lethal injection for the murder of Richard C. Ernest. Ralph Menzies, white, sentenced March 23, 1988, to die by lethal injection for the murder of Maurine Hunsaker while he was on parole. David Young, white, sentenced July 13, 1989, to die by lethal injection for the rape and murder of Ember Kimberly Mars. John Taylor, white, sentenced Dec. 21, 1989, to die by firing squad for the rape and murder of 11-year-old Charla Nicole King. He was on parole at the time of the crime. Michael Archuleta, Hispanic, sentenced Dec. 21, 1989, to die by lethal injection for the torture, lugwrench rape and murder of Gordon Ray Church. Von Taylor, white, sentenced May 24, 1991, to die by lethal injection for the murders of Kaye Tiede and her mother, Beth Potts.