Categorized | National News

Sears Would Uphold Death Penalty

Party Leader hopeful Alfred Sears says while he does not personally advocate for the death penalty since the law is already on the books, he would uphold it if he becomes the next prime minister.

Mr. Sears, while a guest on “Q&A” with host Quincy Parker on Guardian Radio, expressed the fact that he believes the current Prime Minister Perry Christie is not the reason why the death penalty has been enforced in recent years.

“I think we have to look at why the death penalty is not being enforced. It is not because of Mr. Christie, it is because of what we have – the Privy Council,” he said.

Mr. Sears expressed that once a person is sentenced to die, they then have the right to appeal and and a constructional appeal. He expressed that all appeals must be exhausted before the state can carry out an execution.

“The Privy Council has a series of rulings one of which you cannot basically have an unspecified sentence of death, this is where you come to terms with the worst of the worst,” he said.

Mr. Sears says if all appeals are met, yet turned down, he will uphold the law.

“When you accept a position, you have to carry out the law,” the former attorney general said.

Mr. Sears went on to note the fact that the majority of people killed by the death penalty are black men.

“When I look at the reality of our system and when I look at the selective application of the law, I have very profound concerns, and I don’t believe in state killings,” he said.

It has been contested in the public forum that the death of 11-year-old Marco Archer was a case that should’ve invoked the death penalty.

Kofhe Goodman was sentenced to death for the murder of Marco Archer on October 29th, 2013.

Justice Bernard Turner, when handing down sentence stated that is a “clear and compelling case for the ultimate sentence of death, to satisfy the requirements of due punishment for the murder of this child and to protect this society from any further predatory conduct by this convict at any time in the future.”

During September 23 and September 28, 2011 Goodman killed young Archer.

Another recent example of the death sentence not being carried out was the infamous sentence of Maxo Tido, who is the convicted killer of16-year-old Donell Cornover.

In 2006, Senior Justice Anita Allen, who is now Court of Appeal President sentenced Tido to death.

Cornover was found dead with head injuries in May 2002. Her body was also set on fire.

The Privy Council quashed his death sentence in 2011. He was later sentenced to 52 years.

 

 

 

Written by Jones Bahamas

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