Some thoughts on capital punishment for Rowan Ford's killers

(The following post is my column from this week's Newton County News.)

I have never been a big fan of capital punishment.
My opposition has nothing to do with the arguments that it is barbaric or that we are one of the few civilized nations that still uses death as a form of punishment. It doesn’t even have to do with the fact that most of those on death row across the United States are minorities, many convicted without adequate representation.
Those are compelling arguments, but my opposition is limited to one reason- If you sentence someone to life in prison, then discover you made a mistake, you can set that person free. If you execute someone, the best you can do is send a “Sorry, we made a mistake” card to the survivors.
That being said, it is hard to muster any opposition to capital punishment when it comes to those who would rape and murder a nine-year-old child.
Prosecuting Attorney Johnnie Cox filed papers Monday in Barry County Circuit Court, indicating he will seek the death penalty for David Wesley Spears, 25, Stella, and Chris Collings, 32, Wheaton, the two men charged with the brutal rape and murder of nine-year-old Rowan Ford, Spears’ stepdaughter.
In the court documents, Cox listed three aggravating circumstances that led him to seek the death penalty:
-- "The murder in the first degree was outrageously or wantonly vile, horrible or inhuman in that it involved torture, or depravity of mind;"
--"The murder in the first degree was committed while the defendant was engaged in the perpetration or was aiding or encouraging another person to perpetrate or attempt to perpetrate a felony of any degree of rape . . . "
-- "The murdered individual was a witness or potential witness in any past or pending investigation or past or pending prosecution, and was killed as a result of his status as a witness or potential witness."
Anyone who doubted the concept of evil had ample evidence to cause them to change their minds when the horrifying details of the death of Rowan Ford were revealed to the public late last year.
How could anyone do such barbaric things to an innocent nine-year-old child? And how can anyone argue that the world would be a better place by allowing these two (both of whom have given statements to authorities saying they were involved in the murder) to continue living?
After taking all of this into consideration, I am still not sure I can agree with capital punishment as public policy, but if you have to execute someone, I can’t think of two people who deserve it more.