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Civil Liberties Union
Civil Liberties Union
NYCLU Expresses Outrage At Death Penalty Sentence, Pledges Support For Appeal
The New York Civil Liberties Union today expressed its shock and sadness at a jury’s decision to impose a death sentence in New York State.
Ronell Wilson was convicted in December of 2006 of murder of two undercover New York Police Department detectives in 2003. This terrible crime took place entirely within New York, but — because New York’s death penalty statute has been ruled unconstitutional — the federal government chose to prosecute. This is one of many cases in which the federal government has prosecuted a local murder in an end-run around state law that does not permit capital punishment.
The NYCLU will support legal efforts to reverse the death sentence.
“The death penalty will not restore the lives of the two dedicated police officers that were so wrongly and tragically taken,” NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman said. “Resorting to the death penalty, no matter how heinous the crime or how contemptible the defendant, is an affront to civilized society.”
Ronell Wilson was convicted in December of 2006 of murder of two undercover New York Police Department detectives in 2003. This terrible crime took place entirely within New York, but — because New York’s death penalty statute has been ruled unconstitutional — the federal government chose to prosecute. This is one of many cases in which the federal government has prosecuted a local murder in an end-run around state law that does not permit capital punishment.
The NYCLU will support legal efforts to reverse the death sentence.
“The death penalty will not restore the lives of the two dedicated police officers that were so wrongly and tragically taken,” NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman said. “Resorting to the death penalty, no matter how heinous the crime or how contemptible the defendant, is an affront to civilized society.”