October 9, 1994 letter to the Cortland Standard

To the Editor:

Your recent editorial "Only Partial Justice" questioned how the State of California could possibly compensate Frederick Daye for the 10 years they took from him on a false conviction for rape. You raise important questions about the effective

ness of the justice system and the tragedy of such cases.
At the same time, you continue to advocate a return to the use of the death penalty in New York State. What if Mr. Daye's false conviction had been for murder and the state had taken his life? The options for compensating him would be non-existent.

Of course, the possibility of killing innocent people is only one of the many reasons why governments should not use murder, either as a punishment or a deterrent.

Andy Mager