Posted by Dave on 07/25/08 at 09:32:17 am
Categories: Capital Punishment

Activists: Halt death penalty in California [hat tip Talk Left]:

WE are an unlikely pair - not "The Odd Couple," but close. Forty-five years ago, one was a successful lawyer practicing in Orange County, the other an aspiring actor living there because his new wife taught at Laguna Beach High School.

The lawyer had lawsuits to handle, papers to be filed, people to be found, summonses and subpoenas to be served.

The actor, unable to count on work in show business, ran an attorney service that took care of the lawyer's business.

Both former Marines, we thus knew each other, if casually, for years.

Two decades later, the lawyer, then a judge of the Superior Court, had sentenced more men to death than any other in his jurisdiction. He was known as "the hanging judge of Orange County."

The actor had gotten lucky, becoming a member of the cast of "M*A*S*H," one of the nation's most beloved TV shows, and was an ardent and outspoken opponent of the death penalty.

Today, while coming at it from vastly different perspectives, the now-retired "hanging judge" and the actor, who chairs Death Penalty Focus, find themselves working together again, this time to close California's death chamber.

Fascinating. The well-known progressive Mike Farrell, who has long advocated for the end of the death penalty, and "the hanging judge of Orange Country" are working together to end the horrid punishment of death in the State of California.

The more allies we have, the better.

| Permalink