I used to defend the death penalty. If we could wave a magic wand that told us definitely the guilt or innocence of a defendant, I would still. But we don't.

I used to defend the death penalty. If we could wave a magic wand that told us definitely the guilt or innocence of a defendant, I would still. But we don't. And our jury trials are a poor substitute. Wikipedia claims that since 1972 there have been ~190 people who were sentenced to death that were exonerated of their crimes. 2.2% of people. A 2.2% false-positive rate sucks for something like a Covid test, or a speeding ticket. But a 2.2% false-positive rate for the state taking someone's life away is unacceptable. The Covid death rate was under 1%. And that's not taking into account cases like this. Defendants are sitting on death row because DAs are embarrassed that they got something wrong, or because the county can't afford the wrongful imprisonment suit, or because the defendant can't get a competent lawyer. Create me that magic wand and I will happily join you in defending the death penalty. Until then I can't argue for it with a clean conscience.