Innocence Lost?

CNN reports on the execution of a Jimmy Ray Slaughter, sentenced to death for the 1991 murder of a women and her daughter. Slaughter proclaimed his innocence until the moment of his death, and submitted himself to a new test by neuroscientist Larry Farwell called "brain fingerprinting." The test is relatively new and unproven, but its practitioners say its accurate (see the article for details on how it works). The test results indicated that Slaughter did not commit the crime, however, the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board refused to grant him clemency.

I don't know if Brain Fingerprinting is accurate or not. But I remain disturbed by the execution of someone who appeared to have at least a strong case of innocence. This is yet another case which casts doubt upon the entire death penalty enterprise and shows how our system appears agnostic to even credible claims of innocence by the condemned.