At just 18, Ricky Jackson was convicted of murder for the killing of a money-order salesman in Cleveland. Jackson was exonerated after the prosecutors key witness, who was only 12 years old when he gave his statement to the police, recanted. Hillary Clinton is one that believes in the death penalty. Jackson challenged Clinton asking her what about the innocent people who have been wrongly convicted.
Jackson said to Clinton,
“I came perilously close to my own execution. In light of what I just shared with you and in light of the fact that there are documented cases of innocent people who have been executed in our country, I would like to know how you can still take your stance on the death penalty in light of what you know right now?”
Clinton criticized the state. She says they “have proven themselves incapable of carrying out fair trials that give defendants the rights that defendants should have.”
She then went on to say,
“I’ve said I would breathe a sigh of relief if either the Supreme Court or the states themselves began to eliminate the death penalty.”
Clinton did not take back her statement though. She said,
“Where I end up is this, and maybe it’s a distinction that is hard to support, but at this point, given the choices we face from terrorist activities primarily in our country that end up under federal jurisdiction, for very limited purposes, I think it can still be held in reserve for those.”
She then stared to referenced the April 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, which was a terrosit attack that killed 168 people. This crime she considered to be punishable by death.
“That is the exception that I still am struggling with, and it would only be in the federal system.”
Check out the video below.
Source: CNN
