California’s Death Penalty

Steve Baker’s superb column (Commentary, April 12) about the murder of his son should be required reading for everyone in that small but loud minority who still fight to keep all murderers alive while their victims remain dead. Peter H. King’s column (April 12), giving all the time-worn anti-death-penalty cliches, pales into pitiful insignificance by comparison.

After all the cliches and noble-sounding arguments are peeled away, anyone who totally opposes the death penalty is really saying only one thing. Namely, that individuals who commit the most horrible crimes imaginable should always, without exception, be permitted to retain their own lives after having made it impossible for an innocent victim to do so. This is not fair.

M. RUSSELL, Los Angeles