Weighing the Risk

“Mishandling of Informant Hurt Cases, DEA Concedes” (June 5) should serve as a reminder of the first and most incontrovertible argument against the death penalty in the U.S. Two words: prosecutorial misconduct.

This country is a patchwork of police departments, many corrupt, and as long as that is the case, having the state put people to death will inevitably lead to mistakes. There is a trade-off--some truly awful criminals will remain in prison for their lives instead of being put to death, but the chance of letting rogue law enforcement (oxymoronic) railroad the not guilty means that we must take that risk.

Michael Sieverts

Santa Monica