(July 18, 2014 at 9:44 am)Blackout Wrote: What a shame. Can I ask if witness evidence is allowed for the death penalty? If so I find it repulsive, testimonial evidence is so volatile and subjective that it shouldn't be allowed for the most serious criminal offensesI'm not entirely sure how the rules work for that. Witness testimony is usually part of the case made by both sides and must be considered by the jury when deliberating. I don't know if there are instructions for them to give more weight to evidence or to witness testimony or if they are left to determine that on their own.
However, the sentencing for a crime is separate from the determination of innocence or guilt. For death penalty crimes there is a separate deliberation if the jury returns a guilty verdict, where it is then decided if the death penalty will be among the options that the judge can apply when sentencing the guilty party/parties. This may include testimonials from family/friends of the victim(s), which are often very emotional and disturbing and can have a huge impact on the proceedings.
"Well, evolution is a theory. It is also a fact. And facts and theories are different things, not rungs in a hierarchy of increasing certainty. Facts are the world's data. Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts. Facts don't go away when scientists debate rival theories to explain them. Einstein's theory of gravitation replaced Newton's in this century, but apples didn't suspend themselves in midair, pending the outcome. And humans evolved from ape- like ancestors whether they did so by Darwin's proposed mechanism or by some other yet to be discovered."
-Stephen Jay Gould
-Stephen Jay Gould
