Re: “Child rapists should be sentenced to death. That’s why I backed this Tennessee Senate bill,” by Sen. Jack Johnson, April 22.

Legislation sponsored by Tennessee Senator Jack Johnson and passed by the Tennessee General Assembly would expand the death penalty system in Tennessee.

The system is already unfairly applied, costs taxpayers millions more than the alternative sentences, and risks the execution of the innocent. Since 1972, in fact, 197 people have been exonerated from death rows across this country after evidence of their innocence was finally considered, including three from Tennessee. 

Expanding the death penalty for a non-lethal crime will only expand the number of innocent people sent to death row. The damage of false accusations and imprisonment, let alone execution, can never be undone. 

William Arnold Jr. was falsely accused of one of the crimes that would be eligible for the death penalty under this bill. (Re: “District attorney won’t retry child rape case overturned by appeals court,” June 29, 2020).

He spent seven years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. If this legislation was law, he could have received the death penalty and been executed for a crime he didn’t commit. He is just one example. 

How many innocent lives are we willing to risk when we already have sentences like life without parole for those who commit this heinous crime, a sentence that costs taxpayers less than the death penalty?

Davis Turner, Nashville 37215

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