Virginia Plans on Executing an Innocent Man in Less than Eleven Days...and counting

Ivan Teleguz will be dead in ten days and 13 hours as of the time of this post. That is, if the Department of "Justice" of the Commonwealth of Virginia has its way.

Ivan Teleguz is also probably innocent.

According to Ivan's Prayer for Justice, a site dedicated towards advocating for his cause, prosecutorial misconduct manipulated the jurors into handing the state a guilty verdict. The Virginia Council of Churches as well as these 25 conservatives and libertarians agree with this assessment. Ivan was convicted on the testimony of three men, two of which later swore to giving false testimony, and the third had his probable death sentence lessened to a life sentence. Furthermore, the prosecution relied on allegations of a murder that supposedly occurred in Pennsylvania in order to convince the jury of Ivan's character. Later investigation suggests that there was no such murder.

I personally do not have a problem with the death penalty for murder as a concept. However, in a system in which proper rules governing evidence, prosecution, and perjury are practically nonexistent, every death sentence must be thoroughly scrutinized and investigated by all who have the power to commute it. We have such a system, and therefore we must utilize every check and balance still available to us in order to insure the correct process of justice.

I made the claim earlier that Ivan Teleguz is "probably innocent." What I meant was this: that I can have no sure and final knowledge of any man's guilt or innocence unless I witnessed the crime itself, but in this case, there is much to indicate that this man is innocent. And the law requires that a man is treated as innocent until proven guilty. The Bible requires the exact same;

"Keep thee far from a false matter; and the innocent and righteous slay thou not: for I will not justify the wicked." (Exodus 23:7)

The prosecution certainly failed to prove guilt in this case, instead relying on gross ethical and moral violation to obtain the verdict they got. Many have now banded together to try to free this man, innocent under the law. Please find it in your hearts to support their efforts.

If the Governor of Virginia fails to commute this sentence before April 25, an indelible mark will have been left on the justice system of the Commonwealth. Psalm 58 holds harsh words for magistrates that refuse to exercise just judgment:

"Break the teeth in their mouths, O God; Lord, tear out the fangs of those lions!

Let them vanish like water that flows away; when they draw the bow, let their arrows fall short.

May they be like a slug that melts away as it moves along, like a stillborn child that never sees the sun."