On Martin Luther King day I watched a show that looked at the the assassination of MLK. I have made remarks about the assassination before. I felt quite alone until this special.

Thing is, two seconds after they had a guilty plea they stopped the investigation. Likely, they even stopped looking before the plea. They didn’t even take the five minutes to test the rifle. I suspect, let me rephrase that. I highly suggest that they didn’t want to face the possibility they were wrong. They had their suspect and they had no desire to uncover any fact that might contradict it.

Now, according to the special, there are others suspicious they got it wrong, including a highly respected judge very familiar with the case. Indeed, it seemed to be moving towards a retrial when Ray died.

So, the truth of the matter is, the real killer might be walking the streets today. As near as I can figure, the chances are about fifty percent that he is. He might even have been drawing a government check at the time. I don’t know. A five minute test might have saved a lot of doubt. Worse, he might have killed others.

On the other hand, the test might have added some confusion. Perhaps that’s why they didn’t test it.

Regardless, it is time to make it illegal to use the death penalty as a threat. As far as I am concerned, it makes it so they have a fifty percent chance of being one hundred percent wrong. When a life sentence is involved, that is not good enough.

Moreover, it encourages the prosecution to be lazy. Even more, I hate to say it, but it might even be a good argument against the death penalty. You take the threat of the death penalty away, and the prosecution will have to work harder and it will cost the state much more.

However, isn’t that the way it’s supposed to work? Aren’t we supposed to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt instead of hold a figurative gun to their heads.