Terry Nichols and double jeopardy
All right, I don't have a problem with Terry Nichols frying. Despite my qualms about the death penaly, as long as we have it, we might as well give it to him.
I do, however, have some double jeopardy concerns. I know the legal argument, that because he's being tried by two different sovereigns (federal and state governments), the double jeopardy clause does not apply. Legal loopholes aside, this sort of thing certainly violates the spirit of double jeopardy protection, particularly since the overwhelming majority of crimes are only tried by one sovereign or the other, not both.
The precedent was set in the Jim Crow south, when local governments were not trusted to do justice in certain civil rights cases. Ever since, it's been used to re-try individuals who, for whatever reason, certain people really really really want to convict.
It's still bogus, though. I didn't buy it with the Rodney King cops, I didn't by it with Lemrick Nelson, and I don't buy it now, much as I'd like to see Terry
Nichols fry.