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NYC Wants Death Penalty In Terror Trials, Germany Doesn't
By
Ben Muessig
Published Nov 22, 2009
Modified Nov 22, 2009
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By
Ben Muessig
Published Nov 22, 2009
Modified Nov 22, 2009
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The majority of New Yorkers want to see Khalid Sheik Mohammed and four other suspected terrorists put to death, according to a study by Marist and the Daily News. If found guilty, 73 percent of locals want Mohammed to be executed, while 67 percent of New Yorkers support the death penalty for the other suspects, the poll reveals.
In a study that comes just days after a Gothamist poll revealed that about 80 percent of readers of this site think the terror trials should take place in New York City, the new poll shows that more than two thirds of New Yorkers say they would be willing to serve on the jury. And despite the city's liberal reputation, a "solid 69% expressed confidence that a city jury would return the unanimous verdict required to sentence the accused terrorists to death," the paper reports. "Those guys don't stand a chance," said Henry Romer, 51, a construction manager in midtown Manhattan. "There's no question they'll get the death penalty here."
That's exactly what the German government doesn't want. The Post reports that Germany — which has a ban on the death penalty — will send a team of observers to the terror trials to make sure that evidence obtained by the nation's agents "on the condition that it could not be used to support a death sentence" isn't used to push for capital punishment. The paper notes that it's unclear how exactly evidence gathered in Germany can be differentiated from other evidence, but an attorney who represents suspect Ramzi Binalshibh told the German broadcast network Deutsche Welle that a conviction "would scarcely be possible without evidence from Germany."
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