Let him be a symbol

Maggie says:
Virginia Governor Mark Warner granted clemency today to what would have been the 1,000th prisoner executed in the U.S. since the reinstatement of capital punishment in 1976. The man, Robin Lovitt, was given a life sentence without chance of parole rather than the lethal injection he'd been scheduled for. He was convicted of stabbing someone during a robbery.

The 1,000th prisoner in line for execution is now a North Carolina man, Kenneth Lee Boyd, convicted of killing his estranged wife and her father. The next opportunity to spare someone's life rather than support state-sponsored killing resides with NC Governor Mike Easley. It's a case many of us will be watching closely.

Who is willing to be the symbol for an arbitrary justice system that kills and saves with stereotypical abandon? More importantly, who is willing to not be that symbol, no matter what it takes?