January 6, 2006
Crime and Punishment Department
Seeking Truth
Roger Keith Coleman was executed 13 years ago in Virginia for the murder of Wanda McCoy. Death penalty opponents have for years insisted that he was probably innocent, and they have recently been trying to have DNA tests conducted that might prove his innocence. They've had no luck, however, because there's no legal justification for such tests to be performed: Coleman is dead, and the case is closed. DNA tests can't change that.
However, in a very unusual move, Virginia Governor Mark Warner has ordered DNA tests of the evidence. Preliminary results could be back as soon as next week. A lot of people are pretty excited about this, but not all of them are happy.
One of the people who isn't happy with this is Tom McKenna over at Seeking Justice. Tom's a prosecutor in Virginia where this is going on (but I don't think he has anything to do with the case). He has this to say:
"Where does it end?..."
...is the question of Brad McCoy, who was Wanda McCoy's husband when Roger Keith Coleman raped and stabbed her to death. He's wondering when the anti-death penalty agitprop establishment will let his wife rest in peace. Governor Mark Warner, with his eye on the Democratic presidential nomination for '08, has ordered yet another DNA test on crime scene evidence to determine if Coleman, who has been dead for 13 years, having been executed in 1992, was really guilty of the crime.
[...] What point is served by this retesting other than the serving the anti-DP crowd's efforts to try to find the first innocent person executed in order to bolster their abolitionist agenda? Why should the desire of the victims for peace and closure be trumped by an ambitious politico carrying out the wishes of an extremist anti-death penalty chorus which has been frustrated for 30 years in their efforts to find that holy grail, a case where an innocent person has been executed? It bothers these criminal advocates no end that the error rate for executions stands exactly at zero. They will spare no one in their quest for that one case they hope will change it all, and Warner is their boy. Wanda's family? Expendable to these crusaders in pursuing their holy war against capital punishment.
Spare no one? Wanda McCoy's family is "expendable? Tom's gone a bit overboard here. No one is hurting the victim's family. Undoubtedly, they're upset by all activity and press coverage, but this sort of exaggeration is unnecessary.
On the other hand, Tom's concern for the victim's family's "peace and closure" makes him sound like some kind of parody of a bleeding heart liberal. I'm sure the murder of Wendy McCoy was a terrible thing for the family, and I hope their lives are getting better; However, the death penalty is an important matter of public policy. Having the truth is therefore important. The family's desire for peace and closure is important, but not important enough to avoid seeking the truth.
Let's keep in mind that Coleman is dead. Executed. That's got to be 99% of all the closure McCoy could possibly expect. I don't think we should turn our backs on the truth just so he can have that last 1%.
After all, assuming the evidence has not degraded, what are the possible results of the test? The most likely outcome is that the DNA will match, probably with enough markers for millions-to-one odds. That will close the door on Coleman's possible innocence, especially when combined with the fact that he was already found guilty without the DNA.
This may not be enough to get the fanatics to change their minds, but most people are not fanatics, so the fanatics will have a hard time convincing others of Coleman's innocence. Whatever other arguments there may be against the death penalty, it will be clear that Coleman got what was coming to him.
And if it turns out Coleman is innocent? Then the people involved in his execution don't entirely deserve peace and closure, do they? And if Coleman is innocent, the family's discomfort is not the fault of death-penalty opponents. The blame for that fiasco would fall squarely on actually murderer of Wendy McCoy and on the police, prosecutors, and judges who let him get away with it.
I doubt that Coleman was actually innocent. Still, I think this DNA testing is a good idea. When the results come in, everybody involved on either side of this issue should have to face the truth. Come what may.
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Now you know the truth. Coleman was not an innocent man.