Another injustice in Arizona

On Tuesday night, October 26, Arizona executed Jeffrey Landrigan despite concerns about his representation at trial and other mitigating evidence.

As I noted in a previous blog post, Amnesty International had expressed the following concerns about Landrigan's case:

"Thirteen federal judges have argued that he should have had a hearing into his claim that he was inadequately represented at his 1990 trial. In 2007, the trial judge said that she would not have passed a death sentence if she had heard the mitigating evidence."

I suppose we shouldn't be surprised that Arizona "balked" at the prospect of commuting Landrigan's death sentence, as the Boston Herald put it. Lately that state has not exactly become known for humanitarianism.

After all, this is the same state that earlier this year passed that infamously draconian immigration law, nicknamed the "Show Your Papers" law.

And this is the same state where the infamous Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is the subject of FBI, Justice Department, and Federal Grand Jury investigations for civil rights violations and abuse of power.

Arizona's leaders and other officials appear to be more concerned with power and expediency than actual justice. And that to me seems downright un-American.