An incredible story from Australia: During a murder trial of a 51-year-old man who had confessed to killing the victim, then 14 and now 18, she was found alive.
We noted last fall, in discussing the Eddie Joe Lloyd case, that there cannot be certainty about many murder cases, even cases in which the defendant "admits" to having done the crime. False confessions are not vanishingly rare; they happen all too often, for a number of reasons. We continue to adhere to the belief that capital punishment is appropriate for egregious cases only when there is absolute certainty that a crime has been committed and that the defendant did it. Not confidence beyond a reasonable doubt -- absolute certainty. And as we get older and grayer, we wonder how many cases truly can meet that exacting standard.
11:26:57 PM 
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