Simply to play devil's advocate....you say "its about freedom-a woman's freedom to control her own body". However, once she becomes pregnant...is it only her body then? Her body is supporting another life so one can make the argument that she is then sharing her body with another being and it is no longer her own.

If the man can still play and theres a team that wants to gamble on him...then why not? More power to him.

You couldnt be more correct. As someone who works directly with this topic, I can tell you that it is biased. It goes as deep as how grand juries are selected (who subsequently sign off on an indictment to charge someone with capital murder). Proportionality is supposed to be representative of the population (age, race, etc.). Lets just say we have found numerous courts that have not followed the law to the T. That to me, is a scary thought. Keeping in mind that not every district is biased. Some have and do in fact follow the guidelines as they are written.

If his rights are violated then yes, the illegal evidence must be thrown out. I'd hate to think that anyone could have illegal evidence brought against them in order to prosecute. That'd allow for all sorts of corruptness. I'd be 100% concerned if illegal evidence could be brought against me. Anyone could fall victim to that. The police and prosecuters must dot all the I's and cross all the T's in order to bring a fair and accurate prosecution against someone. Defense attorneys are not there to determine innocence or guilt, but to uphold the constitution and bill of rights. They are the police of the police so to speak. If we allow prosecutors to bring illegal evidence against people then we all set ourselves up to be illegally prosecuted.

I do not like smelling smoke or breathing it in while eating at a restaurant. However, to play devil's advocate, whose the govt to tell an owner of a restaurant that he/she cannot make a decision as to whether or not smoking is allowed in their restaurant? Yes, the govt regulates food prep. and storage (which is good!). But I just have to think that they may be reaching too far with this. I tend to go to restaurants and eat where smoking is banned, however I dont believe that it should be a law, I believe it should be an owner's choice. Yes, it does prove to be a hazard to worker's health. Maybe they ought to be made aware and sign something stating that they know working in a smoking restaurant could cause health issues. A police officer is aware that every time he/she goes to work they could be hurt or even killed.

I think it is a difficult debate regardless of the two things I added to support life in prison. With all the facts and how they look on paper, to me, its a struggle b/w the facts and the thought of being a victim or having someone close to me be a victim. Its easy for me to sit back and support this or that. But then I think, "what if i had a young daughter who was raped and killed...what if my mother was tortured and killed?" I tend to think that my initial reaction would be to kill the person who did this. I only hope after time that I would be able to make a smart and rational decision...as hard as that would be.

Too many laws are made to discourage freedom. Dubya said after 9/11 that America's way of Freedom had been attacked. I don't believe so. America's way of order had been attacked. We are still free to do the same things that we had before 9/11. Order in America was disturbed that day, not freedom. Order has to do with the ability to not worry of being attacked or killed walking down the street. Freedom has to do with making your own choices in life.

Difficult debate. Felt inclined to point out two things. As to the issue of guilt/innocence...innocent persons have been put to death in the U.S. However, the state(s) that did so believed (i.e. "knew") that they were guilty. Come to think of it, at one time, we "knew" the world was flat. One innocent person killed by the state is one too many if it is not a full-proof system.

To the issue of cost...Urban Institute completed a study (Life in prison vs. DP) for the state of Maryland. Findings: cost of DP (trial, attorney costs, investigator costs, mitigation specialists, expert witnesses, etc) is substaintially more than life in prison. With the appellate process as it is, it takes years and years, and much money to go from Grand Jury Indictment to needle. Several other states including Kentucky (cannot think of the others off the top of my head) have had the same study completed with the same results. Virginia...has not had the study done as of yet.