WILL FLORIDA EXECUTE AN INNOCENT MAN

The headline in the NY Times Op Ed here is whether Florida will kill  an innocent man? 
The dirty truth is that in almost everyway possible, Florida has already killed James Dailey, 72, who has been on death row since 1987. It's a life wasted by a legal system that has only a passing familiarity with justice, and no real desire for fairness. 

By now we are weary of reading the same old story, over and over, each innocent life wasted over a case with some different twists for each injustice. In James Dailey's case it was the brutal murder of Shelly Boggio a teenager at the time. The killing was front page news in the community surrounding Tampa. The investigation centered on Jack Pearcy, a man with a violent history towards women, who admitted stabbing (but not killing) Ms. Boggio.  Pearcy was convicted but the jury did not recommend death, and that in turn, was something the prosecution could not live with. So they went after Dailey- Pearcy's roommate. And to get Dailey, they needed one of the most notorious jail house snitches in the sordid history of Florida's use of such scum- Paul Skalnik. 

Skalnik had a long history of crimes, including sexual assaults on children. He was a con man, a liar, a thief, a predator, and a jail house snitch that sent four men to death row. It would be comic if it wasn't tragic that when Skalnik finally accused prosecutors of lying and coaching him on his testimony- including his repeated testimony that he wasn't be rewarded for his testimony- when in Dailey's case he was released on a rape charge five days later- prosecutors responded that Skalnik was lying about them- but otherwise testified truthfully. 

As a stay expires, the governor has expressed an eager desire to sign the death warrant for James Dailey despite a second affidavit from Jack Pearcy that he and he alone killed Shelly Boggio. 

The State of Florida has already wasted thirty-two years of James Dailey's life. Thirty-two years in a death row cell as an innocent man watching his life slowly drip away day by day. And now the State wants its final pound of flesh from a Vietnam War Veteran who is innocent. 

Happy New Years.