South Dakota Attorney General Quotes Martin Luther King To Express Support For Death Penalty
TOM KLUDT – JANUARY 22, 2014, 8:35 AM EST
South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley pulled a quote from an unlikely source this week to emphasize his support for capital punishment.
Responding to the Supreme Court's rejection of an appeal from death row inmate Charles Rhines, Jackley cited Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous "Letter from the Birmingham Jail" in applauding the decision.
“The United States Supreme Court’s order today affirms that South Dakota has taken proper precautions in drafting and implementing its death penalty statutes to assure that they meet constitutional requirements. Donnivan Schaeffer’s family has waited 22 years in their search for justice. In the wake of yesterday’s day of remembrance, it is well to recall what Martin Luther King Jr. recognized in his Letter from the Birmingham Jail: ‘Justice too long delayed is justice denied.’”
It was strange, as the Argus Leader's David Montgomery noted, because King was an avowed opponent to the death penalty.
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