On November 23, 2009 an Alameda County Jury returned a verdict of death for 35 year old Christopher Evans. In April of 2001 the 27 year old Evans murdered two people after being punched by a person associated with the two victims.  The aggravating and mitigating circumstance appeared to mirror the usual factors. Christopher Evans was a nice kid until he became a part of and desensitized to the horrific violence associated with being born and raised near 85th and International Blvd in Oakland. His anger went unchecked for so long that he probably couldn't even tell you why he hurt so much.

The victim's family and friends are left with the terrible image of their loved ones bleeding to death on the cold hard streets of East Oakland. The jurors, judge, DA and Defense Attorneys are no doubt trying to mentally and physically recover from yet another 8-9 months of 12 hour days and 20 hour weekends where they tried to do what they believed was best for our county and state.

In the end we are still left with the same question, "What did we accomplish by making Christopher Evans the 686th inmate on California's Death Row?" Have we deterred anyone from committing a murder? People who murder don't read newspaper articles about Death verdicts. Have we made our county safer? There have been at least a dozen murders since the verdict came down. Do we have some closure? The state of California has already expended about an additional $100,000 to put Christopher Evans on Death Row and will spend another $250,000 in appeals before a 60 year old Christopher Evans makes his walk to the Death chamber. All we really have is  more questions and less answers. 

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1. Comment by Richard L. Martinez, Jan 7th, 2010 11:04am

   1982-1987, I was the administrator for all or parts of the condemned in California. From my point of view, having worked in the field, testified a number of times on death cases, classified thousands of inmates (including hundreds of condemned), reviewed many of the death cases on appeal, complied with a number of court cases involving overall inmate living conditions, I have developed my opinion on a number of issues:
   
   Fact - the death penalty is not a deterrent as many claim;
   Fact - capital punishment cases are substantially more costly than life or life without;
   Fact - most on death row did not have the financial wherewithal to hire a 'Dream Team', many having to rely upon legal representation provided by the government;
   Fact - we continue to allow the ultimate punishment to be reserved for the less fortunate, the poor and minorities;
   Fact - we have made too many mistakes;
   Fact - the death penalty is excessive, therefore cruel, in that other punishments can accomplish most of what the death penalty is alleged to.
   
   No one is saying we must love the murderers amongst us, but we as a society have got to set the emotional issue aside and look at facts.
   
   




2. Comment by KonnieYl, Dec 24th, 2009 3:39pm

   Smashing article referring to this topic.