After all, messengers deserve what they get

An American Bar Association panel has called for Alabama to halt executions until the state addresses problems in its death penalty system, including poor representation and inadequate access to post-conviction DNA tests. The group also noted that Alabama has yet to pass legislation to enforce the U.S. Supreme Court's decision that executing mentally retarded defendants is unconstitutional.

If you expected Attorney General Troy King to address any of these concerns on the merits, try again. Instead, King attacked the messenger, calling the ABA "a liberal, activist organization with an agenda they constantly push." It's a silly non sequitur, unless, of course, you believe that the 57 percent of Alabamians who support a moratorium are a bunch of wild-eyed liberal activists.

King also boldly asserted that "[n]obody can point to an innocent person in Alabama who has been executed." He must have never broached the topic with former Justice Douglas Johnstone.