Kevin Green is scheduled to be executed tonight, having been convicted and sentenced to death for a 1998 murder of Patricia L. Vaughan. Kevin Green is, by many accounts (though not that of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals), mentally retarded. Details of Green’s retardation here. I am an absolute opponent of the death penalty. While I recognize that absolute opposition isn’t a universally shared view, I would hope that we could all agree that mentally retarded people shouldn’t be murdered in revenge for their crimes. If you do, I hope you’ll contact Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine (right now) and ask him to stop the execution.

Update: Prof. Ruckerman over at Pardon Power has a clear-eyed take on the politics of execution here in Virginia.

(And yes, comments are closed. First time ever, I believe. I don’t delete comments, and I’m not afraid of debate. But I am absolutely uninterested in dealing with the trolls that this topic will attract.)