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Oo t+ 1 < * pw ew IN ew Ow ew wee. "9 Fp COIN PS COE SSL On VU NVR NOD 7 Tie TOC TT YSU BEE OTS OE 40 OST AIBC tb. . , a wish f could ake In: ed then who believe iu dw ~) dfelons, dhroagh the agoni eapatal prthatins. cis Ythe last days of waiting in the Jdeathan. - . Thouse to be hanged or electrocuted, | i through - ie yucwrenching _ Hast, meal, through the writing of the last heart: breaking leucr to one’s wife‘or daughter. +’ ' 4 singlchandecly. “rg that the death penalty deters crime? _— } simply feared “he'd wind up in the clink. 3 Lee me de just this, nodting more—wud a . . . i Ald beable ve defeat capital punishment : 1 dptaysoy: Do you disagree with the view i BEW: | Naturally, punishment does de-.; ter.some crime. A lot of crime hasn't hap- pened because whoever considered it" { i 1 But you've got a different breed of moti- vation in murder—because of its irra-.: tionality. Most “murderers just don't think +in. “terms of consequences, they ‘i j don't think it all, as a matter of fact. ; Thus, the death penalty does very little, - j -“Pif anything, to deter murder. I've: seen prisoners join a jailbreak, going right. ‘they knew could put them in the death : house, and it didn’t deter them a bit. 4 ! pLaYBOY: “Examining another aspect -of ‘ American justice in a recent book called | yIniocence, author. Fedward D. Radin . estimated that some 14,000 people cach rycar are convicted, imprisoned ‘and in, “+ some cases executed for .crimes they ©: didn't commit. Are those figures ‘accu- rate, in your opinion? .” 2 BELLI: We can't have any way of know- ing for sure unless their convictions are -yeversed—anid nothing Hike that number are. Circunstuntial evidence can often be joaded or misicadizg, aiid CVEWILUCsscs “ean be mistaken ar untruthful, but Pm | “stil not among ihosc who feel that a ‘preat number of inecciit people are; convicted because of cither. 1 have too | “much respect for our system of law to : _ believe thit justice could miscarry so of- ten and on such « scale. Over and above | i that, I've had the practical experience to 7 ldeny the allegation. But, of course; i miscarriages do occur, and probably al- | i ways will, for man-made Jaw will always {7 -? be fallible: but even if it happens only | sence in a million cases, we must rectily | tit and look for means to improve our : “system of justice ‘so that the same mis- ; surke isn’t made again. If by protecting |." [the rights of an accused, providing him ; :as we do with recourse to appeal for aj e reversed decision on the basis of irregue : i darisies in the conduct of his trial, we : cnable 1en guilty men to go {ree because 2 “their lawyers get them off/on a “teal : technicality,” it, would) still be better - ‘than for one innocent man tobe convict ; (ed and imprisoned, or even: executed, because he had no such recoursc. : - PLAYBOY: A moment ago .you brought po , up the fallibility of eyewitness testimony. = 7 3 + egard -policemen, Sie ire j Z pas¢ condemned row, doing exactly what +. tot ie Sealy DAT Se Te . - herence to the rule of evidence ~cBR | available to his attorney nor menticn§ ' and a stiff sentence. The presumption - innocence until guilt is proven is Be | | lawyers, not for cops. The man must & ; “guilty, they think, or else why has § _been arrested, arraigned and brough iplad stion: Ithappens-to be one: of-thesaxes. 1-426 grind in my book Dallas fusiize. Init, J said I was convinced that the testimonial - credibility of policemen’on the witness — stand is often highly suspect, for it ster s from the belief, deep in creir iaw-abic -g ing-hearts, that they are serving a highuxg truth than justice when they testify (44 the prosecution. They often know <1 about the case in which they-are tert ing that-might be helpful to the defen} i ant—but they sometimes neither ma!:c By in court. They are convinced—it’s pf of being a cop—that the reason the fag fendant is sitting there is chat the BR their part of the law, has doncfits j and that the job of judge and jury isg provide z-quick, questionless convictig trial? So they sometimes convince th: selves that a modicum of truth stre tb. ing or truth omission on their part 70} te achieve the desirable end that strict gi not. 3s : ne Perhaps, of all people, from. wk you've read of me, ‘and because of wi'@. ” I've just said, you wouldn't expect gg: | to say this, but I think the wwe American: policeman not only is a ge" guy, but he’s underpaid, overwarl eo. and a pretty damned good fisvn being. ‘He goes out of his way ws nelp kids, and to help people in trouble. It’s only | the black sheep, Me errant cop, who gets | into the newspapers. And uiank God | there aren't many of them. | : PLAYBOY: The U.S. crime rate is steadily © rising, and many law-enforcemei t ae cers are convinced that part of the cause lies in the courts’ insistence on strict : rules of evidence that provide. lawyers, as you mentioned a moment age, with “legal loopholes” tc spring icir client. : How do you feel about it? © . BELU: What the police mentality sccins unable 10 comprehend is ditt these :?“loopholes,” these technicalities of ihe law, are among the inalicnable” protec- tions against he violation and usur st tion of human rights. I admit that J:¢ seen a few flagrantly guily meni: p | through legal loopholes and go scot. ¢ | init my time; bad fur more often Tres on: these same loopholes used to +. °2 inno- cent men and women who Wogs: of sT wise have perished or been sen priv for the best years of their lives. 24%), ‘Utat’s not the reason for wie rising ¢* ie ‘And it's certainly r3t because * pis | “vcd. at