Boko Fights Death Penalty

By Lekopanye Mooketsi
Correspondent | Tuesday March 25, 2008 00:00

 

Duma is representing Brandon Sampson, a Motswana recently sentenced to death together with his South African counterpart, Michael Molefhe after they killed two Zimbabwean men. Boko said he is embarking on a campaign that might lead to the abolition of the death penalty. He says he is ready to fight the matter in courts. Although he is going to file an appeal for his client, he will be waging the struggle against the death penalty separately. Boko becomes emotional when discussing the issue of the death penalty. He is an ardent opponent of capital punishment.

Recently he broke down in court when he was pleading with the court not to sentence his client to death.  'You choke with emotion if you take your role seriously when you find yourself pleading to save a man's life. It is an emotional moment and not many legal practitioners have been in that position. It is a humble moment in one's professional life,' said the outspoken attorney.  He described the death penalty as a terribly unpleasant situation for any one involved in the case. 'It is a traumatic experience for all those who are involved,' he said.

As lawyers, he said, they establish a relationship with their clients. 'The relationship is professional but we are human beings.'

Boko said it is unpleasant to hear a judge pronouncing to another human being that: 'You shall be hanged by the neck until you die.' 'The pronouncement of the death sentence devalues our humanity,' argues Boko. 

He said the person who pronounces the death penalty is in a more traumatic position than the prisoner who is receiving the sentence. He feels that judges kill when they sentence other people to death. 

'The words 'you shall hang by the neck until you die', speak more about the person uttering them than the person they are directed at. It is that person whose values are under the spotlight. What values do you attach to human life if you want to go out and pass an irrevocable sentence on another person? It is an indictment against the person who makes this statement.  It is an indictment against the society to retain a heinous penalty.'

He said when a judge pronounces the death penalty, the finger is pointing at him or her.  'We need to ask ourselves: Who is this person? Is the court taking the role of God?' he said, arguing that the death penalty is a sad indictment on the value of life.

Boko argued that the question as to whether someone would hang or not, depends on who the judge presiding over the case is. 'It is arbitrarily and unevenly applied depending on who the judge is. That is why I am saying the death penalty speaks about the judge,' he said. He contends that there is disparity in sentencing.  He said some judges are known to be more lenient than others. 'If you appear before a harsh judge, you will hang,' said Boko. In Boko's view, sentencing somebody to death is like a throw of a dice. 'We are casting a dice. It is inherently arbitrary. It is unfair. It is for this reason that it should not be applied,' he says as he raises his voice. 

The death penalty, according to the attorney, is a violation of justice. 'This is why when you are confronted with the situation, you choke with emotion.   It is a heavy burden on any person.  It is unjustifiable; only God must take a life.  We (humans) are not infallible,' said Boko.    He said the measure of the society's maturity lies in its humane treatment of crime and criminals, adding that the death penalty is inhumane.   Boko said prisoners sentenced to death suffer from what he calls the 'death row syndrome'. He wondered if anybody cares about how the death row inmates dealt with the resultant trauma after their sentences had been set aside by the Court of Appeal. He described the pain of waiting on the death row as inhuman.  Boko said although he is against the death penalty, that does not mean that he condones the act of the person who has killed another human being.  'But we are not saying we should adopt the standard of the murderer. We do not rape you when you have raped, do we?

'When you have raped we apply punishment but we do not adopt your standard.  But why don't we do it in the case of murder? We should apply a humane form of punishment that we will teach the murderer that human life is sacrosanct.'  Boko is saddened when life is trivialised by both the murderer and the state.  Boko is busy working on his campaign against the death penalty. By the time his client's appeal is heard, there might be some developments. To him, the death penalty is a bigger issue. It is a political issue. It is a jurisprudence issue. 

'It is bigger than Brandon Sampson.  It is bigger than Duma Boko.  When I am pursuing this battle, I am pursuing a bigger ideal,' he said.