Puerto Rico Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla

PUERTO RICO: GOVERNOR AGAINST REINSTITUTING DEATH PENALTY

November 24, 2014: Puerto Rico Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla said that the death penalty is a "social aberration" and he came out against using capital punishment on the island, where it has been prohibited for decades.
"The death penalty is a social aberration that should be eradicated from humanity," said Garcia Padilla in response to requests that the punishment be reinstituted for the multiple murder a week ago of a family of four in their home in the upscale Guaynabo neighborhood, in the outskirts of San Juan.
Murdered in the home were the father, his wife and her daughter - both of whom were Peruvians - and the couple's 15-year-old son.
The couple's other son, 13, survived after witnessing the murderers dispatching his other family members and being stabbed, strangled and thrown off a bridge.
The boy's testimony has outraged the vast majority of Puerto Rican society, which is more accustomed to the murders of young men involved with drug trafficking or gangs.
Garcia Padilla said that using the death penalty as a punishment runs the risk of "executing innocents."
Puerto Rico carried out its last execution in 1926 and in 1929 it abolished capital punishment, a move ratified by the island's constitution in 1952 whereby, despite the fact that it is legal elsewhere on U.S. territory, it may not be used on the island, which is a U.S. commonwealth. (Sources: EFE, 24/11/2014)