Monday, July 15, 2013 | 2:02 a.m.
View more of the Sun's opinion section
View more of the Sun's opinion section
Our legal justice system, which considers mitigating circumstances, makes me proud to be American.
If our judges ruled by an “eye for an eye,” capital punishment would be a common, not rare, verdict for those who killed accidentally.
Our justice system tries to protect some animals that humans endanger. For example, staged dog fights are illegal. Legal protection is payback for “man’s best friend,” a mammal that instinctively protects and sometimes saves human lives.
Some Americans have supported an “accused” dog named Onion all the way to the Nevada Supreme Court. This dog was a family’s beloved pet, until one horrible day, as the pet slept, his best buddy toddler fell and “struck” Onion. He woke up, biting. The child died.
Onion’s owner is grief-stricken, but she wants him to live the rest of his life at a Colorado animal sanctuary. Some people are demanding euthanization: “an eye for an eye.” They deny equal rights to dogs.
What would Solomon say? I doubt that he would overrule Onion’s owner.
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