Paul Charlton, the former U.S. attorney for Arizona, one of the eight Attorneys fired for not following the Bu$hCo line, testified yesterday to a Senate committee about his time as an US Attorney, and the official DOJ philosophy about the death penalty.

While convicting a meth manufacturer of murdering his dealer, Charlton sought to get a long imprisonment. There was considerable evidence for a conviction, but no body. Typically, such a case in a Federal court can be won for imprisonment.

They decided against seeking the death penalty according to a simple rule: while the evidence had been sufficient to convince a jury that Rico was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, it was not sufficient to be sure beyond all doubt. Rico had been convicted based on the testimony of cooperating witnesses, despite the lack of forensic evidence (there was no body). Charlton explained:

This paucity of forensic evidence, evidence that doesn't forget and cannot lie, means, in my opinion, that Rios Rico should not be a death penalty case. If a government seeks to take another person's life it should do so on only the best of evidence.

It's not that prosecutors didn't know where Rico's body was -- it's in a landfill. But it would cost $500,0000 to $1 million to retrieve the body. When Charlton requested that money, the Department refused.

Abu Gonzalez, following the advice of his Death Penalty Committee, denied Charlton’s request to put aside the death penalty request. A cynical man might think the Committee was operating under Mr Gonzalez’ orders to demand the death penalty. After all, when he was Governor Bu$h’s apparatchik in Texas, they regularly disposed of death warrants in 5 or 10 minutes. If life is cheap in Texas, why would its cost change in Washington?

There’s much more, including some truly stunning details in testimony recounted in Paul Kiel’s excellent summation of how much regard Mr Gonzalez has for human life.