I remember at the time Timothy McVeigh's father couldn't bring himself to plead for mercy, but he did say very wisely (in my opinion) that once you had killed his son - the last chance was gone for finding out the truth of the matter.

I can't really see what capital punishment achieves for a great country like the USA. God knows when the Irish troubles were at their height in the 1970's and 1980's - there were times when cheap shot politicians ike Thatcher(simplistic answers for complicated problems being their stock in trade) could always get a round of applause from their followers by wanting to bring back hanging in England - but thank Christ the government as a whole, had to act more responsibly.