he: was convicted in 1948. He has therefore been under
sen- tence of death for no fewer than seven years. It can be argued of course that the delay is his own fault. A brilliant prison-cell lawyer, he has taken advantage of every conceivable legal technicality to postpone his fate. All that is true; still I do not think that a man can be blamed for making efforts to save his life. Whether or not capital punishment for kidnapping or even for murder is necessary in California I do not know, but I have no doubt at all that to execute Chessman now after all these years would be an act of extraordinary barbarism. If the State of California wishes to prevent this sort of thing happening again it can amend its laws and close some of the loopholes through which condemned men manage to wriggle. In the meantime, if Governor Goodwin Knight has any preten- sion to being a civilised man he should stop playing cat and mouse with Chessman and remit the death sentence.
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