As the news of Phillip Garrido's twisted crimes continues to unfold, I'm seeing a lot of people — including Jez commenters and Katherine Callaway Hall, whom Garrido abducted and raped in 1976 — wishing he could be put to death.

Barry Scheck is co-founder of The Innocence Project, the purpose of which is to utilize DNA technology to free people wrongfully accused of crimes in which DNA evidence is available. The Innocence Project has had a number of spectacular successes, including the case of Ronald Cotton, who was convicted based on the…