The witnesses are often professionals whose business, standing or identity is directly tied to the process. The professionals are there by choice. They often travel great distances to be there under any one of a thousand pretexts.

They will walk away from the execution with one liners for a paper or a merit badge to validate this or that position. Their political purity will be validated.

What we don't see is the people sucked into the process. They often become unwilling hosts for these professional parasites. They are apt to appear in the trial, sentencing and appellate proceedings or in learned papers attesting to the this or that. These are people whose less than perfect lives are exposed, dissected and exploited by the professionals. Another myth that underlies the entire process is that the condemned is guilty. The truth is in that most cases we cannot be certain.

What we do know is that in the 1990s for every person executed from death there was one exonerated from death row.

What we do know is that Florida accounts for 25% of the people exonerated from death row in these United States over the last 30 years. The point is not that the system works but how did so many end up there in the first place.

What we do know is that Frank Smith died after 10 years on death row of natural causes only be to exonerated after his death.

What we do know is that for every execution there are more lives trashed than are given closure.

What we do not know is how many people have been executed that were innocent. In part because it is in no ones best interest to make it known. Also, there is no mechanism to continue the case after execution.

What we do know is that the professionals build careers and enhance their standing in the process.

And the curtain is closed to hide the emperor without any clothes.