[nih]

...to sharp jabby things. He has been sentenced to die by lethal injection.

Regardless of whether he appeals or not, he'll live for at least another five years in a small cell. After five years, any appeals will be heard. The process can drag on for a decade.

So pretend for a moment you're sentenced to die. Do you make it take as long as possible, follow every avenue, fight for every last second of life? Because after that, there's a good chance you really will cease to exist in every possible way. All this passes through your mind as you sit in your holding cell the night after sentencing.

Or do you begrudge the waiting, the slow looming, the cramped, confined last few years before your country takes your life from you. Would you rather the appeals were over with sooner, or that you simply had the option to skip the fuss and expense and most of all the waiting? Would you choose to die the next day if the option was open to you?

Regardless of guilt, consider for a moment what sort of existence lies ahead for Scott Peterson.