Things got tense last night during the Democratic town hall in Ohio when the former secretary of state was faced with a question from Ricky Jackson.
Jackson was exonerated in 2014 after spending most of his life in prison, including time on death row, for a crime he didn’t commit.
Clinton looked visibly uncomfortable as Jackson shared his story and asked:
“How can you still take your stance on the death penalty in light of what you know right now?”
Clinton responded saying she still supports the death penalty, but only for extreme terrorism cases that end up under federal jurisdiction.
“This is such a profoundly difficult question,” Clinton said to the audience.
“I have said I would breathe a sigh of relief if either the Supreme Court or the states themselves began to eliminate the death penalty.
“Where I end up is this,” she said. “And maybe it’s a distinction that is hard to support. … The kind of crimes I’m thinking of are the bombing in Oklahoma City … the plotters and the people who carried out the attacks on 9/11.
“But a very limited use of it in cases where there has been horrific mass killings. That’s really the exception that I still am struggling with. And that would only be in the federal system.
“But what happened to you,” she said to Jackson, “is a travesty.”
The moment was broadcast by CNN.
Watch it here.
Hillary Clinton says she supports the death penalty in cases with “horrific mass killings” https://t.co/avxdNOphmH https://t.co/AArc0Mct6v
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) March 14, 2016
