Mixed feelings on death penalty cases

In a practical/political sense, one CANNOT be "pro-life" and pro-death penalty without explaining the apparent hypocrisy. Aside from caring more for an unborn child than the value of life for that child once born, but living in poverty, ignorance and bigotry, the question to ask is "When is it proper to kill people as a society?" The pro-lifers who also advocate wars in which they refuse to participate make no sense; it's a morally bankrupt position and would offend Jesus, Mohammed or any other "prophet" - all of whom advocated peace and life.
While the Troy Davis situation in Georgia is particularly disturbing because there was a decent degree of probability of his innocence, I really have NO problem with the execution of Lawrence Russell Brewer in Texas last night.
He was the white supremacist that participated in the heinous death of James Byrd 13 years ago in Jasper, Texas. When he told a Beaumont TV station, “I’d do it all over again, to tell you the truth," he forfeited his right to an ounce of sympathy from anyone who considers themselves human. The man was an animal of the worst kind. Sorry, but good riddance to his stupid, evil, cracker-ass.
Troy Davis was a different case; seven of the nine eyewitnesses recanted their earlier testimony,the police did not conduct a proper investigation (employing identification methods that don't even pass the Law and Order smell test) and the man went to his grave with his story unchanged - that he was innocent of the crime for which he lost his life.
Our society should be forced to examine guilt/innocence of all death rows inmates to ensure NO innocent person is subject to the ultimate penalty. Too many recent cases have shown how the legal system breaks down in that search for vengeance; too many men have been released when DNA evidence or other procedures have demonstrated innocence from the start.
To those who claim we can't afford it, I say we can't afford NOT to do it. If we don't, we lose any claim to so-called moral superiority (as divined by God claimed by the evangelicals among us) within the nations of the world. Too many societies we deem as barbaric and inhuman execute people at a high rate, but no nation, within those in the industrialized world, does it more often than the United States.
Except for the animals within our civilization, like Lawrence Brewer, we should proceed with ALL caution into that abyss.