[UncleEntity]

I recall years ago (I believe it was [0]) the US gave guarantees they wouldn't prosecute under threat of the death penalty and totally reneged. Stuff like this makes it harder in the future to get cooperation from other countries because they see US guarantees as basically worthless.

What's that saying... "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."

[0] https://caselaw.findlaw.com/wa-supreme-court/1360678.html

[garmaine]

Not really an excuse because I agree with the intent of what you're saying, but the federated system of the US means that the state department or president or whatever DOESN'T have the authority to tell the state of Washington whether or not to pursue the death penalty. That would have been the Federal government promising the actions of a third party it has no control over... which is pretty bad but a little different from outright intentional fraud.