True, but this isn't science and we're not testing theories here. The fact that there are executions for nonviolent crimes does not negative the validity of the death penalty for violent crimes. The context in which the death penalty is commonly given in the United States is a violent crime. I do not know of any recent cases (post 1980) in which the death penalty was handed out for a nonviolent conviction. You're argument may be valid for the death penalty in 1946, or in cases where there is no violent crime, but that is not how the death penalty is used today, and thus statements like "...as it stands we have nothing but state sanctioned murder..." are completely baseless.