(CNN) -- Some found it shocking when Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber granted convicted double-murderer Gary Haugen a reprieve Tuesday, setting aside Haugen's scheduled December 6 execution. Haugen, who killed another prisoner while serving a life sentence for a previous murder, had waived all appeals. In a previous term as governor, Kitzhaber allowed two men to be executed, and he explained Tuesday that "I simply cannot participate once again in something that I believe to be morally wrong." A medical doctor with an active license, the governor also referred to his oath as a physician to "do no harm" as he announced Haugen's reprieve and a moratorium on executions for the remainder of his term in office. Notably, in issuing a reprieve (or delay) rather than commuting Haugen's sentence, Kitzhaber left open the possibility of Haugen's execution under a future governor.
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Mark Osler: Oregon governor drew some angry reactions to convict's execution reprieve
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But executive clemency part of Oregon law, Osler says, an act of principle, not cowardice
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Osler: It's right to resist process that pulls prosecutors, jurors, families into flawed system
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Gov. Kitzhaber should go further and commute death row sentences, Osler says
This wave of anger, though, should not distract from two important truths: first, that @placeholder's actions are within, not without, the basic rules of our democracy; second, that Kitzhaber is a proxy for the thousands of people in this country who have had to live with doubt and even regret because they were thrust into the death penalty process while doing their civic duty as jurors, judges or lawyers.
@placeholder's choice is anti-democratic, it does frustrate the will of prosecutors, it must be confounding to those 12 jurors, and it constitutes a tremendous exercise of power based on just one person's sense of morality.