(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.





As the news spread, many people reacted with anger. Kitzhaber has been called a coward and worse. This wave of anger, though, should not distract from two important truths: first, that Kitzhaber'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.





In 1984, Oregon voters chose by referendum to reinstate the death penalty. The legislature formulated rules for capital punishment. Prosecutors elected, as they could, to pursue the death penalty against Haugen. A jury heard the evidence, and 12 Oregon citizens voted to have Haugen put to death.





The courts that heard Haugen's appeals (up to the point he dropped them) found the process fair. Then, after all of this, Kitzhaber chose not to finish this expensive and consuming project. Kitzhaber'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. It is also wholly within the genius of American government.





Oregon and other states have incorporated executive clemency into their systems of criminal law, drawing on the example laid out in the United States Constitution. The framers of the Constitution chose intentionally to give the executive that power, knowing full well that it would necessarily run contrary to popular will.





If you are angry with Kitzhaber for using that power, also direct your anger at Alexander Hamilton, who was a driving force behind the institution of executive clemency in the United States. Here is part of what Hamilton said about it in Federalist Paper 74: "Humanity and good policy conspire to dictate, that the benign prerogative of pardoning should be as little as possible fettered or embarrassed. ... On these accounts, one man appears to be a more eligible dispenser of the mercy of government, than a body of men."





The anti-democratic institution of clemency that is generating such anger is contrary to the voters of Oregon, yes. However, we should not forget that that same institution is ancient, principled and an integral part of the broad scheme of justice that wiser men than I have constructed.





A second buried truth is revealed within the tortured way in which Kitzhaber announced his decision. During a prior term as governor, in 1997, he had allowed two executions, and it seems clear that he was deeply troubled by his role in those killings. How could he not be? It is a heavy responsibility to participate in a deliberative process that identifies a citizen to be put to death by the state. However, Kitzhaber is just the exposed tip of an iceberg of human emotion. Beneath him are thousands of others who have been forced by the institution of capital punishment to live with their role in an intentional death.





Among that group are lawyers, witnesses and judges, but perhaps most sympathetic of all are the jurors. They are plucked from their daily lives by the government and suddenly thrust into the most important role of all -- they must vote, unanimously
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