That’s like the Athenian custom of ostracism, involuntary exile. They did it to Miltiades and Aristeides the Just, among others. They just didn’t execute ostracized people.
The people of Athens had intelligence.
Our president and Holder do not.
It may please us sometimes to say that thugs are not intelligent; but I think the reality is that it's just too easy for them to default to the use of force, so they do. Why go through all the hard work and thought required by honest effort?
Aristotle has a list of the first men ostracized at Athens and Miltiades’ name is not there. Aristotle dates the first ostracism to 2 years after Marathon (which was fought in 490) and Miltiades may have been dead by then. His son Cimon was ostracized about 461 B.C.