Tag Archives: capital punishment

Finality

March 9, 2009 at 10:23 AM

The Saturday New York Times story on Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Presiding Justice Sharon Keller contains this gem: 

“We can’t give new trials to everyone who establishes, after conviction, that they might be innocent,” she later told the television news program Frontline. “We would have no finality in the criminal justice system, and finality is important.”

Judge Keller is now in big trouble in Texas, not for this callous attitude towards innocent people, but for her role in shutting her court down promptly at 5 pm despite knowing that an appeal in the death penalty case of Michael Richard was on the way, an appeal that would almost certainly have been successful.

Judge Keller is NOT getting in trouble for her preference for finality over innocence because that is in fact a very common view in legal circles throughout the United States.  Indeed this perceived need for finality has led to the rejection of countless appeals with real merit, and the question of executing someone who can establish his innocence, purely for the sake of finality, is the central question for which we are awaiting an answer in the Troy Davis case.

What Judge Keller did in the Richard case was reprehensible, but the casual disregard for the rights of people who can establish their innocence is not only equally reprehensible, but also amazingly widespread.

Death Penalty Abolition in Maryland: UPDATE 2

March 4, 2009 at 11:12 AM

The Maryland Senate this morning voted for a “compromise” on the bill formerly known as the repeal bill.  In this compromise legislation, the death penalty would be restricted to cases where there is either biological or DNA evidence or some type of video evidence (either a video-taped confession or video of the crime itself).  Death sentences could not be obtained solely on the basis of eye-witness testimony.  Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee Chair Frosh, who supports repeal, endorsed this legislation, saying that it would “move the ball forward in the right direction.” 

These restrictions, of course, don’t apply retroactively, and Maryland may one day end up executing one or more of the five men currently on Maryland’s death row. 

The compromise bill also doesn’t address the costs of the death penalty, and it certainly doesn’t address the conclusion of the Commission on Capital Punishment report that the death penalty process is more harmful for victims’ families than alternatives.  The Commission reached this conclusion by a near-unanimous 20-1 vote. 

So, Maryland’s death penalty will remain on the books, and Marylanders will continue paying for it financially, and victims’ families will continue to have to endure a process that all sides have agreed is more painful.

Death Penalty abolition in Maryland: UPDATE

March 3, 2009 at 6:37 PM

This afternoon, the Maryland death penalty repeal bill was amended on the Senate floor, by a 25-22 vote, so that the death penalty would still be available, except in cases that rely exclusively on witness testimony (as in Troy Davis’ case).  A second amendment to restrict the death penalty to cases with DNA evidence or taped confessions also passed.  Thus, the death penalty abolition bill became a death penalty restriction bill.

Then, confusion began to take over.  Amendments to the original bill continued to be proposed, even though they did not seem to fit with the new version.  An amendment which would have further restricted the death penalty to killings in prison was submitted, then pulled.  Some seemed unaware that the first amendment had already taken repeal off the table.  A move to send the bill back to its committee and let them sort it out failed.  Ultimately, the Senate adjourned and will reconvene at 9 am tomorrow, when more amendments will likely be submitted.

Death Penalty abolition in Maryland is moving forward

March 3, 2009 at 12:02 PM

By procedural votes of 25-22 and then 24-23, the Maryland Senate brought the death penalty repeal bill to the floor where, sometime this afternoon or evening, it will be debated and amendments will be offered.  After this morning’s voting it was decided that they would “play it by ear,” so there is no formal time for the debate to resume.  Audio of Senate proceedings is available online.

A Comprehensive and Visionary Approach

March 2, 2009 at 3:27 PM

Former President Jimmy Carter is the latest to weigh in on the death penalty repeal debate going on in New Mexico.  The AP reported that he and his wife Rosalyn wrote a letter to New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson encouraging him to back abolition of the death penalty.  Referring to the package of legislation that pairs a death penalty repeal bill with two bills to support victims’ families, the letter encourages Governor Bill Richardson to endorse “this comprehensive and visionary approach.” 

According to a press release issued by the Carter Center, the letter praises “New Mexico’s leadership regarding the death penalty and the rights of crime victims.” The bills that support victims’ families include HB 211, which provides funds for families to attend court proceedings, and HB 284, which provides reparations for the children of murder victims.  Carter noted that enacting all three of these bills into law would “show states that struggle with these important issues a positive way to deal with them.”

Indeed it would, and everyone should encourage Governor Richardson to take the lead in turning New Mexico’s “visionary approach” into a reality.

Money for Nothing

February 25, 2009 at 5:45 PM

The death penalty costs money – more money than the alternatives – and, as Wonkette notes “basically every state in the union is broke”.  This is why (or at least one of the reasons why) more states than ever before are having serious death penalty repeal debates.  In Kansas, a Republican Senator has filed an abolition bill, telling FoxNews.com: “This will save significant money — money that could be used toward education programs and toward community corrections programs.”  In Colorado, they don’t have enough money to solve cold cases, and a bill to pass along the savings from death penalty abolition to create a cold case unit has passed its first hurdle.  New Hampshire suspended jury trials for an entire month to save money, and they haven’t executed anyone since 1939 – so why do they still have the death penalty?

Of course, the death penalty is a fundamental human rights violation, so even if it were dirt cheap, it would still be wrong and deserving of total abolition.  But it’s not cheap at all … and we can’t afford it.

State Killing in the Caribbean

February 13, 2009 at 4:47 PM

The Caribbean.  Beautiful sun-drenched beaches. Palm trees swaying in ocean breezes. Snorkeling.  Scuba diving.  Fruity rum drinks.  Etc.  Those who see the Caribbean as a fabulous tourist destination aren’t inclined to spend much time dwelling on the criminal justice systems of these island nations.  They might have a sense that there is a crime problem, but probably wouldn’t know that the Caribbean in fact has one of the highest murder rates in the world.  Or that this is generating a political movement to bring back executions, which have been rare to non-existent in the region in recent years.

On St. Kitts and Nevis, executions have come back.  On December 19, Charles Elroy Laplace was put to death by hanging, and it is not clear whether his right to be provided with legal assistance to apply for clemency or to file a final appeal was honored.  Denial of this kind of assistance would be a violation of international law and UN standards on the death penalty.

There are seven other men on death row in St. Kitts and Nevis, which has a total population of around 46,000, a death row incarceration rate of about 15 per 100,000.  (By contrast the US rate is a little more than 1 per 100,000.)  St. Kitts and Nevis had 23 murders last year — an appalling rate of about 50 per 100,000 (The 2007 U.S. murder rate was around 5.6 per 100,000.) 

But while the violent crime problems in many Caribbean nations are severe, executions will not solve them; three people were shot the day after Charles Laplace was executed.

Amnesty International is calling for St. Kitts and Nevis to implement a moratorium on executions, so that the public will no longer be distracted by the spectacle of hangings, and will be able to focus on less dramatic but infinitely more effective crime prevention measures (improved policing, better social services, mental health care, drug treatment).

Death Penalty Debate in States Heats Up

February 11, 2009 at 2:46 PM

UPDATE:  The New Mexico House of Representatives passed the death penalty repeal bill, by a vote of 40-28.

Today the New Mexico House of Representatives will be debating and possibly voting on a bill to abolish the death penalty (HB285).   This is but one of a stream of bills to repeal or limit the death penalty under consideration across the country.

Yesterday, the New Hampshire House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee held hearings on bills to abolish the death penalty (HB556) or conduct a study (HB520) of its flaws.  Also yesterday, hearings were held on an abolition bill in Washington state (SB5476). And tomorrow or Friday, the Senate in Montana is expected to vote on an abolition bill (SB236).  A week from today, the much anticipated Senate committee hearing on the Maryland abolition bill (SB279) will take place.

With the exception of Washington, these are all states where death penalty abolition was expected to be given serious consideration, and those expectations are clearly being realized.  Other states, like Washington, Kansas (where Republican Senator Carolyn McGinn filed an abolition bill (SB208)) and Colorado (where a bill to repeal the death penalty and use the money saved to solve cold cases (HB09-1274)) have also begun to have serious discussions about ending the death penalty, primarily for economic reasons.  In Missouri, where lethal injection and other snafus have brought executions to a halt in what was once a very active death penalty state, over 60 co-sponsors, including at least 13 Republicans, have endorsed a bill to establish an official moratorium on executions (HB484).

There are notable exceptions to this apparent trend.  Executions continue in Texas at their usual high rate, and the Virginia legislature has, once again, passed a bill to expand the death penalty (HB2358 and SB961) to include those involved in murders who do not actually pull the trigger.  (If history is any guide, the Governor will once again veto this legislation.)

But, all in all, important debates about the wisdom of capital punishment are occurring in a larger number of states, and the slow, steady drift away from support for the death penalty seems to be continuing.

Death Penalty Abolition in the States: It Begins

January 29, 2009 at 11:10 AM

Today, the first important committee hearings on state abolition bills will be held: one in New Mexico (HB285) and one in Nebraska (LB306).  Nebraska legislators will also be considering a bill to introduce lethal injection as the method of execution (LB36), since Nebraska’s sole method of state killing, the electric chair, was declared unconstitutional last year. 

Meanwhile, the Maryland bill repealing capital punishment has also been introduced in the Senate (SB279), and there appear to be serious discussions on how to break the logjam that has held this bill up in committee in the past, with even some death penalty supporters saying that it is important that this issue get a hearing in front of the full Senate.

Stay tuned …