[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----CALIF., USA

[Rick Halperin]

Oct. 30



CALIFORNIA:

DAs, police, family of slain push for death penalty reform


California prosecutors, police officers and family members of murder victims 
have launched a campaign to speed up executions for murderers sentenced to 
death.

Members of the group said Friday that the death penalty reform initiative is 
aimed at the inefficient process that has left hundreds of killers languishing 
on death row for decades.

San Bernardino County District Attorney Mike Ramos says voters who rejected a 
ballot measure to eliminate the death penalty in 2012 showed they support the 
punishment.

Ramos says appointing appeals lawyers to the process and other proposed reforms 
could shorten the time from conviction to execution from as long as 30 years to 
10 to 15 years. The initiative is likely to duel with another proposed ballot 
measure that seeks to abolish capital punishment.

(source: Associated Press)






USA:

A potential record Supreme Court term for the death penalty


The current U. S. Supreme Court term is barely a month old, but the justices 
have already heard argument in four death penalty cases - and will hear a 5th 
on Monday - making the term the most important for capital punishment issues in 
decades, legal experts say.

The justices themselves fueled speculation near the end of last term that the 
court might finally address the death penalty's viability under the Eighth 
Amendment, with Justice Stephen Breyer (joined by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg) 
opining in Glossip v. Gross that it was "highly likely that the death penalty 
violates the Eighth Amendment." And Justice Antonin Scalia last week told an 
audience at the University of Minnesota Law School that he "wouldn't be 
surprised if the Supreme Court eventually strikes down capital punishment."

That question has not yet been squarely put before the high court, but the term 
is young and with 5 death penalty cases already their collective belt, the 
justices still have plenty of time to take it on.

Monday's case, Foster v. Chatman, raises an issue well known to North 
Carolinians - racial bias in juror selection in capital cases - and comes at a 
time when the state Supreme Court itself is grappling with cases arising under 
the now-repealed Racial Justice Act.

As described by Rory Little at SCOTUSblog:

Foster, an 18-year-old African American at the time, was convicted of killing 
an elderly white woman during a burglary in Georgia. During jury selection, the 
prosecutor struck all 4 black potential jurors, and Foster was convicted and 
sentenced by an all-white jury. When an objection was raised under the Court's 
1986 decision in Batson v. Kentucky, the prosecutor offered "race neutral" 
reasons for striking the black jurors, while protecting his file from 
discovery.

Some 19 years later, the prosecutor's jury selection notes - produced pursuant 
to an Open Records Act request - revealed a direct targeting of black jurors, 
but state courts refused to entertain Foster's request for relief.

(source: ncpolicywatch.org)

***************

Timeline In Federal Death Penalty Appeal Extends Into 2017


Lawyers in the case of a man sentenced to death for killing a University of 
North Dakota student in 2003 have discussed the timeline for his appeal - and 
it stretches into 2017.

Alfonso Rodriguez Jr., of Crookston, Minnesota, filed a so-called habeas motion 
in October 2011. It is generally considered the last step in the appeals 
process.

U.S. District Judge Ralph Erickson posted an updated briefing schedule for the 
appeal following a closed-door meeting with attorneys on Thursday. One of the 
hearings on forensic issues is not scheduled until January 2017.

The 62-year-old Rodriguez was convicted in 2006 of kidnapping and killing Dru 
Sjodin, of Pequot Lakes, Minnesota. Authorities say Sjodin was raped, beaten 
and stabbed.

(source: Associated Press)