[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----USA

[Rick Halperin]

Dec. 13




USA:

Federal Judge Criticizes Death Penalty - But Concludes Only Supreme Court Can 
End It----"Has actual experience borne out the promise for a more reliable 
system of capital punishment" since 1976? A federal judge in Vermont says no - 
but says the final decision must come from the US Supreme Court.


A federal judge overseeing a death penalty trial in Vermont on Tuesday ruled 
that only the US Supreme Court can declare the death penalty to be 
unconstitutional - but nonetheless issued a strong critique of what he found to 
be an arbitrarily imposed punishment "in which chance and bias play leading 
roles."

US District Court Judge Geoffrey Crawford issued the 57-page decision in Donald 
Fell's challenge to the constitutionality of the federal death penalty statute. 
Fell faces a 2nd federal trial over a 2000 killing, after his 1st conviction 
was tossed out due to juror misconduct.

The judge found that there is not a consensus across the country in opposition 
to the death penalty - a key question in addressing the "proportionality" 
challenge raised by Fell's lawyers.

Crawford did, however, find that reforms aimed at making the penalty more 
fairly imposed - the "arbitrariness" argument - over the past 40 years have 
"largely failed" to address the problems identified by the US Supreme Court in 
a 1972 decision that had led to a 4-year national moratorium on the death 
penalty.

"Gregg is still the law of the land," Crawford wrote about the 1976 decision 
ending that moratorium. It is, he continued, the Supreme Court's "prerogative 
alone to overrule 1 of its precedents."

Crawford held a hearing this summer - largely tracking the questions about the 
death penalty raised by Justice Stephen Breyer in a 2015 Supreme Court dissent, 
in which he called for a full Supreme Court review of the death penalty's 
constitutionality.

Noting the fact that he is required to follow existing Supreme Court majority 
decisions - and not dissenting opinions like Breyer's in 2015 - Crawford made 
clear his aim: "The trial court can respond by conducting an inquiry and 
setting the table for further review."

That meant, Crawford detailed, holding an extensive hearing regarding the 
unreliability and arbitrariness of the death penalty system, the excessive 
delay involved in executions, and the growing decline in the use of the death 
penalty.

The judge, in the wake of that hearing, issued detailed factual findings on 
Tuesday regarding many aspects of the imposition of the death penalty in 
America.

Among the areas specifically highlighted for criticism in Crawford's opinion in 
light of the evidence received was the system of "death qualification" in 
capital cases, under which those opposed to the death penalty are dismissed 
from serving on those juries.

"The exclusion of many people opposed to the death penalty on religious or 
moral grounds and the implicit process of persuasion at voir dire that death is 
the likely outcome create jury populations which stack the deck against 
defendants," Crawford wrote. "The studies brought to the court's attention 
supported the position of the defense that jury selection since Gregg is not 
the solution to inherent jury bias but rather a substantial part of the 
problem."

Regarding the arbitrariness of the imposition of the death penalty - even just 
looking at the federal system alone - Crawford concluded based on the evidence 
presented, "The more carefully one reviews ... the underlying case summaries, 
the more arbitrary the distinctions between cases become."

After reviewing those and other findings, Crawford posed the question: "Has 
actual experience borne out the promise for a more reliable system of capital 
punishment expressed in the Gregg decision? The evidence produced for the court 
answers the question in the negative."

Nonetheless, Crawford found that, for the most part, his hands were tied.

"Institutional authority to change this body of law is reserved to the Supreme 
Court," he wrote. "For this reason, the trial court is required to deny the 
defense motions related to the constitutionality of the death penalty."

(source: buzzfeed.com)