Saturday, December 11, 2004
Errors mandate death penalty moratorium
By: North County Times - Editorial
Our view: High court's review of Texas case highlights serious problems
Yet another reason for a moratorium on executions surfaced this week with a likely crackdown by the U.S. Supreme Court on two defiant courts that weigh death penalty appeals in Texas.
On Monday, the nation's high court heard arguments for a second time in two years in the case of Thomas Miller-El, a Texas death row inmate. Legal experts said the court's decision to hear the case is a clear signal that justices are supremely unhappy with the performance in death-penalty cases of the federal Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, in New Orleans, and the Court of Criminal Appeals, the highest state court in Texas.
Six times over the last decade, the Supreme Court has reversed decisions in Texas death-penalty cases, each time finding problems with the fairness of procedures used to convict and sentence inmates. Yet the lower courts have stubbornly refused to adopt certain legal guidelines as ordered by the high court. A sweeping rebuke seems certain.
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Flaws in Illinois prompted its governor, George Ryan, in 2000 to suspend executions until "flaws in the system" could be fixed. The state found that it wrongly convicted 13 people on death row, more than the 12 it had executed since 1977.
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Fundamentally, we believe that there should be a death penalty, reserved for only the most heinous crimes and clear-cut guilt. Still, a national moratorium seems essential as our country hones its judicial system. Perhaps a special court should be created to handle capital cases. It may even be possible to reduce the exorbitant cost and endless delays that afflict the existing process.
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http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2004/12/12/opinion/editorials/22_05_5712_9_04.txt