The Arizona Republic has, "Death-penalty backlog strains justice system."
Maricopa County has more pending death-penalty cases than Harris County, the Houston-area jurisdiction that is known as the "death-penalty capital" among critics of capital punishment.
In 2006, Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas sought the death penalty in nearly half of the first-degree murder cases, and there is an all-time high of 135 capital cases in trial or headed toward trial. In heinous cases, Thomas says, death should be on the table for the jury to decide.
"I think that it's appropriate for a panel of citizens to make that ultimate decision," he said. "And I am willing to invest the resources necessary to give them that option."
But his crusade could be straining the system.
The surge could mean a huge tab for taxpayers, few attorneys to represent people who face death sentences and more death-penalty cases than the Arizona Supreme Court is equipped to handle.
A Maricopa County judge has ordered an unprecedented March 2 hearing to probe a critical shortage of death-penalty defense attorneys.
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