That's the title of an editorial in today's Los Angeles Times. The subhead is, "California should take a cue from other states that have dealt with the issue of capital punishment: Just abolish it."
Last year, California added 28 inmates to the state's death row, eight of whom were sentenced in Los Angeles County. They aren't in much danger of an early demise, however, thanks largely to legal delays, including a decision Tuesday by state officials not to pursue executions in 2011. The seemingly never-ending court battles mean that convicts in capital cases are far more likely to die of natural causes than by lethal injection. But that won't stop them from costing taxpayers an estimated three times more than other inmates.
Not for the first time, this gives us cause to wonder what good the death penalty in California is doing. Gov. Jerry Brown also personally opposes death sentences, though he appears to lack the courage of his capital convictions. The solution is in plain sight and has been pursued successfully by other states, including Illinois earlier this year: Abolish capital punishment.
The budget-minded Brown last week canceled plans to build a new death row at San Quentin State Prison, noting that it was hard to justify spending $356 million on housing for convicted murderers while services for children, the disabled and seniors were being slashed to the bone. Fair enough. But deferring the problem won't make it go away, as California lawmakers discovered after their practice of ignoring a worsening prison overcrowding crisis was finally ended when federal judges declared the state guilty of unconstitutionally cruel punishment. Similarly, the state can't go on adding to the death row population indefinitely while failing to address San Quentin's severe capacity and design problems.
There are 713 inmates on death row, yet the state hasn't executed anyone since 2006 (29 have died of natural causes since then). Confronted with similar costs and delays, along with evidence that some death row inmates had been wrongfully convicted, four states have abolished the death penalty since 2007. In Illinois, Gov. Pat Quinn dealt with existing death row inmates by commuting their sentences to life without parole, an elegant solution that would end California's legal and budgetary problems at a stroke.
Bob Egelko writes, "California moratorium on executions is prolonged," for the San Francisco Chronicle.
The state will not be ready to defend its new lethal injection procedures in court until early next year, prolonging a moratorium on executions in California that has been in effect since January 2006.
State lawyers told a federal judge last week that San Quentin's new warden, Michael Martel, needs more time to select a new team of guards to carry out executions.
Deficiencies in staff training and supervision were among the factors cited by U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel when he ruled in 2006 that the state's lethal injection methods posed an undue risk of a botched execution that would leave the inmate conscious and in agony while dying.
Fogel halted the scheduled February 2006 execution of Michael Morales, who had been convicted of raping and murdering a Lodi teenager in 1981, when prison officials were unable to find medical personnel willing to monitor the injections. Other Death Row inmates have joined Morales' challenge to the state's procedures.
The case has since been tied up in state and federal courts as prison officials adopted new procedures, belatedly sought public comment and appealed unfavorable rulings.
And:
Martel, appointed warden of San Quentin in March, will need until August to select a new execution team, Deputy Attorney General Michael Quinn told Fogel.
He did not say why Martel was replacing the team that was prepared to execute Albert Greenwood Brown, a convicted rapist and murderer from Riverside County, in September before the courts intervened. Terry Thornton, spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, offered no explanation Wednesday.
"He's the new warden. He's responsible for everything that goes on at San Quentin. It's his prerogative," she said.
Even if Fogel rules that the new procedures comply with the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment, appeals to higher courts will almost certainly delay the next execution until at least mid-2012.
Inmates will also seek clemency from Gov. Jerry Brown, who opposes capital punishment but has said he will not grant blanket commutations of death sentences.
There was additional coverage yesterday. Carol J. Williams wrote, "California backs off on plan to resume executions this year," for the Los Angeles Times.
California officials have backed off a drive to resume executions this year, asking a federal judge to delay until at least January his review of revised lethal injection procedures.
The delay means that the state will have gone at least six years without executing any condemned prisoners, who now number 713.
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation requested more time because San Quentin State Prison's new warden, Michael Martel, wants to recruit a new execution team to replace the one that was assembled and trained last year, according to court documents.
U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel expressed frustration that the state has taken so long to fix lethal injection procedures, which he concluded might have subjected inmates to intense pain in violation of the Constitution's prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment. He made that ruling in December 2006 after putting executions on hold 10 months earlier.
"When the public looks at this and they say, 'Well, why aren't there any executions?' all they know is that it's taking five years to get to closure in this case," Fogel told attorneys for the state and the prisoners, according to a court transcript made public this week.
The development comes on the heels of Gov. Jerry Brown's decision last week to scrap construction of a new $356-million death row facility.
"California executions remain on hold for this year," by Howard Mintz for the Silicon Valley Mercury News.
Lawyers for the state and for death row inmates revealed during a conference with a federal judge last week that they will not be ready for a hearing in the case until at least December, according to a transcript of the proceeding released Monday.
The primary holdup in the case is that San Quentin's warden is selecting a new execution team, and prison officials will not finalize that process until this summer. As a result, lawyers in the case told U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel that they must postpone the final round of hearings in a five-year legal battle over whether California's lethal injection method is constitutional.
The delay is not unexpected, given that Fogel hinted at the possibility when he toured the state's new death chamber in February. Fogel agreed to hold off on moving the case forward, but he expressed concern about how the postponements appear to a public weary of delays in resolving the legal conflict. California now has more than 700 inmates on death row.
"Frankly, the public looks at this and they say, well, why aren't there any executions?" Fogel told the lawyers at the conference. "All they know is that it is taking five years to get closure in this case."
Fogel more than four years ago found California's execution procedures rife with problems and effectively put executions on hold. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration responded with new procedures, including building a new death chamber and upgrading training for execution team members, but those procedures got entangled in a separate legal battle in the state courts.
State officials tried to carry out an execution last fall, when condemned killer Albert Greenwood Brown was hours from execution, but a federal appeals court intervened and ordered Fogel to resolve the lethal injection case once and for all. State officials have assured Fogel that they will not seek another execution date until he rules on the legality of the lethal injection method.
Earlier coverage from California begins at the link.
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