Published Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Attorney Gen. Troy King's dismissal Monday of an American Bar Association recommendation for an immediate moratorium on executions in Alabama was reminiscent of the late Gov. George C. Wallace's railing against "outside agitators" during the Civil Rights
King said "it takes far too long to execute someone without interference by outside groups that come to Alabama and tell us how to run our state."
It was a flippant dismissal of a thoughtful and detailed study of capital punishment in Alabama that was three years in the making.
While the ABA takes no position on the death penalty, it called for a nationwide moratorium on executions to allow states to study their legal systems to see if they meet standards for fairness and due process.
Alabama was one of five states in which the ABA said there are so many problems with capital punishment that a temporary moratorium should be established immediately.
The ABA study found that capital defendants in Alabama too often do not get the full benefit of their constitutional guarantee to competent counsel at every stage of the process. It recommends that Alabama create a statewide indigent defense commission.
It found that Alabama is one of only two states in the country that do not guarantee an attorney in the state post-conviction portion of the death penalty process, even if the inmate might have new evidence of innocence.
Alabama has failed to pass a law that ensures access to DNA testing for people convicted of capital crimes, the study said. Moreover, the state does not require that biological evidence be preserved throughout the capital inmate's incarceration. As a consequence, evidence that could be used to prove innocence may be destroyed.
State lawmakers have failed to pass a law to make Alabama compliant with the U.S. Supreme Court ban on executing offenders with mental retardation.
The study called for eliminating Alabama's rule allowing judges to override jury decisions in capital cases, a potential danger in a state that continues to elect its judiciary. In addition, the state should require juries to be unanimous in recommending a death sentence, it said. Recommending that Alabama reserve the death penalty for "the worst of the worst" criminals, the report said the state needs to collect and study the data needed to fully understand how its capital punishment system is working.
The study pointed out troubling racial disparities in Alabama's death penalty system. More than 82 percent of the people executed in Alabama since 1976 were convicted of killing white people, despite the fact that more than 65 percent of all the murders in Alabama each year in Alabama involve black victims. Eighty percent of the state's current Death Row inmates were convicted of murdering white people.
A spokesperson for Gov. Riley, who supports capital punishment, said he has not read the ABA report. He needs to. So should members of the Legislature.
Given King's recent grandstanding on death penalty issues, including intemperate comments that drew the opposition of most of the state's district attorneys, his opposition to the ABA report is not particularly surprising. But there is more than enough solid evidence in the study to convince most people of conscience that the state needs to take a long, hard look at its capital punishment system before allowing executions to continue in Alabama.
Attorney Gen. Troy King's dismissal Monday of an American Bar Association recommendation for an immediate moratorium on executions in Alabama was reminiscent of the late Gov. George C. Wallace's railing against "outside agitators" during the Civil Rights
King said "it takes far too long to execute someone without interference by outside groups that come to Alabama and tell us how to run our state."
It was a flippant dismissal of a thoughtful and detailed study of capital punishment in Alabama that was three years in the making.
While the ABA takes no position on the death penalty, it called for a nationwide moratorium on executions to allow states to study their legal systems to see if they meet standards for fairness and due process.
Alabama was one of five states in which the ABA said there are so many problems with capital punishment that a temporary moratorium should be established immediately.
The ABA study found that capital defendants in Alabama too often do not get the full benefit of their constitutional guarantee to competent counsel at every stage of the process. It recommends that Alabama create a statewide indigent defense commission.
It found that Alabama is one of only two states in the country that do not guarantee an attorney in the state post-conviction portion of the death penalty process, even if the inmate might have new evidence of innocence.
Alabama has failed to pass a law that ensures access to DNA testing for people convicted of capital crimes, the study said. Moreover, the state does not require that biological evidence be preserved throughout the capital inmate's incarceration. As a consequence, evidence that could be used to prove innocence may be destroyed.
State lawmakers have failed to pass a law to make Alabama compliant with the U.S. Supreme Court ban on executing offenders with mental retardation.
The study called for eliminating Alabama's rule allowing judges to override jury decisions in capital cases, a potential danger in a state that continues to elect its judiciary. In addition, the state should require juries to be unanimous in recommending a death sentence, it said. Recommending that Alabama reserve the death penalty for "the worst of the worst" criminals, the report said the state needs to collect and study the data needed to fully understand how its capital punishment system is working.
The study pointed out troubling racial disparities in Alabama's death penalty system. More than 82 percent of the people executed in Alabama since 1976 were convicted of killing white people, despite the fact that more than 65 percent of all the murders in Alabama each year in Alabama involve black victims. Eighty percent of the state's current Death Row inmates were convicted of murdering white people.
A spokesperson for Gov. Riley, who supports capital punishment, said he has not read the ABA report. He needs to. So should members of the Legislature.
Given King's recent grandstanding on death penalty issues, including intemperate comments that drew the opposition of most of the state's district attorneys, his opposition to the ABA report is not particularly surprising. But there is more than enough solid evidence in the study to convince most people of conscience that the state needs to take a long, hard look at its capital punishment system before allowing executions to continue in Alabama.
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