Post by SoulTrainOz on Jul 21, 2006 2:31:41 GMT -5
Marco Kilongkilong tapped his notebook and smiled.
The 17-year-old senior from McAuley Catholic High School in Joplin and an aspiring lawyer --was proud of the notes he had taken Wednesday at what very well might have been his 1st law lecture.
The talk was given by a speaker not immediately known as someone who has dealt with the law: Missouri State University President Mike Nietzel.
But Nietzel, a degreed clinical psychologist who specializes in forensic psychology, was a jury consultant for 25 years and worked on 75 capital-punishment cases from Kentucky and Ohio to Georgia and South Carolina.
Nietzel gave his hourlong talk on capital punishment as part of the 9-day Missouri State Public Affairs Academy for about 40 juniors and seniors from around the state.
"I thought he was very good," Kilongkilong said. "Most of us here have high interest in the law and this was very helpful and informative. I have a bookful of notes."
Nietzel told the group that while he was not opposed to the death penalty, "I don't prefer it."
Yet, after a quarter century of helping defense teams find jurors who would consider not imposing the death penalty, Nietzel said he quit the work in 2001 because "I got to where I was ... hanging out with despicable characters and I didn't want to do it anymore."
While the vast majority of the students at the lecture opposed the death penalty, Nietzel said that between 65 and 75 % of Americans don't oppose the use of the death penalty.
Evan Sherman, a senior from St. Charles, said he was opposed to using it under certain circumstances, but he wasn't sure if it was a critical topic among students his age.
"I don't think it's a daily concern," he said.
The U.S. Supreme Court banned capital punishment in 1972 but reinstated its use in 1976.
That's the same year Nietzel got involved in his 1st death penalty case in Kentucky.
As a consultant, it was Nietzel's job to help find jurors who might favor the use of capital punishment in theory, but who would commit to at least consider not imposing the death penalty in a particular case.
"I tried to find one (juror), since the death penalty required a unanimous decision," he said. "You got rid of the people you don't want. It's not jury selection, it's jury deselection."
Today, the death penalty is under new scrutiny, Nietzel said, because the use of DNA testing has found death-row inmates innocent of the crimes they have being convicted of committing.
"DNA has slowed the executions. Illinois' governor instituted a
moratorium on them," he said. "There have also been concerns about the application of the death penalty as it pertains to racial makeup."
In Missouri, 65 prisoners have been executed since 1976, the 4th-highest in the country, and there are 55 on the state's death row. The death penalty is always coming under examination by the Supreme Court, Nietzel said.
"It is always scrutinizing cases very closely and finding reasons to
say no to capital punishment. Unless we can be sure nothing went wrong in the trial and we got the right person, the courts will be hesitant about letting (the execution) go forward," he said.
(source: News-Leader)
The 17-year-old senior from McAuley Catholic High School in Joplin and an aspiring lawyer --was proud of the notes he had taken Wednesday at what very well might have been his 1st law lecture.
The talk was given by a speaker not immediately known as someone who has dealt with the law: Missouri State University President Mike Nietzel.
But Nietzel, a degreed clinical psychologist who specializes in forensic psychology, was a jury consultant for 25 years and worked on 75 capital-punishment cases from Kentucky and Ohio to Georgia and South Carolina.
Nietzel gave his hourlong talk on capital punishment as part of the 9-day Missouri State Public Affairs Academy for about 40 juniors and seniors from around the state.
"I thought he was very good," Kilongkilong said. "Most of us here have high interest in the law and this was very helpful and informative. I have a bookful of notes."
Nietzel told the group that while he was not opposed to the death penalty, "I don't prefer it."
Yet, after a quarter century of helping defense teams find jurors who would consider not imposing the death penalty, Nietzel said he quit the work in 2001 because "I got to where I was ... hanging out with despicable characters and I didn't want to do it anymore."
While the vast majority of the students at the lecture opposed the death penalty, Nietzel said that between 65 and 75 % of Americans don't oppose the use of the death penalty.
Evan Sherman, a senior from St. Charles, said he was opposed to using it under certain circumstances, but he wasn't sure if it was a critical topic among students his age.
"I don't think it's a daily concern," he said.
The U.S. Supreme Court banned capital punishment in 1972 but reinstated its use in 1976.
That's the same year Nietzel got involved in his 1st death penalty case in Kentucky.
As a consultant, it was Nietzel's job to help find jurors who might favor the use of capital punishment in theory, but who would commit to at least consider not imposing the death penalty in a particular case.
"I tried to find one (juror), since the death penalty required a unanimous decision," he said. "You got rid of the people you don't want. It's not jury selection, it's jury deselection."
Today, the death penalty is under new scrutiny, Nietzel said, because the use of DNA testing has found death-row inmates innocent of the crimes they have being convicted of committing.
"DNA has slowed the executions. Illinois' governor instituted a
moratorium on them," he said. "There have also been concerns about the application of the death penalty as it pertains to racial makeup."
In Missouri, 65 prisoners have been executed since 1976, the 4th-highest in the country, and there are 55 on the state's death row. The death penalty is always coming under examination by the Supreme Court, Nietzel said.
"It is always scrutinizing cases very closely and finding reasons to
say no to capital punishment. Unless we can be sure nothing went wrong in the trial and we got the right person, the courts will be hesitant about letting (the execution) go forward," he said.
(source: News-Leader)