Post by SoulTrainOz on Jul 19, 2006 8:02:36 GMT -5
[Jack Payden-Travers----Payden-Travers, of Charlottesville, is the
director of Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty]
30 years ago this month, in Gregg v. Georgia, the U.S. Supreme Court authorized states to resume capital punishment so long as they could eliminate "substantial risk that it would be inflicted in an arbitrary and capricious manner." Virginia is set to mark the anniversary by executing Brandon Hedrick on Thursday, then Michael Lenz on July 27. Hedrick was barely 19 years old when he shot Lisa Crider, a young mother from Lynchburg. Lenz was already in prison when he retaliated against a threatening fellow inmate. The details of these cases highlight the need to protect the promise of Gregg and eliminate the arbitrariness in the
administration of the death penalty.
Since Hedrick's trial, the execution of people with mental retardation has been prohibited. Hedrick's IQ was measured at about 76, within a range considered mildly mentally retarded. Virginia law requires capital defendants to receive a comprehensive evaluation, but does not allow Virginia courts to act in cases like Hedrick's because he is too far along in the process.
Also, since Hedrick's trial, Virginia established specialized regional
capital defender units that are appointed in every death penalty case. These units are intended to eliminate the disparity in the quality of representation. Far from providing quality work, one of Hedrick's lawyers admitted "[we] did not meet to seriously discuss trial strategy until one business day before trial." Hedrick's lead attorney had never before selected a capital death-qualified jury, and neither lawyer had ever completed a capital murder trial. Witnesses relied on at the life-or-death sentencing part of the trial were not interviewed by counsel until they were on the stand. In the year allowed to prepare for trial, one lawyer
worked 53 hours -- less than nine minutes a day -- on the case; the other worked 119 hours.
These meager efforts meant that jurors heard little from Hedrick's side, and next to nothing about his innocence of charges of rape and sodomy. They did not know, for example, that the police investigators on the case thought Hedrick "did everything in his power to aid the investigation," and found him honest and remorseful about his crimes. Neither did they know that Hedrick's older co-defendant, Trevor Jones, who accused Hedrick of raping and sodomizing the victim despite no physical evidence, vowed to
"see Hedrick killed" when he learned that Hedrick confessed to police. Jones expected to have his sentence reduced significantly for testifying against Hedrick, but Jones' judge found the men equally culpable: "Make no mistake about it, without [Jones'] actions, Lisa Crider would still be alive today." Indeed, Jones put his shotgun in Hedrick's hand and told him, "Do what you have to do."
Jurors asked to sentence Lenz to death were made to use a jury verdict form the Supreme Court of Virginia has since found misleading and unacceptable, and which no court has used in years. There is no more gross procedural legal error; the verdict form is the statement of the very decision the jury is charged to make. There is no dispute that Lenz's verdict form was unnecessarily deceptive and an improper statement of the
law. The only question is whether anyone will intervene to determine whether a fair and properly instructed jury would find him deserving of a death sentence.
The promise of a death penalty free from "arbitrary [and] capricious" application now has a history spanning 30 years and 1,031 executions. No state executes more quickly than Virginia (6.1 years after conviction), and only one executes more often. Among those sentenced to death nationwide, 123 men and women have been able to prove their innocence and been exonerated. In other words, at least four innocent people were
sentenced to death each year. The time needed to establish innocence is of special concern in Virginia: It took an average of 9.2 years for these people to prove their innocence. In Virginia, they would each have been dead years before their exoneration.
The promise of Gregg has failed, as has the national death penalty experiment. There is no need to collect more evidence of arbitrariness or caprice. It is time to suspend the use of capital punishment in Virginia and focus resources on preventing violent crime.
(source: Editorial/Commentary, Roanoke Times)
director of Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty]
30 years ago this month, in Gregg v. Georgia, the U.S. Supreme Court authorized states to resume capital punishment so long as they could eliminate "substantial risk that it would be inflicted in an arbitrary and capricious manner." Virginia is set to mark the anniversary by executing Brandon Hedrick on Thursday, then Michael Lenz on July 27. Hedrick was barely 19 years old when he shot Lisa Crider, a young mother from Lynchburg. Lenz was already in prison when he retaliated against a threatening fellow inmate. The details of these cases highlight the need to protect the promise of Gregg and eliminate the arbitrariness in the
administration of the death penalty.
Since Hedrick's trial, the execution of people with mental retardation has been prohibited. Hedrick's IQ was measured at about 76, within a range considered mildly mentally retarded. Virginia law requires capital defendants to receive a comprehensive evaluation, but does not allow Virginia courts to act in cases like Hedrick's because he is too far along in the process.
Also, since Hedrick's trial, Virginia established specialized regional
capital defender units that are appointed in every death penalty case. These units are intended to eliminate the disparity in the quality of representation. Far from providing quality work, one of Hedrick's lawyers admitted "[we] did not meet to seriously discuss trial strategy until one business day before trial." Hedrick's lead attorney had never before selected a capital death-qualified jury, and neither lawyer had ever completed a capital murder trial. Witnesses relied on at the life-or-death sentencing part of the trial were not interviewed by counsel until they were on the stand. In the year allowed to prepare for trial, one lawyer
worked 53 hours -- less than nine minutes a day -- on the case; the other worked 119 hours.
These meager efforts meant that jurors heard little from Hedrick's side, and next to nothing about his innocence of charges of rape and sodomy. They did not know, for example, that the police investigators on the case thought Hedrick "did everything in his power to aid the investigation," and found him honest and remorseful about his crimes. Neither did they know that Hedrick's older co-defendant, Trevor Jones, who accused Hedrick of raping and sodomizing the victim despite no physical evidence, vowed to
"see Hedrick killed" when he learned that Hedrick confessed to police. Jones expected to have his sentence reduced significantly for testifying against Hedrick, but Jones' judge found the men equally culpable: "Make no mistake about it, without [Jones'] actions, Lisa Crider would still be alive today." Indeed, Jones put his shotgun in Hedrick's hand and told him, "Do what you have to do."
Jurors asked to sentence Lenz to death were made to use a jury verdict form the Supreme Court of Virginia has since found misleading and unacceptable, and which no court has used in years. There is no more gross procedural legal error; the verdict form is the statement of the very decision the jury is charged to make. There is no dispute that Lenz's verdict form was unnecessarily deceptive and an improper statement of the
law. The only question is whether anyone will intervene to determine whether a fair and properly instructed jury would find him deserving of a death sentence.
The promise of a death penalty free from "arbitrary [and] capricious" application now has a history spanning 30 years and 1,031 executions. No state executes more quickly than Virginia (6.1 years after conviction), and only one executes more often. Among those sentenced to death nationwide, 123 men and women have been able to prove their innocence and been exonerated. In other words, at least four innocent people were
sentenced to death each year. The time needed to establish innocence is of special concern in Virginia: It took an average of 9.2 years for these people to prove their innocence. In Virginia, they would each have been dead years before their exoneration.
The promise of Gregg has failed, as has the national death penalty experiment. There is no need to collect more evidence of arbitrariness or caprice. It is time to suspend the use of capital punishment in Virginia and focus resources on preventing violent crime.
(source: Editorial/Commentary, Roanoke Times)