News and Developments 2006: Arbitrariness

Boston Globe Editorial Asks "Whether Execution by Any Method Is Right"

Posted: December 19, 2006
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Commenting on the recent halting of executions over the lethal injection controversy and DPIC's Year End Report, the Boston Globe raised the question of "whether execution by any method is right." Their editorial concluded that "[t]his hit-and-miss system offers no protection for society," and stated that a life-without parole alternative would "protect society while allowing for redress if a prisoner could show he was wrongly convicted.

NEW VOICES: Oregon Paper Calls Death Penalty a "Pointless Law"

Posted: December 12, 2006
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The Albany Democrat-Herald in Oregon recently editorialized that the "death penalty isn't working," and concluded "that the death penalty here is a pointless law. If we’re not going to apply this law, then getting rid of it would be the less expensive course."  The editorial cited the possibility of error, the arbitrariness of applying the punishment to some dangerous offenders but not others, and the difficulty of ever getting to an execution as reasons for ending capital punishment.  The editorial follows:

Death penalty isn’t working

ARBITRARINESS: Federal Judge Deeply Troubled about Inconsistencies in Lethal Injection Rulings

Posted: December 07, 2006
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Recently in Ohio and other states, some inmates challenging the lethal injection process in federal courts have been given stays of executions, while others, similarly situated, have been denied stays and have been executed.  This inconsistent application of federal law in capital cases has raised concerns among a number of federal judges.  A stay was recently granted to Ohio inmate Jerome Henderson, but denied to Jeffrey Lundgren.  On December 6, U.S.

Unanimous Jury Votes for Life Sentence, but Alabama Judge Imposes Death

Posted: November 28, 2006
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Oscar Doster was found guilty earlier this year of capital murder in the course of a robbery in Alabama.  Doster claimed that his co-defendant actually committed the murder.  The jury unanimously recommended that Doster be sentenced to life without parole.  In Alabama, unlike most other death penalty states, the judge is allowed to override a jury's recommendation for life.  Typically in other states, even one juror's vote for a life sentence will prevent the court from imposing a death sentence.  Judge Ashley McKathan rejected the recommendation of all 12 jurors th

Florida Schedules Execution of Man Who Defended Himself, But Could Not Speak English

Posted: November 22, 2006
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The last execution scheduled for 2006 involves a Florida inmate, Angel Nieves-Diaz, who defended himself at his trial and needed an interpreter because he did not speak English.  Diaz, a native of Puerto Rico, was convicted and sentenced to death in 1986 for a murder in connection with a robbery of a bar in Miami in 1979. 

Death Sentence Upheld Despite Abysmal Representation

Posted: November 03, 2006
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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit upheld the conviction and death sentence of a death row inmate on a tie vote (7-7), despite the fact that the defendant was represented by an attorney who did not even learn his client's true name.  The defense lawyer misled a reviewing court about his experience in capital cases and has been indicted for perjury.  The defendant, who was tried in Kentucky as James Slaughter but whose real name is Jeffrey Leonard, is apparently brain damaged and endured a brutal childhood.  A number of judges have concurred that the lawyer's investigation into Leonard's background was below Constitutional standards, but there were not enough votes to say that a better investigation would have made a difference in sentencing.