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Death Penalty Moratorium on the Table
LA Times ^ | 12/14/05 | Jordan Rau, Times Staff Writer

Posted on 12/14/2005 11:51:08 AM PST by BurbankKarl

SACRAMENTO — State legislators in early January will consider what is likely to be a contentious proposal to postpone executions for as long as three years.

On Jan. 10, an Assembly committee plans to consider legislation that would place a moratorium on executions until a special commission finishes examining whether California's criminal justice system allows innocent people to be convicted.

The bill, the first of its kind in Sacramento in more than a decade, faces substantial political and legal hurdles. Its hearing — scheduled long before convicted killer Stanley Tookie Williams' execution Tuesday — comes as the state is poised to perform a record number of executions in the coming year.

The California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice, created by the state Senate last year, is studying the extent to which people have been wrongly convicted of crimes. The commission, composed of people on all sides of the issue, was charged with suggesting improvements to lawmakers by the end of 2007.

Among the topics the panel is set to look at are the frequency of police suppression of exculpatory evidence, and false testimony from witnesses and jailhouse informants.

"There's a half a dozen issues that are recurring in exoneration cases," said Jon Streeter, a San Francisco business trial lawyer who is chairman of the panel. "We see them time and time again. They tend to arise in death penalty cases, where the problems can be the most serious."

(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; News/Current Events; US: California
KEYWORDS: ab1121; capitalpunishment; deathpenalty

1 posted on 12/14/2005 11:51:09 AM PST by BurbankKarl
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To: BurbankKarl
Yeah...we really rushed Tookie's execution. Waiting 25 years is truly a "rush to execute."

/SARCASM

2 posted on 12/14/2005 11:53:16 AM PST by Prime Choice (We are RepubliCANs, not RepubliCAN'Ts.)
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To: BurbankKarl

Actually, what they should do is either reform the prison system and make it tougher instead of the country club it is...or they should draft legislation to LIMIT how many "habeas corpus" appeals you can have once you are on death row.


3 posted on 12/14/2005 11:54:52 AM PST by ChrisFelice1 (Chrisfelice1)
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To: BurbankKarl

Why don't we stop wasting time a close all our prisons, let everyone go free and we'll all me miserable.


4 posted on 12/14/2005 11:54:54 AM PST by caisson71
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To: BurbankKarl

I guess 25 years is not enough time to investigate? One third of a worthless life allowed. One third of a helpless victims life snuffed out. One third more earnings for the pos defense lawyers. One third more expense housing prisoners.
I think there needs to be a moritorium on delaying executions. There needs to be a emphasis on "swift" justice.


5 posted on 12/14/2005 11:58:18 AM PST by o_zarkman44
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To: BurbankKarl

If ya can't defeat 'em, stall 'em.


6 posted on 12/14/2005 12:15:51 PM PST by IronJack
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To: o_zarkman44
I was about to start a thread on how the Austrians are now considering renaming "Schwarzenegger Stadium" in Graz...to something else as punishment for their favorite son gone bad. The "Greens" in Graz are insisting that the stadium be renamed "Tookie Williams Stadium".

I am not making this up. If you read German, look up the Austrian newspaper websites. The leftist journalists here are really on the warpath over here.

Meanwhile, if you are wondering why this author of children's books was executed, you might want to check out this link:

Tookie's Greatest Hits

Don't link to the above if you have a weak stomach...although if you are a shy and harmless woman, it might be instructive to learn how scum such as Tookie don't really take such status into account.
There is a great discussion over at the Belmont Club about how this execution actually got more necessary BECAUSE of the liberal circus that may have resulted in the prisoner becoming a cause celebre for being RELEASED a few years after Schwarzenegger was supposed to have been pressured by the left into staying the execution. We are talking about a man who was only CONVICTED of 4 murders.
How many murders did Tookie probably actually commit? How many has he ordered? How many as he influenced as a "gang leader"?

7 posted on 12/14/2005 12:17:58 PM PST by GermanBusiness
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To: BurbankKarl

My fellow Americans, the fact that this is 'on the table' only proves that WE NEED VOUCHERS NOW!


8 posted on 12/14/2005 12:46:15 PM PST by Tzimisce
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To: BurbankKarl
There no chance it'll become law. Republicans won't vote for it and if Democrats want to be perceived as soft on crime, coddling murderers will help buff their image nicely in that department. I urge them very strongly to go for it!

(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie.Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")

9 posted on 12/14/2005 5:25:45 PM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)
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To: Prime Choice
We've had a moratorium on executions - albeit an unofficial one, thanks to Rose Bird and her colleagues and the liberal Nine Circus here since the late 70s. Just who are the Democrats trying to kid? Its not like we've exactly had a wave of executions here in California!

(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie.Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")

10 posted on 12/14/2005 5:27:57 PM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)
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