There must be a unanimous finding of guilt on the charge of capital murder before moving on to the punishment phase, at which time the jury is asked two questions:
1. Do you believe beyond a reasonable doubt that the person you have just convicted of capital murder represents a continuing threat to society?
2. Do you believe there are any mitigating factors that would warrant the individual spending his or her life in prison, rather than being put to death?
Again, the vote must be unanimous. The jury must vote "yes" on the first question and "no" on the second. If there is not a unanimous vote on the first question, then the second is not even considered.
So I have no idea what the 10 of 12 is for. But the court will work it out regardless of what we and the reporter think.
Yep. Whatever the law is regarding the punishment phase, I'm sure the judge will abide by that, explain it to the jury and tell 'em, "get with it! You're burnin' daylight!" Good judges don't like to screw it up and risk expensive re-trials and their reputations.
Almost without exception, death row inmates are provided with experienced court-appointed counsel at all phases of appeals in state and federal court.Indigent death row inmates have two attorneys —- one to handle the state direct appeal and the other to handle the state habeas appeal. Neither of these attorneys is the same one who represented the inmate at trial. The inmate is also represented by court-appointed counsel in Federal court.
To suggest that capital punishment is administered harshly in Texas is just wrong.
When you think about Daniel Joe Hittle, a convicted capital murderer who was executed by the state of Texas, I would ask you to also think about his victim, Garland Police Officer Gerald Walker.
Officer Walker was executed by Hittle, but he didn’t have the due process to plead for his life that the State of Texas afforded his murderer.