High Court Overturns Death Sentences

AP ^ | 6-24-2002 | ANNE GEARAN

[Sir Gawain]

But I still stand firm in my belief that the SCOTUS is unready to make a 'good' ruling per the Second Amendment at this time.

I agree there. It makes me wonder why they understand some of the Constitution but not other parts.

[Lazamataz]

I suspect that the courts are beginning to see that there is a real movement in the judicial community to end the death penalty.

I agree, and this decision affirms my belief that this is the current trend.

[BikerNYC]

I think judges don't have faith in the integrity of state's attorneys, police, and jailhouse witnesses.

I think you're right.

[hobbes1]

I suppose. I retract my criticism of this decision.

And I, Mine...lol

[hobbes1]

Look, Like it or not, the State did an awful job of making that case....Period.

The Juice MAY have been involved, but it didn;t go down the way they say it did. Period.

[hchutch]

Exactly.

As far as I care, conservative in Congress and Bush have been given a task to do: Win the war and turn this country around. And I add the following instructions:

"In carrying out the task assigned....you will be governed by the principle of calculated risk, which you will interpret to mean the avoidance of exposure of your force to attack by superior enemy forces without prospect of inflicting, as a result of such exposure, greater damage to the enemy".

These are not my words, but the orders issued to a tactical naval commander by his superior on the eve of a decisive battle. I feel that their application is vital to the conservative movement at this point in time.

[discostu]

This'l be a fun thread to watch, you'll be able to see the people that read the article and those that just read the headline. From a conservative point of view the headline is pretty damning, if you actually read enough of the article to get to the actual decision and its basis this is a solid SCOTUS decision. IMHO anything that takes power away from activist judges = good.

[hobbes1]

Damn Straight.

[Sir Gawain]

800 murderers get off scot free thanks to a U.S Supreme Court technicality.

I couldn't find this in the article.

[goldstategop]

No, but it sucks they escaped the just death penalty for their crimes thanks to an activist Court that had to make its ruling retroactive.

[goldstategop]

Its an estimate of how many are effected by today's SCOTUS decision. The truth is no one really knows. We'd all be happy if it were fewer than a dozen.

[frmrda]

Here's where I disagree that it's a state issue (although I don't think your point of view is crazy or unfounded). The right to trial by jury is contained in the federal constitution, so to me this is not a case where the feds are overreaching against the states. If that were the case, you could be sure that Justice Thomas, one of the greatest defenders of state rights in recent memory, would have dissented. Rather, I think this is a valid decision and interpretation of the constitution.

[Sir Gawain]

No, but it sucks they escaped the just death penalty for their crimes thanks to an activist Court that had to make its ruling retroactive.

It's not an activist court in this case. The SC is correcting activist state courts. Geez. Some people complain about everything.

[discostu]

Don't buy into the panic. According to the article about 150 death row cases will have their sentences reconsidered. You don't let people out just because the penalty phase gets over turned. if the guilt phase is overturned they go free, penalty phase they stay in the can and you do that part again.

[Sir Gawain]

Its an estimate of how many are effected by today's SCOTUS decision. The truth is no one really knows. We'd all be happy if it were fewer than a dozen.

So what? It affected the sentences, not the verdicts.

[Sabertooth]

The 7-2 ruling affects the way death sentences are imposed in at least five states and means that more than 150 death sentences must be reconsidered. Monday's ruling concerned instances in which juries determined defendants' guilt or innocence and judges alone decided their punishment. The court held that such a sentence imposed by a judge violates a defendant's constitutional right to a trial by jury....

None of the cases attacks the basic constitutionality of capital punishment for the general population...

It was not immediately clear what will happen to inmates in those states. Some lawyers have said death row inmates' sentences could be commuted to life in prison, as was done when the Supreme Court put a temporary halt to the death penalty in the 1970s. Or the inmates could be resentenced, with some receiving death sentences all over again.

Well, if this decision turns on the right to trial by jury and not the constitutionality of capital punishment, then it stands to reason that any sentence, and not just the death penalty, that isn't decided by a jury must be thrown out. That would include life sentences.

Therefore, if we follow the court's logic here, every signle one of these sentences is going to have to go back before a jury for penalty phase, or the convicted capital murderers will have to be released. The automatic commutation of the death penalty to life in prison, as happened in the 1970s, would not apply, since that turned on the "cruel and unusual punishment" clause of the Eighth Ammendment, not the "jury of his peers" clause.

But of course, some reason would have to be contorted not to release these murderers, since no one would seriously suggest that they all be released.

I don't really have a sense of what the Framers would say on this matter, but it seems that the can of worms has only just begun to spill.

[jokar]

800 murderers get off scot free thanks to a U.S Supreme Court technicality. Way to go American justice!...

This doesn't say they get off Scot free. The death sentence portion will have to be retried.

In the old days we had Jury nullification of the actual law. I think this is closer to the constitutional intent then one jurist deciding your fate. It's a good thing.

[goldstategop]

Oh and resentencing them means more appeals? Add another 20 years before they're executed. <sarcasm