Posted on 07/01/2002 9:04:54 AM PDT by Dog Gone
NEW YORK (AP) -- A judge declared the federal death penalty unconstitutional Monday, saying too many innocent people have been sentenced to death.
U.S. District Court Judge Jed Rakoff issued a 28-page ruling reaffirming his earlier opinion that the death penalty act violated the due process rights of defendants.
The federal government was expected to appeal the ruling, which would not affect individual states' death penalty statutes.
The court found that the best available evidence indicates that, ``on the one hand, innocent people are sentenced to death with materially greater frequency than was previously supposed and that, on the other hand, convincing proof of their innocence often does not emerge until long after their convictions.''
Rakoff had indicated in April that he was considering declaring the federal death penalty unconstitutional and gave prosecutors one last chance to persuade him otherwise before he ruled on a pre-trial defense motion to find the statute unconstitutional.
In papers filed May 16, U.S. Attorney James B. Comey urged Rakoff to resist ruling on the issue at all until after a Sept. 2 drug conspiracy murder trial.
Prosecutors noted that the Supreme Court had already concluded that the due process safeguards of the Constitution do not guarantee perfect or infallible outcomes.
They also challenged the judge's conclusion that studies had shown numerous innocent individuals were being sentenced to death, saying the studies all involved state courts.
In 14 years that the federal death penalty has been in place, none of the 31 defendants sentenced to death have later been found to be innocent, the government said.
In the case before the judge, Alan Quinones and Diego Rodriguez, alleged partners in a Bronx-based heroin selling operation, are accused of hogtying, torturing and killing an informant, Edwin Santiago, on June 27, 1999.
Given that he probably also judges execution by abortionist as constitutional, what's his problem with the execution of innocent people?
Cordially,
That's been my thinking lately also. The Feds have overstepped their Constitutional authority and must be reined in. This is not like the decision on the pledge.
Really? Perhaps this Feral Judge could name one.
Killing a federal employee will get you a federal execution, even if the state that it occurred in does not have the death penalty. And perhaps even if, under state law, you would have gotten off under "self-defense".
Based upon what evidence?
The court found that the best available evidence indicates that, ``on the one hand, innocent people are sentenced to death with materially greater frequency than was previously supposed and that, on the other hand, convincing proof of their innocence often does not emerge until long after their convictions.''
And where is the evidence of this?
In 14 years that the federal death penalty has been in place, none of the 31 defendants sentenced to death have later been found to be innocent, the government said.
Uh, actually, they would have been found "not guilty", but the point is still valid.
Another case of a leftist judge pushing the leftist agenda. Thes a**holes will never change, no matter how much evidence (or lack thereof) refutes their positions. Best to quickly move this one to the Supremes.
Exactly. Murder is a crime in all 50 states. No need whatsoever for federal enforcement, regardless of the constiutionality.
When federal officials are murdered, it should be tried at the federal level. Let the states prosecute on everything else (it's not as if their prosecutors would go without work).
Oxford University, Balliol College, M.Philosophy, 1966
Harvard Law School, J.D., 1969
In otherwords, the classic leftist pedigree.
But why? If someone is killed in Oklahoma or Florida, they have violated crimes in those states, regardless of their employer. Why even open up that can and give the feds that power?
But, what if I agreed with you here. Would you then agree that the State could not be able to prosecute for murder if it involved a federal officer?
The death toll from Oklahoma City was 168. Eight of these were Federal law enforcement officers. He was tried on eight counts of murdering Federal LEOs. The other 160 counts were at the state level--they were not included in the charges filed at the federal level. It's not double jeopardy. If the state had tried to include those eight federal LEOs in their indictment, then it would be double jeopardy.
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