Free Republic

New York's Death Penalty Law Declared Unconstitutional DPIC Summary: People v. Stephen LaValle On June 24, 2004, New York's highest court held that the state's jury instructions were unconstitutional under the state constitution and that the constitutional defect in the existing statute could only be cured by passage of a new law by the legislature. The Court of Appeals vacated the death sentence of Stephen LaValle, concluding that the jurors might impose the death penalty on a defendant whom they believed did not deserve it simply because they feared that the defendant might someday be released. The court remanded the...

The confusion that prevailed in Pakistan following the arrest of Khalid Shaikh Mohammad, an alleged kingpin of al-Qaeda, has now somewhat cleared. Consequently, a more meaningful analysis is possible despite there still being some unanswered questions. The confusion gave rise to two kinds of speculation: He was killed during an encounter in Karachi on September 11, 2002 during which Ramzi Binalshibh, another al-Qaeda operative, was captured, and hence there had been a wrong identification. This has been proved wrong by his being handed over to US custody by Pakistani officials. He was actually captured on September 11, 2002, but the...