Timing is Everything

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.




Should judges, rather than juries, have the authority to determine the facts in death penalty cases? The Supreme Court said no two years ago, in Ring v. Arizona, striking down capital sentencing laws in five states. But what about prisoners sentenced before the decision? If they’ve exhausted their appeals, should their executions go forward? The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco weighed in on Tuesday, ruling that the Supremes’ decision, known as Ring, applies retroactively to death row inmates in Arizona, Idaho, and Montana, voiding in a stroke more than 100 death sentences.

The decision is likely to go to the Supreme Court, not least because, as the Washington Times’ Frank J. Murray reports, prosecutors don’t fancy slogging through all those cases.

“‘I think the United States Supreme Court will have to resolve this before there will be any resentencings in any of these states,’ said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center.

‘A lot else has to happen … a lot of lives and work and money is needed to redo these cases with juries, with uncertain results and then you start the appeal process all over again if they are resentenced to death.'”

Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard summed up what’s at stake. “Obviously guilt or innocence isn’t on the table,” he told the Washington Post, “but life and death is.” With lives in the balance, it doesn’t seem a lot to ask prosecutors to hustle a little in revisiting these cases.

And, as the court’s majority asked in its decision, (PDF) should inmates die simply because their timing was off? Should happenstance determine whether an inmate is or is not executed? Elaine Cassel, writing for CounterPunch, thinks not:

“Is it possible that prisoners will now be executed by the state solely because of the happenstance that the Supreme Court recognized the correctness of their constitutional arguments too late–on a wholly arbitrary date, rather than when it should have? Will we add to all of the other arbitrariness infecting our administration of the death penalty the pure fortuity of when the Supreme Court recognized its own critical error with respect to the meaning of the Constitution? Can we justify executing those whose legal efforts had reached a certain point in our imperfect legal process on the day the Supreme Court changed its mind, while invalidating the death sentences of those whose cases were waiting slightly further down the line?”

The editors of The Arizona Republic argue that the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals “did the right thing in ensuring the rule of law is applied equally:

“[T]he very strength of our emotions is why we need the rule of law, applied fairly, rationally and constitutionally. No matter how damning the evidence, all people accused of murder have the right to a trial by a jury of their peers and to go through every step of the legal system.

The 9th Circuit Court didn’t make a bold move in overturning these death sentences. It gave a fair answer to a question that the Supreme Court left hanging – one that deserves to last through the inevitable appeal.”

Nevertheless, argues an editorial in the Great Falls Tribune, the Supreme Court will almost inevitably be forced to deal with the issue, as the U.S. 11th Ciruit in Florida issued an opposite decision to the San Francisco court’s in July. But the Supremes should be guided, notes the editorial, by a simple question: Was an inmate’s case settled by a jury (OK) or a judge (not OK)? “[A]nd it shouldn’t matter whether a conviction occurred before or after the 2002 case.”

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate