Cruel and Unusual Punishment by His Lawyers

[crocdog1]

This total legalese claptrap.

What kind of Criminal Justice System is this? This guy's lawyers have caused their client to suffer cruel and unusual punishment for 32 years.

Now they take this nonsensical argument to the Supreme Court and expect sane and lucid Justices to agree with them.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/03/09/...urt/index.html

Originally Posted by crocdog1

This total legalese claptrap.

What kind of Criminal Justice System is this? This guy's lawyers have caused their client to suffer cruel and unusual punishment for 32 years.

Now they take this nonsensical argument to the Supreme Court and expect sane and lucid Justices to agree with them.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/03/09/...urt/index.html

Clearly, it's a nonsense argument, but it's probably one of the cases that has driven no less than eight states to consider revoking their DP statutes. It costs 10X the amount to eventually have a DP sentence carried out as it does to incarcerate an inmate for life. In CA with the highest Death Row population that's $90K per year in increased cost just to house them because they are in segregated cells and everything has to be brought to them from meals to tissue.

With the economy in the shape it's in, it's not the cruelty or lack thereof that threatens to revoke the DP where it still stands, but economics.

Maryland spent 37.2 million dollars per execution for the five they've actually carried out since 1978.

http://www.comcast.net/articles/news...ve.to.Execute/

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/03/02/...lty/index.html

[warhorse46]

Originally Posted by crocdog1

This total legalese claptrap.

What kind of Criminal Justice System is this? This guy's lawyers have caused their client to suffer cruel and unusual punishment for 32 years.

Now they take this nonsensical argument to the Supreme Court and expect sane and lucid Justices to agree with them.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/03/09/...urt/index.html

All he had to do to stop all appeals is say so. It is he himself who has prolonged the death row stay.

[warhorse46]

Originally Posted by interested

Clearly, it's a nonsense argument, but it's probably one of the cases that has driven no less than eight states to consider revoking their DP statutes. It costs 10X the amount to eventually have a DP sentence carried out as it does to incarcerate an inmate for life. In CA with the highest Death Row population that's $90K per year in increased cost just to house them because they are in segregated cells and everything has to be brought to them from meals to tissue.

With the economy in the shape it's in, it's not the cruelty or lack thereof that threatens to revoke the DP where it still stands, but economics.

Maryland spent 37.2 million dollars per execution for the five they've actually carried out since 1978.

http://www.comcast.net/articles/news...ve.to.Execute/

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/03/02/...lty/index.html

And the reason it costs so much are the endless senceless appeals that inmates & their lawyers come up with to delay the sentence.

[Jayne]

Originally Posted by warhorse46

All he had to do to stop all appeals is say so. It is he himself who has prolonged the death row stay.

ITA..he is now using his attorneys as "scapegoats" IMO. An attorney should not/cannot act on behalf of his client (except in very rare and court agreed to circumstances) without the client's approval or demand. If this is his claim, at least he's still alive to "testify" that he NEVER told his attorney's to make these appeals? Come on?! I'd hope they have every agreement/transaction in writing and signed by their client. If not, they may still come under the "emergency, prior representation" exclusion under the rules.

If he gets through this, I'd say he has attributed to the "chilling effect" on good defense counsels.

jmo

J

[Jayne]

Originally Posted by Spectra

So true and it is not likely to change.

I am not sure many would agree with my following thought, but here goes...It saves money not to execute them and IMO, when they are executed, they are getting an early release. I would like to see the worst or the worst who are sentenced, live a very very long life incarcerated and not be released thru death. I believe in reincarnation, btw. When you release them thru death, they are back in the pool to be reborn. As I said, I suspect few will agree with me on this.

Well..I do..

jmo

J

[Jay]

Originally Posted by crocdog1

This total legalese claptrap.

What kind of Criminal Justice System is this? This guy's lawyers have caused their client to suffer cruel and unusual punishment for 32 years.

Now they take this nonsensical argument to the Supreme Court and expect sane and lucid Justices to agree with them.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/03/09/...urt/index.html

It takes at least 4 out of the 9 Justices to grant Certiorari, known as the Rule of Four, and only 2, according to the article, would have voted for such.

I would not have either on the questioned presented to the court.

The argument has some legal merit, yes, but he could have instructed his attorneys to stop the appeals process. His legal argument was not one of guilt or case reversal, but one I actually have never heard before under the 8th AM?