Texas_Blaze wrote:sbrawley wrote:Oldgringo wrote:sbrawley wrote:I'd be surprised if the jury takes longer than an hour to decide his fate.
...and the appeals will drag out until when...at your and my expense.
![mad5 :mad5](./images/smilies/mad5.gif)
and that's the problem...the mandatory appeals process for capital punishment.
imho, better to go through these mandatory appeals, than to execute an innocent soul. This devil is obviously a murder, but not every situation is as clear.
The automatic appeals are a good idea, but they should be greatly accelerated and there should be one trip through the appellate courts. So plead everything you have or it's waived. If new evidence is found before the defendant is executed, and that evidence conclusively proves innocence, then a new trial should be available. Nothing should take more than a year at the outside. There aren't that many death penalty cases in the entire State to prevent getting it done in a year.
If it's later learned, either before or after the defendant is executed, that prosecutors, judges, or LEO's falsified evidence or hid exculpatory evidence, then all involved should be executed. If appeals in death penalty cases are accelerated, then there better be very strong deterrent to prosecutorial, judicial or LEO misconduct.
Chas.