Saturday, October 1, 2016

NO TO PROP 62, YES TO PROP 66: DEBRA J. SAUNDERS & MICHELE HANISEE ON SAVING THE DEATH PENALTY IN CALIFORNIA



  
Debra J. Saunders

Letter From San Francisco
Don’t Kill the Death Penalty in California

August 28, 2016, 1:44 am

Those who have made it unworkable intend to keep it that way.

Opponents of California’s death penalty have been highly successful at thwarting executions since the state resumed executions in 1992 after a 20-year hiatus. Their latest ploy is Proposition 62, which would repeal the death penalty and resentence death row inmates to life without parole. Measure sponsors argue that capital punishment presents the risk of executing an innocent person, but also state that California’s death penalty is “simply unworkable.”

That’s a cheeky stand, coming from the corner that has been throwing monkey wrenches into the criminal justice system to subvert death penalty law. Over the years, appellate attorneys have introduced endless time-sucking, frivolous appeals that have jammed the courts, largely on technical grounds that have nothing to do with guilt or innocence, e.g., the trial lawyer wasn’t top-drawer; the defendant’s parents were abusive; lethal injection may not be painless.

In 2006, lawyers argued that convicted torturer-murderer Michael Morales might feel pain in his last moments because of the state’s three-drug lethal injection protocol. A federal judge granted their appeal and effectively froze the capital punishment pipeline for a decade.

California Gov. Jerry Brown had pledged to implement the death penalty, even though he personally opposes it, yet his corrections department was happy to sit back and let the law not work for years. In exasperation, the tough-on-crime Criminal Justice Legal Foundation filed a lawsuit on behalf of the families of murder victims of two death row inmates to prod the state into developing a drug protocol that should pass muster with the U.S. Supreme Court. California Attorney General Kamala Harris, who also said she would uphold California’s law despite her personal objections, tried to block the suit on the dubious grounds that the victims’ families “lack standing.” She failed. The families won. Sacramento finally devised a one-drug protocol, which should go into effect after a vetting period expected to end soon.

So now, just as the obstructionists are about to run out of string, they have put a measure on the November ballot to end California’s death penalty.

Anti-death penalty activist Matt Cherry of Death Penalty Focus told the San Francisco Chronicle editorial board that capital punishment “has failed in California.” Since 1992, he added, “just 13 people have been executed,” which he noted constitutes about 1 percent of the 930 individuals sentenced to death since 1978. It’s like an extorting mobster telling an honest businessman that it no longer pays to work hard and follow the rules: “You might as well just toss me the keys to the shop and save yourself some heartache.”

In their ballot argument, Prop 62 supporters warn that when executions resume, California risks executing an innocent person — someone like Carlos DeLuna, who was executed in 1989 before an “independent investigation later proved his innocence.” Problem: Texas executed DeLuna. Prop 62’s backers can’t name an exonerated individual from California’s post-1978 death row because there aren’t any.

In 2012, I asked Gov. Brown whether he had considered appointing a panel to recommend death row inmates deserving of a commutation. Brown personally remains a death penalty opponent, so his answer is instructive: “As attorney general, I think the representation was good. I think people have gotten exquisite due process in the state of California. It goes on for 20 or 25 years, and to think that they’ve missed anything like they have in some other states, I have not seen any evidence of it. None. I know people say, ‘Oh, there have been all these innocent people.’ Well, I have not seen one name on death row that’s been told to me.”

At a different editorial board meeting, former San Quentin State Prison Warden Jeanne Woodford, Ana Zamora of Death Penalty Focus and Berkeley law professor Elisabeth Semel vigorously defended all of the high jinks played by anti-death penalty lawyers. They oppose both the death penalty and Prop 66, which is supposed to streamline executions.

Why does it take a year to process an appeal based on a convicted killer’s childhood? Why doesn’t the Habeas Corpus Resource Center focus on worthy appeals and stop jamming up the courts with frivolous paper — and then complain about court backlogs? Why have opponents gone after the state for getting lethal injection drugs from compounding pharmacies or other states, after opponents made it impossible to secure drugs from once-legal sources? The answer to everything: Defense attorneys have to do it because “it’s the law.”

Well, so is the death penalty.

If California voters should decide to repeal capital punishment, do not believe for one minute they won’t use every dirty trick to undermine life without parole. And they’ll tell you they have to because “it’s the law.”

COPYRIGHT 2016 CREATORS.COM


Save the death penalty. No on Prop. 62
Updated 1:48 pm, Monday, August 29, 2016

Opponents of California’s death penalty have been highly successful at thwarting executions since the state resumed executions in 1992 after a 20-year hiatus. Their latest ploy is Proposition 62, which would repeal the death penalty and re-sentence Death Row inmates to life without parole. Measure sponsors argue that capital punishment presents the risk of executing an innocent person, but also state California’s death penalty is “simply unworkable.”

That’s a cheeky stand, coming from the corner that has been throwing monkey wrenches into the criminal justice system to subvert death penalty law. Over the years, appellate attorneys have introduced endless time-sucking, frivolous appeals that have jammed the courts, largely on technical grounds that have nothing to do with guilt or innocence, e.g., the trial lawyer wasn’t top drawer; the defendant’s parents were abusive; lethal injection may not be 100 percent painless.

In 2006, lawyers argued that convicted torture-murderer Michael Morales might feel pain in his last moments because of the state’s three-drug lethal-injection protocol. A federal judge granted their appeal and effectively froze the capital punishment pipeline for a decade.

Gov. Jerry Brown had pledged to implement the death penalty, even though he personally opposes it. Yet his corrections department was happy to sit back and let the law not work for years. In exasperation, the tough-on-crime Criminal Justice Legal Foundation filed a lawsuit on behalf of the families of murder victims of two Death Row inmates to prod the state to develop a drug protocol that should pass muster with the U.S. Supreme Court. State Attorney General Kamala Harris, who also said she would uphold California’s law despite her personal objections, tried to block the suit on the dubious grounds that the victims’ families “lack standing.” She failed. The families won. Sacramento finally devised a one-drug protocol, which should go into effect after a vetting period expected to end soon.

So now, just as the obstructionists are about to run out of string, they have put a measure on the November ballot to end California’s death penalty.

Opponent Matt Cherry of Death Penalty Focus told The Chronicle editorial board that capital punishment “has failed in California.” Since 1992, he added, “Just 13 people have been executed,” which he noted constitutes about 1 percent of the 930 individuals sentenced to death since 1978. It’s like an extorting mobster telling an honest businessman that it no longer pays to work hard and follow the rules. You might as well just toss him the keys to the shop and save yourself some heartache.

In their ballot argument, Prop. 62 supporters warn that when executions resume, California risks executing an innocent person — like Carlos DeLuna who was executed in 1989 before an “independent investigation later proved his innocence.” Problem: Texas executed DeLuna. Prop. 62’s backers can’t name an exonerated individual from California’s post-1978 Death Row because there aren’t any.

In 2012, I asked Brown if he had considered appointing a panel to recommend Death Row inmates deserving of a commutation. Brown personally remains a death penalty opponent, so his answer is instructive: “As attorney general, I think the representation was good. I think people have gotten exquisite due process in the state of California. It goes on for 20 or 25 years and to think that they’ve missed anything like they have in some other states, I have not seen any evidence of it. None. I know people say, ‘Oh, there have been all these innocent people.’ Well, I have not seen one name on Death Row that’s been told to me.”

At a different editorial board meeting, former San Quentin State Prison Warden Jeanne Woodford, Ana Zamora of the No on 66 campaign and Berkeley law Professor Elisabeth Semel vigorously defended all of the hijinks played by anti-death-penalty lawyers. They oppose both the death penalty and Prop. 66, which is supposed to streamline executions.

Why does it take a year to process an appeal based on a convicted killer’s childhood? Why doesn’t the Habeas Corpus Resource Center focus on worthy appeals and stop jamming up the courts with frivolous paper — and then complain about court backlogs? Why have opponents gone after the state for getting lethal injection drugs from compounding pharmacies or other states, after opponents made it impossible to secure drugs from once legal sources? The answer to everything: Defense attorneys have to do it, because “it’s the law.”

Well, so is the death penalty.

If California voters should decide to repeal capital punishment, do not believe for one minute they won’t use every dirty trick to undermine life without parole. And they’ll tell you they have to because, “it’s the law.”

Debra J. Saunders is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Email: dsaunders@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @DebraJSaunders
 
Capital punishment in California

930 individuals sentenced to death since 1978

13 Death Row inmates executed 

2 inmates sentenced in California were executed in other states, Missouri and Virginia

71 Death Row inmates died of natural causes

25 Death Row inmates killed themselves

8 Death Row inmates died of other causes
Source: California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation


Michele Hanisee: A yes vote on Prop. 66 is a vote for justice
By Michele Hanisee, Guest commentary
Posted: 09/17/16, 3:32 PM PDT 

  
Michele Hanisee
This is in response to your editorial (Sept. 9, Herald) urging a no vote on Proposition 66.

Those in support of abolishing the death penalty point to the possibility of an innocent person being executed. In California this couldn’t be further from the truth. Those who commit a capital punishment-related crime will be prosecuted to full extent of the law. The innocent can take solace in knowing that a unanimous jury of 12 citizens must render the death verdict after an exhaustive trial where the accused murderer is represented by two highly competent attorneys and overseen by an independent judge who ensures a fair trial.

The death penalty is reserved for the worst of the worst offenders in California. These people have committed unspeakable atrocities against the citizens of California. People like Lonnie Franklin Jr. (the Grim Sleeper), who was just recently sentenced to death in Los Angeles for the killing of 10 young African-American women. Or Tiequon Cox, who was hired by an imprisoned Rolling 60s Crips gang member to kill. Cox entered the wrong home and murdered four people, including an 8-year-old and a 12-year-old. Then there’s Charles Ng, who was convicted of brutally murdering 11 people and most likely murdered 25 more. There’s also Lawrence Bittaker, who killed five young women after he raped and tortured them. The list goes on and on. To make matters worse, these horrific individuals, excluding Franklin Jr., have been sitting on death row for decades, costing California millions of dollars to house, feed, clothe, guard and provide health care to them.

There are 746 killers sitting on California’s death row. These inmates have murdered over 1,000 victims, including 226 children and 43 police officers; 294 victims were raped and/or tortured. These killers and their repetitive appeals are the reasons why a vote of No on Prop. 62 and Yes on Prop. 66 is recommended.

California’s death penalty is a dysfunctional mess that doesn’t bring justice to victims’ family members. However, by mending, not ending, the death penalty, we can change that.

Prop. 66 was written by legal scholars who know the ins and outs of the death penalty system. They have written Prop. 66 so that it speeds up the appeals process by eliminating legal and procedural delaying tactics while assuring due process protections for those sentenced to death. It ensures criminals sentenced to death are assigned a special appeals lawyer immediately by expanding the availability of lawyers to handle these appeals. Prop. 66 limits state appeals to five years instead of allowing for these convicted criminals to file appeal after appeal. However, the initiative does not impose a rigid deadline that must be met in every case as extraordinary cases may take longer. However, five years is generally sufficient to get through state appeals, even in the most complex cases.

While many point to the “exorbitant costs” associated with the death penalty, they forget how expensive it is to giving life without parole to these criminals. It’s estimated that it costs at least $50,000 per year to house, feed, guard and provide health care to someone in prison, and that it averages between 20 and 25 years from a jury’s sentence of death to an actual execution date. There are 746 inmates on death row, with an average age of 27, and average life expectancy of 74. Reducing someone’s punishment to life without parole will cost taxpayers $1.8 billion in housing costs alone.

What I along with other district attorneys, law enforcement officials and families of victims want is justice. Justice to impose a lawful sentence recommended by juries and imposed by judges across California. Some deem the death penalty as cruel and unusual punishment; however, most Californians disagree and believe that those convicted of these horrible crimes are depraved. In fact, any time we are asked to vote on whether or not to abolish the death penalty, Californians repeatedly vote to keep the death penalty intact. This year seems no different. A recent poll conducted by the Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley found that 75.7 percent of Californians surveyed support Prop. 66.

Voters understand that the criminals on death row have been convicted of the most heinous crimes. Voters also realize that those left behind, grieving families throughout California and their loved ones, don’t deserve anything less than justice.

Justice is a reformed, not eliminated death penalty. I urge a NO vote on Proposition 62 and YES on Proposition 66.

Michele Hanisee is a deputy district attorney for Los Angeles County and is president of the Association of Deputy District Attorneys — Los Angeles.

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