Bites from the American Bulldog
California’s Ridiculous “No-Death” Death Penalty
One national news story recently caught my eye and reminded me of the sad state of affairs that is California’s “No Death” Death Penalty. I call it that because most of the 685 inmates on California’s Death Row will die of natural causes.
Consider this. One week ago, today, John Allen Muhammad – the Washington DC sniper – was executed in Virginia. He was convicted in 2003 of killing ten people and sentenced to death in March, 2004. That’s five and a half years from conviction through the appeals process to implementation of what is an appropriate and justified sentence.
Clearly, Virginia is for lovers, but definitely not a good place to be a killer!
Meanwhile, here in California, Scott Peterson sits on Death Row. His appeals process hasn’t even started. You remember Scott Peterson, the guy that brutally murdered his wife Laci and unborn son Conner at Christmas time in 2002? Peterson was convicted in November 2004 and sentenced to death at just about the same time as Muhammad, but his execution is decades away if Laci Peterson’s family is lucky.
California today effectively has a Death Penalty in name only. That’s not the fault of California’s public safety community. Police, prosecutors, law enforcement experts, crime victims and Republican lawmakers have worked diligently to make capital punishment the effective deterrent that the people believe it should be. Nobody opposes giving a convicted criminal a fair appeals process. But when the process is misused to obstruct a lawful public policy, that’s shameful. In this instance, you can thank antagonistic defense attorneys, a flawed appeals process and the United States 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Los Angeles Times reporter David G. Savage wrote yesterday about another California Death Penalty case where the United States Supreme Court has had to restore – for a third time – a death sentence for a California murderer. In 1982, a jury convicted Fernando Belmontes of killing 19 year old Steacy McConnell. He broke into her home and bludgeoned her with a steel barbell, crushing her skull. Belmontes and two accomplices sold her stereo for $100, using the money to buy beer and drugs.
The California Supreme Court affirmed his death sentence in 1988 and since that time, Belmontes’ lawyers have skillfully and shamefully used the federal courts to block the will of the people. Again, according to Savage’s article, on three separate occasions the 9th Circuit Court ruled in favor or Belmonte and set aside his death sentence.
The third time, the 9th Circuit judges said that Bemontes’ lawyer failed to “humanize” him and give jurors a basis for sparing his life. Bemontes’ has lived for 28 years with a conviction and a death sentence, nine years longer than Steacy McConnell’s life. He earned his death sentence. Yet McConnell’s loved ones must continue to relive the pain of their loss and wait for justice…and some kind of closure.
California has a very aggressive anti-death penalty lobby. They make all kinds of baseless claims in an effort to overturn capital punishment. They claim that the Death Penalty doesn’t deter criminals; that death sentences are given based on the race of the convicted criminal; that innocent people are executed and – my personal favorite – that capital punishment is too costly.
How much, I wonder, does it cost to bring back an innocent, law abiding loved one who was brutally killed?
The fact is that these allegations have been factually debunked by public safety professionals and scholars. In fact, according the Institute for the Advancement of Criminal Justice, during the 30-year history of California’s death penalty law, there has never been even a single finding of prosecutorial abuse in the decision making process. This means that no court has ever found that a prosecutor utilized an improper motive such as race, bias or vindictiveness in making the decision to seek death.
How then, do we fix California’s Death Penalty? In reality, the only way is for the people to pass an initiative enacting reforms that deliver justice effectively while at the same time respecting reasonable due process rights for defendants. There’s been talk of just such an initiative on the horizon.
Let’s hope so, for California’s sake. I’ve had enough of our “No-Death” Death Penalty.
Mitch, good article. I agree California’s death penalty is a sham. I understand in Texas they fry them relatively fast and is know as the death penaly state. So we got Sheriff Joe Apia in Arizona that works his prisoners hard and makes them wear pink, Texas fry’s them pretty quick, but in California they live longer on death row than any other state. Go figure.
Quote: “You remember Scott Peterson, the guy that brutally murdered his wife Laci and unborn son Conner at Christmas time in 2002?”
No, I only remember the Scott Peterson who while innocent was convicted in the media by a frantic group of screaming harpies. Meanwhile the state spent $11 million and never found any evidence against him – only evidence which went to his innocence. That Scott Peterson?