July 20
TEXAS:
Judge denies request to speak to doctor in Petetan death penalty case
A judge denied a request by death row inmate Carnell Petetan Jr. to speak to a
state expert Tuesday after McLennan County prosecutors charged his attorneys
were on a "fishing expedition" and assured them they had provided all evidence
favorable to the defense.
Jeremy Schepers and Ashley Steele of the Office of Capital and Forensic Writs
filed a motion seeking an order from 19th State District Judge Ralph Strother
that they be allowed to interview Dr. Randy Price and that state prosecutors
turn over their notes or other communications with the Dallas
neuropsychologist.
Price consulted with McLennan County prosecutors in the Petetan capital murder
case but did not testify at his trial. Price attended the trial and heard
defense expert witnesses testify that Petetan has an intellectual disability
that should preclude him from the death penalty.
Strother sentenced Petetan to death in April 2014 after jurors recommended the
penalty in the 2012 shooting death of his estranged wife, Kimberly Farr
Petetan.
The attorneys from the capital writ office have not filed an application for
writ of habeas corpus in Petetan's case but are in the preparation stages while
his initial appeal is pending before the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. The
deadline to file the writ application with the state's highest criminal court
is Oct. 19.
Officials brought Petetan from death row in Livingston, 45 miles east of
Huntsville, for the 20-minute hearing.
Prosecutors Michael Jarrett and Sterling Harmon objected to the defense's
request. They assured the judge that the state had provided to the defense all
so-called "Brady" material and all subject matter covered by the Michael Morton
Act, evidence favorable to the defense.
"Dr. Price consulted on the case," Jarrett said. "He never gave us any
exculpatory materials. He just agreed with the state's contention that all of
Petetan's life, his actions, thoughts and things he did do not support an
intellectual disability finding and, in fact, rebut it."
Jarrett reminded Strother that Petetan testified at his trial for hours and
said the jury could see he is not intellectually disabled.
"This is not a case of test scores," Jarrett said. "It is a case of adaptive
behavior."
The jury in Petetan's case found that Petetan constitutes a continuing threat
to society and rejected his claim that he was exempt from execution because of
mental impairment.
Kimberly Petetan started writing Carnell Petetan in prison in 2009 after a
chance meeting with his brother. A recovering drug addict who was studying to
be a drug abuse counselor, Kimberly Petetan shared her story with Carnell
Petetan's brother, and he thought Carnell Petetan, then serving a 20-year
prison term for 3 violent assaults, could benefit from her kindness.
Kimberly Petetan and Carnell Petetan were married and after his release from
prison lived together in Port Arthur for a short time. Kimberly Petetan moved
back to Waco after reporting that her husband had threatened her and her
daughter.
Carnell Petetan was convicted of breaking into his estranged wife's Lake Shore
Drive apartment in September 2012 - about 7 months after his release from
prison - and shooting her in front of her daughter and 2 men who rode from Port
Arthur with him earlier that day.
Both of those men and the girl told jurors that Petetan shot his wife.
Petetan claimed 1 of the men with him fired the fatal shots.
Petetan served almost 20 years in prison for shooting 2 men and attacking
another man with a chair in separate incidents when he was 16.
He has been locked up since he was 13, being placed on juvenile probation for
attacking a teacher before continuing to do poorly and being sent to a state
juvenile facility in Brownwood.
Trial testimony showed that in Petetan's early prison years, he sexually
assaulted 3 fellow inmates, assaulted guards and was a member of the 357
Graveyard Crips prison gang.
(source: Waco Tribune)
FLORIDA:
Judge denies Tommy Ziegler's request
A judge on Monday denied a new request by Tommy Zeigler to analyze bloodstains
on his crime scene clothing, the longtime death row inmate's latest attempt to
exonerate himself in the 1975 Christmas Eve killings of his wife, in-laws and
customer at his Winter Garden furniture store.
In the 30-page ruling, Orange-Osceola Circuit Judge Reginald Whitehead held
that Zeigler's petition for DNA testing was too similar to others that he's
made previously and that the potential discoveries would not be great enough to
rule him out as the perpetrator.
"Having carefully listened to the testimony presented at the evidentiary
hearing and argument from the parties, the Court finds the authenticity of the
DNA is questionable because it may be contaminated based on a lack of
protective equipment when it was handled and/or improper storage," the judge
wrote.
Eunice Zeigler, her parents Perry and Virginia Edwards and store customer
Charles Mays were killed in the Christmas Eve attack. Zeigler was also shot in
the stomach and maintains they were held up in a store robbery by Mays and
others. Prosecutors have argued that Zeigler concocted the plan, luring Mays to
the scene as a scapegoat, to pocket a life insurance policy on his wife.
In a March hearing, attorneys for Zeigler argued that more sensitive and
technologically advanced DNA tests could show he did not shoot, beat and
bludgeon the victims to death.
The technique, called "Touch DNA" testing, would settle it because it could
detect if Zeigler's DNA transferred onto the victims from contact during a
physical struggle.
Prosecutors with the Orange-Osceola State Attorney's Office opposed the
petition, citing two previous opinions from the Florida Supreme Court, which
found such evidence wouldn't be enough to exonerate Zeigler. The last round of
DNA testing was done in 2001. It proved that Perry Edward's blood was not
present on Zeigler's shirt and pants, as prosecutors argued in the original
trial, but was found on May's clothing.
A judge in 2003 ruled that evidence was not compelling enough to prove
Zeigler's innocence because there were multiple sources of blood at the crime
scene.
In denying the most recent request, Whitehead questioned why Zeigler did not
test all the blood stains he wanted to during the 2001 probe.
Attorneys for Zeigler asserted that the desired technology to do so was not
available then. They also said they would privately finance the testing.
"We're obviously disappointed that [the judge] didn't see the merit and the
application," said one of Zeigler's attorneys, John Houston Pope of New York.
"We'll read what he has to say carefully, and see what the next steps are."
(source: Orlando Sentinel)
LOUISIANA:
2 Baton Rouge convicted killers want to join lethal injection lawsuit
Condemned Baton Rouge police killer Shedran Williams and another local
convicted murderer want to join a 2012 federal lawsuit challenging the
constitutionality of Louisiana's method of execution.
Williams is on death row for the 2004 slaying of Lt. Vickie Wax outside a
now-closed Walmart near Perkins Road and Acadian Thruway, where she was working
a security detail.
Todd Wessinger was sentenced to death in the 1995 killing of two employees,
Stephanie Guzzardo and David Breakwell, at the now-closed Calendar's Restaurant
on Perkins Road, but a federal judge last July threw out the sentence and
ordered a new penalty phase hearing.
Williams and Wessinger filed motions June 28 seeking to intervene in the suit
filed by condemned killers Jessie Hoffman and Christopher Sepulvado in late
2012.
Early last month at the request of Louisiana corrections officials, U.S.
District Judge James Brady halted all proceedings in the lethal injection case
until January 2018 as the state tries to figure out how it can carry out the
death penalty.
Louisiana doesn't have the drugs needed to put condemned inmates to death. Drug
shortages have forced the state corrections department to rewrite its execution
plan several times since 2010, when it carried out its last lethal injection.
Williams' and Wessinger's intervention requests are pending before U.S.
Magistrate Judge Erin Wilder-Doomes.
Allowing Williams and Wessinger to intervene in the case rather than requiring
them to file their own suits "will promote judicial economy," attorneys for
both men argue in their motions.
Kevan Brumfield, who was condemned to die for the 1993 ambush slaying of Baton
Rouge police Cpl. Betty Smothers, joined the suit in 2014, but Brumfield will
be resentenced Wednesday to life in prison in the wake of federal court rulings
that found him to be intellectually disabled and ineligible for execution.
Williams is represented by Mercedes Montagnes and Cecelia Trenticosta Kappel
with The Promise of Justice Initiative in New Orleans, and New Orleans lawyer
Letty Di Giulio. Wessinger is represented by Montagnes, Kappel and New Orleans
lawyer Soren Gisleson.
Hoffman was sentenced to death for kidnapping, raping and fatally shooting Mary
"Molly" Elliot, of Covington, in 1996. Sepulvado is on death row for fatally
beating and scalding his 6-year-old stepson, Wesley Mercer, at his Mansfield
home in 1992.
(source: The Advocate)
ILLINOIS:
Will the death penalty deter police killings?
The Death Penalty Information Center said an Illinois lawmaker's push to bring
back the death penalty is likely going nowhere.
Illinois abolished the death penalty in 2011. State Rep. Mark Batinick,
R-Plainfield, wants to bring it back for anyone convicted of killing first
responders.
"These are the people that put themselves in harm's way to protect us," he
said. "They run into wherever the danger is, and right now I feel like they
don't necessarily feel like we have their back and we're protecting them."
Batinick said recent police murders could persuade death penalty opponents to
get on board.
"I think if you look at the incidents that have happened recently and then what
the effects of those incidents are after the fact, maybe people will just start
changing their mind," he said.
Death Penalty Information Center Executive Director Robert Dunham said
Louisiana and Texas have the death penalty, and that wasn't a deterrent to
recent police shootings.
"Both of those states already had the death penalty, so it's clear that the
death penalty did not deter the killings," Dunham said.
Dunham said every year someone in the Illinois Legislature files a measure to
bring back capital punishment.
"That doesn't mean it's going to pass because after the initial publicity goes
by the legislators take a look at all the reasons why it was that the death
penalty didn't work in Illinois and the bills so far have not moved forward,"
he said.
Illinois abolished the death penalty in 2011.
(source: Illinois News Network)
NEBRASKA:
Death penalty opponents to speak in North Platte
Journey of Hope...from Violence to Healing, an organization led by families of
murder victims, death row exonerees and death row inmates, will speak in North
Platte Wednesday.
The group is on a 10-day, 20-city tour that ends July 24, spokesman Dan Parsons
said.
The group will make 2 North Platte presentations:
-- 3 p.m. at the First United Methodist Church, 1600 West E. St.
-- 6 p.m. at the Espresso Shop downtown, 419 N. Dewey.
According to the group's announcement, members will share personal stories of
forgiveness, redemption and how they have been harmed by the death penalty
system, said Rev. Stephen Griffith, a retired United Methodist pastor and the
executive director of another group, Nebraskans for Alternatives to the Death
Penalty.
"I know that Nebraskans of faith are greatly concerned about the death penalty
and these forums will be a chance for them to learn about the issue and get
involved in the effort to retain the repeal of the death penalty," Griffith
said.
The question will come before Nebraska voters in the November general election.
The speakers include:
-- Bess Klassen Landis, the daughter of a murder victim.
Bess' mother Helen was beat, stripped, raped, strangled and shot 4 times in
their rural home in Elkhart, Ind. while her daughters were at school and her
father was out of state.
The murder happened on March 14, 1969, before DNA testing. There was never a
conviction. Bess, 13, learned that her home and community were not safe, and
neither was it safe to be a woman. In 2005, she joined the Journey of Hope ...
From Violence to Healing in Texas. She met peers who had lost a loved one to
murder and some who had forgiven the murderer. By publicly telling her story,
she exposed and released her fear and shame, and forgave herself for her
failures. She believes that people are instruments in healing the hatred in
this world, which can't happen with violence (the death penalty), but by
eradicating hunger, poverty, and disease and by reaching out in love to our
enemies.
"Politicians tell us that the death penalty must be reserved for the worst of
the worst. Through the Journey, Bess learned that in reality, the death penalty
is reserved for the poorest of the poor. And that many that have been placed on
death row have been innocent," the Journey of Hope website says.
-- Sandrine Ageorges-Skinner of Paris, France, has spent decades fighting the
death penalty. She began communicating with Texas death row inmate Hank Skinner
in 1996, visiting him in 2000 and they were married in 2008.
According to the Journey of Hope website, Skinner was convicted only on the
testimony of a state witness who later recanted. The state of Texas has denied
2 motions for post-conviction DNA testing, citing procedural reasons.
The Journey of Hope's website is https://www.journeyofhope.org/home/
Nebraskans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty was founded in 1981 after Gov.
Charles Thone vetoed a bill passed by Nebraska's legislature that would have
repealed the death penalty in Nebraska, Parsons said.
(source: The North Platte Bulletin)
************
SPEAKING FROM PERSONAL EXPERIENCE----Anti-death penalty advocate speaks from
personal experience
Bill Babbitt told a Grand Island audience Tuesday night that he was in favor of
the death penalty "until it came knocking at my door."
Babbitt's little brother, Manny, was executed in 1999 after 19 years in prison.
Manny Babbitt had been convicted of the 1980 murder of a 78-year-old woman,
Leah Schendel, during a burglary in Sacramento, Calif.
Bill Babbitt expressed doubt that anyone would support capital punishment if
his or her child killed someone.
Babbitt, who lives in Elk Grove, Calif., spoke to a gathering of 25 people at
Trinity United Methodist Church.
He appeared in Grand Island on behalf of an organization called Journey of Hope
... from Violence to Healing. His talk is part of a 10-day, 20-city caravan
organized by a group that would like to see Nebraskans pull the plug on the
death penalty. Based in Lincoln, the group is called Nebraskans for
Alternatives to the Death Penalty.
On Nov. 8, Nebraska voters will decide if the state will keep the law that
eliminates the death penalty. Babbitt and his colleagues are urging people to
retain, rather than repeal, the law.
The measure to end the death penalty, Legislative Bill 268, was passed by the
Nebraska Legislature in 2015.
Babbitt, 73, was accompanied Tuesday night by Alex Kelly of Lincoln. Kelly told
audience members that, if the law is to be retained, they are as important as
he is. Getting involved in the effort and spreading the word, Kelly said, is
crucial.
Manny Babbitt joined the Marines in 1967 and served two tours in Vietnam.
"Manny was a stand-up Marine," his brother said.
He was part of the Siege of Khe Sanh, a 77-day battle that claimed the lives of
700 Marines. During the battle, rocket shrapnel wound up in Manny Babbitt's
head.
When he came home, he fought another war, Bill Babbitt said. In his home state
of Massachusetts, he spent time in the Bridgewater State Hospital for the
Criminally Insane.
During the burglary, the elderly woman died of a heart attack when Manny broke
into her house and beat her.
After the crime, some people referred to him as an animal, which set off his
mother. "If he's an animal, they made an animal out of him," said the mother of
9 children.
When Bill contacted the police, he was assured that Manny would not receive the
death penalty due to his mental illness. But that promise was probably not a
police officer's to give, he said Tuesday night.
Before he was executed at San Quentin State Prison, 50-year-old Manny Babbitt
received the Purple Heart. Because of his brother's death, Bill Babbitt's heart
continues to grieve.
In addition to his work in this country, Bill Babbitt has also spent
considerable time in Africa working against the death penalty.
(source: The Grand Island Independent)
CALIFORNIA:
Silicon Valley's Powerful Steer Cash to Death Penalty Repeal Bid
Some of Silicon Valley's biggest names are pouring money into an effort to
overturn California's death penalty as support for capital punishment has
declined to the lowest in decades.
Reed Hastings, the billionaire chief executive officer of Netflix Inc., donated
$1 million, and Salesforce.com Inc. CEO Marc Benioff gave $50,000 to support a
measure on the November ballot that would replace death with a life sentence
without parole. 7 wealthy donors from technology companies have contributed the
bulk of the $4 million raised so far.
"My objection to the death penalty is not based on some abstract principle that
it's bad to kill people," said Paul Graham, co-founder of Y Combinator, Silicon
Valley's largest startup factory, who contributed $500,000. "It's because so
many of the people who get executed are actually innocent. If you look at the
way some of these trials are conducted, it's shocking."
Technology executives increasingly are using clout and deep pockets to take
socially liberal stands on issues such as gun control and same-sex marriage.
They're stepping in where efforts by Democratic lawmakers have failed, with
contributions to voter initiatives and threats to withdraw business in states
passing laws they find objectionable. Their involvement is a reflection of the
leanings of their millennial workers and represents a shift from a corporate
mindset of avoiding controversy to keep from alienating customers.
(source: Bloomberg News)
*************
Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom endorses proposition to abolish the death penalty in
California
California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday threw his support behind a ballot
measure that would repeal the death penalty in California, saying the criminal
justice policy did not deter crime and was fundamentally immoral.
In a statement, he said Proposition 62 would abolish a system "that is
administered with troubling racial disparities." Newsom, who publicly supported
a 2012 failed measure seeking to end capital punishment, said the initiative
would also save the state millions of dollars. He cited statistics showing that
California has spent $5 billion to execute 13 people since 1978.
Proposition 62 would replace capital punishment for 1st-degree murder with life
in prison without the possibility of parole. It is 1 of 2 competing measures on
the future of the death penalty that voters will weigh on Nov. 8.
"I realize that this is a controversial issue that raises deeply felt passions
on all sides," Newsom said. "But I also believe that decades from now, like
with so many other once-contentious issues, America will look back at the death
penalty as an archaic mistake. On issues such as this, elected leaders owe it
to themselves and to their constituents to speak up and speak out - regardless
of political consequences."
(source: Los Angeles Times)
*******************
Murder Suspect in Homeless Attacks Could Face Death Penalty
A man accused of attacking 5 homeless men in various San Diego neighborhoods,
killing 3 of them, could face the death penalty, prosecutors announced Tuesday.
An allegation that he used a weapon, which she didn't specify, was attached to
the charges.
The prosecutor said that because of the special circumstance allegation, the
defendant could face the death penalty or life in prison without parole if
convicted. Prosecutors have not yet decided if they will seek the death
penalty.
"That's a decision that will be made at a later time," Harvey said.
Guerrero did not enter a plea during his 1st court appearance before San Diego
Superior Court Judge Frederick Maguire. His public defender, Dan Tandon, asked
was granted a delay in the arraignment until Aug. 2.
Guerrero was arrested Friday after being spotted by a patrol officer in Park
West, not long after the latest assault.
San Diego police said the victims were brutalized - 2 of them set on fire - as
they slept on roadsides, in open areas and under freeway bridges. According to
Harvey, the 2 injured men are expected to survive despite serious wounds.
The spree of assaults across the city left San Diegans - particularly those who
live on the streets - shaken and on edge since the 4th of July weekend.
The 1st attack in the series occurred July 3. About 8 a.m. that day, the
burning body of Angelo De Nardo, 53, was found underneath an Interstate 5
offramp near the 2700 block of Morena Boulevard in Bay Park. Witnesses to the
disturbing scene described seeing a man running across the freeway near
Claremont Drive, carrying a gas can.
The following day, Shawn Mitchell Longley, 41, was found dead at a park on
Bacon Street in Ocean Beach, and 61-year-old transient Manuel Mason was
severely wounded near Valley View Casino Center in the Midway district,
according to police.
On the morning of July 6, Dionicio Derek Vahidy, 23, was gravely wounded in
downtown San Diego by an assailant who fled after leaving a towel burning on
top of him. Vahidy died in a hospital 4 days later.
Authorities have not released the victims' causes of death or disclosed a
suspected motive for the violence. There are no indications that the suspect
knew the victims, according to police.
The most recent attack came to light Friday, shortly after 4:30 a.m., when two
San Diego Harbor Police officers heard someone yelling for help while driving
along the 1800 block of C Street, underneath Interstate 5 in the East Village,
San Diego police Capt. David Nisleit said.
The officers pulled over and found a 55-year-old homeless man suffering from
"significant trauma" to his upper body, the captain said.
Guerrero, a Coronado native who most recently lived in downtown San Diego, was
arrested about 2 miles from the site of the assault.
Nisleit said detectives discovered physical evidence at the scene of the Friday
attack and at the suspect's residence that "definitively and uniquely links
together the recent murders and brutal attacks against our homeless community."
Tandon told reporters outside the courtroom that Guerrero's story starts well
before the moment the attacks started.
"San Diego deserves to hear the truth and the whole story in this case," Tandon
said. "We're just beginning the process of gathering the information so the
whole story, including Jon's, can be known."
Another man was arrested July 7 in connection with the attacks but was cleared
when additional evidence was discovered.
(source: timesofsandiego.com)
USA:
Letting Prosecutors Write the Law ---- It's more common than you think.
In "Case in Point," Andrew Cohen examines a single case or character that sheds
light on the criminal justice system.
After we published our "Case in Point" story of Doyle Lee Hamm, an Alabama
death row inmate whose judge signed off on a vital 89-page opinion without
apparently ever reading it, we received a wave of emails from defense
attorneys. Representing clients in Georgia, Louisiana, Kentucky, South
Carolina, and Ohio, they wanted us to know that this had happened to them, too,
and that they believed from their long experience practicing in their
jurisdictions that such "ghostwriting" was a routine part of capital practice
in those states.
Ghostwriting occurs when prosecutors or state attorneys draft substantive
opinions or orders that state judges then quickly sign, often without altering
a single word or fixing typos, thus elevating to case law one side's naturally
biased view of the facts and the law of a case. The practice exists even though
the Supreme Court has frowned on it and state bar officials have disciplined
judges for it. It exists even though it undermines one of the more fundamental
premises in our justice system; that judges will undertake an independent
evaluation of contested issues in a case and not just take one side's word for
things. The result is that capital defendants remain on death row, or are
executed, based on findings of fact and conclusions of law generated by the
very people trying to execute them.
We are not talking about instances where a judge asks the attorneys in open
court to help expedite the resolution of a case by drafting a brief order
memorializing what the judge already has ruled. That type of bureaucratic
"ghostwriting" is commonplace and makes the legal system more efficient. In
Hamm's case, however, as we reported, an Alabama judge received a complex
"Proposed Memorandum Opinion" on a Friday and then signed it the following
Monday without even striking the word "Proposed" from the title (or giving
defense attorneys any time to react to it). This opinion has been cited as
judicial gospel since 1999 to deny Hamm a new sentencing hearing.
When Hamm's attorneys tried to hold a hearing to determine whether this judge
ever actually read the opinion he had signed, they were blocked from doing so
by lawyers for the Alabama attorney general, which was the office that had sent
the "proposed" opinion to the judge in the first place. The U.S. Supreme Court
now is considered Hamm's appeal, with ghostwriting one of several issues Hamm's
attorneys have raised.
Our piece noted that this practice routinely occurs in Texas. It turns out
Texas is hardly unique. In Ohio, in the case of Donna Roberts, convicted of
murder and sentenced to death in 2003, the judge and prosecutor together
drafted a sentencing opinion. Roberts' attorneys didn't discover this
arrangement until the judge was reading the opinion in open court and the
defense counsel noticed that prosecutors were reading along in unison, even
though they should not yet have had a copy of what the judge was reading. The
judge was sanctioned for violating the state's judicial code of conduct and the
death sentence was vacated because the judge's delegation of a basic judicial
function was "wholly inconsistent" with his ethical obligations.
The same thing happens in South Carolina. In the case of Johnny Bennett, one
we've highlighted before because of racist remarks by the prosecutor in the
case, the state attorney general wrote the opinion that the state now says the
appellate courts should defer to in reinstating Bennett's capital sentence. In
that case, the judge signed off on a lengthy order written by state attorneys
that included a blank page, countless typographical mistakes, and even a
paragraph that mistakenly sought to give custody of Bennett to the state,
which, of course, already had him in custody. The legal reasoning was so
muddled, defense attorneys alleged, that in some instances it made no sense at
all.
The issue also arose recently in Kentucky, in the capital case of Samuel Steven
Fields. There, the Kentucky Supreme Court permitted the ghostwriting episode
only after the trial judge who adopted the state's findings verbatim swore
under oath that he had independently evaluated them. A federal court now is
reviewing that ruling, which means that the resolution of another death penalty
case has been delayed by the practice. It happens routinely in Pennsylvania,
too, and has for decades, says Robert Dunham, director of the Death Penalty
Information Center, which tracks capital cases around the country.
Stephen Bright, the Yale Law School lecturer who is the director of the
Southern Center for Human Rights, told me that the problem of ghostwriting in
Alabama goes back decades but has never been squarely addressed by higher
courts, in part because judges do not want to embarrass one another. He
recounted the long-ago capital case of Timothy Davis, whose judge wrote a
1-page order on a substantive matter and was told by a state appeals court to
go back and better explain his rationale. The same trial judge then issued a
2nd order that was equally void of analysis so the appellate court suggested he
submit something along the lines of what state attorneys had proposed. The
trial judge then signed the state's proposed order without changing a word and
the appeals court endorsed that order.
Bright testified on Capitol Hill nearly 25 years ago on the topic when the
Senate Judiciary Committee was considering the nomination of Ed Carnes for the
11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Bright told lawmakers that Carnes, then an
Alabama prosecutor, was notorious for drafting substantive orders for state
judges to sign and then arguing that those orders, adopted verbatim as in the
Hamm case, were entitled to great deference on appeal. Carnes nevertheless was
confirmed to the bench by the Senate in 1992. He is still on the 11th Circuit.
It happens so frequently in Georgia, capital attorney Brian Kammer told me, and
state judges have so protected each other from criticism for using
ghostwriters, that the issue rarely is even litigated any more. One such case,
cited by Atlanta Journal-Constitution writer William Rankin, involved a capital
defendant named Lawrence Jefferson, whose judge asked state attorneys to
prepare an order for him to sign to reject Jefferson's appeal. State lawyers
submitted a 45-page order, which the judge immediately signed without even
fixing typos - like the misuse of the word "constitutionally" - that peppered
the document. The U.S. Supreme Court considered the case, and delayed
Jefferson's execution in part because of this egregious episode of
ghostwriting, but did not definitively outlaw the practice.
The practical problem is that so many judges are so overworked and understaffed
that they use ghostwriting by state attorneys to help move along cases that
might otherwise take months or years to resolve. The constitutional problem, as
the Hamm case illustrates, is that a judge who blithely signs off on a lawyer's
work has effectively allowed the prosecutor to serve as judge.
(source: themarshallproject.org)
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