http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61028-2002Sep24.html
Death Penalty Ruled Unconstitutional
The Associated Press
Tuesday, September 24, 2002; 3:41 PM
MONTPELIER, Vt. �� A federal judge declared the federal death penalty
unconstitutional Tuesday in the second such ruling in less than three
months.
U.S. District Judge William Sessions said the law does not adequately
protect defendants' rights.
"If the death penalty is to be part of our system of justice, due process
of law and the fair trial guarantees of the Sixth Amendment require that
standards and safeguards governing the kinds of evidence juries may
consider must be rigorous, and constitutional rights and liberties
scrupulously protected," he said.
On July, U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in New York City became the first
federal judge to declare the 1994 Death Penalty Act unconstitutional. He
cited evidence indicating that innocent people have been put to death.
The rulings will not affect individual states' death penalty statutes.
Thirty-eight states allow capital punishment, though some have not
executed anyone for many years. The governors of Illinois and Maryland
have placed moratoriums on executions in their states.
Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh and drug killer Juan Garza have been
executed under the federal death penalty law.
Tuesday's ruling came in the case of Donald Fell, 22, who is facing the
death penalty for allegedly kidnapping and killing a woman in 2000.
� 2002 The Associated Press
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