July 26
COLORADO:
Colorado law to speed up death penalty is failing, advocates on both sides say
---- "Unitary" appeal system was supposed to resolve Colorado state court
litigation within 2 years
Colorado's only 2 death penalty appeals are stuck at a standstill, and now
advocates on both sides of the justice system say that a law passed nearly two
decades ago to speed up such appeals is failing.
In 1997, Colorado lawmakers frustrated with the slow pace of executions in the
state passed a bill they thought would fix it. By putting the most
time-consuming part of capital punishment appeals first and setting tight
deadlines, the goal was to resolve all litigation in state court within 2 years
of a death sentence being imposed.
Instead, the 1st 2 appeals to test the process - those for convicted murderers
Sir Mario Owens and Robert Ray - have stalled at that initial step for more
than 7 years after the sentences were issued. The murders that brought the
death sentences occurred 11 years ago this summer.
And with both cases in turmoil - Ray's attorneys recently tried to withdraw
from the appeal over a dispute with a judge, while Owens' attorneys say they
are being improperly denied information about why their judge was fired - the
delays look set to continue for months or years more.
The gridlock has even the sponsor of the 1997 bill wondering whether something
about the death penalty in Colorado has to change.
"I'm almost to the point where I would say, 'Let's do away with it and save the
taxpayers the money,'" said Jeanne Adkins, a former state representative from
Douglas County.
In any death penalty case, deciding the sentence is usually the quick part.
What follows the jury's verdict is a trail of appeals that reaches all the way
to the U.S. Supreme Court and back.
Those on death row in Colorado are guaranteed 2 appeals in state court: the
"direct appeal," which challenges the integrity of the trial, and the
"post-conviction appeal," in which defendants introduce new evidence or raise
claims of prosecutorial misconduct or incompetent representation. Prior to
1997, the direct appeal went 1st followed by the post-conviction appeal.
But, because the post-conviction appeal is the lengthier of the two, lawmakers
in 1997 flipped the order. Now, after a lower-court judge issues an initial
ruling on the post-conviction appeal, the 2 appeals then move in tandem to the
Colorado Supreme Court - in what's been dubbed a "unitary" system. (Appeals
that take place in federal court, after all the state-court appeals finish, are
another matter.)
The law says all post-conviction proceedings in state court "shall be completed
within 2 years after the date upon which the sentence of death is imposed."
"There shall be no extensions of time of any kind beyond the 2-year period,"
the law states.
Except the Colorado Supreme Court ruled in 2010 that's not exactly true.
Instead, the justices concluded the law allows them to adopt rules granting
extensions, "upon a showing of extraordinary circumstances that could not have
been foreseen and prevented."
That's an important wrinkle, said Denver defense attorney Christopher Decker,
because it provides necessary safeguards for a defendant's constitutional
rights.
"If they just speed up the process and strip everyone of due process, we'll
have a very fast outcome that will be worth nothing," said Decker, who is not
involved in either appeal. "It won't stand up to constitutional review."
But that's also what has allowed Owens' and Ray's appeals to linger for years
in state court without resolution. Ray's post-conviction hearings haven't even
started yet in Arapahoe County District Court. Owens' hearings could have to be
completely redone after the senior judge presiding over the case was fired as
he was about to issue his final order.
"2 years may have been unrealistic," said Tom Raynes, the executive director of
the Colorado District Attorneys' Council. "But 8 years to not even get halfway
there is absurd."
Raynes said the legislature might now need to rewrite the unitary appeal
statute. Decker said other constitutional concerns - once briefly the subject
of a lawsuit - could doom it altogether. And Adkins, once the biggest champion
of the idea, is pessimistic about whether lawmakers can do anything.
"The death penalty has become so politicized, truthfully, in the last decade or
so in Colorado that I really think that a lot of what the legislature tried to
do may actually be pretty pointless now," she said.
One of the lawmakers who could have a say on this, though, is one of the people
mostly deeply affected by the delays. State Rep. Rhonda Fields' son, Javad
Marshall-Fields, was 1 of 2 people killed - along with his fiancee, Vivian
Wolfe - in the murders that put Owens and Ray on death row. The wait for
justice has been excruciating, she said. But she's optimistic there is a
solution.
"I think there's got to be something that we can do to protect the rights of
the victims and protect the rights of the defendants," she said, "that's not
dragging things out for 11 years."
(source: The Denver Post)
IDAHO:
Judge rules confessed cop killer Renfro could still face death penalty
Accused cop killer Jonathan Renfro appeared in Kootenai County courtroom Monday
morning, his defense team hoping to take the death penalty off the table and
coming up short in their efforts.
It took a judge less than 30 minutes to come to that decision. Renfro's defense
tried to argue that the death penalty is a violation of his constitutional
rights, adding that a lack of funding for defense in Idaho meant they didn't
have enough time and resources to devote to Renfro, denying him his right to a
fair trial.
Prosecutors however say the death penalty was a fitting option for a man who
killed Coeur d'Alene Police Sergeant Greg Moore.
"He was a bad guy doing bad things and Sergeant Moore found him," Kootenai
County Sheriff's Lieutenant Stu Miller said.
Last May, shortly after he was arrested, Renfro admitted to killing Moore,
saying he didn't want to go back to prison.
Moore had been responding to reports of a suspicious person when he was killed.
Renfro's attorneys also say the death penalty shouldn't be an option because of
new legislative changes in the works. They say those changes will allow more
time to devote to Renfro's case, however the judge went ahead and ruled Monday
morning that when he goes to trial February 6 the death penalty will remain an
option for prosecutors.
(source; KXLY news)
NEVADA:
Nevada Supreme Court rejects appeals of two death-row prisoners
The Nevada Supreme Court has denied the appeals of 2 Las Vegas men on death row
for 20 years or more.
An appeal for Marlo Thomas, who is now 44, argued he is intellectually disabled
and should not have been sentenced to death. He also claimed his lawyer was
ineffective at a 2nd trial.
The court rejected both arguments.
The court in 2004 overturned his 1st sentence of death. He returned to District
Court and was again sentenced to death.
He was convicted of fatally stabbing 2 workers at a restaurant during a
robbery, according to court records.
Dale E. Flanagan, 51, contended evidence was withheld at his trial. The court
said the evidence was not material to the case.
Flanagan was convicted of killing his grandparents Carl and Colleen Gordon in
November 1984 in an effort to collect an inheritance, according to court
records. He was sentenced to death, but the Supreme Court overturned that
sentence.
He was again given the death penalty at a 2nd trial.
(source: Las Vegas Sun)
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