On Monday, June 24, 2002, the U.S Supreme Court handed down
its decision in the Timothy Ring case. In its simplest terms, this landmark
decision has overturned all the death sentences in Arizona, Idaho, Montana,
Nebraska, and Colorado. This is approximately 160 death sentences. Four other
states will be partially affected.
The Ring case is based on Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S.
466 (2000). The Ring case challenged Arizona's sentencing scheme
claiming that it violated the Sixth Amendment's jury trial guarantee by
entrusting to a judge the finding of a fact that raises the defendant's
maximum penalty. In Arizona, the law allowing a judge rather than a jury to do
the sentencing had been governed by Walton v. Arizona 497 U.S. 637 (1990). The
Supreme Court has now declared that Walton is unconstitutional and overturned
it because it allowed a sentencing judge, sitting without a jury, to find an
aggravating circumstance necessary for the imposition of the death penalty. It
is now clear that the jury must find any such aggravating circumstance rather
than the judge to be able to impose the death penalty.
Arizona will now call a special session of the legislature
to rewrite the sentencing laws so that the death penalty can once again be
imposed on criminal defendants. State Attorney General Janet Napolitano, who
unsuccessfully argued the Ring case before the U.S. Supreme Court has come
toward in an attempt at damage control and political spin to declare that this
decision will affect only 30 of the 127 prisoners on death row who are in the
first stages of appeals in the state court. She does not envision any relief
for those whose appeals have proceeded past the state court into the Federal
Courts. Her interpretation is that there is no retroactivity available to the
rest of us. It should be noted that Ms. Napolitano is running for governor of
Arizona.
Federal Public Defender Dale Baich believes all 127 of the
state's death row inmates should now be eligible for resentencing.
As with so many major court decisions, often more questions
are raised than answered. The issue of retroactivity of this ruling as it
applies to the majority of Arizona's death row population who are past the
initial stages of the state court appeals will have to be litigated in the
courts. The state does not wish to acknowledge all of its previous mistakes in
applying the death penalty and the politicians certainly don't want to appear
weak on crime by acquiescing to the dictates of the U.S. Supreme Court without
some grandstanding. Even though the sound bites keep saying that the public
should not fear that these dangerous killers would be released back into
society, there are not many in state government who will step forward and do
what is politically unpopular.
Even if the state made the decision that we were all to be
resentenced by a jury, how can this be accomplished? How do you reconstitute
old juries, many from decades past? What do you do about witnesses and jurors
you just can't find or have died? To impanel new juries would be very
expensive. An alternative would be to have a jury listen to testimony read
from a transcript but that seems an inadequate remedy. Perhaps the state will
do as it did back in the 1970s when the death penalty was declared
unconstitutional and simply sentence all the death row prisoners to a life
sentence.
At this point in time a clear answer as to what this all
means cannot be given. We are certainly in limbo. But what can be said is that
for the first time since the 1970s, the state of Arizona's death penalty
sentencing scheme is in complete ruins and the laws need to he rewritten. And
for the first time in many years, there is reason to smile. Hope is in the air
for a better life. For without hope, there is no life.
Waiting
to Die - Life on DEATH ROW Book by Richard Rossi
| READER'S
COMMENT
|
|
To whom it may concern,
My
name is Suzette Lambert. Richard Rossi is my cousin and dear friend.
I
wanted to thank those who have taken time and effort to enlighten the
public via internet about cases/individuals such as Richard.
I
have come to find that Richard is one of the strongest, and most
inspirational persons I have yet to meet. Many have much to learn
about humanity.
Thank
you, I appreciate your time and your effort. This is a wonderful gift.
Sincerely,
Suzette |
