-Caveat Lector- <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/"> </A> -Cui Bono?- Philadelphia, PA is where Mumia Abu-Jamal is sentenced to death- This article states "The city council of Philadelphia, Pennsylvannia this week called for a moratorium on the death penalty." Dave Hartley http://www.asheville-computer.com/dave ========================= Agence France Presse Sunday, February 13 1:53 AM SGT US death penalty bill would allow DNA evidence in appeals WASHINGTON, Feb 12 (AFP) - Senator Patrick Leahy on Saturday defended his proposal for legislation allowing wider use of DNA evidence by death row inmates seeking to overturn their convictions. "This is not a criminal justice system that's working. It's Russian roulette," he told a CNN interviewer, adding that in his view greater use of DNA as evidence could be key to overturning many wrongful convictions. The high incidence of death sentences overturned on appeal in the United States suggests that a substantial number of innocent people have been among those executed, and is a sign of a system in "crisis," said Leahy. Leahy, a Democratic senator from Vermont, on Friday unveiled his Innocence Protection Act, the text of which is being finalized. Leahy's aides said it would make DNA analyses exempt from time limitations on the presentation of new evidence following a conviction. DNA evidence has been proven "extremely reliable," more so than eyewitness evidence, and is the modern-day equivalent of fingerprints, Leahy said Saturday. But federal law imposes a two-year time limit for appeals, and most states have similar laws. As the sophistication of DNA testing continues to increase, DNA evidence has been used to overturn a number of convictions in the United States. Two states, Illinois and New York, already waive the time limit on appeals if new DNA evidence is to be presented. DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, contains the genetic code unique to each individual, and can often be extracted from either tissues or bodily fluids. Leahy's bill is co-sponsored by Democrat Russ Feingold of Minnesota and supported by three other Democratic senators: New York's Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Hawaii's Daniel Akaka and Michigan's Carl Levin. It comes at a time of renewed public debate over the death penalty in the United States, following the imposition by Illinois Governor George Ryan of a moratorium on capital punishment in his state on January 31. Ryan cited 13 cases in which innocent people were to death row in Illinois since 1977, and noted that many more may have been put to death without their innocence having come to light. The city council of Philadelphia, Pennsylvannia this week called for a moratorium on the death penalty. Leahy's bill would also provide publicly funded DNA testing for death-row inmates who could not otherwise afford it, attorneys familiar with the legislation said. The second main thrust of the proposed legislation would be to guarantee the quality of legal counsel available to death-row inmates, they added. At least two court-appointed attorneys would be made available to defend prisoners, and those attorneys would have to meet competency standards set by the Administrative Office of the Courts, a federal body. Defendants in death penalty trials, if unable to afford a lawyer, currently have the right to one court-appointed attorney, but this may often be a local attorney, underpaid, understaffed and without any death penalty case experience, a congressional committee reported in 1993. Campaigners opposed to the death penalty have focused on issues including race, mental fitness, and the age at which crimes were committed. In Pennsylvania, for example, 83 percent of those on death row in 1998 were African Americans, who make up only 14 percent of the state's population. And US states continue to execute people for crimes committed before they reached adulthood -- in contravention of an international human rights covenant the United States has signed. US courts have also been criticised for failing to devote sufficient attention and place sufficient weight on whether a defendant was mentally handicapped or mentally ill at the time of their crime. ================================= *** NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. *** <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are not allowed. 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