Sept. 9
CALIFORNIA:
L.A. judge overturns death sentence
A Los Angeles federal judge has overturned one of California's oldest
death sentences, sparing a convicted killer of 2 elderly Long Beach women
because his trial was tainted by unreliable jailhouse informants and
poorly performing lawyers.
In an Aug. 20 order, U.S. District Judge Edward Rafeedie reversed the 1979
death sentence of Earl Lloyd Jackson, who has been on the state's death
row longer than all but 3 of the more than 620 San Quentin Prison inmates
awaiting execution. The judge also set aside the special circumstance
conviction that made Jackson eligible for the death penalty.
"The special circumstance finding and death sentence in this case rest on
an evidentiary foundation constructed largely from the false testimony of
two jailhouse informants," wrote Rafeedie, an appointee of former
President Reagan.
The judge's order keeps intact Jackson's conviction for the fatal beating
deaths of Gladys Ott, 90, and Vernita Curtis, 81, who were killed during
separate burglaries of their Long Beach apartments in 1977. Numerous
witnesses testified that Jackson admitted his role in the crimes, even
laughing while he told one neighbor he "did" Curtis, a widow found badly
beaten in her home.
But citing a "dereliction of duty" by the prosecutor and Jackson's defense
attorney, Rafeedie found that Jackson's constitutional rights were
violated. Among other things, the judge determined that prosecutors
allowed two jailhouse informants to lie to the jury, particularly about
the favorable deals they received in exchange for their testimony.
Rafeedie concluded that the informants were the only direct link to
Jackson's role in the Ott murder, which made him eligible for the death
penalty. Jackson allegedly bragged about the crime while in jail. An
accomplice was convicted of murdering Curtis.
The judge also set aside the death sentence because Jackson's lawyer did
not put on any defense during the trial's penalty phase.
Hallye Jordan, a spokeswoman for Attorney General Bill Lockyer, said the
state hasn't decided yet whether to appeal the ruling. Jordan added that
prosecutors were "disappointed" and believe the state Supreme Court was
correct when it last rejected Jackson's arguments 12 years ago.
Jackson's case has been at the center of California's death penalty debate
since the state reinstated capital punishment more than two decades ago.
Jackson was one of only four murderers whose death sentence was upheld by
the state Supreme Court under former Chief Justice Rose Bird, which
overturned most death cases it reviewed until Bird and 2 other liberal
justices were ousted by voters in 1986. Bird herself dissented in
Jackson's case.
In 1992, a more conservative high court rejected the findings of a
court-appointed referee who'd recommended that Jackson's death sentence be
set aside for many of the reasons Rafeedie has now cited. The late Justice
Stanley Mosk and current Justice Joyce Kennard issued an unusual 121-page
dissent criticizing their colleagues for upholding Jackson's death
sentence.
The state Supreme Court majority ruled that despite the problems in
Jackson's case, it wouldn't have made a difference to the jury, citing
Jackson's "utter lack of remorse and extreme callousness" in his
admissions to other people besides the informants.
The reversal in Jackson's case continues a trend in California death
penalty cases identified in a 2002 series in the Mercury News that found
dozens of death sentences are being overturned while few result in
executions. There have been 10 executions since 1978, but the Mercury News
has found at least 87 cases reversed by the state and federal courts since
1987, the end of the Bird court.
Jackson's death sentence is the 6th overturned this year in California.
There are not expected to be any executions in 2004.
(source: Knight Ridder Tribune)
