death penalty news December 20, 2004
CALIFORNIA: Execution support wanes On the surface, it looks like a pretty good week to support capital punishment: death sentences were handed down in three publicized cases, the state Supreme Court upheld two previous death sentences and a condemned man from San Mateo County was scheduled for lethal injection next month. But take away the media hype and passions enflamed by gruesome case details and polls show support for state-sanctioned executions waning, said Lance G. Lindsey, executive director of San Francisco-based Death Penalty Focus. Countries continue to abolish the practice, district attorneys refuse to ask for it and as of Friday, Kansas became the latest state in the nation to overturn the death penalty. However, none of that is publicized or carries the emotional weight of watching crowds cheer when Scott Peterson was condemned to die for killing his pregnant wife and fetus, Lindsey said. Book-ended with the scheduled Jan. 19 execution of Donald J. Beardslee for the murders of two young women, the cases actually make work harder for death penalty opponents, he said. "Our work is year-round and more effective when it isn't specifically tied to a case. It's hard to compete with the media dramatizing the worst aspects of a case and we're sometimes perceived as too dryly intellectual in our approach. It's not a good time to talk about why it should be abolished," Lindsey said. According to Death Penalty Focus, death sentences nationwide have dropped 54 percent and support hovers in the mid- to high-60 percent. "Support is really dropping but you wouldn't know it by several major news stories right now," Lindsey said. In the East Bay, brother Justin and Glenn Helzer were sentenced to death in separate trials. Peterson also received death as did "sausage king" Stuart Alexander. All four have years on death row ahead of them before the cycle of appeals even begin under current California legal conditions. Lindsey said his group is also keeping its eye on a pending state Supreme Court ruling on executing inmates deemed mentally retarded. The U.S. Supreme Court found the practice unconstitutional but left it to individual states to decide the baseline. California has roughly 60 inmates that might be commuted if the national standard of 70 I.Q. is adopted. Death Penalty Focus leaves advocacy for specific inmates to their legal teams and supporters. Instead, the group hopes California will one day follow in the footsteps of other states, like Kansas, which stopped the practice of executing inmates. New York is currently considering a similar move. In 2000, Illinois began to examine its own use of the death penalty when Gov. George Ryan declared a moratorium on executions. Three years later, Ryan commuted the sentences of all 167 inmates awaiting execution after concluding several inmates were wrongfully convicted. The California Senate last month established a three-year high-level commission to study capital punishment and possible wrongful executions. Some counties are considering a halt in pursuit of the death penalty until the report is returned; however, San Mateo County is not among them. "It is unnecessary to have a moratorium and I don't believe we have the problems of Illinois in this state and definitely not in San Mateo County," said Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe. Lindsey disagrees, at least in terms of the state. He cites a study finding 90 percent of California death row cases mimicking 85 major flaws found in Illinois. "That is plenty to be concerned about," he said. Lindsey wouldn't comment on whether Beardslee's case may contain those problems but the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals took up the matter late Thursday, only hours after his execution date was set. Defense attorneys claim inherent flaws in the state's case against Beardslee and point out that three of four special circumstances qualifying him for death have already been tossed by other courts. Death Penalty Focus won't begin mobilizing protests against his execution until the appeals court rules. If the date sticks, he expects demonstrations throughout the state including an effort outside San Quentin Prison. Even then, ongoing defense pleas for clemency make anything possible. "Dates can always go away at the last moment," Lindsey said. Assistant district attorney Martin Murray is currently readying documents for Beardslee's anticipated clemency bid although it is unknown yet whether Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger would hold a public hearing or merely read paperwork. In the case of Kevin Cooper, scheduled to die before Beardslee until the reprieve of a last-minute federal stay, Schwarzenegger only read arguments from both sides before declining to pardon Cooper. Lindsey hopes society at large one day agrees the death penalty is a political instrument applied disparately. "It's race, place and poverty, not the nature of the crime ... Death sentences are selective. You can commit the same crime in San Francisco as in San Bernadino but have a different process," he said. Lindsey also sees capital punishment as a financially wasteful numbers game. With more than 630 inmates on death row, it would take more than two years to clean it out with one daily execution. By then, he said, at the current addition rate the row wouldn't be reduced by much. "It's a moral and financial waste and it's all beginning to add up for folks," he said. (source: San Mateo Daily Journal)
