Bill Would Permit Repeated Death Trials in Federal Cases
by TChris
Federal law makes a life sentence the default punishment when a federal jury can’t unanimously agree to impose the death penalty. The Justice Department wants to change that law, and it’s managed to sneak a change into the House version of the bill that would renew the Patriot Act.
So long as at least one juror voted for death, prosecutors could empanel a new sentencing jury and argue again that execution was warranted.
Former federal prosecutor Mary Jo White doesn’t think the government “should have two bites at that apple.”
"There's something untoward about giving the impression that you're jury shopping for the death penalty."
As Jesselyn McCurdy, the ACLU’s legislative counsel, argues, “If there is one person who has a doubt about whether someone should be put to death, that should be doubt enough.” And if the Justice Department can’t convince a jury to impose death after taking its best shot, it shouldn’t be permitted to keep shooting.
Those who argue that it’s only fair to give the government repeated chances to impose the death penalty ignore the rules of jury selection that already stack the deck in the government’s favor.
Jennifer Daskal, a lawyer with Human Rights Watch in Washington, said the requirement that jurors in capital cases be open to imposing the death penalty already favored prosecutors. The possibility of repeated attempts to obtain death sentences from such "death qualified" juries, she said, would only heighten the advantages prosecutors have.
The proposed change isn't part of the Senate version of the law. The conference committee should be encouraged to drop the provision. At the very least, the change deserves the debate it would receive if it were introduced as a separate bill.
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