Post by happyhaddock on Jan 16, 2007 13:35:09 GMT -5
Peterson must wait until 2011
Family's supporters get 'best guess' of when his appeal might be heard
By GARTH STAPLEY
BEE STAFF WRITER
Last Updated: January 16, 2007, 05:41:32 AM PST
Scott Peterson's death penalty appeal is not likely to proceed before 2011, his family wrote Monday in a mass letter to supporters.
And that's a fast track for death sentence cases.
Modesto's most notorious condemned killer cut in line a little more than a year ago when his parents hired attorneys specializing in capital cases.
That shaved about four years off the wait by saving justices from appointing hard-to-find death penalty lawyers, family members noted. "Our best guess is that we still have at least four (more) years before Scott's case is heard," the letter reads.
Meanwhile, executions are on hold in 10 states, including California, while debates rage over pain caused by lethal injections.
Moratoriums in 2006 resulted in the fewest executions since the death penalty was reinstated three decades ago, according to the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, D.C.
Peterson, 34, arrived on death row in March 2005 after being convicted of murdering his pregnant wife, Laci, and their unborn son, Conner.
Some legal experts weren't surprised by his family's 2011 estimate.
Court officers can spend years certifying official transcripts from a death penalty trial, said Santa Monica lawyer William Genego. One of his clients has been on death row more than 20 years.
"Capital cases are usually litigated, correctly, with a scorched-earth approach by both sides," Genego said.
Then comes an average wait of four years for justices to appoint two sets of lawyers. One handles errors that might have occurred in the initial trial, and another focuses on new evidence and other issues surfacing after the trial.
"Appeals take a long time because, frankly, there are too many cases and not enough people to handle them," said Laurie Levenson, a Loyola University law professor and former federal prosecutor. "Whenever you try to rush the process," she added, "people say you're going to miss something."
Genego said, "A lot of it has to do with ambivalence toward the death penalty. People are in no hurry to get the final answer because they're uncomfortable with it. Everyone feels, quite correctly, that precautions need to be taken in a case that's going to end in execution."
On the Web:
www.deathpenaltyinfo.org.
Bee staff writer Garth Stapley can be reached at 578-2390 or gstapley@modbee.com
Family's supporters get 'best guess' of when his appeal might be heard
By GARTH STAPLEY
BEE STAFF WRITER
Last Updated: January 16, 2007, 05:41:32 AM PST
Scott Peterson's death penalty appeal is not likely to proceed before 2011, his family wrote Monday in a mass letter to supporters.
And that's a fast track for death sentence cases.
Modesto's most notorious condemned killer cut in line a little more than a year ago when his parents hired attorneys specializing in capital cases.
That shaved about four years off the wait by saving justices from appointing hard-to-find death penalty lawyers, family members noted. "Our best guess is that we still have at least four (more) years before Scott's case is heard," the letter reads.
Meanwhile, executions are on hold in 10 states, including California, while debates rage over pain caused by lethal injections.
Moratoriums in 2006 resulted in the fewest executions since the death penalty was reinstated three decades ago, according to the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, D.C.
Peterson, 34, arrived on death row in March 2005 after being convicted of murdering his pregnant wife, Laci, and their unborn son, Conner.
Some legal experts weren't surprised by his family's 2011 estimate.
Court officers can spend years certifying official transcripts from a death penalty trial, said Santa Monica lawyer William Genego. One of his clients has been on death row more than 20 years.
"Capital cases are usually litigated, correctly, with a scorched-earth approach by both sides," Genego said.
Then comes an average wait of four years for justices to appoint two sets of lawyers. One handles errors that might have occurred in the initial trial, and another focuses on new evidence and other issues surfacing after the trial.
"Appeals take a long time because, frankly, there are too many cases and not enough people to handle them," said Laurie Levenson, a Loyola University law professor and former federal prosecutor. "Whenever you try to rush the process," she added, "people say you're going to miss something."
Genego said, "A lot of it has to do with ambivalence toward the death penalty. People are in no hurry to get the final answer because they're uncomfortable with it. Everyone feels, quite correctly, that precautions need to be taken in a case that's going to end in execution."
On the Web:
www.deathpenaltyinfo.org.
Bee staff writer Garth Stapley can be reached at 578-2390 or gstapley@modbee.com
