Post by sclcookie on May 21, 2006 18:05:03 GMT -5
Closer to killing death penalty
Another dispiriting milestone has been reached in New Jersey's endless
death penalty controversy. The Ocean County prosecutor recently decided,
with the consent of the family of the victim, that it would be fruitless
to try to reimpose the penalty on Robert Marshall.
He was convicted of hiring two Louisiana hoodlums to kill his wife, Maria
Marshall. She was shot to death in 1984 at a Garden State Parkway rest
stop, where he had driven her. He had parked the car and gotten out,
leaving her inside, open to attack.
She was blonde and pretty, the mother of their three young sons. He was a
successful insurance salesman. To neighbors in Toms River, they seemed to
have a perfect marriage. The appearances were deceiving.
He was tired of her. He was in the middle of a torrid affair with a school
administrator in Toms River. He took out a $1.5 million insurance policy
on his wife's life, naming himself as beneficiary. The stage was set.
Two shots, close range
The murder, committed with 2 pistol shots fired at close range into her
back, caused a sensation in South Jersey and, indeed, in the country. At
trial, Billy McKinnon, 1 of the hoodlums, testified that Marshall had
hired him for the killing, but that the other man, Larry Thompson, was the
shooter. The jury found otherwise. Thompson was acquitted. Marshall was
convicted of murder and sentenced to death. McKinnon copped a plea to
insurance-fraud conspiracy and was sentenced to five years in prison.
A best-selling book and a television miniseries, "Blind Faith," were
devoted to the crime. Marshall spent 18 years on death row in Trenton
State Prison, while his lawyers, who were public defenders paid by the
state, launched one appeal after another. He is still incarcerated in
Trenton State, but as a regular inmate, off death row.
The present New Jersey capital punishment law was enacted 2 years before
the Marshall killing, to comply with a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that
struck down most state death penalty laws.
Our law, including new safeguards for the accused, was found
constitutional by the state Supreme Court, which in 1991 upheld Marshall's
conviction and punishment, ending a string of 27 death-penalty reversals
based on one perceived trial defect or another.
Shifting legal battle
The following year the court held, in another look at the Marshall case,
that the death penalty was not disproportionate to the crime he had
committed, and in a 3rd review, in 1997, it rejected a claim of
ineffective defense counsel, the last appeal he could mount in state
courts.
Then the battle shifted to the federal courts, bouncing from the trial
level to the Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia to the Supreme Court
and back again. Finally a district court judge ruled that Marshall's
lawyer had failed to mount an adequate defense in the penalty phase of the
trial, the circuit court upheld that ruling, and 2 months ago the U.S.
Supreme Court refused, for the second time, to hear the case.
That left to the Ocean County prosecutor, Thomas Kelaher, the decision
whether to retry the penalty phase. Marshall's murder conviction would be
unaffected. At issue would be whether he would be executed or sentenced to
life in prison without parole eligibility for as long as 30 years. Since
he has already served 22 years, he would become eligible by 2014.
So many years have elapsed since the crime that retrial would be
difficult, Kelaher concluded. Further, he told Maria Marshall's sons, the
harsh reality was that even if a new jury concurred with the first one
that execution was warranted, it would just set off more rounds of legal
wrangling, perhaps decades more of it. Maybe the best thing to do would be
to keep the man locked up as long as possible.
That is what the family opted for, and that is what Kelaher decided to do.
The case has ended in another victory for the state's public defenders,
who fight tenaciously to keep vicious killers alive, not because the
lawyers think they are innocent or are at least entitled to competent
defense but because the lawyers are emotionally and professionally
committed to blocking the death penalty.
In the end, Robert Marshall could not be executed even though our state
Supreme Court found for the first time that the defendant had been
properly convicted in this case and deserved to die, and the court never
wavered from that conclusion. Perhaps the capital punishment law is
unenforceable, a dead letter. The public defenders have yet to lose a
client. It is we, the citizens and taxpayers of the state, who are
financing their success, and we are paying dearly for it. They must be
gloating.
In search of an expected answer
In one of Richard Codey's final decisions as acting governor, he signed in
January a bill establishing a commission to study the death penalty. It is
to submit a report by Nov. 15. The measure imposes a moratorium on
executions in the interim, as though killers were lined up outside the
death chamber, waiting their turns.
The commission is to consider, among other things, whether the death
penalty is "consistent with evolving standards of decency," a phrase used
by those who oppose it. Also, the panel should study whether it costs more
to enforce the death penalty than to lock up a killer for life without
parole. I bet the answer to that is going to be yes.
It fell to Codey's elected successor, Jon Corzine, to make the
gubernatorial appointments to this panel, 5 of the 13 members. The names
were announced in late March.
3 of the 5 are black, including James H. Coleman Jr., the 1st
African-American justice of the state Supreme Court, now retired. Also,
the Rev. M. William Howard Jr., pastor of Bethany Baptist Church in Newark
and former president of New York Theological Seminary, which prepares
ministers for urban churches. Howard has been tapped by newly elected
Newark Mayor Cory Booker to lead his transition team. The 3rd black
appointee is Eddie Hicks, a retired Atlantic City firefighter whose oldest
daughter was murdered six years ago. He is a staff member of New Jerseyans
for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.
The 4th member is Kathleen M. Garcia of Moorestown, executive director of
the Center for Traumatic Grief and Victim Services, which counsels
relatives of homicide victims. The 5th is a reputedly hip young rabbi,
Robert Scheinberg of the United Synagogue of Hoboken, a Conservative
congregation. We can infer which conclusions Corzine expects them to
reach.
(source: Bergen Record, Opinion--James Ahearn is a contributing editor and
former managing editor of The Record)
Another dispiriting milestone has been reached in New Jersey's endless
death penalty controversy. The Ocean County prosecutor recently decided,
with the consent of the family of the victim, that it would be fruitless
to try to reimpose the penalty on Robert Marshall.
He was convicted of hiring two Louisiana hoodlums to kill his wife, Maria
Marshall. She was shot to death in 1984 at a Garden State Parkway rest
stop, where he had driven her. He had parked the car and gotten out,
leaving her inside, open to attack.
She was blonde and pretty, the mother of their three young sons. He was a
successful insurance salesman. To neighbors in Toms River, they seemed to
have a perfect marriage. The appearances were deceiving.
He was tired of her. He was in the middle of a torrid affair with a school
administrator in Toms River. He took out a $1.5 million insurance policy
on his wife's life, naming himself as beneficiary. The stage was set.
Two shots, close range
The murder, committed with 2 pistol shots fired at close range into her
back, caused a sensation in South Jersey and, indeed, in the country. At
trial, Billy McKinnon, 1 of the hoodlums, testified that Marshall had
hired him for the killing, but that the other man, Larry Thompson, was the
shooter. The jury found otherwise. Thompson was acquitted. Marshall was
convicted of murder and sentenced to death. McKinnon copped a plea to
insurance-fraud conspiracy and was sentenced to five years in prison.
A best-selling book and a television miniseries, "Blind Faith," were
devoted to the crime. Marshall spent 18 years on death row in Trenton
State Prison, while his lawyers, who were public defenders paid by the
state, launched one appeal after another. He is still incarcerated in
Trenton State, but as a regular inmate, off death row.
The present New Jersey capital punishment law was enacted 2 years before
the Marshall killing, to comply with a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that
struck down most state death penalty laws.
Our law, including new safeguards for the accused, was found
constitutional by the state Supreme Court, which in 1991 upheld Marshall's
conviction and punishment, ending a string of 27 death-penalty reversals
based on one perceived trial defect or another.
Shifting legal battle
The following year the court held, in another look at the Marshall case,
that the death penalty was not disproportionate to the crime he had
committed, and in a 3rd review, in 1997, it rejected a claim of
ineffective defense counsel, the last appeal he could mount in state
courts.
Then the battle shifted to the federal courts, bouncing from the trial
level to the Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia to the Supreme Court
and back again. Finally a district court judge ruled that Marshall's
lawyer had failed to mount an adequate defense in the penalty phase of the
trial, the circuit court upheld that ruling, and 2 months ago the U.S.
Supreme Court refused, for the second time, to hear the case.
That left to the Ocean County prosecutor, Thomas Kelaher, the decision
whether to retry the penalty phase. Marshall's murder conviction would be
unaffected. At issue would be whether he would be executed or sentenced to
life in prison without parole eligibility for as long as 30 years. Since
he has already served 22 years, he would become eligible by 2014.
So many years have elapsed since the crime that retrial would be
difficult, Kelaher concluded. Further, he told Maria Marshall's sons, the
harsh reality was that even if a new jury concurred with the first one
that execution was warranted, it would just set off more rounds of legal
wrangling, perhaps decades more of it. Maybe the best thing to do would be
to keep the man locked up as long as possible.
That is what the family opted for, and that is what Kelaher decided to do.
The case has ended in another victory for the state's public defenders,
who fight tenaciously to keep vicious killers alive, not because the
lawyers think they are innocent or are at least entitled to competent
defense but because the lawyers are emotionally and professionally
committed to blocking the death penalty.
In the end, Robert Marshall could not be executed even though our state
Supreme Court found for the first time that the defendant had been
properly convicted in this case and deserved to die, and the court never
wavered from that conclusion. Perhaps the capital punishment law is
unenforceable, a dead letter. The public defenders have yet to lose a
client. It is we, the citizens and taxpayers of the state, who are
financing their success, and we are paying dearly for it. They must be
gloating.
In search of an expected answer
In one of Richard Codey's final decisions as acting governor, he signed in
January a bill establishing a commission to study the death penalty. It is
to submit a report by Nov. 15. The measure imposes a moratorium on
executions in the interim, as though killers were lined up outside the
death chamber, waiting their turns.
The commission is to consider, among other things, whether the death
penalty is "consistent with evolving standards of decency," a phrase used
by those who oppose it. Also, the panel should study whether it costs more
to enforce the death penalty than to lock up a killer for life without
parole. I bet the answer to that is going to be yes.
It fell to Codey's elected successor, Jon Corzine, to make the
gubernatorial appointments to this panel, 5 of the 13 members. The names
were announced in late March.
3 of the 5 are black, including James H. Coleman Jr., the 1st
African-American justice of the state Supreme Court, now retired. Also,
the Rev. M. William Howard Jr., pastor of Bethany Baptist Church in Newark
and former president of New York Theological Seminary, which prepares
ministers for urban churches. Howard has been tapped by newly elected
Newark Mayor Cory Booker to lead his transition team. The 3rd black
appointee is Eddie Hicks, a retired Atlantic City firefighter whose oldest
daughter was murdered six years ago. He is a staff member of New Jerseyans
for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.
The 4th member is Kathleen M. Garcia of Moorestown, executive director of
the Center for Traumatic Grief and Victim Services, which counsels
relatives of homicide victims. The 5th is a reputedly hip young rabbi,
Robert Scheinberg of the United Synagogue of Hoboken, a Conservative
congregation. We can infer which conclusions Corzine expects them to
reach.
(source: Bergen Record, Opinion--James Ahearn is a contributing editor and
former managing editor of The Record)