THE COURT OF CAPITAL APPEALS

THE COURT OF CAPITAL APPEALS
by Timothy Rollins, Editor and Publisher

August 28, 2002

After talking over the recent double murder in Oregon with a friend, I came up with an idea that might expedite the judicial system, make room on death row for more and be an effective deterrent to capital crimes. The suspect there is accused of killing two girls. His father is on death row in California for a double murder there in 1981, and if convicted, Oregon will probably kill him too, which is just as well.

There are those who argue on eighth amendment grounds that the death penalty constitutes cruel and unusual punishment and is therefore unconstitutional. While I find that argument specious, perhaps there are some things we can do to assist our liberal friends to remove their concerns and expedite the execution of these sentences (if you will pardon the pun.)

Here in America, we are perhaps the only civilized country that still has the stones to execute our most incorrigible offenders - the worst of the evil - the ones who if they get out, you just know would kill again. You're not so much killing as you are eradicating pests - squashing human cockroaches if you will. Ted Bundy (Florida), Stephen Judy (Indiana) and John Wayne Gacy (Illinois) are just a few of the creeps the state has had the decency to put to death like the cur animals they were. Gacy went down with a lethal injection; Bundy and Judy were strapped in the chair and had the switch thrown - which next to the hangman's noose is the most cost-effective method for permanent removal of career criminals.

Again - we need to consider another factor as well in the issue of cruel and unusual - and that is the effects on the surviving family members of those killed by these cretins that got them on death row on the first place. Eighth amendment protections should be afforded victims as well as perps; while I wouldn't advocate torture or other cruel and unusual punishment on a prisoner, it should also not be visited upon a survivor or that of a family member left behind. By dragging out appeals for 15-25 years and beyond, that is exactly what's happening in most capital cases and as such, a new system needs to be worked out, and I think there might be a solution.

In America, we have plenty of different court systems. In New York, we have Supreme Court, which tries criminal matters, we have civil term for civil matters, we have family court and we have the court of appeals for appellate matters. At the federal level, we have U.S. District Court, we have Immigration Court, Tax Court, we have other courts, we have the 11 Circuit Courts of Appeal (depending on where one lives) and of course, the Supremes in Washington. What the individual states should look into to both cut costs as well as expedite the wheels of justice is the following:

Each state with capital punishment laws on its books should establish a Court of Capital Appeals comprised of seven judges, each of whom would be appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the State Senate. They would serve eight-year terms - and unlike New York, where judges run for election, they would follow the Utah model for judicial retention. These judges would come up for retention on staggered terms like every 2 years with the one on the fourth two-year election, and the simple question put to the voters would be 'Should Judge John A. Smith retain his seat on the New York Court of Capital Appeals?" If YES, he stays another eight years. If NO, he stands down December 31, and the time between the election and the end of the year can be used by the governor to select a replacement and secure Senate approval.

Such a model can and should be successful. With the MANDATORY use of DNA as part of the appellate process and the case automatically going straight from the trial court to the Court of Capital Appeals, the possibility exists that these cases could and should be resolved and all appeals exhausted within 180 days after filing. Once that is done, the attorney general would be then free to set an execution date, and that would be just fine with the majority of law-abiding Americans who want to walk the streets knowing they will be safe from the animals who all too often care only about themselves.

This is an idea whose time has clearly come. ***

Photo of Timothy Rollins courtesy of staff files