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| Judges Debate Death Penalty Case |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 11/26/2001 |
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A convicted murderer's fight to avoid execution in Ohio has exposed an unusual amount of rancor among judges on the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Judges have accused each other of holding secret meetings and engaging in questionable tactics to spare death row inmate John Byrd Jr., who was convicted of killing a convenience store clerk in 1983. Although judges rarely criticize other judges in written opinions, the case has prompted unusually stinging remarks, often falling along political lines. Some of the most acrimonious remarks have involved Judge Nathaniel Jones, a former NAACP lawyer nominated to the bench by President Carter, and Judge Danny Boggs, a plain-talking hard-liner nominated by President Reagan. Two men have died by injection since Ohio reinstated the death penalty 20 years ago, but Byrd would be the first inmate to die in the state's electric chair in 38 years. Inmates in Ohio are given a choice between the two methods. Byrd chose the electric chair to demonstrate what he says is the brutality of capital punishment. Byrd, 37, has acknowledged that he took part in the robbery but claims he did not kill the clerk. An accomplice confessed to the slaying in a 1989 affidavit, which prosecutors say is false. The court has postponed Byrd's execution and instructed a lower court to investigate his claim of innocence. A federal magistrate is to make a recommendation by Nov. 30. The 6th Circuit has overturned numerous death sentences - usually because it agrees with arguments that a defendant had bad counsel - while leaving the murder convictions intact. A review of death penalty appeals before the 6th Circuit from the past several years suggests there is a 6-3 majority - six Democratic appointees vs. three Republican appointees - who consistently vote to block executions. |
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