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: Capital Defense Weekly

On this day…

By Karl R. Keys, Esq.

New York four years ago today invalidated much, if not all, of its death penalty law. From finding Dulcinea: On June 24, 2004, the New York Court of Appeals nullified the 1995 law that brought back the death penalty to New York state, criticizing a ?deadlock provision? in the law that violated the state?s constitution. In People vs. LaValle, the State Court of Appeals in Albany declared the state?s capital punishment law unconstitutional, in a 4-3 decision. The law decreed that if a jury reached deadlock when considering whether to impose the death penalty, the trial judge would be required to implement a sentence that would make the defendant eligible for parole in 20 to 25 years. The court held that this provision may coerce jurors to vote for the death penalty, given that the only alternative was the eventual release of a person charged with murder, and thus violated the state’s constitution...continue to full post

Full post as published by Capital Defense Weekly on June 24, 2008 (boomark / email).