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Three brief queries about capital appellate briefing realities

By Douglas A. Berman

Prior posts about the Penry case and death penalty costs have me again interesting in doing some arm-chair empiricism about the time, money and energy that gets devoted to litigating capital cases.  To begin, I'd like to focus on guestimating the number of appellate briefs that have been filed in three distinct death penalty settings.  So, here are my queries: 1.  How many appellate briefs were filed (in toto counting all parties and amici briefs filed in all direct and collateral appeals) in the Johnny Paul Penry case in Texas? 2.  How many appellate briefs have ever been filed, in toto, concerning lethal injection protocols in courts nationwide? 3.  How many appellate briefs have ever been filed, in toto, concerning death penalty cases in California? I ask all these related, but quite distinct, question for various reasons: question 1 is focused on the amount of time, money and energy devoted to appellate litigation concerning the punishment of a single defendant whose guilt was never in doubt; question 2 is focused on the amount of time, money and energy devoted to appellate litigation involving just the administration of the death penalty, not the merits of the punishment itself in any case; question 3 is focused on the amount of time, money and energy devoted to appellate litigation in one jurisdiction that, as detailed in this article, is actively trying to figure out why its death penalty system seems to be so badly broken...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on February 18, 2008 (boomark / email).