Legal Commentary

GA. Prosecutor Wants Feds To Bring Death Case Against Nichols

By Jeralyn

Georgia Prosecutor Paul Howard is a man on a mission. Having failed to get the death penalty for Brian Nichols, he's not giving up. He's going to ask the feds to bring a death penalty case against Nichols on the charge of killing a federal officer, a different offense than the one charged in Georgia. One of the victims in the Atlanta case was a customs officer whom Nichols killed in his home.

He's also going to seek a change in state law for future cases -- he'll ask them to remove the requirement of a unanimous verdict in cases where the victim is a law enforcement officer, the killing occurred during the course of a robbery or while the offender was in custody. The Georgia House passed such an amendment earlier this year to a Senate bill providing for life without parole in certain cases, but the Senate refused to adopt it in the final version that became law.

He complains the state doesn't get a level playing field in death cases. That's ridiculous. [More...]

It's the defense that doesn't get a level playing field because prospective jurors who oppose the death penalty aren't allowed to serve on juries. In every death case, the prosecution has a leg up because they start with a death-qualified jury.

If any changes are made in the death penalty procedures, it should be that jurors are life-qualified instead of death-qualified. The test should be whether they could impose a life sentence even if they find the defendant guilty. Any juror who says they could not vote for life over death simply because of the heinousness of the crime should not be allowed to serve.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on December 13, 2008 (boomark / email).