Some notes for the meeting with the prosecutor:
For Victim Survivors in Potential Death Penalty Cases
For Victim Survivors in Potential Death Penalty Cases
From: Dudley Sharp, independent researcher, death penalty expert, former opponent, 832-439-2113, CV at bottom
I have a pro death penalty bias and respect those who don't . . . but will assert my research is much more thorough. I was anti-death penalty until about 1997-98.
Some notes for the meeting with the prosecutor
The prosecutors will tell you the pluses and minuses of seeking the death penalty. Some of this, below, will be covered by the prosecutor, some may not be, which is why I provide this.
1) Death penalty appeals can last an, excruciatingly, long, cruel time.
True. But for the most part there is no valid reason for that to occur.
a) Since 1976, Virginia has executed 113 murderers, after 7 years of appeals, on average (1), prior to execution How? Responsible protocols and responsible judges.
The judges are the case managers and need to have responsible time goals and enforce them. There is no excuse not to, if they care about justice and not harming the victims' families, even more, which is what 10-30 years of appeals do, as do the huge delays prior to trial.
It is inexcusable and not legally nor rationally required (2), in most cases. It is, simply, wrongly, accepted by, way, too many.
Please read this victim survivor centered friend of the court brief for the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) (3).
In 2019, the average time of appeals, for those executed, was 22 years. From 1984-1988, it averaged under 7 years (4).
b) The majority of delays are, solely, because of irresponsible and/or unethical judges (2), not defense counsel. My opinion is that it is the way the judiciary is trying, unethically, to kill the death penalty (2), with retired US Supreme Court Justice Breyer being a prime example (5).
c) Most appeals can be handled, responsibly: 2-3 years in the state supreme court, 1-2 years in federal district court and 2-3 years, in federal circuit courts, with direct appeals and the write moving at the same time. Cases are, rarely, heard at SCOTUS.
Obvious, as with Virginia.
d) Delays, because of the difficulty in getting lethal injection drugs, are not necessary and are a lying deceit.
Fentanyl is widely and freely available, in police evidence rooms. with not all needed for trial, with only a tiny amount needed for executions and, only, testing needed, prior to use. Nevada and Nebraska, already, have fentanyl in their protocols.
The Glossip v. Gross, 576 U.S. 863 (2015) SCOTUS decision confirms fentanyl would pass constitutional muster.
2) It's expensive.
a) Yes, it is, but in many or most cases there is no need for it to be more expensive than life without parole (LWOP), for death penalty equivalent cases.
I have fact checked many of the cost studies (1). I am, unaware, of anyone else that has. As an ironclad rule, the studies are a mess, incomplete and/or fraudulent, as detailed (1).
b) Properly, do an apples-to-apples comparison (6), which has never been done (6), inclusive of LWOP cost of 40-60 years of maximum-security cells, with the cost of 20-40 years of geriatric care, which is enormous. For example, for LWOP, the highest max security cost in California is $176,000/inmate/yr, with their geriatric/medical unit at $80,000/inmate/yr (see California, fn 1) - much higher in today's dollars.
I am unaware of any such complete cost study (6), in any jurisdiction.
c) the pre-trial, trial and appeal costs can be exorbitant for some counties, which is why the state of Texas will provide additional funds for some of these cases and counties. Other states may do so, as well. In state and federal budgets, the death penalty is, in totality, by far, the cheapest of all the other criminal justice practices: incarceration, parole and probations.
3) What are the chances?
a) It only takes one juror to defeat a death penalty, 1 vote (8%) vs 11 (92%), likely the most undemocratic system in a constitutional republic. But it is much more than that.
In most jurisdictions, there have to be four votes per juror, for the death penalty to be given: one is the verdict trial, guilty or not guilty, the other, the sentencing trial, with three various conditions which must be met for a death sentence. With a guilty verdict, that means all 36 votes (3 times 12 jurors) must be against the murderer, for there to be a death sentence, meaning only 1 vote (3%) can overrule 35 votes (97%), inclusive of the verdict stage, prosecutors must win all 48 out of 48 votes, in order for the death penalty to prevail, with only 1 vote (2%) prevailing over 47 (98%) to deny the death penalty.
There is a reason the death penalty is so, rarely, sought. Why do they seek it? When justice demands it and the evidence supports it.
See Texas Death Penalty Procedures (7).
b) This is why I have advocated for a 9-3 vote to qualify for death. The guilty verdict, still, must be unanimous. I consider the sanction to be, somewhat, opinion, not fact and that it is not difficult to get 1 anti-death penalty person, lying to get onto a jury, or 1-3 rational outliers, which is why I prefer 9-3. Florida has an 8-4 juror vote to be sentenced to death with, again, the guilty finding must be unanimous, with the 8-4 or greater (9-3 to 12-0), against the convicted murderer, for a death sentence.
c) Nationally, nearly 43% of death row cases are removed from death row by appeals or other removals. which goes to 49%, if including deaths that are not by execution. (8). If you review Pennsylvania, California, Connecticut, Kansas and New Jersey, you can see how the judiciary kills the death penalty.
4) Death sentences/executions protect and save innocent lives, in six ways, better than does LWOP.
a) Five ways: Enhanced due process, enhanced incapacitation and enhanced probability (in three ways), save additional innocents, over LWOP (9). Not, rationally nor factually disputed.
b) Enhanced deterrence is challenged, but prevails with fact checking, vetting and critical thinking, as detailed (9,10).
Depending upon all of the circumstances, I consider 1 capital murder, with solid evidence, a go for a death penalty trial. Why? I find it the only just outcome, for some cases.
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The Catholic Church & The Death Penalty
13 (15) Factual Errors: 2018 CCC 2267 amendment
30 Examples: How Death Penalty Abolitionists Value Murderers More Than Their Innocent Victims:
AKA - Full Rebuttal of Sir Richard Branson & His Death Penalty Comments
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5) How Badly Can Some Prosecutors Treat Victim Survivors
There may be worse cases but, for me, it could, hardly, get worse.
There have been, at least two, high profile death penalty cases, in Texas, serial and mass murders, where the prosecutors told the victim survivors, the media and all of us that they would fail with a death penalty case because they could not prove the "future dangerousness" of that murderer. What they, intentionally, left out is that, by case law, the crimes, by themselves, can prove that future danger, which, in both of those cases, it was, easily, proven. Despicable.
Adding insult to injury, all death penalty reporters in Texas know that and none of them reported it, joining in the betrayal. Why? Saving murderers lives is more important than ethics.
There is no other reason.
6) Justice and Mercy
In a system, such as that in the US, the death penalty cannot be sought for hatred or revenge (11), but, instead, for the most just sanction.
In the religious sphere, there are these:
The Death Penalty: Mercy, Expiation, Redemption & Salvation
Romano Amerio: Some opposing capital punishment ". . . go on to assert that a life should not be ended because that would remove the possibility of making expiation, is to ignore the great truth that capital punishment is itself expiatory."
and
7b) "Judaism's Pro-Death Penalty Tradition", Steven Plaut, PhD, Haifa University, Apr. 23, 2004 article for JewishPress.com
"It is for this moral reason that traditional Judaism unambiguously endorses the death penalty for premeditated murder ."
In Closing
When judges, prosecutors and defense counsel work in a responsible, timely, fashion, pre trial, trial and within appeals, it adds a tiny bit of mercy for the loved ones of those innocents murdered.
It is so little to ask for, with far too little delivered, on purpose. Do better.
By actions (12), the anti-death penalty mantra is:
"We are so cruel to murder victim survivors, you must end the death penalty"
I hope this will be helpful in your meetings with the prosecutors.
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The "Research" (12) rebuts all major anti-death penalty claims. If you have any questions, I am at your service.
May God bless all of you. I am so sorry that your loved one(s) were taken from you.
If you wish to speak to some fellow survivors who have been through this process, just let me know.
Most sincerely, Dudley Sharp
FN
1) See Virginia within
Saving Costs with The Death Penalty
The 113 executions is an update
http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2013/02/death-penalty-cost-saving-money.html
http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2013/02/death-penalty-cost-saving-money.html
2) JUDGES AS JACKASSES: DEATH PENALTY
Judges Responsible For Grossly Uneven Executions
http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2013/11/judges-responsible-for-grossly-uneven.html
http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2013/11/judges-responsible-for-grossly-uneven.html
3) The two scholars, Scheidegger and Cassell, who wrote this, could not be more accomplished in law and with their concern for innocent victims and their survivors (section III, in the brief). I have known them for many years and have trusted their knowledge and wisdom, which have never failed.
NOTE: They are representing the family members of the murder victim and the Oklahoma District Attorneys Assoc. AGAINST Oklahoma's Attorney General.
No. 22-7466, IN THE Supreme Court of the United States RICHARD GLOSSIP, Petitioner, vs. STATE OF OKLAHOMA, Respondents. On Petition for Writ of Certiorari to the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals BRIEF AMICUS CURIAE OF VICTIM FAMILY MEMBERS DEREK VAN TREESE, DONNA VAN TREESE, AND ALANA MILETO, AND THE OKLAHOMA DISTRICT ATTORNEYS ASSOCIATION IN OPPOSITION TO THE PETITION
4) Table 12, page 17, Capital Punishment, 2020, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Dec 2021
5) Justice Breyer's Errors in Death Penalty Assessment
6) Death Penalty Costs vs Life Without Parole Costs: Study Protocol
7) Texas Death Penalty Procedures
8) Table 4, page 20, Capital Punishment, 2013, Bureau of Justice Statistics, revised Dec 2014,
9) The Death Penalty: Saving More Innocent Lives
10) Deterrence, Death Penalties & Executions
https://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2019/04/deterrence-death-penalties-executions.html
https://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2019/04/deterrence-death-penalties-executions.html
11) The Death Penalty: Neither Hatred nor Revenge
12) Anti Victim/Anti Death Penalty Movement
and
Research, w/sources, w/fact checking/vetting & critical thinking, as required of anyone within a public policy debate and which rebut all anti-death penalty claims.
The media/academic norm is to use anti-death penalty material, refuse to fact check or vet it and avoid all pro-death penalty research and experts. How will you know that is true? You haven't seen this material, prior.
The Death Penalty: Justice & Saving More Innocents
and
Students, Academics & Journalists: Death Penalty Research
7 pro death penalty experts are detailed
600+ pro death penalty quotes from murder victim's families &
3300+ from some of the greatest thinkers in history
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Victim Services
Victims' Voices
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Partial CV
