by Bob Walsh
A case before the California Supreme Court on Tuesday may decide the future of the 700+ denizens of death row.
The court is traditionally highly deferential to the direct will of the people. Proposition 66, passed by the voters in November, would streamline the hopelessly complex appeal procedure. Even allowing for that there are currently 20 condemned prisoners who could be terminally rehabilitated tomorrow in our political masters had the political will to do so. They don't, with the willing assistance of a liberal local judiciary which routinely holds up executions because the wind is blowing in the wrong direction on the day of the scheduled execution.
Proposition 66 requires that the State Supreme Court decide the mandatory death penalty appeals in five years. Currently it takes more than ten years and the accused can NOT waive the appeal.
The fact pf the matter is that it does not matter a diddly-damn what the voters want. The executive branch and the judiciary will continue to slow-drag these cases as long as possible for whatever reason they can come up with. When they run out of reasons they will invent new ones.
It is also completely possible that Jerry Brown will commute all of the existing death penalty cases on his way out the door in two years. He is done with political office so why should he give a shit what people think?
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