9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals,
California Supreme Court,
Criminal,
Letters
Aug. 30, 2014
Column perpetuates death penalty falsity
In his recent article, Lawrence Waddington perpetuates a falsity regarding the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' high reversal of California Supreme Court death sentences.
In his recent article "Death penalty case heads to oft-overturned 9th Circuit" (Aug. 25), Lawrence Waddington perpetuates a falsity regarding the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' high reversal of California Supreme Court death sentences. Waddington attributes much of the delay in resolution of California capital cases to the 9th Circuit: "The 9th Circuit has overruled almost all state capital cases on habeas corpus during the last decade. It frequently finds no legal error in the state case, but reverses on ground of 'ineffective assistance of counsel' despite repeated and caustic language by the Supreme Court."
In fact, the 9th Circuit has affirmed approximately one-third of California death cases it has reviewed. Furthermore, most of the reversals of California death sentences are based on issues which were originally presented to the state Supreme Court on direct appeal and not because of newly discovered claims of ineffective assistance of counsel. U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney's decision reflects the 9th Circuit's frustration with the state Supreme Court's refusal to follow clear constitutional mandates in the first instance on direct appeal. If the state Supreme Court did its job there would not be the astonishing discrepancy between their capital jurisprudence and the 9th Circuit's.
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