The Future Of The Death Penalty In California: Supporters And Opponents Poised For November Showdown That Will Determine If Executions Will Go On Or Be Gone For Good

Death penalty supporters demonstrated Thursday ahead of a November showdown that will determine whether executions in California will be accelerated or done with for good. Prosecutors, crime victims, and death penalty supporters plan to send in over 585,000 signatures for a ballot measure over what both supporters and opponents of capital punishment call a broken system.

As ABC News reports, nobody has been executed in California for more than 10 years because of unending legal disputes. There are close to 750 convicted killers on death row in California, the largest death row in the country, but only 13 have been executed since 1978. More condemned inmates have died from natural causes or suicide.

Lots of data, lots of misdirection: Why #NLU death row report is flawed, by @TheJaggi https://t.co/kBBcP00TuN pic.twitter.com/MyyAAQuFon

— Firstpost (@firstpost) May 10, 2016

Pro-execution supporters have planned 10 statewide news conferences to promote a proposal that they believe will save millions of dollars in taxpayer money every year, hang on to due process protections, as well as administer justice on behalf of murder victims and their families. Apparently, the move will help to also quicken an otherwise lengthy process by increasing the number of appointed lawyers and appellate attorneys for death cases during time of sentencing.

Presently, there is a five-year wait for inmates on death row to be assigned a lawyer. In contrast, the ballot measure would call for the whole state’s appeal process to be finished within five years except if conducted under astonishing circumstances. If this timeline is to be met, appeals will need to be filed faster and there would be a peg on how many appeals a case could attract. According to the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office, appeals take more than 20 years.

Pfizer’s move throws a wrench into America’s death-penalty machinery https://t.co/aMax1t7pLd pic.twitter.com/VJUXYtSQDS

— The Economist (@TheEconomist) May 16, 2016

Former NFL star Kermit Alexander, who lost family in South Central Los Angeles in 1984, said, “Justice denied is not justice…my mother, sister and two little nephews still remain in their graves and my family is still having to fight for justice.” Alexander remains a major proponent in the quest for reform measure.

Complimentary provisions would allow inmates on death row to choose any prison of choice and not just San Quentin’s death row. The condemned inmates would also be given the opportunity to work and pay restitution to the victims’ families as they await their time of execution.

Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert wonders, “what is the point of seeking the death penalty in the state of California if it doesn’t work?”

Opponents are of the view that condemned inmates will never see the outside of the prison walls where they serve their sentences and will never get a chance at parole. They have collected over 601,000 signatures. The sides supporting the death penalty and trying to abolish the death penalty need 336,000 valid signatures each if they are to qualify for the ballot.

Deputy campaign manager against the death penalty, Quintin Mecke, said, “it’s unfortunate that the district attorneys want to double down on a fundamentally broken death penalty system that simply can’t be fixed. You can’t streamline or reform a failed policy.”

The state of California executed Clarence Ray Allen January 17, 2006. He was the oldest person ever to be executed at 76. The execution was spattered with controversy. Allen was blind, a diabetic, and could not even walk. He had suffered a heart attack the previous fall and asked to die if he suffered another heart attack before his execution date. Prison officials said such a thing could not be allowed to happen.

On the day of his execution, he was presented as a man who, at 76, looked in very good shape. Newspapers had said the man stood up on his own before being led to the gurney by prison guards, but it was not really the case. To make matters worse, officials had to inject the man twice with potassium chloride in a bungled execution attempt.

Since then, California has not executed anyone. Problems with lethal injection procedures have halted the state execution machinery and because of this inmates on death row have continued to swell. Last year, the state of California ran out of space to keep condemned prisoners, prompting Gov. Jerry Brown to ask for $3.2 million from lawmakers to enlarge death row cells.

[Image via Shutterstock/Zerbor]