Change made appeals predictable in Oklahoma
DEATH PENALTYLegal reforms came as result of Oklahoma City bombing
BY JULIE BISBEE
Comments 
0
Published: May 3, 2009
Reforms pushed by people who lost loved ones in the 1995 bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building have had a great impact on the death penalty appeals process for death row inmates.
More Info
viewpoint
What families said
In 1996, family members of those killed in the bombing rallied state and federal lawmakers for change. They were awaiting the convictions of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh and co-conspirator Terry Nichols. McVeigh was convicted, and in 2001 he was executed. Nichols was convicted and is serving a life sentence without parole.
In a 1996 letter to the editor published in The Oklahoman, a group said they pushed for the reforms because "our death penalty appeals process has made a mockery of the criminal justice system.”
"We can’t let terrorism rule our lives,” said the letter signed by 29. "We must demand that Congress enact meaningful anti-terrorism laws, including the reform of the death penalty appeals process.”
Advertisement
This past week, attorneys general from across the country were in Oklahoma City for training on several topics, including the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996.
The act was signed into law by
President Bill Clinton and backed by several people who lost loved ones as a result of the bombing of the
Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. The bombing killed 168 people.
Nearly 13 years after the changes were put in place,
Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson says the reforms help to make the death penalty appeals process "more predictable” and still affect family members who once worried justice would hang in the balance during the appeals process.
"It was unpredictable before,” Edmondson said. "You never knew when the end of the appeals process was going to come. It was very frustrating to victims and their families.”
While prosecutors favor the measure, defense attorneys say the changes in federal appeals law were irresponsible.
"In short, it’s made it much simpler for states to kill people,” said
Jack King, spokesman for the
National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.
"With all sympathy toward the victims, they’re not the ones that are going to get their heads chopped off. They’re not the ones receiving the lethal injection or being hung or shot before a firing squad. It does not bring real closure just to kill somebody. This created execution for execution’s sake.”
With the reforms in place, a convicted inmate facing the death penalty has the right to one automatic appeal. After that, the offender must bring new evidence that would warrant another appeal.
An
Oklahoma assistant attorney general helped draft sections of the bill that has changed how offenders can ask an appeals court to delay or suspend their death sentence, Edmondson said.
"It has made the results more certain,” he said. "For many victims, an execution is their first experience with the criminal justice system. Many have no basis of comparison of how it was before. This measure has given the process predictability and it’s made a world of difference.”
Leave a Comment
News Photo Galleriesview all
Prev
Something to say about this topic? Submit a Letter to the Editor online
Thank you for joining our conversations on newsok. We encourage your discussions but ask that you stay within the bounds of our terms and conditions. Please help us by reporting comments that violate these guidelines. To review our rules of engagement, go to Commenting and posting policy.
Log in below or sign up (it's free).