 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(Continued from page 17)
possibility of parole.
• A key premise of the initiative, Proposition 34, is that California has spent $4 billion on a dysfunctional capital punishment system that has resulted in just 13 executions since the death penalty was reinstated in California in 1978. For a brief period, beginning in 1972, the death penalty was held as unconstitutional in the state and death sentences were commuted to life.
• There are currently 725 prisoners on death rows throughout the state. Since 1978, 57 death row inmates have died of natural causes, six from other causes and 20 committed suicide.
•
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
AG wants Moeller's execution set, despite appeal
DIRK LAMMERS,Associated Press
• SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- South Dakota's attorney general wants the execution date of convicted killer Donald Moeller set within 90 to 120 days despite a pending federal appeal arguing the state did not follow proper procedures in setting its execution method.
• Attorney General Marty Jackley is urging a Minnehaha County circuit court to move forward with the warrant on Moeller, who was convicted in the 1990 rape and killing of 9-year-old Becky O'Connell of Sioux Falls. A hearing has been set for Wednesday.
• "It has been more than 22 years since young Becky's tragic murder," Jackley wrote in his motion. "Moeller has exhausted his available state and federal remedies and his conviction is now final. It is time for Moeller to serve his lawful sentence of death."
• The U.S. Supreme Court last month refused to hear an appeal of Moeller's conviction, but his 2004 federal case against the state is still pending.
• Jackley in his motion cites a 1983 U.S. Supreme Court case that says a warrant of execution may be issued from state court independent of a pending action in federal court. He said there's no stay of execution pending in any court, and if Moeller wishes to seek a federal stay, he must show a significant possibility of success on the merits.
• "I've advised the court of the status of that, that it's right for resolution," Jackley told The Associated Press Friday afternoon. "In other words, the state has requested that that action be dismissed, and it's fully briefed."
• The state is suggesting that the court schedule Moeller's execution for the week (Continued on page 19)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
 |