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Biden Fails a Death Penalty Abolitionist’s Most Important Test

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The mystery of Joe Biden’s views about capital punishment has finally been solved. His decision to grant clemency to 37 of the 40 people on federal death row shows the depth of his opposition to the death penalty. And his decision to leave three of America’s most notorious killers to be executed by a future administration shows the limits of his abolitionist commitment. The three men excluded from Biden’s mass clemency—Dylann Roof, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, and Robert Bowers—would no doubt pose a severe test of anyone’s resolve to end the death penalty. Biden failed that test.
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16 death row inmates sue Mississippi

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Sixteen death row inmates in Mississippi filed suit Thursday, saying their executions should be halted because their state-appointed attorneys were untrained, inexperienced and overwhelmed.

One of those inmates, Gerald James Holland, is scheduled to be executed May 20. At 72, he is the oldest inmate on death row. Holland's execution is set to follow the May 19 execution of Paul Everette Woodward, 62.

James Craig, of Jackson, the attorney for the 16 inmates, said by the end of this year, the state could begin to resemble Texas and Florida for frequency of executions.

"This is not something we've seen in Mississippi before," he said.

Glenn Swartzfager, director of the state Office of Capital Post Conviction Counsel, agreed with the assessment of a "bumper crop of executions."

Under Mississippi law, the state must provide "competent and conscientious" counsel for death row inmates before their execution dates can be set.

The lawsuit filed Thursday in Hinds County Chancery Court alleges the state-appointed lawyers did not meet that criteria and were overwhelmed with cases. Read more>>>

Source: Clarion Ledger, May 7, 2010
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