Utah Governor wants streamlined death penalty appeals

After the state executed convicted murderer Ronnie Lee Gardner, Gov. Gary Herbert said he wants to see the appeals process for condemned prisoners streamlined, so executions can be carried out more expeditiously.

"25 years is just too long. There ought to be a process that's more timely," Herbert said Thursday during his monthly news conference on KUED. "It's just too long and it becomes too much of a circus atmosphere. … And it doesn't serve the families very well."

Gardner was executed by firing squad June 18 for the 1985 slaying of attorney Michael Burdell during an attempted courthouse escape. He also wounded bailiff Nick Kirk. Gardner was to stand trial for shooting Melvyn Otterstrom during a bar robbery in 1984.

9 men remain on Utah’s death row; the longest-serving is Ronald Lafferty, who was first condemned in 1985 but was re-sentenced in 1996. Douglas Carter was sentenced to death in 1986 and re-sentenced in 1992. Ralph Menzies was sentenced in 1988.

"I think justice delayed is justice denied," Herbert said.

Herbert said he has discussed ways to streamline the death penalty with Attorney General Mark Shurtleff.

Shurtleff had pushed for an amendment to the Utah Constitution that would let the Legislature limit post-conviction appeals. But the amendment effort was dropped after the Utah Supreme Court agreed to a rule change directing courts to not consider the merits of appeals that were not pursued with "reasonable diligence" during an inmate’s time on death row.

The rule change took effect in January, and the Utah Supreme Court referred to the rule in rejecting 1 of Gardner's final appeals, finding that Gardner could have raised the issues that were grounds for appeal any time in the previous 10 years.

Will the rule shorten the amount of time condemned inmates spend on death row?

"We hope so," said Assistant Attorney General Thomas Brunker, who handles capital appeals.

"One of the problems, of course, is those are state law changes and can’t affect directly the federal court," he said. It will take some time to figure out if the rule change, along with changes to state law in 2008 and 2010, ultimately expedite the appeals. In the meantime, he said, the Attorney General's Office isn't working on any new revisions.

Troy Booher, a Salt Lake City lawyer specializing in post-trial appeals, says the best way to streamline the appeals process is to make sure the accused gets a fair, thorough trial the 1st time, but that would take money.

"I think if we're going to have a death penalty, 25 years is too long between sentence and execution," Booher said. "Our view is the way you streamline the process is to fund the best attorneys to defend people on death row and if it's done right the 1st time, there's a lot less there to challenge."

Utah is 1 of 2 states that does not provide any state funding for its indigent defense fund, not even for capital cases, said Darcy Goddard, legal director for the Utah chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, leaving counties with the expense, which strains their resources and undermines the accused’s defense.

"To the extent that the governor is concerned about expediting the process, which is something I'm not going to opine on one way or another, one way to do it is to make sure the representation they get from the beginning is quality representation and the resources to mount a good, competent defense are provided," she said.

Source: Salt Lake Tribune, June 24, 2010

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