State lawmakers are working on a bill that would speed up the appeals process for those convicted of killing law enforcement officers.
Lt. Governor Will Ainsworth told reporters this week that he and other lawmakers are working with the Attorney General’s office to try and speed up this process.
Ainsworth says in Alabama the average appeal time is almost 20 years. He wants to expedite that process for people convicted of killing law enforcement, meaning those people may not spend as much time on death row as they do right now.
But legal expert Roger Appell says the more serious the crime and punishment, the less likely the appeal process will be done in a hurry especially if there’s new evidence found or if the case ends up in federal court.
"Once all those appeals runs out then then maybe there's a thing called newly discovered evidence which you can start all over again saying that you found evidence that wasn't available at the trial and you can file another appeal…trying to speed things up sounds good on paper but in general it doesn't work," Appell said.
It’s not clear how this proposed legislation differs much from the Fair Justice Act that Governor Ivey signed in 2017 that speeds up the appeals process in capital cases.
Source: WBRC news, Staff, February 8, 2020
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