A national study says America's system of capital punishment is so flawed it should be done away with. Included among allegations is that Utah has experienced a high rate of errors in death penalty cases.
But Reed M. Richards, the chief deputy state attorney general, disagrees, saying that in cases where someone is executed "the execution is justified."
Defense attorney Ron Yengich says the national figures aren't surprising and that Utah "should just wise up" and eliminate the death penalty.
Early Monday, after reviewing 19 capital cases, Richards could recall only one where a conviction was sent back for a new trial, that of self-styled "prophet" Ron Lafferty, who was convicted in the deaths of his sister-in-law Brenda Lafferty, 24, and her 15-month-old daughter, Erica Lafferty. The retrial had the same result: a death sentence.
In addition, Richards cites two cases where the death penalty, not the conviction, was reversed. In those, rather than go through a new trial on the punishment, defendants agreed to accept a sentence of life without parole.
The national study is titled "The Justice Project." The results were posted on the Internet Monday at http://www.thejusticeproject.org. The study reviewed capital cases dating from 1973 to 1995.
Researchers headed by James S. Liebman of Columbia University, New York City, concluded after studying 5,500 judicial systems that the overall rate of prejudicial error was 68 percent. "In other words, courts found serious, reversible error in nearly seven out of every 10 of the capital cases that were finally reviewed during this period," says a news release by the project.
The report's state "report card" cites many reversals in Utah death penalty cases. The document is on the Internet at http://207.153.244.129/section8a-d.html. Richard said he does not know where some figures in the "report card" come from, such as a claim that in Utah 50 percent of death penalty cases were reversed in state court.
"High error rates lead innocent persons to be sentenced to die," says the project, referring to cases throughout the country.
"We're very careful in our capital cases," Richards said. Usually, no more than about 10 such cases are working their way through the system at any time. That is the case now, he said.
"We've had executions about every couple of years for the last eight to 10 years. The scrutiny with which those cases are analyzed is far beyond any other case."
Richards listed these steps that must occur before anyone is executed:
Conviction in state court.
A finding in a separate penalty phase that capital punishment is the most appropriate remedy beyond a reasonable doubt. A jury makes this finding unless both the prosecution and defense waive the jury, in which case the judge decides on punishment.
An automatic appeal to the State Supreme Court, which scrutinizes all relevant issues.
A right to raise additional issues through the state system, after a Supreme Court ruling. This could include a claim that the defense was incompetent, an allegation not likely to be made by the same lawyers raising the original appeal issues.
A request for a new trial, filed in the U.S. District Court or (less commonly) a civil rights claim is filed directly with the U.S. Supreme Court.
An appeal in the federal system, with the U.S. Supreme Court having a final say if it chooses to take the case.
"The bottom line is, before a person is ever executed, the case is scrutinized time and time again by appellate judges," Richards said.
If new evidence becomes available, such as questions about DNA, these can be raised, he said.
In Texas, Gov. George W. Bush recently ordered a 30-day stay of execution so that a more refined DNA test can be carried out to check a convicted man's claims.
Richards defends the capital punishment system in Utah. "It's no one's objective to convict and execute an innocent person," he said.
Yengich said opponents of the death penalty know that nationally, "the reversal rate in capital cases is extremely high."
In some states, he said, people have recently been released from death row when it was "proven that they were innocent of crimes for which they were convicted."
"Playing politics with the death penalty is, in my judgment, wrong, if not even immoral," he said.
Many strong supporters of capital punishment "have simply misled the public on the infallibility of the system," he added.
E-MAIL: bau@desnews.com