Kate Mather and Richard Winton report in the LA Times:
The current Administration has been reasonable in seeking the death penalty in federal cases where it is warranted, but it is derelict in carrying it out.
Federal prosecutors will seek the death penalty against the man charged in the deadly 2013 shooting at Los Angeles International Airport, according to court documents filed Friday.The decision is obviously correct, and this is one of the few homicides that really should be prosecuted as a federal offense. The homicide victim was a federal officer targeted specifically because of his federal duties, as are two of the wounded victims.
Paul Anthony Ciancia, 24, was charged with 11 federal counts in connection with the Nov. 1, 2013, attack that killed one Transportation Security Administration officer and wounded three other people. Authorities allege Ciancia walked into the airport's busy Terminal 3 and opened fire with a semiautomatic rifle.
The current Administration has been reasonable in seeking the death penalty in federal cases where it is warranted, but it is derelict in carrying it out.
Federal cases should go faster than state cases of similar complexity, although on the whole they do tend to be more complex. State cases have collateral review in both state and federal courts, while federal cases have only federal review. Congress passed a strict limit on successive collateral reviews in the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996. The requirement that these cases "shall be given priority by the district court and by the court of appeals over all noncapital matters" (28 U.S.C. § 2266(a)) applies to federal cases automatically, whereas states must go through a certification procedure (presently stalled, but that's another story).
So what's the problem? The § 2266(a) requirement is routinely ignored by courts, and USDoJ has done nothing, to my knowledge, to implement it. There is a lawsuit against the federal government on lethal injection procedures. The Department said it was suspending executions to fix its protocol in light of the sodium thiopental shortage, Josh Gerstein reported in Politico three and half years ago. Apparently nothing has happened since.
It's not hard to establish a new protocol with pentobarbital. The states have lots of experience with it. Surely the federal government could obtain that drug if it really wanted to.
Seems like a good topic for a congressional hearing in the new Congress.
So what's the problem? The § 2266(a) requirement is routinely ignored by courts, and USDoJ has done nothing, to my knowledge, to implement it. There is a lawsuit against the federal government on lethal injection procedures. The Department said it was suspending executions to fix its protocol in light of the sodium thiopental shortage, Josh Gerstein reported in Politico three and half years ago. Apparently nothing has happened since.
It's not hard to establish a new protocol with pentobarbital. The states have lots of experience with it. Surely the federal government could obtain that drug if it really wanted to.
Seems like a good topic for a congressional hearing in the new Congress.
You never want to underestimate the cynicism and deceptiveness of this administration. The present DOJ is just fine with the death penalty -- as long as no one actually gets executed.
When was the last federal execution?
Louis Jones was sentenced to death for kidnapping within special maritime/territorial jurisdiction resulting in death. He was executed by lethal injection at USP Terre Haute, IN on March 18th, 2003.
It appears that the Federal DP is about as functional as California's DP.