Alabama

Huntsville attorney speaks about capital punishment

By Karen Middleton, The News Courier

- Alabama is definitely not a "live and let live state."

Hard-line judges and politicians have ensured that the state is the fifth
most prone to sentence murder defendants to death of the 50 states.

Huntsville attorney Bruce Gardner was the guest speaker Monday at Athens
State University to commemorate Constitution Day.

In 2004 the U.S. Congress passed legislation mandating all institutions
receiving public funding observe Constitution Day by providing educational
programs or speakers on the document referred to as the "law of the land."
Gardner, who spent nine years as a prosecutor in the Madison County District
Attorney's office, is now a criminal defense lawyer and an opponent of the
death penalty.

Among statistics Gardner offered in a PowerPoint presentation are:

- Since 1819, Alabama has executed 746 inmates-38 since the death penalty
was reinstated in 1976.

- Alabama is the fifth most prone to sentence to death

- 38 of 50 states have the death penalty

- 65 percent of people favor the death penalty, but 56 percent feel it
doesn't deter murder

- There are currently 195 inmates on Alabama's death row.

- Fewer than 10 nations on the globe exact capital punishment

- The U.S. has more executions per capita than any nation.

While the U.S. executes more people, Gardner said the Constitution remains
the most effective off all documents.

"The idea of checks and balances, the rule of law, and a court system with
no enforcement powers of its own-in 1787 we were very fortunate to have the
type of people we did writing the document that has remained alive and has
survived for more than 200 years," said Gardner.

Capital murder
Gardner said that U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonio Scalia's pronouncement,
"You kill, you die," is not applicable in Alabama.

"Many people believe that any routine homicide qualifies for the death
penalty, but there is murder and there is capital murder," he said. "In
capital murder the crime must be compounded by another felony or conferred
because of the type of occupation of the victim."

Gardner said there are 21 types of homicide that can be considered a capital
crime.

"Most common is that of the clerk of a convenience store who is killed
during a robbery," he said. "Then there is the homeowner who is killed
during a break-in or a burglary. There is also the intentional murder of a
police officer or the intentional killing of a child."

Gardner said capital trials have two phases: the determining of guilt by a
jury, and if found guilty there is the sentencing phase.

"In the second phase, the jury hears from the prosecution the aggravating
circumstances and from the defense the mitigating circumstances," he said.
Gardner said recent rulings have allowed defense attorneys more latitude in
the production of mitigating circumstances.

"These might be in how the defendant was raised, his mental condition,
whether it was relevant at time, there are no limits," he said. "The jury is
instructed on how to weigh this evidence."

Gardner said it requires a 10-to-2 jury verdict to recommend the death
penalty, or less for life without parole.

"But it doesn't end there," he said. "Alabama is the only state where a
judge can override the jury on a life without parole verdict and impose the
death penalty. The statute was originally written to allow the judge to
override a runaway jury, but not once has that occurred in this state."

Low defense standards

Gardner said the standards for an appointed attorney in a capital case are
extremely low in the state, accounting for the fact that most people on
death row come from an impoverished background.

"A defense attorney in a capital case needs to have five years of active
experience in criminal law," he said. "This type of litigation is complex.
The average practitioner with just five years experience is not qualified."
Gardner said capital cases require at least two lawyers because of being so
time-intensive.

He said until recent years, the state capped the amount that an attorney
could be paid in a capital case at $1,000. "That's about 10 cents per hour,"
he said.

He said the state removed statutory fee caps, but pays just $40 per hour for
work outside the court and $60 for in-courtroom work.

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Source : The News Courier

http://www.enewscourier.com/local/local_story_260194449.html