AZ: Court rejects appeal by 30-year death row inmate -Smith
Mon Oct 15, 2007 4:52PM
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Arizona

Court rejects appeal by 30-year death row inmate

Mon Oct 15, 2007 11:44am EDT
By James Vicini

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected an
appeal by an Arizona prisoner who said his execution would violate
the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment because he has
been on death row for more than 30 years.

Over the dissent of one justice, the high court turned down the
appeal by Joe Clarence Smith, who contended that standards of decency
in the United States make it unconstitutional to execute an
individual held on death row for such a long time.

Smith's attorneys said he is one of the longest serving death row
inmates in the country, after awaiting execution for almost three
times as long as the average death row inmate.

The authors of the U.S. Constitution did not envision imprisoning
someone for three decades before they were put to death, they argued.

"Nor would Smith's execution after such an outrageous delay
additionally serve the societal interest of retribution and
deterrence," they said.

Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard opposed the appeal.

The fact that Smith first received death sentences for two murders
some 30 years ago does not violate the constitutional ban on cruel
and unusual punishment, Goddard said. The delay stemmed from Smith
litigating claims related to his case in state and federal courts.

Smith was first sentenced to death in 1977. After successfully
appealing and being allowed to present new evidence at another
sentencing hearing two years later, he again received the death penalty.

In 1999, a U.S. appeals court overturned Smith's death sentence on
the grounds that his lawyer had been ineffective during the second
sentencing hearing. The third sentencing proceeding took place in
2004, when Smith got the death penalty.

Justice Stephen Breyer dissented.

"In my view, Smith can reasonably claim that his execution at this
late date would be 'unusual,'" Breyer wrote. "I am unaware of other
executions that have taken place after so long a delay, particularly
when much of the delay at issue seems due to constitutionally
defective sentencing proceedings. "

Breyer also said the issue of whether it is cruel to keep an
individual on death row for decades, under threat of imminent
execution, raises a serious constitutional question.

http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN1535414820071015