Legal panel urges death penalty changes

TEMPE, Ariz. A panel of lawyers and other experts is recommending steps that members would make the death penalty fairer in Arizona.A team organized by the American Bar Association says Arizona should ensure that all indigent defendants get competent lawyers and give a prosecutors council or another statewide organization the final say of whether to seek the death penalty in individual cases in all 15 counties.
The recommendations also include seeking new legal reviews of whether death sentences are imposed proportionately and providing new oversight and funding of crime labs and medical examiners.

Members of the team include private attorneys, the top death penalty lawyer of the state attorney general's office and a former U-S attorney for Arizona. Other members included an Arizona State University law professor and an A-S-U researcher.


http://kvoa.com/Global/story.asp?S=5160485&nav=HMO6