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Post by Deleted on Sept 17, 2007 9:30:00 GMT -6
Can anyone tell me if there is a website that tracks the appeals process? One that tells where any given inmate is in the appeals process? More importantly why the appeals process takes so long?
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Post by Anony+ on Sept 17, 2007 10:46:00 GMT -6
Can anyone tell me if there is a website that tracks the appeals process? One that tells where any given inmate is in the appeals process? I don't know of any state that has it comprehensively in one place. The best thing to do is to do an internet and/or legal search for the inmate's name. The answer to that could be the basis for a book! If you have a particular inmate you're interested in, let me know and I can see what I can dig up and explain. Allison
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Post by Deleted on Sept 17, 2007 11:46:59 GMT -6
My last essay was written on what families of MV's go through. I wanted to write the next one on the "Un-necessary Length of Time" it takes to see justice administered. I didn't have any particular case in mind. Although, My last paper was done on Steven Woods. That case would be a fine place to start, as the quicker he's finished the better off this world will be!
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Post by Deleted on Sept 17, 2007 12:11:39 GMT -6
I think that the argument could be made, we are violating the constitution by not speeding up the process per the 6th amendment which reads: "In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense." After conviction, any appeals should be severely limited and given top priority over every other case, so that justice can be imposed. But you don't hear of any Death Row inmates talking about that portion of their constitutional rights being violated! No Sir, Mr. Justice, take all the time you want!
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Post by Anony+ on Sept 17, 2007 12:27:35 GMT -6
I think that the argument could be made, we are violating the constitution by not speeding up the process per the 6th amendment which reads: "In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense." After conviction, any appeals should be severely limited and given top priority over every other case, so that justice can be imposed. But you don't hear of any Death Row inmates talking about that portion of their constitutional rights being violated! No Sir, Mr. Justice, take all the time you want! Actually, you do hear about it. Some make the claim that to execute them after an inordinate amount of time on death row violates their constitutional rights, so their sentence needs to be commuted. Oh, and btw, the 6th amendment that you quoted only gives the right to a speedy TRIAL, not appeals process or sentence completion. So it's inapplicable to speeding up the time to execution.
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Post by Anony+ on Sept 17, 2007 12:29:59 GMT -6
My last essay was written on what families of MV's go through. I wanted to write the next one on the "Un-necessary Length of Time" it takes to see justice administered. I didn't have any particular case in mind. Although, My last paper was done on Steven Woods. That case would be a fine place to start, as the quicker he's finished the better off this world will be! So what would you want to know? What would your questions be? You should probably start with making a timeline of all the steps of the appeal that his case has gone through so far, and see which parts are taking how much time, and why.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 17, 2007 14:22:01 GMT -6
You bring up some very good points. I was looking at the 6th ammendment as a court process, in which each appeal would stand alone in a court of law, and each process was given the 6th ammendment guarantee of a speedy trial, rather than a huge backlog of appeals allowing to clog the justice system.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 17, 2007 14:29:22 GMT -6
Where would you even start? I only know the date for argument sake, Steven Woods was received on death row, and the date of his conviction. There are other's that have been there so long, they would probably be better case studies in the amount of gross time it takes. Any high timer's come to mind? Say late 70's early 80's? My last essay was written on what families of MV's go through. I wanted to write the next one on the "Un-necessary Length of Time" it takes to see justice administered. I didn't have any particular case in mind. Although, My last paper was done on Steven Woods. That case would be a fine place to start, as the quicker he's finished the better off this world will be! So what would you want to know? What would your questions be? You should probably start with making a timeline of all the steps of the appeal that his case has gone through so far, and see which parts are taking how much time, and why.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 17, 2007 15:39:23 GMT -6
I don't know if this is helpful or not. I have a hard time finding things out on the internet too. If you go to the Texas Attorney General Website at www.oag.state.tx.us/index.shtmland click on news releases, you can look at the news releases for different months. There will be a news release when a murderer has been scheduled for execution that will give the dates of each court decision. That might help you to be able to google them up more easily, maybe? And if you use one who has completed the process, even if some opinions from some levels of it were not found on the net, you would have the full timeline, and would probably be able to find at least some of the decisions to see what the issues were. There are not always websites to check for every stage of the process. Having those dates of the decisions might give you a good start in the search, perhaps?
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Post by Deleted on Sept 17, 2007 15:43:51 GMT -6
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Post by Anony+ on Sept 17, 2007 17:30:36 GMT -6
Where would you even start? I only know the date for argument sake, Steven Woods was received on death row, and the date of his conviction. There are other's that have been there so long, they would probably be better case studies in the amount of gross time it takes. Any high timer's come to mind? Say late 70's early 80's? So what would you want to know? What would your questions be? You should probably start with making a timeline of all the steps of the appeal that his case has gone through so far, and see which parts are taking how much time, and why. Try Alderman out of Georgia. He's been there since the mid-70s PLUS he's got the "its cruel and unusual to punish me after this long a time" argument that he's raised. (plus, that was my case for a few years, so I can really help you out when I get a little time -- long story short, he had his sentence overturned one or two times, had retrials, and had the same atty represent him on appeal and habeas so he got a completely new habeas to just raise ineffective assistance of his appellate trial. Let me know if that's all greek to you, and I'll explain it more slowly, if interested, when I have some time.) ETA: Here's the latest federal appeal from the Alderman case: www.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/ops/200414595.pdf . That's the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals opinion from last year. Should be a good place to start.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 17, 2007 19:49:37 GMT -6
Thanks to you both (J.B.S. & Anony) I'm new to forum's I work on the net in a limited fashion, so this has all been kind of a new experience for me. But as I'm sure you can tell, I have strong opinions on this subject. J.B.S. I must tell you when I finished, I didn't see any tears, but plenty of gobsmacked faces. It was somber. That was worth it! Thanks for the links, I'll follow them up.
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Post by ichy on Mar 15, 2008 13:27:25 GMT -6
Any high timer's come to mind? Say late 70's early 80's? Take a look at Maryland. John Booth, Vernon Evans and Anthony Grandison are all on death row for crimes that occured in 1983. One of the really sad parts of that is that Cheryl Bradshaw, the woman whose husband & sister were murdered by Evans & Grandison and who was supposed to be killed as well died more than ten years ago.
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