Post by Anja Nieser on Sept 25, 2006 0:58:30 GMT -5
Strategy to Avoid Death Row Misfires for Sutherland
2 years ago, convicted child killer Cecil Sutherland agreed to let a St.
Clair County court sentence him to death, in part as a novel legal
strategy: to put his case on a fast track to automatic review by the
Illinois Supreme Court, which had already sided with him on an earlier
appeal.
That strategy apparently backfired Thursday, when the high court affirmed
Sutherland's conviction and set a date for his execution.
However, Illinois has a continuing moratorium on executions, casting doubt
on whether the execution would be carried out on that date. The court
ruled without dissent that Sutherland's second trial, in Belleville,
wasn't tainted by error and that there was sufficient evidence - including
strands of Sutherland's hair on the victim's body - to convict.
It was Sutherland's case that led to the revamping of a state program that
funds death penalty appeals, after his attorney billed the program for
more than $2 million for handling Sutherland's 2nd trial.
Sutherland, 51, formerly of the Mount Vernon area, was convicted of the
1987 rape and murder of 10-year-old Amy Schulz of Kell, Ill., 75 miles
east of St. Louis. Her naked body was found in a nearby rural area north
of Mount Vernon the morning after she had disappeared while walking near
her home. Her throat had been cut.
Sutherland was tried in Jefferson County and sentenced to death in 1989.
The state Supreme Court overturned that conviction in 2000 on grounds of
inadequate defense and ordered a new trial. His second trial, moved to
Belleville to avoid local publicity in Mount Vernon, ended in a 2nd
conviction and death sentence in 2004.
Sutherland didn't fight the jury's recommendation of the death penalty in
2004. His attorney told a lower court that that decision had been made, in
part, because death sentences are automatically sent to the state Supreme
Court for review, and Sutherland had hoped the court would overturn his
second conviction as it did his first.
Sutherland's case ignited a controversy that led to changes in the state's
Capital Litigation Fund, which provides state money for defense expenses
in death penalty cases. Sutherland's attorney, John Paul Carroll, billed
the fund for more than $2 million in the case, including a $900,000 fee
for himself, prompting passage of a new state law requiring attorneys who
work under the fund to submit detailed budgets to the judge in advance of
the trial.
Carroll could not be reached for comment Thursday.
In Thursday's ruling, the high court set an execution date of March 13,
2007. However, Illinois remains under an execution moratorium started by
former Gov. George Ryan and continued under Gov. Rod Blagojevich, after 13
men on death row were found to have been wrongfully convicted. Blagojevich
- who has constitutional authority to indefinitely postpone any execution
- has said the state won't resume executing people until he is satisfied
that there's no further danger that innocent people are being condemned.
In 2003, Ryan commuted all pending death sentences in Illinois to life in
prison. Sutherland missed that mass commutation, though, because his own
death sentence had been overturned on appeal at that time.
Sutherland is currently in custody at the Pontiac Correctional Center.
(source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
2 years ago, convicted child killer Cecil Sutherland agreed to let a St.
Clair County court sentence him to death, in part as a novel legal
strategy: to put his case on a fast track to automatic review by the
Illinois Supreme Court, which had already sided with him on an earlier
appeal.
That strategy apparently backfired Thursday, when the high court affirmed
Sutherland's conviction and set a date for his execution.
However, Illinois has a continuing moratorium on executions, casting doubt
on whether the execution would be carried out on that date. The court
ruled without dissent that Sutherland's second trial, in Belleville,
wasn't tainted by error and that there was sufficient evidence - including
strands of Sutherland's hair on the victim's body - to convict.
It was Sutherland's case that led to the revamping of a state program that
funds death penalty appeals, after his attorney billed the program for
more than $2 million for handling Sutherland's 2nd trial.
Sutherland, 51, formerly of the Mount Vernon area, was convicted of the
1987 rape and murder of 10-year-old Amy Schulz of Kell, Ill., 75 miles
east of St. Louis. Her naked body was found in a nearby rural area north
of Mount Vernon the morning after she had disappeared while walking near
her home. Her throat had been cut.
Sutherland was tried in Jefferson County and sentenced to death in 1989.
The state Supreme Court overturned that conviction in 2000 on grounds of
inadequate defense and ordered a new trial. His second trial, moved to
Belleville to avoid local publicity in Mount Vernon, ended in a 2nd
conviction and death sentence in 2004.
Sutherland didn't fight the jury's recommendation of the death penalty in
2004. His attorney told a lower court that that decision had been made, in
part, because death sentences are automatically sent to the state Supreme
Court for review, and Sutherland had hoped the court would overturn his
second conviction as it did his first.
Sutherland's case ignited a controversy that led to changes in the state's
Capital Litigation Fund, which provides state money for defense expenses
in death penalty cases. Sutherland's attorney, John Paul Carroll, billed
the fund for more than $2 million in the case, including a $900,000 fee
for himself, prompting passage of a new state law requiring attorneys who
work under the fund to submit detailed budgets to the judge in advance of
the trial.
Carroll could not be reached for comment Thursday.
In Thursday's ruling, the high court set an execution date of March 13,
2007. However, Illinois remains under an execution moratorium started by
former Gov. George Ryan and continued under Gov. Rod Blagojevich, after 13
men on death row were found to have been wrongfully convicted. Blagojevich
- who has constitutional authority to indefinitely postpone any execution
- has said the state won't resume executing people until he is satisfied
that there's no further danger that innocent people are being condemned.
In 2003, Ryan commuted all pending death sentences in Illinois to life in
prison. Sutherland missed that mass commutation, though, because his own
death sentence had been overturned on appeal at that time.
Sutherland is currently in custody at the Pontiac Correctional Center.
(source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch)