Post by Anja Nieser on Sept 17, 2006 23:19:16 GMT -5
Capital Considerations
Luzerne County District Attorney David Lupas has sought the death penalty
in every capital punishment-eligible case not pleaded out by the
defendant.
It's a decision that he makes based on state law, consultation with
victim's families and the possibility of a plea for the accused.
Joseph Gacha Jr., 29, faced the death penalty last week for slaying a
20-year-old woman in 2004, but was sentenced to life in prison after the
jury of 9 women and 3 men failed to agree if he should be executed.
Now in his 7th year as district attorney, Lupas and his staff have not yet
won a death penalty conviction. It's not a score keeping issue, Lupas
said, as a life sentence is just as acceptable.
"They will still die in jail so I think justice is served," Lupas said. "I
accept that for a juror it's an extremely difficult and awesome decision
to sentence someone to death."
5 convicted murderers in Luzerne County have been sentenced to death since
1975. The last death sentence was handed down in 1994. 2 had the death
sentence reversed.
Joseph Cosgrove, a well-known Wilkes-Barre defense attorney, believes the
death penalty is being sought too often.
"It would be much more morally sound not to seek the death penalty in most
cases since it is absolutely unnecessary, ethically questionable and
incredibly costly," said Cosgrove, who secured audio testimony against the
death penalty from Mother Teresa in a 1991 case.
Benjamin D. Fleury-Steiner, an associate professor at the University of
Delaware, said it's getting harder to convince a jury to sentence death. A
few high-profile cases of death row inmates who were later found to be
innocent are shaping the public opinion, he said.
"This innocence thing can put a little chink in the death qualification
armor," Fleury-Steiner said of potential jurors.
Nationally, the number of prisoners under sentence of death decreased for
four consecutive years since 2000, according to the most recent capital
punishment statistics from the U.S. Department of Justice.
Only a jury can impose the death penalty in Pennsylvania. The vote must be
unanimous.
There is only one crime punishable by death in the state - first-degree
murder, which is a premeditated, intentional killing.
Even if a person is convicted of 1st-degree murder, it's not entirely up
to the district attorney when to seek the death penalty. There must be at
least one of 18 "aggravating circumstances" as defined by state law before
capital punishment is an option.
Gacha faced death last week after a jury found him guilty of both
first-degree murder and robbery. Robbery, a felony, is considered one of
the aggravating circumstances that allow prosecutors to seek death.
The jury could not decide between death and life in prison, leading to an
impasse three hours into deliberations.
It's not clear what the vote breakdown was because they did not return a
verdict slip.
"Like I said to the jury, it only takes one to give him life," said John
Pike, Gacha's lead defense attorney.
Gacha was accused of stabbing Carrie Martin nearly 50 times at her
apartment in May 2004. His co-defendant, Daniel Kukucka, committed suicide
in prison while awaiting trial.
There are two things that Fleury-Steiner believes held the Gacha jury from
imposing death: Kukucka and testimony from family and experts that Gacha
was abused and neglected as a child.
"Any of these kind of doubts coming together makes it very difficult to
get the death," he said.
Before his death Kukucka blamed Gacha for the killing. Gacha blames
Kukucka for the murder.
The testimony about childhood abuse - such as beatings with a coal shovel
- came during the penalty phase of the trial.
Defense attorneys presented "mitigating circumstances" hoping to counter
the prosecution's aggravating circumstance of the murder happening during
a robbery. It is up to the jury to assign weight to each side when they
decide if a convicted killer should get a death sentence.
"It's sort of like conducting a symphony," Fleury-Steiner said of the
defense attorney's job during a death penalty hearing. "If you have just
the family, it's probably not going to work. To have a family and multiple
experts backing them up is an orchestration coming together."
Pennsylvania, which has the third highest number of death row inmates at
224, has not executed a prisoner since 1999.
Three people have been executed in Pennsylvania since capital punishment
was reinstated in 1975. The last, Gary Heidnik, was executed by lethal
injection. Heidnik, who served as some inspiration for the character
"Buffalo Bill" in the book and movie "The Silence of the Lambs," was
convicted in 1988 of murdering 2 women of the 5 he had imprisoned and
raped at his Philadelphia home.
(source: The Citizen's Voice)
Luzerne County District Attorney David Lupas has sought the death penalty
in every capital punishment-eligible case not pleaded out by the
defendant.
It's a decision that he makes based on state law, consultation with
victim's families and the possibility of a plea for the accused.
Joseph Gacha Jr., 29, faced the death penalty last week for slaying a
20-year-old woman in 2004, but was sentenced to life in prison after the
jury of 9 women and 3 men failed to agree if he should be executed.
Now in his 7th year as district attorney, Lupas and his staff have not yet
won a death penalty conviction. It's not a score keeping issue, Lupas
said, as a life sentence is just as acceptable.
"They will still die in jail so I think justice is served," Lupas said. "I
accept that for a juror it's an extremely difficult and awesome decision
to sentence someone to death."
5 convicted murderers in Luzerne County have been sentenced to death since
1975. The last death sentence was handed down in 1994. 2 had the death
sentence reversed.
Joseph Cosgrove, a well-known Wilkes-Barre defense attorney, believes the
death penalty is being sought too often.
"It would be much more morally sound not to seek the death penalty in most
cases since it is absolutely unnecessary, ethically questionable and
incredibly costly," said Cosgrove, who secured audio testimony against the
death penalty from Mother Teresa in a 1991 case.
Benjamin D. Fleury-Steiner, an associate professor at the University of
Delaware, said it's getting harder to convince a jury to sentence death. A
few high-profile cases of death row inmates who were later found to be
innocent are shaping the public opinion, he said.
"This innocence thing can put a little chink in the death qualification
armor," Fleury-Steiner said of potential jurors.
Nationally, the number of prisoners under sentence of death decreased for
four consecutive years since 2000, according to the most recent capital
punishment statistics from the U.S. Department of Justice.
Only a jury can impose the death penalty in Pennsylvania. The vote must be
unanimous.
There is only one crime punishable by death in the state - first-degree
murder, which is a premeditated, intentional killing.
Even if a person is convicted of 1st-degree murder, it's not entirely up
to the district attorney when to seek the death penalty. There must be at
least one of 18 "aggravating circumstances" as defined by state law before
capital punishment is an option.
Gacha faced death last week after a jury found him guilty of both
first-degree murder and robbery. Robbery, a felony, is considered one of
the aggravating circumstances that allow prosecutors to seek death.
The jury could not decide between death and life in prison, leading to an
impasse three hours into deliberations.
It's not clear what the vote breakdown was because they did not return a
verdict slip.
"Like I said to the jury, it only takes one to give him life," said John
Pike, Gacha's lead defense attorney.
Gacha was accused of stabbing Carrie Martin nearly 50 times at her
apartment in May 2004. His co-defendant, Daniel Kukucka, committed suicide
in prison while awaiting trial.
There are two things that Fleury-Steiner believes held the Gacha jury from
imposing death: Kukucka and testimony from family and experts that Gacha
was abused and neglected as a child.
"Any of these kind of doubts coming together makes it very difficult to
get the death," he said.
Before his death Kukucka blamed Gacha for the killing. Gacha blames
Kukucka for the murder.
The testimony about childhood abuse - such as beatings with a coal shovel
- came during the penalty phase of the trial.
Defense attorneys presented "mitigating circumstances" hoping to counter
the prosecution's aggravating circumstance of the murder happening during
a robbery. It is up to the jury to assign weight to each side when they
decide if a convicted killer should get a death sentence.
"It's sort of like conducting a symphony," Fleury-Steiner said of the
defense attorney's job during a death penalty hearing. "If you have just
the family, it's probably not going to work. To have a family and multiple
experts backing them up is an orchestration coming together."
Pennsylvania, which has the third highest number of death row inmates at
224, has not executed a prisoner since 1999.
Three people have been executed in Pennsylvania since capital punishment
was reinstated in 1975. The last, Gary Heidnik, was executed by lethal
injection. Heidnik, who served as some inspiration for the character
"Buffalo Bill" in the book and movie "The Silence of the Lambs," was
convicted in 1988 of murdering 2 women of the 5 he had imprisoned and
raped at his Philadelphia home.
(source: The Citizen's Voice)