Life & Death in the State of California

Life & Death in the State of California

In the United States, the first known execution was of Daniel Frank and it took place in the Colony of Virginia. Frank was executed in 1622 for the crime of theft (University of Alaska). Since the time of Daniel Frank, the death penalty has almost always been a part of our criminal justice system, starting in the colonies and continuing in the United States after we won our independence. As far as the United States goes, I am going to start off in 1930 because this was when the Bureau of Justice Statistics, United States Department of Justice, first started to compile data on a fairly regular basis. From 1930 through 1967, 3859 people were executed under civil circumstances in the United States. Others were executed but they were completed under the jurisdiction of the United States military. During this period of nearly forty years over half of those executed (54%) were black, forty five percent were white, and the remaining one percent were from other racial groups - American Indians (a total of 19 executed from 1930-1967), Filipino (13), Chinese (8), Japanese (2). By far the majority of those being executed were men; only 32 women were executed between 1930 and 1967. During this same period of time the United States Army (and the Air Force) executed 160 people, including 106 executions for murder (21 involved rape), 53 for rape, and one for desertion. The U.S. Navy has not executed anyone since 1849 (University of Alaska).

Strong pressure from parties opposed to the use of the death penalty resulted in an unofficial moratorium on executions for several years, with the last one taking place in 1967. Legal challenges to the death penalty led up to a 5-4 United States Supreme Court decision in Furman v. Georgia. Furman v. Georgia struck down the federal and state capital punishment laws that permitted wide discretion of the application of the death penalty. The majority of the justices ruled these laws as cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the eighth amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the due process guarantees of the fourteenth amendment. Only Justices Brennan and Marshall declared capital punishment to be unconstitutional in all instances (Furman v. Georgia). Furman v. Georgia led to many new death sentencing laws. The first execution under the new laws took place in Utah when Gary Gilmore was executed by firing squad for murder. Gilmore's execution was the first execution that had taken place in the United States since 1967. From 1977 to 1997, a total of 432 executions had taken place. Out of those prisoners executed during this period of time, 266 were white, 161 were black, and five were other races. By the end of 1997, 38 states and the federal government had capital punishment law; 12 states have no death penalty (University of Alaska).

I had found the history of the death penalty in California to be very interesting, especially since we had gone to Folsom State Penitentiary the other week. But that is another story since we are starting after Furman v. Georgia. Anyways, the California Supreme Court declares the death penalty cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the state constitution on February 18, 1972. 107 inmates are taken off of death row and resentenced. This happened a full three months before the Furman v. Georgia decision was laid down. Later on August 11, 1977 the state Legislature re-enacts the death penalty and on November 7, 1978 the California voters take an even bigger step by approving an even broader set of laws that replace the 1977 statute. And on April 21, 1992 there was a landmark occasion; Robert Alton Harris is executed making him the first one since the legislature had brought back the death penalty in August of 1977. On August 27, 1992 there was a new method of death introduced. This was brought by lethal injection, inmates may now choose between injection and lethal gas (not gassing). Another inmate, David Mason was executed on the 24th of August in 1993 after he forfeited all of his appeals.

On October 4, 1994 the gas chamber was ruled to be cruel and unusual punishment and therefore unconstitutional. Lethal injection is now the sole method of execution left in the state of California. William Bonin became the first to be executed by this new means of execution on February 23, 1996 (D.P.Org. History). On May 3, 1996 Keith (Danny) Williams was executed my lethal injection, making him the fourth to be executed by the state since the reinstatement of the death penalty. Another person was executed on July 14, 1998. He was Thomas Martin Thompson; he was executed even though there was some evidence of his innocence. In 1999 two men were executed in California. The first execution was on February ninth with the death of Jaturun Siripongs, a Thai national. The second execution in 1999 took place on May fourth when a Vietnam War veteran, Manual Babbit, was put to death even though he had a history of mental illness and post traumatic stress. Three more people have been executed in California according to my information, one in 2000, one in 2001, and another in 2002. On March 15, 2000 Darrell Young Elk Rich became the first Native American to be executed since California's reinstatement of the death penalty in 1977. Darrell Young Elk Rich's request for a sacred sweat lodge was denied. A sweat lodge is a purification ceremony that is equivalent to a Catholic's last rites (D.P.Org. History). In March of 2001 on the 27th Robert Lee Massie was executed by the state of California. He had voluntary ended his appeals process after nearly thirty years on death row. Finally, on January 29, 2002 Stephen Wayne Anderson was executed by the state of California.

Capital punishment in California, as in every other state, is more expensive than a life imprisonment sentence without the opportunity of parole (D.P.Org. Cost). These costs are not the result of frivolous appeals but rather the result of Constutionally mandated safeguards that pretty much go like this: first, the juries must be given clear guidelines on sentencing, which result in explicit provisions for what constitutes aggravating and mitigating circumstances. Also, defendants must have a dual trial - one to establish guilt or innocence and if guilty a second trial to determine whether or not they would get the death penalty. As a last safeguard, defendants sentenced to death are granted three automatic appeals: one to the state appeals court, another to the state supreme court, and lastly one to the federal court.

These safeguards allow for many things. First they allow for a more extensive jury selection procedure. Next they make it possible for a four fold increase in the number of motions filed. The more motions filed the greater the chance of something happening that could possible