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Aug 7, 2009
Correcting a Jury's Mistake
Not for the first time, an Alabama judge has decided a jury made a mistake in sentencing a convicted murderer to life without parole, and has instead imposed the death penalty. It happened in Wetumpka today. Legal challenges to that part of the the state's death penalty statute has been unsuccessful, but somehow it just doesn't seem right. It's not a very big leap to go from allowing judges to change the sentence to allowing judges to change the verdict. We teach our children about democracy and how juries have a sacred duty, but then we allow a judge to cancel a jury's decision?
If you support what happened in Wetumpka, just remember that the same law also allows a judge to reject a jury's decision to impose the death penalty and sentence a murderer to life without parole.
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I would say that the jury did not "make a mistake" because juries do not sentence the convicted. The jury recommends a sentence to the judge and the judge sentences the convicted based on both the jury's recommendation and his/her own analysis of the case. The jury maintains the important aspect of deciding guilt or innocence, but the it is the judge who decides if the punishment fits the crime.
ReplyDeleteOkay understanding a judge can impose a stricter sentence or not with a jury is questionable in one particular case. This same judge allowed a young man to go free after he went to the door of a black man's home, knocked, and blew his head off with a shot gun. This young man received 15 years probation, needless to say the punishment did not fit the crime. This young man also has received full custody of his child in another court room under the judge who holds number three seat just below Judge Bush. Strange how small town politics can make a person wonder....
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