Opinions on Death Penalty Spoken but Not Heard

By BENJAMIN WEISER

When Judith Mwila testified last month in the death-penalty hearing for a terrorist convicted in the 1998 bombing of the American Embassy in Tanzania, she described how hard her life had been since the death of her husband. He was an embassy guard, the family breadwinner, and one of 11 people killed in the attack.But there was one question neither the government nor the defense was permitted to ask her: Should the terrorist, Khalfan Khamis Mohamed, 27, be executed? Under the law, victims and other witnesses may testify in death-penalty hearings about the impact of the crime, but they may not be asked whether a defendant should be put to death. The prohibition stems from concern that they might make an emotional plea for execution that could prejudice the jury.