07/02/03

 PENA DI MORTE NEGLI USA

La direttiva di Ashcroft �Aumentare le esecuzioni�

NEW YORK - Il ministro della Giustizia americano John Ashcroft ha chiesto ai procuratori degli Stati di New York e Connecticut di applicare la condanna capitale nei confronti di una dozzina d�imputati per i quali erano state richieste pene minori. L�obiettivo del ministro � �pi� omogeneit� nell�applicazione della pena di morte. Alcuni Stati - come New York - tendono a ricorrere meno al boia di quanto facciano quelli pi� conservatori. Gli avvocati degli imputati hanno replicato ad Ashcroft che bisognerebbe fare l�opposto: ridurre la pena di morte in tutti gli Stati anzich� aumentare le esecuzioni nelle zone dove viene meno applicata.  

Ashcroft pushes for more death sentences

US attorney general overrules prosecution deals

 Julian Borger in Washington

February 7, 2003

The United States attorney general, John Ashcroft, has overruled his own federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty for 28 defendants, in what has been criticised as a drive to spread capital punishment into states that have resisted it.

In one case Mr Ashcroft demanded that prosecutors renege on a deal made with a defendant in a murder trial to drop their demand for the death penalty in return for testimony against a Colombian drug ring.

 The attorney general, arguably the most conservative member of a rightwing administration, has also declared he will seek a death sentence for Brian Regan, an intelligence analyst arrested in 2001 for trying to sell secrets to Iraq, Libya and China. He would be the first espionage defendant to face execution since Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.

 Mr Ashcroft has also played a leading role in arranging for the defendants in the Washington sniper case, Lee Malvo and John Muhammad, to face charges in Virginia, which has a high rate of executions, rather than Maryland, where most of the killings occurred but which had temporarily suspended the death penalty.

 A national network of defence lawyers, the federal death penalty resource counsel project, has counted 28 cases in which Mr Ashcroft has insisted on the death penalty, against the judgment of the federal prosecutors involved. His predecessor, Janet Reno, intervened in 26 cases over five years.

 "There are more federal cases approved for the death penalty by the attorney general than there have ever been before," said Dick Burr, a Texas defence lawyer and a member of the project. "He's acting like a Texas politician, but then of course, he works for one.

 The justice department did not return calls for comment, but a spokeswoman issued a statement saying the people involved in reviewing death penalty decisions in Washington "have the benefit of seeing the landscape of these cases nationwide, thereby ensuring consistency".

 Almost half the cases in which Mr Ashcroft intervened were in New York and Connecticut, states traditionally been reluctant to execute.

 Mr Ashcroft's actions come at a time when there are deep differences between states over capital punishment. Last month, the outgoing governor of Illinois, Jim Ryan, commuted the sentences of all the states' death row inmates.

 Mr Burr suggested there was also a racial tinge to the attorney general's interventions.

 He said: "In the cases he is seeking the death penalty overriding the prosecutors, 95% are cases involving people of colour, so it appears to be racist. He seems to side with prosecutors who recommend not to seek the death penalty against white defendants, but when prosecutors want to drop the death penalty against black or Latino defendants, he overrides them."

 In one case, a federal judge initially ruled that the death penalty was unconstitutional, due to the growing number of death row inmates exonerated by DNA evidence. The ruling was overturned on appeal, and prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Diego Rodriguez and Alan Quinones, who were accused of killing a government informant.

 In a controversial case, Mr Ashcroft demanded the death sentence for Jairo Zapata, who was charged with involvement in two gangland killings in New York. He had agreed to testify against other members of the Colombian gang in return for a signed agreement from prosecutors that they would not seek his execution.

 Prosecutors have complained that the decision will make it difficult to secure the cooperation of defendants in organised crime cases.

 Jim Walden, a former senior federal prosecutor in Brooklyn, said that it was "a remarkably bad decision" to impose a national death penalty policy against the judgment of local federal prosecutors, who were often seeking cooperating witnesses. "It will likely result in fewer murders being solved because fewer defendants will choose to cooperate," he told the New York Times. 

John Ashcroft's Death-Penalty Edicts

Attorney General John Ashcroft has directed federal prosecutors in New York and Connecticut to seek the death penalty in a dozen cases in which they had recommended lesser sentences. Mr. Ashcroft's orders are a triumph of ideology over good prosecutorial practice. The Bush administration should reconsider them.

 In 10 current cases in New York and 2 in Connecticut, United States attorneys decided not to seek the death penalty. One involved a defendant who pleaded guilty in exchange for testifying against other members of a drug ring. Another involved a defendant who according to his lawyers is mentally retarded and thus ineligible for the death penalty.

 Mr. Ashcroft's decisions appear to be driven by a desire to see the death penalty used more. His aggressive promotion of capital punishment is not only wrong, it is badly timed. Popular support for the death penalty is declining, due in large part to the growing number of cases in which DNA evidence is exonerating death row inmates.

 Mr. Ashcroft also seems to have a regional agenda. The reversals in New York and Connecticut are nearly half of all cases nationwide in which he has overruled decisions not to seek the death penalty. Mr. Ashcroft's drive to increase the use of capital punishment here flies in the face of the administration's oft-repeated commitment to allowing states and localities more control over policy issues.

 United States attorneys' offices are among the most respected institutions in law enforcement. The Justice Department should let these professional prosecutors make decisions about sentencing, not impose a political agenda on them.

6 February, 2003

Washington 'seeks more executions'

Ashcroft (right) is facing criticism for his tough stance

By Emma Simpson 

US Attorney General John Ashcroft has ordered federal prosecutors in New York and Connecticut to seek the death penalty in more criminal cases, reports say. 

The death penalty is the law of the land, provided for as the ultimate punishment for heinous crimes, and the Attorney General is committed to the fair implementation of justice

The US Justice Department

According to the New York Times newspaper, Mr Ashcroft has rejected the advice of prosecutors in a dozen cases, asking them to seek the death penalty instead. 

By law, prosecutors only make recommendations on whether the death penalty should be sought in a federal case, and Mr Ashcroft has final approval. 

Critics say Mr Ashcroft is trying to bring capital punishment to areas of America which are traditionally less inclined to return a verdict for the death penalty. 

'Law of the land' 

There are currently 12 cases - 10 in New York and two in Connecticut - where US attorneys have either advised against the death penalty, or not pursued it. 

The New York Times said that they have now been overruled by Mr Ashcroft. 

The US Justice Department said that the death penalty was the law of the land, and that the review process was designed to ensure consistency and fairness across the country. 

But here in New York City, no federal jury has returned a verdict for the death penalty since the laws were revised a decade ago. 

Defence lawyers have criticised Mr Ashcroft's approach, arguing that the best way to eliminate disparities was not to increase the use of capital punishment, but to reduce it.