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Wednesday, September 3, 2003

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, in an 8-3 decision, overturned the death penalty sentences of more than 100 convicts in several Western states.

The majority said a Supreme Court precedent that requires death penalties to be imposed by juries, and not judges, was retroactive. But the decision conflicts with two other federal circuits, making the case ripe for Supreme Court review.

The ruling affects the states of Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. According to The Washington Post, more than 90 death row inmates in Arizona, 17 in Idaho and five in Montana will have their capital sentences invalidated.

According to a Department of Justice study, only one Native American was executed by a state government in 2000. But more Natives are now on state death row than ever, the December 2001 report said.

For the federal death penalty, a study by the Capital Punishment Research Project found that 19 percent of the 340 men and women executed prior to 1994 were Native Americans even though Natives are less than 1 percent of the general population. In 1994, Congress passed a law to allow tribes to opt out of capital punishment for certain crimes.

Get the Story:
Death Row Inmates Get Legal Break (The Washington Post 9/3)
Judges' Rulings Imposing Death Are Overturned (The New York Times 9/3)
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Get the Decision:
Summerlin v. Stewart (September 2, 2003)

Related Stories:
Death penalty negatively impacts Natives (06/11)
Report: More Indians on state death row (12/12)

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