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I really don't know if they can hand out the sentence.  I know the last Gov., a Republican, commuted the sentences of everyone on Death Row at the time.  I don't know if anyone has been given that sentence since.  Surely more heinous crimes have been committed.  

I think it is the State Legislature that must overturn the moratorium.  I've not heard many calls for it.  The Gov. who imposed it did so because a slew of people on Death Row were proven innocent or did not get fair hearings.  So he said, no death penalthy until we can insure no innocent people are put to death.  Which is an impossible standard and in effect abolishing the dealth penalty without having public support to do so.  

I suppose it could be brought back, depending on the circumstances.  But I think there is a lot of death/outrage fatigue in the country at the moment.    

"Pretending that you already know the answer when you don't is not actually very helpful." ~Migeru.

by poemless on Thu Aug 30th, 2007 at 04:36:29 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I'd say that probably, while that statute is stilll on the books, even if it's not being used, and even if there has been a moratorium against it being used, then you would still be classed as a state that has the death penalty. It wouldn't be unreasonable for his lawyers to argue thata future govoner could decide that the moratorium should end and so he is at risk. I think it is a general point of principal to not extradite in cases where the death penalty is a possibillity. Although I think that in some cases extradition has been agreed when the local prosecution has agreed to wave the death penalty.

The other possible reasonis that it may say in the French constityution that citizens cannot be extradfited to third party states under certain conditions. As An example of something like this look at Ronnie Biggs one of the UK's great train robbers. He fled to Brazil, and managed to avoid extradition for 16 years as  he had fathered a Brazilian child, and under Brazilian law, he had to remain in Brazil to pay for the childs upkeep.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Thu Aug 30th, 2007 at 09:31:00 PM EST
[ Parent ]
There have been problems here with extraditions to the US for assorted crimes on the basis of both the death penalty and the inhumane conditions that people would be held in in the US - though I'm not sure that the last excuse held up.
by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Fri Aug 31st, 2007 at 05:01:53 AM EST
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