U.S.

Fight To Prevent Wrongful Executions

May 12, 2000 / 12:17 PM EDT / AP

One person has been freed from death row for every seven people executed since 1976, say members of a new organization that aims to find ways to prevent wrongful executions.

"It's frightening when you consider the number of people that we now know were innocent of the crimes of which they were convicted," Gerald Kogan, former chief justice of the Florida Supreme Court, said at a news conference Thursday by members of the National Committee to Prevent Wrongful Executions.

The panel includes supporters and opponents of the death penalty. It is sponsored by the Constitution Project, a nonprofit organization that promotes judicial independence and urges restraint in amending the Constitution.

Kogan said 28 people were executed during his service on Florida's top court but added, "my own attitude has dramatically changed... Our system, in fact, has many problems."

He said he backs a moratorium on executions in his state similar to one imposed in Illinois last January by Gov. George Ryan, who asked a task force to determine why more death sentences in that state were overturned than were carried out.

Since 1976, when the Supreme Court let states reinstate capital punishment after a nationwide moratorium, Illinois has executed 12 people, while 13 were released from death row after their convictions were overturned.

Eighty-seven people have been freed from death row nationwide since 1976, while 631 people have been executed. Some death sentences have been overturned because DNA evidence exonerated the defendant, although Kogan noted that not all cases involve DNA evidence.

Charles F. Baird, formerly a judge on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, said, "It is the goal of this committee and my personal goal to ensure that nobody is wrongfully executed in this country."

Paula M. Kurland of Austin, Texas, whose 21-year-old daughter was murdered in 1986, supports the death penalty and witnessed the execution of her daughter's killer.

However, she said, "Even as victims we don't want anyone wrongfully convicted or executed, especially executed. You can get out of a conviction but you can't get out of an execution."

One problem, several panel members said, is inadequate legal representation for many defendants in capital cases.

David Bruck, a criminal defense lawyer specializing in capital cases, said, "Who the court appoints as a lawyer for you has more to do with whether you are likely to be sentenced to death than what you did."

Beth A. Wilkinson, a prosecutor in the Oklahoma City bombing cases of Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, said she found it ironic that people charged with such an "incredibly heinous crime" received better defense resources than many other defendants.

John J. Gibbons, former chief judge of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, suggested a nationwide minimum standard for lega representation for defendants in death-penalty cases. Bruck suggested prosecutors in capital cases could be required to fully open their files to the defense.

The panel plans to study death-penalty issues and issue recommendations, although the timing for the report has not been set.