Shay Nan Again asks Allan Dollison, Maggie Fleming, Arnie Klein, Elan Firpo…

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Death Penalty

Is there any circumstances that you would consider charging a capital crime punishable by the Death Penalty?

— Shay Nan Again

Responses

Allan Dollison

I did answer this question in the Tea Party debate. I would not take the Death Penalty off of the table. Recently Mr. Gallegos made the decision to seek the Death Penalty against Jason Warren. I am very concerned about the timing of such a decision. The decision is supposed to be made early on, because certain additional rights kick in (like 2 lawyers and a dedicated investigator, and every proceeding is always on the record) that are now denied to Mr. Warren during that delay. It is possible that his predecessor will have to now deal with that decision. It is true that the Death Penalty is very problematic in California. There have been no executions since 2006 here. The voters of this state were recently allowed to vote on it. They voted to keep the Death Penalty. I only handled one case that I thought it might have been appropriate, and that was People v. Stanko (http://www.times-standard.com/ci_15258660) and worth exploring. There is supposed to be a process where the Defense is encouraged to bring as much information early on to the process and present to the prosecutor in mitigation why the Death Penalty should not be considered. My brother as a Public Defender Investigator is involved in that process in Southern California. The law requires a unanimous agreement, and if not, then the Defendant receives Life Without the Possibility of Parole. It is extremely rare and is the ultimate decision that a prosecutor might have to make, but to remove it from the table and say never would not be correct. For example, I thought the decision to give Timothy McVeigh (Oklahoma City Bomber) the Death Penalty was correct, wherein he killed 168 people, including women and children. I am also mindful that this community is also closely divided on the issue. In 2012, the voters of Humboldt County voted to keep the Death Penalty by a margin of 50.65 - 49.35 % (where the No vote was a vote to keep it), per the County Elections department. The jury selection process is also very tedious, and does its best to find fair and impartial people on this question. I would hope to never have to make that decision, but in extreme and very limited circumstances it should remain on the table.

Maggie Fleming

In most DA offices, when a case meets the criteria for the death penalty it is evaluated by the senior attorneys who have handled murder cases along with the District Attorney.  While I have handled a number of murder cases in my 25-year career as a prosecutor and reviewed many more, I have never felt that any of the cases I reviewed were so extraordinary that the death penalty should be sought.  In my 18 years in the Humboldt County District Attorney’s office, we never sought the death penalty.

The circumstances of each case are unique and multifaceted, so I cannot define a set of criteria that would lead me to seek the death penalty.  But one clear criterion would be complete certainty of guilt based upon evidence from multiple sources.   Another would be that the person in question posed a clear threat to the safety of other prison inmates or people outside of prison – the California prison system currently places those sentenced to life without the possibility of parole among people charged with much less serious crimes.  Of course I would very carefully evaluate each case and seek the opinions of those who have reviewed and evaluated numerous murder cases just as I have.   Finally, I would also use input from the victim’s family and that would be determinative only if the family was opposed to the death penalty.