MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Two former Alabama governors, from reverse sides of the political aisle, wrote in an opinion piece that they’re now troubled by the state’s dying penalty system and would commute the sentences of inmates sentenced by judicial override or divided juries.
Former Gov. Don Siegelman, a Democrat, and former Gov. Robert Bentley, a Republican, who each oversaw executions whereas in workplace, penned the Tuesday opinion piece for The Washington Post. The governors mentioned which have each come “to see the flaws in our nation’s justice system and to view the state’s death penalty laws in particular as legally and morally troubling.”
“We missed our chance to confront the death penalty and have lived to regret it, but it is not too late for today’s elected officials to do the morally right thing,” the governors wrote.
Bentley and Siegelman every let eight executions go ahead whereas they have been in workplace, in keeping with a listing maintained by the Alabama Department of Corrections.
The governors mentioned they’re notably involved that numerous the state’s dying row inhabitants was sentenced to dying by both divided juries or over a jury’s advice.
Alabama in 2017 turned the final state to finish the observe of permitting judges to override a jury’s sentence in a capital case and ship an individual to dying row when a jury really helpful life imprisonment – a observe that critics argued interjected election-year stress into sentencing selections. But the change was not retroactive and didn’t impression inmates already sentenced to dying by judicial override.
“As governors, we had the power to commute the sentences of all those on Alabama’s death row to life in prison. We no longer have that constitutional power, but we feel that careful consideration calls for commuting the sentences of the 146 prisoners who were sentenced by non-unanimous juries or judicial override, and that an independent review unit should be established to examine all capital murder convictions,” the 2 governors wrote.
Only 4 states out of the 27 that permit the dying penalty don’t require a unanimous jury to condemn an inmate to dying. Alabama permits a dying sentence with 10-2 determination in favor of execution. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis final month signed laws ending that state’s unanimous jury requirement and permitting dying sentences when no less than eight jurors are in favor. Missouri and Indiana let a choose determine when there’s a divided jury.
The governors cited statistics from the Death Penalty Information Center that one individual on dying row has been exonerated for each 8.3 executions. Applying that exoneration price to the 167 individuals on Alabama’s dying row, Siegelman mentioned would counsel as many as 20 inmates might have been wrongfully convicted.
“We all should agree that if the state is going to be in the business of killing people, that we should make sure that we have the right person,” Siegelman advised The Associated Press in a phone interview Tuesday evening.
Siegelman mentioned after reviewing instances that he’s now personally haunted by one of many eight executions that occurred throughout his time as governor.
Freddie Wright was put to dying in Alabama’s electrical chair in 2000 after being convicted of killing a pair throughout a theft. Siegelman declined to cease the execution, saying on the time that the “death penalty is appropriate in this case.” Twenty-three years later Siegelman mentioned that he now believes Wright “was wrongfully charged, prosecuted and convicted for a murder he most likely did not commit.”
Siegelman mentioned that he “never felt comfortable with the death penalty” however that his views have developed over time, no less than partly sparked by his personal prison conviction.
The final Democratic governor in a state now dominated by Republicans, Siegelman was convicted of federal bribery and obstruction of justice fees largely associated to his appointment of a marketing campaign donor to a state board. Siegelman, who has maintained his innocence, mentioned he got here to see the system as flawed.
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