Bill aims to send death penalty appeals straight to Tennessee Supreme Court

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghCL9NGXPrm4vltkBBsi-qQZIz5flBcmpCAYklc6TKVdlUfs2bJ3x2O9yg3Vac5rFJXrrw_JUGlf0JL9R_NvlQGHUyxt8UxEPfW9hqmnsfwRe3ksdJFqM22mltZJqeQ6boo2jRpBOKYj8/s1600/Waiting+For+The+Next+Execution.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghCL9NGXPrm4vltkBBsi-qQZIz5flBcmpCAYklc6TKVdlUfs2bJ3x2O9yg3Vac5rFJXrrw_JUGlf0JL9R_NvlQGHUyxt8UxEPfW9hqmnsfwRe3ksdJFqM22mltZJqeQ6boo2jRpBOKYj8/s400/Waiting+For+The+Next+Execution.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A bill filed Friday in the state House aims to eliminate a step in death penalty appeals, sending cases directly to the Tennessee Supreme Court.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Rep. William Lamberth, R-Cottontown, filed the bill that, if passed, could expedite death sentence appeals. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Lamberth said Tennessee is 1 of fewer than 5 states in the country that requires midlevel or intermediate state appellate courts to hear death penalty cases.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"To me, if all these other states seem to feel like this is a good and just process, then I think it would very well for Tennessee as well," he said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">People who receive a death sentence here have automatic appeals to the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals and then a mandatory review at the Tennessee Supreme Court. Because of that process, a decision on the sentence is not final until the state's top court hears the case, Lamberth said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">There also are federal appeals, on which the bill would have no impact. Together the appeals process can extend for years or decades.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"I think it's just more fair to the defendants and the victims' families to get a decision from that top court as soon as possible," Lamberth said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Lamberth said he "couldn't promise" that the new process would shorten the time between conviction and execution. It also has the potential, he said, to more quickly exonerate defendants who were wrongly convicted or allow new trials to happen sooner.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">There are 63 people on death row, according to the Department of Correction, only 1 of whom is a woman.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Tennessee allows the death penalty via lethal injection and a secondary method, the electric chair. The last execution was in 2009 and since then carrying it out has been on hold because of legal challenges.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Tennessee Supreme Court is now considering whether the state's single drug lethal injection protocol is constitutional. At oral arguments in October the justices had questions about better alternatives, but lawyers for the inmates said they did not have to provide one.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The court has not yet ruled on the issue. If it upholds the current law, it could green-light executions to resume in Tennessee.</div><br />Source: The Tennessean, January 6, 2017<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">⚑ | Report an error, an omission; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: <a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com">deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a>.</div><br /><table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="4" style="background-color: white; border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid rgb(255, 204, 0); color: black; text-align: center; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr> <td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/WebDPN/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL4sspwgGptzvuHVklum5TwxKppRN-lIC5TN8RLZFq_B4ZOtBrX1ssXPNKQ6XpSyQFRJRtVQN45HMkpt3VX0JtOW0TovwxZAurG-AV6gh98IAXo7Ip6QlpkZr9WrM3_m943Mwy-gGxBAY/s1600/Find+us+Facebook.jpg" /></a></div></td> <td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiULIPEaT_P6oIauxAZd17XRRxljesDLS7iIjdQXT7Xct99uHeohx4IYmiAB6S044gTjMDGSy50sL2vDzOyPZ-3vJj9zwcYQ2rgzJh9v1-QDiunKAQtLLLqJ83s38qN3HABxGIC8GsIOD0/s1600/Find+us+twitter.jpg" /></a><span id="goog_1427852018"></span><span id="goog_1427852019"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a></div></td> </tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><b>Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! <a href="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=JBVXEBZLP3WKW" target="_blank">DONATE!</a></b></div><form action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post" target="_blank"><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://www.paypalobjects.com/fr_FR/i/scr/pixel.gif" width="1" /></div></form><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div>

Bill aims to send death penalty appeals straight to Tennessee Supreme Court

A bill filed Friday in the state House aims to eliminate a step in death penalty appeals, sending cases directly to the Tennessee Supreme Co...

Read more »