I forwarded a copy of Patterico's Fisk of the LA Times article on the death penalty to the writer, and to my surprise got this response. You will note that he "CC'd" it to a couple of the LA Times top editors. He chides me about accusing him of being against the death penalty. All I said was, "Here is Patterico's Fisk." Here is the article.
Message 21109363
And here is Rone's response.
"'Bill. Millan '" <lindybill@hotmail.com>
CC : "'john.'" <mitchell@latimes.com>, "'steve.padilla@latimes.com'" <steve.padilla@latimes.com>, "'rone.tempest@latimes.com'" <rone.tempest@latimes.com>
Subject : RE: Death Row Often Means a Long Life
Dear Mr. Millan, thanks for your message. I appreciate your interest although
not at all your(or Mr. Patterico's) suggestion of bias. I'm the author of the
article. I am not opposed to the death penalty. You should be more careful, sir,
about your own assumptions.
As to your critique: There is a big difference between death penalty cases
and Life wihout Parole (LWOPs) that increase the cost. Death penalty cases have
an "automatic" appeal to the state Supreme Court; LWOP's do not. The US Supreme
Court has instructed lower courts to take special care with death cases that the
lower courts have translated into providing qualified counsel, usually two
attorneys through all the appeals. This is not true of LWOPs. The institutions
I mentioned California Appellate Project; Habeas Corpus Resource Center, even
the Office of the State Public Defender__handle only death penalty cases, not
LWOPs. There are no equivalent state-funded institions for the life without
parole appeals. As you probably know already, there are many more LWOPS issued
each year than death penalties. The cost to the public for appeals, however, is
only a fraction of the death penalty cases. Death penalty cases are so costly
that federal judges have to have special budge!
t meetings to discuss them. Appeals courts are much more reluctant to accept
LWOP appeals than they are death cases.
Your are wrong in your assertion that the article relects the cost of doing
nothing at all. For example, the numbers on the extra cost of housing death row
inmates came directly from the Dept. of Corrections. They estimate that it costs
$90,000 more a year to house a death row inmate than the averag $30,000 it costs
to house inmate in the general prison population, including LWOPs.
Finally I ran all these numbers by the relevant parties on both sides of the
death penalty issue: the department of corrections; attorney general's office
(capital punishment section); US REp. Dan Lungren and both pro and con death
penalty organizations.
I am a dilligent, careful reporter with 40 years experience. I take my work
very seriously. My number, if you wish to discuss this more, is 916-321-4401
Sincerely, Rone Tempest, Senior Correspondent |
