California's execution machine could crank up

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California's execution machine could crank up

Amid renewed efforts to repeal California's death penalty and nearly six years into a de facto moratorium on executions, San Quentin's death row has quietly piled up an unprecedented number of inmates who have exhausted their legal appeals and would face imminent death by lethal injection if the state resumes carrying out the ultimate punishment.

At least a dozen inmates could be executed in a span of a few months if an oft-stalled legal challenge to the state's lethal injection method is resolved, roughly the same number of condemned murderers California has put to death in more than three decades of capital punishment.

More;
www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_19123019

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Editorial: Resumption of executions would not slash death penalty costs

The long-standing debate about California's death penalty may soon become more than an abstract philosophical argument. At least 12 inmates on death row in San Quentin have exhausted their legal appeals and could face imminent execution once the courts resolve a challenge on the use of lethal injections.

Prison officials have notified a federal judge that they will have a new execution team in place shortly, which could mean the case will get a hearing early next year.

Death penalty opponents also are working to get an initiative on the November 2012 ballot that seeks to end executions. How a resumption of executions on a regular basis would affect California voters' views remains to be seen.

However, it is unlikely that executing a prisoner a month, as Ohio is doing now, would significantly affect the feasibility of the death penalty.

It still would be a policy that fails to accomplish its purpose of lowering murder rates and would continue to cost far more than an effective alternative.

More;
www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_19166291

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State's execution machine readied

www.dailydemocrat.com/ci_19170837