Concord, New Hampshire (AP) – President Donald Trump’s administration struggles with aggressive pursuits Death penalty We revisit the case where our predecessor explicitly decided to seek the death penalty.
Since taking office in February, US Attorney General Pam Bondy Prosecutors have been allowed to seek the death penalty 19 peopleIncludes nine defendants who were in President Joe Biden’s administration seeking less sentences. However, the judge blocked all defendants’ attempts to turn around except the two defendants. More recently, on Monday in a pair of the US Virgin Islands, the Trump administration’s limits on the power to undo decisions if they’re already ongoing.
In pursuing the death penalty, the Justice Department asks to follow the Trump campaign’s promise to resume federal enforcement after they are suspended. Biden’s Attorney General Merrick Garland. Republican President’s Department of Justice has Debate the previous democratic regime To replace “the will of those with their own personal beliefs” in not seeking death sentences in many cases, including horrifying crimes.
No detailed opinions have been published in the latest two cases, including a man accused of murdering a police officer in 2022 and two men accused of armed robbery and murder in 2018.
Maryland Trump appointee Judge Stephanie Gallagher wrote in June that “the government hastily moved on and in doing so has leapt important constitutional and statutory rights,” striking the intention to seek the death penalty for three MS-13 gang members allegedly murdered two teenage girls in 2020.
“Deliberate blindness” vs. “Basic management”
Capital prosecutors’ approval usually occurs several years before the trial, but in Maryland, prosecutors filed a death penalty notice four months before the trial was due to commence. None of the accused were represented by lawyers who specialize in death penalty cases. This would have been entitled under federal law due to the complexity and potential consequences of the capital case.
“The government hasn’t hidden the ball here. The only reason for the flip-flop on the death penalty was the change in the administration,” Gallagher wrote.
“This court will not put decades of law, professional standards and norms aside to accommodate the pursuit of government agenda,” she wrote. “Of course, elections have an outcome and this administration has the right to pursue the death penalty if it can do so in accordance with constitutional and statutory requirements. But this is not one of them.”
Prosecutors in Maryland and Nevada cases declined to comment, but court documents argued that the timing of death notifications was “objectively reasonable” as the Department has “inherent powers” to review previous decisions and as defendants have years to prepare for trial.
“The Attorney General simply reconsiders her previous decisions that it was her privilege to do so and exercise that inherent authority is not fraud, it is fundamental management and governance,” writes U.S. Attorney Kelly Hayes, Maryland. “The government never made a compulsory promise. Deciding not to seek a specific charge is not a promise not to do so.”
Status of bond ordering reviews for past cases
Trump implemented by the first administration Record 13 Federal Enforcementssigned an order on his first day at the White House, calling for the death penalty in appropriate federal cases and supported the death penalty in the state. Bondi said he wanted the death penalty “whenever possible,” but was released soon after. Biden era moratorium It ordered a review of the decisions made by the previous administration regarding federal executions.
The 120-day deadline for that review has no official word on the results, and a senior Justice Department official told The Associated Press that all but about 30 have been considered. Officials who spoke on condition of anonymity under the conditions set by the department said that around 1,400 decisions have been issued by Garland not to seek the death penalty, and that all but 459 have already been fully awarded by the time Trump takes office.
Bondi is not the first attorney general to review past cases. It’s not just Garland Allow one death penalty case During his tenure, he also retracted 35 notices issued by his predecessor of his intention to seek the death penalty. The Justice Department says the Bondy-ordered review was essentially the “backside” of Garland’s actions and was the right thing to ensure consistency and achieve justice for the victims and their families.
National experts are becoming more and more heavy
But Robin Maher, executive at the Death Penalty Information Center, said that while the Biden administration’s actions reflect a decline in public support for the death penalty, Trump has put it aside.
“Therefore, his enthusiasm for the use of the death penalty is different from President Biden’s more careful approach, but also from all other presidents’ approaches in history,” he said the organization did not acquire a position on the death penalty and was critical of how it was used.
Whether or not a reversal remains a problem in two cases. In others, the court is sided with the defendant who said he reasonably relied on guarantees made by the previous administration. Court documents stated that some of the defendants’ lawyers either pursued a plea agreement or opposed the postponed trial date if they knew the death penalty sentence would be reversed.
“In some of these cases, very different routes were taken when these assurances were given,” Maher said.
In Nevada, prosecutors notified Corey Spurlock Their intention is to seek the death penalty 12 days before he is brought to trial for the 2021 death of a California couple. Breaking that notice in May, Judge Miranda Du said the government is far from justifying the “an 11-hour wholesale reversal.” The trial began this week after prosecutors retracted her ruling appeal.
“The government has decided not to be a result of carelessness or accidents, but to involve Spurlock’s life within two weeks of trial, and to fully know that the reversal would have a confusing effect on the progress of this case and make it impossible for them to proceed to trial on the scheduled date,” President Barack Obama nominated. “In this situation, this certainly equals playing “fast and loose” especially in court orders and in judicial processes. ”
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Associated Press writer Alanna Durkin Richer contributed to this report.
