Attorney General John Ashcroft was denied the ability to seek the death penalty in a trial in Puerto Rico Thursday when the jury acquitted the defendants of all murder charges.

How fitting! Ashcroft picks a case in which he thinks the crime is so bad and the defendants so awful that his intervention is warranted. So while the Puerto Rico Consitution does not allow for the death penalty, Ashcroft says tough, the feds will step in and make you have one. The case is tried to a jury the past few weeks, and after three days of deliberations, the jury finds both defendants not guilty. No conviction, no penalty....no death penalty.

Jurors in a closely watched federal death penalty case in Puerto Rico acquitted the two defendants yesterday, elating many Puerto Ricans who had bitterly opposed the trial and accused the Justice Department of callously betraying their culture and constitution, which outlaws capital punishment.

The jury of seven men and five women cleared the men, Joel Rivera Alejandro and Héctor Óscar Acosta Martínez, of all charges after three days of deliberation. Mr. Alejandro and Mr. Acosta Martínez had been accused of shooting to death and dismembering a grocery store owner in February 1998 after kidnapping him and not receiving the $1 million ransom they demanded. The two men were released from federal custody after the acquittal, while several dozen of the men's relatives wept in the courtroom after the verdicts were read.

This gives us serious concern about Ashcroft and his capital team's ability to assess cases.