Life Wins, Ashcroft Loses
A Brooklyn, NY jury has rejected Attorney General John Ashcroft's push for the death penalty and returned a life sentence for a crack dealer convicted of murder.
The capital case, only the third in three decades in Brooklyn's federal district, drew attention last year after Ashcroft overruled local prosecutors' decision to seek a life term.
As we reported here, the defense told the jury in closing:
``This death penalty prosecution was ordered by John Ashcroft,'' defense attorney Richard Levitt told jurors. ``You don't have to listen to John Ashcroft.''
And at least one of them didn't. For more on how Ashcroft has been pandering the death penalty--even over the objections of his prosecutors--go here and here and here and here.
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