No Death-Penalty Doubts at Justice :

Although Ashcroft says it's a top priority to prevent innocent people from being sentenced to death, he has not pushed initiatives to upgrade the quality of defense lawyers in state capital-murder cases or increase death-row inmates' access to DNA testing. Both steps are crucial to eliminate tragic errors in death-penalty prosecutions, according to a broad coalition of reform-minded activists.....

Asked if Ashcroft believes death-penalty administration is deeply flawed, as the activists submit, Justice Department spokesman Mark Corallo says, "I think we would argue that the system is overwhelmingly fair."

....The attorney general has displayed no more enthusiasm in advocating legislation to reduce the risk of innocent people being convicted in capital cases. No less a dyed-in-the-wool conservative than Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor devoted a speech to the subject in July 2001. O'Connor, whom President Reagan had appointed and whose support of the death penalty dates back to her days as an Arizona legislator, said, "Serious questions are being raised about whether the death penalty is being fairly administered in this country." She went on to decry the lack of minimum standards for appointed counsel in death-penalty cases and the unavailability of post-conviction DNA testing . [Via Hamster]

More on the same theme from Cindi Ross Scoppe over at the South Carolina State:

IN MISSOURI, a prosecutor went before the state Supreme Court and told justices they should not allow a death-row inmate a new trial "even if," as one of the justices put it, "we find Mr. Amrine is actually innocent."

In federal court in the same state, the state convinced judges that despite "a nagging suspicion that the wrong man may have been convicted," the death-row inmate was entitled to "no relief, even as the facts suggest that he may well be innocent."

In Alabama, prosecutors objecting to a hearing on new evidence in a death-row case said: "If the State of Alabama has to spend even one additional day in Birmingham, Alabama, defending the state, the state will be unduly injured in the form of additional per diem expenses, transportation expenses and loss of two assistant attorney generals for a complete work day."

By taking such hard-and-fast positions, prosecutors are doing more than opponents ever could to undermine public confidence in the death penalty.

But how certain can I be about justice when our prosecutors fight to make sure no jury ever hears new evidence that calls into serious question the condemned's guilt? How certain can I be about justice when our laws and procedures prevent courts from reopening such cases?

These are not just hypothetical questions, and not just questions in a few states where prosecutors say outrageous things. As The New York Times noted in putting together these examples, such arguments are becoming more frequent, as death penalty opponents become more aggressive in trumpeting innocence claims.

DNA has exonerated 123 people in the last decade, according to Cardozo Law School's Innocence Project. Twenty-Five of them are from Florida. No matter--DNA testing may be coming to an end in Florida this fall when

a two-year statute of limitations runs out on raising DNA challenges to Death Row convictions. Florida lawmakers created the two-year window of opportunity in 2001 after the exoneration of Frank Lee Smith, a Broward man who died of cancer while appealing his death sentence.

There should be no time limit on justice, critics say. 'If we later find out that we executed an innocent person, we can't dig up their grave and say `Whoops! Sorry, we made a mistake,' '' said former Florida Supreme Court Justice Gerald Kogan. Kogan was one of six legal experts participating in a discussion on wrongful convictions Thursday at the University of Miami Law School. Others on the panel included former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, Miami-Dade County Public Defender Bennett Brummer, attorney Bill Laswell with the Broward Capital Crimes group, Death Row attorney Martin McClain and Catherine Arcabascio, a professor at Nova Southeastern University's Innocence Project.

In the last two years, the Florida Innocence Project at Nova Southeastern Law School has received more than 600 cases of prisoners claiming innocence. Project members have identified 150 of those as DNA cases. But, they say, there's not enough time to review cases before the fall deadline.

One more time, there should be no time limit on justice.