Capital Punishment Cases in the United States

California Capital Punishment Cases of 2009-2010

by Gerald F. Uelmen

In that period, capital punishment cases consumed 1,369 of the new pages, about 46 percent of the California Supreme court’s total output

The California Supreme justices affirmed 21 of the 22 death judgments that came up for review, and all but one of the affirmances were unanimous. Yet the crushing backlog on the death docket was barely diminished: Seventy-seven death appeals and 89 habeas petitions – all fully briefed – remain on the court’s calendar, where a two-year wait still separates the filing of final briefs from oral argument. Meanwhile, California prosecutors delivered 29 more capital convictions in 2009, bucking the national trend of declining use of the death penalty. The state now houses 702 inmates on San Quentin’s death row.

The lone reversal came in People v. Butler (47 Cal. 4th 814 (2009)). While awaiting trial for the 1994 murder of two college students, Raymond Oscar Butler stabbed a fellow jail inmate to death. After he was convicted and sentenced to death for the students’ murder, he demanded the right to represent himself in the still-pending trial for the inmate’s killing. The trial court granted his request, but because he was deemed dangerous to other inmates he was denied access to the law library and his right to self-representation was revoked. The state Supreme Court had affirmed his death sentence for the murder of the college students, but it reversed his conviction and death sentence for the inmate’s murder, concluding that a defendant’s right to self-representation is absolute. Justice Carol Corrigan wrote the 5?2 majority opinion, with Justices Marvin Baxter and Ming Chin dissenting.

This decision means that Butler will get another trial in superior court; he’s already bound for another trip to the high court for a habeas petition challenging the conviction for the college students’ murder. If he is again convicted and sentenced to death for the inmate’s killing, there will be yet another direct appeal and another habeas review by the justices. Once Butler’s state appeals and habeas petitions are exhausted, he can seek relief in federal court. At the current pace, it likely will be 2035 before the court sets an execution date.

The case reprised another startling example of the delays besetting California’s administration of the death penalty: People v. Burgener (46 Cal. 4th 231 (2009)), decided in May of last year. Michael Ray Burgener, now 60, was sentenced to death in 1981 for a murder committed during a robbery in 1980. Nearly 30 years later, his appeals have not yet concluded. The court noted that its ruling was the fourth published opinion on appeal, and added, “it may not be the last.” (46 Cal. 4th at 233.)

Burgener’s court history is a repetitive and seemingly never ending story. In 1986 his death sentence was reversed because of ineffective assistance of counsel at the penalty phase. The case was remanded for a new penalty hearing, at which the trial judge sentenced him to death but later modified his ruling to life in prison. However, that modification was reversed by the court of appeal after the prosecution sought review. On remand, the case was assigned to a new judge, who yet again sentenced Burgener to death. Twelve years later, the California Supreme Court reversed that ruling, because the judge failed to exercise his independent judgment. On the third remand, that same judge again imposed the death penalty after the defendant waived counsel and agreed to represent himself. On appeal, the Supreme Court once again vacated the death judgment, concluding that the record was insufficient to show that the waiver of counsel was knowing and intelligent.

The case was then remanded for hearing on modification of the death sentence – to be heard by yet another trial judge – because the second trial judge had died. Thus, after 28 years, Burgener’s direct appeal is still pending. Only when it is resolved will state habeas corpus proceedings commence. The odds are that it will be at least another ten to twelve years before all proceedings in state and federal courts have been resolved. At that point, Burgener will be 70 years old. His confinement on death row will have cost the state of California $3.68 million more than if he’d been sentenced to life without parole.

Perhaps cases like Butler and Burgener are what Chief Justice George had in mind when he called the administration of California’s death penalty “dysfunctional.”

Main Capital Punishment Cases of 1976

Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U.S. 153
Jurek v. Texas, 428 U.S. 262
Proffitt v. Florida, 428 U.S. 242
Woodson v. North Carolina, 428 U.S. 280
Roberts v. Louisiana, 428 U.S. 325
Green v. Oklahoma, 428 U.S. 907

Capital Punishment Cases

Capital Punishment Cases in the United States

California Capital Punishment Cases of 2009-2010

Main Capital Punishment Cases of 1976

Resources

See Also