ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, February 3, 1997 TAG: 9702030126
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: SAN ANTONIO
SOURCE: Associated Press
The American Bar Association never has taken a position on the death penalty but may be on the brink of seeking an end to executions ``unless and until greater fairness and due process prevail.''
A report prepared by two groups within the 370,000-lawyer organization recommended a moratorium because ``efforts to forge a fair capital punishment jurisprudence have failed. Today, administration of the death penalty is a haphazard maze of unfair practices with no internal consistency.''
The ABA's policy-making House of Delegates, meeting at the association's national convention, will be asked today to adopt the moratorium recommendation in response to recent federal and state actions. If accepted, it would become the focus of ABA lobbying efforts in Congress and state legislatures.
More than 3,000 men and women are on death rows across the nation. Most states and the federal government have death-sentence laws.
``As lawyers, we think the system ought to be changed, done right and done fairly,'' said Duke University law professor James Coleman, one of the measure's backers. ``Hopefully, this will get lawyers off the sidelines.''
New York lawyer Ron Tabak, another supporter, said, ``We think it significant that lawyers, those closest to the system, stand up and say it's in shambles.''
The measure does not state a position on capital punishment. Instead, it invokes previously adopted ABA policies that ``minimize the risk that innocent persons may be executed.''
The policies call for:
*Competent counsel for all capital defendants.
*Availability of federal court review of state prosecutions.
*Efforts to eliminate racial discrimination in capital sentencing.
*No executions of mentally retarded defendants or those under 18 when they committed their crimes.
The Supreme Court previously has allowed the death penalty for murderers who committed crimes at age 16 or 17. It has upheld death-penalty regimens despite evidence that black defendants and killers of white victims are more likely to be sentenced to die.
The report accompanying the recommendation for ABA action states: ``Not only have the ABA's existing policies generally not been implemented, but more critically, the federal and state governments have been moving in a direction contrary to these policies.''
It strongly criticizes two recent federal laws, one that significantly curtails federal courts' power to review capital cases from state courts and one that ended federal funding for lawyers helping death row inmates pursue appeals.
``Individual lawyers differ in their views on the death penalty in principle and on its constitutionality,'' the report states. ``However, it should now be apparent to all of us in the profession that the administration of the death penalty has become so seriously flawed that capital punishment should not be implemented without adherence to the various applicable ABA policies.''
Asked about the recommendation, ABA President Lee Cooper did not criticize it. He said, however: ``I support the death penalty.''
The recommendation's backers have obtained the support of 20 of the 24 living former ABA presidents. No organized opposition has surfaced within the ABA.
The Clinton administration, however, has voiced opposition. And Justice Department officials told the ABA the recommendation is unwarranted.
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