Judge: Executions Unconstitutional
Mon Jul 1, 5:59 PM ET
By DEVLIN BARRETT, Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK (AP) - The federal death penalty was declared unconstitutional Monday by a judge who said too many innocent people have been executed before they could be vindicated.
U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff is the first federal judge to declare the 1994 Death Penalty Act unconstitutional, said Lee Ginsberg, lawyer for one of the defendants whose case led to the decision. Monday's ruling would not affect individual states' death penalty statutes.
The federal government was expected to appeal the ruling, which came in the case of two alleged drug dealers accused of killing an informant.
"In light of Judge Rakoff's decision, we are considering our appellate options," said Herb Hadad, a spokesman for U.S. Attorney James Comey.
Rakoff, who warned prosecutors in April that he was considering the move, said in his 28-page ruling that the law violated the due process rights of defendants. Prosecutors argued that the Supreme Court already has concluded that the Constitution's due process safeguards do not guarantee perfect or infallible outcomes.
