William Hughes: “When the Supreme Court invalidated all death penalties more than 20 years ago, it did so because of the uncertainty in…”

“When the Supreme Court invalidated all death penalties more than 20 years ago, it did so because of the uncertainty in the law and practice at that time. The Court found that it was not possible to find any rational pattern or set of rules regarding which conduct would lead to a death penalty and which would not. A key factor in the Court's subsequent approval of new death penalty systems was the addition of specific, statutory aggravating factors. Uncertainty was substantially reduced, and guidance to jurors enhanced, by the enumeration of specific aggravating factors, which, if found to exist, could form the basis of a jury finding in support of a death penalty. The bill before us contains some 15 specific aggravating factors. This is a proper exercise of legislative and policymaking authority, and is in keeping with the Supreme Court's mandate that specificity and certainty be built into death penalty statutes. Much of that is lost, and the constitutionality of our death penalty laws threatened, if we give prosecutors unrestricted and unguided authority to fashion their own subjective aggravating factors, which would then assume a stature equal to those aggravating factors spelled out in the law.”