Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I just would like to make a couple of points on this debate, just to take up where we left off before. I think, again, just to reiterate: The issue in the Watt amendment is not endless appeals. There are other parts of H.R. 729, a bill I supported when we voted it out of subcommittee, that deal with the endless appeals. In my judgment I would concede the point. I think it is right that defense lawyers have used appeal, after appeal, after appeal. They are morally opposed to capital punishment, and so they feel they should use every means to prevent it from happening, something I disagree with, and that is why I support 729. But the issue the gentleman from North Carolina brings up is not related to that. It is not related to endless appeals. It deals with the rare instance where there is new evidence, and not just any new evidence, not just something out of a lawyer's head, but something that on initial review by a judge would probably change the result of the trial. Therefore, the new evidence cannot be relatively immaterial, nor can it be not credible. It has to be credible evidence that is material so that the jurors would have said, ``When the judge looks at the new evidence, there would be a reversal.'' That is a pretty high standard.”