Wash. Post – Fed. appeals court allows capital murder retrial of Wolfe; lower court had ordered him freed

By Associated Press, Published: May 22

McLEAN, Va. — A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that Virginia should be allowed to pursue a capital murder case against an alleged drug kingpin from northern Virginia, overruling a lower court that had sought to put an end to the 12-year legal saga by ordering his unconditional release.In a 2-1 ruling, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond overturned a federal judge in Norfolk who had ordered a halt to the prosecution of Justin Wolfe, who faces death penalty charges in Prince William County for the 2001 slaying of a large-scale marijuana supplier, Daniel Petrole.

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Virginia Death Sentences: Trending Down

va_sent_yrThis graph from the Death Penalty Information Center shows Virginia’s trend in new death sentences from 1994 to 2012. Data prior to 2011 come from the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ annual report on capital punishment. 2011 and 2012 data are from DPIC’s research. See all state death sentences by year here.

In Virginia, there are currently eight people on death row, there has been one execution in the past year and a half (there were 13 in 1999 alone), and there have been fewer death sentences in the past five years than during any period since the 1970s.  There are several explanations for this trend:  declining murder rates, more effective representation from public defenders and prosecutors being less likely to seek, and juries being less likely to impose, a death sentence.  As the public learns how the capital punishment system actually works – especially its fallibility and perceived unfairness – imposing an irreversible penalty becomes increasingly less acceptable.

MSNBC – Escaping death: Exonerated man vindicated as Maryland repeals death penalty

, @MeredithLClark
12:58 PM on 05/11/2013

When Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley signed a bill repealing the death penalty in the state, it must have felt like vindication to Kirk Bloodsworth.

In 1985, Bloodsworth was convicted of murder and sentenced to death in Maryland. That was until eight years later when he became the first U.S. death row prisoner to be exonerated by DNA evidence. In Bloodsworth’s initial trial, five eyewitnesses positively identified him for allegedly killing and assaulting a nine-year-old girl. He successfully appealed his conviction but was sentenced to life in prison at a new trial; he later received a full pardon in December of 1993.

Since 1973, 142 people have been exonerated and freed from death row. More than 1,300 have been put to death since 1976, and there are currently more than 3,000 people awaiting execution.

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