Page 6 - ARUBA TODAY

A6 U.S. NEWS
Friday 29 March 2019
California justice calls death penalty system dysfunctional

By SUDHIN THANAWALA the answer is a fabrication
Associated Press of the opponents created
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — to bolster their argument
The death penalty system that we should repeal the
in the nation's most popu- death penalty because it
lous state is dysfunctional costs too much," he said in
and expensive, and a bal- an email.
lot measure approved by California has the nation's
voters to speed up execu- largest death row, with 737
tions will not make it work- inmates. Only 13 people
able, a California Supreme have been executed since
Court justice said Thursday 1978 — the last in 2006.
in an unusual opinion that Condemned inmates are
added to a renewed de- more likely to die of old
bate about capital punish- age during decades of ap-
ment. peals.
Associate Justice Goodwin Newsom praised Liu's opin-
Liu made the comments ion in a statement Thurs-
two weeks after Demo- day. When he signed the
cratic Gov. Gavin Newsom moratorium this month, the
placed a moratorium on governor said the death
executions and said he is penalty is applied unevenly
advocating for the repeal and that innocent people
of capital punishment in can find themselves on
California. In this Jan. 13, 2017 file photo California Supreme Court Associate Justice Goodwin Liu pauses in death row.
Liu said he was not express- his office in San Francisco. He said he also may com-
ing any view on the moral- Associated Press mute death sentences
ity or constitutionality of the and is pushing to ban
death penalty and would The state Supreme Court the state Supreme Court or on the effectiveness and capital punishment. Fel-
continue to uphold capital upheld Proposition 66 in provide additional resourc- cost of capital punishment low Democratic lawmakers
sentences when required 2017, including Liu, who ex- es to appoint qualified at- was overdue. introduced a ballot mea-
by law. He joined the rest of pressed some concerns in torneys for inmates or allow Opponents say Proposi- sure that would repeal the
the justices to unanimously that decision but went fur- courts to expedite capital tion 66 does address the death penalty next year.
affirm the death sentence ther in his new opinion. cases, Liu said. bottleneck of death pen- Critics, including President
of Thomas Potts, who was The measure did not enact Its promise that death pen- alty cases at the state Su- Donald Trump, accused
convicted of killing an el- the "key reforms that lead- alty cases would be com- preme Court by moving a Newsom of usurping voters'
derly couple in 1997. ing authorities consider fun- pletely settled in the courts big chunk of them to lower will. Some said his decision
But in a separate opinion damental to a workable in five years was "more than courts. could face legal challeng-
in that case, Liu expressed death penalty system," Liu the system can deliver," he Kent Scheidegger, legal es. In a poll released Thurs-
concerns about the death wrote in Thursday's opinion, said. director of the Criminal day by the Public Policy
penalty system in California which Associate Justice Without additional funding Justice Legal Foundation, Institute of California, just
and Proposition 66, a 2016 Mariano Florentino-Cuellar for the court system, the which has been fighting to 38 percent of likely voters
ballot measure that aimed joined. measure cannot reach its force the state to resume favored the death pen-
to remove regulatory hur- Former Democratic Gov. goals, Liu said. executions, also disputed alty when asked whether
dles to executions. Jerry Brown appointed He added that "the promise Liu's claim that the measure someone convicted of first-
Voters narrowly approved both justices. of justice in our death pen- required additional fund- degree murder should get
the measure while reject- The measure did not re- alty system is a promise that ing. a death sentence or life in
ing a competing effort to duce the backup of direct California has been unable "The notion that massive prison with no possibility of
ban the death penalty. death penalty appeals at to keep" and a discussion additional resources are parole.q
Sticky fingers: Syrup maker says 140 sap buckets were stolen

By LISA RATHKE All that was left behind was St. Albans Police Cpl. Keith
Associated Press the clear, frozen sap on the McMahon said he hears
ST. ALBANS, Vt. (AP) — One ground. of things being stolen all
Vermont maple syrup mak- "We kind of think it's some- the time, including lawn
er's season isn't so sweet af- one who needed extra equipment and even farm
ter 140 of his sap-collecting buckets because they're equipment, but never sap
buckets were stolen off ma- not worth anything in the buckets and twice at that.
ple trees. junkyard," said Hopkins, 70, "It didn't sit well with me to
The thief or thieves struck who says they can be had begin with," he said Thurs-
twice at two different spots for between $1 and $10. day, "but it made it even
along a road in the north- After hearing media reports worse" that the theft hap-
western part of the state, about the heists, a couple pened twice.
making off with the steel in a nearby town offered Hopkins and his wife Mau-
buckets, according to Fred to lend Hopkins steel buck- reen Lake have also heard
Hopkins, of St. Albans. ets. They stopped by earlier from the county maple
The first time, there was no this week, along with the syrup makers association, In this Wednesday, March 27, 2019 photo, maple syrup maker
Fred Hopkins, left, and his wife Maureen Lake stand next to sap-
sap flowing yet, but the police officer investigating a maple equipment dealer collecting buckets in St. Albans, Vt., lent to him after 140 of his
second time the perpetra- the crime, to help Hopkins and another maple syrup buckets were stolen off trees.
tors dumped out the liquid. install 45 buckets. maker offering help.q Associated Press