Santa Clara County judge gives no weight to prosecutor’s opposition to capital punishment, but still grants his request.
Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen is seeking to remove all South Bay capital prisoners from California’s death row.Bait and switch. That’s how Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen got a judge to strike the death sentences of two murderers this month.
Reality did finally set in on Rosen, although it occurred only days before this month’s hearings. Then, for the first time in a surprise “supplemental” brief, Rosen began to pay lip service to the case-specific factors on which the law says sentence-reduction rulings must turn. The judge immediately fell into line, resting his rulings not on Rosen’s personal disapproval of the death penalty but on what Rosen offered up only as an afterthought: The judge reasoned that because the two murderers had grown weaker and more rule-compliant as they aged and would pose no “unreasonable risk of danger to public safety” as long as they are never actually released from prison, their death sentences should be nullified.
There surely will be times when it’s entirely appropriate to reduce a death sentence to life imprisonment, but such a ruling cannot sensibly be based on a circumstance present in virtually every case. When judges allow that to happen, they act not as judges but as scheduled for hearings through October, Rosen will continue to press his irrelevant views on the wisdom and morality of capital punishment.
United Kingdom Latest News, United Kingdom Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Opinion: Santa Clara County’s safety net services build stronger communities for allPrograms provide support for unhoused, abuse survivors.
Read more »
Tiny homes may house jail diversion program for mentally ill in Santa Clara CountyControversy is brewing over some tiny homes near Monterey and Bernal in San Jose. The existing tenants may soon be moved out, to make way for a jail diversion program for the mentally ill.
Read more »
Santa Clara County Fairgrounds employee charged with extorting security companyIf convicted Obdulia Banuelos-Esparza could face up to four years in county jail.
Read more »
Santa Clara County announces first human death from West Nile Virus in 2024The person who died was an immunocompromised adult who died this month after experiencing symptoms, officials said in a news release Wednesday.
Read more »
1st human West Nile virus cases reported in Santa Clara County, including 1 deathThe first two cases of West Nile virus in 2024 have been reported in Santa Clara County, including one patient who died at a hospital this month, health authorities said Wednesday.
Read more »
Santa Clara County: Development imminent in jail guards’ convictions for 2015 inmate killingAn appellate court in 2022 overturned murder convictions for three former correctional deputies in the beating death of Michael Tyree, leaving prosecutors to decide on whether to seek a second tria…
Read more »