Oregon’s death
row is shrinking. Since Governor
Kitzhaber declared his moratorium on executions, no new death sentences have
been imposed and five death sentences have been overturned.
On November 22, 2011, Governor John
Kitzhaber declared a moratorium on executions in Oregon. In the 13 months following the moratorium not
a single new death sentence was imposed by an Oregon jury. No capital trials are scheduled for the
remainder of 2012, so we will end the year without a single new death sentence. In fact, it has now been over 18 months since
any Oregon jury imposed a death sentence.
While the politicians may soon begin to debate whether to let the people
vote on replacing the death penalty, Oregon prosecutors and juries have told us
that, in every day practice, life without the possibility of release is an
acceptable result even for the so-called “worst crimes.”
During the 13 months since the
moratorium, five death sentences have been overturned. Oregon courts overturned the death sentences
for Robert Langley, Dayton Rogers, Jeffrey Sparks, Jesse Fanus, and Travis
Gibson. In each case, the court found
that the death sentence was the product of an unconstitutional trial that
resulted in an unfair and unreliable result.
For example, the late Judge Timothy P. Alexander overturned Travis
Gipson’s death sentence after finding the failure of Gibson’s original attorney
failed “to demonstrate a true understanding of how to defend his client” at his
trial.
When he announced the moratorium,
Governor John Kitzhaber stated: it was time for Oregon to consider a different
approach. “Juries, prosecutors, and
judges have responded to Governor Kitzhaber’s call for reconsideration by
repeatedly reaffirming that the death penalty system is broken. They have also told us that a life without
parole sentence is a preferable alternative,” said Jeffrey Ellis, Director of
the Oregon Capital Resource Center. “Oregon’s
death penalty has never worked. Instead,
when death sentences are imposed, we spend millions of dollars and wait decades
for cases to eventually be resolved to life sentences. On the other hand, when life sentences are
imposed, the cases quickly conclude. In
response, the use of the death penalty in this state has fallen dramatically,”
Ellis added. “Oregonians are practical
people. We’d rather spend thousands on a
life sentence, than millions on a death sentence that will become a life
sentence many years later,” he concluded.
