Gonzales to Get Power In Death Penalty Cases

This is something I find truly amazing. It's the rare case where the media is reporting the story everywhere, but where are the bloggers? Perhaps wingers are picking up the torch (I rarely read them), but I've not seen any mention of this on the left.

Gonzales should be kicked out of office and not rewarded with more powers. So I have no idea why there seems to be no outrage.

Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, under political siege for his handling of the U.S. attorney firings and other issues, is to get expanded powers to hasten death penalty cases under regulations being developed by the Justice Department.

The rules would give Gonzales the authority to approve "fast-track" procedures by states in death penalty cases, enabling them to carry out sentences more speedily and with fewer opportunities for appeal if those states provide adequate representation for capital defendants.

Such powers were previously held by federal judges, but a provision of the USA Patriot Act reauthorization bill approved by Congress last year hands the authority to the attorney general.

And just why does the Attorney General need such power? If federal judges already have the power, isn't that adequate? What does the AG bring to the table?

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Federal Prosecutors Widen Pursuit Of Death Penalty as States Ease Off

I'm terribly sorry folks, but I just can't see anything Bush and his hyenas are doing with which I agree.

Disclaimer: At one time I was a proponent of the death penalty because I believed it was a deterrent. Gradually I realized it has almost no affect at all on how people behave. Now I'm very much opposed to the state killing people.

At a time when many states are backing away from capital punishment, the federal government is aggressively pursuing -- and winning -- more death sentences, including in jurisdictions that traditionally oppose them.

On Tuesday, federal prosecutors in New York persuaded a jury to give a death sentence to Ronell Wilson, a 24-year-old man convicted of killing two undercover detectives by shooting each in the back of the head. The decision -- the first time in more than 50 years that a federal jury in New York agreed to sentence someone to death -- marked something of a milestone for the Justice Department in its continuing effort to apply the death penalty more evenly across the country. [emphasis mine]

Oh well, I stand corrected. Federal prosecutors are just trying to level the justice playing field. Whatever was I thinking?

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