By Rob Rossi
The Recorder
January 19, 1996
Death row inmates make strange bedfellows, no matter who they're sleeping with.
But in the whirlwind surrounding the death penalty, the growing number of condemned prisoners asking the state to follow through on its promise to execute them may find themselves in bed with kindred spirits in different ideological camps.
The reason is that these inmates' avowed aversion to an interminable prison stint bolsters the arguments of people who want executions carried out post haste, and of those who think there are better alternatives to executing killers.
The latest prisoner to make a stab at convincing the state to carry out his death sentence is Robert Massie, who has languished in San Quentin for 17 years. Massie admitted his guilt and tried -- without success -- to waive the automatic appeal that California files on behalf of its condemned prisoners. His current attempt to pressure the state to kill him involves a claim that his appeal amounted to unlawful double jeopardy -- in effect, that if they won't kill him they must free him.
The lengths to which Massie -- along with fellow Californians David Mason and Jeffrey Sheldon and others around the country -- must fight to have their lawful sentences carried out is almost too perfect a parody of the abuses decried by habeas corpus reformers. The prisoners' contention that the delays wrought by endless appeals are unfair echoes the reformers' complaint that justice delayed is no justice at all.
Granted, the prisoners' motive differs from that of the prosecutors and victims advocates who share their longing for expedient executions. But it's also true that these parties' desires all flow from the premise that we should be able to expect a degree of certainty from the justice system, whether to afford victims a feeling of closure or revenge, or to relieve the tortuous anticipation endured by a condemned prisoner.
On the other hand, the spectacle of inmates clamoring to be put out of their misery may offer death penalty opponents their best chance yet to win over people who have serious misgivings about the fairness of our criminal justice system or the morality of state-sanctioned killing. These prisoners' kill -me-now posture lends credence to death penalty opponents' argument that life in prison without parole is a tougher punishment than a death sentence.
Indeed, Massie's lawyer, in an interview last week with The Recorder, pretty much made their case when he said his client "would prefer to be executed or set free. He doesn't want to spend year after year after year on death row."
I'd say fairness dictates that Massie get his wish. He admitted guilt and accepted his sentence. Even if you disagree with capital punishment, why further punish a man who wants to play by the rules?
(The Recorder is an affiliate publication of Court TV.)
Copyright 1996, American Lawyer Media.
