Group urges Gov. to restart state executions

Greg Moran
Wednesday, June 16, 2010 at 6:33 p.m.

The Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, the conservative Sacramento-based legal group that effectively advocates for victims rights cases and law enforcement, is trying to get the state's dormant death penalty started again.

In a letter to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, legal director Kent Scheidegger is urging the governor to invoke a section of the Penal Code that allows the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to enact new regulations on an expedited basis.

Normally new state regulations have to go through a lengthy review process. But the Penal Code allows DCR to adopt new regulations immediately to met the "operational needs" of the department, and the CJLF argues that is what at issue here.

"The ability of the Department to carry out its ability to execute judgments is the quintessential operational need," Scheidegger wrote. "The Department's inability to do so in a timely manner is contrary to its duty, contrary to the constitutional right of the victim's family to a prompt and final conclusion, and contrary to the Constitutional duty of the Governor to 'see that the law is faithfully executed.' "

The letter was sent Wednesday to Schwarzenegger and Matthew Cate, head of the state prison system.

The death penalty in California has been halted while state officials rewrite the rules to comply with a federal judge's conclusion that existing state procedures were deficient, and the protocol for administering the cocktail of lethal drugs was so flawed that inmates could be suffering extreme pain.

Drafting new rules has been a hassle, however. Just last week the state agency charged with reviewing new regulations rejected the new regulations. That ruling can be found here.

The department has 120 days to respond to the latest setback.

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