A grow­ing back­log of death penal­ty cas­es and delays in start­ing tri­als in Arizona’s Maricopa County has forced Superior Court judges to apply pres­sure on both sides by refus­ing to post­pone tri­al dates and demand­ing that attor­neys dis­cuss set­tle­ments. The back­log came as a result of County Attorney Andrew Thomas’s aggres­sive pur­suit of death sen­tences in more than 120 cas­es since tak­ing office in 2005. The num­ber of death penal­ty defen­dants grew faster than the courts could han­dle them. Over 100 death penal­ty defen­dants are still await­ing tri­al in Maricopa County, most of whom are beyond the 18-month time peri­od in which they are sup­posed to be tried. ​“I think firm tri­al dates set­tle cas­es,” said Presiding Criminal Judge Gary Donahoe. The pres­sure is appar­ent­ly work­ing. This year, Thomas has allowed 27 defen­dants who faced the death penal­ty to plead to life sen­tences or less – near­ly twice as many as last year, and eight times as many as in the year Thomas first took office. There is a sched­ule to try to set­tle more than 20 cas­es before the end of 2009. Thomas has also filed few­er notices of intent to seek the death penalty.

(M. Kiefer, ​“Death-penal­ty-case back­log spurs has­ten­ing of process,” Arizona Republic, October 11, 2009). See also Sentencing and Arbitrariness.

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