New York’s high­est court has ruled that a pro­vi­sion of the state’s cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment statute vio­lates the state con­sti­tu­tion, a deci­sion that appears to inval­i­date the sen­tences of all four men on New York’s death row. In New York, if a jury dead­locks, the judge impos­es a sen­tence of 20 – 25 years to life, giv­ing the pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole. In its 4 – 3 rul­ing, the Court of Appeals said that these sen­tenc­ing rules might uncon­sti­tu­tion­al­ly coerce jurors into vot­ing for a death sen­tence rather than risk a dead­lock by hold­ing out for life with­out parole. The Court advised the leg­is­la­ture to cor­rect the sen­tenc­ing prob­lem if the state is to con­tin­ue try­ing defen­dants on cap­i­tal charges. (Associated Press, June 24, 2004) Read the DPIC Summary of the case. See Life Without Parole.

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