On July 24, Ronell Wilson was re-sen­tenced to death by a fed­er­al jury in New York. Despite numer­ous cap­i­tal pros­e­cu­tions by the Department of Justice, no oth­er per­son in the state has been giv­en the death penal­ty since the fed­er­al death penal­ty was rein­stat­ed in 1988. New York’s state death penal­ty law was found uncon­sti­tu­tion­al by the state Court of Appeals in 2004. By 2007, all sev­en of those sen­tenced to death under the state law had their sen­tences over­turned. Wilson was first sen­tenced to death in 2007 for the mur­der of two under­cov­er detec­tives in 2003, but the sen­tence was over­turned in 2010. Wilson’s lawyers argued that he suf­fered from men­tal retar­da­tion and was inel­i­gi­ble for cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment, but that motion was denied. His moth­er was an alco­holic and a drug addict. A judge is expect­ed to for­mal­ly sen­tence Wilson in the fall. There are cur­rent­ly 59 peo­ple on the fed­er­al death row, count­ing Wilson. No case in New York, state or fed­er­al, has result­ed in an exe­cu­tion since 1963.

(M. Secret, ​“Killer of Two Undercover Detectives is Sent Back to Death Row,” New York Times, July 24, 2013). See Federal Death Penalty.

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