Robert Stott, a vet­er­an pros­e­cu­tor in the Salt Lake County (Utah) District Attorney’s Office, recent­ly com­ment­ed on why death sen­tences have declined. What I have found,” he said, is that since the statute was changed to offer life with­out the pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole, it’s more dif­fi­cult to get the death penal­ty. Jurors real­ize that instead of hav­ing to make that ter­ri­ble deci­sion (vot­ing for the death penal­ty), they can vote to put some­one in prison and ensure that defen­dant is no longer a harm to soci­ety. It makes it eas­i­er for them to return a ver­dict of life with­out the pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole.” Stott said in the past 24 years, only two death penal­ty sen­tences have been returned by Salt Lake County juries. He said death penal­ty cas­es are the tough­est cas­es to take on: We have to prove every ele­ment beyond a rea­son­able doubt.” Public out­rage at hor­rif­ic crimes some­times fades away as jurors strug­gle with the weight of end­ing anoth­er human life.

Stott said pros­e­cu­tors con­sult with the vic­tim’s fam­i­ly and weigh the val­ue of a gen­uine life sen­tence ver­sus a death sen­tence that can be appealed for more than 20 years. For some vic­tims, such a delay pro­longs their suf­fer­ing and reopens the pain of their loss repeat­ed­ly through years of court hear­ings. He also not­ed that plea bar­gains are the norm in Utah for most crim­i­nal charges. Just like every crim­i­nal case, most mur­der and aggra­vat­ed mur­der cas­es are nego­ti­at­ed. If there is a plea, it almost always is to the mur­der or aggra­vat­ed mur­der as charged, with the idea the defen­dant will be sen­tenced to life.”

(L. Thomson, Prosecutor says cap­i­tal mur­der cas­es are tough­est,” Deseret News, May 21, 2010). See also New Voices and Life Without Parole.

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