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CNN Live At Daybreak

Up to Jury and Not Judge to Decide Whether Convicted Killer Lives or Dies

Aired June 25, 2002 - 05:16   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: It is up to the jury and not the judge to decide whether a convicted killer lives or dies. That is the new ruling from the Supreme Court, and it could overturn death sentences across the country.

Our national correspondent Bob Franken has more.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is a ruling of particular interest in nations around the world who condemn the United States for its use of the death penalty. The justices of the Supreme Court, by a comfortable margin, 7-2, have taken another step back from the use of capital punishment, ruling that in those five states where the judge decides the sentencing, he cannot go beyond the ruling of the jury in the guilty verdict. And in the case in particular in Arizona, the judge applied the death penalty because of so-called aggravating circumstances, to a jury verdict in which only a life sentence was possible.

The Supreme Court ruled that in spite of the fact that there have been previous rulings to the contrary, that that could not be. It would be a violation of the constitution's Sixth Amendment guarantee of a jury trial.

It was a very unusual liberal-conservative coalition that came up with this ruling, among them Antonin Scalia, who almost never rules against the death penalty. But he explained that what today's decision says is that the jury must find the existence of the fact that an aggravating factor existed.

He went on to say that states that allow that to happen are fine, but states, among the five including Arizona, that allow the judge to, in effect, escalate the case, are not allowed to do so because of the U.S. constitution.

Now, this case comes in a ruling, in the wake of a ruling last week in which the Supreme Court decided by a 6-3 margin that there could no longer be any capital punishment executions of people who are deemed mentally retarded. The capital punishment issue, of course, in the United States is becoming much more complex, particularly with the discovery of DNA technology. And it is a sure thing that the United States Supreme Court is going to revisit the issue.

Bob Franken, CNN, Washington. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com