Holder Ends S.F. Capital Case (reverses Mukasey death penalty decision after trial had begun)

[kpete]

Source: The Recorder

Holder Ends S.F. Capital Case

The Recorder

By Dan Levine

March 2, 2009

SAN FRANCISCO — New Attorney General Eric Holder has authorized a deal that could abruptly end a rare San Francisco death penalty trial only days after it began.

Not only does Holder's reversal likely spare defendant Emile Fort his life, but it may signal a less aggressive approach to the death penalty in federal court. And it vindicates the local U.S. attorney's office: Months ago federal prosecutors in San Francisco had recommended a 40-year plea bargain for Fort to their higher-ups in Washington — only to be rebuffed by Holder's predecessor, Michael Mukasey.

The jury heard opening statements Wednesday in the case against Fort, an alleged member of San Francisco's Down Below Gang who's accused of three murders. Yet when defense lawyers arrived in Northern District Judge William Alsup's court Friday morning — expecting another day of witness testimony — federal prosecutors announced their decision to deal, said Michael Thorman, one of Fort's attorneys.

Alsup dismissed the jury and scheduled a special hearing for today. The defendant had the weekend to decide whether he wants to plead out, and Thorman anticipated that he would.

Read more: http://www.law.com/jsp/ca/PubArticleCA.jsp?id=1202428694522

[Gman]

1. Here's a little more background

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/01/BA40164EP5.DTL

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

2. this was Ashcrofts "death penalty everywhere" policy

As Attorney General it was John Ashcroft's policy to force federal prosecutors to seek the federal death penalty in states where the death penalty was either not on the books (Massachusetts for example) or the death penalty on the equivalent state charge was unlikely either because the offense was not adequately "aggravated" on the state level or a death conviction was unlikely, or otherwise not sought by federal prosecutors. This policy was continued the entire Bush term.

Just another example of how the republicans are totally the party of states rights.