Governor Broadens Attack on High Court

Opening a new front in his continuing attack on the California Supreme Court, Gov. George Deukmejian called Thursday for passage of legislation that would require Chief Justice Rose Elizabeth Bird to explain “lengthy delays” in deciding capital cases.

Speaking at a conference of police officers, Deukmejian said the public has lost confidence in the high court, and he called for legislation that would require the chief justice to explain to the governor in writing why the death penalty appeals have been delayed.

The state’s high court has more than 160 death penalty cases pending before it. The court is frequently stalled by long procedural delays before it can hear a capital case. The court also has been slow to issue opinions in some cases in which it has heard arguments, including one case heard more than two years ago.

The court’s slowness to act has become a political issue for Bird and three other members of the court who will stand for election in November, 1986.

Even Democratic Lt. Gov Leo McCarthy, a longtime opponent of the death penalty, joined Thursday in criticizing the backlog of death penalty cases before the court.

“It is clear the clog of capital cases in the Supreme Court is totally unacceptable,” McCarthy told the same audience of police officers gathered here for the California Police Officers Annual Training Conference.

Deukmejian, in his speech, stopped short of repeating earlier calls for Bird’s ouster next year.

Instead, the Republican governor praised the Assembly Public Safety Committee for approving a bill that would give voters the chance in June, 1986, to reverse several decisions by the state Supreme Court that weakened implementation of the 1978 death penalty initiative.

Deukmejian said the bill should be amended to include a provision rejected by the committee that would require the chief justice to explain delays in death penalty cases.

Under that proposal, the chief justice would be required to write the governor, the attorney general and the local prosecutor in capital cases to explain any delay of 150 days in deciding an appeal. The chief justice would have to continue to explain delays every 60 days after that.

“I believe this legislation could be significantly improved with the addition of an amendment requiring the chief justice to explain the circumstances behind each lengthy delay in a death penalty case,” Deukmejian told his police audience.

Edgar Kerry, principal consultant to the Assembly committee, said the proposal was rejected by the committee because the 150-day deadline is “totally unrealistic” given the time-consuming task of reviewing a capital case.