State Could Have Execution in ‘87, Van de Kamp Says

The U.S. Supreme Court’s rejection of a major challenge to capital punishment moves California closer to an execution, perhaps by the end of this year, state Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp said Wednesday.

“This speeds it up a bit,” Van de Kamp said of the high court’s ruling that upheld Georgia’s death penalty law. “It should be helpful in carrying out the death penalty in California.

“It’s conceivable we could have an execution this year. But you still never know how quickly courts are going to act or what final legal challenges may be made.”

Defense lawyers and opponents of the death penalty responded to Wednesday’s ruling by pledging that they would continue their efforts to save defendants from the gas chamber--and press ahead with a far-ranging challenge to capital punishment that will come before a newly constituted state Supreme Court dominated by conservative appointees of Gov. George Deukmejian.

Only four death sentences have been upheld in California since capital punishment was reinstated by the Legislature in 1977. The last execution took place in 1967.

Wednesday’s ruling will have a direct impact on two longstanding California cases--one pending in state court, the other before a federal appellate panel--in which defendants are claiming that death sentences are being imposed in a discriminatory manner.

‘Most Dramatic’ Impact

Deputy state Atty. Gen. Pete Wilkinson said the decision likely will have the “most dramatic” impact in the case of Robert Alton Harris, whose case is the most advanced procedurally in the state.

Harris’ death sentence for the murder of two San Diego youths in 1978 already has been upheld by the state Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court.

A subsequent appeal by Harris, a white man claiming that the death penalty is being imposed discriminatorily against those who kill whites, is now before a panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeal.

That court had indicated that it would hold up its decision until the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the Georgia case it decided Wednesday. Other claims--including a contention that Harris was victimized by prejudicial pretrial publicity--have also been raised in the case.

Harris was accused of abducting two teen-age boys at a hamburger stand, shooting them execution-style and then using their car in a bank robbery.

Reportedly Laughed at Deaths

According to prosecutors, Harris laughed about the killings afterward and ate a hamburger he had taken from a bag being carried by one of the victims. “I really blew that guy’s brains out,” he was quoted as saying.

“Harris may be running out of issues at this point,” said Wilkinson, who coordinates cases for the state attorney general’s office. “It could be he’ll be looking at the little green room (the gas chamber at San Quentin) before long.”

The claim of discrimination also has been raised by attorneys for Earl Lloyd Jackson, a black man who was sentenced to death for the murders of two white women in Long Beach in 1977.

“Perhaps it’s wishful thinking,” said Joseph Shemaria of Beverly Hills, attorney for Jackson, “but there are grounds under the state Constitution for the state court to rule in our favor, no matter what the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on the issue.”

The California Supreme Court upheld Jackson’s sentence in 1980 but in subsequent proceedings in 1985 appointed retired state Appellate Justice Bernard Jefferson to conduct hearings on Jackson’s contention that capital punishment has been sought unfairly by prosecutors more often when the assailants are black and the victims are white.

Seek Data on Homicides

Jackson’s lawyers now are seeking data from thousands of California homicide cases dating back to 1977 that they say will support their claims of discrimination.

However, Van de Kamp and Deputy state Atty. Gen. Susan Lee Frierson, who is representing the state in the case, said Wednesday that in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling they may ask the California Supreme Court to withdraw the matter from Jefferson and dismiss Jackson’s challenge.

A ruling by the state court in Jackson’s favor would have sweeping impact, virtually eliminating the imposition of the death penalty in the state. But such a decision is seen as unlikely in view of the departure of Chief Justice Rose Elizabeth Bird and two other justices defeated in the November election and their replacement by three appointees of Deukmejian, a longtime supporter of capital punishment.

In all, the court under Bird affirmed only four of the 68 death penalty cases it reviewed after reinstatement of capital punishment in 1976.