California IN BRIEF : SACRAMENTO : Governor Castigates Courts in Harris Case

Gov. George Deukmejian pressed his criticism of federal courts over the Robert Alton Harris death penalty case, saying the U.S. court system has broken down and is no longer competent. “This is seriously undermining the confidence of the public in the courts,” said the Republican governor, who as a legislator wrote California’s death penalty statute and has staked much of his political career on the issue. A ruling by a federal appeals court judge last month in San Francisco held up the execution of Harris, a convicted murderer, and the U.S. Supreme Court backed the stay pending further court proceedings. In a weekly radio address, Deukmejian said that “despite the fact that every aspect of this case has been carefully scrutinized repeatedly by every level of the judiciary, last week one federal judge incredibly decided that 11 years of (court) review was not enough.” The governor added: “This additional last-minute delay of justice demonstrates that the federal appellate courts have broken down and we do not have a competent criminal justice system.”