Lungren Sees No Execution Delay; Wilson Rips Appeals

Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren said Monday that no “substantive” issues remain to prevent California from carrying out its first execution in 25 years, while Gov. Pete Wilson emphasized his impatience with the lengthy death penalty appeals process.

Wilson, in his first comments about convicted murderer Robert Alton Harris’ case since the April 21 execution date was set last week, indicated he will convene a clemency hearing if Harris requests it, saying it “might serve a useful purpose.”

The governor could grant a reprieve that would delay the execution for a time. But he can only grant clemency sparing Harris from the death penalty if the California Supreme Court concurs.

Wilson would not say how he might rule on clemency. But he has been a supporter of capital punishment and, as he has in the past, he attacked the appellate court system that allows death penalty appeals to drag on.

In response to questions after a speech to physicians at Disneyland, he said “delays built into the appellate process have really made a mockery” of the public’s call for capital punishment.

“Most people think that for the law to serve the purpose of (a) deterrent, there has to be a finality to that process,” Wilson said.

In Sacramento, Lungren described what are likely to be the final steps in the Harris case, and made something of a preemptive strike against death penalty foes who plan to mount a campaign against capital punishment in the coming weeks.

“No one--I mean no one--should rejoice in the taking of a human life,” he said. “Most of us, if not all us, in the criminal justice system take no glee in this.”

Flanked by his top criminal deputies, Lungren said he intends to take the steps necessary to see that Harris is executed for the murders of John Mayeski and Michael Baker, two teen-age boys, on July 5, 1978, outside San Diego.

“We are prepared for any eventuality,” Lungren said.

Harris came within days of being executed in 1990. But this time, Lungren said, an execution is more likely. In the last two years, federal courts have ruled, in essence, that “enough is enough and these abuses of the system have got to stop,” Lungren said.

“We don’t expect any delay,” Lungren said, noting that federal courts have been mulling over Harris’ case since March, 1982. He added, however, that he has “in the past been surprised by some of the claims that have been made.”

In the final days, Lungren’s deputies will remain in constant contact with Wilson and the San Quentin state prison, he said. The attorney general, who by law may witness the execution, said he has not decided whether he or any of his deputies will be at San Quentin on the day of the execution.

In addition to the governor’s power to grant a reprieve, the execution could be delayed by individual judges, Lungren said. In another hurdle to any execution, San Quentin authorities must report on Harris’ sanity in the weeks and days before April 21.

Under the law, a person has to be competent before he is put to death. Harris has been diagnosed as being borderline retarded and suffering from brain damage. In order for him to be deemed competent, the law requires that he understand that he is being punished for the murders of the two boys.

Lungren said he expects that death penalty opponents will attempt to create sympathy for Harris. To counter such appeals, Lungren recited the gruesome details of the case: how Harris laughed as he described killing the boys, and how he ridiculed his brother for not having the stomach to finish off the boys’ Jack-in-the-Box lunches.

“As the death penalty opponents air their beliefs, I have one plea, and that is this: In your zeal to sway the public, don’t act in such a way that draws sympathy onto this brutal murder,” Lungren said.

Morain reported from Sacramento, Weintraub from Anaheim.