California Loses Twice in Bid to Limit Death Row Appeals

State prosecutors in California who are seeking to end lengthy appeals in death penalty cases suffered a double blow on Monday.

At 8:15 a.m., President Clinton vetoed a bill that included provisions setting deadlines for federal judges to act on death penalty appeals. Clinton has supported legislation cutting short appeals in Death Row cases, but House and Senate Republicans had attached the death penalty provision to a debt-ceiling bill the President opposes.

Then, at 10 a.m., the Supreme Court rejected an appeal filed by California Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren urging that federal judges be given 120 days to act on appeals filed by Death Row inmates.

Lungren had complained about a four-year delay in acting on appeals filed on behalf of Fred Berre Douglas, the murderer of two Anaheim teen-agers. In 1990, the state Supreme Court unanimously upheld his conviction and death sentence, but his execution has been stayed while a federal judge in Los Angeles considers his second round of appeals.

More than 400 inmates sit on California’s Death Row, and most cannot be executed because of pending legal appeals.

The Supreme Court has moved to restrict lengthy federal appeals by state Death Row inmates, but has refused to consider setting time limits for judges to act. The House and Senate, however, passed bills this year that would impose such deadlines.

Under the measures, a Death Row inmate would have 180 days to appeal to a federal judge after a state Supreme Court has heard and denied all appeals. The federal judge would then have 180 days to decide the appeal.

If it is rejected, a U.S. appellate court would have 120 days to act. If it is also denied, the inmate could try one last Supreme Court appeal. If denied, the state would be free to carry out an execution.