Judge Clears Way for Siripongs’ Execution

A federal judge Thursday cleared the way for the execution of Jaturun “Jay” Siripongs as early as February, but the convicted double murderer will have one more chance to seek clemency.

At a hearing in San Francisco, U.S. District Judge Maxine Chesney declined to extend a stay of execution that she had granted in November, just a few hours before Siripongs was scheduled to die by lethal injection.

The decision allows Orange County prosecutors to immediately seek a new execution date for Siripongs--a process that will take at least two months.

However, under state rules, Siripongs is allowed to ask for another gubernatorial clemency hearing because his scheduled execution was delayed. His attorney, Linda Schilling, said she will request such a review, but declined to say whether she will ask Gov. Pete Wilson or wait until after the January inauguration of Gov.-elect Gray Davis.

Defense attorneys alleged that the governor’s office improperly had limited pertinent information in the clemency review that led to Wilson’s denial of clemency in November. Schilling had hoped that the judge would order new hearings on those issues.

New clemency hearings would have delayed the execution at least six months, said Daniel Kolkey, legal affairs secretary for Wilson.

“We expected Mr. Siripongs’ request to be denied,” he said. “This entire claim that he has brought is premised on a very thin, if not frayed, thread.”

Schilling said she still hopes that Siripongs’ sentence will be reduced to life in prison.

“I’m very pleased that the state will give Mr. Siripongs another chance to apply for clemency, and that this time it will comport with fairness,” she said.

In the hours leading up to Siripongs’ scheduled execution, Schilling filed an appeal arguing that Wilson issued misleading instructions on what information he would or would not consider in the hearing. Based on that appeal, Chesney halted the execution.

At the Thursday court session, Chesney did not rule directly on Schilling’s claims about Wilson. But the judge stressed that she expected any possible future clemency hearing to be handled fairly. In addition, the judge said the court was in no position to “second-guess” how the governor handles the clemency process.

There are few laws governing the procedures of a clemency hearing and the process is left almost entirely to the governor. Kolkey said he was pleased with the judge’s ruling because it did not infringe on the executive branch’s discretion over clemency matters.

If the matter is left to Davis, it would mark an early political test for him. During the gubernatorial campaign, Davis said he supports capital punishment.

Siripongs was convicted in 1983 for a double murder at a Garden Grove store in 1981.