There are a lot of people upset over the fact that the Justice Department did not authorize a death penalty prosecution for the four people accused of killing Kevin Quick. They dont understand the law, the process, the state of the evidence, or the reasons that the decision gets made. A moment of full disclosure -- I represent someone who is tangentially involved with this case, but had no involvement with or knowledge of the killing of Kevin Quick. And I have handled other federal capital cases. I am also , theologically and morally opposed to the death penalty. First, the law. It is not generally a federal crime to kill someone; that is why most murder cases are pursued in state court rather than in federal court. You can get the federal death penalty if you commit a murder while committing another federal crime. You cant get a federal death penalty for killing someone while committing a state crime. And not every murder-in-the-commission-of-another-federal-crime is eligible for the death penalty either. Second, the process is that when the local US Attorney charges someone with a death-eligible crime, the Attorney must apply to the Justice Department in Washington for permission to seek the death penalty. The decision is made by the Attorney General, with the advice of the Assistant Attorney General who chairs a Capital Case Review Committee, which includes usually about 5 career Justice Department lawyers. The Capital Case Review Committee consults with the victims family, and receives information from the US Attorney and from the defense team. One factor that they consider is whether there is a substantial federal interest in the prosecution and in the possible death sentence, so we get back to the fact that a purely in-state carjacking doesnt present a strong federal interest. Third, the state of the evidence here is such that there is no clear evidence as to who actually killed Quick. One of the issues that comes up in every capital case is that the Constitution prohibits the death penalty unless the government can prove that the person being executed ACTUALLY intended the death. Although you can be found guilty of a murder for being involved with some people who committed a murder, you cannot get the death penalty on that basis. When the government doesnt know who actually killed Quick, it is hard to prove who had an actual intent to kill. Additionally, it is important to note that this case is not being prosecuted as a cop killing case, because Kevin Quick wasnt killed because he was a police officer. He was off duty, just driving around. Although killing a cop is an aggravating factor, it only is an aggravating factor if the government can prove that Quick was killed BECAUSE he was a cop. Which they cant. So to call it a slap in the face to the law enforcement community is not fair. Finally, the Capital Case Review Committee is intended to make sure that the death penalty is applied uniformly across the country -- to make sure that the death penalty is not being applied discriminatorily (we know that blacks who kill whites are many times more likely to get the death penalty than any other combination of killers and victims), and to make sure that it is applied only against the worst of the worst murder and murderer. Most murders wont qualify, by definition. Only a small percentage of federally-prosecutable murders are approved for a capital prosecution. This has been true under both Republican and Democratic Attorneys General. What makes something the worst of the worst? Bad records, torture or particularly awful facts, real evidence of dangerousness, etc. I dont know much about the folks who are accused of being involved with the killing, so I cant comment on the specifics of the evidence. And although the killing of Kevin Quick seems like the worst of the worst kind of crime to those who knew Kevin Quick, realistically comparing this to many other murders leads to the conclusion that it isnt really much different from a lot of other murders. It is not surprising that the case did not get death-approved.
Posted on: Fri, 21 Nov 2014 04:29:13 +0000
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