DELAWARE: Death row inmate seeks new trial

WILMINGTON, Del. - Attorneys for a man sentenced to death for the murder of a University of Delaware student asked the state Supreme Court on Wednesday to grant him a new trial.

[Nautilus1]

once again it is not whether or not he is guilty do to the facts but whether or not is attorney was good enough. I say he has been tried and convicted.

[Sumie]

Nautilus1 wrote:

once again it is not whether or not he is guilty do to the facts but whether or not is attorney was good enough. I say he has been tried and convicted.

Ineffective assistance of counsel is a valid claim on appeal.

As you keep saying, Nautilus: If you don't like the way we do things here, why don't you move?

[Nautilus1]

Sumie wrote:

<quoted text>
Ineffective assistance of counsel is a valid claim on appeal.
As you keep saying, Nautilus: If you don't like the way we do things here, why don't you move?

You keep forgetting I am a citizen and you are not, feel free to leave

[Sumie]

Nautilus1 wrote:

<quoted text> You keep forgetting I am a citizen and you are not, feel free to leave

I'm also, incidentally, free to become a citizen. I merely choose not to. Doesn't mean I have to leave, since I obtained permission to reside here -- and I didn't actually have to ask you, Nautilus. And I still don't have to ask your permission to stay.

[Sumie]

Nautilus1 wrote:

once again it is not whether or not he is guilty do to the facts but whether or not is attorney was good enough. I say he has been tried and convicted.

Unfortunately for you, the constitutional validity of a death sentence doesn't merely go to questions of guilt and innocence. There may be issues that render the sentence constitutionally defective.

Apparently, in your own state, the courts identified 383 cases where such issues were found to be meritorious (i.e. not harmless). That number is 5.7 times the number of executions your state has carried out in the same period.

[Hannah]

It is amazing how judgmental people are until they have that experience. If for one minute you could close your eyes and put yourself in jail, how much would you do to prove your innocence? If you can tell me with 100% accuracy that there are no innocent people sent to jail, then everyone has the right to fight for their lives, that could be you or someone you love. Yes, there are guilty people in jail but there are also innocent people in jail. What would be the harm in getting final proof. Who knows, it could save someone you love...

[Sumie]

Hannah wrote:

It is amazing how judgmental people are until they have that experience. If for one minute you could close your eyes and put yourself in jail, how much would you do to prove your innocence? If you can tell me with 100% accuracy that there are no innocent people sent to jail, then everyone has the right to fight for their lives, that could be you or someone you love. Yes, there are guilty people in jail but there are also innocent people in jail. What would be the harm in getting final proof. Who knows, it could save someone you love...

It's a good question, Hannah, and I agree with you. However, there are several arguments for finality in these cases: the value of closure for victim families as well as the fact that evidence becomes less reliable over time are the two you'll see most often.