Bill Text: CA SCA20 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Introduced


Bill Title: Death penalty appeals: jurisdiction.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-04-17 - Set, first hearing. Failed passage in committee. (Ayes 2. Noes 5. Page 3210.) Reconsideration granted. [SCA20 Detail]

Download: California-2011-SCA20-Introduced.html
BILL NUMBER: SCA 20	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Anderson

                        FEBRUARY 24, 2012

   A resolution to propose to the people of the State of California
an amendment to the Constitution of the State, by amending Sections
11 and 12 of Article VI thereof, relating to death penalty appeals.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SCA 20, as introduced, Anderson. Death penalty appeals:
jurisdiction.
   The California Constitution provides that the California Supreme
Court has appellate jurisdiction when a judgment of death has been
pronounced. The Constitution also authorizes the Supreme Court to,
before a decision, transfer a cause from itself to a court of appeal,
and review the decision of a court of appeal in any case, except
that this transfer authorization does not apply to appeals involving
a judgment of death.
   This measure would amend the California Constitution to give
courts of appeal appellate jurisdiction when judgment of death has
been pronounced. The measure would delete the provision specifying
that the California Supreme Court's transfer authorization does not
apply to appeals involving a judgment of death.
   Vote: 2/3. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated
local program: no.



   WHEREAS, The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
   (a) During a three-week period in October 2002, a deranged sniper
shot and killed 10 people and injured three others along Interstate
95 in Virginia and the Capital Beltway in Washington D.C. John Allen
Muhammad, the "Beltway Sniper," and an accomplice were caught and
arrested on October 24, 2002.
   (b) Muhammad was convicted and sentenced to death in two states,
Maryland and Virginia. After six years of legal maneuvering, Muhammad'
s last-minute appeal to the United States Supreme Court was rejected
and he was executed by lethal injection on November 9, 2009.
   (c) It took two states with separate judicial systems less than
seven years to convict, sentence, and execute a murderer. Compare
that to California where the average time in death penalty cases from
sentencing until punishment is over 25 years. In the last 20 years,
California has executed only 13 murderers while Texas has executed
over 400.
   (d) Justice delayed is justice denied.
   Resolved by the Senate, the Assembly concurring, That the
Legislature of the State of California at its 2011-12 Regular Session
commencing on the sixth day of December 2010, two-thirds of the
membership of each house concurring, hereby proposes to the people of
the State of California that the Constitution of the State be
amended as follows:
  First--  Section 11 of Article VI of the California Constitution is
amended to read:
      SEC. 11.  (a) The  Supreme Court has appellate
jurisdiction when judgment of death has been pronounced. With that
exception  courts of appeal have appellate jurisdiction when
superior courts have original jurisdiction in causes of a type
within the appellate jurisdiction of the courts of appeal on June 30,
1995, and  when judgment of death has been pronounced, and 
in other causes prescribed by statute. When appellate jurisdiction
in civil causes is determined by the amount in controversy, the
Legislature may change the appellate jurisdiction of the courts of
appeal by changing the jurisdictional amount in controversy.
   (b) Except as provided in subdivision (a), the appellate division
of the superior court has appellate jurisdiction in causes prescribed
by statute.
   (c) The Legislature may permit courts exercising appellate
jurisdiction to take evidence and make findings of fact when jury
trial is waived or not a matter of right.
  Second--  Section 12 of Article VI of the California Constitution
is amended to read:
      SEC. 12.  (a) The Supreme Court may, before decision, transfer
to itself a cause in a court of appeal. It may, before decision,
transfer a cause from itself to a court of appeal or from one court
of appeal or division to another. The court to which a cause is
transferred has jurisdiction.
   (b) The Supreme Court may review the decision of a court of appeal
in any cause.
   (c) The Judicial Council shall provide, by rules of court, for the
time and procedure for transfer and for review, including, among
other things, provisions for the time and procedure for transfer with
instructions, for review of all or part of a decision, and for
remand as improvidently granted. 
   (d) This section shall not apply to an appeal involving a judgment
of death.                                       
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