INDEX

1.  Bennie Demps Denied More Time for Appeal
2.  Bush Blames FSC for Execution Delays -- Miami Herald
3.  Bush Blames FSC for Execution Delays -- St. Petersburg Times
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Court Refuses to Give Lawyers More Time for Killer's Appeal

The Associated Press
June 2, 2000

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - The state Supreme Court refused Thursday to give two
Gainesville lawyers for condemned killer Bennie Demps more time to prepare
his appeal.

Demps, 49, is scheduled to die by lethal injection at 6 p.m. Wednesday for
the 1976 murder of fellow inmate Alfred Sturgis.

Demps was originally sent to death row for the 1971 murders of a couple in
Winter Garden but those sentences were vacated when the U.S. Supreme Court
halted all capital punishment in the country in 1972.

The state had planned to execute Demps this Wednesday. But last week
Florida's high court agreed to delay the execution until June 7 to give
Demps' lawyers more time to work on the case.

One of the lawyers had just been appointed to represent Demps and the other,
Bill Salmon, told the court that his wife had just had lung surgery.
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Bush: High court delaying executions

By Steve Bousquet and Lesley Clark
Published Friday, June 2, 2000, in the Miami Herald

TALLAHASSEE -- Gov. Jeb Bush on Thursday laid blame for long delays in
Florida death-penalty cases directly on the state Supreme Court -- citing,
among others, the cases of the killer of a Miami police officer and of a
Broward man who threw his pregnant wife into the Intracoastal Waterway.

In papers filed with the high court, Bush's lawyers accused the justices of
ignoring their own rules and taking too much time to decide death-penalty
appeals, which currently average 14 years from sentencing to execution.

``Justice has been lost in the maze of delays that now characterize the
Florida capital appeals process,'' Bush's attorneys argued.

The legal arguments, written by three of Bush's lawyers, are part of the
running debate in Florida over whether the legal rules affecting
death-penalty appeals thwart justice or are a necessary safeguard to ensure
that an innocent person is not sent to the death chamber at Florida State
Prison.

LAW OVERRULED

In a special session last January, Bush and the Republican-led Legislature
overhauled the state's death-penalty appeals system, passing a law to cut to
about five years the amount of time the cases languish in the system. But the
court in April struck down the new law as unconstitutional, instead proposing
its own rules and asking for comments. The court will hold arguments on the
proposed rules June 9.

Bush's bottom line: The court's rules are inadequate and ``fall well short''
of cutting the average time from sentence to execution to five years.

Bush said the court already has a pattern of ignoring time limits on appeals.

His lawyers cited the case of Michael Keen, who was convicted of murdering
his pregnant wife in 1981 by pushing her from the deck of a boat. Keen
appealed his death sentence, but 17 months after listening to legal
arguments, the high court has yet to rule.

The governor's lawyers also pointed to Robert Patten, sentenced to die in
1982 for the shooting death of Miami officer Nathaniel Broom. Arguments were
heard in the case last June, but the court has yet to rule.

GOVERNOR'S CASE

``Florida citizens and Florida's victims in particular are entitled to know
why the court cannot comply with its own time limits or those set by the
Legislature,'' the lawyers wrote. ``More importantly, citizens and victims
are entitled to prompt action to remedy the current situation.''

Several of the cases the governor's office cited involve defendants with
mental problems, said Tim Schardl, a death-penalty defense attorney.

``I think when the courts are troubled by a case like that, it takes them
longer to rule,'' Schardl said.

In their response to the rules, the lawyers who represent Death Row inmates
said the system is overburdened and underfunded.

``There are simply too many cases,'' the three offices of the state-paid
Death Row defense attorneys wrote in legal briefs. ``Cases of innocent,
retarded and severely mentally ill people being sentenced to death; cases
that are indistinguishable from those in which death was not imposed or even
sought. . .  ''

Florida has 371 inmates on Death Row. The state has executed 44 prisoners
since it resumed capital punishment in 1979, including three since Bush took
office last year. Two convicted murderers, Bennie Demps and Thomas
Provenzano, are scheduled to be executed this month.
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Bush: Court drags out death cases

The governor argues that an average 14-year
delay in executions is "simply unacceptable.''

By Lucy Morgan
St. Petersburg Times, published June 2, 2000

TALLAHASSEE -- Florida is not executing its death row inmates fast enough,
and the fault lies with the state's highest court, Gov. Jeb Bush contends.

The Florida Supreme Court contributes to "unnecessary delay and legal
gamesmanship" that keeps death row inmates alive long after they should have
been executed, lawyers for the governor charged in a 14-page letter filed
with the court late Thursday.

It is the latest move in a war of words between the court and the governor.

During a January special session called by Bush, legislators approved new
death penalty rules designed to speed up executions. But those rules were
rejected by the court in April as an "unconstitutional encroachment on this
court's exclusive power to adopt rules for the practice and procedure in all
courts."

Bush's letter, written in anticipation of arguments set to occur before the
court next week, accuses the court of repeatedly participating in legal
maneuvers that delay imposition of the death penalty.

"Justice has been lost in the maze of delays that now characterize the
Florida capital appeals process," Bush said. "Convicted murderers sentenced
to death in Florida and executed have filed an average of 10 appeals in state
and federal courts."

Fifteen years ago the average delay in capital cases was 8 years. Ten years
ago the average delay was 10 years. Today victim's families must wait at
least 14 years for justice, an 80 percent increase in delays, the governor
complained.

"This is simply wrong," Bush argued. "Justice delayed in these cases is
justice denied."

Chief Justice Major Harding, reached at home Thursday night, said he has not
seen the letter and would not comment on the accusations.

"We are more likely to address (it) if they speak at oral arguments next week
or in our decision," Harding said.

Citing case after case, the governor's lawyers said the court has ignored its
own rules that require timely decisions and, as a result, prolonged the time
it takes for death cases to proceed through the court system.

Despite additional funding for the courts and lawyers who represent death row
inmates, during the past decade the court has fallen further and further
behind, Bush alleges.

"It is thus the considered view of Governor Bush that the most significant
cause of delay in death penalty cases in this state is not funding inadequacy
or the method of execution, but the "stacking" of death penalty appeals and
its related consequences," the governor's lawyers allege.

Bush's letter called the 14 years it takes for an execution to take place
"simply unacceptable." Families of crime victims have also called for
reforms.

His objections centered largely on "post-conviction" appeals -- appeals filed
by convicted murderers that allege new evidence of their innocence, claims
that a prosecutor withheld evidence or allegations that a defense attorney
was ineffective.

The governor complained that the court allows death penalty lawyers to file
post-conviction appeals years after their direct appeals -- those that
challenge evidence produced at the trial -- are decided.

As of April 15, 57 death appeals filed on post-conviction matters had been
pending before the Supreme Court for more than 200 days, despite rules that
require the court to rule within 200 days.

"The court has too often ignored these time limits, without explanation,"
Bush said.

A majority of the court has claimed that delays in capital cases were caused
by repeated legal challenges filed in state and federal courts over the use
of the electric chair. But, Bush pointed out, this year legislators changed
the method of execution to lethal injection.

"Yet there are no signs that this will lead to a significant decrease in the
delay," Bush added.

In January, legislators proposed an absolute limit on the number of appeals a
death row inmate could file in state court. Once that cap had been reached
only an appeal citing new evidence could be filed.

The court rejected those limits, allowing death row inmates to continue
filing successive appeals.

The governor argues the court's proposed new rules should be rejected in
favor of those rules suggested by legislators.

The state has executed three convicted murderers since Bush became governor
in early 1999.