Published: Friday, December 03, 2010, 5:00 AM
BAY MINETTE, Alabama — Capital murder defendants can in some cases plead guilty to avoid the death penalty, but unlike many other states, Alabama law requires that a jury still hear their cases.
Baldwin County jurors this week heard evidence against Troy R. MacDonald, a Daphne man who pleaded guilty to the 2008 rape-murder of 21-year-old Brianna Parish. A conviction was quickly returned Thursday, and MacDonald was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole.
After federal courts struck down the death penalty nationwide in 1972, states rewrote their laws. Executions were allowed to resume in 1976, and Alabama has since put 49 people to death. Another 203 are on death row — sixth among states with the death penalty.
Under new guidelines, capital trials are broken into guilt and sentencing phases.
Joseph A. Colquitt, University of Alabama law professor, retired circuit judge and expert in capital litigation, said many states allow defendants to plead guilty before a judge and be sentenced without jury involvement. Some states let juries decide the sentence, Colquitt said.
Texas requires prosecutors to present evidence to juries after guilty pleas only when the death penalty is still a possible punishment, according to George Flynn, a spokesman with the Harris County, Texas, District Attorney’s Office.
Florida capital defendants enter guilty pleas before judges who then pass sentences, according to John Molchan, assistant state attorney in Escambia County, Fla.
In Mississippi, if the death penalty is off the table, a judge takes the plea and sentences the defendant to life without parole without any further proceedings, according to Jan Schaefer, public information officer for the attorney general. If the death penalty is an option at the time of a guilty plea, a jury holds a sentencing trial with each side offering evidence for or against execution, she said. ?
Alabama’s approach? ?
Colquitt said Alabama legislators took another approach, saying prosecutors must present at least the basic evidence proving the case to a jury. Once guilt is established, the jury recommends a penalty and the judge makes the final sentencing decision. Defendants can waive the jury’s role in sentencing.
Colquitt said the state’s approach “seeks to preserve the integrity of the system. Policy-wise, we do not want ‘volunteers’” who plead guilty to protect someone else, allowing an innocent person to be punished while the guilty party goes free.
Requiring the state to present the case establishes that a crime was committed and the accused is guilty, he said. For there to be a conviction, Colquitt said, the jury would be required to return a verdict of guilty. If jurors couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict, there could be no conviction. If the decision was split, the judge would declare a mistrial and another jury would hear the evidence. If the jury voted unanimously to acquit, the defendant would go free, he said.
“Although the plea of guilty may weigh toward conviction,” Colquitt said, “it does not dictate a conviction.” ?
Level of detail? ?
But just how detailed does the case have to be if the defendant has admitted guilt?
That varies, according to Talitha Powers Bailey, director of the Capital Defense Law Clinic at the University of Alabama.
The law requires proof of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, and a defendant’s guilty plea can be used as evidence. Having the evidence on the record can prove helpful to prosecutors down the road, she said.
“It is beneficial to have the evidence on the record so that, say, six months later the defendant decides the plea was not such a good idea and decides to appeal,” Bailey said. “If the defendant says he had ineffective counsel, that evidence could help counter that appeal.”
Just how detailed the proceedings get is up to prosecutors, she said. Typically, defense attorneys do not cross-examine witnesses or challenge the evidence, and typically present no evidence on behalf of the accused. And the sentencing phase is eliminated.
Monroe County District Attorney Tommy Chapman, who has prosecuted several capital trials in more than 20 years in office, said that after a capital murder guilty plea he generally takes a day in court to present basic evidence — the autopsy and a confession, for example, along with the plea.
Others call witnesses, Bailey said, often depending on how much information the defendant provides in the plea.
The evidence presentation helps protect defendants from false charges, according to Rep. Steve McMillan, R-Gulf Shores, who serves on the legislative judiciary committee. It helps protect prosecutors as well, he said. He said there are no plans to change the state’s law.
“Swift and sure justice is the goal,” McMillan said. “It seems fair to me. It probably delays things some to do it this way, but it makes the verdict more certain. That seems like a reasonable tradeoff.” ?
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