Arizona’s Attorney General has filed a law suit against the Federal Justice Department for what it called the undue delay in handling Arizona’s request for acceleration status in the processing of capital punishment appeals, through the federal process known as Habeas Corpus. According to the Attorney General’s Office, the Justice Department’s failure to act has deprived the State of the benefits Congress intended in the form of streamlined procedures.
The Attorney General’s Office asserts that Arizona amended its capital case procedures years ago to meet Congress’s requirements for accelerated status.
The average delay, between verdict and execution in capital cases brought forth in the federal Court of Appeals covering Arizona, is an estimated 18 years. Acceleration status would require the Federal District Court to act within 450 days, and the Court of Appeals act within 120 days of the filing of the last reply brief.
The state claims that this could “shave approximately 10 years off the delay.”
Congress passed an act providing states that passed certain requirements could have an accelerated system for Habeas Corpus. Arizona met those requirements. The Bush Administration adopted rules under that Act. The Obama Administration cancelled those rules, saying it would adopt its own. Four and a half years have passed and still, those rules have not been adopted.
The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 passed with broad bipartisan support in Congress. The AEDPA enacted special review provisions for capital cases from states that enacted quality controls for the performance of counsel in the state courts during the post-conviction phase. States that enacted these quality controls would see strict time limitations enforced against their death-row inmates in federal habeas proceedings coupled with extremely deferential review to the determinations of their courts regarding issues of federal law. Only Arizona has qualified for these additional provisions.
In 2005, Congress took the power to determine whether a state had qualified away from the federal courts and gave it to the Attorney General.
Attorney General Horne filed a notice of appeal to commence suit in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Monday, where Arizona will seek judicial review of the Justice Department’s failure to act.