Fired Prosecutor Says Gonzales Pushed Death Penalty

[babylonsister]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/27/AR2007062702310.html

Fired Prosecutor Says Gonzales Pushed Death Penalty
Figures Show Attorney General Often Overrules U.S. Attorneys' Arguments Against Capital Charges

By Amy Goldstein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, June 28, 2007; Page A07

Paul K. Charlton, one of nine U.S. attorneys fired last year, told members of Congress yesterday that Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales has been overzealous in ordering federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty, including in an Arizona murder case in which no body had been recovered.

Justice Department officials had branded Charlton, the former U.S. attorney in Phoenix, disloyal because he opposed the death penalty in that case. But Charlton testified yesterday that Gonzales has been so eager to expand the use of capital punishment that the attorney general has been inattentive to the quality of evidence in some cases -- or the views of the prosecutors most familiar with them.

"No decision is more important for a prosecutor than whether or not to . . . deliberately and methodically take a life," Charlton said. "And that holds true for the attorney general."

His testimony before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee reviewing the use of the federal death penalty provided the most detailed account to date of Charlton's interactions with Gonzales's aides about the murder case that contributed to his dismissal. It also was one of the most pointed critiques of Gonzales by any of the fired federal prosecutors, whose removal touched off a furor on Capitol Hill.

Justice Department data presented at the hearing demonstrated that the administration's death penalty dispute with Charlton was not unique. The Bush administration has so far overruled prosecutors' recommendations against its use more frequently than the Clinton administration did. The pace of overrulings picked up under Gonzales's predecessor, Attorney General John D. Ashcroft, and spiked in 2006, when the number of times Gonzales ordered prosecutors to seek the death penalty against their advice jumped to 21, from three in 2005.

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[annabanana]

1. I really think he gets off on it.

He pushes it because he can.

[TreasonousBastard]

2. Back in Texas, he was Gubner W's front man for...

the death penalty whenever it came up.

Like all of Shrub's frinds, Gonzo is the scum of the earth.

[ShortnFiery]

3. Yes, Gonzo had the *proud* record of presenting Death Penalty Appeals on average - 5 minutes or less

for Governor DimSon to consider. :crazy: :wow: :nuke:

[Hubert Flottz]

4. The GOP has always played POLITICS with the death penalty...

I think it make the Bushies feel like Kings when they whack folks.