Church leaders, legal experts fight bill to speed death-row appeals

Published: 2005-10-05

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Current and retired judges and prosecutors are being joined by two former heads of the FBI and various religious leaders in trying to stop legislation that would curtail death penalty appeals and speed up the execution process. The Streamlined Procedures Act was to be taken up by the Senate Judiciary Committee in early October. A House version of the bill was expected to be the subject of an additional hearing by the House Judiciary Committee's subcommittee on crime. Bishop Arthur N. Tafoya of Pueblo, Colo., said in a Sept. 22 letter to Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., that the bill raises moral and ethical problems by restricting the federal courts' ability to consider appeals from prisoners who claim their rights have been violated or who have evidence of their innocence. The bill demeans the worth and dignity the church teaches each person has "by trivializing a person's right to life and liberty," he said.

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