Expect fewer delays for executions

Friday, April 5, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

RICHARD Allen Moran's death last weekend revived old arguments about the effectiveness of the death penalty and whether the appeals process is so slow, it destroys any deterrence.

Moran, convicted of killing three people in Las Vegas nearly 12 years ago, was the first condemned inmate to be executed against his will in more than a generation. Thayne Archibald was given the death penalty in 1961.

After the Supreme Court allowed states to reestablish the death penalty in the 1970s, four other men have been executed in Nevada. But death row is jammed. Seventy-seven murderers are awaiting their fate.

Nevada is not unique. Condemned killers are being sent to death rows across the country at a much faster rate than executions are being carried out. There were 56 executions in the United States in 1995, but nearly 300 a year are sentenced to death. Nationwide, 3,000 await their punishment.

Clearly, the courts and juries are more willing to sentence murderers to death than appeals courts. The situation frustrated Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa two years ago, who blamed the long delays on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, the federal appellate court for the Western states.

The condemned routinely wait a decade to be executed and others take longer. Moran fought the system for 11 years. Dewey Coleman, a convicted killer of a Montana school teacher, still sits on death row after his 1974 crime.

A few of the 38 states with the death penalty have taken action to reduce the appeals process. In Ohio, such cases bypass the state appellate court and go directly to the state Supreme Court. Ohio, Texas and California now limit appeals to the first six months after conviction.

Shortcuts in appeals can be risky. There's always a chance that an innocent person may die for another's crime. But, judicial process, not guilt or innocence, forms the bulk of many appeals. Nor do many courts limit repetitive appeals. State legal bills have exceeded $1 million per execution. The cost of appeals is making executions more expensive than life prison terms.

Death penalty opponents are right in saying the present system is not a deterrent. We suspect the long delays could be the culprit. But the verdict is still out on whether the punishment is effective, with both sides have marshalled volumes of data to prove their case.

With public opinion running strongly in favor of executing the most vicious criminals, in rising alarm over the crime rate, more states will no doubt try to reduce the appeals process.

Moran probably won't be the last criminal to be executed in Nevada. The public already demands the ultimate penalty for the worst crimes. It will probably demand streamlined appeals to make the most horrendous offenders face real consequences for their actions.