Advocates are pushing for legislation that would allow for the resentencing of about 30 Alabama inmates sentenced to death despite a judge's recommendation of a life sentence. Alabama in 2017 became the last state to abandon the practice of allowing judges to override a jury’s sentence recommendation in death penalty cases.
Alabama state Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, speaks at a rally for legislation that would allow about 30 death row inmates, who were sentenced to death by judges despite a jury’s recommendation of life imprisonment, to receive new sentences, , Thursday, March 21, 2024, in Montgomery, Ala. Alabama in 2017 ended the practice of allowing judges to override sentencing recommendations in death penalty cases, but the change was not retroactive.
“Justice demands us to afford those individuals who are still on death row by judicial override the opportunity to be resentenced,” Rep. Chris England, the bill sponsor, said.a jury’s sentence recommendation in death penalty cases. The change was not retroactive. Alison Mollman, senior legal counsel of the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama, said there are 33 people on Alabama’s death row who were sentenced to death by a judge even though a jury had recommended life imprisonment.
Smith’s initial 1989 conviction, where a jury had recommended a death sentence, was overturned on appeal. He was retried and convicted again in 1996. The jury that time recommended a life sentence by a vote of 11-1, but a judge overrode the recommendation and sentenced Smith to death.
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