Ishi.
Posted on 07/26/2008 10:42:41 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
A Kern County man sentenced to death 25 years ago for participating in the double murder of a Mojave couple will not face the death penalty after all.
The state attorney general’s office confirmed Friday it will not appeal a federal judge’s decision to throw out the 1983 death sentence of Constantino Carrera. In addition, the Kern County prosecutor who originally handled the case says too much time has passed to retry the case.
None of these decisions affect Carrera’s conviction for the 1982 robbery and stabbing deaths of Jack and Carol Hayes, who managed the Imperial 400 Motel in Mojave.
Carrera will remain behind bars — but not on death row.
On March 13, U.S. District Court Judge Anthony Ishii issued his final judgment in the case, which affirmed Carrera’s conviction for two counts of first degree murder.
However, he reversed the trial court’s finding that there were special circumstances connected to the crime — which made the death sentence possible.
In his decision, Judge Ishii found there were instructional errors, prosecutorial misconduct and that informant witnesses lied under oath.
Ward Campbell, supervising deputy attorney general, said an appeal was ruled out because Ishii’s findings “were not likely to be overturned.”
“To my knowledge, there’s no case in which the state has failed to appeal the reversal of a death sentence,” said Stephen B. Bedrick, Carrera’s Oakland-based appellate attorney.
Along with faulty jury instruction, Ishii found that Kern County prosecutor Michael Vendrasco committed misconduct when he presented contradictory versions of the crime in separate trials of Carrera and his 17-year-old co-defendant, Ramiro Ruiz.
Ishii also found that two jailhouse informants were given breaks in exchange for testimony that helped convict Carrera. Although Vendrasco denied the deals with the informants, Ishii found him “unconvincing.”
Vendrasco said he’s outraged that the death penalty appeals process is so lengthy that it’s impossible to retry an adverse decision without DNA.
“It’s ridiculous,” he said. “It’s been 25 years. It’s not going to be retried.”
Instead, he will seek consecutive 25-years-to-life sentences — the same as Ruiz received — when the case comes back for resentencing.
That normally occurs within 90 days of the judge’s final ruling, but because Carrera is seeking permission from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeal to try to overturn the murder convictions, resentencing will likely be delayed.
“Judge Ishii is wrong,” he said in response to the decision.
He said the same issues were presented before the California Supreme Court which upheld the death penalty and murder convictions in 1989.
Bedrick said “if you believe in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy” then it’s believable that Vendrasco didn’t know that informants Julius Jones and Thomas Hill were given time off their sentences in exchange for their testimony.
Bedrick pointed out that Ishii found additional prosecution misconduct for presenting inconsistent stories at the separate trials of the two defendants.
And by choosing not to appeal the federal court’s findings, the Attorney General has sent a message that Ishii’s findings are legally valid, Bedrick said.
“Mr. Vendrasco knew what he was doing.”
Federal Judicial Service: Judge, U. S. District Court, Eastern District of California Nominated by William J. Clinton on February 12, 1997, to a seat vacated by Robert E. Coyle; Confirmed by the Senate on October 9, 1997, and received commission on October 14, 1997. Served as chief judge, 2008-present.
Education: Reedley Junior College, A.S., 1966
University of the Pacific School of Pharmacy, Ph.G., 1970
University of California, Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law, J.D., 1973
Professional Career: Deputy city attorney, City Attorney's Office, Sacramento, California, 1975 Deputy public defender, Public Defender's Office, County of Fresno, California, 1979 Private practice, Fresno, California, 1979-1983 Justice court judge, Parlier-Selma Judicial District, County of Fresno, California, 1983-1993 Municipal court judge, Central Valley Municipal Court, County of Fresno, California, 1994-1997
Race or Ethnicity: Asian American
What does it matter? They aren’t going to execute him in CA anyway.
Rose Bird LIVES!!! (along with her boyfriend Jerry “Moonbeam” Brown)
Ishi.
Exactly right. Calling CA a death-penalty state is a sham anyway.
The courts here allow appeals to proceed long enough for condemned inmates to die of old age. The only person actually executed demanded it, and the courts even fought that to the bitter end.
Why even have the death penalty if the courts refuse to carry it out?
If he’s resentenced, he’s eligible for immediate parole. This being California, he’s a shoo-in. Another travesty of justice from the state that gave us Earl Warren.
Smithsonian magazine has an interesting historical article on the “Leopold and Loeb” murderers of 1924. They were young lovers who kidnapped and killed another 14 year old boy. Clarence Darrow was the defense attorney who believed the death penalty barbaric and only fed to the mob. Ultimately nobody is responsible for their own actions, so how can anyone be held accountable, is the gist of the logic apparently, etc etc. The two were not executed but sentenced to lengthy prison terms. One was killed in prison, the other paroled after 30 some years.
Mr. Darrow never explained how it is that the rest of society is to be expected to welcome this kind of stuff. Maybe he didn’t care?
It matters because success will allow the judge to expand his sense of self-importance and the idea that he is the law rather than a reviewer of the law. That is bad for the rule of law, even in California.
The state attorney general’s office confirmed Friday it will not appeal a federal judge’s decision to throw out the 1983 death sentence of Constantino Carrera.
Mistake. They should never let activist judges overturn valid laws, not until the murderer in question dies of old age during the appeals process or from a visit to Old Sparky. The appeals should go on until the law is followed.
However, he reversed the trial court’s finding that there were special circumstances connected to the crime — which made the death sentence possible.
I though that the trial court had the responsibility to determine questions of fact. Law Dictionary question of law n. an issue arising in a lawsuit or criminal prosecution which only relates to determination of what the law is, how it is applied to the facts in the case, and other purely legal points in contention. All "questions of law" arising before, during and sometimes after a trial are to be determined solely by the judge and not by the jury. "Questions of law" are differentiated from "questions of fact," which are decided by the jury and only by the judge if there is no jury.
In his decision, Judge Ishii found there were instructional errors, prosecutorial misconduct and that informant witnesses lied under oath.
That should not be Judge Ishii's role - he is reviewing questions of fact from what appears to be an extremely biased perspective, when his legal authority stops at questions of law. Considering that twelve jurors found the witnesses credible 25 years ago, I find it difficult to believe that this judge has greater insight into the facts today than the jurors did shortly after this murderer committed the crime.
Along with faulty jury instruction, Ishii found that Kern County prosecutor Michael Vendrasco committed misconduct when he presented contradictory versions of the crime in separate trials of Carrera and his 17-year-old co-defendant, Ramiro Ruiz.
Contradictory enough to prevent execution but not enough to get him out of jail? I would find that surprising if I expected this sort of judge to pay more attention to reality more than to his own personal biases.
The original Ishi pictured here, had true class. Accepted and overcame adversity and the destruction of his tribe. He became a friend of University of California anthropologist Kroeber.
The other Ishii? At least the Judge has the decency to spell his name with an extra ‘i’ to avoid confusion. (Never to many “I's” in a name when one dons the black robe?)
Oldplayer
Cushing, OK
Justice was denied so long ago in the case, that it’s a farce to even address this latest insult.
This miscreant should have been fried over 20 years ago.
CA has been a juristocracy for some time, though.
Why do Marxist socialists in this country decry the death penalty when regimes founded on Marxist principals slaughtered their citizenry with abandon? I’ve read Darrow was first and foremost a grandstander and liked to move in leftist circles. I would compare him with Kunstler only much more talented.
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