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Article published Nov 21, 2004
Analysts: S.C. juries opting for death
ROBERT W. DALTON
Staff Writer
Three times this year,
7th Circuit Solicitor Trey Gowdy has asked a jury to send a convicted killer to
death row.Three times, they've obliged.While the number of people sentenced to
death nationwide might be on the decline, business has been steady in South
Carolina.Nationally, 144 people were sentenced to death in 2003, a 30-year low.
In 1999, 272 people were sentenced to death, and the number has steadily fallen
since the turn of the century. There were 214 death sentences handed down in
2000, 152 in 2001 and 158 in 2002.In South Carolina, meanwhile, five people
received death sentences in 2003, the same number as the year before and one
less than in 2001."South Carolina has been fairly constant on new death
sentences," said Don Zelenka, a lawyer in the state attorney general's office
who specializes in death penalty cases. "We seem to have had with some
consistency 70 on death row over the past number of years regardless of the
number of executions or other removals."Eldon Wedlock, a professor at the
University of South Carolina, said one reason for the downward trend nationally
could be that jurors are more difficult to convince when the ultimate penalty is
on the line."It could be that jurors are simply absorbing some of the
information coming out about wrongful convictions and problems with certain
types of testimony," Wedlock said. "When the penalty is death, the burden rises
in jurors' minds."Gowdy, who during his four years as solicitor is five-for-five
when seeking the death penalty, didn't buy that argument. His most recent
deposit to death row came Friday, when a jury sentenced Frederick Evins to die
for raping and killing cigarette store manager Rhonda Ward Goodwin."Sixty people
(12 jurors in each case) have been asked over the last four years whether a
defendant should get life or death," Gowdy said. "All voted for death. It only
takes one to get life."Eleventh Circuit Solicitor Donald Myers, who tried his
first deathcase in 1977 and has 35 death sentences on his resume, agreed with
Gowdy."I had (a death penalty case) the latter part of last year in which a
young boy killed his 4-month-old daughter," Myers said. "The jury had no trouble
sentencing him to death."Gowdy isn't convinced that, percentage-wise, there has
been a decline in the number of people sentenced to death. He said looking only
at the number of people sent to death row doesn't tell the whole story."You've
got to have more data," Gowdy said. "Is there a decrease in the number of times
juries are giving the death penalty, or is there a decrease in the number of
times prosecutors are seeking it?"If you've got 75 death-penalty eligible cases
but prosecutors only sought death in 25 of them and were successful, then that's
one answer," he added. "But if they sought death 75 times and only got 25, then
maybe juries are watching 'CSI' and being more skeptical of prosecutors."Gowdy
said some prosecutors might be going after the death penalty less often because
the families of victims don't want to go through the rigors of the trial and the
appeals process. Life without the possibility of parole gives them closure more
quickly."A death penalty trial takes it out of everybody," Myers said. "It's
rough on the family of the victim, it's rough on the prosecutors and it's rough
on the defense. It's a no-win situation for everybody involved."Earlier this
year, Gowdy had a case that was death-penalty eligible but he allowed the
defendant to plead guilty and accept two life sentences.Randy Sullens pleaded
guilty in August in the February shooting deaths of his ex-girlfriend and her
mother."I met with the victims' family and their wishes were that if he could
get double life sentences, then they didn't want to have to go through a trial
and the capital appellate process," Gowdy said."Families don't want to litigate
for 15 or 20 years," he added. "When you sit down with a family and they
understand that life means life, it is a factor. They want closure. The longer
it takes to put someone to death in South Carolina, the fewer verdicts you'll
see."Robert W. Dalton can be reached at 562-7274 or bob.dalton@shj.com.