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October 8, 2006

Cornell Law to help with Donald Fell appeal ::
legal — tagged , , , and
9:05 am

Back in the summer of 2005, I was posting pretty regularly on the Donald Fell capital trial. It was, for those who remember it, a big deal around here because capital punishment is rarely used in any of the Northeastern states, and because although Vermont doesn’t have a death penalty statute, the federal statute is still available for federal crimes. With that said, I found this AP piece about the law students at Cornell helping with Fell’s appeal.

July 15, 2005

Fell verdict reactions ::
legal, vermont — tagged , , , and
12:22 pm

The news world is replete with stories of the Fell trial. Here’s a list of stories I found most relevant, mostly by searching Google News:

The Rutland Herald has this piece in which Professor Michael Mello responds to the death sentence. He notes particularly that the chances of reversal are slim:

While he calls capital punishment law and procedures the most complicated, contradictory and inconsistent area of law he had ever encountered, Mello said Sessions handled the penalty phase so well he would be surprised if the sentence is reversed on appeal.

This assessment is consistent with other accounts of the penalty phase of the trial I have heard. If one shred of good news comes of this story, it is that Donald Fell’s trial was conducted in a fair manner consistent with Due Process.

The Vermont Standard has this piece noting that the Fell case has reinvigorated the capital punishment debate in the state.

Despite such arguments, public opinion across the state has not been convincingly assessed in years. The most recent published poll, taken by State Sen. William Doyle on Town Meeting Day 1999, suggested that the state is divided: 48 percent of those who responded said the death penalty should be restored, with 41 percent opposed. Although Doyle’s poll reached thousands of people, it only included the opinions of those who chose to participate, and the question was posed as neighboring Massachusetts debated a death penalty bill.

The Standard also notes that Howard Dean—who many regard as a left-wing ideologue—was a supporter of Capital Punishment during his tenure as Governor:

Sensing the absence of a statewide consensus, recent Vermont governors have straddled the fence. In the midst of the state’s 2001 debate on the issue, then-Gov. Howard Dean said he wouldn’t introduce a death penalty bill, but added that he wouldn’t veto one that reached his desk. In 2003, during his bid for president, Dean told Meet the Press, “The problem with life without parole is that people get out for reasons that have nothing to do with justice.”

On a national level, the Boston Globe has this thoughtful article on the Fell case, which includes a good timeline of the case.

The New York Times, the LA Times, the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, and the Guardian (UK) all have articles on the verdict as well, though from what I could gather they were mostly rehashed wire stories.

And finally, and possibly most relevant at this point, is the Burlington Free Press article on what’s next in the Fell case.

July 14, 2005

Death sentence for Donald Fell ::
legal, vermont — tagged , , , and
2:31 pm

In an update to a previous post: a federal jury has sentenced Donald Fell to Death:

Fell showed no emotion as the jury’s recommendation was read to the court by the clerk, but then his lawyer stood and told jurors that he had a statement from Fell.

Fell’s attorney then read the statement:

“He respects your decision. He appreciates your hard work and wants to tell you and the family of his sincere remorse. He did not want to do it at any other time publicly as it would be construed to be less genuine,” the lawyer said.

As I noted here, this is the first death sentence handed down in Vermont in nearly 50 years. It is disturbing any time a jury unanimously decides an individual should die. But also because we have no death penalty in this state, I find this outcome particularly unsettling.

Fell jury deliberates ::
legal — tagged , , and
11:54 am

The Rutland Herald posts this story on the Fell trial today. Some important details:

The seven men and five women headed into the jury room to decide Fell’s fate at 2:47 p.m. Wednesday. Shortly before 9 p.m., they sent word to Judge William Sessions they would retire for the night and return this morning to continue their deliberations in Vermont’s first death penalty case in more than 40 years.

Different defense attorneys have different superstitions regarding the length of the deliberation process. So any guess on which way the jury is trending would be pure speculation at this point.

July 7, 2005

Penalty phase for the Donald Fell Trial ::
legal — tagged , , and
7:08 pm

Here in Vermont, the penalty phase for the trial of Donald Fell still continues. Donald Fell was convicted on June 24 of this year of kidnapping and killing Tressa King. After a very brief conviction phase of the trial, the federal district court has been engaged in the penalty phase since the conviction was handed down. As many of you may know, the jury will have to be unanimous in its verdict that Donald Fell should receive the death penalty. But if they cannot come to that conclusion, then Federal District Judge William Sessions, who is no friend of capital punishment, will not further pursue the matter. According to yesterday’s Barre-Montpelier Times Argus, “[i]f the jury is deadlocked, or agrees not to hand down the death sentence, Judge William Sessions has already said he will impose a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.”

Capital Punishment has had a unique history in Vermont. According to this interview with Micheal Mello (disclosure: he’s one of my professors) in Seven Days,

[stories of capital punishment in Vermont have contained very] colorful characters, very colorful issues, including potentially innocent people sentenced to death and executed, class and race discrimination—not against African-Americans, but against Irish and French-Canadians. In Vermont, as with everywhere else, if you have the financial resources, you have a much greater shot at justice.

But beside that, what’s particularly important is this:

The last execution [in Vermont] was a double execution in the electric chair in 1954. In 1952, Francis Blair and Donald Demag escaped from the state prison in Windsor by crashing a laundry truck through the prison gates. They were caught two days later following an intensive search. Both were convicted of first-degree murder for the killing of a woman named Elizabeth Weatherup of Springfield, who’d been bludgeoned by a lead pipe and robbed during their escape. Her husband was badly injured but survived.

So although the state, as a matter of policy, has done away with the death penalty, we still live with it from the Federal government. Although polls conducted of the state population have shown that the population is evenly split on whether the death penalty should be brought back, the fact is that it has not been. So it seems that even if there is support for capital punishment in this state, whether it should be brought back should be fought out in the legislature, rather than imposed by the United States Department of Justice.

But all that aside, where is the Fell trial now? The defense is putting on character evidence in order to explain why Donald’s life should be spared:

Fell’s attorneys argue he suffered a life of abuse that began to show in his school work by the fifth grade. They say he would not pose a risk of harm to others if sentenced to life behind bars without the possibility of parole.

There is a possibility that Donald Fell could be sentenced to death. My larger hope is that conversations about reviving capital punishment our state stops there.