Alabama appeals circuit judge’s ruling on death penalty system

FILE - This Sept. 21, 2010, file photo shows the death chamber of the new lethal injection facility at San Quentin State Prison in San Quentin, Calif. The number of people executed in the United States in 2015 dropped to the lowest level since 1991 as states impose fewer death sentences and defendants in capital cases have access to better legal help. The Death Penalty Information Center, a group that opposes executions and tracks the issue, said 28 inmates were executed this year. That’s down from 35 last year and far below the peak of 98 in 1999. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File) FILE - This Sept. 21, 2010, file photo shows the death chamber of the new lethal injection facility at San Quentin State Prison in San Quentin, Calif. The number of people executed in the United States in 2015 dropped to the lowest level since 1991 as states impose fewer death sentences and defendants in capital cases have access to better legal help. The Death Penalty Information Center, a group that opposes executions and tracks the issue, said 28 inmates were executed this year. That’s down from 35 last year and far below the peak of 98 in 1999. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File)

By Associated Press March 11, 2016 2 min read

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) – Alabama’s attorney general is looking to invalidate a judge’s order that challenged the constitutionality of the state’s death penalty sentencing system.

Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange said in a petition to the state appeals court that Jefferson County Circuit Court Judge Tracie Todd doesn’t have the authority to prevent the state from seeking the death penalty against defendants who are charged with capital murder.

Todd issued an order March 3, saying a system allowing judges to impose the death penalty over a jury’s suggestion for life in prison without parole is unconstitutional.

“Although recent legal developments may call into question the imposition of the death penalty under certain circumstances, the trial court’s order is indefensible,” Strange said in a statement.

Juries recommend sentences in Alabama death penalty cases, but judges have the final say in a mechanism known as judicial override. The method is used to impose the death penalty if a jury recommends life without parole.