Legal Jellies, can a prisoner waive the appeals process if s/he is sentenced to death (please see and respect the details)

Yes. Utah executed a prisoner by firing squad at his request. I don’t think the law has changed since that time.

Additional thought: That would be a state by state matter, for the most part.

Specifically, in CT now that Hayes has been sentenced, but I remember a case in WA many years ago where there was discussion because some involved with the case felt that waiving appeals displays suicidal tendencies, which would render him mentally unfit to make the request.

Weren’t there also some states that did not allow a confession in death penalty cases for the same reason?

Hopefully our “in the know” Jellies will know that, too!

DP cases have two levels of appeals – at the state and federal level. Connecticut appears to have an automatic appeal of the sentence, and a direct appeal of the trial issues. Direct appeals are generally, I believe, voluntary – and therefore can be waived. The direct appeal isn’t, but goes only to whether the jury decided the aggravating factors making the defendant death penalty eligible correctly.

Ok, @iamthemob , you lost me there. Does this mean (in this case) that Hayes can opt out of the appeals and go straight to execution? (I don’t imagine it’s quite that simple, but hopefully you know what I mean.)

@JilltheTooth – the automatic appeal is unwaivable. So there is at least one appeal – but it is a review of the DP determination only – those are generally simple.

The rest are his to waive. Generally a DP defendant has direct appeals on the state and federal levels (covering the events at trial – incorrect findings) and a habeas corpus review (covering constitutional violations). After AEDPA, the federal habeas reviews are easily waived (in fact, the rules are rigid so that many times it’s waived against the desire of the defendant).

Regardless, though, CT has executed one person since the DP was re-enacted there. Therefore, it’s likely that there will be a while on death row before execution. Any show of desire to get to execution will likely go to an appeal, filed on his behalf, regarding his mental competency to be executed (which is different than the capacity at trial).

Thank you. I get it now. It’s a bit of a Catch-22 for the prisoner, then, no way to reasonably expedite the execution if he wants. The WA case I was referring to (if you’re interested) was against a nasty murdering pedophile named Wesley Allen Dodd who wanted to waive all appeals and go straight to execution (much emorse was expressed, but I wonder if he wasn’t more frightened of being in with any type of prison population). I don’t remember any more than that, I’m going to look it up.