Appellate lawyers call death penalty reform initiative unworkable

That's the top story in today's DJ, featuring a photo of Jon B. Eisenberg, president of the California Academy of Appellate Lawyers. The article begins:

The Death Penalty Reform and Savings Act of 2016, a ballot initiative that proposes to reform capital punishment by expanding the pool of available defense attorneys and speed the appeals process to no more than five years, has members of the appellate defense bar expressing serious reservations. They argue its demands are unrealistic and it would be impractical, if not impossible, to implement.

"[T]wo particular concerns were discussed at the academy's annual retreat last week: the initiative's requirement that appellate attorneys handling court appointments in criminal cases also accept appointments in capital cases, and the strict five-year deadline for the state Supreme Court to decide death penalty appeals."


Also in today's DJ, Moskovitz's appellate column titled Appellate Oral Arguments Should Stress Justice, Not Case Law. The article quotes retired 5th District Presiding Justice James Ardaiz: "You have to make the judges blink. Most of all, they want to do what is right. They don't like upholding a case which has a result that doesn't seem right to them." "If you are an appellant and you can't convince the judges that the error affects the credibility of the result, then you are probably talking to people who are just waiting for you to finish talking."
Myron's bottom line: "be bold. Find a strong theme, then deliver it with conviction. It's probably your only chance to make oral argument worthwhile."

And from today's MetNews: "The Committee of Bar Examiners reported Friday that 35.7 percent of the applicants passed the February 2016 bar exam." That's about 1700 new lawyers. [See Bar Exam Pass Rate Sinks Again in The Recorder.]

The CM/ECF system will be unavailable on Saturday, May 21, 2016, from 8:00 A.M. PDT to 5 P.M. PDT, and again on Friday May 27, 2016, from 12:01 A.M. PDT to 6:00 A.M. PDT for planned maintenance and testing.

The 9th Circuit reports that its CM/ECF system will be unavailable on Saturday, May 21, 2016, from 8:00 A.M. PDT to 5 P.M. PDT, and again on Friday May 27, 2016, from 12:01 A.M. PDT to 6:00 A.M. PDT for planned maintenance and testing.