Federal Judicial Center -- 2004
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        (i)    Acknowledgments
        (ii)    Introduction

(ii)    Introduction

From the mid-1970s to the late 1980s, no death-penalty cases were tried in the federal courts because existing federal statutes did not meet the constitutional standards set forth by the Supreme Court. Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U.S. 153 (1976); Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238 (1972). Passage of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act in 1988 reinstated the federal death penalty for a limited number of crimes, and the Federal Death Penalty Act of 1994 authorized death as a sentencing option for more than fifty additional crimes. [Footnote 1] After 1994, the number of federal defendants charged with death-penalty-eligible crimes and the number of cases in which the Attorney General authorized seeking the death penalty increased substantially. [Footnote 2]

Over the past several years, federal judges who were assigned capital cases began making requests to the Federal Judicial Center (FJC) for information and assistance. As an immediate response, the FJC collected and distributed materials from judges with experience handling the earlier federal death-penalty cases, issued a series of Chambers to Chambers articles on important aspects of death-penalty case management, and added the topic to several judicial education programs.

This resource guide provides more detailed information, as well as examples of materials from actual death-penalty cases. In preparing this guide, FJC staff did the following:

• reviewed case materials from twenty of the first twenty-five federal judges who had handled post-Furman federal death-penalty cases;

• interviewed sixteen of those judges;

• interviewed defense counsel from several death-penalty cases;

• obtained and reviewed information from the Department of Justice regarding federal death-penalty prosecutions;

• obtained further case materials and information from the Federal Death Penalty Resource Counsel [Footnote 3];

• studied the Spencer Committee Report on defense representation in federal capital cases [Footnote 4]; and

• reviewed relevant statutes, case law, and judicial branch policies.

The purpose of this resource guide is to provide judges who are assigned capital cases with information about how other judges have handled these cases and an idea of what to expect as the case proceeds. The guide does not prescribe how such cases should be handled, and any examples of case-management approaches discussed should be considered illustrative. The guide should not be cited as legal authority.

This resource guide will be updated periodically as federal courts gain more experience with death-penalty cases. A second volume, focusing on capital habeas case management, is also being prepared.

FOOTNOTES:

1     Both statutes have been found to satisfy the constitutional standards set forth by the Supreme Court. See § II.F1 infra.

2     The numbers of defendants charged with death-penalty-eligible crimes from 1991 to 1997 were as follows: 1991—12, 1992—45, 1993—28, 1994—45, 1995—118, 1996—159, 1997—153. The numbers of cases in which the Attorney General authorized seeking the death penalty during the same years were as follows: 1991—6, 1992—16, 1993—5, 1994—7, 1995—17, 1996—20, 1997—31. Subcomm. on Fed. Death Penalty Cases, Comm. on Defender Servs., Judicial Conf. of the U.S., Recommendations Concerning the Cost and Quality of Defense Representation ii–iii (May 1998) [hereinafter Spencer Committee Report].

3     The Federal Death Penalty Resource Counsel (FDPRC) comprises experienced capital defense attorneys who are funded pursuant to the Criminal Justice Act to provide consultation and litigation support services to federal defenders, courts, and private defense counsel appointed in federal death-penalty prosecutions. FDPRC attorneys monitor all federal capital prosecutions, recruit and recommend qualified defense counsel for appointment, develop and present training programs, and maintain and make available to appointed counsel comprehensive litigation support materials. More information on the FDPRC can be found at the Web site www.capdefnet.org.

4     The "Spencer Committee" was a subcommittee of the Judicial Conference of the United States Committee on Defender Services, which was formed in 1997 by Judge Emmett Ripley Cox, then chair of the committee, to report on issues related to appointment and compensation of counsel in federal death-penalty cases. Recommendations made by the subcommittee in a May 1998 report were subsequently adopted as policy by the Judicial Conference and will be referred to throughout this guide. Members of the subcommittee were Judge James R. Spencer (E.D. Va.), chair; Judge Robin J. Cauthron (W.D. Okla.); and Judge Nancy G. Edmunds (E.D. Mich.).