GOP criticizes Biden judicial nominee's defense of death row inmate

[j brown's body]

"A public defender nominated by President Joe Biden to serve on a federal appeals court was criticized by Senate Republicans on Wednesday for helping successfully overturn a death row inmate's sentence, calling her a "zealot" for fighting capital punishment. ...She is one of 23 nominees with experience as a public defender that Biden has tapped for the federal bench – a record number, stemming from Biden's push to increase not just the racial and gender diversity of judges but also to draw nominees from a wider array of professional backgrounds. Freeman, a lawyer at the Federal Community Defender Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania since 2009, said she believed "the justice system works best when both sides have quality representation."

...Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, a Republican, labeled Freeman a "zealot against the death penalty" as he and others criticized her advocacy for a Pennsylvania death row inmate whose sentence the U.S. Supreme Court ultimately overturned in 2016. Republican Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri cited "extremely disturbing" claims in a concurring opinion now-retired Pennsylvania Supreme Court chief justice Ronald Castille issued when his court upheld Williams' sentence that claimed Freeman's office pursued an "obstructionist anti-death penalty agenda."

Freeman remarked "that was his opinion."

The U.S. Supreme Court's own decision had been based on the failure by Castille, a Republican who prosecuted Williams as Philadelphia's district attorney before joining Pennsylvania's high court, to step aside from hearing Williams' appeal."

Link

Not surprised by the name-calling and disparagement they use on this capable black woman, but in this case, the Supreme Court said she is right. Execution-happy Republicans senators' position that this inmate should have not even received legal representation. Castille, the judge who was overturned clearly thinks as a old white guy in a robe, he can do whatever he wants.

 

[Greenbeard]

Wait, Hawley and Cruz think public defenders should be trying to get their clients executed?

 

[j brown's body]

Wait, Hawley and Cruz think public defenders should be trying to get their clients executed?

I don't think either one of these clowns would think twice about sending an innocent man to the death chamber.

 

[Gateman_Wen]

Wait, Hawley and Cruz think public defenders should be trying to get their clients executed?

Wait, Hawley and Cruz think?

 

[CaughtInThe]

uh. that's the job.

 

[Credence]

Wow. Here is some background from 2016. Cruz who claims to be a constitutionalist should be ashamed of himself.

June 9, 2016 10:20 AM

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday sided with a death row inmate in a ruling warning of the hazards of judicial bias, slamming Pennsylvania’s former chief justice for not stepping aside in a murder case in which he earlier had served as a prosecutor.

The court’s 5-3 decision gave Terrance Williams, convicted in the 1984 bludgeoning murder of a 56-year-old man in Philadelphia, a fresh chance to challenge his death sentence before the state’s top court due to now-retired judge Ronald Castille’s actions.

“Where a judge has had an earlier significant, personal involvement as a prosecutor in a critical decision in the defendant’s case, the risk of actual bias in the judicial proceeding rises to an unconstitutional level,” Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in the ruling.
================================
The U.S. Supreme Court reversed the state’s court decision, giving Williams a new hearing before that court to challenge his death sentence.

The ruling made clear to judges that they have to be aware of the potential for the appearance of bias.

Much more at link: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...ty-judge-for-not-stepping-aside-idUSKCN0YV1MR

 

[upsideguy]

"A public defender nominated by President Joe Biden to serve on a federal appeals court was criticized by Senate Republicans on Wednesday for helping successfully overturn a death row inmate's sentence, calling her a "zealot" for fighting capital punishment. ...She is one of 23 nominees with experience as a public defender that Biden has tapped for the federal bench – a record number, stemming from Biden's push to increase not just the racial and gender diversity of judges but also to draw nominees from a wider array of professional backgrounds. Freeman, a lawyer at the Federal Community Defender Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania since 2009, said she believed "the justice system works best when both sides have quality representation."

...Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, a Republican, labeled Freeman a "zealot against the death penalty" as he and others criticized her advocacy for a Pennsylvania death row inmate whose sentence the U.S. Supreme Court ultimately overturned in 2016. Republican Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri cited "extremely disturbing" claims in a concurring opinion now-retired Pennsylvania Supreme Court chief justice Ronald Castille issued when his court upheld Williams' sentence that claimed Freeman's office pursued an "obstructionist anti-death penalty agenda."

Freeman remarked "that was his opinion."

The U.S. Supreme Court's own decision had been based on the failure by Castille, a Republican who prosecuted Williams as Philadelphia's district attorney before joining Pennsylvania's high court, to step aside from hearing Williams' appeal."

Link

Not surprised by the name-calling and disparagement they use on this capable black woman, but in this case, the Supreme Court said she is right. Execution-happy Republicans senators' position that this inmate should have not even received legal representation. Castille, the judge who was overturned clearly thinks as a old white guy in a robe, he can do whatever he wants.

Three days into this nominee and that is the best they got? A public defender doing her job to the best of her ability? I surprised they aren't outraged that she defended guilty people. Seems like Biden made a good choice.

uh. that's the job.

Love how you got to the point in three word

 

[Deuce]

Right wingers super mad the state wasn't allowed to kill someone