Judicial Pressure
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The comments of Vista Superior Court Judge J. Morgan Lester to the district attorney’s office to reconsider the appropriateness of seeking the death penalty in the LaTwon Weaver murder case (Oct. 7) are disconcerting. The defendant committed a serious felony, one in which there was a substantial likelihood of severe injury or death to an innocent victim. In the course of that robbery, the defendant killed his victim. Even if the defendant didn’t plan to kill his victim, the victim’s death was foreseeable.
The people of California, speaking through their legislature, placed Weaver’s action squarely within that conduct meriting the death penalty. Had the legislature wished for the district attorney’s office to consider matters of family background, a defendant’s reputation, etc., in determining the appropriateness of the crime to be charged, it would have said so. It did not.
Judge Morgan’s comments can be reasonably construed as pressure upon the district attorney’s office not to prosecute the defendant to the full extent of the law.
RICHARD W. DITTBENNER
Professor of Law, Southwestern College
Chula Vista
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