Intriguing discussion of judges’ experiences with death penalty case

Law360 has this notable new piece about judicial experiences with the death penalty.  The lengthy piece defies ready summary, but here are some snippets:

Law360 recently spoke to multiple judges with experience in capital practice about what it means to handle death penalty cases, which are legally complex and emotionally taxing.  Whatever their beliefs on the morality, effectiveness and fairness of the death penalty, the judges said they must put those feelings aside while they’re on the bench.

“I have to follow the law and I have to do my job,” said Gary B. Randall, a longtime state judge in Nebraska who sentenced three defendants to death throughout his career before retiring in 2020.

But many judges say they aren’t always prepared to handle cases involving capital punishment, and most of them learned to do it with little to no instruction.  “You have to learn on the job. You take the cases as they come and you do your best,” Michael A. Wolff, the dean emeritus of Saint Louis University School of Law and a former chief justice of the Supreme Court of Missouri, told Law360.

Judges have the option to attend the National Judicial College, a nonprofit based at the University of Nevada, Reno that provides training for judges. In January, the college received a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance to prepare state judges to handle death penalty cases.  According to a statement by the college, the grant will fund two years’ worth of programming that includes quarterly webinars, a six-week online course, a bench practice book, a clearinghouse of model orders, and eight podcasts.

Each phase of a death penalty trial presents judges with unique challenges, from impaneling a jury to providing instructions before a verdict.  Judges must weed out jurors who don’t want to be involved with a case involving a possible death sentence.  They must show extreme attention to detail when considering aggravating or mitigating factors, including severe mental illness or disability, that could make the difference in whether a defendant lands on death row.  And because capital cases are almost always high-profile, judges must also learn to manage the media.

In addition to the technical and legal issues, presiding over death penalty cases carries a heavy mental and emotional burden that judges can struggle to deal with.  It’s something that the National Judicial College is also looking to address as part of its new programming lineup, which will offer on-site courses in four locations around the country on a broad range of topics, including “judicial wellness and vicarious trauma,” according to a statement announcing the grant.