Richard Dieter Quotations

What's needed is some growing evidence from the states that they want to ban executing minors. More state governors and legislatures have to weigh in. They need some momentum in the next year or two for the justices to say, now is the time to decide this.

Lethal injection is the only method being used now, for all practical purposes. The chemicals are almost the same in all the states, and they're being challenged in all the states.

New Jersey has stopped all executions. Four stays of execution have been granted on this issue in various states. The US supreme court has taken a case related to this issue.

Someone, either a judge or a jury, must determine beyond a reasonable doubt that government has proven an aggravating factor beyond guilt.

This stage of the penalty phase was probably harder for the government, but that was before he took the stand and connected all the dots for the jury.

This seems to be cobbled together in short notice and without significant review. It's not absolutely essential that each person be executed on time, if there's this kind of uncertainty. I find it somewhat amazing that they could have a judge change the procedure and then change it again all while this person's not knowing even how he's going to be executed.

Every lawyer worth his salt is putting in a lethal injection challenge.

Florida's all alone out here. That's something that usually gets the (U.S.) Supreme Court's attention. Sometimes you want to preempt that and change your own law before the Supreme Court steps in and you have no law.

Fees go up. What makes this case high is not 2005, however, but how unusual a case it was.

There's still debate, but it doesn't frame the issue as strongly as someone who's saying the statute is unfair or begging for his life.

There's now considerable public skepticism about whether all those being executed are really guilty and that has cast doubt on the whole system.

It would be counterproductive to force the issue, then have a 5-4 vote that juveniles can be executed, ... The issue then may not be revisited for a long time. It may be a better thing for the issue to percolate, for states to ban executing minors on their own, instead of being forced to by the courts.

These cases are not yet a trend of where things are going. The meatier issues are still unpredictable at this point.

Sometimes you get the wrong person. Sometimes you are driven by prejudices.

Commutation is meant for when the law hasn't caught up with society,

This is a proper action for the governor to take. It's not right to shy away from a difficult question or even shy away from reopening cases when there is a chance that something new might be learned.

It's just an unsolvable kind of problem. We're never going to have a carefree system of painless executions.

If you are a lawyer you are filing something just like Clarence Hill as we speak.

If you find an innocent man who has been executed, that's a final nail through that.

I don't think most people want it to be a big display again. People are just as happy not to see it.

You want to put on a case that enables the jury to see the humanity of this person.

The court may be willing to broaden what can be considered as a civil rights claim.