[conspire] Hans Reiser found guilty

[Eric De MUND]

Dierdre, Rick, All,

Dire Red <deirdre at deirdre.net>:
> It's not possible to have a capital case be a bench trial.

Is this not true on a state-by-state basis? If so, when did this become
so in California? Post 2004? Or may one only request a bench trial on
appeal?

Reason I ask is that (paragraph 1 and) paragraph 18 of:

    http://bulk.resource.org/courts.gov/c/F3/404/404.F3d.1159.02-99008.html

                             404 F.3d 1159
                  Richard BOYDE, Petitioner-Appellant,
                                   v.
     Jill BROWN, Warden of California State Prison at San Quentin,*
                          Respondent-Appellee.
                             No. 02-99008.
             United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.
                  Argued and Submitted July 15, 2004.
                         Filed April 21, 2005.

state:

1   Richard Boyde was convicted in California state court of robbery,
    kidnaping for robbery and murder, and sentenced to death. He peti-
    tioned the district court for a writ of habeas corpus, challenging
    his conviction and sentence. The district court denied his petition,
    and Boyde now appeals.

18  There is also a plausible explanation for the prosecutor's sugges-
    tion that he would not seek the death penalty for Ellison: It had
    been the prosecution's theory all along that Boyde was the major
    culprit in Gibson's kidnaping and murder, and Ellison was the less-
    culpable follower. Thus, the prosecution had filed a statement of
    aggravation in Boyde's case, as it was required to do as a prerequi-
    site for presenting aggravating facts in support of the death penal-
    ty, but had filed no such statement as to Ellison. By advising the
    court that the death penalty would probably not be appropriate for
>>  Ellison, the prosecutor simply reassured the trial judge that, by
>>  granting the uncontested motion for a bench trial, the judge would
    not put himself in the position of making the life-and-death deci-
    sion as to Ellison.

leading me to believe that bench trials in California may be requested
even in capital cases.

Do you have a citation?

Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com>:
] What I _do_ know is that Reiser was bankrupted by the cost of his
] trial defence, so I imagine his real-world ability to carry out an
] appeal, irrespective of his case's merits, is slim to none.

This is sad, very sad. )-:

Eric
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