Arizona Supreme Court Justice Ruth McGregor announced the formation of the Capital Case Task Force on Feb. 12 to address the growing backlog of death penalty cases in Maricopa County.
“It’s a response to the number of cases and what we see looming on the horizon,” said Justice Michael Ryan, who has been appointed to chair the task force.
Currently, approximately 140 death penalty cases are pending in Maricopa County and assuming a fair number will result in death sentences, the Arizona Supreme Court could soon be swamped in a “severe workload” addressing direct mandatory appeals, said Ryan.
“We just don’t have the time and the resources to handle two or three cases per year per justice so we have to be ready for that,” said Ryan, who as a trial judge sentenced two individuals to death.
The problem appears to be a shortage of qualified defense attorneys to handle the cases, but the entire process on the trial court and appellate level will be examined, he said.
Ryan also said he hopes the task force will be able to overcome a growing feud between Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas’ office and capital defense attorneys with the Office of Contract Counsel.
The County Attorney’s Office has “graciously” lent use of two very experienced capital case prosecutors to have all “stakeholders” involved in the process, said Ryan.
“We expect they will help us work through this problem, he added.”
Report will be ready by summer
The task force will meet for the first time on Feb. 23 and Ryan said he expects a completed report with possible recommendations for court rules and statutes to be available by summer.
McGregor said the backlog needs to be addressed without compromising legal integrity and creating costly re-litigation.
“We need to be certain that cases are appropriately handled and I am confident that the Capitol Case Task Force led by Justice Ryan, a former criminal prosecutor, criminal trial judge, and appellate judge, will be able to find ways to accomplish that goal,” she said.
The task force’s members are:
James P. Beene and Robert J. Shutts of the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, Paul Prato of the Maricopa County Public Defender’s Office, Maricopa County Superior Court judges Ronald Reinstein and James Keppel, Ken Cattani of the Arizona Attorney General’s Office, Mark Kennedy of the Maricopa County Office of Contract Counsel, Judge Ann Scott Timmer of the Division One Court of Appeals, Judge Stephen McNamee of the U.S. District Court in Arizona, Gov. Janet Napolitano’s victims’ adviser Dan Levey, James Belanger of Lewis and Roca law firm and Donna Hallem, a staff attorney to the Arizona Supreme Court.