It is never enough to want to kill someone; the desire to murder is always accompanied by the desire to do so quickly and without question. One could liken it to a madness that makes one talk quickly, ranting and foaming at the mouth. While it was ultimately thought that King George suffered from Acute Intermittent Porphyria, it remains to be seen what afflicts the modern day proponents of the death penalty.

How else does one explain the Florida legislature’s passage of a new bill “streamlining” (such a beautiful euphemism: “streamlining”; what do the British call it? “Redundancies”. Such a way with words) the death penalty process. What they really mean is jetlining it. Making it fast. Quicker than quick. No room or time for questions or doubt. Under the bill – “The Timely Justice Act” – deadlines for filing appeals are getting shorter and the time between an affirmance by the Florida Supreme Court and the issuance of an execution warrant has been reduced. Because it isn’t like there have been 24 people exonerated in Florida who were on death row. Because doing it fast is the same as doing it right.

“This is not about a question of innocence, this is about making sure that timely justice is realized,” [Republican Senator Rob] Bradley said.

Bradenton Herald. [More here, here, here and here.] It is not a question of innocence, for innocence is irrelevant. The only dynamic in this game is finality. Once it is done, it must never be spoken of again. For if we speak of it, we must acknowledge that the system doesn’t work. And if the system doesn’t work, maybe we can’t fix it. And if we can’t fix it, maybe we can only get rid of it. But it’s not about innocence. It’s about speed. It’s about victims. It’s not like DNA could tell you if he’s really guilty or not. And even if it did, would you care?

Willie Manning thought you would, but prosecutors in Mississippi didn’t. Manning, who sits on death row, inches away from execution, doesn’t have much direct evidence linking him to the murders.

There is no physical evidence linking Manning to the 1992 murders of two Mississippi State University students. The “jailhouse informant” who once told trial jurors that Manning “confessed” to the crime, has since recanted, telling defense lawyers he thought he would receive “consideration” from prosecutors for incriminating Manning. And Mississippi officials now are refusing to test DNA and fingerprints found at the crime scene — evidence which did not directly incriminate Manning before, has never been tested using modern procedures, and which might definitely resolve the case one way or the other.

But there’s more. The FBI has sent letters in the past days to Manning’s lawyers, disavowing their own “forensic science” that was used to convict Manning. And so today, after just last week denying Manning’s request for a stay 5-4, the Mississippi Supreme Court reversed course and agreed to stay his execution 8-1. Eight-to-One. There was still one. The Madness of Justice Randolph:

The letter also states that the Department of Justice is “assist[ing] [the Innocence Project and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers] in their evaluations.” “The Innocence Project supports a moratorium on capital punishment.” The “NACDL has been an outspoken critic of the death penalty system. Of critical concern is the language contained in the first FBI report stating that, “[g]iven the abbreviated time frame for review, the FBI requests the Innocence Project (IP) to advise as to whether or not they agree with the FBI’s conclusions as soon as possible.” Although the connectivity and expediency by which this review was accomplished is mind boggling, I should not be surprised, given that the families of the victims of the clandestine “Fast and Furious” gun running operation can’t get the Department of Justice to identify the decision makers (whose actions resulted in the death of a border agent and many others) after years of inquiry, and that this is the same Department of Justice that grants and enforces Miranda warnings to foreign enemy combatants.” [emphasis in original]

The madness is upon him. Manning must be executed because fast and furious Obama and the FBI have juxtaposed the commission of the offenses of felonies in the circumvention of the current regime and the syncopation of the circumstances of the revolution of the conspiracy of the freedom of guns and religion in this Communist extravaganza.

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There’s another form of madness at play here – and that is blame. If there is a fault with the system, that fault lies with the defense; if there is a problem, the problem is too many rights. It seems that the Constitution has become a roadblock on the fastrack to summary justice and execution.

The Florida “Let’s Speed up the Murder Yeehaw!” Bill has the following provision:

Notwithstanding another provision of law, an attorney employed by the state or appointed pursuant to s. 27.711 may not represent a person charged with a capital offense at trial or on direct appeal or a person sentenced to death in a post conviction proceeding if, in two separate instances, a court, in a capital post conviction proceeding, determined that such attorney provided constitutionally deficient representation and relief was granted as a result. This prohibition on representation shall be for a period of 5 years, which commences at the time relief is granted after the highest court having jurisdiction to review the deficient representation determination has issued its final order affirming the second such determination.

and this one:

(2) In a capital postconviction proceeding in which it has been determined that an attorney of record provided constitutionally deficient representation and relief has been granted as a result of such determination, after the highest court having jurisdiction to review such determination has issued its final order affirming the determination, the court making such determination shall furnish a copy of the findings to The Florida Bar for appropriate disciplinary action.

Blame the defendant; blame the lawyer. It’s taking too long. We never make mistakes. There never is a “report the prosecutor; fire the prosecutor” provision. The system cannot make mistakes; the system cannot admit fault. If the lawyer caused a problem, punish the lawyer. Nevermind that the specter of habeas is already a problem in the criminal defense bar with many taking the position that it’s a lawsuit against them personally, causing them to gleefully throw their clients under the bus, thus further compounding the failure of justice.

But can one really blame Florida when its an attitude that permeates from the top? A week or so ago, the United States Supreme Court did the unthinkable. It dismissed as improvidently granted [PDF] Boyer v. Louisiana. What that means is that after deciding to decide the important issue of just who pays when the system can’t pay to prosecute the cases prosecutors initiate, 5 justices of the august court decided that they didn’t want to decide that issue after all. Not because it isn’t an important issue, but because it was the defendant’s fault for raising that issue:

In sum, the record shows that the single largest share of the delay in this case was the direct result of defense requests for continuances, that other defense motions caused substantial additional delay, and that much of the rest of the delay was caused by events beyond anyone’s control. It is also quite clear that the delay caused by the defense likely worked in petitioner’s favor. The state court observed that petitioner’s assertions of his speedy trial right were “more perfunctory than aggressive.” 2010–693, p. 34 (La. App. 3 Cir. 2/2/11), 56 So. 3d 1119, 1143.

…

And as noted, most of this delay was caused by the many defense requests for continuances of   hearings on the issue of funding. If the defense had not sought and obtained those continuances, the trial might well have commenced at a much earlier date—and might have reached a conclusion far less favorable to the defense.

Justice Alito, apparently with a straight face, because he just gone writing that if only the damn defense didn’t raise that issue of the systemic lack of funding for capital defendants, the case wouldn’t have taken 7 years and we’d have had a death sentence already. So it’s the defendant’s fault that his right to a speedy trial was violated, but we’ll never say that because that would mean a new trial. So dismissed. And good luck with the next case, because the money still isn’t there but don’t you dare bring it up again.

Justice apparently need only be speedy when it is racing toward execution. The rest of the time, the system could grind itself to a halt for all anyone cares.

“Only God can judge,” Matt Gaetz, a Republican who sponsored the bill in the House of Representatives, said last week during House debate. “But we sure can set up the meeting.”

Let’s be sure we’re sending the right person to that meeting, first.