Gov. Chafee Declines

[Mass]

First, kudos to Chafee to be principled on this. It would be so easy for him to turn the prisoner to federal custody and wash his hands of it.

But I wonder how Governor Perry, big supporter of death penalty and state rights at the same time, reacts on this. (I do not really, but this points out to the hypocrisy of all those who insist so much that state rights are so important. They are when we agree, and stop being when we do not)

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/30/opinion/gov-chafee-declines.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

Gov. Chafee Declines

Gov. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island took a principled position when he refused an order from a federal court to transfer a prisoner to federal custody for prosecution because that would expose the prisoner to the death penalty. As Mr. Chafee said in a statement, that is “a penalty consciously rejected by the State of Rhode Island, even for those guilty of the most heinous crimes.
..
But the case raises a serious legal question: whether the governor’s refusal violates the Constitution and its clause making federal law, including a federal writ, “the supreme Law of the Land,” or whether, under the Interstate Agreement on Detainers, a governor has a right to refuse to hand over a prisoner to the federal government the same way he or she can refuse another state. In asking the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit to vindicate him, Mr. Chafee makes a good but not guaranteed case that he can deny Washington’s request.

[xchrom]

1. Interesting. Nt

[Solly Mack]

2. K&R

[bornskeptic]

3. Good for Chafee, but he's not likely to win if the US continues to insist.

Hopefully the US Attorney will come to his senses. It would cost the federal government millions of dollars to try the person, to house him in federal prison for years, and to litigate all the appeals if he receives the death penalty. Even if he was sentenced to death, he'd probably end up dying of old age on Death Row. The federal government has executed 3 people since 1976. Rhode Island is promising to keep him locked up for the rest of his life and pay all the costs. It's really silly for the federal government to turn down a deal like that.