Calif. Death Penalty Reviews Upheld

FRESNO, Calif. (KMJ) — The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed a federal judge’s ruling, which declared California’s capital punishment system unconstitutional, because appeals take too long.

Justices have ruled that the long delays prisoners face on death row, do not constitute cruel and unusual punishment.

They say the notion that death row inmates’ sentences have gone from death to one of “grave uncertainty and torture,” has “no support” in legal precedent, and is illogical.

This case involved Ernest Dewayne Jones, who was sentenced to die nearly 20 years ago, for raping and killing the mother of his girlfriend.