This Death Penalty Appeal "brief" is anything but brief! It comprises nearly 500 pages, some of which represents complex legal wrangling or language; but much is perfectly comprehensible to any layman. I am neither a lawyer nor a law student nor a Ph.D. candidate. I am a U.S. citizen, a voter, a San Diego resident; I have served on a felony jury. I can read; I have an online Law dictionary. Understanding this case in written form is not all that difficult if one makes the effort. [This brief is available through San Diego Law Library.org].
Contents: There are 40 unnumbered (Roman numeral) pages and 448 numbered ones. The unnumbered pages contain introductory material: the Table of Contents, the Points and Authorities (case law citations), and the Case Summaries from both Prosecution and Defense points of view. The appellate Arguments begin on page 60. Arguments are divided between Guilt Phase and Penalty phase of the 2002 trial:
Guilt Phase: Fifteen Arguments
These comprise the heart of the matter (in my layman's view):
Six arguments on Admissibility of Evidence, especially Warrants, pornography.
Six arguments on Jury instructions, especially the Kidnap charge, dog scent.
Three arguments on the jury itself (2 on Selection and 1 Sequestration)
Update: Appellant's Supplemental Opening Brief filed 2/26/2013 (see above)
Penalty Phase section contains:
Five arguments specific to the penalty phase only,
Five arguments extended from the guilt phase, and
Four arguments regarding the California death penalty.
(See post titled "Penalty Phase;" my discussion tabled until further notice. This blog author prefers to focus on the Guilt phase arguments.)
There is no such thing as 'jury error' of course. A valid jury with valid input and "due process" does not make errors.
The history of the jury in the USA shows immense power vested in this body of twelve, the "trier of fact," and the immutability of its decision, right or wrong.
If something goes awry, as it apparently did in this case, the responsibility for error falls upon the trial judge, who must have done something wrong.
Defendant Westerfield did not receive a fair trial, as guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. He received instead "undue" process. More simply: "Garbage in, garbage out."
The judge must act as the legal shepherd of the jury, his sheep. He must not lead them into wrong pastures or beside toxic waters, or allow goats to take over leadership of the flock. If something goes awry, the judge must answer for it. Thus the appellate process (in this case) focuses on "judicial error" only - rather than on those familiar specific facts previously argued in the courtroom and/or the media.
It is the judge who oversees the operation of this human machine: (a) jury selection, composition, and protection; (b) admissibility (or not) of trial evidence, testimony, and argument; and (c) jury instructions: admonishment as to what to do and how to do it, under the law.
The 15 guilt phase Arguments outlined above focus on exactly these things: (1) Composition of and influences upon the jury itself - 3 arguments; (b) admissibility (or not) of the evidence - 6 arguments; (c) instruction on crime and the law, reason and inference in regard to the evidence - the "weighing" process - 6 arguments. (Jury instructions are the "minefield" of judges, according to the late Judge Wm. Mudd).
All the above is now submitted to the "mountaintop" (Supreme Ct.) for its review of the issues
Appellant's Opening Brief
Attorney's version: "This case presents the extraordinary spectacle of a capital trial proceeding on a no-time- waiver basis in a highly charged atmosphere of public passion and media frenzy. "Nonetheless, the orderly and systematic deter-mination of the truth under the rules of evidence, in a calm courtroom, removed from the pressure of external passions, all in the fulfillment of the constitutional mandate of a fundamentally fair trial, would have been possible here, but still did not occur due to significant legal missteps and errors. "For any or all of the reasons adduced as legal error in the guilt phase, Mr. Westerfield's convictions for kidnapping and capital murder must be reversed; "for any or all of the reasons adduced as penalty phase error, at least the death judgment imposed on Mr. Westerfield must be reversed." |