Law Commons^™

Averting Mistaken Executions By Adopting The Model Penal Code's Exclusion Of Death In The Presence Of Lingering Doubt, Margery Malkin Koosed

Northern Illinois University Law Review

This article urges adopting the Model Penal Code's exclusion of the death penalty when the evidence does not foreclose all doubt respecting the defendant's guilt. Adopting a modified version of the Code's section 210.6(1)(f) would both save innocent lives and lessen burdens on our justice system. While the trial jury may convict on proof beyond a reasonable doubt of capital murder, the case would not proceed to a penalty phase unless jurors found the elements proven by a stronger standard. Illinois is now reevaluating its system of capital punishment, desperately seeking means of averting the execution of innocents. That real …