Paradox: California Death Row Inmates Oppose Proposition 34

The lethal injection table at San Quentin Prison, California

Go figure.

California death row inmates oppose California Proposition 34 which will abolish the death penalty.

Why?

Prisoner appeal rights would be dramatically curtailed.

Like other state prisoners, the 725 inmates on California’s Death Row can’t vote. But if they could, there’s evidence that most of them would vote against a November ballot initiative to abolish the death penalty.

It’s not that they want to die, attorney Robert Bryan said. They just want to hang on to the possibility of proving that they’re innocent, or at least that they were wrongly convicted. That would require state funding for lawyers and investigators – funding that Proposition 34 would eliminate for many Death Row inmates after the first round of appeals.

I grow tired with the anti-capital punishment crowd, including state and federal judges who obstruct the enforcement of California law.

I, too, will be voting for California Proposition 34 in November, but it won’t be to preserve inmate appeal rights, but to obtain justice for the many victims of these convicted criminals.