Final Thoughts on the Guzek Case
William R. Long, M. Div., Ph. D., J. D.*
[*Author of A Tortured History: The Story of Capital Punishment in Oregon. Eugene, OR: OCDLA, 2001 and several articles on the Oregon death penalty. Visiting Professor of Law, Willamette University College of Law.]
When Steve Duin began his recent five-part series on the crime and case of Randy Guzek, he mentioned that it was Shakespearean in its "tragedy, irony, and despair." He described the tragedy and despair of the case well. But what he didn't show is the thing most Oregonians will have to live with longest: the irony. This essay briefly probes the multiple ironies of the Guzek case, ironies that need to be faced if the death penalty in Oregon is workable for our day.
Irony # 1. The Oregon Death Penalty statute, which we carefully tinker with every legislative session, is in fact a mess, and the fact that many Justices on the US Supreme Court pointed that out last week ought to make prosecutor and defense alike stop screaming at each other for a minute and agree that the statute just doesn't work. It is a mess for several reasons: because we were the only state to model our penalty on Texas' flawed statute; because the future dangerousness test isn't clear; because even the Oregon Supreme Court (in Guzek III) applied the wrong substatute to the case; because the fourth question may or may not solely be a mitigation question; because the remand provision in ORS 138 conflicts with the sentencing provision in ORS 163. And so forth. And so on.
Irony # 2. The prosecutor most outspoken in support of the Oregon death penalty is discovering that the case that fell right into his lap 18 years ago will be the longest death penalty case in Oregon's history. It was a softball pitched right across the plate, and because of issues beyond even his control, the ball exploded on contact with the bat. We will not be able to execute Randy Guzek for at least 45 years after his crime. The reason for these 45 years is a combination of Guzek's being convicted under an untried statute and the reality of state postconviction relief, which had not been a reality in Oregon under our earlier experience with the death penalty.
Irony # 3. By the time Guzek is executed, if ever, we will have spent enough money on his case to have given at least 1000 Oregon kids full academic scholarships to the U of O. And, all the lawyers are to "blame," if that is the right word. After all, it took the state Supreme Court more than five years just to decide his last case. And, it was the state and not the defense, that appealed to the US Supreme Court. By the time of his execution, Oregon will have spent more on Randy Guzek than any other citizen in the history of the state. And, I think that is just the way that Guzek would have wanted it.
Irony # 4. By the time Guzek is executed, if ever, Oregonians will first have to witness a parade of other executions, many of men in their 60s, 70s and even 80s, who are quietly working through the system now (many of whom for as long as Guzek). That is, Guzek just has to "get in line." He will not receive preferential "fast track" treatment. For, if he does, why shouldn't Christian Longo too? Or, if anyone remembers the name, Dayton Leroy Rogers? And, the point is that when Oregonians witness their state putting to death men in their 70s, someone somewhere is going to ask the question, 'is this what the death penalty was supposed to do?'
Irony # 5. A fact known to very few people, is that the Oregon death penalty is working like clockwork in cases before the Oregon Supreme Court now except for about five very old cases, of which one is Guzek's. So, we have a two-tiered reality in death cases in Oregon that has nothing to do with the severity of the men's crimes (and, by the way, there are no women on Death Row). Some of our worst killers will be around the longest and will benefit most from repeal efforts that will no doubt come in the future.
And the final Irony is one I like the most. When Oregonians first voted to reinstate the death penalty in 1978 (it was thrown out by the Oregon Supreme Court in 1981, leading to the repassage of the statute in slightly different form in 1984), the statute had the following provision:
"The judgment of conviction and sentence of death shall be subject to automatic review by the Supreme Court within 60 days after certification of the entire record by the sentencing court, unless an additional period not exceeding 30 days is extended by the Supreme Court for good cause" (original sec. 5).
That is, the one thing Oregonians wanted to make sure of was that the cases would be handled fast.
There are things that can be done. Space doesn't permit an exposition of what those things are. But it is a good bet that if we just keep knocking our heads against each other in good adversarial fashion, the only real losers will be the people of Oregon.
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Copyright © 2004-2007 William R. Long |