Policy Shift on Death Penalty Overwhelms Arizona Court
Maricopa County, one of the nation’s fastest growing counties, now has an additional distinction: It is also a leader in seeking the death penalty.
During his two years in office, Andrew P. Thomas, the county attorney, has nearly doubled the number of times that the office has sought the death penalty, even though the number of first-degree murder cases prosecuted by the county has remained more or less the same for a decade.
A policy change that he enacted has contributed to a backlog of capital cases here that has crippled the county’s public defender system, left roughly a dozen murder defendants without representation, and prompted rancor and demoralization in the agencies that defend capital cases. JENNIFER STEINHAUER in The New York Times.