19 May 2017 :

The Alabama House passed SB 187, a bill that proponents say will cut down on the time that death row inmates can appeal their sentence. The Fair Justice Act, which passed the Alabama Senate last month, was approved by the House in a 74-26 vote, streamlines the appeals process by allowing death row inmates to exercise their 2 appeals concurrently instead of consecutively. That would occur by having the inmates be assigned 2 appellate teams working simultaneously. The bill, called the Fair Justice Act, is sponsored by State Sen. Cam Ward, R-Alabaster. The bill is now awaiting action in the judiciary committee of the Alabama House of Representatives. The bill has to go back to the Senate after the House amended the bill. Rep. Lynn Greer, R-Rogersville, who is supporting the bill in the House, said the legislation could cut the time for inmates to exhaust their appeals from 20 years to 10 years. The Alabama Bar Association urged the House not to pass the bill, saying the legislation would "ironically likely increase the overall amount of time that it takes to litigate a capital post-conviction case." The association, which has no position on the death penalty, cautioned that the bill prevents death row inmates from changing their petitions after the deadline and mandates that courts waive later changes. "This seriously harms individuals whose 1st appeals lawyers failed to investigate or otherwise provided inadequate representation. These waived claims will still necessitate subsequent review by state and federal judges who will need to evaluate whether waiver was caused by ineffective counsel and who could send the cases back to lower state courts for additional review.