Knowing Jeanine and knowing her approach, I'm sure she's justified. Securing a capital punishment conviction involves convincing a jury that the defendant is guilty, then obtaining the death penalty, usually from the same jury, in the penalty phase of the trial. For defense lawyers, that presents an even tougher task, said Kevin Doyle, the state capital defender, because the lawyers seemingly contradict themselves in cases in which the defendant is convicted. The Capital Defender's Office was established under the state's death penalty statute in 1995, to ensure those who cannot afford adequate representation in capital cases receive effective counsel. William Aronwald, a former federal and state prosecutor who defended a client in a Florida capital case in 1992, said that when a client reaches the penalty phase of a murder trial, it's like coming to bat with two strikes.
Death penalty is one of the toughest cases for the defense because so much is at stake.
Preparation, he said, leads to success. You have to know your case inside out, and you have to know the defendant better than he knows himself. To do that, the jury has to have the utmost confidence in the prosecutor. Sean Byrne of the New York Prosecutors Training Institute in Albany said that's not unusual, as he also dismissed speculation that politics may have influenced Pirro. Of 322 defendants charged with first-degree murder since the death penalty was revived, prosecutors have sought it in just 43 of those cases.