Opinion ID: 844288
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Delay in Execution After Lengthy Confinement

Text: Finally, defendant contends the delay in his executionhe has been on death row for over 13 yearsconstitutes cruel and unusual punishment under the federal and state Constitutions, international law, covenants, treaties and norms. (See, e.g., Lackey v. Texas (1995) 514 U.S. 1045 [131 L.Ed.2d 304, 115 S.Ct. 1421] (mem. of Stevens, J., on denial of cert.).) As explained in People v. Anderson [(2001)] 25 Cal.4th [543,] 606 106 Cal.Rptr.2d 575, 22 P.3d 347], `we have consistently concluded, both before and since Lackey, that delay inherent in the automatic appeal process is not a basis for concluding that either the death penalty itself, or the process leading to its execution, is cruel and unusual punishment.' ( People v. Brown (2004) 33 Cal.4th 382, 404 [15 Cal.Rptr.3d 624, 93 P.3d 244].) Defendant advances no persuasive reason to reexamine this conclusion. Further, any reliance on international law or extraterritorial decisional law has no bearing on the validity of a death sentence that satisfies federal and state constitutional mandates. ( People v. Brown, supra, 33 Cal.4th at p. 404.)