State Supreme Court Justice Labels California Death Penalty Dysfunctional

Sacramento, CA — The chief justice of the California Supreme Court has some strong words on how the death penalty is handled in the state.

Ronald George says the state´s death penalty has become what he calls “dysfunctional” and he´s blaming lawmakers for looking the other way as 650 condemned inmates sit on death row.

Although California has the nation´s largest death row, there are no executions in sight as a federal judge considers whether the three-drug cocktail used to put inmates to death here is unconstitutionally cruel.

A formal death penalty moratorium proposed by some lawmakers failed to get out of an Assembly committee in January. The Legislature´s only recent action has been to approve $223 million last year for a new and larger death row with 768 cells.