Quote:
Originally posted by shadokat
Yes, what is the special circumstances??
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According to
this website, there are certain situations that could raise a conviction of murder to being punishable by the death penalty.
Taken from the website:
"Given a court-tested model, California and other states adopted similar "narrowing" statutes that listed rape, multiple killings and several other circumstances that could raise murder to an offense punishable by death.
But pressure to fight crime in the late 1970s led California to expand the list of death-eligible offenses once again.
A 1978 initiative sponsored by Republican state Sen. John Briggs of Orange County more than doubled the number of special circumstances to 26, including, for example, murders of firefighters or judges, murders while committing sodomy or wrecking trains, murders by poison or while lying in wait and murders that were "especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel, manifesting exceptional depravity." A ballot argument said the initiative would ensure that capital punishment applied to "every murderer."
Later bills and initiatives created more special circumstances. In 1982, the Legislature added the knowing use of armor-piercing bullets. In 1990, Proposition 115 added mayhem or rape by an instrument. In 1996, Proposition 196 added carjacking, murder of a juror and murder by shooting a gun from a car.
By 1997, any one of 32 special circumstances could make a first-degree murderer eligible for capital punishment. The California statute seemed ripe for attack."