Death-row inmate's defense cites jury nonfeasance

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ANNAPOLIS (AP) — Attorneys for a Maryland death-row inmate argued yesterday that their client's sentence should be overturned because a jury didn't use the highest standard of proof when weighing aggravating factors of his crime with mitigating circumstances.

But an assistant attorney general contended that courts have consistently approved Maryland's method of considering the factors in a death-penalty case.

Robert Biddle, who is representing Jody Lee Miles in a case before the state Court of Appeals, contends the process for weighing the circumstances of the crime is unconstitutional in Maryland because it doesn't use the court's highest threshold of certainty.

In a capital case, a jury is asked to recommend whether a person should receive a death sentence after the jury has convicted the accused beyond a reasonable doubt.

When the jury decides whether to recommend the death sentence, it is instructed to weigh the crime's aggravating factors that warrant a potential death sentence with mitigating circumstances, such as a person's upbringing. Juries are told to make that decision based on a preponderance of the evidence, rather than the higher threshold of beyond a reasonable doubt.

"We contend that the constitution requires that Maryland tell jurors you can't make that finding unless you find it beyond a reasonable doubt," Mr. Biddle said.

Mr. Biddle based his argument largely on a U.S. Supreme Court case last year, Cunningham v. California. The court ruled that a defendant can't be subject to a greater potential sentence merely by a preponderance of the evidence, instead of beyond a reasonable doubt.

James Williams, a Maryland assistant attorney general, argued that courts have continually approved using preponderance of evidence in weighing the aggravating and mitigating factors. He said capital cases were incompatible with the Cunningham case, which did not involve capital punishment.

Miles is on death row for the 1997 robbery and murder of theater manager Edward Atkinson of Salisbury. He is one of five men on death row in Maryland.