Distribution of death penalty cases comes down to ‘luck’ of draw
Brad Dicken | The Chronicle-Telegram
ELYRIA — Most criminal cases in county Common Pleas Court are randomly assigned by a computer.
But not when the case involves the possibility of the death penalty.
In those cases, determining the judge comes down to the number that comes out of a rust-colored plastic billiards pill bottle.
A random draw is the only fair way to make sure the computer doesn’t pile death penalty cases — and all the work that comes with them — on a single judge, Administrative Judge Edward Zaleski said.
“Under the old method, they were stacking up on one judge,” he said.
So about 15 years ago, the county’s judges decided to make a change and use a random draw method, removing judges from the pool as they’re assigned a case until every judge has gotten one.
Then, all the judges’ numbers go back in the bottle and the whole process starts over.
Thursday — when Decio Rodrigues Jr. was arraigned on capital murder charges in the January slaying of grocer Jose Gonzalez Sr. — was the first time since 2005 that every judge in the county had their name in the bottle once again.
Defense attorney Kenneth Ortner drew the No. 5 “pill” from the bottle as his client looked on — meaning his case lands on the docket of Common Pleas Court Judge Mark Betleski, who received the last death penalty case in the last round of the drawings.
Betleski said he takes the responsibility seriously but also knows it means a lot more work.
“I love a good challenge, and a death penalty is a good challenge for the court,” he said.
Judges and attorneys who handle death penalty cases must take ongoing legal education to maintain their ability to work the cases. Betleski said the cases take so long — sometimes years — because of lengthy legal proceedings to guarantee the defendants get as fair a trial as possible.
Jury selection alone can take more than a week as compared to about a half day for most other cases.
The process takes a long time for a reason, Betleski said: To make sure everything is on the record in case an appeals court overturns a conviction sometimes more than a decade down the road.
“While it is the ultimate price, no one is guaranteed more fair treatment in this century than a death penalty defendant because of the procedures we follow and the training we get,” he said.
In an odd twist on the process, defense attorney Mike Duff, who vehemently opposes the death penalty, is the one who gave the judges the pill bottle they use.
He can’t recall how it came about, only that it occurred several years ago.
“I don’t like the death penalty,” Duff said, succinctly.
Contact Brad Dicken at 329-7147 or bdicken@chroniclet.com.
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Filed by Brad Dicken | The Chronicle-Telegram February 15th, 2008 in Top Stories.
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