Death row convicts can no longer drag out their appeals for decades, thanks to a new law that went into effect last Friday.
Rep. Brian Glorioso (R-Slidell) authored House Bill 675, which, among other things, speeds up deadlines in death row cases.
“The purpose of the bill is to get these things resolved, once and for all, and not have them drag on for 20 years or 25 years,” Glorioso said.
Glorioso says the purpose of the new law is to give the victims’ families the swift justice that they deserve.
“Constantly putting the victims and their families through these heart-wrenching court appearances over a long period of time. We want the defendant to have their day in court and bring whatever appeals they want to have, get it before the court, get it resolved, and then get these cases off the books,” Glorioso explained.
Glorioso says under the old law, death row convicts and their attorneys were incentivized to delay the proceedings for as long as possible, forcing the families of the victims to wait until final justice is served.
“Even though they may not have a legitimate assertion of innocence, but they know they can frustrate the system by following these constant post-conviction reliefs and letting them sit and not moving forward and clogging up the system,” Glorioso noted.
Glorioso says the convict is still afforded due process, including the ability to get DNA testing. They just no longer have an infinite amount of time to do so.