California death penalty ruled unconstitutional by federal judge

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- A federal judge ruled California's death penalty unconstitutional on Wednesday, marking a legal victory for those who want the death penalty abolished in the state.

The ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Cormac J. Carney follows a similar ruling in Northern California that has kept the death penalty on hold in California for years.

Carney said lengthy and unpredictable delays "resulted in a system in which arbitrary factors ... determine whether an individual will actually be executed."

"It has resulted in a system that serves no penological purpose. Such a system is unconstitutional," Carney wrote.

The ruling came in the case of Ernest Dewayne Jones, a prisoner who was condemned to death on April 7, 1995, but is still awaiting execution. He had been convicted in the rape and murder of Julia Miller, his girlfriend's mother.

"That is the reality of the death penalty in California today," Carney wrote. "Allowing this system to continue to threaten Mr. Jones with the slight possibility of death ... violates the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment."

With his ruling, Carney vacated Jones' death sentence.

"Since 1978, when the current death penalty system was adopted by California voters, over 900 people have been sentenced to death for their crimes. Of them, only 13 have been executed. For the rest, the dysfunctional administration of California's death penalty system has resulted, and will continue to result, in an inordinate and unpredictable period of delay preceding their actual execution," U.S. District Court Judge Cormac J. Carney stated in his ruling.

Los Angeles County juries have sent more people to death row than any other area of California.