Special sessions take up death sentencing: high court ruling vacates some death sentences and prompts review in several states.

Legislatures in Colorado and Arizona hastened into special session to revise their laws after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled this summer that a death sentence imposed by a judge, rather than a jury, was unconstitutional.

The high court stated June 24 in Ring vs. Arizona that a defendant's constitutional right to trial by jury was violated when a judge, not a jury, decided on the death penalty as is done in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana and Nebraska. The ruling potentially affects 168 death row inmates in those five states where judges alone may determine life or death.

Colorado lawmakers approved legislation that returns the sentencing determination in a capital case to the trial jury, whose decision must be unanimous.

The state has used the three-judge panel procedure since 1995. Frustration that the panels rarely imposed death sentences prompted proposals in recent years to go back to a unanimous jury decision or to a single-judge ruling. "I'm satisfied we did the right thing in restoring death penalty decisions to a unanimous jury," said Senator Ken Gordon, the Senate's Judiciary Committee chair. "I don't expect it will change very much who and how many we sentence to death."

In special session just a few weeks later, the Arizona Legislature also passed an emergency measure that requires a jury, rather than a judge, to determine whether the death penalty will be imposed. Arizona and Colorado join 24 of the other 38 states with a death penalty in requiring a unanimous jury to determine whether a defendant will be sentenced to death.

In Arizona, the state's death penalty was essentially put on hold, with courts delaying scheduled murder trials, appeals and sentencings in capital cases in the interim between the Supreme Court ruling and the Aug. 1 enactment. Meanwhile, legislative leaders, the state's attorney general and others huddled to prepare legislation for the special session.

"We quickly restored Arizona's death penalty in an efficient three-day session," said House Speaker Jim Weiers. He said the Arizona public strongly supports the death penalty, especially following the recent series of violent acts against children.

"While there was some noise by a small number of death penalty opponents, most lawmakers understood the need to quickly conform our law to the Ring decision," he said.

Lawmakers in Delaware, a state in which judges decide on a death sentence after a jury recommendation, also acted just days after the Court's ruling. A measure approved there bars the court from imposing a death sentence unless a unanimous jury has determined that at least one statutory aggravating circumstance for capital punishment exists. The legislation was passed in the closing hours of their regular session June 30. Alabama, Florida and Indiana are other states in which judges decide death with a jury recommendation; the status of this procedure is now in question under Ring.

Officials in Idaho, Montana and Nebraska are reviewing their states' situations in light of the Supreme Court ruling, including both pending cases and options for the legislatures to take up.

Meanwhile, the Ring ruling means death row inmates in the states affected may have opportunity to appeal their sentences. While it is unclear whether prisoners who have exhausted previous appeals can bring such claims, it does appear certain that the ruling will spawn more litigation.

Donna Lyons head NCSL's Justice program.