Public defender: 'Right to a jury trial is fundamental'
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Ken Murray of the Federal Public Defender's Office in Phoenix, Arizona, says his group would defend the court in case of an appeal.
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(CNN) -- The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, California, overturned about 100 death sentences Tuesday that had been imposed by judges in Arizona, Idaho and Montana. The ruling cited a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that only juries -- not judges -- can impose the death penalty.
By a vote of 8-3, the federal court said inmates sent to death row by judges before the 2002 Supreme Court ruling should have their sentences commuted to life in prison.
CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer discussed the decision with Ken Murray of the Federal Public Defender's Office in Phoenix, Arizona.
MURRAY: What we make of the decision is that the 9th Circuit saw that [because] the right to a jury trial was the most fundamental, basic right to our criminal justice system, that, especially in capital cases, [it] could not be allowed to be extinguished by a statute or any other procedures that were involved.
BLITZER: So, what happens next? There are suggestions that this decision will be appealed.
MURRAY: Well, I don't know. I can't speak for the [states], whether they will appeal it. I'm sure it's a very lengthy opinion and that everybody would have to look at it in detail before making such a decision, but there's a very good likelihood that it could be appealed and, if so, then we will be prepared to defend the position of the 9th Circuit.
BLITZER: You have had a chance to review the decision. What was [the court's] main concern why these defendants needed a jury to convict them as opposed to just letting a judge do it?
MURRAY: Well, I'm not sure that there is a single, main concern, but overall what [the judges] seem to be saying is that the right to a jury trial is fundamental to our system, and they went through lengthy analysis of different legal, technical aspects.
But, in the end, I think what they said is [that] it's so important that, especially in capital cases, we can't let somebody be executed without them having the right to a jury trial because it would enhance the accuracy and it will reflect the community values and their moral values and views on the death penalty as they evolve, so [the court] thought that was very important.
