When should you believe a sentence of the form \(A \rightarrow B\)?
Legal experts initially believed a death sentence was quite likely, especially in Georgia, which has the nation's sixth-highest execution rate.
In his majority opinion today, Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist said there was at worst a "slight possibility" that the jury mistakenly believed a death sentence to be mandatory once the state proved the existence of an aggravating factor.
A brother of Ms. Garza, Ivan Garza, told The A.P. that their family was upset with the terms of the plea deal and believed a 23-year sentence was too short.
Liu Hai, 31, who works in sales at an import-export company, believes a life sentence is more likely.
One of the lawyers, Robert Pavich, said, "We believe a long sentence would prevent other people from coming forth and doing what she has done".
Justice Department officials say they believe a death sentence could most easily be obtained there in the shootings, which left 10 dead.
The statutes governing bias crimes recommend 5 to 10 years in prison, but a 7-year sentence is the presumption, and the law allows judges to depart from those guidelines if there are mitigating factors or if they believe a heavier sentence would be an injustice.
So when I thought about his soul (and the data on killers: a third of guys spared from Death Row in the 1970s went on to commit serious assaults in prison), I came to believe a death sentence for DiMeo would have been a gift.
Mr. Petit has angered prosecutors most by his contention that Mr. Malvo's rights were violated during an interrogation on the day that Attorney General John Ashcroft ordered Mr. Malvo and Mr. Muhammad transferred from federal custody to the authorities in Virginia, where, aides said, Mr. Ashcroft believes a death sentence can most easily be obtained.
