Federal Death Penalty Ruled Unconstitutional

The federal death penalty was declared unconstitutional today (9/24) by a federal judge in Vermont. According to this opinion and order from Judge William Sessions, the death penalty law does not provide the "fundamental safeguards" to protect defendants's rights. Sessions's ruling was filed in the case of Donald Fell, who is facing death for the alleged kidnapping and murder of Teresca King in November 2000. Prosecutors claim that Fell and another man abducted King, 53, at gunpoint as she arrived for work, subsequently beat her to death, and then dumped King's body in an upstate New York forest.

Click here to read the Sessions decision in PDF format.