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    "title": "[Executive Clemency for Juan Raul Garza]",
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    "ocrText": "- 30\n(although technically possible) that Garza, if not sentenced to death, would have received any\nsentence less than life imprisonment without parole. But the jury that sentenced him, which was\npersuaded that he represented a future danger to society, was neither told that fact nor given the\noption to ensure that he could never be released.\nEven if clemency were warranted in this case, I do not mean to suggest a rule that would\nautomatically result in a grant of clemency in any case where the jury was not given the option of\nrecommending life without possibility of release. As noted in the preceding discussion, there\nare, however, specific facts about the manner in which Garza's case was prosecuted that make the\nabsence of such a safeguard troubling. I do not know whether similar facts obtained in other\ncases where the jury was not given the option to impose a life sentence.³⁴\n3.\nOther Considerations\nPetitioner stands convicted of, and admits committing, three murders. The jury found\nthat there were several mitigating factors in his case, but nonetheless concluded that they were\noutweighed by aggravating factors that were proved beyond a reasonable doubt and therefore\nrecommended a sentence of death. I am not persuaded that the arguments concerning the\nreliance on unadjudicated murders, the disproportionality of Garza's sentence compared to those\nimposed on others, or the circumstances surrounding Garza's deportation warrant executive\nintervention.\nIn evaluating these remaining arguments in support of clemency, it is highly relevant that\nmost of his claims were raised in connection with his trial or post-trial proceedings and were\nrejected as a basis for relief. Thus, the issue of reliance on unadjudicated murders was litigated\nadversely to petitioner on appeal. While intuitively it would appear to be more difficult to\ninvestigate a homicide in Mexico, petitioner does not indicate what evidence, realistically, he\nwould have been able to challenge. The witnesses to petitioner's admissions of involvement in\nunadjudicated homicides were fully subject to cross-examination, and the fact that his admissions\nrelated to acts that took place in Mexico does not make the witnesses who testified about them\nless vulnerable to challenge concerning their possible bias and motive to falsify. In any event,\nany alleged difficulties in obtaining evidence did not apply to one of the unadjudicated\nhomicides - a particularly brutal one - because it occurred in the United States and was\nwitnessed by several persons who testified against petitioner. Further, it must be recalled that,\nwhile the rules of evidence did not apply in the punishment phase of petitioner's trial, the jury\nwas required to find that each aggravating circumstance was proved beyond a reasonable doubt.\ndeath penalty.\"), id. at 3641 (\"His future victims, the next one, is asking, 'Please, do it [impose the death penalty] for\nus.' You have got to stop him.\"). All of these arguments were made during the rebuttal summation, after defense\ncounsel argued that a life term would be sufficient punishment for Garza's crimes.\n³⁴There are only four other federal defendants who were sentenced by juries who were not given the option\nof imposing a life sentence: David Chandler, who was prosecuted in the Northern District of Alabama; and Cory\nJohnson, James Roane and Richard Tipton, who were prosecuted together in the Eastern District of Virginia.\nHowever, in the Virginia case, the jury was told that each of the three defendants, if not sentenced to death by the\njury, would in fact be sentenced to life without possibility of parole. Therefore, Chandler is the only defendant\nother than Garza with a potentially comparable claim based on the jury's sentencing options."
}