Justice delayed is justice denied

Excerpt

A chief federal judge took away five death penalty cases from a colleague criticized by some prosecutors for taking as many as eight years to issue appeals rulings.

Judge Sandra Beckwith, chief of the U.S. District Court for southern Ohio, said she made the unusual move to ease the workload of U.S. District Judge Walter Rice.

Beckwith said decision was not made in response to complaints about Rice's handling of capital cases. The decision was mutual, she added.

"Judge Rice has a very heavy docket, and it seemed logical to give him some relief," she said. "These are enormous cases. They take a lot of time."

Two of the appeals removed from Rice's docket yesterday were filed almost eight years ago. The most recent case was filed three years ago.

"It's like a black hole in the universe," said Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters, whose Cincinnati-based office handled three of the cases. "Once a case goes in there, we don't hear from him for eight years."

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