Swifter Executions Scheduled in Mississippi

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - If condemned inmate Dale Leo Bishop is
executed as planned this month, it will be the swiftest a death
penalty has been carried out in Mississippi since the days of the
gas chamber.
Bishop was sentenced to death in 2000 for the fatal beating of a
19-year-old man. He is scheduled for execution on July 23.
The last five men executed in Mississippi spent an average of
about 19 years appealing their cases, much longer than the eight
years since Bishop's conviction.
Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood says several changes in
state and federal regulations in recent years were aimed at
expediting inmate appeals.
Death penalty opponents say a lengthy appeal allows time for new
evidence to emerge and ensures that innocent people are not put to
death. Others say years of legal wrangling torments victims'
families and costs taxpayers millions.
There are various reasons that death row appeals can last for
decades. One prisoner has been on death row in Mississippi since
1977. If a sentence or conviction is overturned and then later
reinstated, the appeals process starts over.