American roulette

AMERICAN ROULETTE: The fate of inmates on death row rests more on sheer luck and politics than the merits of their cases, according to a study by the Cincinnati Enquirer. The Enquirer staff analyzed every death penalty appeal since 2000 in the Sixth Circuit Federal Appeals Court, which has jurisdiction over Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee.

In 85 percent of the cases in which the majority of the three judges on the randomly selected panels were appointed by a Republican president, the appeals were denied. In 75 percent of the cases in which the majority of the three judges on the panels were appointed by a Democratic president, at least part of the inmates' appeals were approved (Washington Monthly, June).

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