ALBANY - New York's 8-year-old death-penalty statute goes on trial today when the state's highest court considers the case of a man condemned to die for sneaking into his wife's hospital room and administering a lethal dose of potassium cyanide. Depending on how the Court of Appeals rules, James Cahill III's personal battle for his life may also have bearing on the validity of the capital-punishment law that Gov. Pataki promised to enact in his successful 1994 campaign for governor against death-penalty foe Mario Cuomo.
Posted by Webmaster at September 22, 2003 08:30 AM