US Attorney-General pushes for death penalty

But he is also known to be an ardent supporter of the death penalty and has pushed federal prosecutors around the country – often over their objections – to be more aggressive in identifying prosecutions that could qualify as federal capital cases. The Los Angeles Times reports much of that effort has been in states that have banned or rarely impose capital punishment. However, with public support for the death penalty in decline, jurors have rebuffed calls for the death penalty in 23 of the 34 federal capital cases tried since 2001. But the poor track record has not dissuaded Ashcroft. Federal prosecutors have just begun a capital murder trial in Iowa, where no one has been executed since the state abolished the death penalty in 1965. Full report in the Los Angeles Times