June 26, 2002	Wednesday	Rabi-us-Sani 14, 1423

LOS ANGELES: The US supreme court has overturned the death sentences of more than 150 people awaiting execution, in a ruling that has added to the debate across America on capital punishment.

The court ruled on Monday that the death penalty can be imposed only by a jury, and not by a judge making the decision alone after a jury has convicted a defendant.

The ruling, by seven votes to two, is the second major decision in days affecting prisoners on death row. Last week, the supreme court decided that people with learning difficulties could not be executed.

In the latest ruling, which affects planned executions in at least five states, the judges said that a death sentence imposed by a judge alone violates a defendant’s constitutional right to a trial by a jury of his or her peers.

There are more than 3,700 people awaiting the death penalty in the 38 states that still allow executions. In some states, juries have been deciding on the guilt of a defendant but leaving it to the judge to impose the penalty, taking into account aggravating factors such as the nature of a murder or whether it was committed for financial gain.

The ruling came a week after the death penalty debate was further stirred by controversial remarks made by the conservative supreme court justice Antonin Scalia. Justice Scalia told a gathering in Chicago that any judge who did not believe in the death penalty should resign. —Dawn/The Guardian News Service.