Arizona Attorney General Janet Napolitano's death penalty...

Arizona Attorney General Janet Napolitano's death penalty commission, which was appointed in 2000 to study how capital punishment is administered and to recommend improvements, has agreed to expand a legislative proposal (SB 1486) to help Arizona's rural counties cope with death penalty cases. The original proposal would create a statewide public defender office to handle some death penalty appeals and would set up new funds to help prosecutors and defense in rural counties with trial costs. The expanded proposal would grant the new public defender office with a separate unit of experienced death penalty lawyers who would team up with local defense lawyers to represent indigent defendants during trial. Further, Napolitano's office would provide similar expert help to county prosecutors who request it.