The federal death penalty law was declared unconstitutional yesterday for the first time by a federal judge in Montpelier, Vt.
U.S. District Judge William Sessions said the 1994 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, which decided that only juries could give the death penalty, along with other cases, have made the law unconstitutional.
\If the death penalty is to be part of our system of justice, due process of law and the fair trial guarantee of the Sixth Amendment require that standards and safeguards governing the kinds of evidence juries may consider must be rigorous,"" Sessions said.
Session's decision was made in the case of Donald Fell, 22, who is charged with kidnapping and killing a woman two years ago.
The ruling could result in challenges in capital cases around the nation, however Paul Martinek, editor of Lawyers Weekly USA, said it is too early to predict how this will affect the issue.
""The intellectual implications for influencing what other judges might do ... are pretty big,"" he said.
The prosecutors in the case plan on appealing the ruling.
