A Fight to the Death

Massimino notes that last month the American Bar Association called for a moratorium on the death penalty, claiming that it is applied inconsistently in different states. "They're lawyers," she says. "They represent the law, and the law is the death penalty. Are they going to try to change the law every time to suit each case?"

Massimino says she often wonders whether Frank Rodriguez will get a new trial--or whether a federal court will once again declare the death penalty unconstitutional, as the U.S. Supreme Court did in 1972, forcing states to rewrite their capital statutes. "If that happens," asks Lorraine Martelli's sister, "what purpose was there to go through the trial?