Seamus McCaffrey
From Judgepedia
| Pennsylvania Supreme Court |
|---|
|
| Sitting justices |
| Ronald Castille Thomas Saylor Max Baer Seamus McCaffrey Debra Todd J. Michael Eakin Jane Greenspan |
| Former justices |
| Pennsylvania on Judgepedia |
Contents |
Seamus McCaffery is an associate justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. He was first elected to the court as a Democrat in a partisan election in 2007; his current term expires in 2017.
McCaffery is an immigrant who was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1950, to Seamus and Rita McCaffery. When he was 5, Seamus immigrated to America with his parents and siblings, and the family settled in Philadelphia.[1]
Legal Education and Experience
After graduating from Cardinal Dougherty High School in 1968, he joined the United States Marine Corps. After leaving active duty, he joined the Philadelphia Police department, where he spent 20 years serving the citizenry of Philadelphia. Prior to to becoming a judge, McCaffrey served as a Marine in Vietnam. He is currently a Colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserve and a 33° freemason.[2]
Eagle's Court
As a former Philadelphia municipal court judge, he ran the famous "Eagles Court" located beneath Veterans Stadium. The Court was established to deal with unruly fans at Philadelphia Eagles football games in the middle of the 1998 season. After that season, the court was moved to a regular location away from the stadium, even before the team moved to Lincoln Financial Field in 2003. Although his "Eagles Court" was specifically outlawed by Article I, Section 15 of the Pennsylvania state constitution, which reads, "No commission shall issue creating special temporary criminal tribunals to try particular individuals or particular classes of cases", that court's jurisdiction and legality was never questioned.
On the Bench
Medication of mentally-ill death row inmates
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court's decision impacts four death-row inmates, including two mentally ill prisoners from Philadelphia who can now be forcibly medicated in order to make them mentally competent to continue their appeals. Ruling in the case of Thavirak Sam, a Cambodian immigrant who killed three family members in 1989 and has been mentally incompetent for years, the court said that if Sam were left untreated, his appeal would remain in limbo indefinitely. "Not to litigate the claims delays both justice and finality," wrote Chief Justice Ronald Castille, who was Philadelphia district attorney when the killings occurred. Sam's defense attorney, Jules Epstein, said he believed the rulings marked the first time in the United States that an appellate court had approved forcible medication for a death-row inmate who is not a danger to himself or others.
The issue is important because the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1986 that convicted murderers cannot be executed if they are so mentally ill that they cannot understand why they face a death sentence and what that sentence means. Sam, now 51, has been on death row since 1991, and prosecutors have been trying for several years to get him medicated so he can be competent enough to decide whether he wants to continue his appeal or be put to death. At varying points over the years, Sam has imagined that the U.S. Supreme Court had ordered him freed and that a Cambodian prince had interceded on his behalf. In another Philadelphia case, the high court also ruled that Herbert Watson, convicted in 1983 of shooting to death his estranged girlfriend, must be medicated to determine whether he wants to proceed with his appeal. Castille wrote in that case that prosecutors were "attempting to vindicate society's compelling interest in bringing an end to the litigation of this case, which is now well into its third decade." In both cases, Castille was joined by Justices Thomas Saylor, J. Michael Eakin and Seamus McCaffrey. Justices Max Baer and Debra Todd dissented.[3]
See Also
External Links
- Pennsylvania Supreme Court
- Wikipedia: Seamus McCaffrey
- Seamus McCaffrey for Judge
- Biography on McCaffrey
- 1776 Endorsement
References
Portions of this biography were taken from Wikipedia on December 13, 2007.
