By contrast, I feel substantial sympathy towards whomever did the bulk of the work writing Justice Groban's 214-page opinion. I cannot fathom how one stays motivated over a period of months or years writing a (literal) book-length treatment of this matter.
The murder happened in 1996 -- nearly thirty years ago. The defendant was (and is) already serving a life sentence. And the outcome of the present appeal is practically meaningless; there will be lengthy rounds of state and federal habeas proceedings that will inevitably follow, and there's no way the death sentence will actually be carried out in any event.
Under such circumstances, who really would choose to spend a meaningful portion of their life -- over the 21-year period during which this automatic appeal was pending -- writing a 214-page opinion?
Not me, that's for sure.
Regardless, here you have it.
