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16 Wash. U. J. L. & Pol'y 195 (2004)
Unusual Punishment: The Federal Death Penalty in the United States

handle is hein.journals/wajlp16 and id is 199 raw text is: Unusual Punishment: The Federal Death Penalty in the United States John Brigham ABSTRACT This material has been presented at Southern Cross University, the Law and Society meetings in Budapest, the University of Georgia, Victoria University, Melbourne University, and LaTrobe University in Australia. The paper examines the way state and federal legal authority is constituted in the United States by focusing on local jurisdictions that do not have capital punishment as they respond to the federal death penalty. Particular attention is given to both the prosecution of Kristen Gilbert, a nurse who was tried for capital murder in Massachusetts, and research on the federal courts in Puerto Rico. INTRODUCTION While the topic does not lend itself to humor, the federal death penalty is certainly characterized by the bizarre. The case that got my attention was Kristen Gilbert's.1 Gilbert was a nurse at the veteran's hospital in Northampton, Massachusetts.2 In the fall and winter of 2000 through 2001 she was tried in Springfield, Massachusetts, for killing four of her patients by injecting them with a drug that over- stimulated their hearts. The Assistant United States Attorneys who prosecuted Gilbert called her a code bug-drawing on the concept * Professor of Political Science, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. The author wishes to thank Charles Wilton, Harry Miles, Elyse Geser, Laura Hatcher, Alec Ewald, Hans Linde, Frederick Lewis, Meg Mott, Austin Sarat, Ira Strauber, Peter Rush, Rorie Spill, Stanley Yeo, Atticus Brigham and Christine Harrington for their assistance along the way. 1. See generally M. WILLIAM PHELPS, A PERFECT POISON (2003). 2. Id. at 17.

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