To piggy-back my last question regarding the death penalty, how many appeals should someone on death row get?

Answer 1

Two (maybe three). 1 is the "direct appeal" of the conviction. 2 is the "collateral attack" of the conviction -- this is done through a request for a writ of habeas corpus. This "collateral attack" is very very limited in scope - usually focusing on ineffective assistance of counsel (which cannot be raised in a direct appeal) or violations of fundamental constitutional rights. 3 is the federal collateral attack - (some states do not allow step 2). This ensures that a federal judge, in a federal court, hears the complaints of the death row inmate. Once again, this review is EXTREMELY limited. The federal AEDPA act passed by Congress requires that a federal judge defer greately to findings of fact and conculsions of law by state courts, but since some state courts are notoriously unfair to criminals (or may not afford the proper process) this gives one check.
Of course, the original appeal may go to the Supreme Court of teh US if there are federal issues, and the collateral attack decisions may also go to the Supreme Court. While this may seem like three bites at the apple, the nature of the appeals, what the courts look at, and the level of review are all VERY different.

(Oh, and if there's proof of actual innocence, the guy gets another chance with state or federal habeas relief -- as he should! If suddenly, let's say, there's DNA evidence proving that the guy couldn't have done it, or there's a reliable confession from another party, what are you going to say, whoops, you've already run out of appeals, we'll kill you anyway???)

Answer 2

One!

Answer 3

one. They already had a chance in court to prove their case and obviously failed to do so. One more then lights out.

Answer 4

if proven to be guilty 100% none

Answer 5

until they have exhausted all possible means ---

I wouldn't want anyone to die that wasn't truly guilty !

Read John Grisham's "The Innocent Man (http://bookmarked.target.com/book/?isbn13=9780385517232&ref=tgt_adv_XSOD0865&AFID=yahoostr&LNM=the_innocent_man&LID=4704297

Answer 6

one and thats it