Execution Time Changed to Avoid Traffic Jam

SAN FRANCISCO —  San Quentin prison officials, trying to maintain good relations with Marin County residents and avoid commuter gridlock, have set 3 a.m. as the time to carry out California’s first scheduled execution in 23 years.

California traditionally carried out executions at 10 a.m. But authorities believe that hundreds, perhaps thousands, of demonstrators will show up for the scheduled April 3 execution of convicted killer Robert Alton Harris. So they have rescheduled the execution for seven hours earlier.

Christine May, California Department of Corrections spokeswoman, said the primary reason for the change was a desire to limit the potential impact on Marin County commuters and the enclave of San Quentin, a residential area of condominiums and older homes outside the main gates of the prison.

“There was some concern about the impact of a large gathering of individuals, both media and private citizens,” on the commuters and the San Quentin neighborhood, May said.

San Quentin prison Warden Daniel Vasquez made the decision to move the execution back to 3 a.m. after visiting other states that conduct executions in early morning. Officer Mark Pieschke of the Marin County office of the California Highway Patrol said the CHP “wholeheartedly supports” the change in the execution time.

Ever since the Oct. 17 Northern California earthquake, traffic has “drastically increased” on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, which crosses San Francisco Bay near the prison. Large numbers of commuters began using the bridge when the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge was closed for repairs, and many continue to use the route.

Pieschke speculated that on the morning of the execution, some commuters would have strained to see the protesters, and “we would have had traffic backed up all the way” into the east side of San Francisco Bay.