Chicago ? Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens issued an unusually stinging criticism of capital punishment Saturday evening, telling lawyers that he was disturbed by “serious flaws.”

Stevens stopped short of calling for an end to the death penalty, but he said there are many problems in the way it is used.

Recent exonerations of death row inmates through scientific evidence are significant, he told the American Bar Assn., “not only because of its relevance to the debate about the wisdom of continuing to administer capital punishment but also because it indicates that there must be serious flaws in our administration of criminal justice.”

Other Supreme Court justices, including Sandra Day O’Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, also have spoken out about concerns that defendants in murder cases are not adequately represented at trial.

But Stevens, 85, made a much harsher and sweeping condemnation.

He said the jury selection process and the fact that many trial judges are elected also work against accused murderers. He also said that jurors might be improperly swayed by victim-impact statements.

Stevens, named to the high court by President Ford in 1975, is considered one of the most liberal justices.

In recent years he has been influential in votes that barred states from executing mentally retarded killers and those who were juveniles when they committed their crimes.

The Supreme Court frequently splits 5-4 in capital cases, and often O’Connor was the pivotal vote.

Stevens made his exceptionally frank and surprising comments in Illinois, his home state and a place that has been roiled by controversy over the death penalty. In 2000, wrongful convictions led then-Gov. George Ryan to halt all executions.