Feb. 12



OKLAHOMA:

Oklahoma prisons boss to brief board on death penalty moratorium, prison overcrowding



The head of Oklahoma's prison system is scheduled to brief the agency's governing board about the current status of executions in Oklahoma, as well as how the agency is grappling with prison overcrowding.

The Board of Corrections is scheduled to meet Thursday afternoon at the John H. Lilley Correctional Center in Boley.

The U.S. Supreme Court halted three scheduled lethal injections in Oklahoma while it considers whether the state's current three-drug method is constitutional.

Oklahoma Department of Corrections Director Robert Patton also is expected to brief the board on how the state prison system is above 100 % capacity.

The board is expected to meet behind closed doors to discuss 2 pending lawsuits against the agency, including the lethal injection challenge that is being reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court.

(source: Associated Press)








SOUTH DAKOTA:

Death penalty repeal dies in Pierre



A legislative committee in Pierre on Wednesday killed a bill to repeal South Dakota's death penalty. The Senate State Affairs Committee voted 7-to-2 to kill the bill.

KCCR Radio's Tony Mangan reported from Pierre that while current State Attorney General Marty Jackley testified against the bill, two former Republican state attorneys general testified in support of repealing capital punishment in South Dakota.

A prime mover in Pierre for repeal of the death penalty is Sioux Falls Republican State Representative Steve Hickey who once was a strong supporter of capital punishment.

(source: KELO news)

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Measures Addressing Victim's Opposition to Death Penalty Fail to Pass Committee



2 bills addressing a victim's opposition to the death penalty have been rejected by lawmakers.

In criminal cases where the prosecution is pursuing the death penalty jurors are not allowed to hear testimony on the family's wishes or the victim's views on the death penalty. House Bill 1158 would change this. If a victim opposed the death penalty during his or her life, House Bill 1158 would allow the jury to receive this evidence during a pre-sentence hearing. Denny Davis is with South Dakotans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. He says this measure gives victims a voice.

"Why would we not want to give the victim's family or the victim a voice in the trial that's going to take another person's life," says Davis.

Opponents say the measure allows evidence that is normally deemed hearsay and inadmissible in court.

The House State Affairs Committee also heard testimony on a companion bill. House Bill 1159 would add a check box to the state's driver's license application allowing a person to indicate if they are for or against the death penalty. The box would be similar to the organ donor check box, however, the information would remain confidential until it was needed at trial.

Members of the House State Affairs Committee rejected both measures.

(source: South Dakota Public Broadcasting)








WYOMING:

Bill to Allow Firing Squads as a 2nd Option For Death Row Inmates Expected To Pass House



A bill allowing firing squads to be used as a 2nd option after lethal injections for death row inmates is expected to pass the house tomorrow.

"It seems like we are moving back in time instead of forward which is a concern," said Rep. Mary Throne.

This bill has a lot of support even though a handful of legislators have opposed it from the start and say its embarrassing. Representatives in favor of the bill say the state needs another execution method.

"The society has the responsibility to if they are going to have an execution they have the responsibility to make sure they have the most humane method possible," said Rep. Nathan Winters.

Representative winters, A pastor, says he spoke for the death penalty in committee, but had questions on this bill. He says lethal injection is still the best way to execute inmates.

"When someone commits a heinous act we don't have to respond in the same kind of cruelty that they perpetuated on a victim," said Winters.

Lethal injection drugs have been limited by European drug companies because of opposition to the death penalty in the European union. Legislators think now is the time to act.

"I think the manufacturers have the right to say no we don't have to do that, that's why we don't have doctors carrying out executions," said Rep. Charles Pelkey.

"I don't like the fact that policy and law that we would pass in the state of Wyoming would be dictated by a foreign country," said Winters.

"I don't think that the least populated state in the country would affect how the European Union does business," said Throne.

An amendment passed in the house would now have inmates set for a firing squad execution to be put under anesthesia and unconscious when shot. The senate has to agree on the amendment before it goes to the governor's desk.

(source: KCWY news)








MONTANA:

Legislature should repeal death penalty



The Montana House of Representatives this week will hold a hearing on House Bill 370, which would replace the state's death penalty sentence with life in prison without the chance of parole. In 2013, a similar bill was introduced and failed. The Montana Abolition Coalition, lobbying for death-penalty repeal in Montana, is hoping that this session, Montana Republicans and Democrats will unite behind this bill, and Montana will join the 18 states in the union that do not have the death penalty.

The Montana Legislature should pass HB 370 because it will reduce the cost of prosecuting capital cases in the state, it will guarantee that no innocent person is wrongfully put to death, it will keep murderers behind bars where they will not have a chance to further menace society, it will free up millions of dollars that could be spent on crime prevention and victim compensation/counseling, and it will give the families of murder victims real closure.

According to the Montana Abolition Coalition, a death penalty case is up to 10 times more costly to prosecute than a non-death penalty case. Montana currently has just 2 inmates on death row (where they have been for more than 20 years) and the cost of their legal defense, footed by taxpayers, exceeds $10 million. The Montana Abolition Coalition calculates that incarcerating these 2 men for the rest of their lives would have totaled about $3.5 million - still a pretty penny but far less costly and far more fiscally conservative.

We would all like to believe that there is never a miscarriage of justice in Montana. But the simple fact is that people make mistakes - that's just part of being human. The death penalty, however, is irrevocable. While we do not know whether an innocent man or woman has ever been put to death in Montana, we do know that three men have been exonerated for crimes they didn't commit after DNA testing proved their innocence. We also know that nationwide some 150 men and women on death row, who were convicted by a jury of the peers who found them guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, have been exonerated of their alleged crimes when more facts or evidence came to light.

HB 370 would eliminate the death penalty as the highest sentence in applicable murder cases and would replace it with life in prison without a chance of parole. Those who commit truly heinous crimes who have no chance of rehabilitation and who pose a menace to society would stay in prison, for the rest of their lives, where they couldn't hurt anyone else. Eliminating the death penalty doesn't mean eliminating safeguards for society.

Equal Justice USA, a nationwide death penalty opponent, argues convincingly that the expensive, complex death penalty process is diverting millions of dollars at the state and federal levels away from programs that could be better spent giving the families of homicide victims the help they need to heal, including specialized grief counseling, financial assistance and ongoing support.

One relative of a Colorado murder victim, whose case is unsolved, Gail LaSuer, suggests that with the repeal of the death penalty, the money that had been spent on prosecution and appeals of death penalty inmates could be far better spent in the creation of a cold-case unit that could use the advantages of modern technology to go back and find, murderers who could then be put away for life.

Finally, repealing the death penalty will give real closure to the families of those whose lives have been brutally taken. Family after family of homicide victims has told Equal Justice USA that the drawn-out death penalty appeals process prolongs their pain, subjects them to further media coverage, drags them to court hearings, and continues to reopen the pains of the loss of their loved one. The Montana Abolition Coalition suggests that a rarely-used death penalty is almost like a hoax on victims' families, who are promised one conclusion and then must sit back for years to watch the appeals process drag out.

We encourage our local legislators, Reps. Christy Clark and Rob Cook, and Sen. Llew Jones, and their fellow House and Senate members on both sides of the aisle to vote in favor of HB 370 and to improve the efficiency of sentencing in Montana and to reduce the huge drain on the legal system that the existing death penalty creates.

(source: Editorial, Choteau Acantha)








USA:

Jury Pool for Trial in Aurora Shooting Is Pressed on Death Penalty



Lawyers on Wednesday began questioning potential jurors for the trial of the man accused of killing 12 people and wounding 70 during a showing of a Batman film in a packed Colorado movie theater in 2012.

The defendant, James E. Holmes, has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, though his lawyers admit he was the gunman. The district attorney is seeking the death penalty, and prosecutors and defense lawyers focused most of their questioning on how prospective jurors feel about that sentence.

"Do you think you could say that this man over here should die?" Rich Orman, a prosecutor, asked one woman, waving toward Mr. Holmes, who was doodling on a legal pad. The woman, who said she was a lawyer, answered affirmatively.

The defense asked juror candidates if they would consider factors like mental illness, age or a difficult childhood in deciding whether to give the death penalty.

"What would you be looking at to determine if death is the only appropriate penalty?" asked Katherine Spengler, a defense lawyer. She turned to mental illness. "Would you consider that as a reason to give life?"

Bearded and noticeably heavier than in past appearances, Mr. Holmes at times seemed not to notice the drama surrounding him, hunching his shoulders over his legal pad. At other times, he sat rapt, watching his defense team question the potential jurors.

Officials sent jury summonses to 9,000 people here - a number that dwarfs even the 1,300 or so potential jurors who filled out questionnaires in the trial of the man accused in the Boston Marathon bombings.

The pool of potential jurors has since been whittled to about 2,000. Questioning of those people is expected to take 16 weeks, during which the pool will be reduced to 120, who will receive further questioning, and finally to 12 jurors and 12 alternates.

The trial, to be held in this Denver suburb, could last from early spring to October, with testimony expected from police officers, crime scene experts, witnesses and mental health experts.

The shooting took place July 20, 2012, at a movie theater in the Denver suburb of Aurora, where about 400 people were attending a screening of "The Dark Knight Rises." Minutes into the film, a masked person entered the theater and opened fire.

2 1/2 years later, the effects of the massacre continue to ripple through the region, with victims and their families grappling with depression and post-traumatic stress disorder and divided over the prosecution's decision to seek the death penalty. Some have argued that it is the only way to ensure justice; others have said it will cause years of appeals, an excruciating prospect for those seeking a degree of closure.

Wednesday's questioning moved slowly, a sign of just how difficult it will be to find jurors who can keep an open mind during a long-running and highly publicized case being tried not far from the scene of the crime. During the morning session, just 4 jurors were questioned over more than 3 hours. The judge had hoped to see 6.

Several confessed links to the case. The 1st potential juror, a young woman dressed in pink, said that several of her Facebook friends knew a man who had been killed in the theater shooting. The 4th potential juror said he believed he knew one of the witnesses.

3 of the 4 jurors questioned during the morning session will return for further questioning.

In recent days, Tom and Caren Teves, whose son Alex was killed in the rampage, have renewed their calls for the news media to refrain from naming the shooter or displaying his photograph during what is expected to be widespread trial coverage, arguing that these actions encourage copycat crimes and traumatize families.

"Every day is like Alex died yesterday," Mr. Teves said in an interview. "That's how much pain we feel. I don't want another father to have to live, or another mother to have to live, the way Caren and I live."

(source: New York Times)

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