March 24
PENNSYLVANIA:
Death penalty costly, ineffective
Each day consists of opportunities to make known our voices for those who
cannot. Today, I speak in further encouragement of the seeking of justice; I
ask for the 186 inmates in the state of Pennsylvania to no longer await
execution in prison's hot seats of death row. The continuation of the death
penalty, a brutal and morally degrading law, should receive careful
reconsideration due to the hefty expenses it accumulates and its lack of use in
Pennsylvania within the past 15 years. As 18 states, including the District of
Columbia, have abolished the death penalty, it is time for the Keystone State
to join the list.
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf promised his citizens an examination of the death
penalty's overall fairness and potentially a repeal of the law. As Berks County
District Attorney John Adams states in the Reading Eagle, Dec. 14, "Definitely,
the death penalty extremely strains our resources."
Additionally, the cost of the state's death penalty is estimated at around $350
million. Inspired by the neighboring state of Maryland, which issued a cost
study resulting in the abolition of the law, a report was commissioned by state
legislators back in 2011; however, it was never carried out. According to The
Patriot-News, a recent cost study, sponsored by state Sen. Stewart Greenleaf,
calls it "historic." Based on Maryland's study, which shows $2 million more
toward those on death row rather than life sentencing, Pennsylvania could
possibly save up to $370 million.
Millions of dollars are thrown away, so why should this inactive law remain? As
I previously mentioned, the last execution in Pennsylvania occurred 15 years
ago, and only 3 have taken place within the past 35 years. While the death
penalty exists and yet lacks enforcement, what purpose does it serve? As time
urges examination of outdated concepts and reformation of state finances, do
not hesitate to speak up. Support our state leaders today in their commitment
to seek brighter futures for Pennsylvania, saving money, time and lives. Thank
you.
Kelsea Dvorak, New Freedom
(source: Letter to the Editor, York Daily Record)
FLORIDA:
Low Bar For Florida Death Penalty Juries Triggers High Court Review
The Supreme Court will examine Florida's capital punishment system in its next
term, and legal experts believe Florida's death penalty itself may be in
danger.
A solution could be in a legislative fix now moving slowly through the Capitol
in Tallahassee. It's been passed by one Senate committee but the House is
showing little interest in the companion bill.
The Supreme Court case involves a murder conviction and death sentence from
Escambia County and whether it violates the court's 2002 holding in Ring vs.
Arizona. That decision emphasized Sixth Amendment jury responsibility for death
sentences, even when they are only recommendations to the judge. Until now,
subtleties in Florida law had seemed to keep the state in a grey area in which
Ring did not apply.
But since Florida -- alone among the 32 death-penalty states -- allows jury
recommendations of death by simple majority and doesn't require a provably
rigorous examination of aggravating and mitigating circumstances, state law is
now seen as requiring too little of its 1st-degree murder juries.
Juries must determine guilt unanimously. Between 2000 and 2012, according to a
Senate staff analysis, juries recommended death penalties by 12-to-0 in only 60
of 320 cases. 96 others were decided by votes of 11-to-1 or 10-to-2.
In the Escambia County case, the jury vote for death was 7-to-5. The jury left
no record of whether it had even considered defendant Timothy Hurst's claim
that he was mentally disabled.
In Tallahassee, most of the discussion about the death penalty bills is about
the unanimity requirement and whether it contributes to Florida's status as the
number-one state for death row exonerations.
"Florida is an outlier," said Senate bill sponsor Thad Altman (R-Brevard
County). "You require a unanimous jury vote for guilt in a capital case. Why
would you not if you're going to take a human life?"
Altman is a conservative Republican who has some misgivings about the death
penalty but would rather not see it struck down. His bill would impose a
unanimity requirement on jury penalty recommendations and proof of the
aggravating and mitigating factors to the same standard as the rest of the
trial evidence. Jurors would have to approve those, too, also unanimously.
The same requirements are in the House bill sponsored jointly by State Rep.
Jose Javier Rodriguez (D-Miami Dade County) and Clovis Watson (D-Alachua
County). Rodriguez says the politics are complicated and no committee has
agreed to hear it.
"There are those of us who are very intent on reform and there are some people
who see this reform measure as sort of soft on crime," Rodriguez said. "It's
really not at all that."
Like Altman -- with whom he generally disagrees -- Rodriguez thinks if there
must be a death penalty, it must be fairly applied. And that's a view shared by
one of the death penalty's most implacable opponents, the Catholic Church.
"We support the bill, very, very much," said Ingrid Delgado, who lobbies the
Legislature for the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops, which is often
against the death penalty. "Our bishops for a very long time have been saying
that it shouldn't exist in our state that we should discontinue it in our
state. However, as long as we do have the death penalty, then the process
should be as just and reliable as possible.
Perhaps predictably, the bill is favored by defense lawyers and opposed by
prosecutors. At a meeting of the Senate committee that ultimately passed
Altman's bill, they argued over how requiring unanimity might affect murder
case juries.
Rex Demming of the Florida Public Defenders Association said the current simple
majority rule makes it too easy to condemn the defendant.
"Jurors are exhausted by the time they get to the penalty phase. They've sat
through days or weeks of testimony and they're ready to get it done. When they
hear, 'All you have to do is go back there, get a simple majority vote and come
back,' they're more than anxious to do that," Demming testified.
But Alachua County State Attorney William Cervone, speaking for the Florida
Prosecuting Attorneys Association, said requiring unanimity would remove
nuances that can help the sentencing judge. "It is very instructive for the
judge to know that the jury felt 12-to-0 or the jury felt 7-to-5 in making this
ultimate decision on this very important question," Cervone told the committee.
If the death penalty reform bill doesn't pass and the Supreme Court rules as
predicted, Florida's death penalty could collapse of its own weight.
(soruce: WLRN news)
KANSAS:
John E. Robinson death penalty appeal hearing takes 3 hours in Topeka
After more than a decade of preparation, lawyers for convicted serial killer
John E. Robinson Sr. got a little more than 1 hour Tuesday to make their case
for a new trial.
During oral arguments before the Kansas Supreme Court, the defense raised a
multitude of factors they say prevented Robinson from getting a fair trial.
Attorneys for the state countered that Robinson's 2002 prosecution in Johnson
County was handled fairly and his convictions and death sentence should be
upheld.
The justices questioned prosecutors about how they construction the 2 capital
murder charges that put Robinson on death row. In each count, prosecutors cited
the same deaths of 4 other women in Missouri as being were part of a continuous
scheme or course of conduct, 1 of the factors that allows prosecutors to seek
the death penalty under Kansas law.
If the court finds that structure to be a problem, the state could lose 1 of
Robinson's 2 capital murder convictions. Jurors also convicted Robinson of
1st-degree murder in a 3rd woman???s death after the longest criminal trial in
Kansas history.
Robinson, now 71, killed the 3 women over a 15-year period.
He later pleaded guilty in Cass County to killing 5 other women and was
sentenced to life in prison in Missouri.
The Johnson County convictions - the subject of Tuesday's hearing - involved
the deaths of a 27-year-old Michigan woman, Suzette Trouten, and a 21-year-old
Indiana woman, Izabela Lewicka. Both moved to the Kansas City area after
meeting Robinson online.
Their bodies were found in June 2000 stuffed inside barrels on property
Robinson owned in Linn County, Kan.
Robinson also was found guilty in Kansas of killing Lisa Stasi, a 19-year-old
Kansas City woman last seen by her family in 1985. Her body has not been found,
but authorities discovered that her infant daughter had been raised by members
of Robinson's family after he arranged an adoption that they believed was
legitimate.
Kansas has not executed an inmate since the state re-instituted the death
penalty in 1994.
(source: Kansas City Star)
NEBRASKA:
Conservative group hosts death row survivor
Nebraska Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty and the Creighton
University chapters of the Young Americans for Liberty and Students for Life
will host an evening of discussion with former death row inmate Ray Krone
Tuesday in Omaha.
A lifelong Republican and an Air Force veteran, Krone was a death penalty
supporter until he was wrongfully convicted of murder in 1992 and sentenced to
death in Arizona. A decade later, DNA tests proved his innocence and led
authorities to the actual killer.
"It's too dangerous to give the government the power to kill us under any
circumstances," he says in a news release.
Krone is one of the 151 people to be released from death rows across America
and is director of membership and training for Witness to Innocence, an
organization led by death row exonerees.
The discussion with Krone is set to begin at 6 p.m. in the ballroom of the
Harper Center at Creighton. More, contact Matt Maly of Nebraska Conservatives
Concerned About the Death Penalty, 402-650-4485 or m...@nadp.net.
(source: Lincoln Journal Star)
UTAH:
Utah Citizens Group Pushes to End Death Penalty in US
The debate over the US state of Utah decision to allow executions by a killing
squad needs to bring to light the issue of ending the death penalty in the
United States once and for all, Utah Citizens' Counsel member Dee Rowland told
Sputnik on Tuesday.
"My hope is that this discussion of the method of execution in Utah will result
in lifting the awareness of the fact that with modern abilities to separate an
accused murderer from the public, the use of the death penalty will finally be
seen as obsolete and will cease," Rowland said on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, the American Civil Liberties Union of Utah told Sputnik they were
opposed to Herbert's move, and hoped for a wider conversation on the death
penalty and the detractors of it.
The Utah Citizens' Counsel is an independent, non-partisan group of senior
community advocates dedicated to improving public policy on complex issues
through dialogue and consensus building.
(source: sputniknews.com)
*********************
Utah's authorization of firing squads to carry the death penalty bucks
international trend
Utah's decision to reintroduce the firing squad as an execution method if
lethal injections drugs are unavailable bucks an international trend.
The change in law makes Utah only the 2nd U.S. state to adopt firing squads in
executions after Oklahoma, which relies on it only as a method of last resort.
The U.S. is the only country in the Americas to allow the use of firing squads
in civilian cases besides Cuba.
Many countries that use firing squads usually reserve them for military cases
or during war time. An exception is Indonesia which is preparing to execute 10
drug smugglers, 9 of them foreigners, by firing squad after judicial reviews
are complete.
China, where thousands of people are believed to be executed each year,
traditionally used firing squads. But in recent years China has begun using
lethal injections and that is now believed to be the main technique. The exact
number of executions in China is a state secret, but it is thought to be the
most in the world.
Firing squads remain the preferred method of execution in Somalia and
Equatorial Guinea and are known to have been used in Iran, Iraq and Saudi
Arabia. North Korea is believed to use them.
According to Amnesty International at least 778 executions, excluding China's,
were carried out around the globe in 2013 - the last year for which numbers
were available - compared to 682 in 2012. The organization did not provide a
breakdown of executions methods.
At least 1,927 people were known to have been sentenced to death in 57
countries in 2013, up from 1,722 death sentences in 58 countries in 2012,
according to Amnesty.
ASIA
Videos smuggled out of North Korea reportedly show public executions by firing
squad. South Korea's spy agency believes North Korea used a firing squad last
year to execute several people close to leader Kim Jong Un's uncle, Jang Song
Thaek, who was considered the country's second most powerful person before his
sudden purge and execution in December 2013.
Vietnam, with nearly 700 people on death row, switched from firing squads to
lethal injection on humanitarian grounds in 2011. Since then it has only
executed a handful of people because of the difficulty in acquiring the
required drugs.
Taiwan's death row total stands at more than 100. The number of executions,
carried out by handgun shooting either to the heart or to the brain, declined
after 2000 due to public opposition, with none between 2006 and 2009. They
resumed in 2010 following a change in president and renewed sentiment in favor
of the policy.
Thailand executed prisoners by a machine gun or automatic rifle fired by an
executioner until 2002, when the method was changed to lethal injection. There
have been no executions since 2009.
MIDEAST
In Iran, Saudi Arabia and Iraq, 3 countries that have some of the highest
execution rates in the world, firing squads are rarely used.
In Saudi Arabia, the usual method of execution is beheading by a swordsman. In
2013, a firing squad was used in the execution of 7 men convicted of looting
and armed robbery. Press reports at the time suggested it was because a
swordsman was not available.
During Iran's 1979 revolution, the Islamic clerical regime that came to power
used firing squads to execute some senior military officers from the regime of
the ousted shah. But the method is rarely used now, and the vast majority of
executions are by hanging.
Hanging is also the method most commonly used in Iraq, although there have been
cases where firing squads have been employed.
The United Arab Emirates uses firing squads for all executions, but death
penalty sentences are rarely carried out. The most recently reported execution
was in January 2014.
EUROPE
Capital punishment has been completely abolished across Europe with the former
Soviet nation of Belarus being the sole exception.
Abolition of the death penalty is a pre-condition for entry into the European
Union. The EU's Baltic Sea member Latvia was the last country to retain capital
punishment for murder, but only during wartime. It was abolished in 2012.
The exact number of people executed in Belarus is believed to be three in 2014,
according to human rights' groups, but there is some uncertainty about that
figure because of the general lack of transparency there. It is believed to
have been below 10 executions in the past decade. Execution is done by shooting
in the back of the head, but the death penalty's use is shrouded in secrecy.
SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
Somalia and Sudan routinely execute the most people in this region. In 2013,
Somalia executed 34 people while Sudan put 21 to death, according to Amnesty
International. Somalia generally uses firing squads to carry out its death
sentences; two soldiers were executed by shooting on Tuesday, according to the
country's military court.
The death penalty is legal in more than a dozen other countries in the region,
although only 5 carried out executions in 2013. In recent years, the only other
country in the region to use firing squads was Equatorial Guinea, which shot 4
people last year but then issued a moratorium on future executions, Amnesty
said.
LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN
In general, the death penalty has been abolished across the region, if not by
law in each country, then on a de facto basis, according to the World Coalition
Against the Death Penalty. The last known execution in the region was in Cuba
in 2003 by firing squad.
(source: Associated Press)
USA:
Death penalty dilemma in U.S. leads Utah to allow firing squads----Utah
recently passed law allowing firing squads for capital punishment
Utah became the only jurisdiction in the United States to allow firing squads
to carry out death sentences on Monday. The governor signed a bill that makes
the method a backup option when lethal injection drugs aren't available.
32 states authorize capital punishment, but it is becoming increasingly
difficult to carry out because of a shortage of the drugs used in lethal
injections, the primary method used. States have been trying new combinations
of different drugs, and executions haven't always gone smoothly with the new
protocols.
Numerous legal challenges have been launched, and some executions have been
botched, leading some states to review their methods and to seek alternatives.
Other states simply aren't carrying out capital punishment because their
governors are opposed to it.
Here is a look at what's happening with some of the states that have the death
penalty on the books.
Arizona, Ohio, Oklahoma
These 3 states have put executions on hold because of botched executions last
year. It took Joseph Wood nearly 2 hours to die in Arizona. In Ohio, Dennis
McGuire gasped and snorted for an extended period before dying. Clayton Lockett
in Oklahoma had a heart attack soon after being injected.
Pennsylvania
Calling it a "flawed system," Gov. Tom Wolf made Pennsylvania the most recent
state to impose a moratorium in February. It will remain in effect pending the
results of a task force that is reviewing the punishment. Pennsylvania has one
of the largest death row populations in the country - 188 people - but has
carried out only three executions since 1976.
Oregon
Gov. John Kitzhaber imposed a moratorium in November 2011 saying he wanted no
part of the "inequitable" system and vowing that no executions would be carried
out as long as he is in office. An inmate was scheduled to die within weeks of
that decision. 37 people are on death row.
Washington
Gov. Jay Inslee imposed a moratorium in February 2014, affecting 9 people on
death row. State legislators opposed to the death penalty introduced a bill in
January seeking to abolish it. They have tried and failed before, but are
hoping the governor's personal moratorium will help build support this time.
Washington is the only state where inmates are offered the choice of death by
hanging instead of lethal injection, the default method. No one has been
executed since 2010.
Colorado
The state has rarely used the death penalty and hadn't executed anyone since
1997 before Gov. John Hickenlooper imposed a moratorium in 2013. He said that
if the death penalty is to be carried out it should be done so "flawlessly,"
but the system is not flawless. Three inmates are on death row.
Delaware
Legislators opposed to the death penalty introduced a bill earlier this month
to repeal it. If it passes, Delaware would be the 19th state to ban it, but the
15 people currently on death row could still be executed. Opponents have tried
and failed before to overturn the death penalty in Delaware.
Florida
Florida's death penalty will be on trial at the U.S. Supreme Court this
session. It agreed to hear a case about how juries recommend death sentences
and whether the rules are constitutional. In Florida, juries do not have to be
unanimous in their recommendation.
California
The state has the country's largest death row population, more than 700 people,
but the state imposed a moratorium in 2006 after a successful court challenge
that forced the state to change its lethal injection protocols. New regulations
were introduced in 2010. Last summer a federal judge in the state declared the
death penalty unconstitutional, but the ruling only applied to a single case.
Tennessee
In 2014, Gov. Bill Haslam signed a law that authorizes the use of the electric
chair if lethal injection drugs are not available. Some states give death row
inmates the option of the electric chair, but Tennessee's law now makes its use
mandatory if drugs can't be used.
Kansas, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, Wyoming
There are no formal moratoriums, but these states have not carried out an
execution in more than 5 years. Kansas, for example, hasn't imposed the
sentence since 1965. New Hampshire hasn't executed anyone since 1939. It has
one person on death row. The legislature came 1 vote short of abolishing the
death sentence last year.
Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Montana, North Carolina
These states have put executions on hold pending court challenges over the
drugs being used in lethal injections.
Missouri
Missouri's oldest death row inmate Cecil Clayton was executed on March 17. The
74-year-old convicted murderer had an IQ of 71, according to his lawyers, who
argued that he should have been ineligible for the punishment because he wasn't
mentally healthy. The part of the brain that controls impulse and judgment had
been removed from Clayton after a sawmill accident. The last-minute appeals all
failed.
States with the death penalty
Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia,
Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana,
Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon,
Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia,
Washington, Wyoming.
States without the death penalty
Alaska, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts,
Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Rhode
Island, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin.
(source: CBC news)
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