April 15
DELAWARE:
Abolish death penalty in Delaware
A society based on Christian principles and respects life does not deliberately
kill human beings, let alone usurp divine authority for the state. Add to that
the unfair manner in which the death penalty is applied, largely dependent on
how much money defendants have, skill of their attorneys, the victim's race and
location of the crime, and you have a travesty of justice.
A public execution is a spectacle of official homicide that endorses killing to
solve problems, the worst possible example to set for the citizenry, especially
children. The death penalty only satisfies a desire for revenge and can never
promote social justice or a sense of humanity. An outdated response to violent
crime, retribution does not break the cycle of violence. Imagine hanging
someone or a botched lethal injection. Now imagine that the person executed was
innocent.
Crime occurs for complex reasons which the death penalty fails to address.
Victims of crime and their families need support, not retribution. The state
should consider restorative justice, which views crime as an offense against an
individual or community, not the state. It focuses on the needs of the victims
and the offenders by fostering dialogue between them, yielding the highest
rates of victim satisfaction and offender accountability while also saving
taxpayer money. Opposing the death penalty doesn't indicate a lack of sympathy
for murder victims. It places their needs ahead of the state.
Senate Bill 40 deserves to go to the floor of the House for public debate and
passage into law.
Mike Kerrigan
Wilmington
(source: Letter to the Editor, delawareonline.com)
NORTH CAROLINA:
DA to seek death penalty in cases of two men charged with murder in unrelated
fires
District Attorney Ben David plans to seek the death penalty in the cases of 2
local men, if they are convicted of 1st-degree murder.
David is seeking the death penalty in the State's cases against Marshall Hudson
Doran and Harry Davis.
Doran, 22, of Kure Beach, is charged with 2 counts of 1st-degree murder and
more than 30 felony charges in connection with a series of fatal fires on
Carolina Beach last December. He is charged with the murders of 72-year-old
Mary Angeline Cochran and 43-year-old Darlene Ann Maslar, both of whom died in
a fire at a condo complex at 409 Carolina Beach Ave. S. on Dec. 6, 2014.
Davis, 24, of Wilmington, was indicted March 30 on charges of 1st-degree arson,
2 counts of 1st-degree murder and 3 counts of attempted 1st-degree murder in
connection with the deaths of 51-year-old Pamela Pickett and 14-year-old
Makayla Pickett, who died in a house fire on Lingo Street on Dec. 23, 2014.
2 Rule 24 hearings - a required step in pursuing the death penalty in North
Carolina - are scheduled for 2:45 p.m. Wednesday in New Hanover County Superior
Court.
During a court appearance last month, Superior Court Judge Phyllis Gorham
postponed the Rule 24 hearing in Doran's case at the request of Doran's defense
attorneys. Doran previously waived his right to court-appointed counsel and
hired Roger Smith Jr. - who is representing Doran on pending felony death by
motor vehicle and hit-and-run charges in Wake County - and Douglas Kingsberry,
of Tharrington Smith in Raleigh.
Both men are being held at the New Hanover County Detention Center without
bond.
(source: Port City Daily)
OHIO:
Ohio death-row exonerees, in first joint appearance, lobby against state's
capital punishment system
6 of Ohio's 9 death-row exonerees appeared together for the 1st time on
Tuesday, lobbying lawmakers at the Ohio Statehouse for reforms -- if not an
outright end -- to the state's capital punishment system.
The 6 presented themselves as living examples of how arbitrary and flawed the
death-penalty system is, and many said their goal now is to ensure no one else
has to endure the hell they went through.
"What happened to me happened - you can't change that," said Ricky Jackson, a
Cleveland man who spent 39 years behind bars for a murder he didn't commit. "So
the best thing that I can do is try to prevent it from happening to somebody
else."
Another Cleveland man, Joe D'Ambrosio, was on death row for 22 years before his
release in 2012. D'Ambrosio said he had no criminal record before his arrest
and was convicted because the court took another defendant's word over his.
"I'm the most common Joe that there can be," D'Ambrosio said. "And if it can
happen to me, it can happen to you, or your children, or your grandchildren.
The system is broken."
The 6 exonerees were there at the request of Ohioans To Stop Executions.
The Columbus-based anti-death penalty group is pushing lawmakers to adopt a
number of recommendations offered last year by the Ohio Supreme Court's
death-penalty task force, including:
--Allowing the death penalty in cases in which the crime is proved via DNA
evidence, a filmed confession, or other video footage;
--Prohibiting the death sentence when the state relies only on jailhouse
informant testimony;
--Creating a panel under the Ohio attorney general that would have to approve
death penalty charges before cases proceed, paying particular attention to
racial factors.
D'Ambrosio said if these reforms were in place when he was arrested, he likely
would have never ended up on death row.
Jackson, for one, was awarded an initial payment of more than $1 million last
month for his wrongful imprisonment. But when asked whether any amount of money
would be adequate compensation for their time on death row, he and other
exonerees immediately shook their heads.
Kwame Ajamu, who was convicted along with Jackson of murdering a Cleveland
businessman in 1975, said all of them have a "gap" in their lives because of
the time they spent behind bars.
When Ajamu went to prison, he said, one of his nieces was 5 years old. When he
was released, he said, he was shocked to see she was a 45-year-old woman.
In prison, Ajamu said, "Time, in your mind and your heart, stops."
(source: cleveland.com)
MISSOURI----execution
Missouri executes Andre Cole for 1998 stabbing death
Missouri has carried out its 3rd execution of the year. Andre Cole died by
lethal injection at the Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center
in Bonne Terre. The execution began at 10:15 p.m., and he was pronounced dead
at 10:24 p.m.
Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster has released the following statement:
"Andre Cole planned and carried out a brutal act of domestic violence because
he did not want to provide financial support for his child and his child's
mother. It is my hope that the sentence carried out tonight brings those
forever impacted by this tragedy a sense of justice and a measure of closure."
Pentobarbital was again the drug used for the procedure, according to Dept. of
Corrections spokesman Mike O'Connell. He says there were no complications
during the execution, and that Cole chose not to use any pain-relieving drugs
beforehand.
Cole was convicted of the 1998 stabbing death of Anthony Curtis, who was
visiting Cole's ex-wife, Terri, at the time of the killing. According to court
documents, Cole was behind on child support payments and a payroll withholding
order had been sent to his employer. Upon learning the news, Cole was quoted as
telling his co-workers, "before I give her another dime I'll kill the bitch."
On August 21, 1998, Cole became enraged after the 1st payroll deduction
appeared on his check stub. He went to his ex-wife's house, got inside after
throwing a tire iron through a glass doorway, and was confronted by Curtis.
Cole then stabbed him several times, and also stabbed Terri repeatedly. Curtis
died, while Terri survived.
Cole fled Missouri after the attack, but returned 33 days later and turned
himself in to police in St. Louis. DNA evidence confirmed the presence of
Cole's blood at the scene, along with the blood from Curtis and Terri on the
murder weapon.
Cole did not provide a final statement, but according to the Associated Press
he nodded at relatives who blew kisses to him just before he was executed. He
also turned down the traditional last meal.
After the execution, Department of Corrections Director George Lombardi read a
statement to the media from Gov. Jay Nixon:
"Next week marks the observance of Crime Victims' Rights Week in Missouri, and
tonight I ask the people of our state to especially remember Anthony Curtis,
murdered by the man whose sentence was carried out tonight. Far too often, the
names of those who are victims of violent crime, such as Anthony Curtis, are
the names that are forgotten. Please join us in keeping Anthony Curtis and his
loved ones in your thoughts and prayers."
Meanwhile, a group of activists, including several African-American leaders and
the members of the ACLU, had asked Nixon to postpone the execution and appoint
a panel to study the exclusion of black jurors from death penalty cases. Cole,
who was black, was convicted by an all-white jury.
Cole's lawyers tried to appeal by offering the findings of a psychiatrist that
said Cole is depressed and has symptoms of psychosis, specifically delusions
that keep him from understanding why he would be executed. The Missouri Supreme
Court rejected that appeal saying that he is competent, in part by reviewing
audio recordings of telephone conversations in which it says Cole demonstrated
that he understands his sentence and the reason for it.
There was a flurry of protests from civil rights activists and religious
leaders demanding Nixon stop the execution to allow for an official review of
alleged racial bias in Missouri's jury selection process. Cole was sentenced to
death by an all-white jury in the jurisdiction that covers Ferguson, the scene
of last summer's unrest over state-sanctioned racial discrimination. 3
potential black jurors were removed from the jury pool during Cole's case at
the demand of St. Louis County prosecutors.
Protesters claim systemic racial bias within St. Louis County has put a vastly
disproportionate number of black men on death row. The recent report from the
U.S. Department of Justice found that Ferguson's municipal police and court
systems displayed signs of racial bias and operated in an illegal and
unconstitutional way.
Missouri currently has 19 white men, 13 black men, and no women sentenced to
death.
Missouri was scheduled to carry out the execution of Kimber Edwards in May, but
the State Supreme Court has lifted its execution order without explanation.
Edward's attorneys responded on the day his execution was scheduled asking for
a stay on the grounds that both have other clients with pending court
proceedings that would conflict with their being able to work on his case
leading up to May 12. Missouri currently does not have another execution
scheduled.
Cole becomes the 3rd condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Missouri
and the 83rd overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 1989. Only
Texas (523), Oklahoma (112), Virginia (110), and Florida (90) have put more
inmates to death in the USA since the death penalty was re-legalized on July 2,
1976.
Cole becomes the 12th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA
and the 1406th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977.
(sources: St. Louis Public Radio, MissouriNet & Rick Halperin)
CALIFORNIA----new death sentence
Jury recommends death penalty for Robert Dunson----Dunson found guilty of 2007
murder of Canadian businessman William Dobbs
A Riverside jury has recommended a death sentence for an ex-con who fatally
beat and slashed a Canadian businessman during an Indio robbery.
Robert Lee Dunson, 33, killed 48-year-old William George Dobbs in November
2007. Jurors deliberated one day in the penalty phase of Dunson's trial before
returning with a verdict.
The same panel found the defendant guilty last month of 1st-degree murder and
found true special circumstance allegations that he killed the victim during a
kidnapping and in the commission of a robbery.
Dunson is scheduled to be formally sentenced on May 15.
(source: KESQ news)
***********
Brown's death row proposal short-term solution to a long-term problem
California's death row, which is the largest in the nation, has run out of
room. In a plea to the legislature, Governor Jerry Brown has asked for $3.8
million to provide 100 additional cells to contain the influx of death row
inmates. However, Governor Brown has chosen to ignore the root of the issue in
light of just throwing money at the problem.
Regardless of whether you support or oppose capital punishment, the fact
remains that opening 100 cells will only temporarily relieve our death row
woes, rather than eliminating them entirely. Faced with this problem, 2 options
must be considered: either abolishing the death penalty and removing the need
for a death row and specialized facilities, or a streamlining of our current
system.
When faced with the decision of rather or not to keep the death penalty, many
concerns arise on both sides. Opponents claim it constitutes an eye for an eye,
and there are numerous cases of innocent people being wrongly condemned.
Proponents argue that it serves as an effective deterrent against violent crime
and may be more cost-effective than a sentence of life without parole.
Possible moral dilemma aside, the fact remains that Proposition 34, which aimed
to eliminate the death penalty in California, was defeated by voters in 2012.
Regardless of morality, democracy is democracy, and the last thing we want is a
failure to follow the desires of voters in the higher echelons of government,
lest our leaders become tyrants. Since a majority of California voters do
support capital punishment, our focus should be on fixing our mismanaged death
row, rather than eliminating it in the face of a majority.
Ever since the death penalty was reinstated in 1978, the state has spent
approximately $4 billion in death row upkeep. Condemned prisoners need special
cells and special guards, and the lengthy appeals process that comes with a
death sentence often keeps prisoners in limbo for years on end. To look at it
another way, we have spent $308 million per prisoner executed, and only 13
people have been executed since 1978. Furthermore, a ruling that the current
lethal injection protocol was unconstitutional has put a moratorium on all
executions since 2006. In fact, 11 more prisoners on California death row have
committed suicide than have been executed since 1978, highlighting the
inefficient, arbitrary nature of California's death row.
Unless the promised punishment is carried out, death row will fail to serve as
a deterrent in our corrections system. While it is macabre to discuss, an
integral part of having a death row is performing actual executions.
Furthermore, the selection process for executions at time of writing is wholly
arbitrary, keeping the condemned in a cruel limbo where they never know whether
or not they will be chosen for the next execution, should it ever come. This
waiting game is tantamount to torture, which violates the federal Constitution
and serves no punitive purpose. Likewise, a failure to carry out capital
punishment, which is desired by a majority of voters, is failing to heed the
desires of the voting public.
The other main hurdle facing lawmakers is how to carry out actual executions
after the current three-drug lethal injection protocol was deemed cruel in
2006. Since then, the state???s hands have been tied, as there currently is no
set execution protocol in place. Rather than getting into gory detail, I would
like to point out that other methods of execution do exist, and these should be
explored in the face of overcrowding in lieu of the nothingness the state has
adopted since 2006. While a repugnant task, this is something that has to be
carried out if our death row system is to stay in place, or else death row will
have to expand ad infinitum.
In addition, the appeals process for the condemned needs to be streamlined. The
Constitution guarantees a right to a speedy trial, and oftentimes the appeals
process can be more cruel than waiting for a day of execution. In fact, the
lengthy appeals process and the arbitrary nature of which condemned prisoners
are selected was ruled unconstitutional in 2014. Instead of putting money into
expansion, why not instead use additional capital to open more courthouses?
That way, there would be less prisoners existing in a flux on death row,
waiting for their appeals to finish. Once they exhaust their appeals or waive
their right to continue, the sentence should then be carried out.
With any "hot button" issue, there is undoubtedly passionate discourse from
both sides of the argument, and capital punishment is certainly no exception.
Regardless of rather you are for or against the death penalty, the fact remains
that we live in a democracy, and the majority has ruled that the death penalty
should exist in California. Now is not the time for beating around the bush,
now is the time for action, and to make death row viable in California a total
overhaul is needed, not a delaying tactic of adding 100 additional cells. As of
now, the addition of cells won't even guarantee that any sentences will be
carried out, as the Department of Corrections has no viable plan for
eliminating death row overcrowding long term, and a failure to plan is a plan
to fail.
(source: Opinion, Robert Lees----Highlander News)
USA:
It's Come to This: Death Penalty Firing Squads
On March 23, Gov. Gary Herbert signed legislation that will make the firing
squad a legal method of execution in Utah. The state faces the same problem
that is challenging other death penalty states, the difficulty of obtaining the
drugs required for lethal injection.
The shortage of drugs such as sodium thiopental, an anesthetic often used for
lethal injection, stems from a 2011 export ban by the European Union. The
United States is the only western country that still imposes the death penalty,
and European drug manufacturers are reluctant to have their drugs put to that
use.
Complicating matters, last month the American Pharmacists Association and the
International Academy of Compounding Pharmacists voted to oppose participation
by their members in any phase of lethal injection, positions that will make
American specialty pharmacists less likely to supply lethal drugs.
So death penalty states are looking for other ways to execute criminals. One
wouldn't think that this would present much of a problem. Few practices have
benefited more from humanity???s innate creativity than the ways in which we
put each other to death.
But for the most part, states are considering methods from our recent history -
hanging, electric chair, gas chamber - before concerns about the brutality of
these methods began to move states toward lethal injection in the 1980s.
Lethal injection seems more humane and dignified, but as states ran short of
traditional lethal drugs, they began to experiment with other drug
combinations, with unseemly results.
Clayton Lockett is a good example. Reportedly, he tried to commit suicide
before his execution in Oklahoma last year, and he had to be subdued with a
Taser before he could be restrained on the death gurney. Prison staff had
trouble finding a suitable vein and after multiple attempts they cut into
Lockett's groin to insert a needle. The warden called the scene "a bloody
mess."
Then things got ugly. Lockett groaned and writhed against his restraints for 43
minutes before he was finally pronounced dead, reportedly of a heart attack.
Nothing humane or dignified about this execution.
So maybe Paul Ray has a point. He's the Utah state representative who sponsored
the bill authorizing the use of the firing squad when lethal injection drugs
aren't available. He claims that 5 trained marksmen, aiming for the heart,
could kill a criminal much more quickly and humanely than lethal injection can.
The firing squad embodies certain logic, as well. Guns are a primary icon of
American culture; they're an essential source of entertainment in our media,
and we use them for recreation, self-defense (occasionally) and for crime
(often).
In fact, 70 % of murders are committed with guns. Using the firing squad to do
away with murderers would represent a practical and satisfying application of
Matthew 26:52: "All they that take the sword shall perish with the sword." But
for a Christian nation, we have a habit of cherry picking scriptures to serve
our purposes. Jesus wasn't nearly as fond of "an eye for an eye" as we are.
Did Clayton Lockett deserve whatever torment he endured when he was executed?
Probably. He was convicted of rape, kidnapping and murder; he killed his victim
by burying her alive.
The problem is that the momentum of decency and civilization pulls in one
direction, and the natural desire to give evil people what they actually
deserve pulls in the other.
We're never going to be able to reconcile the rough justice of "an eye for an
eye" with the long hard slog away from savagery. Accepting the firing squad is
a setback. Not far beyond the firing squad are hanging and beheading. Before
long we're stoning and burning people alive.
It's easy to forget that how we punish our worst offenders has little to do
with who they are, and everything to do with who we are.
(source: Column; John M. Crisp, an op-ed columnist for Tribune News Service,
teaches in the English Department at Del Mar College in Corpus Christi,
Texas----Valley News)
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