April 22
MISSISSIPPI:
State Fights Execution Drug Disclosure While Compensating Wrongfully Convicted
At the same time the State of Mississippi continues fighting the release of
details about where it gets drugs used in executions, Mississippi taxpayers
will have to compensate people wrongfully convicted and incarcerated, including
several who were sentenced to death.
Last week, a lawyer for Richard Jordan and Ricky Chase wrote in a lawsuit filed
in United States District Court in Jackson that Mississippi prisoners face
risks of excruciating pain and torture during an execution that violates the
U.S. Constitution's Eighth Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual
punishment.
A prison spokeswoman declined to comment.
Mississippi plans to execute prisoners by mixing pentobarbital from ingredients
it purchased from a compounding pharmacy in Grenada. Lawyer Jim Craig said
Mississippi doesn't seem to have ever used the drug in an execution before and
questioned whether the state can mix a safe and effective anesthetic for
prisoners.
Even if it can, Craig warns that the drug may act more slowly than drugs used
previously, meaning that prisoners could be conscious as a paralyzing agent is
injected, causing them to know they're unable to breathe. They might remain
conscious as potassium chloride is injected to stop their hearts.
"The defendants' untried and untested drugs create a substantial risk that
plaintiffs will suffer unnecessary and excruciating pain, either by injection
of the compounded pentobarbital causing a painful reaction itself, or by the
compounded pentobarbital failing to work, resulting in a torturous death by
live suffocation and cardiac arrest," the suit states.
The prisoners also allege using pentobarbital is illegal under state law,
because it doesn't meet the legal mandate for an ultra-fast-acting barbiturate.
Mississippi formerly used a different drug, but the supplier cut off use in
executions.
"Craig has fought the state corrections department in court seeking information
about Mississippi's suppliers of execution drugs. The new lawsuit argues that
the secrecy is a separate constitutional violation, because it retards
prisoners' ability to mount Eighth Amendment challenges.
"Under the due process clauses of the United States and Mississippi
constitutions, plaintiffs are entitled to notice of the defendants' intended
method of execution," the suit states.
Craig argues that under evolving standards of decency, U.S. District Judge
Henry T. Wingate should bar Mississippi from using the paralytic agent and
potassium chloride, though state law requires them. He said executing people
using only barbiturates, as Texas now does, could meet these standards.
Jordan was convicted of capital murder committed in the course of kidnapping
Edwina Marta in Harrison County in 1976. At 68, Jordan is the oldest inmate on
Mississippi's death row, having won 3 successful appeals, only to be
resentenced to death. He's also the longest serving death-row inmate, having
spent 38 years there. What would likely be Jordan's final appeal is pending
before the U.S. Supreme Court. Hood's office could ask the state Supreme Court
to set an execution date within weeks if Jordan's appeal is refused. That's
important, because Mississippi's current supply of pentobarbital is supposed to
expire May 20.
Chase was convicted and sentenced to death in 1990 for the 1989 killing of an
elderly vegetable salesman in Copiah County.
Information from the Death Penalty Information Center estimates that the death
penalty costs states approximately $1.26 million per case; on average, it costs
$90,000 per year more to house a death-row inmate than a prisoner in the
general population.
As DNA science improves, and courts exonerate more and more people, states have
also started paying settlements to victims. Among them are more than a dozen
people who the state of Mississippi will compensate this year for being
wrongfully convicted of crimes.
Some of the cases made headlines: Kennedy Brewer and Levon Brooks, both of
Noxubee County; Arthur Johnson of Sunflower County; and Cedric Willis of Hinds
County.
Some are getting compensation for the first time. Others are receiving annual
installments as provided by law.
Mississippi law provides $50,000 for each year of wrongful imprisonment, up to
a maximum of $500,000. The compensation must be sought within three years after
a pardon or overturned conviction. It is retroactive. A stipulation for
accepting the money is that the wrongly convicted person can't sue the state.
Mississippi's compensation program went into effect on July 1, 2009. That same
year, a new law took effect requiring the state Crime Lab or local law
enforcement agencies to preserve biological or DNA evidence gathered in felony
investigations. Many law enforcement agencies across the state gather DNA
during investigations, but the samples weren't always preserved.
The new laws were inspired, in part, by the 2008 exoneration of Kennedy Brewer,
who had been convicted of capital murder in the 1992 rape and strangulation of
his former girlfriend's 3-year-old daughter. Brewer spent 15 years in prison,
part of it on death row. DNA tests proved his innocence in February 2008.
Brooks served 18 years for the rape and murder of a 3-year-old girl. Johnson
was convicted of a 1993 rape and sentenced to 55 years. He served 16 years.
Willis was convicted in 1997 in the death of Carl White Jr., and for robbing
White's wife and daughter. He was sentenced to life plus 99 years but was
exonerated in 2006 after serving 12 years. In 2012, the city of Jackson City
Council authorized a $195,000 settlement with Willis for his wrongful arrest
but denied culpability.
Each will receive $50,000 this year as provided in Senate Bill 2837, which is a
catch-all bill of deficit appropriations and additional spending authority to a
variety of agencies and programs. Also in the bill are funds the attorney
general's office requested to pay for outside legal assistance, expert witness
fees, judgments and settlement agreements.
Others receiving compensation in the bill are:
-- Sabrina Butler Porter, exonerated in the death of infant son in Lowndes
County, $50,000
-- Rodney Demetrius Sands, whose Jefferson Davis County conviction in the
fatal shooting of 2 men was overturned, $39,998.
-- Larry Ruffin, Bobby Ray Dixon and Phillip Bivens, exonerated in a rape and
capital-murder case in Forrest County, $50,000 each. Money for Ruffin and
Bivens is going to their estates.
-- John Randall Alexander, whose Panola County murder conviction was tossed
after testimony against him was recanted, $50,000.
-- Matthew Norwood, whose Hinds County carjacking conviction was overturned,
$50,000.
-- Jimmie Bass, whose Bolivar County aggravated assault and armed robbery
convictions were thrown out, $50,000.
-- Frank Sanders Tipton, whose Jackson County extortion conviction was
overturned, $50,000.
-- Derrick Luckett, whose Rankin County embezzlement conviction was
overturned, $20,000.
(source: Jackson Free Press)
KANSAS:
Death penalty opponents to rally Thursday around 'Tree of Healing'----Tree
planted 21 years ago when Kansas restored death penalty
A coalition of death penalty opponents will rally Thursday evening at a Topeka
site established 21 years ago when Kansas restored its death penalty law.
The 6 p.m. rally will observe the anniversary of the "Tree of Healing," a
cottonwood planted on April 23, 1994, at 1176 S.W. Warren. The tree symbolizes
the nonviolent efforts of 2 groups, Murder Victims' Families for Reconciliation
and the Kansas Coalition Against the Death Penalty, to oppose state-sponsored
executions, organizers of the event scheduled at the tree site said in a news
release.
Kansas last carried out an execution in 1965, but currently has prison inmates
who have received death sentences.
(source: The Capital-Journal)
OKLAHOMA:
New Law May Bring Controversial Form Of Capital Punishment To Oklahoma
The state of Oklahoma isn't about to let something like a Supreme Court
decision prevent it from executing inmates.
On Friday, Gov. Mary Fallin (R-OK) signed legislation establishing that death
row inmates will be asphyxiated with nitrogen gas if the state is unable to
obtain lethal injection drugs or if the Supreme Court strikes down that method
of execution. The bill responds to 2 developments that currently stand between
the state and its desire to kill several inmates - a shortage of execution
drugs and a Supreme Court case that could potentially limit the kinds of drugs
Oklahoma may use in executions.
The shortage arises largely from opposition to the death penalty among drug
manufacturers and foreign governments. Many pharmaceutical companies,
especially European and Asian companies that have historically made drugs used
in executions, refuse to distribute their products if they will be used to kill
inmates. Meanwhile, foreign bodies such as the European Commission imposed
tight restrictions on the export of many drugs that can be used in executions.
As a result, many states have turned to less-reliable drugs - or to drugs
produced through unreliable methods - in order to carry out executions.
That's why the Supreme Court is now involved. Earlier this year, the Court
agreed to hear three Oklahoma inmates' cases challenging the state's plan to
use a drug called midazolam during their execution. Oklahoma, like many states,
uses a 3-drug protocol in its executions - an anesthetic to ensure that the
inmate does not feel pain, a paralytic and then a 3rd drug that actually kills
the inmate. The state intends to use midazolam as the 1st part of this
protocol, but it is not at all clear that the drug is effective when used for
this purpose. Rather, as Justice Sonia Sotomayor explained in a dissenting
opinion last January, research indicates that midazolam has a "ceiling effect"
- it is effective as a pain-killer up to a certain point but higher doses
beyond that point do not increase its effectiveness.
Yet, while the Court is scheduled to hear a challenge to Oklahoma's use of this
drug, there are 2 reasons to suspect that a majority of the Court will
ultimately hold that it is acceptable to use midazolam in executions despite
concerns that it may not adequately dull inmates' pain. The 1st is that, while
the Court did agree to hear 3 inmates' cases, there were actually 4 inmates who
petitioned the Court. The justices allowed that 4th inmate, Charles Warner, to
be executed before they ultimately took the remaining 3 cases and stayed those
executions - although the Court's 4 more liberal members did dissent from the
decision to allow Warner to die.
Simply put, the fact that the justices permitted Oklahoma to kill Warner is not
a hopeful sign that a majority of the Court viewed his execution as
constitutionally doubtful.
The other sign that the Court may not strike down Oklahoma's execution protocol
is a 2008 decision called Baze v. Rees. Baze involved a challenge to a somewhat
different execution protocol used by the state of Kentucky prior to the
execution drug shortages. Though the legal issues presented by Baze are
somewhat distinct from the issues presented by the Oklahoma case, it is worth
noting that Justice Anthony Kennedy, who sometimes votes with the Court's
left-of-center bloc on death penalty cases, did not crossover in Baze. This
suggests that Kennedy may be less sympathetic to challenges to a state's method
of execution than he is to challenges alleging that certain classes of people -
such as juvenile offenders or the intellectually disabled - may not be
executed.
In any event, the law Fallin signed on Friday will likely permit the state to
move forward with the 3 inmates' executions regardless of how the justices
rule.
(source: thinkprogress.org)
NEBRASKA:
Flaws in death penalty
The death penalty should be repealed for several reasons ("Death penalty repeal
passes first round," April 16). The first is that since 1970, 150 people on
death row have been exonerated before they were put to death. That begs the
question, how many innocent people do we accidentally put to death? Even one is
unconscionable. To be convicted, someone has to be "guilty beyond a reasonable
doubt," but the standards must be higher for the death penalty. To get the
penalty of death someone must be guilty beyond any doubt and that is hard to
prove.
Death penalty cases go through many appeals and it takes years to carry out the
penalty. It is more expensive for the state to carry out a death penalty
decision than a life in prison decision. At the hearing for this bill, several
loved ones of victims came forward to support the repeal of the death penalty
because death penalty decisions have caused them to go through years and years
of trauma as the case goes through years and years of appeals. They said that a
life in prison decision would at least give them closure.
The most important factors in whether or not someone gets the death penalty is
the quality of their representation, the color of their skin, and the color of
their victim's skin. African Americans are much more likely to get the death
penalty than are white Americans. This points to a broken justice system that
is given the power to determine whether someone lives or dies.
Nebraska senators, the death penalty is just a bad law. Get rid of it and don't
let the fact that you don't like Ernie Chambers, who proposed the bill, get in
the way of making a good decision.
Gwendolen Hines, Lincoln
(source: Letter to the Editor, Lincoln Journal Star)
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