May 23
NEBRASKA:
Hi Friends,
There is a poll in Nebraska we'd love your help with:???
http://www.1011now.com/home/headlines/Reaction-to-Death-Penalty-Repeal-Bill-Its-About-Time-304796131.html
[www.1011now.com]
It's on the right hand side of the article.
Thanks!
Colleen Cunningham, Equal Justice USA
*********************
Death penalty undignified
Is there a compelling pay off in the repeal of our death penalty statute? I
believe there is and a very significant one at that ("Death penalty repeal
passes Legislature, awaits veto," May 20).
The time, energy and money invested in seeking to bring about an end to the
tragedy of our killing one another by working to bring about yet another
killing seems not only counterproductive, but an ugly way of doing and being
with one another.
Choosing the path of seeking restorative, rather than punitive justice guides
us to ways of doing that upholds each person's inherent dignity and worth. This
further ennobles us all with opportunities to be helpful, kind and caring as we
work our way out of the mess and find ways to assist others in danger of
getting caught up as participants in still more tragedy.
As a closing thought I would ask that we give more thought to considering what
Jesus would do and have us do in this matter for the good of all of us.
Byron Peterson, Minatare
(source: Letter to the Editor, Lincoln Journal Star)
****************************
Murder Victim's Daughter Reacts to Death Penalty Repeal Bill
Ashley Gage says she opposes the state's death penalty because the appeals
process causes too much trauma and heartache for the families of victims. That
includes her.
In March, NTV News first spoke with Gage. She found her father murdered when
she was just a teenager. Despite that, Gage still is opposed to the capital
punishment.
"As an 18-year-old, finding my father really disrupted my life in a substantial
way, and I didn't even have to go through a capital trial," Gage told NTV back
in March.
With the vote advancing to Governor Ricketts' desk this week, Gage now says
she's cautiously optimistic.
"I had to kind of step away and let it sink in and really grasp that it came
this far and passed. I'm still a little cautious because Ricketts has promised
to veto the bill and I feel like I'm holding back a little bit," said Gage.
Ricketts told NTV News this week that some of the families he's spoken with are
in favor of the death penalty.
"Several weeks ago, I sat down with Attorney General Peterson and Director
Frakes, who's in charge of our correction system, and told them they need to
make it a priority for us to be able to carry out these executions," said
Ricketts. "It's important for justice and for some of the families I've talked
to that have had loved ones killed by some of these heinous murderers."
Gage says that contradicts what she's encountered.
"I'm not sure where he's getting that information or whom he's spoken to, but
I'm in contact with three or four other victims' families and have met them
through this process and we're all on the same page in that we don't want to go
through this re-traumatization and this long process," said Gage.
(source: nebraska.tv)
****************
ACLU questions acquisition of lethal injection drugs
The state's recent purchase of lethal injection drugs that would allow it to
resume executions in Nebraska will lead to costly litigation, ACLU of Nebraska
Executive Director Danielle Conrad said Friday.
Conrad said information the ACLU received from the state Department of
Correctional Services in response to an open records request led her to
conclude that the state faces "another round of costly and lengthy legal
appeals with the taxpayer picking up the tab."
"(It) shows a shady foreign source approached the Department of Corrections and
engineered a hasty deal, with no assurances from state officials as to fair
price, ability to comply with the importation laws, or the efficacy of the
drugs in question," Conrad said. "This marks another sad chapter in the dark
history of Nebraska's death penalty story.
"Nebraska's past attempts to obtain lethal injection drugs have been legally
suspect and full of problems, including wasted taxpayer dollars and false
promises.
"Their most recent effort is nothing more than deja vu all over again."
Records show that Chris Harris, CEO of the India-based Harris Pharma LLP,
contacted state officials April 14 to ask if they wanted a "few thousand vials
extra" of sodium thiopental, one of three drugs used in lethal injections.
Sodium thiopental renders the recipient unconscious.
The message made its way to Corrections Director Scott Frakes, who told Harris
in an April 15 email that he would like to connect as soon as possible.
In fact, Taylor Gage, spokesman for Gov. Pete Ricketts, said documentation
provided to the ACLU shows that the state "legally purchased the necessary
drugs to carry out the death penalty under the state's current protocol."
"(ACLU's) threat to sue the state and to prevent sentences from being carried
out is only another example of their litigious tactics," Gage said.
In 2009, Nebraska moved to a system of execution by lethal injection as a
substitute for the electric chair, after its use was ruled as unconstitutional
by the Nebraska Supreme Court, but the state has encountered difficulty in
acquiring legal drugs.
The Legislature passed a bill Wednesday abolishing the death penalty in
Nebraska. Ricketts plans to veto the bill Tuesday, setting the stage for a
showdown vote in the Legislature on an attempt to override his veto.
Nebraska's last execution was in 1997.
(source: Lincoln Journal Star)
************************
Loner on a mission to make conservative Nebraska ditch the death penalty ----
Ernie Chambers, a champion of the voiceless, has introduced a bill to ban
capital punishment in each of his 36 years in the legislature. This time it
might succeed
"White people, they don't have a high opinion of me," says Ernie Chambers,
Nebraska's long-serving legislator. "They thought I was uppity and arrogant -
they didn't like my attitude."
They may not like Chambers' attitude in the super-conservative cornhusker
state, but they are certainly listening to him now. At his 38th attempt, the
state senator this week saw his bill to abolish the death penalty pass the
legislature, in a move that should it be enacted would make Nebraska the 1st
dyed-in-the-wool conservative state in the country to scrap the ultimate
punishment.
It's an extraordinary turn of events, spearheaded by an extraordinary
politician. For 38 years Chambers, 77, was the only African American member of
Nebraska's uni-chamber legislature (there are now 2), and since he was first
elected in 1970 to represent the north of Omaha he has been making it his
business to take up causes that nobody else would champion.
"Conservatives probably think I'm crazy," he tells the Guardian in the wake of
the historic vote to abolish capital punishment. "Not institutionally crazy.
But so far out I couldn't belong to any party, or church or club."
When asked how he would describe his personal politics in a state that has a
non-partisan assembly in which parties are not represented, he said: "First,
I'm a loner. That doesn't mean I'm anti-social. But I don't have a lot in
common with other people. Most of the things that I do, I will do virtually
alone."
He says he sees his politics as standing up for the "poor, the voiceless, the
marginal, the un-people - anybody who is set upon or mistrusted and who needs
help. I'm not comfortable in the presence of other people's suffering, and if I
can do something about it, I will."
One of the actions of which he is most proud was to have made Nebraska in the
1980s the 1st state in the US officially to divest from companies doing
business with apartheid South Africa. From there the idea caught on, spreading
to other states and eventually the federal government.
"Despite the very backward image that might attach to Nebraska, we led the
country and to some degree the world over South Africa. And now we can do it
again." ---- Ernie Chambers speaks in the Nebraska legislature.
His mission to end the death penalty in his state emanates from a conviction
that he says he has had since he was a teenager. He puts that conviction in
bold, simple terms: "I believe the state shouldn't kill anybody. I don't think
anybody should kill anybody. If we tell people that as individuals they can't
kill anybody, then how can we kill somebody as a society? Just multiplying the
number of people involved in the decision doesn't make it right - whether it's
a mob or a state or anything else."
Armed with that moral determination, Chambers has introduced a bill to repeal
the death penalty every year that he has served as a state legislator. 36 times
the bill was voted down. In 1979 it passed the legislature, only to be vetoed
by the then governor Charles Thone.
And this week it passed a 2nd time - on this occasion by a majority of 32 to
15. Crucially, that's more votes than would be needed to overturn a veto from
the current governor, Pete Ricketts, who has made clear that he intends to do
everything in his power to keep the death penalty alive in Nebraska. On his
Facebook page, Ricketts has said "the Legislature is out of touch with
Nebraskans ... the overwhelming majority of Nebraskans support the death
penalty because they understand that it is an important tool for public
safety."
The governor has until next Tuesday to decide whether or not to wield his veto.
Until then, and until sufficient numbers can be mustered to overturn any veto,
Chambers is not counting his chickens.
"The work isn't done yet - if the governor overrides the bill it will be back
to us, and you never know if someone will crumble or stumble. There are so many
ways for politicians to avoid committing themselves," he says.
But whatever the final outcome, Chambers has the satisfaction of knowing that
he has yet again given Nebraska's normally staid politics an almighty shake.
When asked how he managed to bring so many hardline conservatives on board with
the bill, he replies: "Maybe the moon was in its 7th house and Jupiter lined up
with Mars."
Pressed to give a less astronomical analysis, Chambers says that he believes
that the conservatives who voted to abolish the death penalty were merely being
true to their fundamental principles. "Conservatives have vowed that whenever
they find a government program that isn't working, they will scrap it. And if
there is a government program that doesn't achieve its goals, it's the death
penalty."
He adds: "The irony is that the so-called conservatives are now giving the same
arguments against the death penalty that the abolitionists have always given."
Though he finds himself in the unfamiliar position of having a lot of fellow
senators actually agreeing with him, he has no delusions about his sudden
popularity. Hence his statement about his standing in the eyes of white people
- a reference to the rest of his legislator peers.
"If you were part of a group that's supposed to be dominant and somebody in
that group fights you tooth and nail, you would have problems with that person
because he reminds you of all the wrongs that you have done," he says.
For once, though, there's a chance that they will emerge united. "That's what
I've told them. I've told my colleagues that if we abolish the death penalty we
will be making history, and not only that, this time we'll be on the right side
of history."
(source: The Guardian)
WYOMING:
Wyoming says it can still pursue death penalty for Eaton
Lawyers for the state of Wyoming and a man convicted of murder disagree over
whether the state may again seek the death penalty against him.
Lawyers representing inmate Dale Eaton and the state filed arguments Friday
with a federal appeals court in Denver. State lawyers argue they should be
allowed to press for the death penalty against Eaton while his lawyers say they
shouldn't.
The dispute stems from November's ruling by a federal judge in Cheyenne
overturning Eaton's original death sentence in the 1988 rape and killing of
18-year-old Lisa Marie Kimmell of Billings, Montana.
Wyoming didn't comply until this week with the judge's order to tell him by
March whether it intended to seek the death penalty again against Eaton or if
he would serve life in prison.
(source: Associated Press)
OREGON:
Jury will consider death penalty in double-murder case
The Gary Goins double-murder trial has entered the penalty phase, in which
jurors will decide whether the defendant should die for the ambush slayings of
his brother and sister-in-law nearly 4 years ago.
The same Josephine County jury of 8 women and 4 men that convicted Goins, 62,
of aggravated murder and 1st-degree robbery on Tuesday is taking testimony
about the defendant's character and the personal lives of his victims, Dennis
and Susan Goins, who were found shot to death at their secluded home in the
Hugo area in October 2011.
The penalty phase is expected to last at least into next week.
The jury is being asked to answer 3 questions before being allowed to consider
the question of whether Goins should face the death penalty. The 3 questions
involve intent, whether Goins constitutes a future danger to others, and
whether his conduct - testimony at trial suggested Goins was bitter over money
matters - was unreasonable. A death penalty decision would require a unanimous
verdict.
If any of the 12 jurors answers "no" to any of those three questions, death
will be taken off the table as an option. In that event, the presumptive
sentence is life in prison without parole. It would take 10 of the 12 jurors to
give him the possibility of parole after 30 years.
The 1st person to testify Thursday was Pam Soberanes, office manager at Pacific
Veterinary Clinic in Grants Pass where Susan Goins, 53, worked as a
receptionist. The couple married in 2010 shortly after moving to Oregon from
California's Silicon Valley, where Dennis Goins, 63, had worked as a software
executive. Both had adult children from previous relationships.
Soberanes described Susan Goins as a warm person who loved other people and was
devoted to her family - especially her grandchildren in Florida. She tearfully
recalled that after the news broke that the couple had been murdered at their
secluded home on Mountain Greens Lane she got a call from a client at the vet.
"She says, 'Was that our Susan?' And I said 'Yeah.' And she said, 'That can't
happen to our Susan, our Susan was too happy,' " Soberanes said.
Another former coworker, Margaret Morgan, called Susan "genuine" and funny.
Dennis' nickname for Susan was "Gracie Allen," after the popular 1930s
comedienne and wife of George Burns. Morgan said Dennis was often quiet as
Susan chatted away, and that he would smile admiringly and watch her as if he
were "trying to figure her out."
Jurors also heard from neighbor Kris Vandehey, co-owner of the Red Mountain
Golf Course, who testified she and her daughter drove a golf cart up to the
Goins home to drop off a welcoming gift when Dennis and Susan moved in.
"We had not-so-nice neighbors before Dennis and Susan, so we were nervous about
meeting them," Vandehey said.
Susan greeted them with a warm hello and immediately invited them in, she said.
As she got to know Susan, her husband forged a friendship with Dennis.
"When you live out in the country, you just kind of want to watch out for each
other," she said.
Defense attorney Jane Claus told the jury that they are being given the grave
responsibility of deciding a man's life.
"You're no longer talking about the death penalty over coffee or a couple of
beers with friends," she said. "It's real and you have a very serious decision
to make."
She urged jurors not to let anger or outrage guide their decision. "We will be
asking you to impose a moral, reasoned punishment without doing damage to your
conscience," she said.
Claus noted that Goins is 62, and said he is in poor health.
"One way or another, he's going to die behind the (prison) walls, and the only
way he's getting out is in a body bag or a pine box," Claus said.
(source: Grants Pass Daily Courier)
USA:
Nebraska vote shows executions are on death bed
It's a pretty good sign that the death penalty is drawing its last gasps when a
reliably conservative state like Nebraska pulls the plug.
Members of the state's unique 1-chamber legislature technically run on
nonpartisan ballots, but Nebraska's politics are as red as the home crowd on
Cornhusker game day. Yet, the Nebraska Legislature's 32-15 vote to abolish
capital punishment Wednesday was historic for a state that only 7 years ago
retired its electric chair after the Nebraska Supreme Court ruled it cruel and
unusual punishment.
This week's lopsided vote was an especially sweet victory for Ernie Chambers,
the legendary black senator from Omaha who introduced the death penalty repeal
bill 38 times over his four-decade legislative career.
Gov. Pete Ricketts vowed to veto the bill, but it doesn't really matter.
The death penalty has been effectively dead in Nebraska for several years,
since it hasn't executed anyone since 1997. It's the same story around the
country, in part because it takes decades to exhaust legal appeals. Now even
states that are determined to pursue executions are finding it next to
impossible to acquire toxic drugs that meet Eighth Amendment standards.
The fact is, capital punishment has been persuasively shown to have little or
no deterrent effect on murder, especially when the alternative is life in
prison without possibility of parole. It is enormously costly to get a death
case through the courts, and it's increasingly evident that the odds just too
high that innocent persons could be, or already have been, executed.
Iowa abolished the death penalty twice - 1st in 1872, which lasted 6 years, and
again in 1965. It's taken our neighbor to the west longer to come around, but
we welcome them to the club. Assuming it becomes law there, the remaining 31
states with capital punishment should retire the executioner.
(source: Editorial, Des Moines Register)
***********
Bill Otis Responds to George Will on the Death Penalty
George Will recently wrote an op-ed in the Post, advancing the "conservative
case" against the death penalty. My friend Bill Otis has written this strong
response. Here's an excerpt of Bill's argument:
Will says that the considerable expense and delay of capital punishment "are
here to stay."
How does he know that? 50 years ago, we were told, by people who think as Will
does now, that (then) growing national opposition to the death penalty itself
was "here to stay." And they were right - for about a decade, after which, once
past its brief flirtation with abolition, and not caring for the results, the
country re-instated capital punishment and has since executed roughly 1400
grisly killers.
As the thinking man's conservative, Will should know better than to make breezy
statements about what is "here to stay." He should also know that the way to
make capital punishment less expensive and time-consuming is not to abolish it,
but to place sensible limits on its currently grossly indisciplined costs and
delay. A civilized society should spend what it takes to make certain we have
the right guy, but should do much more than we have (and could) to shrink
manufactured procedural delays far removed from the determination of guilt or
innocence.
Both pieces are well worth reading if you are interested in how the death
penalty debate is playing out.
(source: Paul G. Cassell teaches criminal law, criminal procedure, and crime
victims' rights at the S.J. Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah.
He also served as a U.S. District Court Judge for the District of Utah from
2002 to 2007----Washington Post)
*******************
Preacher's Point: Arguments for, against the death penalty
In the media and social networks, there are arguments for and against the death
penalty being waged.
We have our villains, names forever sketched into the America memory, John
Wilkes Booth, Lee Harvey Oswald, Charles Manson, Tim McVeigh, and now a new
name is on the list. Should we execute men like this? In just the 4 that popped
into my head first, McVeigh was the only one executed. Manson is still in
prison while Booth and Oswald were both killed before coming to trial.
If we turn to Bible teachers for an answer, we do find many on both sides of
the fence. Some claiming we are sinning if we send someone to the gallows while
others, will claim we shouldn???t have an electric chair; we should have
electric bleachers.
Let's examine the scriptures.
Those against the death penalty will often quote the commandment, "Thou shalt
not kill" (Exodus 20:13). Another passage often used against the death penalty
is the story of the woman found committing adultery. The Pharisees bring her to
Jesus, and it is asked of Him what they should do to her. Jesus had been
preaching about forgiveness, but the penalty for adultery was death. They were
trying to entrap Him in His words. At this moment is when Jesus said the
eternal words, "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at
her" (John 8:7).
Taking these 2 passages together it does seem to imply since none of us are
sinless, death is not a viable punishment for a crime regardless of how
monstrous. But, there are other passages to consider.
After God gave Israel the commandment, "Thou shalt not kill" Israel will face
war with her enemies. On these occasions God tells them to destroy their
enemies, killing not just the soldiers but civilians and livestock as well
(Numbers 31, Deuteronomy 7,13,20 and 1 Samuel 15). How can extermination of
their enemies be justified after being told not to kill?
We are told to rightly divide the word of truth in 2 Timothy 2:15. If we are to
divide it, it must have a reason to be divided. Some things may apply in some
areas while other things apply to other areas of life. We are told to study to
divide the word correctly (2 Timothy 2:15).
"Thou shalt not kill" was directed toward the individual and God's instructions
to the Hebrew army was directed to them as a society as a whole. The same
principle applies to the scene with Jesus and the accusers of the adulterous
woman. Those men were taking the law into their hands and executing judgment.
The punishment of evil doers is in the hands of the government, not the
individual (1 Peter 2:13-14).
God has established different roles and responsibilities throughout society. As
individuals, we are to turn the other cheek (Matthew 5:39; Luke 6:29), forgive
and not be judgmental. To protect society and to keep evil in check, the
government needs to have a means of determining guilt or innocence and
administrating the proper punishment.
Many will be surprised to learn the death penalty was not established in God's
law, but God instituted the death penalty while promising Noah He would never
again destroy the world by water.
Genesis 9:5-6, "And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand
of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every
man's brother will I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by ma
shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man."
Please note that the reason for the death penalty is not directly the
punishment of evildoers or even closure for those the victim left behind. The
reason for the death penalty is because we are created in the image of God, and
God sees an attack against man (His image) as an attack against Him.
What I'm about to say may be the hardest part yet. As a society, we have a
responsibility to carry out the death penalty, yet as individuals we have the
responsibility to not cast the first stone.
(source: Preacher Tim Johnson is pastor of Countryside Baptist Church in Parke
County, Ind. ---- Lebanon Democrat)
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