Aug. 3
DELAWARE:
Delaware Supreme Court Rules State's Death Penalty Unconstitutional
Delaware's rules for imposing the death penalty are unconstitutional, the
state's Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday, a decision that could mean an effective
end to capital punishment in Delaware.
In a 148-page opinion, the court held that Delaware's death penalty law gave
judges, rather than juries, too great a role in imposing death sentences,
violating constitutional requirements that the United States Supreme Court laid
out in a January decision that has brought executions in Florida to a temporary
halt.
The Delaware legislature came close to abolishing the death penalty directly
this year, but the debate was put on hold to await the ruling by the state's
highest court.
Delaware's attorney general said in a statement Tuesday that he was reviewing
the court's decision and could not comment on whether Delaware would appeal to
the federal Supreme Court.
But there appeared to be little chance, in any case, that the Supreme Court
would overturn the decision, said Eric M. Freedman, an expert on capital
punishment at Hofstra University's law school. "This probably means, as a
practical matter, the end of the death penalty in Delaware," he said.
Delaware carried out its last execution in 2012 and has 14 prisoners on death
row. The death penalty has been abolished in 18 other states, and executions
have been delayed in many others because of a scarcity of lethal injection
drugs and disputes over execution procedures.
In the case decided Tuesday, Delaware officials had said they would seek the
execution of Benjamin Rauf, a New Yorker who is charged with murdering a fellow
law school classmate last year during a drug deal in Delaware. But Mr. Rauf's
lawyers argued that Delaware's procedures violated Supreme Court requirements
for the primacy of jury decisions in capital cases.
Until recently, Delaware was 1 of 3 states, along with Florida and Alabama,
that allowed judges to decide if the circumstances of a crime warranted the
death penalty. Judges in those 3 states were also allowed to override a jury
decision and impose such a penalty.
In January, the federal Supreme Court ruled, in Hurst v. Florida, that
Florida's capital sentencing law was unconstitutional because "the Sixth
Amendment requires a jury, not a judge, to find each fact necessary to impose a
sentence of death."
Florida's subsequent effort to revise its law, allowing imposition of the death
penalty by a jury vote of 10 to 2, rather than a unanimous vote, is also under
challenge.
The new decision by the Delaware justices is significant and could have
national repercussions because it accepts the principles in the Hurst decision
and takes them to their logical conclusion, clarifying issues that the federal
Supreme Court did not address, said Robert Dunham, the executive director of
the Death Penalty Information Center, a private research group.
The Delaware court found that a jury not only must decide whether there were
"aggravating circumstances" that could justify a death penalty, but also must
find, "unanimously and beyond a reasonable doubt," that such aggravating
factors outweigh any mitigating circumstances - the critical determination in
imposing a death sentence.
In Tuesday's decision, issued unsigned by a majority, the Delaware Supreme
Court said the General Assembly would have to decide whether to reinstate the
death penalty and to draft new legal procedures.
The State Senate voted this year to end capital punishment, and the governor
said he would sign such a bill. Abolition was contested in the House, with
final resolution delayed pending the state's Supreme Court decision in the Rauf
case. A new drive to revive the death penalty in Delaware, experts said, would
clearly face an uphill battle.
(source: New York Times)
VIRGINIA:
Death penalty sought in 2008 murder
A man accused of killing a Norfolk Botanical Gardens employee will face the
death penalty.
13News Now obtained court documents that show the prosecution thinks Michael
Brown should be executed for the 2008 murder of Angie Lechlitner.
Brown is accused of strangling, stabbing and sexually assaulting Lechlitner
inside her Norfolk home.
Police charged Brown with capital murder last year.
Lechlitner, a horticulturist at Norfolk Botanical Garden, was a member of
Tabernacle Church of Norfolk. People there planted a tree in her memory shortly
after her death.
"Love, joy, peace, patience," said family friend Juliette Doyle, reading the
marker at the base of the tree. "It describes Angie. I don't know who came up
with it, but it was just perfect."
The Norfolk Police Department's Homicide Section and Cold Case Section followed
leads in the case for seven years. Detectives said that information eventually
led them to 27-year-old Michael Brown of North Carolina.
(source: WVEC news)
NORTH CAROLINA:
Anthony's attorney asks for resentencing without death penalty option
An attorney asked a judge to take the death penalty off the table for Antwan
Andre Anthony as a sanction against the Pitt County Sheriff's Office because
one of its employees talked to a juror during Anthony's triple homicide trial.
Tuesday was the second day of a hearing for Superior Court Judge Robert H.
Hobgood to decide whether Anthony should get a new trial and/or a new
sentencing hearing because the public information officer for the sheriff's
office, Christy Wallace, spoke to a juror despite strict rules by the court
that the jurors and anyone associated with the case were not to have any
contact with each other either inside or outside of the courtroom.
On Monday, jurors, detectives, Sheriff Neil Elks and Wallace testified during
the special hearing. Wallace admitted she spoke to a juror, an old friend of
hers, who was taking a break outside of the courthouse but said she only
stopped by to say hello and ask about the juror's family.
The juror and other jurors who were nearby, however, testified Wallace asked
how the trial was going and how long the juror thought they would continue
working that night.
A detective and a member of the district attorney's staff also testified that
Wallace told them she had two friends on the jury and that she told them that
she would buy them pizza if they stayed late to continue working that night.
Anthony's attorneys, Terry Alford and Philip Lane, argued that Hobgood should
order at least a new sentencing hearing if not a new trial since the juror
contact apparently occurred just before the jurors were to begin deliberating
on whether to sentence Anthony to life in prison or to death.
The jury did recommend the death penalty, and Hobgood sentenced Anthony to
death for each of the 3 young men he shot and killed during a robbery at the
Hustle Mart-3 on April 1, 2012.
Wallace's asking the juror about their progress and her offer to buy them pizza
implied they should hurry up and make a decision to sentence Anthony, Alford
said.
Assistant District Attorney Clark Everett agreed that what Wallace did was
wrong, and he did not want to try to defend her actions, but said what she said
did not influence the juror or any of the other jurors.
"It was said there were no opinions expressed about the case. There was no new
evidence about this case," Everett said. "It was chitchat."
The defense attorneys argued that despite the fact that jurors saw Wallace
contact a juror and that Wallace told several law enforcement officers she had
talked to 2 jurors who were her friends, no one told the judge about that
contact.
If they had, Alford said, the judge could have taken care of the issue
immediately.
Lane concluded the arguments by saying that Wallace had to know she was not
supposed to talk to a juror.
"She knew it was wrong, and she did it," Lane said.
He asked Hobgood to find that Wallace engaged in inappropriate conduct and
order a new sentencing hearing.
"After that, declare this case a non capital for the inappropriate actions by a
sheriff's department employee," Lane said.
The judge is expected to make his decision on Thursday.
(source: reflector.com)
KENTUCKY:
Support grows for suspending Ky. death penalty
Ever heard this one? "Don't confuse me with facts. My mind's made up!"
It might bring a chuckle, but this bumper sticker flippancy also sends the
message that factual information is wasted on someone whose opinion cannot be
swayed under any circumstances.
Fortunately, that is not the case with a majority of Kentuckians, as a recent
poll by the University of Kentucky Survey Research Center makes clear. In this
case, the question at hand is whether Kentucky should call a halt to executions
until the state fixes the many problems that plague its capital punishment
system.
Kentuckians, in fact, overwhelmingly support such a suspension in executions -
and most believe that lengthy prison sentences, including life without parole,
are preferable to the death penalty as punishment for people convicted of
1st-degree murder.
Here is the question the interviewers asked in the poll, which was conducted
between March 4 and April 30, 2016, and included interviews with 684
Kentuckians over the age of 18 (with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.8 %).
A 2-year study by a panel of Kentucky law professors, judges, and other legal
scholars found major problems in the administration of the death penalty in
Kentucky and recommended that the state should suspend executions until those
problems were fixed. In light of these problems, would you support a decision
by the governor to halt all executions until these problems can be addressed?
Nearly 3/4 of the respondents, 72.4 %, told interviewers they would support the
governor taking such an action. That exceeded the level of support for the
death penalty reflected in the poll (69.3 %). Even among those who support the
death penalty, 62.6 % said there should be a halt in executions until the
system's problems are addressed.
We have written before about the study referenced in the poll question and its
many troubling findings that included:
--An error rate of more than 60 % on death penalty cases - meaning most death
sentences have been overturned on appeal by Kentucky or federal courts.
--The lack of a requirement that evidence in criminal cases be retained as long
as a defendant remains incarcerated.
--The absence of uniform standards on eyewitness identifications and
interrogations.
--Public defender caseloads far in excess of national averages and salaries
that are far below those of attorneys with similar experience in surrounding
states.
--No statewide standards governing the qualifications and training of attorneys
appointed to handle capital cases.
When the report was released in 2011, along with a recommendation that Kentucky
suspend executions until the issues were adequately addressed, a poll found 62
% of likely Kentucky voters supporting a temporary halt to executions. The
increase in support of the suspension is noteworthy.
The recent UK poll also found that support for the death penalty declined when
respondents could choose among possible punishments for people convicted of
1st-degree murder. They were asked the following question:
Which of the following punishments do you personally think is most appropriate
for persons convicted of 1st-degree murder in Kentucky?
Responses in support of the different punishments were:
--Death penalty - 42.2 %
--Life in prison with no chance of parole - 35.4 % --Life in prison with no
chance of parole for 25 years - 7.4 % --Life in prison with no chance of parole
for 20 years - 2.1 % --A sentence of 20-50 years with a chance of parole after
85 % of the sentence is served - 13 %
Asked about the high cost of administering the death penalty as a result of
mandated appeals, as well as additional trials and associated housing costs, 68
% of the respondents strongly or somewhat support replacing it with life
imprisonment without parole.
Their concerns about possibly executing an innocent defendant were reflected in
their agreement (at 71.6 %) with a statement that the capital punishment system
risks doing just that. Even most of those who support the death penalty agreed
(at 61.4 %) that there are risks of executing the innocent.
These poll results make it clear that Kentuckians' concern about the fairness
of the state's criminal justice system is growing. As we have written before,
replacing the death penalty with life without parole is the best approach for
our state - protecting public safety, providing justice to the families of
victims, removing the possibility that an innocent person will be executed and
saving limited tax dollars.
(source: Joseph P. Gutmann is a former Jefferson County Assistant
Commonwealth's Attorney. Stephen Ryan is a retired circuit court judge and
former prosecutor, defense attorney and probation and parole officer. J.
Stewart Schneider is stated supply speaker of Community Presbyterian Church of
Bellefonte and former Commonwealth's Attorney for the 32nd Judicial Circuit in
Boyd County----Courier-Journal)
MISSOURI:
Death row inmate asks to be the first person executed by NITROGEN GAS because
he claims the lethal injection would end his life too painfully
A Missouri death row inmate whose lethal injection was put on hold because he
has a hole in his brain is arguing that the state could end his life by using
nitrogen gas.
Lawyers for Ernest Lee Johnson, 56, were able to halt his scheduled execution
last November by claiming that the drugs used to carry out the execution could
trigger uncontrollable, painful seizures that would be in direct violation of
the constitutional protection against 'cruel and unusual punishment.'
He claimed the execution drug could trigger severe pain and convulsions due to
the remnants of a brain tumor and the damage caused by surgery to remove it.
New papers filed this week show that having objected to one method of
execution, Johnson's lawyers are required to suggest an alternate, to which
they have suggested nitrogen gas hypoxia, which starves the brain of oxygen.
It would be the first time Nitrogen gas has been used as part of an execution
and any move to use the untested gas would likely delay Johnson's execution
further.
'The available literature regarding the nitrogen gas method of execution
strongly suggests that the subject will have no allergic reaction to the gas,
will experience a loss of consciousness, and will suffer no pain,' the
attorneys wrote.
Prosecutors from the Supreme Court are expected to file their response.
A portion of the benign tumor was removed in 2008, but some of it remains. The
operation also required removal of about 20 % of Johnson's brain tissue.
Missouri's execution drug is a form of pentobarbital believed to be
manufactured by a compounding pharmacy - the state won't say where it gets it.
Weis said the drug 'is likely to cause seizures' for Johnson 'given his history
and the brain tumor.'
Weis cites a medical review by Dr. Joel Zivot, who examined MRI images of
Johnson's brain and found 'significant brain damage and defects that resulted
from the tumor and the surgical procedure,' according to court filings.
'Mr. Johnson faces a significant medical risk for a serious seizure as the
direct result of the combination of the Missouri lethal injection protocol and
Mr. Johnson's permanent and disabling neurologic disease,' Zivot wrote.
The Missouri attorney general's office declined comment. But in court filings,
the state dismissed questions about the danger posed by the execution drug,
noting that Missouri has carried out 'rapid and painless' executions since it
went to the 1-drug method in November 2013.
Johnson was a frequent customer at a Casey's General Store in Columbia. On
February 12, 1994, store workers Mary Bratcher, 46, Mable Scruggs, 57, and Fred
Jones, 58, were closing for the night when Johnson arrived. He robbed the store
seeking money to buy drugs, beat all three workers to death with a claw hammer
and hid their bodies in a cooler.
Police arrested Johnson after finding a bank bag, stolen money and store
receipts at his home.
Other death row inmates have filed similar arguments claiming medical
conditions should preclude them from execution, with mixed success.
In 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court stepped in hours before Russell Bucklew was
scheduled to die in Missouri for a 1996 killing, after Bucklew argued that pain
and suffering were possible due to a rare congenital condition that causes
weakened and malformed blood vessels as well as tumors in his nose and throat.
The case was sent back, and is still pending in U.S. District Court in St.
Louis.
Missouri executed 74-year-old Cecil Clayton in March after the U.S. Supreme
Court rejected claims that Clayton had diminished mental capacity due to a
1970s sawmill accident that cost him part of his brain's frontal lobe.
In 2007, Oklahoma executed 2-time killer Jimmy Dale Bland, even though doctors
had said he would likely die of cancer within six months anyway. Death penalty
opponents called the execution pointless, but prosecutors said Bland's health
was no reason for mercy.
Johnson's death sentence for the Missouri convenience store killings has been
overturned twice over his mental competency. It was first set aside in 2001
after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that executing the mentally impaired was
unconstitutionally cruel, and again in 2003 when the Missouri Supreme Court
cited evidence that Johnson was mentally disabled. In both cases, the death
penalty was restored.
Weis has filed a new appeal with the state Supreme Court on the issue of mental
competency, claiming Johnson has an IQ of 67.
(source: dailymail.co.uk)
NEBRASKA:
State Senator Says A Vote for Death Penalty Will Renew Nebraska Futility
Death penalty opposition group "Retain a Just Nebraska" is reporting reaction
to Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson's statement that there is no way to
know how long it would take for the state Legislature to get the death penalty
functioning again should voters approve bringing it back in November.
Nebraska's last execution was in 1997 and Republican State Sen. Colby Coash
noted that despite governors, state attorneys and lawmakers, who have pledged
to get the death penalty functioning, the system was not fixed after 19 years
of trying.
"This was a driving force for the supermajority of Senators - 16 Republicans,
13 Democrats, and 1 Independent - who voted to end our death penalty system
last year. We've all studied the issue and its history carefully. We have spent
years and years attempting to find a constitutional execution method, and 'fix'
the system. But it wasn't possible," Coash said.
Retain a Just Nebraska says former Attorney General Jon Bruning told news
outlets in 2009 that the death penalty would be fixed in 2 years, but that was
7 years ago.
"Voters should know they're not voting to fix a system," Coash said. "They're
voting to keep a system that hasn't worked for 20 years and will continue to
not work should the Legislature's decision be reversed."
(source: KWBE news)
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