Feb. 22
OHIO----new death sentence
50-year-old man sentenced to death for the 1987 murder of a 75-year-old woman
in Euclid
A 50-year-old man has been sentenced to death for the murder of a 75-year-old
woman in Euclid.
According to the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Andre Jackson was convicted of
aggravated murder, aggravated robbery and sentenced to death for the murder of
Emily Zak.
On June 25, 1987 Jackson murdered Zak in a laundromat in Euclid where she
worked. Jackson kicked, punched and stomped Zak to death, he then pushed her
head in a toilet.
The Cuyahoga County Prosecutor said Jackson stole the cash register and
register keys.
Jackson has filed a retro-active Atkins Claim. This is an Eighth Amendment
principle requiring juveniles and those with mental retardation to be excluded
as classes from the death penalty.
(source: WOIO news)
*******************
Court considers constitutionality of Ohio execution process
A federal appeals plans to consider arguments over the constitutionality of
Ohio's lethal injection process as the state tries to start carrying out
executions once again.
At issue is whether a contested sedative, midazolam, is powerful enough to put
inmates into a deep state of unconsciousness before 2 subsequent drugs paralyze
them and stop their hearts.
A related issue is whether Ohio has a realistic chance of finding an
alternative drug - a barbiturate called pentobarbital - that once was widely
used in executions but has become difficult or, in Ohio's case, impossible to
obtain.
The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati had scheduled arguments for
Tuesday, but reset them for March 7. The court's ruling, likely a few weeks
afterward, will be closely watched not just in Ohio but in other states that
use midazolam or might be looking to try it.
The case reached the court after Ohio appealed a federal judge's ruling that
rejected the state's current 3-drug method.
Executions have been on hold since January 2014 when inmate Dennis McGuire took
26 minutes to die under a never-before-tried two-drug method that began with
midazolam. The same drug was involved in a problematic execution later that
year in Arizona.
Ohio announced its 3-drug method in October, and said it had enough for at
least 4 executions, though records obtained by The Associated Press indicated
the supply could cover dozens of procedures.
The prison system used 10 milligrams of midazolam on McGuire. The new system
calls for 500 milligrams. The state said there's plenty of evidence proving the
larger amount will keep inmates from feeling pain.
Ohio also said the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the use of midazolam in 2015 in a
case out of Oklahoma.
"Ohio has the capability to perform constitutional executions now. It should be
permitted to do so," Thomas Madden, an assistant attorney general, said in
Ohio's appeal.
Attorneys for death row inmates said Magistrate Judge Michael Merz got it right
in last month's ruling, when he said that the "3-drug midazolam protocol
creates a substantial risk of serious harm."
Those attorneys also said the U.S. Supreme Court case involved evidence unique
to Oklahoma. And they said Ohio has an alternative option: finding
pentobarbital.
Ohio disagrees, and said that over time it asked 7 states in vain for the drug.
Of the 7, only Georgia, Missouri and Texas appear to have reliable sources of
pentobarbital when needed. Those states won't reveal the source.
On Feb. 10, Republican Ohio Gov. John Kasich delayed 8 executions to allow time
for the appeals court arguments.
Ronald Phillips, who was scheduled to die Feb. 15 for raping and killing his
girlfriend's 3-year-old daughter in Akron in 1993, is now set for execution May
10.
(source: Associated Press)
WEST VIRGINIA:
Shepherd to host panel discussion on death penalty
The Shepherd University Common Reading Program, George Washington Institute of
Living Ethics and Shepherd University Foundation will sponsor a panel
discussion titled "Sick Behind Bars: The Ethics of the Incarceration of the
Mentally Ill."
The event will be Thursday, March 2, at 7 p.m. in the auditorium at the Robert
C. Byrd Center for Congressional History and Education.
Panelists will include:
-- Richard Dieter, former executive director of the Death Penalty Information
Center
-- Jim Auxer, clinical psychologist at Eastern Regional Jail and mayor of
Shepherdstown, W.Va.
-- Don Patchell, a clinical psychologist at the Hope Center at the Veterans
Affairs Medical Center in Martinsburg, W.Va.
-- Michael Lorensen, 23rd Judicial Circuit judge
The discussion will be moderated by Amy Hampton, a lecturer in Shepherd's
Department of Social Work.
Admission to the event is free.
(source: heraldmailmedia.com)
INDIANA:
State asks U.S. Supreme Court to take up Kubsch death penalty case
If state officials have their way, the death penalty case stemming from a 1998
triple murder in Mishawaka would go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Wayne Kubsch, 49, was twice convicted of three counts of murder and sentenced
to death for the brutal killings of his wife, Beth Kubsch, her ex-husband, Rick
Milewski, and her 10-year-old son, Aaron Milewski.
A series of appeals failed. However, in a 6-3 decision in September, the U.S.
Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit reversed the convictions, ruling that
Kubsch's 2nd trial in 2005 violated his right to a defense because the court,
citing Indiana trial rules, barred evidence that may have cast doubt on his
guilt. The Court of Appeals ordered state officials to release Kubsch or give
him a 3rd trial. In a petition filed Monday, though, the state asked the
nation's highest court to take up the case, arguing the appeals court
misinterpreted the law.
The Court of Appeals ruled that the 2005 trial court should have allowed the
jury to see a videotaped statement by a young girl who seemed to undermine the
alleged timeline of the killings in her interview with police four days after
the killings, yet later claimed she did not remember making the statement.
But in the petition filed this week, officials with Indiana Attorney General
Curtis Hill's office said previous Supreme Court decisions allowed for state
trial courts to bar such recorded statements from evidence if the person who
made the statement cannot vouch for its reliability.
The petition asks the Supreme Court to intervene and possibly hand down a
"summary reversal" of the lower appellate court's decision without accepting
written briefs or oral arguments on the case.
The case began Sept. 18, 1998, when Beth Kubsch's son, 12-year-old Anthony
Early, arrived home from school. Inside the Kubsch home, he found all three
victims with multiple stab wounds. Rick and Aaron Milewski also had been shot.
Prosecutors alleged Kubsch killed his wife because he was deeply in debt and
had opened a $575,000 life insurance policy on Beth Kubsch just weeks before
her death. Prosecutors had no direct forensic evidence or eyewitnesses, but
they relied on what the federal appeals court called an "overwhelming glacier
of circumstantial evidence" that Kubsch was guilty.
Using telephone records and witness statements, prosecutors narrowed the
alleged time of the killings to a one-hour window between 1:53 p.m. and 2:51
p.m. Sept. 18, during which Wayne Kubsch was home at some point.
Prosecutors' version of events was clouded by Amanda Buck, a neighbor of Rick
and Aaron Milewski who was 9 years old at the time of the killings. In a
recorded interview four days after the killings, Buck told a police detective
she had seen Rick and Aaron at home sometime after 3:30 p.m. the day of the
murders. Her mother, who participated in the interview, supported some of her
details.
Buck never testified during Kubsch's 1st trial in 2000. At the second trial,
her mother said their original statements to police were mistaken, and that
Buck had actually seen Rick and Aaron at home not on the day of the murders,
but the day before. Buck, then 16, claimed she had no memory of her statements
to police.
Kubsch has maintained that he was in Michigan at the time of the killings, and
that a friend, Brad Hardy, committed the crime. Hardy was originally charged
with conspiracy to commit murder, but prosecutors dropped the charge after he
testified at Kubsch's 1st trial.
(source: South Bend Tribune)
ARKANSAS:
US Supreme Court rejects Arkansas' 9 death row challengers
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected an attempt by Arkansas inmates to
stop their executions over claims that their deaths would be "intolerably
painful."
The 9 inmates asked the justices to review an Arkansas Supreme Court decision
upholding a law that keeps secret the source of the lethal injection drugs. The
nation's highest court handed down decisions in a number of death row cases
Tuesday.
Arkansas will not be able to immediately resume executions. One of three lethal
injection drugs expired last month and has not been replaced, and the attorney
general still must certify to Gov. Asa Hutchinson that all legal road blocks
have been cleared and that executions may proceed.
"I will immediately provide the (U.S. Supreme) Court's order to the Arkansas
Supreme Court, and once the clerk issues the mandate, the current injunction on
executions will automatically be lifted," Arkansas Attorney General Leslie
Rutledge said. "Thereafter, I will inform Governor Hutchinson that executions
may resume and request that dates be set for those who have exhausted all
appeals."
Arkansas has not executed an inmate since 2005 because of legal challenges and
the difficulty of obtaining execution drugs. One of Arkansas' execution drugs,
potassium chloride, expired Jan. 1 and has not been replaced.
"Today's ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court sets the stage for execution in the
specified cases to proceed," Hutchinson said. "I will proceed in accordance
with law and in a timely manner. Since (the) 'use by' date on one of the drugs
has expired it will be necessary for the Department of Correction to make the
acquisition."
Under a 3-step procedure listed in state guidelines, executioners would first
use midazolam to calm and sedate the inmate, then use vecuronium bromide to
paralyze the inmate and stop the inmate's breathing, then administer potassium
chloride to stop the heart.
Attorney Jeff Rosenzweig says the inmates are disappointed by the decision and
that their lawyers are studying their options.
(source: Associated Press)
*****************
Executions to Resume in Arkansas
A high court ruling in the nation's capital Tuesday means executions can resume
in Arkansas.
The U.S. Supreme Court's denied a petition for writ of certiorari by a group of
Arkansas death row inmates concerning the State's method of execution. There
are 34 men on death row in Arkansas.
Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge released the following statement
after the ruling was announced:
"Today's decision from the nation's high court ends this case, which means that
executions can move forward in Arkansas, and families of the victims will see
justice carried out for those who committed heinous crimes against their loved
ones," said Attorney General Rutledge. "I will immediately provide the Court's
order to the Arkansas Supreme Court, and once the clerk issues the mandate, the
current injunction on executions will automatically be lifted. Thereafter, I
will inform Governor Hutchinson that executions may resume and request that
dates be set for those who have exhausted all appeals."
Governor Asa Hutchinson also released a statement on the court's decision:
"Today's ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court sets the stage for execution in the
specified cases to proceed. The next step is for the mandate to issue and upon
notice by the Attorney General for the dates to be set. I will proceed in
accordance with law and in a timely manner. Since 'use by' date on 1 of the
drugs has expired it will be necessary for the Department of Correction to make
the acquisition."
In a related ruling Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up a
challenge to Alabama's method of lethal injection, which employs a drug used by
at least 4 other states to carry out the death penalty.
Thomas Arthur, who faces execution for killing a man in a
murder-for-hire-scheme, contended that the state's use of a drug called
midazolam amounts to cruel and unusual punishment because it does not reliably
induce a condition of deep unconsciousness, leaving a condemned prisoner
susceptible to searing pain caused by follow-on injections of other chemicals
intended to cause death.
(source: nwahomepage.com)
COLORADO:
Mountain of paperwork to be tackled before El Paso County's 1st death penalty
case in a decade
Players in El Paso County's 1st death penalty case in a decade began laying out
a schedule to debate dozens of legal filings anticipated before Glen Galloway
faces 2 jury trials focusing on back-to-back gun slayings for which he has been
charged.
They'll be addressed at a marathon week of hearings set to begin April 24.
"We're literally talking about upwards of 50 motions," said prosecutor Reggy
Short in relaying the exhaustive legal battles surrounding capital cases.
In hashing out next steps in the case, 4th Judicial District Judge Gregory
Werner approved a request by the defense to postpone Galloway's murder trials -
previously scheduled for April and June - until June and July.
But the judge denied a request for an even longer postponement.
Dan King, lead defense attorney from Galloway's legal team from the Colorado
State Public Defender's Office, asked the judge to hold off on scheduling a
trial until 2018.
"I can't imagine a circumstance that we would be able to pronounce 'ready' in
July," King told Werner in making his unsuccessful push for a half-year delay.
Galloway, 44, an ex-Fort Carson soldier, faces multiple counts of 1st-degree
murder in the slayings of his ex-girlfriend Janice Nam and a homeless man named
Marcus Anderson, records show.
The 2 were fatally shot on consecutive days in May, several months after
Galloway cut off an ankle monitor and went into hiding, court documents show.
A motive hasn't been made public.
Part of the reason that defense attorneys in death penalty cases pick so many
fights during the initial trial phase is that if an issue isn't raised in the
trial court, it's usually ineligible for appeal, said Denver attorney Phil
Cherner, who defended the death-penalty case against Nathan Dunlap, who in 1993
killed 4 employees at a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant in Aurora. Dunlap is 1 of 3
inmates still on Colorado's death row.
Cherner suggested there would be "hundreds" of motions filed in the Galloway
case rather than the 50 suggested by Short.
"It's vital that they be given the time and resources now to do it correctly,"
Cherner said. "If they don't there's a second round of defense people who point
a finger and say, "They didn't do it right.'"
Botched cases can add years and years to the appeals process, Cherner said.
King, who exclusively focuses on cases where the death penalty is being sought,
entered his appearance on behalf of Galloway at a brief hearing Tuesday,
joining public defenders Kim Chalmers and Julian Rosielle at the defense table.
Prosecutors Short and Rachael Powell also received additional back-up. Joining
them will be El Paso County prosecutor Donna Billek and Senior Assistant
Attorney General Dan Edwards. Edwards previously joined prosecutors in the 18th
Judicial District in the prosecution of Aurora theater shooter James Holmes,
who received life in prison after a jury rejected calls for the death penalty.
El Paso County District Attorney Dan May was present at the Galloway hearing
but did not enter his appearance as part of the prosecution team.
May declined to say why his office chose to pursue death against Galloway,
citing a gag order in the case. Longtime legal observers say it is the first
time May has done so since taking office in 2009.
Prosecutors previously sought the death of cop-killer Marco Lee in 2007, under
then-District Attorney John Newsome, but Lee ended up pleading guilty in
exchange for a life sentence.
To qualify for the death penalty, a crime must exhibit certain aggravating
factors, including multiple victims and cruel circumstances.
Prosecutors are to expected disclose soon which aggravators they intend to
prove, and to supply a list of witnesses who can prove them. They have 21 days
to do so from the time they filed their intent to pursue a capital case. That
notification was made Feb. 13 in Galloway's case.
It remains to be seen how many of those documents will be made public, however.
Judge Werner indicated in court he would defer to prosecutors when it comes to
the decision of whether to submit their pleadings in a way that the public will
have access to them, or if they file them as "suppressed" documents viewable
only by attorneys involved in the case.
The judge allowed for the possibility of members of the media challenging the
status of suppressed legal filings.
(source: gazette.com)
***********************
Murder trials postponed for man potentially facing death penalty
A murder suspect potentially facing the death penalty was back in court
Tuesday. Glen Galloway, 44, is accused of killing his ex-girlfriend and another
man in June 2016.
It's a twisted, complicated case. 5 months before the 2 were found dead,
Galloway cut off his ankle monitor after he was facing a previous stalking case
involving the ex-girlfriend he allegedly killed. He then disappeared for those
5 months before the suspected murders happened.
During Tuesday's court appearance, the judge agreed to push back Galloway's
trials to give the attorneys more time to prepare. Because it's a death penalty
case, the judge will have to rule on hundreds of motions, according to our
partners at The Gazette.
As 11 News first reported back in June 2016, Galloway is accused of running
into his ex-girlfriend's home in Colorado Springs and brutally killing her. She
was identified as 28-year-old Janice Nam. Court papers reveal Galloway
allegedly broke through her glass door with a hammer, then beat and shot Nam
twice before running out of the home. It all happened within 40 seconds.
Just 24 hours earlier, Galloway allegedly also killed another man. As 11 News
previously reported, Marcus Anderson, 57, was found dead in a storage unit.
The trial for Nam's alleged murder will now begin in June, instead of the
previously appointed April court date. The trial involving Anderson will now
happen in July.
Galloway was also in court Tuesday for a 2014 stalking case that involved Nam.
During that appearance, Galloway was ordered to pay nearly $4,000 in
restitution fees for physical damage he caused.
11 News reporter Khloe Keeler also reached out to the Public Defender's Office
in Denver to see how much it will cost taxpayers for Galloway's death penalty
attorneys. At the time of this article, they have not returned the call.
(source: KKTV news)
UTAH:
House backs capital punishment for sex trafficking deaths
A plan that would expand capital punishment in Utah so criminals convicted of
aggravated human trafficking or child sex exploitation that leads to death
could be executed has made it through the Utah House of Representatives.
The plan passed by a single vote Tuesday when House Speaker Greg Hughes,
R-Draper, returned to the floor to break the tie.
HB176 sponsor Republican Rep. Paul Ray, R-Clearfield, says human trafficking is
one of the most heinous crimes, so the death penalty should be an option for
prosecutors.
The proposal is the latest effort by Ray to institute hardline death-penalty
rules. He ushered in a law in 2015 allowing Utah to use firing squads in
executions if the state can't obtain lethal injection drugs.
The bill next moves to the Senate for consideration.
(source: Associated Press)
IDAHO:
Driggs Man Facing Death Penalty May Have Confession Removed From Evidence
A man accused of killing a Driggs woman and her unborn child may have his
confession removed from evidence.
According to Teton Valley News, 39 year old Erik Ohlson made the confession
during a police interview.
His attorneys argue his confession should be thrown out, since it happened
after he requested an attorney, ultimately violating his Miranda rights.
Ohlson is facing the death penalty for allegedly shooting Jennifer Nalley last
July.
(source: KPVI news)
USA:
ANA Releases New Position Statement Opposing Capital Punishment
The American Nurses Association (ANA) today announced its opposition to both
capital punishment and nurses' participation in capital punishment. This new
position is particularly relevant given the nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to
the Supreme Court of the United States, who, if approved, will likely tip the
court in favor of capital punishment.
The ANA has long been opposed to nurse participation in executions, either
directly or indirectly, as it is contrary to the fundamental goals and ethical
traditions of the nursing profession. Today's announcement strengthens ANA's
position, adding it to the ranks of many U.S. and global human rights
organizations opposing capital punishment, such as Amnesty International, the
International Council of Nurses, and the American Public Health Association.
"The American Nurses Association is gravely concerned with the human rights of
individuals facing execution," said ANA President Pamela F. Cipriano, PhD, RN,
NEA-BC, FAAN. "Capital punishment is a human rights violation, and ANA is proud
to stand in strong opposition to the death penalty. All human beings,
regardless of their crimes, should be treated with dignity. For those states
where capital punishment is currently legal, the American Nurses Association
will continue to provide ethical guidance, education, and resources for nurses
and other health care providers dealing with these ethical dilemmas."
ANA's Center for Ethics and Human Rights Advisory Board reviewed and
unanimously approved the position statement. The statement was presented to the
public for a 30-day comment period and subsequently approved by the ANA Board
of Directors in December 2016. The full position statement and FAQs are linked
here.
The American Nurses Association (ANA) is the premier organization representing
the interests of the nation's 3.6 million registered nurses. ANA advances the
nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting a
safe and ethical work environment, bolstering the health and wellness of
nurses, and advocating on health care issues that affect nurses and the public.
ANA is at the forefront of improving the quality of healthcare for all. For
more information, visit http://www.nursingworld.org/.
[source: American Nurses Association]
(source: prnewswire.com)
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