March 23
PENNSYLVANIA:
Prosecutors to seek death penalty in slayings of Lancaster brothers
Prosecutors say they'll seek the death penalty against 2 18-year-olds accused
of killing 2 brothers in their Lancaster home.
The Lancaster County district attorney's office on Wednesday filed notices of
intent to seek death sentences against Joshua M. Proper and Juan Cristo-Munoz.
Proper and Cristo-Munoz are charged with homicide, robbery, and burglary in the
Feb. 19 killings of 61-year-old Leroy Kinsey and 62-year-old Richard Walton.
The notices cite 4 aggravating circumstances for jurors to consider at
sentencing. The district attorney's office says Proper and Cristo-Munoz
committed the killings while committing felonies of burglary and robbery, and
the pair presented a grave risk of death to another person in the home.
Prosecutors added that torture was involved in killing 1 of the brothers.
Proper admitted to investigators that he and Cristo-Munoz went to the brothers'
home in the 600 block of Poplar Street to steal money. He said they got into
the house through a 1st-floor window and encountered Kinsey in the living room
before stabbing him in the chest, shoulder and neck, the criminal complaint
states.
The 2 then went to the 2nd floor and came upon Walton in a front bedroom.
Proper told police that Cristo-Munoz used a large sword to strike Walton's
lower body and legs.
Authorities said a caretaker who lived in the home escaped and called 911 after
hearing suspicious noises.
Responding officers found Proper and Cristo-Munoz hiding in the basement. They
said the 2 had blood all over their clothing, Munoz had a knife in his
sweatshirt pocket, and Proper had Kinsey's wallet.
Proper and Cristo-Munoz remain in Lancaster County Prison without bail. Both
waived preliminary hearings last week.
Arraignment dates in Lancaster County Court are scheduled for April 13.
(source: ABC News)
FLORIDA:
The Question of Death, not Deserving.
You may kill a cop, you may kill a pregnant woman, but do you also then deserve
to die?
Death Penalty A short exchange of bullets, a choice by the officer not to
retreat, and the response on part of the perpetrator - follow, and then kill.
The gunshot left ripples along the coast of Florida, resulting in a region-wide
manhunt for one Markeith Lloyd, who fled the scene from a Walmart parking lot
where he had shot and killed a police officer who was laying on the ground,
wounded from a previous shot. The manhunt stretched into the night and onto the
next day and throughout the following week, with civilians and police
throughout the area on high alert in search of the gunman for 9 long days.
Lloyd was already on the run, having spent the previous month skirting around
authorities after killing his pregnant ex-girlfriend, injuring her brother and
threatening several of her family members. But this time he killed a police
officer, and there were witnesses. Lloyd was now known to be dangerous, armed,
and not afraid of acting again, or in public.
When Lloyd was found and captured on January 17, 2017, there was a wave of
relief throughout the police force and the local civilian population. There was
nationwide agreement echoing from the news cycle that the capture of Lloyd was
a massive relief, and that the death penalty was imminent. What else could
result from the brutal murder of an unarmed pregnant woman, followed by the
murder of a wounded police officer, laying helplessly in a Walmart parking lot
when Lloyd followed the fatal shot? Lloyd was clearly dangerous, and had no
qualms about striking again if his own safety depended on it. The death
penalty, it was decided, was by far the rightful course of action, and it was
only a matter of time before that was to be enacted.
However, just 2 months later it was revealed that the death penalty was not in
Lloyd's future after all. Orange Osceola County State Attorney Aramis Ayala
revealed in a statement on March 17th that she would not be pursuing the death
penalty for Lloyd, nor would she be pursuing capital punishment in any current
or future case due to the current standards regarding the death penalty in
Florida. Ayala cited a series of concerns, including question of benefits to
public safety, to police officer safety, and economic concerns regarding the
cost of execution in comparison to life imprisonment.
The news that the death penalty would not be pursued in the case of Lloyd upset
many, causing a wide range of backlash against Ayala. However, Ayala is far
from alone in her line of reasoning. In fact, use of the death penalty as a
means of punishing criminals has dropped significantly nationwide as there is a
scramble to find more ethical ways to execute charged criminals. Between the
cost of executions, issues with the drugs that are typically used in executions
being inaccessible and not entirely effective, and concerns regarding the best
way for the death penalty to be enacted to begin with, many prosecutors are
opting to fight for life imprisonment rather than bring the issue of a death
penalty.
The line of reasoning here is that juries are more likely to accept a proposal
for life imprisonment than they are to approve the death penalty right out.
However, proponents for the death penalty continue to argue that charging life
imprisonment puts unnecessary stress on the prison system, and creates undue
mental stress on the prisoner, who will be kept in solitary confinement for the
majority of their life sentence.
As charges of the death penalty continue to drop, questions regarding the most
ethical and effective means of punishing crime and dissuading future offenders
continues to be had. Whether or not the death penalty is the right course of
action, the reality is that it is not the current course of action, even in
cases as seemingly open-shut as that of Markeith Lloyd.
(source: Commentary, Doug Kaplan----orlando-politics.com)
ALABAMA:
Court appearance Friday for 4 young men charged with killing 2 men in 2015
Attorneys for Joseph Cowan, who is charged with capital murder in the shooting
death of two Decatur men in May 2015, will ask a Morgan County Circuit Court
judge Friday to take the death penalty off the table for their client.
Judge Jennifer Howell will consider a motion from Cowan’s attorneys to rule
that the state’s capital murder sentencing scheme is unconstitutional or to bar
the death penalty if he is convicted. Howell will hear other motions from
Cowan’s defense team, along with several motions filed by co-defendants Cedric
Cowan, Amani Goodwin and Cortez Mitchell at Friday’s 10 a.m. hearing.
Other motions Howell will consider include dismissing the indictment against
Cedric Cowan for possible double jeopardy, throwing out Mitchell’s sworn
statement to police, and for separate trials of the defendants.
Brian White, who is representing Joseph Cowan, said Alabama law allowing a
judge to disregard a jury’s recommendation that a person convicted of capital
murder be sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole and sentence
the defendant to death is unconstitutional.
The motion leans heavily on the sentencing in a Florida capital murder case
that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled was unconstitutional because it allowed the
judge to independently determine if the aggravating circumstances in a case
warrant the death penalty.
“If the judge finds the aggravating factors outweigh the mitigating factors,
then the judge can impose a sentence of death even if it contradicts the jury’s
advisory verdict,” White and co-defense attorney Jake Watson said in their
motion.
Florida since has changed its law to conform to the Supreme Court’s ruling.
White said separate bills in the Alabama House and Senate are being considered
that would give a jury the final decision of life or death in a capital murder
case.
White said Alabama is the only state that allows “judicial override” by a judge
in sentencing of a capital murder case.
“These are interesting times in death penalty litigation,” White said. “We may
be arguing something that may take care of itself.”
Joe Lewis, a Morgan County assistant district attorney, said in a reply to
Joseph Cowan’s motion that Alabama’s death sentence procedure is different than
Florida’s because a jury here must find at least one aggravating factor to
recommend the death penalty.
“The plain fact is, under present Alabama law, a trial judge may not issue a
death sentence in a capital case without a unanimous finding of fact by a jury
over and above the finding of guilt,” Lewis said in a court filing.
Joseph Cowan is the only defendant who could face execution if convicted of
capital murder in the shooting deaths of Antonio Hernandez-Lopez in his
Southwest Decatur home’s carport and Shane Davis, who was found dead in Wilson
Morgan Park.
Joseph Cowan was 20, Goodwin was 17, and Cedric Cowan and Mitchell were both 16
when the crimes occurred.
Cedric Cowan, Mitchell and Goodwin face either life in prison without the
chance of parole or life in prison with the chance of parole after serving 30
years, if convicted of capital murder. They are not eligible for the death
penalty because they were juveniles when the crimes happened.
Howell in November denied youthful offender status to all four defendants. The
maximum sentence for a youthful offender is three years in a juvenile facility.
Cedric Cowan’s attorneys filed a motion to have his indictment dismissed
because he has been charged with multiple crimes under the same state law and
from a single act. Cowan and the others are charged with 1 count each of
capital murder and robbery for the death of Hernandez-Lopez, Davis, and for
both Hernandez-Lopez and Davis.
“Because it charges him with multiple counts of capital murder arising out of a
single killing, the indictment exposes Mr. Cowan to double jeopardy,” attorney
Ed Blair said in the motion.
Cedric Cowan’s attorneys are also asking for a transcript, exhibits and other
materials from the grand jury proceedings from which Cedric Cowan was indicted.
Mitchell’s attorney, Joe Propst, said he will ask Howell not to allow
Mitchell’s “confession” to be used as evidence at trial.
“We intend to show that at the time he gave the statement he was not competent
to understand and appreciate his Miranda warnings,” Propst said.
A psychologist will testify Friday about Mitchell’s mental capacity, Propst
said. Mitchell has pleaded not guilty and not guilty by mental disease or
defect to the charges against him.
Police previously testified Mitchell said in a signed statement that Joseph
Cowan fatally shot Hernandez-Lopez and Davis. He also said in the statement
that Cedric Cowan shot Hernandez-Lopez when the victim was lying on the ground.
The 4 defendants were last in court in December when they pleaded not guilty to
all charges of an 11-count indictment against each. Goodwin and Mitchell also
pleaded not guilty by mental disease or defect.
They are each charged with 3 counts of capital murder, 8 counts of 1st-degree
robbery, and 1 charge each of shooting into an occupied dwelling and shooting
into an unoccupied dwelling.
(source: Decatur Daily)
MISSISSIPPI:
Cruel & Unusual? The Death Penalty's Trials in Mississippi
Richard Jordan, then 29, needed money, so he drove to Gulfport, Miss., looking
for it back in 1976. There, he called the Gulf National Bank, asked to speak
with a loan officer and was directed to Charles Marter. Once he had Marter's
name, Mississippi Supreme Court opinions say Jordan ended the call, then looked
up Marter's address in a local phone book and went to his house. He entered the
home pretending to be an employee of the electric company, then kidnapped
Charles' wife, Edwina, who was there alone with her 3-year-old son. The toddler
was still sleeping upstairs as Jordan forced Edwina to drive them into a
deserted area of the DeSoto National Forest.
What happened next in the woods is disputed in court records, but either way,
Jordan shot Edwina in the back of the head. Jordan's defense team claimed that
Edwina tried to run away, and Jordan attempted to fire a warning shot and
missed. The State of Mississippi argued that Jordan killed Edwina as she
kneeled in front of him "execution style." The bullet, court records say,
entered her skull at the lower right area of her brain and exited her left eye.
Jordan left her body in the woods and disposed of the murder weapon in the Big
Biloxi River. He called Charles Marter, claiming his wife was alive and
demanding a ransom of $25,000. Charles was supposed to drop off the money on
the side of Highway 49 on a blue jacket that Jordan left there for him.
When Jordan went to collect the money, 2 officers were waiting to arrest him.
He escaped, but police later caught him at a roadblock. He confessed to killing
Edwina and told the officers where to find her body. Jordan was first convicted
and sentenced to death in 1976, and has been waiting to die for about 40 years
due to multiple sentencing trials and shifts in Mississippi's death sentencing
law as well as subsequent legal challenges to the use of certain
lethal-injection drugs in the state.
The now-70-year-old has been sentenced to death 4 times as well as had 5
capital sentencing trials, litigation necessary because Mississippi law keeps
changing. At one point, Jordan was sentenced to life in prison without parole -
until the court determined that at the time, state law did not permit that
sentence based on Jordan's case. Once the Legislature did change state law,
Jordan asked for a life in prison sentence, but prosecutors decided to pursue
the death penalty again instead.
The State might be able to kill Jordan and others on death row if an effort to
change Mississippi's death-penalty law succeeds this legislative session.
Still, litigation challenging several components of the state's
lethal-injection procedures, including a drug the State plans to use, will
likely keep the 46 inmates, by the state's public defender's count, on death
row in limbo for the foreseeable future.
Time to 'Change the Language?'
The State of Mississippi is litigating legal challenges to the state's
lethal-injection law directly. Mississippi last executed a prisoner in June
2012, Mississippi Department of Corrections records posted online show.
Currently, Mississippi's method of execution is lethal injection with a
cocktail of three drugs. State law describes its chosen form of the death
penalty this way: "The manner of inflicting the punishment of death shall be by
continuous intravenous administration of a lethal quantity of an ultra
short-acting barbiturate or other similar drug in combination with a chemical
paralytic agent until death is pronounced."
Mississippi has struggled in recent years to comply with this law, largely due
to an inability to find those drugs listed in the statute, state officials say.
In court records, the State claims it has struggled to obtain an "ultra
short-acting barbiturate" or a "similar drug" to use in its place, and it is
litigating challenges its proposed use of a drug called midazolam in its place.
In July 2015, the Mississippi Department of Corrections abruptly changed its
lethal injection-protocol policies, claiming that it could not acquire
pentobarbital, what was supposed to be the 1st drug in the 3-part series needed
for executions. MDOC changed its protocol to include alternatives if it could
not acquire the drug, including midazolam.
This change spurred the shift in focus in lethal-injection litigation for
attorneys challenging the death penalty who argue that midazolam is not a
substitute for pentobarbital, arguing among other things, that it's not in the
same drug class. Midazolam is in the benzodiazepine drug class, while
pentobarbital is in the barbiturate drug class that state law requires.
House Bill 638 would change this policy entirely. The language of the bill
calls for "the sequential intravenous administration of a lethal quantity of
the following combination of substances: an appropriate anesthetic or sedative,
a chemical paralytic agent and potassium chloride, or other similarly effective
substance."
Attorney General Jim Hood, the only statewide elected Democrat in Mississippi,
has pursued the death penalty even in questionable cases, like that of Michele
Byrom. He told reporters in January that the bill, which lawmakers also
introduced in the 2016 legislative session before it died, is necessary for
executions to resume.
"There's some language in there that says 'a fast-acting barbiturate,' and
that's what we've been litigating all this time. ... Well, there are no more
barbiturates out there that are fast-acting that are available for executions,
so we want to take that out of there," Hood said at a press conference in
January about his legislative priorities.
The legislation would also allow alternative methods of executions, including
nitrogen hypoxia (death by inhaling lethal gas) and electrocution. Initially,
Rep. Robert Foster, R-Hernando, had included firing squads as an alternative in
the bill he authored. That version passed the House, but the Senate took the
firing squads out.
Foster says lethal injection is the best option, and that the bill is broad
enough to enable the state to continue to use the method to kill inmates. The
State would only choose other methods like a gas chamber or firing squad if
lethal injection is deemed illegal, he said.
"If lethal injection continues to be challenged in the courts, we'll go back
and use some methods that have been used for decades," Foster told the Jackson
Free Press. "I think firing squad would be just as good as any of them, I mean
it gets the job done, and it definitely makes the message clear. It's pretty
much foolproof - that's why I would prefer the Senate not (have) taken that
out."
Rep. Andy Gipson, R-Braxton, invited conference on the bill, meaning he did not
concur with the changes the Senate made to the bill. This means there's still a
chance that the option to add firing squad as an alternative back into the
bill. He told the Jackson Free Press that he is inclined to keep the
legislation alive, but said he had not decided on specifics by press time.
Attorney General Hood seemed optimistic that the State would be able to begin
executing inmates again in 2017 during a January press conference. "I think
towards the end of the year, probably. I think it's teed up to (where) the
courts need to move on (some cases)," Hood told reporters then.
Legal wrangling could stall that hope, however. The lethal-injection litigation
saga has continued into the new year with new constitutional claims in federal
court against Mississippi's lethal-injection law.
Stopping 'Botched Executions'
Mississippi's lethal-injection litigation nightmares are coming mainly from the
MacArthur Justice Center in New Orleans where attorney James Craig, who
represents several Mississippi inmates on death row, works. In September 2015,
three inmates on death row, including Richard Jordan, filed a federal complaint
against the state for violating their rights to due process and "to be free
from cruel and unusual punishment" under the U.S. Constitution.
Lawyers amended this complaint just months after the Mississippi Department of
Corrections changed its lethal-injection protocol that July to substitute a
drug called midazolam as one of the three drugs in the series that creates the
lethal injection. Midazolam, Craig and other attorneys allege, could create a
substantial risk of harm to those on death row.
Attorney General Jim Hood asked the Legislature to pass House Bill 638 to help
move the State's pending litigation around the death penalty forward.
The State denies that midazolam creates a risk and but does admit in court
documents that "MDOC intends to use midazolam as the first drug in Plaintiffs'
executions and that midazolam is classified as a benzodiazepine."
The legal challenge against midazolam relies on the question of whether or not
it is really "a similar drug" to the increasingly hard-to-get barbiturates,
which Mississippi law currently allows. Midazolam is a sedative considered a
"benzodiazepine" drug class - not a "barbiturate." Lawyers and advocates
against the death penalty - and against the use of midazolam - argue that
midazolam is not a true anesthetic, therefore not guaranteeing that it will
render a person unconscious, which is its purpose.
Oklahoma state employees used midazolam in the botched execution of Oklahoma
inmate Clayton Lockett in 2014; the procedure took 40 minutes before he finally
died of a heart attack.
Arizona and Ohio officials also used midazolam in two executions where
prisoners "showed visible signs of pain before dying," as Newsweek reported.
The U.S. Supreme Court did not deem midazolam unconstitutional in a case from
Oklahoma, leaving the potential for future litigation about the drug open,
since its ruling only applied to the evidence that Oklahoma inmates presented.
In its 2015 Glossip v. Gross ruling, Justice Samuel Alito wrote that the
prisoners failed to identify known and available alternative methods of
executions that "entail(s) a lesser risk of pain." The 5-4 decision on June 29,
2015, came down just a month before MDOC announced that it would change its
death-penalty protocols to include midazolam.
If House Bill 638 becomes law, this legal question will be moot - because the
new wording broadens the language, allowing the state to legally use midazolam.
Attorney General Hood sent a statement to the Jackson Free Press about the
current bill to change the state's death-penalty law.
"Because we cannot obtain the 1st drug in the 3-drug protocol and now are
experiencing difficulty obtaining the second and third drugs, we have requested
a change in the language on the types of drugs to be utilized, as well as
alternative means," the statement said.
Advocates oppose the use of midazolam as well as the broad language in the
bill, however. The ACLU of Mississippi, which opposes the death penalty
generally, also opposes House Bill 638. Blake Feldman, one of the advocacy
coordinators there, said midazolam is to blame for several botched executions -
and that it is disturbing that state officials would want to use a drug that
has been the root of problems elsewhere.
"We can't ignore that what this bill does is it very seriously increases the
chances of a botched execution. ... The death penalty is a gross injustice, but
a botched execution by the State paid for with tax dollars in our name is as
bad as you can get," Feldman told the Jackson Free Press.
While Richard Jordan, Ricky Chase and Thomas Loden's midazolam complaint will
be moot if House Bill 638 passes, the 3 death-row inmates will continue to
challenge the use of a 3-drug lethal-injection procedure as unconstitutional.
That is, the state's legal problems over the death penalty are far from over.
Likely 'More Delay'
Craig and lawyers representing Jordan, Chase and Loden still allege that
Mississippi's 3-drug protocol is unconstitutional. Craig said he was surprised
that Mississippi's proposed legislation does not change its death penalty more
drastically. States embracing the death penalty use lethal injection, but the
majority that actually executed prisoners in 2016 used a single-drug lethal
injection, often made up of a high dose of pentobarbital. That is the kind of
drug that Mississippi claims it cannot get, saying it needs to use midazolam in
its place.
If House Bill 638 becomes law, Craig said he expects to amend Jordan, Chase and
Loden's complaint in federal court accordingly. Discovery materials in the case
are due in September 2017, meaning the trial will likely not be held until
2018, but amending that complaint could delay that litigation even longer and
keep the 3 inmates alive until it is resolved. Craig said he could amend the
complaint to add that nitrogen hypoxia and electrocution, both listed as
alternative methods of execution in the proposed legislation, also violate his
clients' constitutional right to no cruel or unusual punishment.
"I think we would end up bringing a different set of claims in Judge (Henry)
Wingate's court. Assuming he doesn't immediately ban it, that's another almost
year, 2 years delay to what's already going on right now," Craig said.
Judge Wingate himself was temporarily blocked from handling new cases last week
after Chief U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola directed court clerks to assign
any new civil cases to 3 semi-retired judges instead of Wingate, the Associated
Press reported. Wingate has a backlog of pending cases that need to be ruled on
before he can take on any new cases.
Texas, Georgia and Missouri executed prisoners in 2016 using one-drug lethal
injections that Craig says are more humane than the three-drug cocktail in
Mississippi. He added that around 90 % of his legal claims against
Mississippi's lethal injection procedure would be moot if the State moved to
using a single-drug pentobarbital lethal injection.
State officials, including the attorney general, claim they have had trouble
getting their hands on pentobarbital, however, but a recent public-records
request by the MacArthur Center seems to challenge this.
MDOC released its lethal-injection drug inventory forms showing the state is in
possession of midazolam - but does not have any other drugs necessary for the
3-drug injection.
Additionally, MDOC said that no records exist showing "any and all efforts or
attempts made by MDOC to acquire" any such drugs. That is, it is unclear how
hard the State is working to get the additional drugs in order to proceed with
executions.
The 'Alternative Methods'
Mississippi would be the 2nd state in the country to enact a method called
nitrogen hypoxia if House Bill 638 becomes law. Rep. Foster, aware that the
lethal-injection litigation is stalling the death penalty, added several other
measures the State could carry out in lieu of the lethal injection. Originally
his bill added nitrogen hypoxia (lethal gas), firing squad and electrocution in
that order as alternatives to lethal injection - if that method is deemed
unconstitutional.
Most states with the death penalty use lethal injection to execute people.
Oklahoma, after all its negative lethal-injection headlines seems to be moving
forward with a new method: nitrogen gas.
In 2015, Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin signed a bill to allow the state to use the
method to execute its prisoners on death row, and last September, the attorney
general there suggested that the state needs to develop a protocol for the new
method, the Tulsa World reported.
The only hang-up for nitrogen hypoxia is that there are no reports of it ever
being used to legally execute a human, the Associated Press reported in 2015.
In May 2016, a grand jury in Oklahoma issued a report about what went wrong in
another botched lethal-injection execution, and in that report, suggested that
nitrogen gas could be a better alternative for the state to use, The Oklahoman
reported.
Robert Dunham with the Death Penalty Information Center, which tracks death
penalties and executions nationwide, confirmed that Mississippi would be the
2nd state to add nitrogen hypoxia to state law. Dunham said no scientific
evidence supports the method because it's never been done on humans before. Gas
chambers that were previously used for the death penalty used different gas,
usually cyanide, Dunham said. Hypoxia is sometimes used to put animals to
death, but the American Veterinary Association guidelines say it is not
appropriate for all species of mammals.
American Veterinary Medical Association developed guidelines in 2013 that
describe hypoxia. "Some animals may exhibit motor activity or convulsions
following loss of consciousness due to hypoxia; however, this is reflex
activity and is not consciously perceived by the animal," it said. "In
addition, methods based on hypoxia will not be appropriate for species that are
tolerant of prolonged periods of hypoxemia."
Nitrogen hypoxia would most likely be subject to Eighth Amendment challenges
for cruel and unusual punishment, Dunham said, as would electrocution.
Tennessee lawmakers added the electric chair in 2014 as a back-up execution
method, but courts there chose not to rule on if it is cruel or unusual
punishment until the lethal injection method there is deemed unconstitutional.
Mississippi switched from using an electric chair to a gas chamber to execute
inmates on death row in the 1950s through the 1980s to kill 35 death-row
inmates. In 1984, the Legislature first added lethal injection as an option,
and then by 1998 removed the gas provision from state law.
'Let God Sort It Out'
While some lawmakers do not believe in the death penalty, based on how House
and Senate members voted on the bill this session, most agree that the state
needs to follow its own laws. Hood said in January that it is his job to
enforce the law, and if the law is going to be changed, the Legislature will
need to do that.
Based on the support for his firing-squad amendments in 2016 and this year,
Rep. Foster says the House seems to be overwhelming for the death penalty in
the state. House members passed his bill by a vote of 74-44 this session, and
the Senate passed its amended version (with no firing squad) by a vote of
38-13.
Foster said he is in favor of executing those who commit the most egregious
crimes with undeniable evidence.
"When people do just horrible acts of evil, not crimes of passion, but just
terrible acts of evil, then I do think (there should be a death penalty). It
does save us money if we do it earlier than drag it out for 50 years, but it's
not so much about the financial side," he told the Jackson Free Press.
"It just sets a precedent. I don't think it's right for them to be able to live
their life out in jail and get three meals and have access to workout equipment
and access to medical care potentially better than we're giving to some of our
veterans in some cases, for the rest of their lives. ... I think we need to
send them on for their final judgment at that point and let God sort it out."
Dunham said national public opinion is not on the Mississippi Legislature's
side when it comes to alternative methods of execution. Public support for
lethal injection as a method of execution is waning, but a majority still
favors it, however, over the alternatives. A YouGov poll from 2015 shows that a
majority of those polled about methods of execution including hanging, gas
chambers, firing squads and the electric chair believe that they are all cruel
and unusual. Dunham said Mississippians' support of those alternatives could
lead national public opinion - and business development in the state - to
suffer as a result.
"Even if the public in Mississippi thought that (alternatives) were OK, it's
bad for business because it creates an image of the state as being barbaric,"
he said.
"That is not a good atmosphere for economic development."
Mississippi is 1 of 31 states that have a death penalty. The number of state
executions nationally has declined in recent years. The Death Penalty
Information Center reported 28 executions country-wide in 2015 and 20 in 2016.
Other states use different lethal-injection protocols, some using single-drug
injections, while others use 3-drug injections like Mississippi. Dunham said
House Bill 638 signals Mississippi is in line with national trends with states
dealing with how to execute its prisoners by legal injection when drugs they
want are no longer available or just difficult to obtain.
"Some states are looking to change the chemicals that they use, but not the
process," Dunham told the Jackson Free Press. "Others are looking to move from
multiple to single drugs, and others are looking to back-up methods of
execution."
An Exhausting Legal Process
A person sentenced to the death penalty technically gets a chance at one
federal and one state appeal, but several inmates in the state were able to
file additional petitions after Mississippi created the Office of Capital Post
Conviction Counsel that did not, in some cases, raise the proper claims,
leading to more litigation.
Andre de Gruy, the state public defender, said only about two of the 46 inmates
on death row have exhausted their appeals outside of a lethal-injection claim,
meaning the rest of inmates on death row are challenging their death sentences
for other reasons.
"The vast majority of cases are not being held up because of this," de Gruy
said.
Craig filed a separate post-conviction relief petition on Richard Jordan's
behalf last summer. Because Jordan has had to wait 4 decades and is now 70,
executing him should be considered "cruel and unusual punishment," the petition
argues.
At one point, Jordan was eligible for an agreement to a sentence of life in
prison without parole, but the Mississippi Supreme Court ruled that the "life"
sentence was unlawful under law at the time of his crime. Craig argues that
Jordan was at a disadvantage in court even in 1998 during his 5th sentencing
trial.
"Jordan had to confront a jury that would, because of the deaths of (his)
family members in the intervening years ... never experience the emotional
force of testimony of those who loved him dearly," Jordan's latest petition to
the Mississippi Supreme Court says. "In short, Jordan was denied the very type
of evidence that routinely spells the difference between life and death in
capital trials in Mississippi."
(source: jacksonfreepress.com)
NEBRASKA:
Chambers' new effort to repeal death penalty elicits emotional testimony before
Nebraska Legislature
She spent what would have been her mother’s 52nd birthday asking Nebraska
lawmakers not to stand in the way of executing her mother's killers.
Christine Tuttle urged members of the Legislature's Judiciary Committee on
Wednesday to reject a bill that would pull their colleagues into yet another
debate over abolishing the death penalty. Rather, listen to the 61 % of voters
who went to the polls in November and reinstated capital punishment, she said.
Further, she told senators on the committee that they should feel ashamed for
celebrating on the legislative floor 2 years ago when a different repeal bill
passed. Her mother, Evonne Tuttle, was 1 of 5 people killed in the 2002 bank
shooting in Norfolk.
"I watched you laugh and hug and high-5," she said. "You celebrated on the pain
and sorrow of my family, and we have heard enough. This behavior hurt me and it
angered me and it's not becoming of state senators, and I hope and pray that
you do not make the same mistake again."
For State Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha, there was no mistake in championing the
repeal, no shame in celebrating a victory that seemed unattainable in a
conservative state like Nebraska. Instead, he only sounded resolved to take up
the old battle once again.
"As long as I have breath in my body and I'm in this Legislature, I'm going to
do what I think is right," Chambers said. "And I don't think the state should
kill anybody."
Even as Chambers renewed the signature cause of his 4 decades in public office,
some of his colleagues took another step to return capital punishment to
viability. Members of the Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee
advanced Legislative Bill 661, which would allow the Department of Correctional
Services to hide the identities of lethal injection suppliers.
Secrecy laws in other death penalty states are credited with making it easier
to carry out executions. LB 661 has a priority designation, which means it
almost certainly will be scheduled for floor debate this session.
Legislative Bill 446, Chambers’ repeal proposal, has not been prioritized. So
even if the Judiciary Committee votes to advance it, the bill probably would
not be debated before the session concludes June 2.
Despite losing last year's ballot referendum, about a dozen death penalty
opponents lined up to testify in support of the Chambers bill.
They used familiar arguments: The death penalty costs the state more than life
in prison; it does not significantly deter crime; it risks executing the wrong
person; it conflicts with "pro-life" beliefs.
"I don't trust the government to deliver the mail on time or fix potholes. How
could I trust them to make life-or-death decisions," said Matt Maly with
Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty.
Mark Metcalf urged senators not to be deterred by the referendum vote, arguing
that lawmakers who carefully studied and considered both sides of the argument
gained a better understanding of the death penalty.
"It should not be surprising that our senators could be right about something
and we the people could be wrong," he said.
Testifying against the bill was Assistant Attorney General Corey O'Brien, who
said the death penalty is intentionally reserved for a small percentage of the
most heinous killers.
Also speaking in opposition was Pierce County Sheriff Rick Eberhardt, who
passed out photos and video of the celebratory scene in 2015 when the repeal
bill passed. He said voters sent a clear message that Nebraska is a death
penalty state and their elected officials should act accordingly.
The most compelling testimony was delivered by Tuttle, who described what it
was like to see her mother on the bank surveillance video as 3 masked men
walked in with guns.
"You want to yell, they're coming, but you can't," she said. "Before the
robbery even starts, it's done and all 5 people are dead."
She listed the names of the others gunned down in less than a minute: Samuel
Sun, Jo Mausbach, Lisa Bryant and Lola Elwood. The 3 gunmen are among the 10
currently on death row.
And she gave a glimpse of the agonizing conversation she had that day with her
2 young sisters.
"Has anyone ever told a 3- and 5-year-old that their mother is dead?" she
asked. "The goodbye hugs and kisses that morning were the last they would ever
receive from my mom."
Sen. Bob Krist of Omaha and Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks of Lincoln apologized,
saying any displays of emotion on the floor of the Legislature were not
intended as an insult to the families of murder victims. Rather, they said the
scene reflected the kind of outpouring that naturally follows any difficult
struggle over an issue people care deeply about.
Pansing Brooks also said that she resented the implication by the sheriff that
she and other death penalty opponents were being intentionally disrespectful.
And Chambers told the sheriff the story of a favorite nephew, the victim of an
unsolved homicide. He told how death penalty supporters wanted to know if he
felt differently about capital punishment after death had struck such a blow to
his family.
No, he said he told them, he never for a moment felt differently.
(source: Omaha World-Herald)
*******************
Senator: Restoring Nebraska's Death Penalty Was Wrong
A Nebraska senator who fought for decades to abolish the death penalty is
trying again, arguing that the statewide vote to reinstate capital punishment
doesn't make it right.
Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha presented his repeal bill Wednesday to a
legislative committee. It's unlikely to pass, but Chambers says a popular vote
shouldn't decide issues such as capital punishment.
Lawmakers abolished the death penalty in 2015, overriding Gov. Pete Ricketts'
veto. Death penalty supporters responded with a ballot petition drive partially
financed by Ricketts. Voters overturned the Legislature's decision and restored
the punishment in November.
Nebraska's corrections department recently changed its lethal injection
protocol after years of failed attempts to obtain the necessary drugs. Another
bill would let the state hide the identity of its suppliers.
(source: Associated Press)
***************
Chambers Renews Effort to Abolish Nebraska's Death Penalty
Nebraska Senator Ernie Chambers, who fought for decades to abolish the death
penalty in the state, is trying again.
Chambers says the statewide vote to reinstate capital punishment doesn’t make
it right.
He presented his repeal bill Wednesday to a legislative committee.
It's unlikely to pass, but Chambers says a popular vote shouldn’t decide issues
such as capital punishment.
Lawmakers abolished the death penalty in 2015, overriding Gov. Pete Ricketts'
veto.
Death penalty supporters responded with a ballot petition drive partially
financed by Ricketts and voters overturned the Legislature's decision and
restored the punishment in November.
(source: KSCJ news)
CALIFORNIA:
Jury recommends death for serial killer convicted in Perris-area slayings
A jury recommended the death penalty Wednesday, March 22, for a Perris man
convicted of 3 counts of murder in the random slayings of a man and 2 women in
the Perris-Nuevo area.
David Rey Contreras, 29, is scheduled to return before Superior Court Judge
John Monterosso on May 12 for his sentence, according to a release from
Riverside County District Attorney spokesman John Hall.
Contreras on March 8 was found guilty of the 3 counts as well as enhancements
for use of a knife in each incident. A special circumstance allegation that he
committed multiple murders ultimately made him eligible for the death penalty.
During the penalty phase, the defense argued that mental illness played a role
in the slayings and that unusual behavior Contreras had exhibited before and
after the murders was the result of paranoid schizophrenia. They asked jurors
to consider an absence of felony convictions prior to the slayings as well as
Contreras' behavior at work and with family members as reasons he did not
deserve a death sentence.
The prosecution argued that Contreras' viciously hunted down and killed people
and that he knew what he was doing. The prosecution asked jurors not only
consider the viciousness of the crimes toward the victims, but also how the
slayings impacted the victims' family members.
The first victim, Jose Apreza, 53, of Perris took his dog out for a walk the
morning of Dec. 29, 2012, and never returned. His wife reporting him missing,
and he was found dead in a field near his home with roughly two dozen stab
wounds.
Maria Gonzalez, 51, and her daughter, Consuelo Gonzalez, 25, also were on a
walk near their home when they were stabbed repeatedly Feb. 4, 2013, on Central
Avenue near Ramona Avenue in Nuevo.
When charges were filed in August 2013, then-Riverside County sheriff's
homicide Lt. Joe Borja noted that the law enforcement definition for a serial
killer is 3 victims or more.
(source: Press-Enterprise)
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