July 25
TEXAS----impending execution
Texas death row inmate facing execution this week loses appeals
Texas' highest criminal court and a federal judge have refused to stop this
week's scheduled execution of the convicted killer of a woman in San Antonio in
2004.
Taichin Preyor is scheduled to receive a lethal injection Thursday evening in
Huntsville for killing Jami Tackett, 24, during a break-in at her apartment.
Tackett is described in court documents as a drug dealer and Preyor, 46, as a
customer and dealer.
Preyor's attorneys contend his trial lawyers didn't properly investigate and
tell jurors about his abusive childhood and that an earlier inexperienced
appeals attorney relied on a disbarred lawyer for guidance.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and U.S. District Judge Fred Biery in San
Antonio rejected their appeals.
Preyor's attorneys said Tuesday they're appealing to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court
of Appeals.
(source: Associated Press)
OHIO----impending execution
Condemned killer in Ohio arrives at death house ahead of execution
A condemned killer in Ohio arrived at the death house a day ahead of his
scheduled execution Wednesday with several requests for a delay pending before
the U.S. Supreme Court.
Ronald Phillips arrived at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in
Lucasville around 10:15 a.m. Tuesday, about 24 hours before he was set to die
in Ohio’s first execution in more than three years, a prisons spokeswoman said.
The last execution in Ohio was in January 2014, when a condemned inmate
repeatedly gasped and snorted during a 26-minute procedure with a
never-before-tried drug combination. Gov. John Kasich put several scheduled
executions on hold. The delays have continued, prompted by shortages of
acceptable drugs and legal challenges by death row inmates to Ohio’s plans for
a new three-drug execution method.
A federal court last month upheld the use of the sedative midazolam, which has
been problematic in several executions, including Ohio’s in 2014 and others in
Arkansas and Arizona. The ruling clears the way for the state to move forward
with three executions, but it isn’t a decisive ruling on the constitutionality
of the three-drug method.
On Monday, 15 pharmacology professors argued in Phillips’ favor that midazolam
is incapable of inducing unconsciousness or preventing the unconstitutional
infliction of serious pain.
Phillips, 43, was convicted for the 1993 rape and killing of his girlfriend’s
3-year-old daughter in Akron. He also has requested that the execution be
halted based on his age at the time of the killing. He was 19, older than the
Supreme Court’s cutoff of 18 for purposes of barring executions of juveniles,
and argues the cutoff age should be 21. The latest delay request on that issue
was filed Tuesday.
Attorneys for the state argued against Phillips’ request, saying he made
meritless, often conflicting, legal claims.
“Phillips argues that youth, like IQ, cannot be reduced to a number. But he
also argues that the Eighth Amendment prohibits the execution of adults under
age twenty-one,” they wrote in a court document filed Tuesday. “He cannot have
it both ways; if age cannot make one eligible for death, it cannot make one
ineligible for death.”
The state of Ohio also has told U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan, who
handles such appeals for Ohio, that continued delays in Phillips’ case are
harming the state by costing time and resources.
Phillips has had several previous delays to scheduled executions, most notably
in 2013 when he made a last-minute plea to donate his organs. He said he wanted
to give a kidney to his mother, who was on dialysis, and possibly his heart to
his sister. His request was denied. His mother has since died.
As he awaited action from the high court, Phillips was being permitted to see
family, friends and spiritual advisers and to meet with his attorneys.
For his last meal, to be served Tuesday evening, he requested a large cheese
pizza with bell peppers and mushrooms, a 2-liter bottle of Pepsi and strawberry
cheesecake, along with grape juice and a piece of unleavened bread.
(source: Toledo Blade)
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