August 14
LOUISIANA:
Jeff Sadow ignores important facts in defense of death penalty in Louisiana
Jeff Sadow's op-ed defending capital punishment ignores important facts.
Clearly, he supports the Louisiana attorney general's emotional appeal to
politicize the pain of victims by fanning the flames of support for the death
penalty. While Sadow and the AG may be sincere, they ignore the biggest flaws
in how the death penalty is administered in the United States: It's arbitrary,
racially discriminatory and doesn't deter crime. In Louisiana, it's also wrong
4 out of 5 times. Let's consider some facts.
An intellectually honest op-ed about Louisiana's death penalty would
acknowledge a 2016 study by researchers at the University of North Carolina,
finding that 127 of 155 resolved Louisiana death penalty cases from 1976
through 2015 ended with a reversal of the sentence - an 82 % reversal rate that
is nearly 10 points above the national average. It would look at Louisiana's
wrongful conviction rate and be concerned that we lead the nation per capita in
exonerations from death row. A scholar should be disturbed that a black man is
30 times more likely to be sentenced to death in Louisiana if the victim is a
white woman as opposed to another black man. No white person has been executed
in Louisiana for a crime against a black victim since 1752.
It is not surprising that the attorney general (who is apparently running for
governor) is attacking the governor on the issue of the death penalty. What is
surprising is an assistant professor of political science attacking the
governor for abiding by the law, as he is sworn to do as an elected official
and as a lawyer. The law presently prevents unconstitutional executions.
Whether it is the cost of the death penalty, the method of execution, the 11
exonorees off Louisiana's death row, the 82 % reversal rate of Louisiana's
death sentences, or the pope declaring the penalty unacceptable, citizens of
Louisiana must look long and hard at who gets the death penalty and why 82 % of
those sentences are overturned - and whether this is a policy we want to
endorse as a state. It is also very expensive if done legally and
constitutionally. Violent crime is a serious problem warranting serious,
careful consideration. And we should seek to repair the harm done to every
victim - not just politicize the pain of victims' survivors. We, as citizens,
must be better than that.
John DiGiulio
lawyer
Baton Rouge
(source: Opinion; The Advocate)
INDIANA:
Death penalty to be considered in 2015 shooting deaths of man, Hammond teen
The case against an alleged gang member accused of killing a man and a
16-year-old girl, who was shot to death on the front porch of her Hammond home,
will be reviewed for a possible death penalty sentence, court records show.
Ivan Reyes was one of four suspected Jackson Street Latin Count gang members
charged earlier this year in Hammond's federal court in connection with 2 2015
deaths.
Lauren Calvillo was killed June 29, 2015, as she tried to get children safely
inside as gunfire broke out between rival gang members in the 5500 block of
Beall Avenue, court records show.
Christopher White was also injured in the shooting and died months later on
Dec. 5, 2015, according to court records.
Reyes, aka "Bola," and his 3 co-defendants - Robert Jose Loya, aka "Homicide,"
Eduardo Luciano, aka "Count Eddie," and Jeron Anthony Williams, aka "Shadow" -
appeared Friday in federal court for a status conference in their case.
The 4 are members of the Jackson Street Latin Counts operating out of Hammond,
according to the indictment, and have been involved "in murder, attempted
murder, robbery and drug trafficking" since 2007.
All 4 were charged in a superseding indictment with conspiracy to participate
in racketeering activity. Reyes was also charged with 2 counts of murder in aid
of racketeering activity in Calvillo's and White's deaths, court records show.
Reyes' case will be submitted to the Capital Review Committee in early December
in Washington DC to be evaluated for the death penalty, according to court
records.
On June 29, 2015, Reyes and 3 other Latin Counts members "formulated a plan to
shoot and kill multiple members of the rival Latin King street gang who were
congregated to mourn the recent death of 1 of their members," the indictment
states.
Reyes drove another members to Beall Street "where this member fired multiple
shots into the crowd, killing Lauren Calvillo and Christopher White," according
to the indictment.
The Hammond Common Council passed a resolution in June to rename the 5500 block
of Beall Avenue as the "Honorary Lauren Alyssa Calvillo Memorial Avenue."
"We will not forget the tragedy that happened that day," Ollie Hubbard,
Calvillo's mother, said after the resolution was passed. "It means a lot that
her name will hang on a street."
Hundreds of people attended her funeral at All Saints Church in Hammond, and a
scholarship benefit was held in her name at Wicker Park in Highland in 2017. It
was unclear at the Friday hearing whether charges would change against Luciano
and Williams, according to court records.
All 4 defendants are scheduled for a status conference March 13, court records
show.
The superseding indictment alleged other crimes against the 4 men:
Reyes shot at a potential rival gang member on April 7, 2007, and pointed a
firearm at a person on Aug. 15, 2009, in "a threatening manner," according to
the indictment.
Williams shot a potential rival gang member on June 23, 2008, and possessed a
firearm on May 30, 2009, the indictment claims.
Loya shot at a person believed to be a rival gang member on Dec. 10, 2012, and
battered another potential rival on May 29, 2013, the indictment states.
(source: Post-Tribune)
NEBRASKA----execution
Death row inmate Moore executed by lethal injection
Nebraska carried out its 1st execution since 1997 on Tuesday. Carey Dean Moore
was executed Tuesday morning for the 1979 shooting deaths of 2 Omaha cab
drivers.
Officials said at around 9:15 a.m. Moore was read an execution order. At 10
a.m. the Nebraska Attorney General's office checked for any last minute legal
matters that would've prevented the execution.
Moore was escorted into the room and strapped to the table. IV lines were
inserted and a heart monitor was attached.
10 witnesses were then escorted into the viewing room.
Officials said after Valium was administered, the warden checked for
consciousness. Witnesses watched as fentanyl citrate was administered.
Cisatracurium besylate was then administered to induce paralysis and halt
Moore's breathing. Potassium chloride was given to Moore to stop his heart.
The Lancaster County coroner called the time of death. State officials
announced the execution was complete at 10:57 a.m.
Carey Dean Moore was sentenced to death in 1980 for killing 2 cab drivers five
days apart in 1979. The victims were Reuel Van Ness, Jr. and Maynard Helgeland.
Carey Dean Moore's brother Donald was also convicted of killing one of the cab
drivers. However, Donald Moore was convicted of 2nd degree murder. He was
released on parole in April 1998.
Over the years, the state set an execution date in the electric chair 7
different times for Moore. The courts stepped in and stopped it every time.
In 2007 the Nebraska Supreme Court issued a stay for Moore's execution to
examine the state's new lethal injection protocol. At the time, Nebraska had a
3-drug cocktail which was being challenged. This was after Nebraska bought one
of the drugs in India. The maker of that drug did not want it to be used in
executions but to cure people, so it was taken off the market.
Moore had been on death row for 38 years - longer than anyone else in the U.S.
Lethal Injection Drugs
Moore was executed with a combination of 4 drugs: the sedative diazepam,
commonly known as Valium, to render him unconscious; fentanyl citrate, a
powerful synthetic opioid; cisatracurium besylate to induce paralysis and halt
his breathing; and potassium chloride to stop his heart.
This is the 1st U.S. execution to use this combination of drugs.
Nebraska state officials have refused to identify the source of their execution
drugs. A state judge in Nebraska ordered prison officials in June to release
documents that might reveal the source of the drugs, but the state has appealed
that ruling.
The state said that one of its protocol drugs expires on Aug. 31, which will
leave the state with no way to carry out future executions.
In an affidavit filed last Thursday, Department of Correctional Services
Director Scott Frakes said he contacted at least 40 suppliers in 6 states and
found only 1 that agreed to provide his agency with the necessary drugs. But
that supplier is unwilling to sell them any more of its drugs, Frakes said.
2018 Drug Maker Lawsuit and Appeals
A German pharmaceutical manufacturer attempted to prevent Nebraska from using
its drugs to execute Moore. The drug company, Fresenius Kabi, filed a lawsuit
last week accusing Nebraska prison officials of improperly obtaining its drugs
for lethal injections. The company said it doesn't want its drugs used in
executions.
But on Monday the German pharmaceutical company announced it wouldn't ask the
U.S. Supreme Court to intervene after losing an appeal in district court.
The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with U.S. District Court Judge
Richard Kopf's conclusion that postponing the execution would frustrate the
state's interest in carrying out the execution. Kopf said granting the drug
company's request would "frustrate the will of the people," referring to the 61
% of Nebraska voters who chose to reinstate capital punishment in 2016 after
lawmakers abolished it.
"I will not allow the plaintiff to frustrate the wishes of Mr. Moore and the
laws of the state of Nebraska," Kopf said during the hearing.
Fresenius Kabi argues that it manufactured the state's supply of potassium
chloride and possibly the cisatracurium.
Fresenius Kabi alleges the state's supply of potassium chloride is stored in 30
milliliter bottles. Fresenius Kabi said it's the only company that packages the
drug in vials of that size.
Fresenius Kabi argued Nebraska's use of its drugs would damage its reputation
and business relationships.
State attorneys denied Fresenius Kabi's allegation that prison officials
obtained the drugs illicitly.
Assistant Attorney General Ryan Post said in court Friday that the state's
interest in carrying out the execution outweighs the company's desire to
protect its reputation. Post noted that the state still has not revealed its
supplier, arguing that Fresenius Kabi could have remained anonymous by not
filing the lawsuit.
"The plaintiff stepped right into the spotlight, and they're complaining about
it," he said.
Nebraska's Death Penalty
Before Moore's execution, Nebraska had not executed an inmate since 1997.
Robert Williams killed Catherine Brooks and Patricia McGarry. Williams died by
the electric chair. John Joubert was executed in 1996 for the deaths of Danny
Eberle and Christopher Walden. In 1994, Harold Lamont "Walking Willi" Otey was
the 1st person to die in Nebraska's electric chair since Charles Starkweather
was executed in 1959. Otey was sentenced to death in the killing of Jane
McManus.
The state has since adopted a lethal injection protocol but has struggled to
carry out executions because of legal challenges and difficulties in obtaining
the necessary drugs.
State lawmakers abolished capital punishment in 2015, overriding Republican
Gov. Pete Ricketts' veto, but voters reinstated the death penalty the following
year through a petition drive partially financed by the governor.
Nebraska's corrections department changed its lethal injection protocol in 2017
after years of failed attempts to obtain the necessary drugs.
There are currently 11 people on death row in Nebraska.
Death Penalty Opponents
Death penalty opponents gathered more than 60,000 signatures ahead of Moore's
execution. Organizers submitted the petition to Ricketts on Monday after
several last-ditch legal efforts failed to halt the execution.
Death penalty opponents say the execution runs afoul of the Catholic Church's
recent statement that capital punishment is unacceptable in all cases. Ricketts
has argued he's carrying out the will of voters who chose to reinstate capital
punishment after the Legislature abolished it in 2015.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska asked the state Supreme Court to
delay Moore's execution. The ACLU filed the request Monday, saying the
execution should be delayed until the court hears arguments in a separate case
focused on the Legislature's 2015 vote to abolish capital punishment.
The ACLU argued that even though the 2015 law was later undone by voters, the
law changed death-row inmates' sentence to life in prison. The organization
represents 8 Nebraska inmates on death row. But Carey Dean Moore was not one of
those inmates.
Moore becomes the 4th condemned inmate to be put to death in Nebraska since the
state resumed capital punishment in 1994.
Moore becomes the 16th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA
and the 1,481st overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17,
1977.
The USA carried out 23 executions last year, and currently has 11 execution
dates set across the nation. 3 executions, all in Texas, are scheduled for next
month, with the first one set for September 12, when Ruben Gutierrez is set to
die via lethal injection.
(sources: WOWT news & Rick Halperin)
USA:
The Pope's Death Penalty Views Have Deep Roots----In the U.S. the death penalty
is rarely carried out, and then usually only after 10 to 20 years or more after
the crime, which hardly makes it a deterrent to would-be murderers.
Regarding Prof. Joseph M. Bessette's "The Pope Makes a Fatal Error" (op-ed,
Aug. 8) about Pope Francis's opposition to the death penalty: While I strongly
disagree with the pope, I find the professor's argument based on the death
penalty as a deterrent to be very weak.
The fact is that in the U.S. the death penalty is rarely carried out, and then
usually only after 10 to 20 years or more after the crime, which hardly makes
it a deterrent to would-be murderers. Last year there were 23 executions in the
U.S. as opposed to 17,000 murders, making the odds about 700 to 1 against a
murderer actually being executed. One death-row inmate in Texas who
acknowledged murdering his infant child asked that his execution be carried out
immediately, but that won't happen with our incredibly incompetent and
inefficient justice system. Instead there will continue to be lawyer appeals
and hearings at taxpayer cost, and for what purpose? Is justice being served?
Certainly not. Rather our justice system's primary beneficiaries are the legal
professionals, and at great taxpayer expense.
William E. Shaver
Houston
**
According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the end result of an act
cannot justify the means (CCC 1753). Furthermore, to execute a criminal as a
deterrent to violence is treating the criminal as a means to an end, which
violates his or her dignity as a creature made in God's image (CCC 1887).
If an ethical case for the death penalty can be made from a Catholic
perspective, it is not the one put forward by Mr. Bessette.
William Jordan
Wilmette, Ill.
**
The words of the criminal-justice system whisper retribution. We speak of
punishment, not deterrent incarceration. Our search for criminal sentences
proportionate to the crime is a quest to find a fair but adequate punishment.
The death penalty lays greater claim to retributory justice than other
sentences, for, as noted, the crime and the punishment go hand in glove, with
no judgment involved. There are reasons to oppose the death penalty - the risk
of killing an innocent is the best one - but rejection of Hammurabi's eye for
an eye isn't one of them.
James A. Dueholm
Washington
**
A 10-year nationwide FBI study shows that states which executed criminals had a
per capita murder rate twice as high as states with no death penalty and 50%
higher than states with capital punishment that had no executions during the
studied years.
David Altschul
Nashville, Tenn.
**
We have a horribly broken system in this country. Punishment is almost never
swift and certain as it should be to serve as a deterrent to crime.
Furthermore, the victim's loved ones live a constant agony of appeals,
retrials, more appeals, more retrials over years and decades, many times only
to see some judge decide, perhaps for political reasons, that the murderer
should not suffer the death penalty and commutes his or her sentence.
Jim Kohlmann
Orlando, Fla.
**
I can't be certain which Catholic doctrine Professor Bessette consulted in
preparing his arguments, but in my parish being "pro-life" means just that: no
abortion and no death penalty.
T.J. Cullinane
Derry, N.H.
(source: Letters to the Editor, Wall Street Journal)
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