[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS., OKLA., MD., NEB.
Feb. 24 TEXASnew execution date Marcus Druery has been given an execution date of August 1; it should be considered serious. (sources: TDCJ Rick Halperin) *** Dallas district attorney urges review of death penalty District Attorney Craig Watkins, who has actively worked to free inmates wrongly convicted in Dallas County, is calling for Texas lawmakers to review the state's capital punishment system. I think it's a legitimate question to have to ask: 'Have we executed someone that didn't commit the crime?' Watkins said in an interview with The Associated Press. More than 2 dozen wrongful Dallas convictions have been overturned, earning Watkins a national reputation. I think the reforms we've made in our criminal justice system are better than any other state in this country. But we still need reforms. And so, I don't know if I'm the voice for that. I just know, here I am, and I have these experiences. Among those experiences was learning about the execution of his great-grandfather Richard Johnson 80 years ago. According to state criminal records and news accounts, Johnson escaped from prison three times while serving a 35-year sentence for burglary, and after his 3rd escape, he was charged with killing a man. He was convicted of murder in October 1931 and executed in the electric chair in August 1932. Watkins said he did not get a full explanation of what happened until he became district attorney. His grandmother, who was a young girl when her father was executed, still struggles with the story, according to Watkins and his mother, Paula. While Watkins doesn't take a position on his great-grandfather's guilt, he said hearing about it makes him think harder about whether defendants, particularly African-Americans, are being treated fairly by the courts. Watkins, the first African-American district attorney in Texas, said he remains troubled by complaints that faulty evidence and prosecutorial misconduct have been used to secure convictions. Watkins did not offer specific proposals for changes or suggest halting executions, but he said he wanted state lawmakers to take a look at how the death penalty is handled in counties. I think in Dallas County, we're getting it right, he said. But I think the larger responsibility is for other places to get it right. DNA evidence After becoming district attorney in 2007, Watkins started a conviction integrity unit that has examined convictions and, in some cases, pushed for them to be overturned. Since 2001, Dallas County has exonerated 22 people through DNA evidence -- by far the most of any Texas county and more than all but 2 states. An additional 5 people have been exonerated outside of DNA testing. Most of those exonerations occurred after Watkins took office. Texas has executed 478 inmates since executions resumed in 1982. 13 were executed last year, a 15-year low. 12 former death row inmates have been freed since 1973. Watkins says he opposes the death penalty on moral grounds but doesn't want those beliefs pushed upon someone else. His prosecutors have sought the death penalty at trial in nine cases, and won them eight times. An additional four death penalty cases are pending, according to his office. A panel within his office reviews possible death penalty cases and votes on whether to pursue it. State Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, is a key supporter of legislation to expand DNA testing and provide compensation for wrongful imprisonment. He said more people are taking another look at the death penalty, but said he doubted that immediate changes were on the horizon. I don't foresee a time when major changes will occur, but the discussion has at least begun on how we make it more just and how we make it more certain that we actually have the right guy, Ellis said in an e-mail. Innocent people on death row? The latest wrongfully convicted man to be exonerated in Dallas County, Richard Miles, was formally declared innocent on Wednesday by a judge. Miles was released from prison in 2009, 15 years after a jury convicted him of murder and sentenced him to 40 years in prison. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals last week declared that his case was one of actual innocence. With a handful of other exonerees watching, Watkins told the courtroom that it was a fair question to ask whether Texas had executed an innocent person. Anyone who sits in a DA's seat and doesn't have doubts shouldn't be DAs, he said. Watkins told the AP later that he didn't want to lecture other prosecutors, but thought that Dallas County could be a part of the debate. He pointed to the exoneration case in Williamson County of Michael Morton, who served 24 years in prison before new DNA testing showed he didn't kill his wife. Attorneys for Morton accuse Ken Anderson, who prosecuted the case, of keeping key facts from the defense at his trial. Morton was convicted in 1987 and
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----USA, LA., ARIZ., CONN.
Feb. 24 USA: Capital punishment creates ethical dilemma for legal system Over the past few days, The Prindle Institute held events concerning ethics and capital punishment. From a showing of The Green Mile to guest lectures, these discussions showed what a prominent ethical issue capital punishment is in American society. Consider some quick background. Recorded statistics for civil executions (aka nonmilitary) began in 1930 in the United States, although surely unrecorded executions were occurring before this time. Today, 35 of our 50 states abide by the death penalty, including Indiana. The methods used for capital punishment in the U.S. are lethal injection (the primary method), electrocution, gas chamber, hanging and firing squad. Although firing squad seems pretty old school, Oklahoma still lists it as a method of execution that can be used if injection and electrocution are found unconstitutional. The most popular arguments for the death penalty include the penalty as a deterrent for murder, as an equal form of justice and that inmates on life sentences are more likely to kill other inmates while incarcerated. Ernest van den Haag, a well-known defender of the death penalty and former professor of public policy at Fordham University, said that it is, the most fitting retribution for murder I can think of. Overall, I just see too many weaknesses with these arguments supporting the death penalty. First of all, does capital punishment actually deter murder? I don't think a murderer is thinking about how he/she will be punished because they don't think they'll be caught in the first place. It's also more expensive to sentence and execute criminals to death. There is also the interesting argument that jurors may be less likely to convict a criminal if the death penalty is on the table. For or against capital punishment, the system that decides the fate of these criminals is flawed. Remember the case of Troy Davis? Why is it that he was executed even though seven of the nine recorded witnesses recanted their former statements? Race and the death penalty is another important ethical issue that needs to be explored. Take the case of death row inmate Duane Buck in Texas. Duane is an African American who admittedly shot and killed his ex-girlfriend and a male counterpart. His guilt is not the issue. His case is under review because at his trial, a psychologist named Walter Quijano testified that black criminals are more likely to be violent again in the future. In 2000, 6 other cases with testimonies from Quijano went under review for racial discrimination. More ethical questions can be addressed with the methods of execution. For instance, what about the doctors who have to administer the lethal injection? All doctors abide by the Hippocratic Oath that states that they must practice medicine ethically. Does purposefully administering death go against this code of ethics? Both sides of the capital punishment argument raise important questions and concerns about our justice system and what we see as fitting retribution for murder. (source: Opinion, The DePauw; Katie Aldrich is a senior from Lexington, Ken., majoring in environmental geoscience) LOUISIANA: Death penalty sought in child’s slaying The East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney’s Office will seek the death penalty against a man accused in the 2006 asphyxiation death of his 2-year-old daughter, a prosecutor told a judge Thursday. Cedric and Shelna Matamoros were indicted on 1st-degree murder charges in May and are being held without bond. Prosecutor Steve Danielson said the District Attorney’s Office has not decided whether to seek the death penalty against Shelna Matamoros in the death of her stepdaughter, Malyasia Chante’ Matamoros. Cedric Matamoros was not in state District Judge Chip Moore’s courtroom when Danielson announced he would seek the death penalty against him. “We are aware of the state’s notice of intent (to seek the death penalty) and we will respond accordingly,’’ said Nelvil Hollingsworth, chief of the homicide unit at the East Baton Rouge Parish Public Defenders Office. So far, neither prosecutors nor defense attorneys have asked that the couple be tried separately, Danielson said. Either side can make such a request. District Attorney Hillar Moore III has alleged that Malyasia Matamoros was “killed for money.’’ The toddler was covered by five insurance policies totaling $185,000 at the time of her death, and Cedric and Shelna Matamoros were the beneficiaries, he noted. The child was pronounced dead Aug. 31, 2006. Two of the insurance policies totaling $110,000 were set to lapse Sept. 1, 2006, Moore said. Cedric Matamoros has claimed someone broke into their unit at the Brandywine Condominiums on Darryl Drive the night of Aug. 30, 2006, when his daughter was attacked in her bedroom. He said he fired a gun at the intruder.
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, S. DAK.
Feb. 24 TEXAS: Drug drives up cost of executions--Price tag went from $83 to almost $1,300; previous substance no longer made As Texasprison officials face the likelihood that 1 of the 3 drugs used int he nation's busiest execution chamber may no longer be available, they are facing another reality: The cost of executions is skyrocketing as well. A year ago, it cost the Texas Department of Criminal Justice $83.35 to carry our an execution. But since the state was forced to switch from one powerful sedative to another, the cost in now $1,286.99. That means that the 12 executions so far with the new drug have cost taxpayers about $15,400, instead of $1,000. The cost of all 3 drugs has gone up, but the overall increase is because of pentobarbital, Jason Clark, a spokesman for the corrections agency, said Thursday. Nearly a year ago, in March 2011, the state replaced sodium thiopental with pentobarbital in its 3-drug execution cocktail after the maker of sodium thiopental stopped producing it amid international protests over its use in executions in the United States. Now, the manufacturer of pentobarbital says it will seek to block its use for executions. And while Texas prison officials say they have enough of the drug to carry out the 5 executions scheduled so far this year, they are not discussing any details concerning their suppliers or exactly how much of the drug they have on hand -- or what they plan to do next. Other states are grappling with the same issues. Officials in Oklahoma, Ohio, Mississippi adn South Carolina have confimed they are paying higher prices for execution drugs, just like Texas. Jerry Massie, spokesman for the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, said that because of the higher-priced pentobarbital, his state's cost for an execution has risen from $200 to about $1,800. We have enough for 4 executions, with 2 currently scheduled, Massie said. In several states, the switch from sodium thiopental to pentobarbital triggered litigation and lengthy regulatory hearings. In Texas, the change was made with relative ease after lawsuits challenging its use were turned aside by courts. But officials agree that changing to a new drug would probably spark the same opposition from condemned convicts and their attorneys and could possibly delay executions. Corrections officials in Texas and other states are saying little about what drug they might switch to if the supply of pentobarbital dries up. But propopfol is frequently mentioned in private conversatinos. That is the power sedative that was blamed in the death of entertainer Michael Jackson in June 2009. (source: Dallas Morning News) SOUTH DAKOTA: Warrant of Execution for Rodney Berget issued Attorney General Marty Jackley announced today that the warrant of execution for Rodney Scott Berget has been issued by Second Circuit Court Judge Bradley Zell. Berget is scheduled to be executed between the hours of 12:01 a.m. and 11:59 p.m., during the week of Sunday, September 9, 2012, through Saturday, September 15, 2012, inclusive, at a specific time and date to be selected by the Warden of the State Penitentiary. Pursuant to South Dakota law, there is an automatic appeal whereby the record of the proceedings will be forwarded to the South Dakota Supreme Court to determine whether the sentence of death was properly imposed; whether the evidence at trial supports the Judge's finding of at least 1 statutory aggravating factor; and whether the sentence of death is excessively disproportionate to the penalty imposed in similar cases, considering both the crime and the defendant. South Dakota law further provides that, The Governor may make such investigation of the case as the Governor may deem proper and may require the assistance of the attorney general. Both the Supreme Court and the Governor have the authority to suspend the execution of sentence scheduled by the trial judge until their respective reviews are complete. (source: KSFY News) ___ DeathPenalty mailing list DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty Search the Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/deathpenalty@lists.washlaw.edu/ ~~~ A free service of WashLaw http://washlaw.edu (785)670.1088 ~~~
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, LA., OKLA., LA., OHIO
Feb. 24 TEXAS: Dallas DA Craig Watkins recently revealed that his great-grandfather was executed in Texas (in 1932), and added that he will continue to pursue death cases because it is the law. Let's be clear. The death penalty is AN option for a DA to pursue and not the ONLY choice in a capital case. Watkins can also decide to seek life in prison without parole for defendants on trial. Watkins is just one in a long line of men and women who claim to have been lifelong opponents of the death penalty who suddenly switch their views when they enter politics so they can appear tough on criminals. It's quite pathetic. The death penalty has nothing to do with justice or moving society forward in any healthy way. It has everything to do with pandering to the most negative emotions in society while extolling a system laden with the inherent problems of bigotry, racism, hatreds, and judicial mistakes. Perhaps like so many others before him, including numerous retiring US Supreme Court justices, Watkins will have the 'courage' to admit upon leaving office that he really is completely opposed to the death penalty. Until then, we remain saddled with a DA who is proud to participate in a killing system that most of the civilized world and much of the US has already discarded. Dallas deserves better and more principled leadership, especially on issues concerning life and death. (source: Letter to the Editor, Rick Halperin, Dallas Morning News) LOUISIANA: Death penalty sought in child's slaying.Yellow Pages The East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney's Office will seek the death penalty against a man accused in the 2006 asphyxiation death of his 2-year-old daughter. The Advocate reports (http://bit.ly/xjo9tN ) Cedric and Shelna Matamoros were indicted on first-degree murder charges in May and are being held without bond. Prosecutor Steve Danielson said the District Attorney's Office has not decided whether to seek the death penalty against Shelna Matamoros in the death of her stepdaughter, Malyasia Chante' Matamoros. Cedric Matamoros was not in state District Judge Chip Moore's courtroom Thursday when Danielson announced he would seek the death penalty against him. We are aware of the state's notice of intent (to seek the death penalty) and we will respond accordingly, said Nelvil Hollingsworth, chief of the homicide unit at the East Baton Rouge Parish Public Defenders Office. So far, neither prosecutors nor defense attorneys have asked that the couple be tried separately, Danielson said. Either side can make such a request. District Attorney Hillar Moore III has alleged that Malyasia Matamoros was killed for money. The toddler was covered by 5 insurance policies totaling $185,000 at the time of her death, and Cedric and Shelna Matamoros were the beneficiaries, he noted. The child was pronounced dead Aug. 31, 2006. 2 of the insurance policies totaling $110,000 were set to lapse Sept. 1, 2006, Moore said. Cedric Matamoros has claimed someone broke into their unit at the Brandywine Condominiums the night of Aug. 30, 2006, when his daughter was attacked in her bedroom. He said he fired a gun at the intruder. Cedric Matamoros pleaded no contest in September 2010 to simple arson, insurance fraud and workers' compensation fraud and served time in prison. Shelna Matamoros pleaded guilty in March 2010 to simple arson, insurance fraud and other charges in the same string of arsons and frauds and also served time in prison. (source: Associated Press) OKLAHOMA: Okla. board rejects death row inmate clemency plea Oklahoma's parole board Friday denied a clemency request from a death row inmate convicted of running over his wife with a pickup truck and killing her nearly 16 years ago. Timothy Shaun Stemple, 46, is set to be executed March 15 for the 1996 death of his wife, Trisha. The Pardon and Parole Board voted 4-1 against recommending clemency. Prosecutors said Stemple beat his wife with a baseball bat then ran her over along U.S. 75 in Tulsa with the help of a 16-year-old accomplice. He is one of the most evil men that I have come in contact with in my many years of service, Tulsa Police Officer Mike Huff, a 37-year veteran, wrote to the panel in advance of Friday's hearing. He called Stemple a monster. But forensic specialist Andre Stuart told the board he believed Trisha Stemple's injuries weren't consistent with prosecutors' scenario and suggested she died in a motor-vehicle accident instead. Stemple previously had said his 30-year-old wife died while making a trip to Walmart to buy aspirin, but declined to take questions or talk during Friday's hearing about what happened the night his wife died. He appeared via video monitor and addressed a sister of the victim. Missie and everybody else, I didn't get to see the presentation today, but hopefully you guys have some idea why this is a very improper forum to
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ARIZONA
Feb. 24 ARIZONAclemency denied/impending execution Arizona death-row inmate requests rejected by clemency board After 5 hours of testimony Friday, the Arizona Board of Executive Clemency refused to commute the death sentence of Robert Moormann, who murdered and dismembered his mother in Florence in 1984. Moormann, 63, is scheduled to be executed Wednesday. Moormann was already serving a 9-years-to-life sentence for kidnapping an 8-year-old girl in 1972. In 1984, he was granted a three-day compassionate furlough to visit Roberta Maude Moormann, who traveled from Flagstaff to stay with her adopted son at the Blue Mist Motel across the street from the state prison complex in Florence. Speaking from a metal cage in a prison auditorium Friday, Moormann, 63, told the clemency board that he did not remember the murder. All he recalled, he said, was touching his mother's breasts while she was tied to a bed and then carrying her body to the bathroom. The testimony focused on Moormann's diminished mental capacity and the alleged sexual abuse he suffered at the hands of his adoptive mother. A forensic psychiatrist who had interviewed and evaluated Moormann referred to him Friday as the worst piece of protoplasm you'll ever see. This man was born condemned, the psychiatrist said. Of the 130 inmates on Arizona's death row, only 6 have been there longer than Moormann. After dismembering his mother's body, Moormann went to various businesses asking if he could dispose of spoiled meat and animal guts before he threw most of her remains in various trash bins and sewers. He was captured soon thereafter. The killing prompted the state to change its policy on compassionate furloughs. Moormann said Roberta had molested him as a child, but that was never corroborated. Those who knew the pair said Roberta was at most ... an overly protective mother who had an odd relationship with her son, according to court records. Moormann has told conflicting stories of Roberta's death, saying he accidentally suffocated her during sex and later that she had begun sexually abusing him again, prompting him to kill her in a fit of rage. Medical examiners found no evidence of sexual contact between Moormann and Roberta. They also found that she had been alive when she received cuts and bruises covering her body and that the dismemberment showed no rage, but rather a methodical, meticulous activity, court records say. Moormann has had a slew of health problems over the years and most recently was hospitalized last week. His hospitalizations have included surgeries to remove his appendix and to perform a quintuple bypass on his heart. His attorney and prison officials declined to say what was wrong with him most recently. On Thursday, a federal judge declined to delay Moormann's execution and that of another death-row inmate, Robert Charles Towery, who is set to be executed March 8. The ruling has been appealed to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. The men's attorneys argue that the Arizona Department of Corrections' new execution protocol, released last month, violates the inmates' constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment. They argue that the new protocol gives too much discretion to corrections Director Charles Ryan, improperly loosens requirements for the people who inject the lethal drugs, and prevents attorneys from meeting with the inmates the day of their execution. U.S. District Judge Neil Wake disagreed, saying that the new protocol does not pose a substantial risk of subjecting either inmate to cruel and unusual punishment, and that he has every reason to believe that the execution team has been properly vetted and is properly trained in inserting intravenous lines. The attorneys say Moormann was diagnosed in early childhood as being mentally disabled, and the state cannot legally execute him. Arizona law prohibits the mentally disabled from being put to death, and a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court decision found that executing mentally disabled inmates amounts to cruel and unusual punishment. State prosecutors argue in court documents that a doctor evaluating Moormann in 1998 found that he had an estimated IQ of between 70 and 90, and that Arizona considers a person mentally disabled only if the IQ is 70 or less. Prosecutors say that at trial, another doctor estimated Moormann's IQ to be at 94 and testified that he was not mentally disabled. A jury convicted Moormann of first-degree murder after two hours of deliberations, rejecting his insanity defense. Although the trial judge did find that Moormann had an impaired ability to understand right from wrong, he cited several reasons why Moormann deserved the death penalty, including that the murder was especially heinous and cruel. The last inmate to be executed in Arizona was Thomas Paul West, who was put to death July 19 for the beating death of
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
Feb. 24 LEBANON3 new death sentences Death for 3 Lebanese who spied for Israel: judiciary 3 Lebanese were sentenced to death by a military court on Friday for spying for Israel, a judicial source said. The tribunal condemned to death Mussa Ali Mussa, who was found guilty of having contacted the Israeli enemy and passing on information, the source said. The court found that Mussa had passed on to the Jewish state between 2000 and 2010 information on officials from Hezbollah, the powerful Lebanese Shiite group. The court also condemned to death in absentia Ali Sweid and Ahmed Hussein Abdullah on charges of spying for Israel. Lebanese authorities in 2009 launched a national crackdown on alleged Israeli espionage rings. Lebanon and Israel remain technically in a state of war and convicted spies can face the death penalty. More than 100 people have been arrested on suspicion of collaborating with Israel's Mossad spy agency, including an army general, members of the security forces and telecoms employees. Several people have so far been sentenced to death, including one found guilty of helping Israel during its devastating 2006 war with arch-enemy Hezbollah. However, none of the death sentences has yet been carried out. (source: The Daily Star) INDIA: U.S. prison may use India-made execution drug When the Nebraska Supreme Court on Thursday issued a stay of execution in favour of death-row inmate Michael Ryan, it was not just Ryan who breathed a sigh of relief but also the proprietors of a pharmaceutical company in faraway Kashipur in Uttarakhand. For, had the execution proceeded as per schedule on March 6, Ryan would have been injected with drugs made by the Swiss-Indian company, Naari, which has since last August consistently argued that 485 grams of sodium thiopental, an unconsciousness-inducing drug, was taken from it under false pretences and handed over to the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services (NDCS). Why is a U.S. prison using execution drugs obtained though allegedly fraudulent means, from India? Lethal injection procedures in this country have, for the last few years, been rocked by the voluntary shutdown of a firm called Hospira, oddly the sole producer of sodium thiopental in the U.S. at the time. Since that event in 2010, a slew of correctional facilities have continued to seek out alternative suppliers of the drug or switch to pentobarbital, a veterinary euthanasia barbiturate used to put down dogs. After attempts to source sodium thiopental from a firm in the United Kingdom met with a storm of opposition across Europe and led to the ban of all such drug exports to the U.S. in that continent, one Mumbai-based firm called Kayem Pharmaceuticals was contacted by an intermediary acting on behalf of the NDCS. When a U.K.-based anti-death penalty group called Reprieve highlighted the fact that despite not being approved by U.S. regulators, Kayem had handed over 500 one-gram vials of thiopental — enough to kill 166 men — to the middleman named Chris Harris, and then it had passed on to the NDCS, the intense pressure on Kayem led to it stating publicly that it would immediately halt all exports of thiopental to the U.S. Yet the fate of Naari's drugs remains uncertain, this despite Naari CEO Prithi Kochhar dashing off an anxious letter to Nebraska Supreme Court Chief Justice Michael Heavican, in which he said he was “shocked and appalled” by the prospect that Naari's drugs could thus be used in execution procedures. Mr. Kochhar went on to explain to the Chief Justice that “the agreement with Mr. Harris was that he would use these vials for registration in Zambia. Our intention was to get the product registered in Zambia and then begin selling it there, since sodium thiopental is used very widely as an anaesthetic in the developing world.” Mr. Kochhar's hope is that the drugs that he alleges Mr. Harris misappropriated and diverted from their intended purpose would be “returned immediately to its rightful owners, that is, that it be returned to us at Naari.” If his wish is granted, the court would have to deny the right of the thiopental-starved NDCS to inject Ryan with an untested, uncertified chemical. (source: The Hindu) LIBYA: Prisoner of Zintan: Gaddafi son in Libyan limbo In a secret location, somewhere among the sandstone and concrete buildings of the straggling mountain town of Zintan, Libya's most prominent prisoner awaits his fate. 3 months after he was captured far away in the Sahara desert dressed as a Bedouin tribesman, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, son and one-time heir apparent of Libya's fallen leader, is being kept here, ostensibly to keep him safe from harm until the new Libyan government can organise a trial for him. But the ad hoc nature of his detention highlights just how little control that government yet has over the country and over rival local militias, like that from
