[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OKLAHOMA
June 21 OKLAHOMA: Case against accused serial killer at a standstill over death penalty debate in Oklahoma The case against an accused serial killer is at a standstill. William Reece is currently serving a 60 year prison sentence for kidnapping after he abducted 19-year-old Sandra Sapaugh. Fortunately, she was able to escape and call police. Recently, Reece has been linked to several unsolved murders across Texas and Oklahoma. According to KPRC, Kelli Cox disappeared on July 15, 1997 after touring the Denton jail with her criminology class. She phoned her boyfriend to pick her up from a payphone nearby, but was never heard from again. Nearly two decades later, Reece decided to lead investigators to Cox's remains. Investigators in Oklahoma also decided to test Reece's DNA against an unsolved murder that occurred around the same time in Bethany. On July 26, 1997, 19-year-old Tiffany Johnston was abducted from the Sunshine Car Wash in Bethany. The next day, her body was discovered in Canadian County. Cox and Johnston are 2 of 5 women who were kidnapped, murdered or disappeared in 1997 under similar circumstances. All 5 are believed to be linked to Reece. However, Reece has only been charged with Johnston's murder. Oklahoma authorities allowed Texas to hold Reece in the Lone Star State so he could lead police to the victims' bodies. Reece's attorney says his client would admit to his role in the murders and would lead police to the bodies in exchange for not getting the death penalty. Texas officials agreed to the terms, but Oklahoma prosecutors have not. "He didn't give his victims a chance to have their wishes heard, or anything. So why should he get what he wants?" Kathy Dobry, Johnston's mother, told KPRC. Instead, Oklahoma officials have not decided whether or not to pursue the death penalty in this case. "He took my daughter's life and his life needs to be taken too," Dobry said. "In the Bible, it says, 'an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth." Reece moved to Houston in 1996 after serving time in Oklahoma for rape. (source: KFOR news) ___ A service courtesy of Washburn University School of Law www.washburnlaw.edu DeathPenalty mailing list DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty Unsubscribe: http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/options/deathpenalty
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OKLAHOMA
Sept. 30 OKLAHOMAstay of impending execution Oklahoma governor stays execution of Richard Glossip amid drug concernsOrder comes an hour after US supreme court denies last-minute appeal over new evidence Glossip's attorneys allege show he was framed for murder of boss Oklahoma governor Mary Fallin has issued a stay of execution for Richard Glossip amid concerns over one of the drugs to be used to put him to death. The order came an hour after the US supreme court denied a last-minute appeal alleging that new evidence showed Glossip was framed by the actual killer. Outside the prison in McAlester, Glossip's family were visibly upset at hearing of the supreme court's refusal to issue a reprieve, local media reported. Attorney Don Knight told the crowd: "There's nothing more we can do ... Everyone knows. The world knows that Richard Glossip is innocent." About 30 people also gathered in front of the Oklahoma governor's mansion to protest the execution. The protesters held signs that read "Don't Kill For Me, Stop Executions" and "Save Richard Glossip". Glossip, who has maintained his innocence, was convicted twice of orchestrating the beating death of Barry Van Treese, the owner of the Oklahoma City motel where Glossip worked. But Glossip claims he was framed by Justin Sneed, who is serving a life sentence and was the state's key witness against Glossip in 2 separate trials. Just hours before Glossip was originally to be put to death on 16 September the Oklahoma court of criminal appeals granted a 2-week reprieve to review his claims of new evidence in the case, including another inmate's assertion that he overheard Sneed admit to framing Glossip. (source: The Guardian) ___ A service courtesy of Washburn University School of Law www.washburnlaw.edu DeathPenalty mailing list DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty Unsubscribe: http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/options/deathpenalty
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OKLAHOMA
Sept. 11 OKLAHOMAimpending execution Fox 25 Investigation: Testimony discrepancy uncovered during death penalty trial raise new questions about execution The next man on Oklahoma's death row has less than a week to live. His lawyers say they need more time as they do the investigation supporters of Richard Glossip say was never done in his original trials. As Fox 25 has continued to look into these claims we uncovered evidence of discrepancies during a key witness' testimony. That testimony is now being called into question by a forensic scientist who says the jury was misinformed during their key life or death decision. The governor's office has repeatedly pointed to the fact Richard Glossip received 2 trials and they are upholding the will of 24 jurors who sentenced him to death. When Fox 25 revealed one of the jurors for the 1st trial said their verdict would change based on newly revealed details of the crime, the governor's office said the focus should be on the 2nd trial which was narrowly upheld in the appeals court. Fox 25 reached out to jurors from that trial in our continuing effort to investigate claims by Glossip's that key facts were left out of his defense. We are not disclosing the identities of the jurors who spoke with us. The majority of the claims by Glossip's defense team center around the unreliability of the testimony of Justin Sneed, the man who beat Barry Van Treese to death with a baseball bat. One juror told Fox 25 they did not believe much of Sneed's testimony because they saw him as a teenager who was saying whatever he had to in order to save his own life. Another juror said they fully believed Sneed's version of events. However when it came to determining the Glossip's guilt, both jurors said the it was the testimony of the pathologist from the State Medical Examiner's office. During the trial the pathologist testified Van Treese slowly bled to death. The testimony indicates jurors were left with the impression Van Treese could have been alive as much as 8 hours after Sneed's attack. Jurors told Fox 25 they convicted Glossip because he could have saved Van Treese's life if he had called police immediately after Sneed told him he committed the murder. The juror said that action made Glossip not only guilty, but callous enough to deserve death. Glossip has never denied not telling police key facts early on in the investigation, but has always held that he did not ask or solicit Sneed to murder Van Treese. In Sneed's confession to police he said he hit Van Treese until he stopped bleeding and even returned to the room and hit him again to make sure he was dead. When Fox 25 examined trial testimony and the official record, we found a significant discrepancy between the trial testimony and the medical examiner's autopsy report. "There should never be a discrepancy between an autopsy report and what a medical examiner testifies to in court," said attorney Jaye Mendros. Mendros says she has had trial where that has happened and even helped lead the fight to reform the state medical examiner's office. "The short answer is it was a train wreck," Mendros said of the agency during the late 1990s and early 2000s, "I mean the medical examiner's office had a lot of problems during this time period." Mendros worked with families as they lobbied for reforms. Governor Mary Fallin signed those reforms into law in 2011. One bill in particular allowed families a legal recourse for families when there is evidence of errors made by the Medical Examiner's office. In an email exchange the governor's office says that bill was about better management of the ME's office and she never doubted the accuracy of any findings by the state pathologists. "If there is any question at all that hinges on the reliability of the medical examiner's office from this time period I would say there should be a significant doubt as to the accuracy and reliability," Mendros told Fox 25. According to the pathologist autopsy report, Van Treese died from blunt force and head injuries. The report makes no mention of blood loss. However during the 2nd trial the pathologist downplayed the head injuries and told jurors Van Treese's death was from blood loss and took hours. Fox 25 presented these questions to Glossip's new defense team which was not looking at the testimony of the pathologist. The attorneys said they have been focused on finding new evidence, but the discrepancies we uncovered were so serious they sent all the reports to an independent forensic pathologist. Dr. Carl Wigren's review found the Oklahoma pathology report showed the opposite of what the testimony said and said the science shows Van Treese died within a matter of minutes. The testimony of Justin Sneed backs this finding up and shows Sneed was likely present during the death. In a statement Dr. Wigren said: "It is my understanding that the attorneys for
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OKLAHOMA
July 10 OKLAHOMA: WHAT HAPPENED IN ROOM 102Oklahoma Prepares to Execute Richard Glossip On June 29, the very day the United States Supreme Court upheld Oklahoma's lethal injection protocol in Glossip v. Gross, signaling to the state that it could resume executions, State Attorney General Scott Pruitt wasted no time. His office sent a request to the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals asking that death warrants be signed for the next 3 men in line for the gurney - the same 3 men whose challenge had made it all the way to Washington. The above inmates have exhausted all regular state and federal appeals, the attorney general wrote, respectfully urging the Court to schedule their executions. On Wednesday, July 8, the Court complied, setting 3 dates for the fall. Richard Glossip is 1st in line to die, on September 16. As the lead plaintiff in the case before the Supreme Court, his name became synonymous with the legal fight over midazolam, a drug linked to a number of botched executions, but which the Court decided is constitutional for carrying out lethal injections. Glossip, who spoke to The Intercept hours after the ruling, did not have time to dwell on the decision. Even if the Court had ruled in his favor, he pointed out, Oklahoma remained determined to execute him and has provided itself with a range of options for doing so - most recently, adding nitrogen gas to the mix. With a new execution date looming, I'm trying to stop them from killing me by any method, Glossip said, because of the fact that I'm innocent. Glossip has always maintained his innocence, ever since he was arrested in the winter of 1997 for a grisly killing that authorities prosecuted as a murder-for-hire. It is true that he himself did not kill anyone - a 19-year-old man named Justin Sneed confessed to police that he beat the victim to death with a baseball bat - but Glossip was identified as the mastermind behind the crime. Sneed, who worked for Glossip, claimed his boss pressured him to carry out the murder, offering him employment opportunities and several thousand dollars in return. There was very little additional evidence to back up his claims, but Sneed nevertheless was able to secure the state's conviction of Glossip, saving himself from death row. Today, Sneed is serving life without parole at a medium security prison in Lexington, Oklahoma. Meanwhile, Glossip faces execution, while continuing to insist he had nothing to do with the murder. Last January, he came within a day of being executed and was in the process of saying goodbye to family when the Supreme Court granted certiorari to his lethal injection challenge. I'm trying to stop them from killing me by any method, because of the fact that I'm innocent. Glossip has some outspoken supporters, including family members, the longtime anti-death penalty activist Sister Helen Prejean, as well as his former defense attorney, Wayne Fournerat, who was adamant in a conversation with The Intercept that his former client is innocent. But last October a particularly unlikely figure came forward to plead that Oklahoma spare Glossip's life: O'Ryan Justine Sneed - Justin Sneed's grown daughter. In a letter to the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board, she wrote that, based on her many communications with her dad, she strongly believe[s] that Richard Glossip is an innocent man. For a couple of years now, my father has been talking to me about recanting his original testimony, she wrote. I feel his conscious [sic] is getting to him. Justine Sneed's letter never reached the board. It arrived in the mail too late for Glossip's attorneys to submit it for consideration. To date, Sneed himself has not come forward - according to his daughter, he fears what it could mean for his plea deal. Nor has she made any further public statements since her letter was published. (The Intercept made numerous attempts to reach her for an interview.) Her claims do not prove that Sneed lied, of course. But the available records in the 18-year-old case of Richard Glossip are themselves good reason for concern. From the police interrogation of Justin Sneed in 1997 to transcripts from Glossip's 2 trials, the picture that emerges is one of a flimsy conviction, a case based on the word of a confessed murderer with a very good incentive to lie, and very little else. As Oklahoma gets ready to restart executions using its newly sanctioned lethal injection protocol, time is running out to answer the question: Could the state be preparing to kill an innocent man? It was sometime after 4 a.m. on January 7, 1997, that 33-year-old Richard Glossip woke up to the sound of pounding on the wall outside his apartment at the Best Budget Inn in Oklahoma City. He lived there with his girlfriend of five years, D-Anna Wood; she later described waking up to scraping on the wall. It was kind of scary loud, she said. Glossip had lived at the motel since
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OKLAHOMA
July 8 OKLAHOMAnew execution date Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals sets execution date for death row inmate The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals has set a September execution date for a death row inmate who had challenged a drug that will be used in his lethal injection. The court on Wednesday set a Sept. 16 execution date for 52-year-old Richard Eugene Glossip. Glossip was 1 of 3 death row inmates who argued that the sedative midazolam that the state plans to use to execute him presents an unconstitutional risk of pain and suffering because it doesn't properly render a person unconscious. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last month in a 5-4 decision that the drug can be used. Glossip was convicted of 1st-degree murder in the 1997 beating death of Barry Alan Van Treese at a west Oklahoma City motel. (source: Associated Press) ___ A service courtesy of Washburn University School of Law www.washburnlaw.edu DeathPenalty mailing list DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty Unsubscribe: http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/options/deathpenalty
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OKLAHOMA
May 13 OKLAHOMA: Cruel and UnusualThe botched execution of Clayton Lockett - and how capital punishment became so surreal On the morning of his execution, Clayton Lockett hid under the covers. Before a team of correctional officers came to get him at 5:06 a.m., he fashioned a noose out of his sheets. He pulled the blade out of a safety razor and made half-inch-long cuts on his arms. He swallowed a handful of pills that he'd been hoarding. And on April 29, 2014, when the team of officers knocked on the door of his cell in the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, Oklahoma, Clayton Lockett - a 38-year-old convicted murderer - pulled a blanket over his head and refused to get up. The officers left and asked for permission to tase him. While they were gone, Lockett tried to jam the door. They came back, forced their way in, tased him, and dragged him out. 11 hours later, at about 5:20 p.m., after a medical examination, X-rays, 8 hours in a holding cell, and a shower, Lockett was brought by a 5-member strap-down team into the death chamber. It was a small, clinical-looking room with white walls and a polished floor that reflected the lights overhead. A gurney stood in the center of the room; above it hung a microphone for Lockett's final words. One of the walls in the chamber had a pair of baseball-size holes through which IV lines could pass into the chemical room, a small space where 3 executioners would administer the drugs that would kill him. The executioners had been driven to the prison earlier in the day, and had put on hoods as they approached. They would remain out of sight until after Lockett was dead. There had never been a question of Lockett's guilt. 15 years earlier, on June 3, 1999, he had stood in a ravine and aimed a 12-gauge shotgun at Stephanie Neiman, a 19-year-old who had graduated from high school 2 weeks earlier. Lockett and 2 accomplices had beaten one of Neiman's friends and raped another. Lockett told Neiman multiple times that he would kill her if she didn't promise to keep quiet. He warned her 1 last time, but she insisted she would go to the police. He pulled the trigger. The shot sent her spinning to the ground. The gun jammed; he cleared it and fired at her again. Then one of Lockett's accomplices buried Neiman alive in a shallow grave, the dirt puffing up as she struggled to breathe, and they left her to die. Lockett was arrested 3 days later, a Sunday. Mark Gibson, the district attorney who would prosecute him, went to the jail that night because Lockett wanted to give a statement. Lockett smoked a cigarette and showed no remorse as he confessed. Gibson thought he saw a twinkle in the young man's eye, as though he was relishing the attention, and came away believing that Lockett was pure evil. In the execution chamber, Lockett was belted to the gurney. To his left, beige blinds covered the windows to the viewing area. Soon, shadows would be visible as the seats on the other side filled up. There was so much media interest in his execution that the prison had had to draw names to decide which reporters could attend. A clock on the wall read 5:26. The execution was scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. Lockett could expect to be dead within about 45 minutes. Since the mid-1990s, when lethal injection replaced electrocution as America's favored method of execution, states have found drug combinations that they trust to quickly and painlessly end a life. They often use 3 drugs. The 1st is an anesthetic, to render the prisoner unconscious. The 2nd is a paralytic. The 3rd, potassium chloride, stops the heart. What many people don't realize, however, is that choosing the specific drugs and doses involves as much guesswork as expertise. In many cases, the person responsible for selecting the drugs has no medical training. Sometimes that person is a lawyer - a state attorney general or an attorney for the prison. These officials base their confidence that a certain drug will work largely on the fact that it has seemed to work in the past. So naturally, they prefer not to experiment with new drugs. In recent years, however, they have been forced to do so. The problems began at a pharmaceutical plant in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. The Food and Drug Administration discovered that some of the drugs made there were contaminated and in April 2010 sent the manufacturer, Hospira, a warning letter. Hospira stopped producing, among other drugs, a barbiturate called sodium thiopental. No other company was approved by the FDA to make sodium thiopental, which was the anesthetic of choice for almost all of the states that carried out executions. (The death penalty is legal in 32 states; 17 of them have performed an execution in the past 5 years.) With sodium thiopental suddenly unavailable, states scrambled to find alternatives. In June of that year, officials in Georgia discovered a work-around: a
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OKLAHOMA
Kan. 15 OKLAHOMAexecution Charles Warner Executed: Baby Killer Is Oklahoma's 1st Execution Since Botched Attempt Oklahoma has executed a death row inmate for killing a baby in 1997 in the state's 1st lethal injection since a botched one last spring. Prison officials declared Charles Frederick Warner dead at 7:28 p.m. CST Thursday. It was the 2nd time Oklahoma used the sedative midazolam as part of a 3-drug method, which had been challenged by Warner and other death row inmates as presenting an unconstitutional risk of pain and suffering. Warner was originally scheduled to be executed in April on the same night as Clayton Lockett, who began writhing on the gurney, moaning and trying to lift his head after he'd been declared unconscious. A Florida execution using the same method as Oklahoma's was eventually carried out after being temporarily put on hold when the condemned killer raised similar questions with justices. Oklahoma prison officials ordered new medical equipment, more extensive training for staff and renovated the execution chamber inside the Oklahoma State Penitentiary to prevent the kind of problems that arose during the execution of Clayton Lockett in April. Lockett writhed on the gurney, moaned and tried to lift his head after he'd been declared unconscious, prompting prison officials to try to halt his execution before he died. Attorneys for the state say a failed intravenous line and a lack of training led to the problems with Lockett's injection, not the drugs. Still, Oklahoma ordered a five-fold increase in the sedative dose. Both Oklahoma and Florida start their executions with the surgical sedative midazolam, which has been challenged in court as ineffective in rendering a person properly unconscious before the 2nd and 3rd drugs are administered, creating a risk of unconstitutional pain and suffering. Charles Frederick Warner, the 47-year-old Oklahoma inmate scheduled to die Thursday, and 3 other Oklahoma death row inmates asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stop their executions. They fear doses of rocuronium bromide, which stops an inmate's breathing, and potassium chloride, which stops the heart, could leave an inmate in excruciating pain but unable to cry out. Justice Sonia Sotomayor referred the inmates' request to the whole court, which voted 5-4 against a stay of execution. The questions before us are especially important now, given States' increasing reliance on new and scientifically untested methods of execution, she wrote for the dissenters. Petitioners have committed horrific crimes, and should be punished. But the Eighth Amendment guarantees that no one should be subjected to an execution that causes searing, unnecessary pain before death. Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt had said Wednesday the state Department of Corrections has responded with new protocols that I believe, prayerfully, will provide them more latitude in dealing with exigent circumstances as they arise. Before the court Thursday, the state said it had a sacred duty to enforce its judgments. By increasing its midazolam dosage to 5 times the amount, Oklahoma plans to mirror the exact recipe that Florida has used in 10 successful executions. But midazolam also was used in problematic executions last year in Arizona and Ohio, where inmates snorted and gasped during lethal injections that took longer than expected. There is a well-established scientific consensus that it cannot maintain a deep, comalike unconsciousness, the Oklahoma inmates' attorneys wrote in the petition with the nation's highest court. Florida executed Johnny Shane Kormondy, 42, for killing a man during a 1993 home-invasion robbery in Pensacola. Pruitt said state prison officials have been unable to secure other, more effective drugs because the manufacturers oppose their use in executions. Pentobarbital is best, the attorney general said. It's worked in our state, but the manufacturers of pentobarbital will not sell that drug ... to a state for death penalty purposes. During a 3-day hearing last month before a federal judge in Oklahoma City, the Department of Corrections' former top attorney, Michael Oakley, testified that midazolam was selected after he talked to counterparts in other states and conducted his own online research. Oakley also said he reviewed trial testimony from a medical expert who testified about the drug's effectiveness during a legal challenge to its use in executions in Florida. A state investigation into Lockett's botched execution in Oklahoma last year determined that a single IV line failed and that the drugs were administered locally instead of directly into his bloodstream. Since then, Oklahoma has ordered new medical equipment such as backup IV lines and an ultrasound machine for finding veins, and renovated the execution chamber with new audio and video equipment to help the execution team spot
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OKLAHOMA
May 8 OKLAHOMAstay/new date of execution 180-day stay recommended for convicted Oklahoma killer Charles Warner; Warner was set to be executed by lethal injection on April 29. His execution was delayed 2 weeks by Gov. Mary Fallin. Convicted killer Charles Warner is now set to be executed Nov. 13, according to a filing Thursday with the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals. Warner was set to be executed by lethal injection on April 29. His execution was delayed 2 weeks by Gov. Mary Fallin following the botched execution that day of murderer Clayton Lockett. The state Attorney General's Office says it will not oppose a 180-day stay in Warner's case, in order to allow for an investigation into Lockett's execution to be completed. (source: The Oklahoman) Oklahoma agrees to 180-day stay of execution for death-row inmate The Oklahoma attorney general's office on Thursday agreed to a 180-day stay of execution for death-row inmate Charles Warner, while the state investigates last week's botched execution of Clayton Lockett. Lawyers for Warner, a convicted killer, had requested the state court of criminal appeals grant a stay of execution for at least 6 months. The attorney general's office said on Thursday he should be executed on 13 November. The criminal appeals court had ordered the state to respond to the stay request by noon on Thursday. The response was filed at 11.45am. After an unprecedented legal and political battle, Oklahoma tried to execute Lockett on 29 April with an untried dose of the drug midazolam followed by vecuronium bromide and potassium chloride. Lockett did not fall asleep for 10 minutes; 3 minutes after he fell unconscious he began to writhe and struggle against his restraints. 16 minutes into the execution, he groaned: Man. The warden ordered that blinds be lowered to the execution witnesses. Officials called off the execution, but corrections director Robert Patton said Lockett died of what appeared to be a heart attack 43 minutes after the execution began. Warner's execution, also scheduled to take place that night, was rescheduled to 13 May. Lockett was convicted of kidnapping and shooting 19-year-old Stephanie Neiman as part of a 1999 home invasion. She survived the initial assault, but Lockett ordered an accomplice to bury her alive. He also raped one of her friends. Neiman's parents supported his death sentence. Warner was convicted of raping and killing 11-month-old Adrianna Waller in 1997. The child's mother said she morally opposes the death penalty and would be traumatized again by knowing of Warner's execution. After Lockett's death, Patton recommended an indefinite stay of all executions in the state. He said refining new protocols could take weeks and prison staff would need extensive training. The state department of public safety is reviewing Lockett's death. One autopsy was completed in Texas, at the Southwestern Institute of Forensic Science, and Lockett's body was sent back to the medical examiner's office in Tulsa this week. The state's autopsy report is pending. His attorneys will have a private doctor conduct their own autopsy. The office of Mary Fallin, the Republican governor of Oklahoma, has said the state will not proceed with any executions until department of corrections protocols can be reviewed and updated, and staff then trained to implement those new protocols. The state said it would notify the court of any need for an additional stay in Warner's case as the review of Lockett's death continued. Warner's litigation conduct over the past 60 days demonstrates a strategic choice by his counsel to pursue an endless media campaign against capital punishment in Oklahoma instead of exhausting available legal remedies in the proper court, wrote Seth Branham, an assistant attorney general. His request for indefinite stay is merely an extension of that strategy. Madeline Cohen, an attorney for Warner, welcomed the stay. It's good that they recognize they are not in a position to carry out a constitutional execution, she said. There are some unnecessary, inflammatory and inaccurate statements in the response. A Democratic member of the state house of representatives, Joe Dorman, who is running against Governor Fallin, plans to hold a press conference at the state capitol on Thursday, to call for an outside investigation of Lockett's death. Oklahoma senator Constance Johnson and representative Seneca Scott have called for a moratorium on executions in the state until an independent outside body, not a state agency, fully investigates Lockett's death. Their resolutions were unlikely to be heard in the legislature. On Monday, the US supreme court declined to hear the appeal of another Oklahoma death-row inmate, Richard Glossip, whose execution date has not been set. The Oklahoma attorney general's office has asked the criminal appeals court to
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OKLAHOMA
Jan. 23 OKLAHOMAnew execution date March 27 execution set for Okla. death row inmate An Oklahoma appeals court has scheduled a March 27 execution date for a 46-year-old man who was sentenced to death for the rape and murder of an 11-month-old girl. The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals set the execution date Thursday for Charles Frederick Warner. An Oklahoma County jury convicted Warner of rape and 1st-degree murder in the 1997 death of Adriana Waller, the daughter of Warner's girlfriend. Warner's original conviction in 1999 was overturned by the appeals court after it found the trial judge erred by seating a juror who said he had a strong bias towards the death penalty. Warner was again convicted and sentenced to death in 2003. (source: Associated Press) ___ 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----OKLAHOMA
Subject: Help stop the execution of Brian Davis! Urge Governor Fallin to follow the Oklahoma Pardon Parole Board recommendation to grant clemency for Brian Darrell Davis. Davis is scheduled to be executed next week, June 25th. On June 6, 2013, the five-member Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board voted 4-1 to recommend clemency for Brian Darrell Davis, 38. Davis was convicted in 2001 for the rape and murder of Josephine “Jody” Sanford. In a news item following the Pardon and Parole Board's decision, it was reported that Pardon and Parole Board Chairman Marc Dreyer said the board recommended clemency after Davis took responsibility for the victim’s death and apologized. He also cited evidence demonstrating that Davis and Sanford had a consensual sexual relationship prior to a fight in which he killed her, raising the question about whether or not a rape actually occurred. Further, the board took into consideration the fact that Davis, a black man, was convicted by an all-white jury of the rape and murder of a white woman. On June 13, 2013, Governor Mary Fallin denied clemency. Please sign this petition urging Governor Fallin to reconsider her decision, and to commute Brian Darrell Davis' death sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Thank you! Anita Anita Grabowski Communications Director National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty PS-Please forward this action to your networks, Gov. Fallin needs to know that the nation and the world is watching! ___ 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-----OKLAHOMA
Nov. 6 OKLAHOMAexecution Okla. inmate executed for fiancee's 1986 killing An Oklahoma man who was put to death Tuesday evening despite claims that he was insane spent his final moments rambling about the presidential election and appeared startled when a prison official announced the start of the execution. Garry Thomas Allen, 56, was executed for the 1986 killing of his fiancee, 24-year-old Lawanna Gail Titsworth, outside an Oklahoma City day care. His attorneys had argued that Allen shouldn't be put to death because he couldn't understand the judgment against him. Allen appeared confused moments after prison officials lifted a curtain separating the death chamber from witnesses. Slurring his words, Allen spoke for 2 minutes in an address that mentioned both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. His execution was held at 6 p.m. Tuesday, 1 hour before polls closed in Oklahoma. Obama won 2 out of 3 counties, Allen said. It's going to be a very close race. At 6:02 p.m., a prison official announced that the execution was about to begin. What? Huh? Allen said. When the drugs began to flow, Allen grunted several times and wiggled his feet as the life slowly left him. He was pronounced dead at 6:10 p.m. Titsworth had moved out of the home she shared with Allen and their 2 sons 4 days before her death. Allen confronted Titsworth outside the day care and shot her twice in the chest. She ran with a center employee toward the building, but Allen pushed the worker away, shoved Titsworth down some steps and shot her twice more in the back, according to court records. Titsworth's sister-in-law, Susan Titsworth, issued a statement after the execution on behalf of the family. Our beloved Gail, daughter, sister and mother of 2 young boys, was taken from our family tragically and senselessly due to domestic violence, the statement said. For over 25 years, we have waited for justice to be served and for this sentence to be carried out. We are thankful to close the book on this chapter today but we will never stop grieving the loss of Gail. A police officer responding to a 911 call tussled with Allen before shooting him in the face, according to court documents. Allen was hospitalized for about 2 months with injuries to his face, left eye and brain. Allen entered a blind guilty plea to 1st-degree murder, meaning he had not reached a plea deal with prosecutors and did not know what the sentence would be. A judge sentenced him to die. Allen's attorneys argued he was not competent enough to enter the plea. They also contended he was mentally impaired when he killed Titsworth, that he had been self-medicating for a mental illness and that his mental condition became worse on death row. The U.S. Constitution forbids the execution of inmates who are insane or mentally incompetent. A judge halted Allen's original May 19, 2005, execution after a psychological examination at the prison indicated Allen had mental problems. 3 years later, a jury rejected Allen's claims he should not be put to death. The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board had voted in April 2005 to recommend that Allen's death sentence be commuted to life without parole. That clemency recommendation wasn't acted on until this year, when Republican Gov. Mary Fallin denied it. Allen becomes the 5th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Oklahoma, and the 101st overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 1990. Allen becomes the 36th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1313th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977, when Gary Gilmore was put to death in the Utah State Penitentiary by a firing squad. (sources: Huffington Post Rick Halperin) ___ 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----OKLAHOMA
May 1 OKLAHOMAexecution Okla. death row inmate executed in shooting death An Oklahoma man convicted of murdering a Tulsa convenience store manager almost 37 years ago was executed by lethal injection Tuesday. Michael Bascum Selsor, 57, was pronounced dead at 6:06 p.m. Tuesday at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary. Selsor's execution ends more than 3 decades of legal proceedings in which Selsor was twice convicted of 1st-degree murder and sentenced to die for the Sept. 15, 1975, shooting death of Clayton Chandler. The 55-year-old Chandler was shot 8 times during an armed robbery in which the thieves got away with a little more than $500. Selsor and Richard Dodson, were arrested a week after Chandler's death in Santa Barbara, Calif., where their car with Oklahoma tags had been spotted. Selsor was originally convicted and sentenced to death following a 1976 trial, in which Dodson was a co-defendant. Later that year, the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated Oklahoma's mandatory death penalty statute. The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals modified Selsor's sentence to life in prison without parole. Selsor initiated a new round of appeals challenging his conviction and in April 1996, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals threw out Selsor's murder conviction, as well as two related convictions. In 1998, Selsor was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death following a retrial. The same jury recommended Selsor serve a life term as an accessory to Dodson's shooting of Chandler's co-worker, Ina Louise Morris, who survived multiple gunshot wounds. The jury also imposed a 20-year term for armed robbery. On April 16, the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board voted 4-1 against commuting Selsor's death penalty to life in prison without parole. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected his request for a stay of execution Friday. Defense attorneys had argued that executing Selsor after he has been in prison for almost 2 generations lacked any deterrent value and would amount to cruel and unusual punishment in violation of his constitutional rights under the Eighth Amendment. Dodson, now 71, was convicted of robbery and shooting with intent to kill and is serving a prison sentence of 50 to 199 years. Dodson is imprisoned in the Davis Correctional Facility in Holdenville and has a parole hearing scheduled for November 2013, according to Department of Corrections records. Selsor becomes the 3rd condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Oklahoma and the 99th overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 1990. Only Texas (482) and Virginia (109) have executed more inmates since the death penalty was re-legalized in the USA on July 2, 1976. Selsor becomes the 18th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1295th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977. (sources: Associated Press Rick Halperin) ** Okla. death row inmate executed in shooting death The clanging of prison bars coincided with a death row inmate's last breaths Tuesday night as was he executed for killing a Tulsa convenience store manager almost 37 years ago. Michael Bascum Selsor, 57, had already uttered his last words to his son and his sister at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary. It was the end of more than 3 decades of legal proceedings, in which Selsor was twice convicted of 1st-degree murder and sentenced to die for the Sept. 15, 1975, shooting death of Clayton Chandler. My son, my sister, I love you till I see you again next time, Selsor said. I'll be waiting at the gates of heaven for you. I hope the rest of you make it there as well. He didn't address Chandler's relatives, some of whom were watching him. Chandler, 55, was shot 8 times during an armed robbery in which the thieves got away with a little more than $500. Selsor and Richard Dodson were arrested a week after Chandler's death in Santa Barbara, Calif., where their car with Oklahoma tags had been spotted. Selsor said he was ready and soon the lethal 3-drug mixture was administered. The clanging began. Prison officials said it was other death row inmates showing respect for Selsor. He breathed heavily a couple of times, and then stopped. The clanging did, too. He was pronounced dead at 6:06 p.m. Selsor's son and sister wept quietly in the family viewing room. Shortly after, Debbie Huggins, one of Chandler's daughters, said her family has waited for almost 37 years for justice. Today, we got that justice, she said. We're glad that it's finally over. Be at peace. The race is finally over. She said she thought about her father as she watched Selsor die. This was much kinder what we did to him today than what he did to my dad, Huggins said. Selsor was originally convicted and sentenced to death following a 1976 trial, but the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated Oklahoma's mandatory death penalty statute. The Oklahoma Court of Criminal
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news-----OKLAHOMA
May 30 OKLAHOMAnew execution date Court sets execution date The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals has set a July 22 execution date for a man sentenced to die for gunning down another man at an alleged gambling house in 1996. Attorney General Drew Edmondson's office said the court on Friday set the execution date for Oklahoma County death row inmate Kevin Young, 42. Young was sentenced to die for the May 1996 murder of 56-year-old Joseph Sutton. Prosecutors said Sutton was shot 4 times at a restaurant in northeast Oklahoma City when Young and an accomplice barged in and attempted to rob patrons who were playing poker, prosecutors said. During the sentencing phase of Young's 1st-degree murder trial, jurors learned that Young was convicted in 1991 in California of 2nd-degree robbery, shooting into an occupied vehicle and robbery with a firearm, according to prosecutors. Prosecutors alleged that Young was a continuing threat to society. Young was also found guilty of shooting with intent to kill for wounding a 2nd person at the restaurant and of attempted robbery with a firearm. Another Oklahoma County inmate, Terry Lyn Short, is scheduled to be executed June 17 for the 1995 murder of 22-year-old Ken Yamamoto in Oklahoma City. (source: Associated Press)
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OKLAHOMA
April 15 OKLAHOMA: Missing Okla. girl's body found near home In Purcell, the body of a 10-year-old girl missing for 2 days was found in a neighbor's apartment Friday, and the man who lives there has been arrested, authorities said. Jamie Rose Bolin was reported missing Wednesday night when she didn't return home. Police waited until Thursday night to issue an Amber Alert because no abduction was witnessed and officials suspected she had run away. But even a prompt alert probably wouldn't have helped us recover Jamie, said state patrol Lt. Chris West. He offered no further details. The girl was last seen Wednesday afternoon at the library in Purcell, about 20 miles south of Oklahoma City. A tip from the FBI, one of several agencies that helped in the search, led authorities to Kevin Ray Underwood's apartment. The 26-year-old was arrested. His apartment is near Jamie's family home, said FBI spokesman Gary Johnson. Prosecutor Tim Kuykendall called the girl's death one of the most heinous and atrocious crimes he has seen. He said he will file 1st-degree murder charges Monday and will seek the death penalty. Authorities were offering few details Friday night on how the girl died. Officials were still awaiting confirmation from the medical examiner that the body was Jamie's but were already certain it was, said Purcell Police Chief David Tompkins. It wasn't known Friday whether Underwood had a lawyer. (source: Associated Press)
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OKLAHOMA
March 27 OKLAHOMA: Execution date sought for 74-year-old death row inmate A state appellate court is asked today to set an execution date for a 74-year-old death row inmate convicted of murdering his stepson more than 20 years ago. Attorney General Drew Edmondson says he asked the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals to set the execution date for Pottawatomie County death row inmate John Albert Boltz. Boltz was convicted of the April 18th, 1984, murder of 23-year-old Doug Kirby. Kirby was stabbed 11 times after he confronted Boltz about threats Boltz had made to Kirby's mother, Pat Kirby. During his trial, Boltz argued he acted in self-defense. He said Kirby came to his Pottawatomie County home to confront him. Edmondson asked the appellate court to set the execution date within 60 days. (source: KTEN News)
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news-----OKLAHOMA
Feb. 14 OKLHOMA: *February 14, 2006* -- 11:30 a.m. Lunch time Rally Rally for Change in 2006! -- Anti-Death Penalty Rally! STATE CAPITOL---NORTH (not South!) --- Steps of the State Capitol Speakers, Music, presentation of legislation by Sen. Johnson and Rep. Toure followed by group lobbying of committee members for those who are able to stay for a short while after the rally The Important Legislation: HB 2738, Rep. Opio Toure, will create a Task Force of 13 members to determine whether any of the 158 people executed by Oklahoma were innocent As of November 15, 2005, there have been 122 exonerations in 25 different States. 7 people have been exonerated in Oklahoma From 1990 - 2003, nationwide there has been a yearly average of 7.60 exonerations. There were 6 exonerations nationwide in 2005. HB 2739, Rep. Opio Toure, will abolish the death penalty by amending sections of Oklahoma Statute 2001 to delete the words with death as punishment for crimes. Oct. 2005 Gallup Poll found that overall support of the death penalty was 64% (down from 80% in 1994) Another Gallup Poll (May 2004) revealed that when respondents are given the choice of life without parole as an alternate sentencing option, support for the death penalty is at 50%. The California death penalty system costs taxpayers $114 million per year beyond the costs of keeping convicts locked up for life (L.A. Times, March 6, 2005). SB 2009, by Senator Constance Johnson, will create a Task Force to determine whether current administration of the death penalty meets standards of Supreme Court decisions and is not arbitrary, capricious or disproportionately impacts racial minorities. (source: JB-ACLU)
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----OKLAHOMA
May 12 OKLAHOMAexecution Miller executed for killing Oklahoma City motel clerk A man convicted of beating and stabbing an Oklahoma City motel clerk and pouring acid down his throat was put to death on Thursday. George James Miller Jr., 37, received a lethal injection of drugs and was pronounced dead at 6:24 p.m. at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary. Miller was convicted of killing Kent Dodd, 25, a night auditor for the Central Plaza Hotel in Oklahoma City, during a Sept. 17, 1994 robbery. Dodd was stabbed repeatedly, beaten with hedge shears and a paint can, and had muriatic acid poured on his face and down his throat, authorities said. Strapped to a gurney inside the death chamber, Miller nodded to his mother and other family members who witnessed the execution. I love you, were his final words. Miller's breath hitched once, and he exhaled deeply as the lethal combination of drugs entered his system. Miller's breathing slowed and then, after several minutes, stopped. He's resting now, his mother said softly, her eyes full of tears. Miller's attorney, Robert Jackson, also attended the execution, but neither he nor Miller's family addressed the media. Miller and Jackson both had maintained his innocence. Miller becomes the 2nd condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Oklahoma, and the 77th overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 1990. Only Texas (342) and Virginia (94) have executed more condemned prisoners since the death penalty was re-legalized in the USA on July 2, 1976. Miller becomes the 21st condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 965th overall since America resumed executions on January 17, 1977. (sources: Associated Press Rick Halperin)
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news-----OKLAHOMA
August 5 [friends---the following item was put out earlier under the heading of TENNESSEEthat was incorrect.the story relates to a death row inmate in Oklahoma..Philip Workman, on death row in Tennessee, has an execution date for September 22my apologies for the error and confusion] OKLAHOMA: Workman Denied ClemencyExecution Scheduled For Aug. 26 The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole board voted Thursday to deny clemency to a man convicted and sentenced to death for the beating death of his girlfriend's 2-year-old daughter. The board voted 4-1 against clemency for Windel Ray Workman, 46, who is to be executed Aug. 26 for the Jan. 10, 1987, death of Amber Holman. Holman was the daughter of Workman's live-in girlfriend. Court documents indicate he had a history of abusing the child, eventually killing her with multiple blows to the head and abdomen. Court documents indicate that 3 doctors testified the child's death was caused by blunt trauma and that her injuries were consistent with being hit by a fist, a hard object such as a board or being picked up by her legs and slammed into a wall. (source: Associated Press)
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news-----OKLAHOMA
August 8 OKLAHOMA: Nichols set to get life a 2nd time Already serving life in federal prison, Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols is set to be sentenced to life in state prison Monday, and his attorneys say he may use the occasion to speak publicly for the 1st time since he went on trial. The possibility of a statement gives new hope to victims' families who question whether the bombing conspiracy was limited to Nichols and bomber Timothy McVeigh. Some day I hope that Terry will come forward and tell the truth, that God will lead him to tell the truth, said Tina Tomlin, whose husband, Department of Transportation special agent Rick Tomlin, was killed in the April 19, 1995, bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. I've always felt that there were others unknown involved, said Gloria Chipman, whose husband, Robert Chipman, was killed in the state Water Resources Board building across the street. Nichols, 49, was convicted in state court on May 26 on 161 counts of murder but was spared the death penalty when his jury deadlocked on a sentence. He never testified during his state and federal trials and said nothing after he was convicted in federal court. However, he is seriously considering making a statement in court before state District Judge Steven Taylor sentences him Monday to more life terms. He has a legal right to make a statement to plead for mercy, express remorse or apologize to victims. It's one of the things that could happen, lead defense attorney Brian Hermanson said. Defense attorney Creekmore Wallace said he does not know what Nichols might say. I hope he lets us see it first, Wallace said. Nichols was sentenced to life in prison without parole in 1998 on federal involuntary manslaughter and conspiracy convictions for the deaths of eight federal law enforcement officers. Jurors at that trial also deadlocked on whether to sentence Nichols to death. The state charges are for the other 160 victims and 1 victim's fetus. McVeigh was convicted of federal conspiracy and murder charges and executed on June 11, 2001. Paul Howell, whose daughter, federal credit union employee Karan Howell Shepherd, was among the victims, and survivors of other victims said they were disappointed Nichols was not sentenced to death. I thought if anywhere that we could get a just sentence, it would be here in Oklahoma with our own people. Evidently, something went wrong, Howell said. I think Nichols considers himself pretty damn lucky. The chief prosecutor, Oklahoma County District Attorney Wes Lane, said he was satisfied that there has finally been resolution of the case even without the death penalty. We have kept our word. We have held him accountable, Lane said. Nichols will have 10 days after he is sentenced to appeal his conviction and sentence, but Wallace said the attorneys are urging Nichols not to appeal. Hermanson said a successful appeal that invalidated the conviction and sentence could result in a 2nd state trial and another attempt to secure a death penalty. (source: Associated Press)
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----OKLAHOMA
March 22 OKLAHOMA: A Mexican national serving life in a state prison for murder should have been told before his trial that he had a right to contact his home country's consulate, an Oklahoma County judge ruled. Osbaldo Torres, 30, also had ineffective counsel at his trial, Oklahoma County District Judge Twyla Mason Gray wrote in a court document. Gray's findings are the result of a December hearing held at the request of the State Court of Criminal Appeals. The appeals court wanted the judge to hear evidence about Torres' representation and to determine if American officials had violated protections guaranteed by the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. The judge's findings have been sent to the higher court, but there is no timetable for when appellate judges must rule, attorneys said. The appeals court could order a new trial for Torres or affirm his conviction. Oklahoma County Assistant District Attorney Pattye High, who prosecuted Torres at his trial in 1996, said she wasn't surprised by Gray's findings. High said her office maintains the position the defendant had effective counsel. Defense attorney Mark Henricksen said he was pleased and that the law compelled Gray to make her findings. Torres has argued in his appeal that he should have been told the Mexican consul could be notified about his case. The Vienna Convention, ratified by the U.S. Senate in 1969, calls for foreign citizens to be advised when they are arrested that such contact can be made. Torres was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1993 killings of Maria Yanez, 35, and her common-law husband, Francisco Morales, 38. The couple was shot to death as they slept in their southwest Oklahoma City home. Torres' codefendant, George Ochoa, 30, was also convicted and sentenced to death. Ochoa is on death row. Torres' death penalty was commuted by Gov. Brad Henry in May. The defendant is serving a life sentence without parole at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. (source: The Oklahoman)
