Jan. 10 USA: Supreme Court Backs Disabled Ga. Inmate States can sometimes be sued for damages by disabled inmates, the Supreme Court ruled Tuesday in resolving the 1st clash over states' rights under Chief Justice John Roberts. The court said Georgia inmate Tony Goodman could use a federal disabilities law to sue, claiming that prison officials did not accommodate his disability. Goodman contends he was kept for more than 23 hours a day in a cell so narrow he could not turn his wheelchair. His case had become the latest test of the scope of the 1990 Americans With Disabilities Act, a law meant to ensure equal treatment for the disabled in many areas of life. The Supreme Court ruled previously that people in state prisons are protected by the law, and the follow-up case asked whether individual prisoners have recourse in the courts. Georgia argued that states should be immune from inmate lawsuits brought under the law. Not a single justice agreed Tuesday. Justice Antonin Scalia, writing for the court, said that states could be sued under ADA for constitutional rights violations. The court put off deciding whether state corrections departments can face suits for general violations of the law, a more significant and contentious issue. "This tells states they don't have free rein. They don't have carte blanche," said Chai Feldblum, a Georgetown University civil rights law professor. "If we are looking for some signal of what a Roberts' court might be, this is a very solid, careful approach." A dozen states had urged the court to bar general suits by inmates under the disabilities law. Their lawyer, Gene Schaerr of Washington, said that justices likely "recognized Sandra Day O'Connor has announced her resignation and they'd rather wait until they have a full court in place until they address that issue head on - I think that's very good news for the states." The Senate Judiciary Committee is meeting this week on President Bush's nomination of Samuel Alito to replace O'Connor. She will leave the court as soon as her successor is confirmed. O'Connor was the deciding vote the last time justices ruled on the 1990 law, siding with the 4 more liberal court members in a 2004 decision which held that states could be sued for damages for not providing the disabled access to courts. Goodman had been supported in the latest case by the Bush administration, which argued that there was a history of mistreatment of disabled prisoners when Congress passed the law. The court could have used the case to shield states from federal government interference, something that had been a hallmark of the court under the late Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist. Rehnquist died in September and was replaced by Roberts. "This is another step forward moving away from states' rights and recognizing Congress' power to protect certain groups who are discriminated against," said John Brittain, chief counsel of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. Georgia prison officials had described Goodman as a chronic lawsuit filer who contested things like the temperature and lighting in his cell. He is in prison for drug possession and aggravated assault. "We're pleased that in today's decision the court limited liability solely to instances where there is an actual constitutional violation," said Russ Willard, a spokesman for the Georgia attorney general. The cases are United States v. Georgia, 04-1203, and Goodman v. Georgia, 04-1236. On the Net: Supreme Court ruling: http://wid.ap.org/scotus/results_recent.asp (source: Associated Press) PENNSYLVANIA: Rendell signs execution warrant for man who killed Phila. officer In harrisburg, Gov. Ed Rendell on Tuesday signed an execution warrant for a man convicted of killing a Philadelphia police officer during a botched 1996 bank robbery. Christopher Roney, 36, of Philadelphia, an inmate at Greene state prison, was scheduled for a lethal injection March 9. Roney was convicted of pulling the trigger in the death of Lauretha Vaird, a 9-year police veteran who was responding to a silent alarm tripped during the Jan. 2, 1996, attempted robbery in Northeast Philadelphia. At the time, Roney was known as the rap singer "Cool C." 2 accomplices were sentenced to life in prison. Vaird, a 43-year-old mother of two, was shot in the chest just after she walked in the door of the PNC Bank branch. She was the 1st female officer slain in the line of duty in city history. Rendell has signed 47 death warrants since taking office in 2003. The 3 people executed in Pennsylvania since the death penalty was reinstated in 1978 all ended their appeals voluntarily. As of Jan. 4, 224 men and 5 women were on the state's death row, according to the state Department of Corrections. (source: Associated Press) CALIFORNIA: Assembly committee approves bill to suspend death penalty A state Assembly committee on Tuesday approved a bill that would impose a 2-year moratorium on death sentences in California, allowing time for a state commission on executions to complete its review of the system. The proposal from Assemblyman Paul Koretz, D-West Hollywood, comes after the execution last month of Stanley Tookie Williams, a convicted murderer and co-founder of the Crips street gang. The execution prompted protests by supporters who said Williams had redeemed himself with a record of speaking out against gang violence during his more than 2 decades in state prison. Another death row inmate, Clarence Ray Allen, is scheduled to be executed early Tuesday. The California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice, created last year by the state Senate, is studying the state's death penalty system to determine whether any inmates have been wrongly convicted of capital crimes. About 650 inmates are on California's death row, the largest in the nation. The commission is scheduled to conclude its work at the end of 2007. Koretz said it is critical that the state not continue with its schedule of executions if there is any chance that some of those accused are innocent. "This is not a system that works perfectly and one that can be improved," he said before members of the Assembly's Public Safety committee. "There is no doubt that there are innocent people on death row right now in California." Koretz said he made the statement based on the 123 condemned inmates who have been exonerated of their crimes nationwide since the death penalty was reinstated. 6 of those were in California. Without the availability of DNA evidence, some of those inmates would have been put to death, he said. The bill, AB1121, advanced on a 4-2 vote and goes to the Appropriations Committee. Opponents include state Attorney General Bill Lockyer, who issued an opinion arguing that the proposed moratorium is unconstitutional. Lockyer has said that because the death penalty was reinstated in California through a voter initiative in 1978, only the voters can suspend it - not the Legislature. Assemblyman Todd Spitzer, R-Orange, who voted against the proposal, said California's condemned inmates are given a lengthy appeals process that can last a decade or more. He also challenged the contention that the state has executed innocent people. "At the end of the day, justice has to be done," Spitzer said. "Someone has to speak for the victims." A member of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration attended the hearing and said the governor objects to the bill. Any such bill passed this year would require the governor's signature to become law. On Monday, lawmakers in New Jersey approved a similar suspension of executions, becoming the 1st state legislature in the country to do so since the death penalty was reinstated by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1976. On the Net: California Assembly: www.assembly.ca.gov/acs/defaulttext.asp ************************ Justices refuse to block execution of oldest death row inmate The California Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to block the Jan. 17 execution of Clarence Ray Allen after the inmate claimed the punishment would be cruel and unusual because of his age and health problems. In a 2-sentence order signed by Chief Justice Ronald George, Allen's request for a reprieve was "denied on the merits." An attorney for Allen said the 75-year-old condemned man, whose request for clemency to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is pending, would ask the federal courts to stop the execution. On Dec. 23, Allen's attorneys petitioned California's justices to stop the execution, saying it would be inconsistent with "civilized behavior." Allen, the oldest person on California's death row, uses a wheelchair, suffered a stroke in September and is virtually deaf and blind. State prosecutors rejected that position when they urged Schwarzenegger 2 weeks ago not to grant clemency. They said age and infirmities were irrelevant, and Allen "deserves to die for his monstrous crimes." Prosecutors argued that, because Allen had ordered killings from inside prison, keeping him alive could be a security risk. While serving time for murder at Folsom State Prison in 1980, Allen was sentenced to death for hiring a hit man who killed 3 people at a Fresno market. Allen had the trio killed because he feared their testimony would hurt his chances of prevailing at overturning his murder conviction on appeal, prosecutors said. The convicted hit man, Billy Ray Hamilton, also is on death row. Prosecutors said Hamilton was following Allen's orders when he killed Bryon Schletewitz, Douglas Scott White and Josephine Rocha. Allen also claims that two decades on death row, during which he alleges he received shoddy medical treatment, amounted to unconstitutionally cruel and unusual punishment. California's justices have repeatedly rejected arguments that lengthy periods on death row are unconstitutional. The case is Allen on Habeas Corpus, S139857. (source for both:) OHIO: Kenny speaks to rally from Death Row Death Row Scot Kenny Richey has recorded a message to be played at an anti-death penalty rally being organised by Amnesty International. Richey, 41, was sentenced to death in 1987 for murdering 2-year-old Cynthia Collins by setting fire to an apartment in Ohio. Despite winning an appeal in January last year he is still on death row as the state of Ohio fights attempts to free him. His case was taken up by human rights groups, including Amnesty, who see it as a compelling case of a miscarriage of justice. The group has organised an event, Women Against The Death Penalty, in London tomorrow which will feature a talk by Sister Helen Prejean, the anti-death penalty campaigner who wrote Dead Man Walking. Kenny's fiance Karen Richey will also be speaking at the event. She said: "Kenny has recorded a message for the Amnesty event, which will give people there an idea of his life in prison, and also give him a chance to thank the people who have supported his campaign. It is really hard for him at the moment, as all of the time inside has affected his health, so all the support over Christmas was really appreciated. "It is so frustrating to be almost exactly where we were a year ago, but we have to keep fighting." (source: The Scotsman) FLORIDA: Death Row Inmate Loses Appeal 1 of 2 death row inmates scheduled for execution later this month lost an appeal to the Florida Supreme Court on Thursday. The justices without comment unanimously rejected Arthur D. Rutherfords claim that his rights had been violated because he was placed in shackles during the penalty phase of his trial. Rutherford, 56, has a separate appeal pending in Santa Rosa County, where he was convicted of killing Stella Salamon in 1985 at her home. Her body was found submerged in a bathtub. Rutherford is scheduled for execution Jan. 31. (source: Axis of Logic) NEW HAMPSHIRE: Proposals to expand and end death penalty compete in Legislature Expand the death penalty or replace it with a life sentence without parole? The Legislature has both competing proposals on its plate this year. "I want predatory people off the streets," said Renny Cushing, of Hampton, speaking before the House Criminal Justice Committee, which is considering both proposals. Cushing, whose father was murdered and who works with families of other murder victims, supports the proposal to replace the death sentences with life sentences without parole. Capital punishment would do nothing to help his family's pain, he said. "It just fills another coffin," he said. Cushing also brought a man who'd been on death row in Arizona and was exonerated after 10 years by DNA evidence. "They were going to take my life," Ray Krone told lawmakers. Krone was convicted after experts testified that the bite marks on the victim matched his crooked teeth. He was considered without remorse because he insisted he was innocent, he said. DNA evidence later identified another man as the killer, and Krone was released from prison in 2002. He now lives in York, Pa., one of more than 100 people released from death row nationally once new evidence proved their innocence. Several speakers emphasized the fallibility of the criminal justice system even when people have the best of intentions. But Berlin police Chief Peter Morency testified in favor of keeping the death penalty. "These cases are very rare," he noted. But he argued that eliminating the death penalty would "dishonor" police and other victims. New Hampshire's death penalty has not been applied since 1939. It can be invoked only in specific circumstances, where a law enforcement officer, judge or prosecutor is murdered, when kidnapping or rape was involved or in a case of murder for hire and some drug crimes. Attorney General Kelly Ayotte said the ultimate penalty is appropriate where the victims are in law enforcement because that affects public safety. She asked what disincentive there was for a prisoner serving a life sentence not to kill a corrections officer if there is no risk of further punishment. "There is an added punishment the state can bring forward against you in an appropriate case," she said. The second bill would expand the death penalty so it applied to all cases where a person is charged with knowingly causing the death of another. Supporters argued murder shouldn't be treated more seriously just because the victim works in law enforcement. "I think it establishes a very bad relationship between the community and the people who serve them," said Paul Mirski, one of the sponsors. Ayotte said later she was not taking a position for or against that bill. She did say lawmakers should carefully consider the implications and costs before acting on it. (source: Associated Press)
