death penalty news June 9, 2004
MARYLAND: Convicted killer Oken denied stay of execution Death row inmate scheduled to die next week for 1987 murder; Attorneys vow to continue challenge of state's use of lethal injection Maryland's Court of Appeals today turned down convicted killer Steven Oken's appeal that his execution should be delayed to allow him to pursue his legal challenge to Maryland's lethal injection method. Oken can appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. Oken's lead attorney, Fred Warren Bennett, told the judges in arguments made yesterday that his client has raised "serious" and "thorny" issues and should be given time to litigate them. But Maryland Assistant Attorney General Ann N. Bosse asked the court then not to interfere with Oken's current death warrant -- his third since being convicted and sentenced in 1991 -- and told the judges that Oken's lawsuits and appeals now constitute an "abusive delay." The vote by the Court of Appeals, Maryland's highest court, was 6-1, with Judge C.J. Bell dissenting After yesterday's hearing, Fred A. Romano, whose sister, Dawn Marie Garvin, was killed by Oken in 1987, said Oken "needs to die," adding: "It's been 17 years." Last week, a Baltimore County Circuit judge dismissed Oken's lawsuit against the state Division of Correction that claimed the three-drug lethal injection process is akin to torture and therefore unconstitutional. The judge also declined to consider Oken's motion contending that the state's execution procedure violates Maryland law. Bennett's appeals of both decisions on behalf of his client became the basis of the stay of execution request that Oken made June 1 to the Court of Appeals. Steven Oken, now 42, also was convicted of murdering his sister-in-law,Patricia A. Hirt, in Maryland and motel clerk Lori Ward in Maine. The court's seven-page opinion may be viewed here. [ http://www.courts.state.md.us/opinions/coa/2004/31a03pc.pdf ] --------------------------------------------- Cardinals press Ehrlich to spare Oken from death Letter urges life without parole sentence for man convicted of murdering 3 Cardinals William Keeler and Theodore McCarrick asked Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. in a letter today to spare triple convicted murderer and rapist Steven Oken from the death penalty. The cardinals and Bishop Michael A. Saltarelli, of Wilmington, Del., asked the governor to commute Oken's sentence to life in prison without parole. "What is to be gained by taking the life -- even of a terrible murderer like that? There's nothing to be gained," McCarrick, the archbishop of Washington, said in a telephone interview. The Roman Catholic Church has long opposed capital punishment. Keeler, the archbishop of Baltimore, said developed societies no longer need the death penalty because they can protect themselves from violent criminals through other means, such as life in prison without parole. "We understand and sympathize enormously with the families, but we want to say that taking a life for a life is not the answer," Keeler said. Saltarelli said the church objected to the death penalty on pastoral and moral grounds. "We oppose the death penalty -- not only for what it does to those who are guilty of terrible crimes as this man, Steven Oken -- but for what it does to all of us by offering an illusion that we can defend life by taking life," Saltarelli said. Keeler, McCarrick and Saltarelli spoke during a break at the Maryland Catholic Conference in Washington where they met to discuss church issues in Maryland. Ehrlich, who supports the death penalty, "is monitoring the current court proceedings and has the ultimate issue under full and objective consideration," his legal counsel, Jervis Finney, said today. "The governor from the very beginning initiated a new policy of fair and objective consideration of all requests for pardon, commutation and clemency brought before him," Finney said. Oken was sentenced to die for the rape and murder of Dawn Marie Garvin in Baltimore County in 1987. He also was convicted of murdering two other women in Maryland and Portland, Maine. Oken's execution has been scheduled for next week. His attorney, Fred Warren Bennett, is asking the state's highest court to delay Oken's execution so he would have time to challenge the state's use of lethal injections to carry out death sentences. The request alleges that "due to the insufficiency of the execution protocols and training of execution team members, the killing of Steven Oken will amount to little more than torture." Oken's lawyers allege that the state's method of execution, which uses three separate drugs, inflicts unnecessary pain and suffering. State officials say they are satisfied that the use of lethal injections provides a humane and painless method of execution. (source for both: AP / Baltimore Sun)
