April 18 KENTUCKY: Lethal injection faces fight from condemned A Kentucky case that begins today is the latest legal challenge to lethal injection, the nation's most used but increasingly controversial form of execution. Lethal injection is under assault from condemned convicts across the USA who claim an anesthetic administered with poison chemicals can leave a person conscious enough to feel excruciating pain. The debate moves into a Frankfort, Ky., courtroom where lawyers for two convicted murderers will ask judges to strike down or at least suspend such executions as unconstitutional punishment. The plaintiffs 2 Ralph Baze murdered 2 police officers with an assault rifle and Thomas Bowling killed 2 robbery victims - plan to present autopsy evidence allegedly showing that a recently executed Kentucky prisoner was still aware when deadly chemicals stopped his heart. "Of all the evidentiary hearings that have been held so far, this is likely to be the fullest and most balanced," says Deborah Denno, a Fordham University law professor who has written on lethal injection and will testify for the prisoners. "We've come a long way in terms of our knowledge of the (lethal) drugs and how they're used, (and) this case takes advantage of that." Lawyers for Kentucky charge in court papers that the case is a veiled attempt to outlaw all forms of execution. They say stopping lethal injection, the chief means of execution for 37 of 38 states that use the death penalty, would amount to suspending capital punishment since "more humane methods" do not exist. Since 1988, at least 17 states and federal courts have considered the issue. But none has struck down lethal injection. Lethal injection opponents have been gathering momentum, however. The Lancet, a British medical publication, reported last Wednesday that autopsies from 49 executed killers found that 43 had anesthesia levels below that required for surgery. In February 2004, a New Jersey appellate court suspended lethal injection until state officials can explain why the chemicals are chosen and how they are administered. And last May, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously agreed to permit a prisoner on Alabama's death row to challenge lethal injection. The prisoner, a longtime intravenous drug user, claims that cutting a path through his flesh to embed a chemical drip would cause excessive pain. Lethal injection was introduced in 1978 as a gentler alternative to the historic methods of execution: electrocution, gassing, hanging and shooting. Since the death penalty was resumed in 1977, 790 of 958 executions have been by injection. Lethal injections in Kentucky begin with a large dose of sodium thiopental, an anesthetic often used in surgery. It is followed with pancuronium bromide, a muscle blocker that halts breathing, and by potassium chloride, a cardiotoxin that stops the heart. The Kentucky formula is virtually identical to those in 27 of the 28 states that have divulged how executions are carried out, Denno says. David Smith, Jeff Middendorf and Brian Judy, lawyers defending lethal injection in Kentucky, argue in court papers that the "3-chemical cocktail" has been proven "effective and reliable." Not so, says David Barron, a public defender representing the condemned killers. Autopsy results from a prisoner Kentucky executed in 1999, Barron says, show little of the anesthetic had been absorbed before the killing drugs were administered. It's likely, Barron says, that the prisoner was conscious but appeared to be unconscious because his muscles were paralyzed by the follow-up drug. If so, Barron says, the prisoner experienced the "torture" of suffocating to death or having his veins seared by the heart toxin. "That's clearly cruel and unusual (punishment)," Barron says. He also says the Kentucky formula may leave condemned prisoners unconscious but still able to feel pain. It's impossible to know, Barron says, because Kentucky's execution formula, like that of most other states, has never been tested in a laboratory or by computer modeling. The formulas, Denno noted in a law journal article in 2002, appear to be based on notes that a University of Oklahoma anesthesiology professor wrote in 1978 after a state legislator asked him to suggest an alternative to lethal gassing or electrocution. Kentucky's lawyers dismiss those arguments as "speculation." They say the dose of anesthetic is more than enough to ensure a prisoner feels no pain. Even if lethal injection causes some pain, they argue, states are not required to use the "least severe means" of execution. The Kentucky court's decision is likely to be appealed by whichever side loses. If lethal injection in its present form is found unconstitutional, states might increase the amount of anesthesia used, says Michael Rushford, president of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation of Sacramento and a death penalty supporter. (source: USA Today) USA: United States rules out death penalty for British terror case suspect The United States has promised not to seek the death penalty for a British man accused of soliciting support for terrorism and of trying to set up a terrorist training camp in Arizona, according to a document read in court Monday. Computer expert Babar Ahmad, 30, was indicted in Connecticut in October on charges of supporting terrorism, conspiring to kill Americans and laundering money. U.S. authorities are seeking to have him extradited to stand trial in the United States. A diplomatic note from the U.S. Embassy to British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, which was read during a hearing at Bow Street Magistrates Court, promised that Ahmad would receive the "full panoply of rights and protections" offered to defendants under U.S. law. The note also promised that Ahmad would not be tried by a military tribunal or classified as an "illegal combatant," a category applied to prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. "You can't simply say to a court, 'Here is an unsigned document stamped by the U.S. Embassy - that's it,"' defense attorney Edward Fitzgerald said. "The question is whether the assurances contained in the diplomatic note are effective," Fitzgerald added. Ahmad is accused of running several Web sites, including Azzam.com, which investigators say was used to recruit al-Qaida, Taliban and Chechen rebel fighters and to outfit them with gas masks, night-vision goggles and camouflage gear. Ahmad's case is being heard under contentious "fast track" extradition procedures that came into effect in January 2004. The new rules lessen the burden of proof in some cases, allowing certain countries, including the United States, to provide "information" rather than evidence that a crime has been committed. (source: Associated Press) CONNECTICUT: Despite rapes and murders, Ross finds romance on death row In Oklahoma, Susan Powers is known as a bright mathematician who created a Web site for a group that cared for abused animals. In Connecticut, she is the mysterious woman who became romantically involved with serial killer and rapist Michael Ross. She frequently travels across the country to see Ross on death row and promised to marry him and move closer if he will fight his execution. Ross, who has confessed to raping and killing women in New York and Connecticut in the early 1980s, agreed last year to drop his appeals. His execution, scheduled for May 11, would be the first in New England in 45 years. But love is complicating the matter now that he and Powers have rekindled a romance. "The woman of my life who I love, who abandoned me, has come back into my life," Ross writes. "But now I must go and abandon her. And I hate that, because while I never hated her when she abandoned me, I fear that she will hate me and not be able to forgive me. And that I fear even more than the execution itself." Ross' letters - decorated with hand-drawn hearts and flowers - and a deposition by Powers detail their relationship. They were part of 6 days of testimony that concluded last week before a Superior Court judge who will decide if Ross is competent to forgo his death row appeals. Attorney Jim Nugent said he was curious when he spotted the "fairly attractive" woman at one of Ross' court hearings. Guarded at first when Nugent asked why she was there, she finally identified herself as Ross' girlfriend. "It's bizarre to me," Nugent said. "It's like something off a Jerry Springer show." But death row romance is not rare. Nationwide, about 23 % of death row inmates had spouses in 2003, the most recent statistics available from the U.S. Justice Department. Others, like Ross, have girlfriends or boyfriends. "They're certainly not unusual," said Sheila Isenberg, who interviewed dozens of women for her book, "Women Who Love Men Who Kill." "They're not crazy. The relationships fill their needs." Ted Bundy, Florida's serial rapist and murderer, was married in prison and even fathered a child before his execution. John Wayne Gacy was engaged when he was executed for torturing and murdering dozens of young men. Oklahoma City bombing suspect Timothy McVeigh received several marriage proposals, and Richard Ramirez, the Los Angeles "Night Stalker" convicted of 13 murders, was visited by hundreds of young women on death row. The women who date killers come from all backgrounds. Many were abused by their husbands or fathers, Isenberg said. "These relationships represent a situation where a woman could be in control," Isenberg said. "The man could not hurt them." Most of the women are in denial about the guilt of their lovers, Isenberg said. Prisoners have plenty of time to devote to the women and the relationships offer the chance for fame and excitement, she said. Ross and Powers chat on the phone regularly, discussing everything from life on death row to the latest episodes of "This Old House" and the "Twilight Zone." She brought him a copy of "A Tale of Two Cities." He suggested she read "Five People You Meet in Heaven." "I will be there in 40 or 50 years to pull you to heaven to keep you safe and to bring you back to me," Ross writes. Powers, who declined comment, began corresponding with Ross in 2000 after her 7-year marriage ended, according to court documents. She had stumbled across an article he wrote about forgiveness, no matter how horrendous the sins. Powers, a computer programmer who a former teacher called very talented, said she was "petrified" the 1st time she visited Ross. But she concluded his crimes stemmed from mental illness and started a Web site to publish his writings. "I try to see the good in people," Powers said in a deposition. "I know he is trying to be kind. And I think that anybody, everybody, regardless of what they had done, I think there is some good in them; that they deserve and need to be loved just like anybody else." Powers began visiting Ross every 6 to 8 weeks and a romance flared, despite a glass barrier that separated them. They got engaged and discussed marriage, but Powers said the prison prohibited it. She ended their relationship on his 44th birthday, July 26, 2003, prompting him to attempt suicide. Powers re-entered his life several months ago, before his January execution date was postponed. Since then, she has urged him to restart his appeals and even intimated suicide if he did not. Ross says May 10 will be their last day together. But he is unsure whether she should attend his execution. "I do want you here that night because I want to feel your love before these people kill me," Ross wrote. "But for your own mental health, I'm not at all sure that you should be here, especially that night." (source: Associated Press) ALABAMA: Rudolph deserving of execution So the government that Eric Rudolph loathes will be his custodian for the rest of his life. Some people think that bit of irony will rankle the bomber-who took on his country because of what he considers its implicit support of abortion on demand and homosexuality-to have to be under the thumb of uniformed guards at a federal prison. Some even say that for Rudolph, life imprisonment is worse than a death sentence. No, it's not. The coward will live on our dime, probably for decades. Make no mistake, Rudolph is a coward who took a stand but ultimately was unwilling to be martyred for it. I'm not saying he should die at the hands of the government he tried to tweak. He says he only meant to kill people who were active participants in allowing abortions to occur and homosexuality to come out of the closet. Bystanders, such as the woman killed in Olympic park bombing and customers of a lesbian bar bombing, were not his intended targets. He wanted law enforcement or government representatives or abortion doctors dead. The others were collateral damage. If anyone is a candidate for capital punishment, it is Rudolph. He is the kind of terrorist the federal death penalty law was written for. He is not remorseful that his war on government resulted inadvertently in civilian casualties. If, by some miracle, he would be freed tomorrow, he would be promoting his killing agenda. That he had been caught before would not deter him from repeating his deadly conduct. God has ordained Rudolph to be judge and jury of those who represent the rights he opposes, at least that's the way it is in Rudolph's mind. He is a self-proclaimed soldier in the Army of God, willing to live and die for his faith, or so it seemed until he copped a plea. Then he became a God-fearer of another stripe, and that stripe is yellow. Still, he dared to criticize people of faith who criticized him for killing other people to stop them from killing people. He called them hypocrites. He should think about his own position, and now he will have lots of time to do just that. That position is this: For a guy who justified his murderous behavior as doing God's work, he seems in no hurry to meet his Maker, his Commander in Chief, if you will. That's probably because he wasn't just following orders. Fact is, he was ignoring them. (source: Opinion, Texarkana Gazette)
