April 30 TEXAS: Death Sentences on Mexicans Draw Scrutiny by U.S. Supreme Court The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to decide whether dozens of Mexicans on death row are entitled to a new hearing because they weren't notified of their right to seek consular assistance upon their arrest. The justices today said they will hear arguments from Mexican national Jose Ernesto Medellin, a convicted murderer facing execution in Texas. State courts rejected his bid for a hearing even though President George W. Bush called for reconsideration of the case, along with those of 50 other Mexicans. Bush acted in 2005, a year after the International Court of Justice concluded the inmates' rights had been violated. "The Texas court's decision would result in the execution of a foreign national by a process that defied the federal government's paramount authority in the matter of our international relations,'' Medellin's attorneys argued in their appeal, filed in Washington. The Bush administration and the Mexican government joined Medellin in urging the high court to take up the case. Texas officials say the administration is encroaching on the rights of states to enforce their own rules of criminal procedure. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott says that under state law Medellin waived his right to argue about consular notification because he didn't raise the issue until his conviction and death sentence had been upheld on appeal. "It is hard to conceive of a law less appropriate to be abrogated by presidential fiat,'' Abbott argued. Medellin was convicted in a Texas state court of taking part in the 1993 gang rape and murder of two teen- age girls in Houston. 2nd Trip The case is making its second trip to the nation's highest court. The justices agreed in 2004 to hear arguments from Medellin, then backed out of the case so that the lower courts could consider the implications of Bush's determination. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals then concluded Medellin wasn't entitled to a new hearing, saying neither Bush's position nor the World Court ruling could trump the state's rules of criminal procedure. Article 36 of the Vienna Convention requires government officials to immediately notify a detained foreign national of his right to seek assistance from his consulate. Medellin says that he wasn't aware of that right during his trial and that Mexican authorities didn't learn of his detention until he wrote to them after his conviction was upheld in 1997. Texas prosecutors say Medellin had the assistance of two court-appointed lawyers who opted not to seek consular help. The state also says he hasn't shown he was harmed by any violation of his rights. As of March 28, 124 foreign nationals, 55 of them from Mexico, were on death row in the U.S., according to the Death Penalty Information Center. The issue of consular rights has been raised in several dozen of those cases. Of the 55 Mexicans, 14 are in Texas and 34 in California. The justices will hear arguments during their 2007-08 term, which starts in October. The case is Medellin v. Texas, 06-984. (source: Associated Press) NEW YORK: Don't revive death----Even for cop killers and terrorists The killing of a law enforcement officer is always a tragic event. But passing a death penalty bill, as the Republican-controlled State Senate seems inclined to do sometime soon, is not the right answer. It might give a few senators some momentary emotional relief and score a few political points, but it won't save the lives of police officers. There has been some sentiment for reinstating the death penalty since the state's Court of Appeals found a key provision unconstitutional in 2004 and said: "Under the present statute, the death penalty may not be imposed." The Assembly, controlled by Democrats, reacted by studying the issue at length in public hearings. In the process, some key death penalty backers changed their position, and the reinstatement bill died in committee in 2005. But the Senate has never given up on reviving the death penalty. Last week, 3 state troopers were shot. One died, apparently from "friendly fire." The Senate wants to pass a bill allowing the death penalty for cop-killers and terrorists. It's futile. For one thing, some studies have shown that law enforcement officials are killed at higher rates in states with the death penalty than in those without. For another, even though Gov. Eliot Spitzer backs the death penalty, the Assembly does not. The Senate is just posturing. (source: Editorial, Newsday) ******************* PAC irked by support for death penalty Assemblyman Tim Gordon surprised death penalty opponents last week when he declared his support for capital punishment for cop killers -- 6 months after he accepted a campaign contribution from an anti-death penalty group. Gordon, an independent, received $500 from New Yorkers Against the Death Penalty's political action committee in October. The PAC gave out $16,000 last year to 22 candidates, according to state Board of Elections records. But amid renewed calls for the death penalty, Gordon said he'd be willing to co-sponsor a bill put forward by Rome Assemblywoman RoAnn Destito. It calls for the death penalty for murderers of law enforcement and correction officers. Among those surprised by Gordon's position was Frances Sandiford, with the Mid-Hudson Chapter of New Yorkers Against the Death Penalty. "It's not quite right," Sandiford said Sunday. She disagreed with the notion that exceptions need to be made for law enforcement. "They seem to think that officers' lives are more valuable than other people who are killed." David Kaczynski, executive director of the group, said he hopes Gordon's comment "reflects his emotional reaction and not his considered response to the events of last week. We know that the death penalty doesn't protect police officers any more than it protects the general public." Gordon said the donation came unsolicited and was a "pleasant surprise." He said he accepted it because "I agree with them in many ways," but added he doesn't believe politicians should be "bought and paid for" by campaign contributions. He said he feels the death penalty is appropriate for killers of police and correction officers, and doesn't believe in a "lock step" approach to such issues. "We've got to find the common sense, middle-ground position on the issues," he said. "Not dig in our heels." Gordon said he otherwise opposes the death penalty because it would disproportionately be used to execute minorities and because the legal system isn't infallible. "The more we rely on it, the more mistakes we're going to make," he said. Employment waiver sought Bruce Feig, 57, of Schenectady, is on today's Civil Service Commission meeting agenda, seeking a waiver to take a job as executive deputy commissioner of the Office of Mental Health while collecting a state pension. The job pays $154,877. His last public post was as the New York City Department of Education's chief financial officer at $178,156, a job he left in March 2006. He also had several state posts before that, working as a deputy under former state Comptroller H. Carl McCall. He was OMH's executive deputy commissioner from 1985 to 1995 during the Cuomo administration. The waiver would allow him to draw a combined income of well over $200,000. The waiver is granted if a public employer can't find another suitable person, a Civil Service Department spokeswoman said. (source: Albany Times-Union) FLORIDA: Killer on death row 2 decades after massacring 6 people 2 decades ago, William Byran Cruse killed 6 and wounded 14 during a shooting spree in Palm Bay. 2 years later, he was sentenced to death. But, turning 80 this year and being the oldest person on Florida's Death Row, officials say it's unlikely he'll be executed before his natural life ends. Despite an insanity defense at trial, it wasn't until 5 years ago that the courts declared him incompetent, which stalled his execution. "You can see he's a madman," said State Attorney Norman Wolfinger, who prosecuted Cruse in 1989. "Whether or not he will ever be competent to be executed is questionable." That likelihood angers some, who think Cruse has lived too long since his murderous rampage on April 23, 1987. But others, including the woman the killer took as a hostage, believe Cruse was insane from the start. "If he's not going to be executed, then it's a crying shame that he wasn't found insane and hospitalized for the last 20 years," said Robin Mucha, who still lives in Brevard County. MADMAN WITH GUN Late that Thursday afternoon 20 years ago, Cruse, a 59-year-old retired librarian, stormed out of his home on Palm Bay's Creel Road to confront teens bouncing a basketball in a neighbor's driveway. He was holding a shotgun. Police said he had run-ins with them before, and he fired and wounded a 14-year-old boy. Then Cruse went back inside and retrieved an assault rifle. He continued to fire shots at his neighbors' homes as he drove away. After killing 2 Florida Tech students at an intersection, Cruse drove to a Publix where he killed 67-year-old Ruth Greene. Cruse then drove to a Winn-Dixie. Officer Gerry Johnson arrived at the store and was instantly shot in the leg. He emptied his revolver at Cruse, but missed. Johnson scrambled from his car and tried to reload. Cruse stalked after him and shot him in the head. Just before he killed the officer, Cruse took aim at Ruben Torres, a 39-year-old mailman at the time, who had stopped at Winn-Dixie. As Cruse killed Johnson, Torres ran to his car, got his gun and began firing at Cruse. 45 minutes after firing shots at his neighbors, Cruse found 2 women hiding in the restroom. One he let go; the other, Robin Mucha, would become his hostage. The siege ended 6 hours later when Cruse released Mucha and came out soon after, as tear-gas canisters were shot into the store. DEATH ROW LONGEVITY Cruse has well surpassed the average length of stay for death row inmates of nearly 13 years and he was older than the average age of a death row inmate, which is 44, when he was convicted in 1989. "It's a sad state for our society that you have a person seen by over 100 people commit this crime," said Palm Bay Deputy Chief Doug Muldoon, who was an officer at the crime scene. Capt. Doug Dechenne, the lead negotiator for Palm Bay's SWAT Team that night, takes his frustration a step further. "I think we'd all agree that there are persons who have committed such heinous crimes that they no longer deserve to live amongst us," he said. "I would put my name up to be the one that pushes the button." (source: Florida Today) NEBRASKA----impending execution Moore's heart could still beat after electrocution, experts say When the state of Nebraska tries to kill death row inmate Carey Dean Moore with 2,450 volts in the electric chair May 8, some expect movement after the jolt -- from Moore's heart. The macabre image of an inmate in the chair with a beating heart possibly several minutes after the state tries to put him to death isn't drawn by somebody trying to scuttle the execution. It comes from the Florida doctor who devised the new, untested execution protocol that Nebraska has adopted after a judge rejected the old one. But a biomedical engineer who has studied executions by electrocution said the new procedure is a terrible idea. "The particular protocol Nebraska has adopted is one of the worst I've seen," said John Wikswo of Vanderbilt University. "It's potentially extraordinarily ugly." There is "absolutely no proof" that an initial shock of high-voltage electricity causes brain death, Wikswo said. The state plans to use the new protocol for the 1st time next month when it conducts its first execution in a decade. "The heart has a high probability of restarting following cessation of current," using the method, Dr. Ronald Wright of Florida wrote in a 2002 report to Nebraska. The state relied on Wright when it came up with the new, continuous-current sequence after a judge said the previous, four-jolt method conflicted with state law. The new state protocol calls for a 15-minute wait after the jolt before checking inmates to see whether they are dead. That wait, Wright said in the report, is "crucial to the determination of death if Nebraska is intent upon using heart sounds as the criteria of death." In court depositions, Wright has said that a high-voltage shock would almost immediately cause brain death and in the report describes as unfortunate the state's reluctance to pronounce death based on the shutdown of the brain. Wikswo was appalled by the new protocol. "What they're assuming is that if the initial shock doesn't kill the person immediately, the 15-minute wait will," he said. "I find that a particularly obnoxious protocol." Wright did not return messages seeking comment, and Nebraska prison officials have said they trust his advice. Critics in Nebraska call the new protocol slipshod, pieced together with the advice of just one man as the state scrambled to comply with a court decision several years ago. And they are outraged that another change was made less than three weeks before Moore is scheduled to die. State prison officials stand by the advice of Wright. In 1994 Wright was not reappointed as chief medical examiner in Broward County by former Gov. Lawton Chiles after his office reviewed allegations against Wright. Wright's standing as chief medical officer wilted under a public spotlight after high-profile court challenges of some of his cause-of-death decisions. In one, he concluded that an 11-year-old boy died of a heart attack before falling on an electric charcoal lighter, not electrocution. According to a 1993 account in The Miami Herald, the boy's friend said he felt an electric jolt when he touched the boy, and a paramedic concluded it was likely an electrocution. A lawsuit filed by the boy's family against the lighter manufacturer was settled out of court and Wright said at the time he planned on publishing an article about the boy's death because it was so unusual. "He's a maverick type of guy," said Fort Lauderdale attorney Jon Krupnick, who challenged some of Wright's decisions in the 1990s. Krupnick now provides attorneys across the country with legal documents that raise questions about Wright's credibility. "He likes to play mental games," Krupnick said. "He buys onto a theory and just kind of rides it." Nebraska is the only state that uses the electric chair as its sole means of execution. It is under legal attack by those who argue it is a cruel and unusual punishment. After Nebraska's old, 4-shock method was discarded, Wright recommended -- and the state implemented -- a protocol calling for a continuous 15-second current. But after state Sen. Ernie Chambers alleged that the state Department of Correctional Services broke its own rules when it determined the new protocol without oversight and public hearings, the state sought more advice from Wright. Earlier this month, the department changed the duration to 20 seconds. Officials did not provide any scientific or medical reasons for the change. "We wanted to rely upon the latest research for a very critical process," said Robert Houston, director of the department. The change to 20 seconds would not appear to alter Wright's conclusion that an inmate's heart may well resume beating after the jolt. Wright mainly attributed the high probability of a heartbeat to the fact that there would not be an initial shock of lower voltage. The previous, 4-jolt method used a stop-and-go application of electricity with low voltage during the 1st shock. That produced "a much higher probability" of causing fibrillation, a quivering of the heart that leads to its stoppage, Wright said in his report. Settling on a protocol that works in electric chairs has been a problem for decades and may be more difficult now because they are more uncommon, are not easily tested and is not a popular line of work among credible doctors and engineers, said Deborah Denno, a professor at the Fordham University School of Law. "We trust what the departments of corrections do," said Denno, who has studied executions extensively. "But nobody really knows very much about executions by electrocution." "Who are the states going to turn to?" On the Net: Nebraska Department of Correctional Services: http://www.corrections.state.ne.us/ Dr. Ronald Wright: http://www.rkwrightmdjd.yourmd.com/ (source: Associated Press) ****************** Experts Say Death-Row Inmate's Heart Could Beat After Electrocution A biomedical engineer who has studied executions by electrocution calls the state's new procedure a terrible idea. John Wikswo of Vanderbilt University says the new protocol means the May 8th execution of Carey Dean Moore could be -- quote -- "extraordinarily ugly." The state's new method of electrocution uses a single, sustained jolt instead of several shorter ones. Both backers and foes of the new protocol say it could leave the condemned's heart beating well after the shock. Opponents say the uncertainty means an inmate could experience incredible pain while corrections officials wait to check if he is dead. The Florida doctor who devised the new, untested protocol has argued that because the inmate will be brain dead, he won't feel pain. (source: Associated Press) NORTH CAROLINA: Judge to hear arguments death penalty lawsuit In Raleigh, an administrative law judge is scheduled to hear a lawsuit today brought by attorneys for 5 death-row inmates against the Council of State. Arguments are expected on whether the council violated the law by failing to take public input before approving a revised execution procedure. The council approved a procedure in February that requires a doctor to monitor "essential body functions" and notify a warden if the inmate shows signs of "undue pain and suffering." Defense attorneys have said that conflicts with the state medical board, which says that a physician who participates in an execution could be subject to discipline. That decision led to a series of legal actions. A state judge has placed 5 executions on hold and --no-- other executions have been scheduled. (source: Associated Press) *************** Inmates sue state over executions Executions are currently on hold in North Carolina. RALEIGH -- Five death row inmates are suing the state for allegedly violating the law by failing to take public input before approving a revised execution procedure. The council of state approved a measure in February requiring a doctor to monitor essential body functions and notify the warden if the inmate showed signs of undue stress and suffering. Defense attorneys have said the procedure conflicts with the state medical board, which says any physician who participates in an execution could be disciplined. Lawyers for the 5 death row inmates are scheduled to appear before a judge in Raleigh on Monday. (source: News14.com)
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news-----TEXAS, N.Y., FLA., NEB., N.C.
Rick Halperin Mon, 30 Apr 2007 11:20:56 -0500 (Central Daylight Time)
