June 4
KENTUCKY:
Floyd County Prosecutor Keith Henderson reacts to William Clyde Gibson's guilty
plea
On Tuesday afternoon, William Clyde Gibson made an unexpected admission, and
now Floyd County Prosecutor Keith Henderson is sounding off.
During the second day of jury selection in Evansville, Ind., Gibson pleaded
guilty to the murder of Stephanie Kirk. The next step will be the penalty phase
in July. Henderson says he hopes Gibson gets a 2nd death sentence.
"This was a win," said Henderson. "I think this is the way it should have been
done...the family and survivors of Stephanie Kirk, they deserve -- and Miss
Kirk deserves - to seek the punishment that's equal to this crime."
Kirk's body was found buried in the backyard of Gibson's New Albany home in
April 2012. Gibson has already been convicted and sentenced to death for the
murder of Christine Whitis. He also pleaded guilty to killing Karen Hodella and
was sentenced to 65 years.
(source: WDRB news)
MISSOURI:
Inmate challenges death penalty drug secrecy
The next Missouri death row inmate scheduled to die by injection wants a judge
to halt his June 18 execution over concerns that the state's refusal to
disclose its drug supplier violates a law protecting the public's right to
know.
An attorney for condemned inmate John Winfield asked a Cole County circuit
judge on Wednesday to issue a preliminary injunction that would postpone the
execution. The legal challenge argues that the Missouri Department of
Corrections is violating state public records laws by keeping the identity of
its execution drug supplier and other details secret.
The state says such anonymity is vital to protecting the compounding pharmacy
that supplies pentobarbital and its employees from retaliation, including
possible physical harm.
"There's not a more public act than executing a prisoner," attorney Joseph Luby
told Judge Jon Beetem during a hearing in the state capital. "It's called the
Sunshine Law for a reason. We have a strong policy of promoting open
government."
Beetem didn't immediately rule on the injunction request but said he expects to
do so soon. The execution is in 2 weeks.
The vast majority of the 32 death penalty states refuse to disclose the source
of their execution drugs, citing similar concerns. But legal pressure against
such secrecy is mounting as states have turned to lightly regulated compounding
pharmacies after other drug manufacturers stopped supplying execution drugs for
use in capital punishment.
Winfield's request comes as the same judge considers three separate public
record lawsuits over the identity of Missouri's drug suppliers. Plaintiffs
include The Associated Press, The Kansas City Star, the St. Louis
Post-Dispatch, a reporter for St. Louis Public Radio and retired Democratic
state lawmaker Joan Bray of University City. In Oklahoma, a court agreed to a
6-month stay of execution for a death row inmate after a botched lethal
injection in late April during which the state used a new 3-drug blend for the
1st time. Clayton Lockett died of a heart attack after his vein collapsed
during the attempted execution. Oklahoma authorities have agreed not to carry
out any executions until an investigation into Lockett's death is completed.
And in Texas, a federal judge halted the scheduled execution of a serial killer
and ordered the state to disclose the supplier of a new batch of drugs, as well
as information on how those drugs are tested. A federal appeals court threw out
that ruling hours later, leading to the death of Tommy Lynn Sells in early
April after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to step in.
Luby called the Missouri law protecting the identities of execution team
members overly broad, noting that laws in states such as Georgia and Florida
explicitly list those whose identities cannot be disclosed. Assistant state
prosecutors Stephen Doerhoff and Gregory Goodwin countered that other Missouri
laws include narrower exemptions through the use of the word "only" - meaning
lawmakers intended to give state prison leaders the autonomy to decide who
merits confidentiality as members of its "execution team."
"The Legislature could have done that," Doerhoff said. "They did not."
In addition to the public records challenge, Winfield has also asked a federal
appeals court to halt his execution. The petition to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court
of Appeals claims that Missouri's lethal injection process violates his
constitutional right against cruel and unusual punishment.
Missouri's next execution would be its 1st since another convicted killer,
Russell Bucklew, was spared on May 21, when the U.S. Supreme Court sent his
case back to the appeals court. Another execution is scheduled for July.
Since November 2013, Missouri has executed 1 death row inmate every month using
pentobarbital.
(source: Associated Press)
******************
Judge Hears Arguments Over Missouri Execution Secrecy
In a court hearing Wednesday, the Missouri attorney general's office defended
the secrecy that just last week Attorney General Chris Koster expressed
concerns over.
Inmate John Winfield is scheduled to be executed on June 18 for murdering 2
people in St. Louis County in 1996. His lawyer, Joe Luby, argued in the Cole
County 19th Judicial Circuit Court that the Missouri Department of Corrections
is violating the sunshine law by keeping secret the identity of the supplier of
the execution drug.
"It's a matter of simple dignity. Someone being injected with something should
know what's in it," his attorney Joe Luby said.
Missouri relies on compounded pentobarbital for its executions. The quality of
compounding drugs can vary from batch to batch, and Luby argued that knowing
the supplier is essential to knowing the quality of the drug.
A St. Louis Public Radio investigation revealed the state's previous supplier
was not licensed to sell in the state and had been cited for questionable
practices. The state has since found a new supplier but has kept virtually all
information about it hidden.
The attorney general's office argued that the secrecy was important for the
state's interests in carrying out executions. If the identity of those
supplying the drugs were to become public, they wouldn't be able to carry out
executions, they said.
"If this information were to get out, there's no putting the genie back in the
bottle," said Stephen Doerhoff, an assistant attorney general.
The judge did not seem to be convinced by that argument.
"This is about sunshine law, but it gets distorted because this is the death
penalty," Judge Jon Beetem said. "We're really talking about the issue of
public records. When you talk about the harm of 'nobody will want to supply
drugs,' isn't that a red herring?"
The crux of the argument is whether the state has a right to withhold records
on the drugs. A law passed in 2007 prohibits disclosure of the identities of
those who carry out executions. In October 2013, the Department of Corrections
expanded the execution team to say it now encompasses the supplier.
Death penalty opponents and open government advocates say the statute can't
apply to the suppliers because they don't participate in the execution
directly.
"Although the state has an interest in carrying out that law, the state should
also have an interest in carrying out sunshine law," Luby said in an interview
after the hearing. "Our public policy in Missouri is to have open records. If
they really think that one state law [open records law] should be altered so
that they can enforce another [executions], then they are in the wrong
building, and they should go to the General Assembly."
Koster has admitted that the "creeping" secrecy around execution drugs is
something that should "concern all of us deeply." He has proposed a state-run
lab to mix the drugs, but his office is still litigating in favor of the
secrecy.
Luby and Winfield's lawsuit is just one of several against the state for
withholding records on the execution drug. I am part of one lawsuit in
conjunction with the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and the
American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri. This suit takes issue with how the
Department of Corrections has withheld records when fulfilling (or not
fulfilling) open records requests.
The Guardian, AP and three Missouri newspapers, including the St. Louis
Post-Dispatch, have also filed suit to challenge the secrecy surrounding the
execution drugs.
Beetem did not make a ruling but indicated that he intends to make one in the
near future.
(source: St. Louis Public Radio)
NEBRASKA:
Lessons to be learned from botched execution
Count me among those people who have changed their mind about the death
penalty.
Sure, the recent bungled execution of Clayton Lockett in Oklahoma had something
to do with it. Sure, listening - repeatedly - to the arguments against the
death penalty by Senator Ernie Chambers of Omaha had something to do with it.
Sitting through 2 days of Pardon's Board testimony about Willy Otey in the
summer of 1994 had something to do with it. He was executed. Spending time at
the Governor's Mansion with Ben Nelson and a couple reporters in July 1996
awaiting word that John Joubert had been executed played a part.
Narrowly missing an assignment to witness the execution of Robert E. Williams
in December 1997 and report my observations to the world had a giant impact.
But having my first-born son incarcerated for 3 years, and the in-depth look at
the criminal justice system that gave me, probably turned the corner for me.
Researching the death penalty in Nebraska about a year ago gave me the final
push when I ran across the story about the hanging death of William Jackson
Marion back in 1887. He was convicted and executed for the murder of John
Cameron. However, Cameron turned up alive in 1891. Marion received a posthumous
pardon by Nebraska Governor Bob Kerrey on the 100th anniversary of his
execution.
You don't have to be a reporter to pause and wonder if Marion was the first and
only mistake in Nebraska among the 37 executions in Nebraska's history and how
many others there might be in a year in the United States. But when you get to
know the system, you understand that we are all humans, and humans make
mistakes.
I reported on the crimes and the trials and the convictions and the executions
of the last three in the '90s. I know that the bodies of the victims were
found. We can assume, based on extensive reporting, that the same holds true
for the 11 men currently on death row.
In 2008, the Supreme Court ruled that death by electrocution in Nebraska was
cruel and unusual punishment. The Legislature approved death by lethal
injection in 2009. Capital punishment remains on the books in Nebraska, but the
supply of the execution drug sodium thiopental ran out in December. The drug is
nearly impossible to buy because like most drugs used in executions, it's
produced by European-based companies that are prohibited from exporting drugs
used for capital punishment.
There are those, some of them death penalty proponents, who believe that there
will never be another execution in Nebraska. While they believe the punishment
is appropriate for the most heinous crimes, they understand that the constant
legal challenges to the method and the appeals process for the convictions are
just too costly.
Couple that with the fact that government has yet to prove that it's up to the
task of administering the death penalty fairly and constitutionally, and one
can make a strong case for locking them up and throwing away the key.
Gov. Dave Heineman has said that the botched Oklahoma execution was unfortunate
but threatened to overshadow the woman who was murdered.
Chambers has fought for decades to abolish the death penalty. Lawmakers passed
his repeal in 1979, but then-Governor Charles Thone vetoed it. A similar
proposal didn't get past 1st-round debate this year.
Life in prison without parole would limit the length and expense of the appeals
and remove the false hope of victim's families. It would also take the pressure
off a system that struggles, at best, to do some things right. In the end, life
in prison without parole is probably the most humane for all concerned.
(source: J.L. Schmidt is the statehouse correspondent for the Nebraska Press
Association.
(source: McCook Daily Gazette)
USA:
Courts face challenges when linking genetics to criminal behavior
Studies suggest that some people may be at increased risk of criminal behavior
due to their genes. Such research holds potential for helping judges and juries
with some of the difficult decisions they must make, but it also brings a
substantial risk of misinterpretation and misuse within the legal system.
Addressing these issues will be of critical importance for upholding principles
of justice and fairness, according to an essay being published in the June 4
issue of the Cell Press journal Neuron.
"Genetic evidence, properly used, could assist with judgments regarding
appropriate criminal punishments, causes of injury or disability, and other
questions before the courts," says author Dr. Paul Appelbaum, who directs
Columbia University's Center for Research on Ethical, Legal & Social
Implications of Psychiatric, Neurologic & Behavioral Genetics.
Genetic evidence is being offered in criminal trials to suggest that defendants
have diminished understanding of or control over their behavior, most often in
arguments for mitigating sentences - especially for defendants facing the death
penalty. Genetic evidence may also play an increasing role in civil trials
regarding issues such as causation of injury. For example, employers contesting
work-related mental disability claims might want claimants to undergo genetic
testing to prove that an underlying disorder was not responsible for their
impairment.
"The complexity of genetic information and our incomplete understanding of the
roots of behavior raise the possibility that genetic evidence will be misused
or misunderstood. Hence, care is needed in evaluating the extent to which
genetic evidence may have something to add to legal proceedings in a given
case," says Dr. Appelbaum.
Moving forward, a number of questions must be addressed. For example, to what
extent do specific genetic variants make it more difficult to understand or
control one's behavior and what are the biological mechanisms involved? Also,
how can we respond to individuals with genetic predispositions to criminal
behavior to diminish the risk of recidivism?
Dr. Appelbaum notes that it will be an ongoing challenge for both legal and
genetic experts to monitor the use of genetic data in the courts to ensure that
the conclusions that are drawn validly reflect the science. Without such
efforts, judges and juries may overestimate or underestimate the conclusions
that can be drawn from genetic evidence, thus unfairly distorting the legal
process.
(source: medicalxpress.com)
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