March 17
MISSISSIPPI:
Appeals court denies state death row inmate's appeal
A Mississippi man who pleaded guilty in the rape and killing of a waitress in
2000 has been denied a new trial by a 3-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals.
Thomas Loden Jr. had argued his attorneys gave him poor legal advice during his
Lee County trial.
Loden pleaded guilty in the killing of 16-year-old Leesa Gray. He was sentenced
to death for pleading guilty to capital murder plus 30 years on kidnapping and
rape counts.
Gray disappeared June 22, 2000, while on her way home from work as a waitress
at her family's restaurant in the Dorsey community. According to court
documents, her body was found the next day in Loden's van.
Loden has previously argued his original defense attorney failed to fully
investigate his mental condition and background and gave him poor advice that
led him to plead guilty and waive jury sentencing.
In 2013, U.S. District Judge Neal B. Biggers in Oxford, Mississippi, ruled
Loden failed to prove his trial attorneys were inadequate.
Biggers sided with the Mississippi Supreme Court's findings that Loden was
given "the basic tools of an adequate defense," including funding to hire an
investigator, a full evaluation by the forensic staff at the Mississippi State
Hospital and the services of an independent psychologist.
Prosecutors said Loden was aware of the proceedings that were taking place in
the state court and actively participated in a question-and-answer session
during his guilty plea.
Appeals Court Judge Carolyn King wrote in the panel's decision that Loden's
arguments are countered by his decision that his trial lawyers not question
prosecution witnesses or put any evidence at a sentencing hearing to help him
avoid the death penalty.
King said Loden affirmed his decision under lengthy questioning by the trial
judge.
(source: Associated Press)
KANSAS:
Conservatives converge in Topeka for death penalty repeal, while Mo. execution
looms
Conservative leaders were meeting at the Kansas State House in Topeka the
afternoon of March 17 to rally support for House Bill 2129, which would abolish
the death penalty in Kansas, and replace it with life in prison without the
possibility of parole.
Previously, Rep. Steven Becker of Buhler, Kan., who introduced the bill in
committee on Jan. 27, told NCR Feb. 4, "What I want to accomplish with that
bill is to replace that death penalty with life in prison without the
possibility of parole, only this time, as I put it, this time we would really
mean it."
In a March 16 release issued by the Kansas Coalition Against the Death Penalty
(KCADP), Rep. Bill Sutton, R-Gardner, said, "I am pro-life across the board.
That is non-negotiable. By ending the death penalty, Kansas can take an
important step toward promoting a culture of life, as well as end a costly and
ineffective government program."
Gardner planned to attend today's event, along with former Republican State
Rep. Anthony Brown. "More Kansas conservatives like myself are recognizing that
the death penalty is unnecessary and in many ways harmful to the state," Brown
said in KCADP's release. "Because of this growing conservative support, red
states like Kansas are considering ending the death penalty."
Meanwhile, neighboring state Missouri is scheduled to execute Cecil Clayton,
74, at 6 p.m. March 17. According to The Associated Press, Clayton, convicted
of killing Christopher Castetter, a Barry County sheriff's deputy, will be the
2nd person executed in Missouri in 2015.
AP reported that Clayton's attorneys are asking the U.S. Supreme Court and Gov.
Jay Nixon for clemency, claiming that Clayton is brain damaged from a 1972
sawmill accident.
From AP:
"Clayton's attorneys argue that he suffers from lingering effects of a 1972
sawmill accident in which a piece of wood shot through his skull. Surgeons
removed about 8 % of Clayton's brain, including 1/5 of the frontal lobe that
governs impulse control and judgment.
His lawyers say Clayton has an IQ of 71 and that psychiatric evaluations
indicate he doesn't understand the significance of his scheduled execution or
the reasons for it, making him
(source: National Catholic Reporter)
MISSOURI----impending execution
Missouri inmate asks for execution reprieve because part of his brain was
removed
More than 4 decades after an accident at a sawmill sent a piece of wood into
Cecil Clayton's skull, costing him a portion of his brain, his attorneys are
arguing that the episode should prevent the state of Missouri from executing
him.
Clayton, 74, has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to delay his lethal
injection, which is scheduled for Tuesday evening. His attorneys say that
because of the sawmill accident, he has an intellectual disability and
therefore cannot be put to death.
He was sentenced to death for shooting and killing Christopher Castetter, a
sheriff's deputy in Purdy, Mo., in 1996. Attorneys for Clayton are not arguing
that he is innocent but instead point to his brain injury in asking the
justices to act.
In one of their filings to the Supreme Court, Clayton's attorneys wrote that
the police were called about him trespassing around the home of his
girlfriend's mother. When Castetter was dispatched, they say, Clayton shot him
and later said that Castetter "probably should have just stayed home" and
"shouldn't have smarted off to me." But they note that Clayton also said he
"wasn't out there," before going on to outline issues involving his
intelligence and memory.
This argument has its origins in an accident that occurred in 1972. Clayton,
who was a logger and sawmill operator, was working at his sawmill when a piece
of wood broke off and stabbed into his head. He was taken to a hospital, where
he stayed for 9 days, and he ultimately lost 7.7 % of his brain and 20 % of his
frontal lobe, according to his attorneys.
As his attorneys describe it, Clayton "changed drastically and immediately"
after the injury. Before the injury, he was a married father who stopped
drinking, became a preacher and traveled the country with his family, singing
gospel and playing his guitar; afterward, he began drinking again, became
depressed and violent, suffered memory loss and experienced hallucinations.
The Missouri Supreme Court declined over the weekend to halt Clayton's
execution, declaring in a 4 to 3 decision that he is competent to be executed.
In part, the court noted that Missouri's law states that for a person to be
deemed "intellectually disabled" - and, therefore, someone who could be spared
execution under a Supreme Court ruling from 2002 - the condition had to emerge
before the person turned 18. However, Clayton's injury occurred more than a
decade after he turned 18.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that executing the mentally disabled
violates the Constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Last year, for
the 1st time since that ruling, the court again considered the issue, this time
determining that state laws relying heavily on IQ test results to determine
this are unconstitutional.
"Intellectual disability is a condition, not a number," Justice Anthony Kennedy
wrote in the majority opinion last year. He later added that the law requires
that inmates "have the opportunity to present evidence of [their] intellectual
disability."
Clayton's attorneys have argued that he should have a hearing where his mental
competence can be determined, but the Missouri Supreme Court decided against
that argument. In a dissenting opinion, Judge Laura Denvir Stith of the
Missouri Supreme Court wrote that the evidence presented by Clayton's attorneys
and an expert medical opinion should be enough for him to receive this hearing.
"The denial of such a hearing deprives Mr. Clayton of a fair opportunity to
show that the Constitution prohibits his execution," she wrote.
Attorneys for Clayton have petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court, asking that the
execution be delayed and saying that he should be given a hearing to prove his
intellectual impairment.
Executing a person who has a mental disability "does not serve any legitimate
goals of capital punishment," Clayton's attorneys wrote in one of their
filings. "The impairments are what make the intellectually disabled undeserving
of death."
If it takes place, Clayton's execution would be the 10th so far this year
nationwide. It would be the 2nd so far this year in Missouri, which executed
Walter Storey last month. Storey had asked the U.S. Supreme Court to delay his
execution until after the justices hear a case on lethal injection later in the
spring, but the justices rejected his request.
While the death penalty is generally on the decline in the country, multiple
states - Missouri among them - have struggled to obtain drugs for executions
amid an ongoing shortage. This shortage played a major role in why the Supreme
Court is hearing an argument over lethal injections next month. As states have
had problems finding the necessary drugs, they have experimented with different
drugs and combinations. The justices have agreed to hear a case involving
lethal injections in Oklahoma, which turned to the controversial drug midazolam
because of the shortage.
However, the Supreme Court has been unwilling thus far to halt all executions
until after it considers this case, which speaks to the divided nature of the
court and a quirk of how it operates. The same 4 justices who would have halted
an execution in Oklahoma earlier this year also would have ordered Missouri to
stop the execution of Storey last month. However, while it takes only 4
justices to accept a case, it takes 5 of them to stay an execution. There have
been 4 executions since the court decided to consider lethal injection. (The
justices delayed three scheduled executions in Oklahoma, while the Florida
Supreme Court stayed an execution there because that state uses the same drug
protocol as Oklahoma.)
Executions in Missouri have typically occurred after midnight, but last month
the state said it would begin scheduling executions after 6 p.m. local time.
The death warrants authorizing executions will continue to remain in effect for
a 24-hour period.
(source: Washington Post)
***********************
Lawyers: Death row inmate brain damaged, shouldn't be killed
Missouri's oldest death row inmate is scheduled to be executed Tuesday for the
1996 shooting death of a sheriff's deputy. But attorneys for 74-year-old Cecil
Clayton are asking the U.S. Supreme Court and the state's governor to spare his
life, arguing that Clayton has brain damage from a 1972 sawmill accident and
worsening dementia.
Here's a look at the case:
THE CRIME
Clayton was convicted of fatally shooting Christopher Castetter, a sheriff's
deputy in rural southwest Missouri's Barry County. Castetter, then 29 and a
father of three, was investigating a suspicious vehicle near Cassville on the
night before Thanksgiving in 1996 when he was shot in the forehead while he was
in his car. His vehicle was found against a tree with the engine racing and
wheels spinning. Castetter died at a hospital the next day.
INMATE'S CLAIMS
Clayton's attorneys argue that he suffers from lingering effects of a 1972
sawmill accident in which a piece of wood shot through his skull. Surgeons
removed about 8 % of Clayton's brain, including 1/5 of the frontal lobe that
governs impulse control and judgment.
His lawyers say Clayton has an IQ of 71 and that psychiatric evaluations
indicate he doesn't understand the significance of his scheduled execution or
the reasons for it, making him ineligible for execution under state and federal
law.
LAST-MINUTE APPEALS
Clayton's attorneys have appealed the case to the U.S. Supreme Court and asked
the Missouri governor for clemency, insisting that the inmate's deteriorating
mental health has left him convinced his conviction was a plot against him.
They argue that Clayton also believes God will rescue him at the last minute,
"after which time he will travel the country playing the piano and preaching
the gospel."
In part because of his dementia, his attorneys said in their appeal, the lethal
injection would or would likely cause Clayton "excruciating or tortuous pain
and needless suffering" and allow the state to use him as an experiment of its
execution protocol on someone with severe brain damage.
The state countered by saying Clayton would be executed "rapidly and
painlessly" in accordance with the constitutional protections against cruel and
unusual punishment.
LEGAL SETBACKS
The Missouri Supreme Court declined to intervene Saturday in a 4-3 ruling. The
court's majority concluded there's no evidence that Clayton, despite his brain
injury, isn't capable of understanding his circumstances.
The dissenting opinion countered that Clayton's attorneys "presented reasonable
grounds to believe his overall mental condition has deteriorated and he is
intellectually disabled."
SIMILAR CASES
Clayton's claims of mental incompetence mirror those of Ricky Ray Rector, who
was executed in 1992 in Arkansas for fatally shooting a police officer. His
attorneys failed to sway then-Gov. Bill Clinton that he had been left brain
damaged by a self-inflicted bullet wound prior to his arrest.
MISSOURI EXECUTIONS
If carried out, Clayton's execution would be Missouri's 2nd this year. The
state executed a record 10 people in 2014. Clayton's execution also is the 1st
to be scheduled in Missouri for 6 p.m. Tuesday after decades of having lethal
injections set to begin at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday.
(source: KFOX news)
*****************
Missouri should not execute Cecil Clayton: he is missing a part of his brain
Cecil Clayton, who is scheduled to be executed by the state of Missouri on
Tuesday night, is a 21st century Phineas Gage: in 1972, while working in a
lumberyard, a malfunctioning saw blade sent a large chip of wood hurling
through the air and straight into Cecil Clayton's skull. He survived but lost
20% of his prefrontal lobe in the accident and everything changed. Whereas once
he had a job and a family and was involved in his church, after the accident he
became impulsive, suffered from fixed-hallucinations, and had several violent
outbursts. One night, in the course of a familial dispute, Clayton shot and
killed a police officer that had been dispatched to the scene. A Missouri jury
sentenced Clayton to death.
Phineas Gage suffered a similar accident in the 19th century: an accidental
explosion at the railroad where Gage worked sent a long iron rod hurling
through the air and straight into his skull. Gage, too, survived, but he
transformed from a quiet and gentle soul into an impulsive and brash man. He
was, according to those who knew him best, "no longer Gage".
Because of Gage, neuroscientists now know exactly what caused these dramatic
personality changes. The iron rod that entered Gage's skull caused extreme
damage to his prefrontal cortex, which is the area of the brain responsible for
decision-making. In healthy individuals with a properly functioning brain, the
prefrontal cortex helps us to problem solve, abstract from past mistakes and
make sound judgments. For individuals like Gage and Clayton, a damaged
prefrontal cortex makes it difficult to reign in impulses or to reason through
the problems that confront us.
3 different doctors have declared Clayton incompetent since he was sentenced to
death. One physician noted that Clayton believes he is on a mission from Christ
and that he will be released from prison once that mission is complete. Another
physician concluded that Clayton does not "comprehend, appreciate nor
understand" his coming execution date.
The 8th amendment to the United States constitution tolerates capital
punishment so long as its imposition is limited to the worst of the worst
offenders. The US supreme court has held that a juvenile offender cannot meet
this culpability threshold no matter how heinous the crime - and neither can an
individual who is intellectually disabled. Clayton could not be executed if he
had committed the homicide as a teenager, even though he had not yet suffered
catastrophic brain damage at that point in his life - and if Clayton had an
organic intellectual disability instead of a freak-accident that destroyed his
prefrontal cortex, he could not be executed, even though the symptoms are
similarly debilitating.
A jurisprudence that anchors death-ineligibility not on the degree of one's
functional impairment, but rather on the cause of the impairment is as
arbitrary as it is morally absurd. It would be one thing if Cecil Clayton's
case were an extreme outlier. But it isn't.
Florida recently executed a paranoid schizophrenic man named John Ferguson who
developed increasingly serious delusions after suffering from a gunshot injury
to the head. Ferguson believed that the state was going to execute him for
preaching the gospel, and that after his execution he would rise to sit next to
Christ. Just this year, Georgia executed Warren Hill despite the fact that 7
different doctors - including 3 employed by the state - concluded that Hill
suffered from an intellectual disability.
Or consider Vietnam War veteran Andrew Brannan. His combat service saved the
lives of numerous American soldiers, but it also resulted in a chronic, severe
and debilitating post traumatic stress disorder. This January, Brannan was
executed by the nation for whom he served.
America routinely executes offenders with serious and persistent mental
illness, people with significantly sub-average intellectual functioning,
offenders who suffered from torturous sexual and physical abuse as children,
and people who committed their crime when they were not old enough to buy a
beer. Executions are not limited to the worst of the worst; we routinely
execute the weakest of the weak.
There is a lot of blame to go around for this state of affairs. It would be
easier for a jury to consider the moral implications of serious functional
impairments if the quality of trial lawyering in capital cases improved. There
would be less of a burden on federal courts if state supreme courts engaged in
the type of substantive proportionality review that many death penalty
jurisdictions at least purport to require, or if elected governors in Missouri,
Florida, Georgia used their clemency powers to prevent the execution of those
for whom capital punishment is unnecessary.
The ultimate obligation to guard against the imposition of excessive punishment
rests with the United States supreme court ... and now that court is the only
remaining hope for Cecil Clayton. It has the power and the prerogative to
prevent this excessive execution. How many times can the justices choose not to
intervene when a state seeks to execute a seriously impaired individual before
the public loses faith in the court's moral legitimacy?
(source: The Guardian)
NEBRASKA:
Nebraska's 3 Catholic bishops call for repeal of death penalty
Nebraska's 3 Catholic bishops are calling for repeal of the death penalty in
Nebraska.
The bishops said in a statement released Tuesday that the death penalty is not
necessary in Nebraska and that the "purposes of a criminal justice system are
rehabilitation, deterrence, public safety and the restoration of justice."
A Nebraska legislative committee advanced a bill that would replace capital
punishment with life imprisonment. The vote was 8-0, the 1st time a repeal bill
advanced unanimously from the Judiciary Committee.
(source: omaha.com)
UTAH:
Death penalty opponents ask Herbert to veto Utah firing squad bill
A group of Utahns on Tuesday delivered a petition at the state Capitol asking
Gov. Gary Herbert to veto legislation that would allow execution by firing
squad in the state.
The MoveOn.org petition contains about 6,200 signatures, with more than 500 of
them from Utah, according to its backers. The Utah MoveOn members delivering
the petition included Ralph Dellapiana, who also is director of Utahns for
Alternatives to the Death Penalty.
Dellapiana said it is disgraceful that the discussion in the state is centered
on how to kill people. "The alternative we should be talking about is an
alternative without the death penalty," Dellapiana said.
He added, "It's a moral issue. It violates the sanctity of life."
The Senate voted 18-10 last week to pass HB11 and sent it to Herbert for his
signature. It earlier passed the House 39-34, with just 1 vote to spare, after
intense debate that focused mainly on whether to abolish the death penalty.
HB11 allows the state to use a firing squad if the drug cocktail necessary for
lethal injection is not available at least 30 days before a scheduled
execution. Foreign manufacturers of the drugs used in lethal injection have
worked to prevent their use in executions.
Herbert has not yet said whether he will sign the bill. Austin Cox, his
constituent services director, accepted the petition.
The firing squad was legal in Utah until 2004, when the law was changed to make
lethal injection the primary means of execution. Current Utah law allows a
return to the firing squad only if lethal injection is ruled unconstitutional,
although it is allowed as an option for those on death row who selected death
by firing squad prior to the 2004 change. Oklahoma has a similar law ???
allowing a firing squad if lethal injection and electrocution are ruled
unconstitutional.
The last person put to death by firing squad in Utah was Ronnie Lee Gardner in
2010. His brother, Randy Gardner, was part of the group delivering the
petition.
"It's very, very barbaric," Gardner said of the death penalty. "It's not
something we should be doing, killing our citizens."
(source: Salt Lake Tribune)
WYOMING:
Lawyers appeal judge's allowing new death penalty hearing
Lawyers for a Wyoming inmate convicted of killing a Montana woman filed papers
Monday appealing a federal judge's recent decision to allow state prosecutors
again to seek the death penalty.
U.S. District Judge Alan B. Johnson of Cheyenne in February denied a request
from lawyers representing inmate Dale Wayne Eaton to bar the state from seeking
the death penalty against him for the 2nd time.
Eaton was convicted in 2004 of murdering Lisa Marie Kimmell, 18, of Billings,
Montana. Eaton's lawyers don't dispute he killed her.
Johnson in November overturned Eaton's original death sentence, ruling he
didn't get an adequate defense at his state trial. The judge said prosecutors
could seek to convince another jury to resentence him to death or send Eaton to
prison for life without parole.
(source: Associated Press)
USA:
Below, find a job announcement for the position of Executive Director at
Witness to Innocence. Please forward to your networks.
Thank you,
Steve Honeyman, Interim Executive Director
Mariko Franz, Business & Office Manager
----------
JOB ANNOUNCEMENT
Executive Director for Witness to Innocence
Witness to Innocence ("WTI"), a 501 (c)(3), private, nonprofit corporation is
the nation's only organization composed of and for exonerated death row
survivors and their loved ones. WTI seeks an energetic and motivated leader to
serve as the executive director of this unique organization.???The mission of
WTI is to abolish the death penalty by empowering exonerated death row
survivors and their loved ones to be effective leaders in the movement. WTI
actively challenges political leaders and the public to grapple with the
reality of a fatally flawed criminal justice system that sends innocent people
to death row. WTI seeks ways to support death row survivors and their loved
ones as they confront the challenges of life after exoneration.
The detailed job description is posted on the organization's website
www.witnesstoinnocence.org. Interested applicants should submit a letter of
interest stating their experience and a resume to Steve Honeyman, Interim
Executive Director, WTI, 1501 Cherry Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19102 or email
to shoney...@witnesstoinnocence.org. Application materials can be sent via
e-mail or postal mail. All applications must be either e-mailed or postmarked
by the deadline of 5 pm on Monday, April 6, 2015.
WTI is an equal opportunity employer. Women and people of color are encouraged
to apply. Salary is $65,000 to 75,000 per year, commensurate with experience.
Benefits are provided.
Sincerely,
Board of Directors for Witness to Innocence
Steve Honeyman, Interim Executive Director
--
Mariko Franz
Business & Office Manager
Witness to Innocence
1501 Cherry Street,???Philadelphia, PA 19102
Phone: (267) 519 - 4589 -- Fax: (888) 317 - 2704
mfr...@witnesstoinnocence.org
www.witnesstoinnocence.org
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