March 27
TEXAS:
Passing legislation is step toward death penalty reform
Re: "Death Penalty Fixes Needed - Bills address embarrassments in Texas'
system," Monday Editorials.
As the chair and members of the American Bar Association's Texas Capital
Punishment Assessment Team, we appreciated your recent editorial. Our team,
which consisted of attorneys, legal scholars and former judges, spent 2 years
reviewing current death penalty laws and practices.
In 2013, we issued a comprehensive report detailing dozens of recommendations
for improving the fairness and accuracy of our state's death penalty system.
These include enacting a statute banning the application of the death penalty
to people with intellectual disabilities and increasing access to DNA testing -
the subject of 2 bills cited in your editorial.
The report also emphasized the need for greater transparency to support public
confidence in Texas' death penalty. Requiring prosecutors to notify defendants
of requests to set execution dates - another bill cited in your editorial - is
an obvious component of transparency.
Texans cannot accept a capital punishment system with structural impediments to
fairness, transparency and assurance that wrongful convictions and executions
do not take place. Passing the legislation cited here is an important 1st step
toward correcting significant shortcomings, and we urge all lawmakers to
support these critical reforms.
Jennifer Laurin, Royal Ferguson and Paul Coggins, Austin
(source: Letter to the Editor, Dallas Morning News)
PENNSYLVANIA:
Families of victims speak out on death penalty moratorium
Families of victims whose killers sit on death row had the chance to testify on
Thursday afternoon about Governor Tom Wolf's moratorium on the death penalty.
Each family had a different view, but all agreed ... something needs to change.
One by one, those who've suffered the loss that some of us can't ever imagine,
spoke from the heart.
"Trista's killer is alive and well. Being able to see the sun, able to sleep
every night," said Morgan Eng, the brother of Trista Eng.
"A capital prison inmate is given a capital sentence, not life in prison for a
reason," said Suzanne Eng, the mother of Trista Eng.
The mother and brother of a York County teen who was killed in 1993 say the
governor's imposing of a moratorium on the death penalty has taken away their
closure.
"How would you feel if for 21 1/2 years there was still no closure to your
loved ones? We now feel that Governor Wolf is now making sure our family and
every other victim's family has no closure," said Morgan Eng.
Representative Ron Marsico, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, agrees
with the Eng family. He thinks Gov. Wolf has over stepped his boundaries.
"I think it's wrong. I think that we have laws on the books right now. That
those that are convicted by prosecutors and found guilty by juries and
sentenced to death by this commonwealth. We should go ahead and follow through
with this law," said Rep. Marsico, who represents part of Dauphin County.
But, not every victim's family whose killers sit on death row want that death
sentence.
"I don't need that to heal, and I don't want any part of it and I don't want
that for me. That's not what justice is for me," said Linell Patterson, the
daughter of 2 victims.
Linell Patterson's step-brother and 2 of his friends were convicted of killing
her father and step-mother. She made a connection with the family of one of her
parent's killers. She realized, they would have to suffer the same loss. She
says that's not justice.
"I need to heal, the death penalty won't help me heal," said Patterson.
But besides each family's different view, both agree the way the system works
now, is broken.
"The appeals process must be drastically changed. It needs to be reworked both
on the state and national levels," said Suzanne Eng.
When Gov. Wolf issued the moratorium last month, he announced that he wants to
hear recommendations of the Pennsylvania Task Force and Advisory Committee on
capital punishment before making any further decisions.
That committee's report is expected by the end of the year.
(source: Fox News)
DELAWARE:
Death Penalty Repeal to Full Senate in Delaware
The repeal of Delaware's death penalty inched forward this week with a Senate
committee approving the legislation that excludes the 15 inmates currently on
death row.
Senator Karen Peterson is cosponsor of the measure.
And, the Stanton Democrat along with other supporters of repeal says that
capital punishment is not only costly but has been applied in a morally
discriminatory fashion.
This is not the 1st time that repeal has headed to the full Senate for
approval.
But, the measure faces strong opposition in the state House of Representatives
from law enforcement and top Democratic leaders. House Speaker Pete
Schwartzkopf is a retired state trooper who opposes the measure without a
provision that would apply the death penalty to those who killed police and
correctional officers.
(source: Delmarva Public Radio)
**********************
Bill to abolish Delaware death penalty clears Senate panel
A bill to abolish Delaware's death penalty cleared its 1st legislative hurdle
Wednesday, with members of the Senate Judiciary Committee releasing it for
debate and a vote by the full Senate.
The legislation, which was the subject of an hour-long hearing, mirrors a bill
that passed the Senate in 2013 by only one vote before dying in a House
committee.
The legislation would remove execution as a possible punishment for 1st-degree
murder, leaving life in prison without the possibility of parole as the only
sentence.
The bill would not apply to the 15 inmates currently on Delaware's death row,
who would still be subject to execution.
Chief sponsor Sen. Karen Peterson, D-Stanton, who also led the failed repeal
effort 2 years ago, said opponents believe that the death penalty is arbitrary,
discriminatory against minorities, costly to taxpayers and ineffective as a
deterrent to crime.
"We keep killing people to teach them that it is wrong to kill people,"
Peterson said. "It's not working."
Peterson specifically rejected arguments from opponents of the legislation that
the death penalty serves as a deterrent to attacks on law enforcement officers
and prison guards.
Of the 13 people who signed up to speak on the measure, 12 were supporters of
the repeal effort, including clerics representing several Christian and Jewish
congregations in Delaware.
Brendan O'Neill, head of the state public defender's office, said death penalty
cases are costly to taxpayers, to the tune of $2.6 million in defense costs in
fiscal 2014.
"If we pass this bill, we won't have all of these expenses," O'Neill said,
noting that death penalty cases require 2 defense trial attorneys, expert
testimony on mitigating circumstances as arguments against imposing a death
sentence, and costly and lengthy appeals.
Lewes Police Chief Jeffrey Horvath, representing the Delaware Police Chiefs
Council, was the only person to speak against the bill. Horvath suggested that
some of the statistics used by death penalty opponents in support of the repeal
effort, including the number of death row inmates who have been "exonerated,"
are false or misleading.
"Being removed from the death penalty does not equate to innocence," Horvath
noted, saying many former death row inmates are serving life in prison.
He also said cost should not be a factor in the argument over capital
punishment.
"The death penalty is reserved for the most shocking crimes against real
people. ... These are not minimal crimes, and saving money should not be the
priority for getting rid of the death penalty."
Attorney General Matt Denn says he is not opposed to capital punishment in
appropriate cases, but that state law should be changed to require a unanimous
jury recommendation before a judge can impose a death sentence.
(source: Associated Press)
SOUTH CAROLINA:
Senate committee kills bill to hide execution drug sellers
A bill that would keep secret the names of companies that sell execution drugs
to South Carolina died Thursday in a Senate committee, but the idea remains
alive in the Legislature.
The Senate Corrections and Penology Committee voted 7-7 on the bill Thursday,
preventing it from passing.
Voting against it were Democrats who thought condemned inmates should know who
makes the drugs that are supposed to kill them and conservatives who thought
the state should wait for legal challenges elsewhere to be resolved first.
State prison officials favor the bill because they said South Carolina has run
out of 1 of its 3 lethal injection drugs, the anesthetic pentobarbital, and
negotiations with pharmaceutical companies are going nowhere.
"The conversation usually stops when we tell them we are a Department of
Corrections and why we want the drugs," Corrections Department Director Bryan
Stirling said.
The committee's vote doesn't kill the idea. Sen. Mike Fair is trying to get a
similar proposal passed as part of the budget, and a companion bill has been
introduced in the House.
The legislation was patterned after laws enacted in other states that have run
into problems obtaining execution drugs. But some of those laws have been
challenged in court. Also, next month the U.S. Supreme Court is hearing a case
from Oklahoma about whether the 3 drugs it uses to kill inmates violate the
U.S. Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
Sen. Tom Davis, R-Beaufort, joined Democrats in voting against the bill. He was
worried in part about hiding the companies that sell drugs used in a public
execution, but also wanted to see how the court cases shake out.
Speaking against the bill Thursday was a defense attorney organization that
said the best way to make sure companies sell the best quality execution drugs
is to keep the process public. The state's Death Penalty Resource and Defense
Center urged lawmakers to take their time and see what happens in courts, while
a Catholic organization likened the ever-changing mixture of drugs other states
are using to execute inmates to human experiments.
The panel approved an amendment by Sen. Karl Allen allowing companies that sold
bad execution drugs to South Carolina to be held responsible. The Democrat from
Greenville then voted against the bill, saying the constitutional rights of all
inmates must be protected.
"At least they get the dignity of the Eighth Amendment," Allen said.
Fair, who is pushing the bill, said if the state has always kept secret the
names of the doctors and nurses involved in execution, why shouldn't that
confidentiality extend to who provides the drugs.
"There is no intent to hide anything from the person being executed or the
defense team," said Fair, R-Greenville. "All that could be given to them
confidentially."
South Carolina has executed 43 people since the death penalty was reinstated in
1977, but just 1 inmate since May 2009.
(source: Associated Press)
FLORIDA:
Gary Hilton Could Testify at Upcoming Hearing
A convicted serial killer on Florida's death row could take the stand and
testify in his upcoming appeal.
Gary Michael Hilton was sentenced to death for kidnapping and murdering Cheryl
Dunlap in December 2007.
A hearing in his latest appeal was set for today, but it was cancelled at the
last minute after Hilton's attorney said he needed more time to prepare.
"Typically they're pretty protracted proceedings because the courts need to
make sure they review the case thoroughly," Hilton's attorney Alex Morris said.
"Obviously it's the ultimate penalty and the courts take a pretty keen look at
things."
"He murdered Cheri within probably a couple of days or less. So she didn't get
to have any appeals or any pleadings for a long time," Cheryl Dunlap's cousin
Gloria Tucker said afterward. "So when they speak of justice ... there just is
no justice when someone can murder someone and live for 10, 20, 30 years."
The judge set a new court date for September. The defense lawyer says "Hilton
is likely to testify" at that hearing.
(source: WCTV news)
ALABAMA:
Alabama Grandmother Gets Life Without Parole For Running Girl To Death
A jury sentenced Joyce Garrard, the "drill-sergeant from hell," to life without
parole for the 2012 murder of her granddaughter, Savannah Hardin.
A jury in Etowah County, Alabama, has recommended a sentence of life without
the possibility of parole for Joyce Garrard for the 2012 murder of her
granddaughter, Savannah Hardin, the 9-year-old who was forced to run until she
collapsed as punishment for eating candy bars on the school bus and lying about
it. Hardin died in the hospital 3 days later.
Last week the same jury found Garrard guilty of capital murder. On Monday, the
sentencing phase of the trial began, where the jury - made up of 8 men and 4
women - considered aggravating and mitigating circumstances to decide whether
Garrard should be executed or spend life in prison. To recommend a death
sentence, the jury was told they must find that Garrard's crime had been
especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel when compared to other capital murders.
While most states require a unanimous decision, in Alabama - the state with the
highest death sentencing rate per capita in the country - just 10 of 12 jurors
must vote in favor of imposing the death penalty.
In Alabama, a judge has final say over sentencing. That sentencing hearing was
set for May 11.
Garrard had asked through her attorneys for the jury to impose a sentence of
life without parole. "The worst punishment is to send her to the state
penitentiary as the grandmother who ran her granddaughter to death," Defense
attorney Richard Rhea said during final arguments today.
During the 1st phase of the trial, the 50-year-old (today was in fact, her
birthday) grandmother took the stand in her own defense. Contradicting a number
of earlier witnesses who testified they saw Savannah running with cinder
block-sized pieces of firewood and Garrard meting out the corporal punishment,
Garrard contended under oath that she would "rather die" than hurt her
granddaughter and had not been punishing Savannah when she collapsed.
Neighbors and witnesses testified that Garrard had shouted at Savannah to "keep
running" as the 2nd-grader ran 50-foot sprints for close to 3 hours.
Neighbors and witnesses testified that Garrard had shouted at Savannah to "keep
running" as the 2nd-grader ran 50-foot sprints for close to three hours. Even
when Savannah fell to her knees, broke down in tears and vomited on the lawn,
Garrard was staunch. "I didn't tell you you could stop," witnesses testified
hearing Garrard say.
The defense made its case for life imprisonment on Wednesday after an
unsuccessful attempt to get the case thrown out entirely. Defense attorney Dani
Bone asked circuit court Judge William "Billy" Ogletree to dismiss Garrard's
verdict on account of unspecified "widespread juror misconduct" by at least 4
jurors. The jury was not sequestered in a hotel room, but had been instructed
by Judge Ogletree to stay off social media including Facebook and away from the
news - orders that Bone said had been ignored. After a 2-hour investigation the
defense's request was seemingly ignored and the defense called its witnesses to
testify on Garrard's behalf.
According to local reporters in the courtroom, Joyce Garrard wiped tears away
as her husband, daughter and sisters testified that despite a tough upbringing
in a poor home with an alcoholic father and a history of physical and sexual
abuse, Garrard had been a loving mother and grandmother, though with a gruff
demeanor that others might mistake for a lack of caring. Garrard's daughter,
Nicole Selvage, begged the jury to spare her mother's life. "She's my best
friend. She has a heart of gold," Selvage said on the stand.
Her husband of 20 years, 54-year-old Johnny Garrard, told jurors "You won't see
a better grandmother," and said that his wife had nursed him back to health
after an accident with a mixer truck left him unable to walk. Crying on the
stand, Johnny Garrard said, "I hope y'all spare her life."
Neuropsychologist Dr. Carol Walker also testified to Garrard's 9th-grade
education and low IQ of 71 (the current cut-off for mental retardation is 70)
and noted the history of abuse in Garrard's childhood home, citing specifically
a grandmother who made the children fight for the fun of it. Dr. Walker further
told the court Garrard's age and family support made her unlikely to engage in
violence while in prison.
On Monday, the prosecution presented 3 witnesses. County Sheriff Todd Entrekin
testified that Savannah's case was one of the worst he'd seen telling jurors,
"This is definitely a death penalty case in my opinion." Samuel Hudgins, a
witness who saw Savannah running in the yard, noted that a neighbor told him
Garrard had once threatened to "blow his brains out." The most persuasive
witness for the prosecution was Heather Walker, Savannah's mother, who
recounted her child's final moments and the years-long alienation from her
daughter by her ex-husband.
Walker spoke at length with The Daily Beast in an exclusive interview published
a day before the guilty verdict was handed down.
"I feel like she's guilty," Heather told The Daily Beast. "It might not have
been her intention, but ultimately it all falls on Joyce ... As an adult and a
parent and a grandparent, you should know when enough is enough. Even if
Savannah really did do what they are saying she did, you don't punish a child
like that."
Walker also said then that she didn't want Garrard to be executed for
Savannah's death. "I think she should sit in jail for the rest of her
life...and let her conscience be her penalty," Walker said. But it seems
closing arguments and seeing Garrard face-to-face again had an effect on
Walker's opinion. During the sentencing phase, the Florida woman told the jury
that Garrard showed no remorse for her daughter's death. Walker said in a
tearful testimony, "Her life shouldn't be spared because she didn't think twice
about what she was doing."
A death sentence would have made Garrard the fourth female incarcerated on
Alabama's death row, on which 194 total death row inmates currently wait. If
Judge Ogletree takes the jury's recommendation for a life sentence, Garrard
will be remanded to a state prison where she'll join approximately 1500 others
serving life sentences without the possibility of parole in Alabama - a segment
that makes up about 5 % of the state's total prison population.
Savannah's stepmother, Jessica Hardin, was present at the time of the little
girl's collapse and was later arrested with Garrard following Savannah's death.
Hardin will still face a lesser charge of murder at a yet-to-be-decided date
for failing to intervene. Her lawyers say she is innocent.
(source: thedailybeast.com)
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