July 28
TEXAS:
High court rejects state appeal in capital murder bond
The state's highest criminal court rejected an appeal Wednesday by McLennan
County District Attorney Abel Reyna that challenged an intermediate appellate
court's order reducing the bond of a capital murder defendant.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruling upheld an April decision by Waco's
10th Court of Appeals that reduced bond for James Ray Brossett from $5 million
to $1 million.
Reyna's office appealed the 10th Court's ruling, and the Court of Criminal
Appeals rejected the appeal without comment or written opinion.
The legal exercise could prove moot because Brossett likely is still unable to
post bond and secure his release, said one of his attorneys, Michelle Tuegel.
"We respect the decisions of the Court of Criminal Appeals and the 10th Court
of Appeals, and we are pleased to see the 10th Court of Appeal's decision is
basically going to be the final decision on the bond issue," Tuegel said. "But
I don't think this will result in the release of our client because he has been
sitting in jail and unable to work for this period of time. It's hard to own
and operate a business when you are sitting in jail."
Neither Reyna nor his first assistant, Michael Jarrett, returned phone messages
left at their office Wednesday.
Brossett, of Arlington, is charged with capital murder in the July 2015 death
of Laura Patschke, with whom he once had a dating relationship.
Prosecutors intend to seek the death penalty against the 49-year-old Brossett,
who they said confessed to the crime.
Brossett was free at the time of Patschke's death on 2 bonds related to
stalking and violating a protective order involving Patschke.
He also is charged with shooting Patschke's 18-year-old son, Trevor, in the arm
during the early-morning incident at their home in Crawford.
Judge Matt Johnson of Waco's 54th State District Court set Brossett's bond at
$5 million and declined to reduce it during a hearing in November.
Tuegel and Walter M. Reaves Jr., Brossett's other attorney, appealed Johnson's
ruling.
No trial date has been set for Brossett, who had been jailed for 387 days as of
Wednesday.
Tuegel said prosecutors still are waiting for the results of forensic testing,
including DNA and ballistics.
At the previous bond hearing, Reyna told the court it was not by chance that
Brossett drove from Arlington to Crawford that Sunday night or early Monday
morning, when Trevor and his younger brother and sister had just returned to
their mother's home from a holiday visit with their father. Brossett intended
to kill the whole family, Reyna said.
Brossett parked his truck about a mile from Patschke's home on Bosque Ridge
Boulevard and walked through the woods, Reyna said.
He got lost along the way, and it took him more than 2 hours to reach
Patschke's house, Reyna said.
In arguing against the bond reduction, Reyna told the judge that Brossett sent
Patschke more than 200 harassing text messages on the day he was freed from
jail the last time.
Because of the harassment, Patschke's sons slept with loaded weapons near their
beds because they were aware of Brossett's violent nature, Reyna said.
Brossett kicked open a door and went to Patschke's bedroom and fired a shot at
her, Reyna said. The boys came running from their rooms with guns, and Brossett
shot Trevor Patschke in the arm, Reyna said.
As their sister hid in her room, the boys fled the house, Reyna said. Brossett
then returned and fired 2 more shots at Patschke, striking the 48-year-old at
close range with his 12-gauge shotgun, Reyna said.
Brossett had a flashlight taped onto his shotgun barrel and went outside to
look for the children to "finish what he had started," the district attorney
said.
Brossett later found the keys to Patschke's car, which he drove to where he had
parked his truck, Reyna said. Brossett left her car and drove his truck to the
Fort Worth area, where authorities arrested him, Reyna said.
Brossett served 3 years in prison after pleading guilty to assault-family
violence with bodily injury in 2003 and has a 1997 conviction for violating a
protective order. He has 3 other arrests relating to violence against women
dating back to 1987, prosecutors said.
(source: Waco Tribune)
FLORIDA:
Republican Liberty Caucus To Host Conservatives Concerned About Death Penalty
Event
Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty, a national network of
conservatives and libertarians questioning the alignment of capital punishment
with their principles, will make a presentation to the Republican Liberty
Caucus of Central East Florida on August 1 in Indian Harbor Beach.
"I believe that it is important for conservatives and libertarians alike to
consider how the death penalty operates and determine if it fits within our
political philosophy," said Robert White, Chairman of the Republican Liberty
Caucus of Florida.
"The facts are clear that the death penalty risks innocent lives and costs far
more than the alternatives."
Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty national coordinator Marc
Hyden, a representative of the National Rifle Association in Florida prior to
taking this position, will make a presentation to the group about why
conservatives in Florida and across the nation are re-thinking the death
penalty.
"Increasingly, conservatives from across the country are opposing the death
penalty because it fails to align with our principles. It's simply a broken and
incredibly costly government program that risks killing innocent Americans,"
said Hyden.
To date, more than 155 individuals have been released from death rows across
America because they were wrongfully convicted and Florida leads the nation in
death row exonerations with 26.
The event will begin at 6 p.m. followed by the meeting at 7 p.m. It will take
place at MeMaw's BBQ, located at 600 E. Eau Gallie Boulevard in Indian Harbor
Beach.
(source: Space Coast Daily)
**************
Mark Sievers' attorneys file motion to strike death penalty
The man accused of organizing the murder of his wife appeared in court again on
Wednesday. This time for his criminal charges of murder.
Mark Sievers appeared before a judge Wednesday afternoon for an update on his
case.
This is the 2nd time in just 2 days that Mark Sievers has been in a Lee County
courtroom. On Tuesday, there was a hearing about the custody of the Sievers'
daughters.
On Wednesday, we learned more about the criminal case where he is accused of
planning the murder of his wife, Teresa Sievers, and faces the death penalty.
The brief hearing focused on just a few details of the developing case.
"We've filed a motion to strike the death penalty," said Michael Mummert, Mark
Sievers' attorney.
"Both Mr. Mummert and the state have a number of motions," said Hamid Hunter
with the State Attorney's Office.
Motions filed by the attorneys for Mark Sievers include arguments to strike the
death penalty in the case based on improper filing and a request to review
testimony in the grand jury case that led to the death penalty filing.
"We just received a new disk of discovery for this case this afternoon that I
haven't yet gone through," said Mummert.
A mountain of items for review from years of cell phone records to photos and
crime scene details required a continuance on the case on Wednesday. The review
of the motion is already on the judge's calendar.
The motion to strike the death penalty and the state's response will be heard
in a week, along with the Sievers' attorney's request for grand jury testimony.
The next case update is scheduled for September 1st -- the same day Jimmy
Rodgers, 1 of the 2 men awaiting trial for the actual murder, is back in court.
(source: NBC news)
****************
Hans Tanzler attacks John Rutherford on death penalty opposition
The Congressional District 4 GOP race thus far has been a race to the right.
And in that context comes Hans Tanzler's recent attacks on John Rutherford for
the former Jacksonville sheriff's opposition to the death penalty.
On Wednesday morning, Tanzler sent out a press release saying that "I am not
sure that with a blanket approach to this [death penalty] issue, Rutherford can
be trusted to protect America."
"In light of recent terror attacks on our own soil and overseas, it is more
important than ever that leaders be willing to take out evildoers to prevent
greater harm to the innocent. We must prosecute the War on Terror as
aggressively as possible, which includes the death penalty for terrorists. I am
not sure that with a blanket approach to this issue, Rutherford can be trusted
to protect America," Tanzler said.
"Any indication of weakness that we give our enemies is a green light to them
for their murderous plans," Tanzler added.
Rutherford's position on the death penalty was voiced at a recent Republican
forum, in which he talked of the "culture of death" in our country, of which he
sees the death penalty and abortion as linked.
"I'm adamantly opposed to abortion," Rutherford said, adding that "all life is
sacred" and "that is why I'm no longer supportive of the death penalty."
There is, said Rutherford, no "qualifier on the sanctity of life."
"I do not believe in the death penalty because it weakens our position on
abortion," Rutherford added.
This position is not new for Rutherford; he said the same thing in January
2015.
"I think the 1st degradation of the sanctity of life began with Roe v. Wade,"
Rutherford said. "It goes on, and you see the movies, the games the kids play.
The video games, the violence in those games, all of that contributes to what I
call a culture of death.
"And I believe in the sanctity of life. Whether you kill a baby in the womb or
you kill a baby ... neither one of those respects the sanctity of life, and
that has been an issue with me for a long time. And that changed my position on
the death penalty, because every saint has a past and every sinner has a
future."
Rutherford, with over 3 decades in law enforcement, has seen the consequences
of the "culture of death" (as he calls it) more closely than most.
Certainly more than the other candidates in the CD 5 race ... unless those
board room meetings of Tanzler's were more interesting than the minutes would
have let on.
However, this is not an election cycle where nuanced positions are allowed at
the table. It is a dialogue of grievance and bold strokes, and a dialogue in
which simplistic solutions are routinely touted as answers for complex
questions.
(source: Florida Politics)
MISSOURI:
Appeals Court Rejects Suit Over Missouri Execution Protocol
A state appeals court has rejected a lawsuit over how Missouri obtains its
lethal injection drug, the latest of many challenges to the execution protocol
that the courts have rejected.
In its ruling on Tuesday, the Western District of the Missouri Court of Appeals
cited a technical reason for its decision to uphold a lower court's ruling
dismissing the case. The appeals court said the lawsuit failed to state a claim
upon which relief could be granted.
The plaintiffs 2 former state lawmakers, a minister and a nun argued that
Missouri was breaking state and federal law by using an illegal prescription to
obtain pentobarbital from a compounding pharmacy.
Their attorney, Justin Gelfand, said in a statement that the case raises
"profoundly important issues." He stopped short of saying an appeal would be
filed but said, "We are disappointed by the appellate court's ruling and intend
to consider all possible options."
A spokeswoman for the Missouri attorney general's office declined comment.
The plaintiffs former lawmakers Joan Bray and Jeanette Oxford, Baptist minister
Elston McCowan and Mary Ann McGivern, a member of the Sisters of Loretto were
not challenging the death penalty, only practices used to obtain the drugs.
Several death row inmates, the media, including The Associated Press, and
others have also filed lawsuits challenging the secretive nature of Missouri's
procurement of lethal drugs.
Cole County Circuit Court Judge Patricia Joyce dismissed the lawsuit last July,
ruling that members of the public don't have standing to challenge Department
of Corrections' operations and that the Missouri Supreme Court has jurisdiction
in lawsuits related to the death penalty.
The attorney general's office argued that the lawsuit was trying to privately
enforce federal food and drug laws and was a last-ditch effort to block the
execution of David Zink, who had filed and lost similar lawsuits.
Zink, who abducted and killed a southwestern Missouri woman in 2001, was
executed July 14, 2015, the day after Joyce's ruling.
Missouri obtains its execution drug from a compounding pharmacy that
corrections officials refuse to name. They also refuse to discuss whether the
drug is tested. The procedure has drawn several lawsuits from death row inmates
and others.
The lawsuit alleged that federal and state laws prohibit the use of compounded
drugs commercially available in the marketplace and copies of drugs that are
FDA-approved, such as pentobarbital. The plaintiffs also argue the state
violates state and federal laws by requiring a physician to fill prescriptions
for the drug without conducting a medical exam, and that taxpayer money should
not be used to buy the drugs.
(source: Associated Press)
OKLAHOMA:
Department of Corrections chooses new warden for Oklahoma State Penitentiary
---- A Florida corrections official is picked to run the Oklahoma State
Penitentiary.
The Oklahoma Department of Corrections announced Wednesday it has appointed a
Florida warden be in charge of the Oklahoma State Penitentiary, the state's
highest-security prison and home to its death-row unit.
Terry Royal, 44, of Clermont, Florida, will replace interim warden Kevin
Duckworth. The appointment is pending approval from the Oklahoma Board of
Corrections, which will take up the issue at its September meeting.
The DOC said in a news release that Duckworth, who began his interim role in
May, will assume a different role within the agency. Duckworth succeeded Jerry
Chrisman, who served simultaneously as warden of OSP and the nearby
minimum-security Jackie Brannon Correctional Center, both located in McAlester.
Chrisman assumed the role last October after warden Anita Trammell retired amid
a multicounty grand jury investigation into the DOC's handling of the January
2015 execution of Charles Warner and the events leading up to a stay being
issued for Richard Glossip's planned execution last September.
Warner's lethal injection included potassium acetate rather than potassium
chloride, which the state's execution protocol at that time required. Glossip's
execution was stayed after officials realized they again received potassium
acetate.
"Terry Royal has successfully navigated the corrections ranks throughout his
career, beginning as a correctional officer to overseeing entire state regions
as an administrator," DOC Director Joe M. Allbaugh said in a statement. "He has
been instrumental in the initial accreditation or the re-accreditation of 6
facilities by the American Correctional Association and has overseen facilities
of every security level. When conducting a nationwide search to fill a
position, you hope someone with Terry's background applies."
Royal has been warden of the Lake Correctional Institution in Clermont since
January. Previously, he spent four years serving as warden at the Tomoka
Correctional Institution in Daytona Beach. From 2011 to 2012, Royal was the
Florida Department of Corrections' southern region director of institutions,
overseeing 29 facilities and about 41,000 people of varying custody levels.
According to Oklahoma DOC records, 80 % of people currently housed at OSP were
convicted of committing a violent crime, primarily 1st-degree murder. As of
Tuesday, the penitenitary has 764 inmates, including 49 on death row.
"I am honored to be selected for this position and I look forward to coming to
Oklahoma to be a member of this great agency," Royal said in a statement.
"Corrections agencies throughout the nation are facing very significant
challenges. With the director's leadership and the rest of talented staff at
the department, we will face challenges head-on to ensure the goals and mission
of the facility and agency are met. I appreciate Director Allbaugh's confidence
in me to lead the Oklahoma State Penitentiary."
The grand jury in May issued a report that strongly criticized multiple
officials within the DOC and Gov. Mary Fallin's office, including Trammell, DOC
general counsel David Cincotta and Fallin;s general counsel, Steve Mullins, who
resigned earlier this year before the report was complete.
The grand jury's report indicated problems with Trammell's oversight of the
lethal injection process, as she testified she did not notify anyone that the
DOC received potassium acetate in September because she thought the pharmacist
provided what the agency needed. The doctor retained for Glossip's planned
execution notified Cincotta of the drug discrepancy but advised him that
potassium acetate was "medically interchangeable" with potassium chloride.
The jurors found that Trammell and other DOC officials wrongly assumed everyone
around them did their jobs correctly, and therefore also did not verify the
drugs were correct before Warner's execution. It called for the DOC to again
revise its protocol and improve departmental oversight to better safeguard
against errors.
The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals has mandated since October that the
state file a status report every 30 days indicating whether the DOC has
proposed any death penalty-related policy changes. The state will have 150 days
after the DOC finalizes its newest lethal injection protocol to set execution
dates for Glossip and other death row inmates, but the new protocol will likely
be litigated at the federal level.
The state added execution by nitrogen hypoxia to the law last November, but a
protocol governing its application has not yet been made.
(source: Tulsa World)
***************
Prosecutors Seek Death Penalty In Bartlesville Murder Case
Prosecutors will seek the death penalty for a Dewey man charged with the murder
of a Bartlesville man in April.
Scott Offutt, 21, is charged with 1st-degree murder in the death of Kyler
Holeman. Holeman's body was found near the intersection of East Adams Road and
North 4000 Road on March 31.
The Washington County DA has filed a Bill of Particulars in the case saying the
murder of Kyler Holeman was "especially heinous, atrocious and cruel."
A 2nd man, 21-year-old Derek Hamblin is also charged with 1st-degree murder in
Holeman's death.
Both Offutt and Hamblin remain in the Washington County jail. Court records
show the pair's next court hearing is September 7.
(source: newson6.com)
CALIFORNIA:
Brit faces DEATH PENALTY in the US if he is convicted of shooting dead his
mother and stepfather at their home----Glasgow-born Derek Connell, 29, who
moved to America over 20-years-ago, has been ordered to stand trial on 2 counts
of 1st degree murder
A BRIT accused of shooting dead his mother and stepfather at their home in the
United States could face the DEATH PENALTY after being ordered to stand trial
on two counts of 1st degree murder.
Derek Connell is charged with the killing of his mother, Kim Higginbotham, and
her American husband, Christopher.
The couple, both 48, were found dead at their home in Bakersfield, California,
on April 30 by police officers.
Connell, 29, originally from Shawlands, Glasgow, confessed to the killings
during a preliminary court hearing this week.
However, his lawyer Paul Cadman said there was no evidence of premeditation or
malice on his part and argued he should be tried for 2nd-degree murder or
voluntary manslaughter.
Kern County Superior Court Judge Thomas C. Clark turned down his request and
said Connell's statements showed "a fair amount" of thought and planning after
the killings. Connell has said he used bleach in an effort to clean up blood
pooled around the bodies.
Mr Cadman said the killings were a result of post-traumatic stress disorder and
drug addiction problems which Connell suffered after serving with the US Army
in Iraq and Afghanistan.
He said: "Derek is disappointed by the decision of the magistrate to continue
this case as a death penalty case since the preliminary hearing showed clearly
that he has no recollection of the events and certainly had no premeditation,
deliberation, or malice aforethought regarding the incident.
"He believes he did it but he doesn't know how.
"His heroic yet frightening experiences serving our country in Iraq and
Afghanistan and the subsequent substance abuse problems that he was forced to
deal with due to his horrific experiences remain directly responsible for the
tragedy that has unfolded in this case."
During an interview, played to the court Connell told investigators he believed
he had killed his mother and stepfather.
"I had to have done it," he said. :There was no one else in the house."
Connell said he spent the evening drinking heavily, then returned to his
parents' home. He began living with them after serving a 9-month jail sentence
for drink driving in Colorado.
He told investigators he spoke with his stepfather briefly before going to bed.
They didn't argue, and he said he got along well with both his mother and
stepfather.
Connell said the next thing he recalled was finding their bodies. He cried as
he described lying next to his mother's body and telling her he was sorry.
Investigators pushed him for information as to what happened from the time he
went to bed to discovering the bodies, but Connell said he couldn't remember
anything.
2 shotguns, 5 handguns and 7 rifles were seized from the home. Connell said the
weapons belonged to his stepfather.
Connell served in the U.S. Army from 2005 to 2008, and was discharged due to an
incident involving alcohol, he said in court filings. Upon returning to the
U.S., he worked in oil fields in Colorado and Texas.
Connell was born in Rutherglen Maternity Hospital and lived with his mother in
Shawlands in Glasgow's south side as a child.
Kim worked as a secretary and met her future husband while he was stationed
with the US Navy in Scotland.
She moved with her son to be with Christopher when he went back to America more
than 20 years ago.
Kim had worked for 16 years as a teacher at the Princeton Street Elementary
School.
The next hearing in the case is scheduled for next month.
(source: thesun.co.uk)
USA:
Court rebuffs Sampson's plea to exclude evidence in death-penalty trial
A federal appeals court appeared Wednesday to rebuff an emergency plea by
convicted serial killer Gary Lee Sampson to have evidence excluded from his
upcoming death-penalty trial.
Sampson, a drifter from Abington who admitted to killing 3 people during a
carjacking spree in 2001, was sentenced to death in 2003. A federal judge later
overturned that decision, finding juror wrongdoing. A new sentencing trial is
slated for Sept. 14.
Sampson, 56, asked the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit on Wednesday
to exclude certain evidence introduced in his 2003 sentencing trial, saying the
jury's verdict shows that jurors - even though he was sentenced to death - had
rejected some of the prosecutors' arguments related to that evidence.
It is rare for an appeals court to review a party's legal argument before a
trial. But the lawyers involved in Sampson's case agreed they would rather
resolve the question now, rather than have it affect a jury's sentencing
verdict after the fact.
"The court of appeals will likely have to resolve this issue at some point in
time," US District Judge Leo Sorokin, who is overseeing the case, said in a
separate proceeding Wednesday.
The evidence at issue pertains to 2 claims prosecutors cited in 2003 as reasons
that Sampson should be sentenced to death, known as aggravating factors: that
he killed his victims because he thought they would report his carjacking to
authorities, and that he would be a future threat who would cause harm to
others in prison.
Sampson's lawyers argued that, because jurors in 2003 rejected those claims, a
new jury should not be asked to consider them again under the Double Jeopardy
Clause of the Fifth Amendment, which forbids authorities from seeking to
prosecute a defendant on multiple occasions with the same evidence.
But the 3 judges on the appeals court panel seemed to reject that claim
Wednesday, saying the US Supreme Court already has ruled that a defendant can
raise a double jeopardy defense only in cases in which the evidence was
essential to the original judgment.
In this case, prosecutors had argued, Sampson was still sentenced to death, and
so the Fifth Amendment claim does not apply.
"How can these 2 [jury] rulings possibly be essential to that judgment?" Judge
Sandra Lynch asked.
Judge Bruce M. Selya argued that the judges could not deviate from the Supreme
Court ruling, even if they believed they should.
"The Supreme Court has made the rule pretty categorical," he said.
The judges did not say when they would issue a ruling, but a decision is
expected sometime before the September trial date.
Earlier Wednesday, Sorokin held an open hearing in which he sought to explain
the trial process to the families of Sampson's victims. Sampson pleaded guilty
to the killing of 19-year-old Jonathan Rizzo of Kingston and 69-year-old Philip
McCloskey of Taunton. He was sentenced to death for those killings but also
pleaded guilty to the killing of Robert "Eli" Whitney, 58, of New Hampshire in
separate proceedings in that state.
Sorokin told family members that he would make a conference room outside the
courtroom available to them for their personal use away from the public. He
also urged them to convey any questions or concerns to his staff.
Wednesday was the anniversary of Rizzo's death, and his father, Michael Rizzo,
welcomed the judge's invitation. The families had often been at odds with US
District Judge Mark L. Wolf.
"The families appreciate Judge Sorokin's approach and consideration of our
feelings . . . throughout this process," he said.
(source: Boston Globe)
*************************
Dems are right to want to end the death penalty
Remarkably, for the 1st time, the Democratic Party proposes a platform plank
saying: "We will abolish the death penalty, which has proven to be a cruel and
unusual form of punishment. It has no place in the United States of America."
Hurrah! This is another breakthrough among progressive advances that keep
improving America and Western civilization.
Of course, a platform plank is just an ideal, a goal. Years of work and legal
changes would be required to make it a reality. But the plank is a healthy
start.
It was adopted by the Democratic Platform Committee largely because of pressure
from delegates loyal to Democratic-socialist Bernie Sanders. But presidential
nominee Hillary Clinton concurs. When asked about executions in March, she
said: "States have proven themselves incapable of carrying out fair trials."
Executions are inflicted mostly on blacks and other poor defendants who can't
pay for strong defenses. Nearly all Western democracies - except America - have
abolished the death penalty. Today, it exists chiefly in brutal societies.
Thank goodness, West Virginia ended it a half-century ago.
In the 1980s, around 40 U.S. states still prescribed executions, but most of
them didn't put people to death. Currently, the number of pro-death states has
dropped to 31, chiefly in the Deep South. Texas is, by far, the top killer
state.
In 1999, states executed a total of 98 defendants - but only 28 were executed
last year.
"The death penalty is kind of dying a slow death, because we aren't executing
people at the rate we used to," former New York Times editor Bill Keller
commented. President Obama told Keller he had "very significant reservations"
about the death penalty because "racial bias" sways it.
Law professor Evan Mandery, who wrote a book on capital punishment, commented:
"It doesn't make sense to talk about the American death penalty anymore. The
death penalty is almost exclusively a Southern phenomenon, driven mostly by
Texas and few right-leaning prosecutors."
Putting citizens to death is more about retribution than about justice or
public safety.
In the cause of justice, the death penalty must be abandoned, because there
could always be a mistake. When investigators, judges and communities find they
have made an error, as frequently happens with improvements in forensic
science, an incarcerated person can always be released. An executed person
cannot be brought back to life.
Thank heaven, the Democrats have included this important goal among their
positions.
(source: Editorial, Charleston (W.Va.) Gazette-Mail)
***********
The Abolitionist
Pope Francis' position on the death penalty is abolitionist. He believes there
is no moral ground in Catholic teaching that would justify any state using
capital punishment today, and he has set up a commission to review the question
and the relevant section of the Catechism of the Catholic Church to amend this.
Right now the catechism does not exclude the use of the death penalty in
extreme situations. It says in No. 2267:
Assuming that the guilty party's identity and responsibility have been fully
determined, the traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude recourse to
the death penalty, if this is the only possible way of effectively defending
human lives against the unjust aggressor.
If, however, non-lethal means are sufficient to defend and protect people???s
safety from the aggressor, authority will limit itself to such means, as these
are more in keeping with the concrete conditions of the common good and more in
conformity to the dignity of the human person.
Today, in fact, as a consequence of the possibilities which the state has for
effectively preventing crime, by rendering one who has committed an offense
incapable of doing harm - without definitely taking away from him the
possibility of redeeming himself - the cases in which the execution of the
offender is an absolute necessity "are very rare, if not practically
nonexistent."
Over the past half century, a development has taken place in the church's
position regarding capital punishment. Some consider it a development in church
teaching. This has come about in parallel to growing opposition to it in civil
society, particularly in Europe, but also in the United States and elsewhere.
Ever since John XXIII, popes, whenever requested, have appealed to state
authorities on behalf of individuals about to be executed. It became common
practice for the Holy See to do so under St. John Paul II. Bishops' conferences
in many lands, including the United States, have done likewise and pushed for
abolition.
As for church teaching, the historical record shows there was considerable
discussion around this issue during the drafting of the new catechism. Some
wanted the abolitionist stance recognized, but that did not happen. Many were
unhappy with the 1st published text (1992), but this was amended following St.
John Paul II's encyclical "The Gospel of Life" in 1995.
As a growing movement in the Catholic world continued to push the church to
take an abolitionist stance, St. John Paul II took another step in January 1999
without changing Catholic teaching. He appealed for a global consensus to end
the death penalty because it is "both cruel and unnecessary." Benedict XVI made
a similar appeal in November 2011.
Francis, however, has moved beyond his predecessors' positions and advocates
abolition from convictions of faith. He stated this clearly on Sept. 14, 2014,
when, addressing a joint session of the U.S. Congress, he cited the Golden
Rule: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" (Mt 7:12). He told
Congress, "this rule points us in a clear direction" and "reminds us of our
responsibility to protect and defend human life at every stage of its
development."
He confided that "this conviction has led me, from the beginning of my
ministry, to advocate at different levels for the global abolition of the death
penalty. I am convinced that this way is the best, since every life is sacred,
every human person is endowed with an inalienable dignity, and society can only
benefit from the rehabilitation of those convicted of crimes."
The pope recalled that his brother bishops in the United States had "renewed
their call for the abolition of the death penalty," and stated, "Not only do I
support them, but I also offer encouragement to all those who are convinced
that a just and necessary punishment must never exclude the dimension of hope
and the goal of rehabilitation."
He sent the same message to the United Nations and reiterated it several times
this year. On Feb. 21, 2016, for example, he not only followed his predecessors
by appealing "to the consciences of those who govern to reach an international
consensus to abolish the death penalty"; he went further by stating clearly
that "the commandment 'You shall not kill' has absolute value and applies to
both the innocent and the guilty."
(source: Gerard O'Connell is America's Vatican correspondent; America Today)
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