Sept. 14
TEXAS:
Fifth Circuit Upholds Lethal Injection for Texas Death Row Inmates
Denying 5 death row inmates' bid for a stay of execution, the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the Fifth Circuit recently ruled that Texas' current form of
execution by lethal injection does not violate the Eighth Amendment's ban on
cruel and unusual punishment.
The 5 condemned Texas prisoners are the latest to challenge the lethal
injection form of execution in the United States. Last year, the U.S. Supreme
Court ruled 5-4 in Glossip v. Gross that the 3-drug cocktail Oklahoma uses to
execute prisoners did not violate their Eighth Amendment rights.
In 2012, Texas adopted its current execution protocol: a single, 5-gram dose of
pentobarbital to induce death. The state had previously purchased pentobarbital
from a Danish company that later refused to sell the drug to states that
execute by lethal injection. In response, Texas began purchasing pentobarbital
that is compounded by pharmacies.
Even though 32 people have been executed in the state using compounded
pentobarbital without incident, the 5 Texas prisoners requested stays of
execution, alleging the compounded drug still posed a risk of unnecessary pain
and should be retested before their executions.
In a Sept. 12 decision in Wood v. Collier, Fifth Circuit Judge Patrick
Higginbotham noted that when pentobarbital is the sole drug used to execute,
unconsciousness precedes death. He also concluded that the 3 prisoners did not
have an equal protection right under the U.S. Constitution's Fourteenth
Amendment to have the compounded drug retested before its use in their
executions.
"However one kneads the protean language of equal protection jurisprudence, the
inescapable reality is that these prisoners have not demonstrated that a
failure to retest brings the unnecessary pain forbidden by the Eight
Amendment," Higginbotham wrote. "Attempting to bridge this shortfall in their
submission with equal protection language, while creative, brings an argument
that is ultimately no more than word play."
While he denied their stays of execution, Higginbotham did note the 5 prisoners
have spent decades residing on death row - something that gives the judge
pause.
"Texas has a strong interest in enforcing the judgments of its courts in
criminal cases, but the public interest writ large takes no sides here. The
finality of a death sentence and, with it, the inherent risk of uncertainty
demand diligent effort by all," Higginbotham wrote.
"These prisoners have enjoyed that effort - with 2 of them residing on death
row in excess of 20 years. The reality may give pause to the entire enterprise,
but does not bespeak neglect of bench and bar," Higginbotham wrote. "To these
eyes, a system that leaves persons on death row for over 2 decades more surely
taxes the Eighth Amendment's prohibition of undue suffering than does the
elusive search for minimum pain for those brief moments of passage across the
river."
Texas leads the nation in executions and has put 537 people to death since
1976.
(source: Texas Lawyer)
****************************
Defense wants psychological evaluation in case of Border Patrol agent's
shooting
Attorneys for a Mexican national accused of killing an off-duty U.S. Border
Patrol agent are asking for psychological evaluation of their client.
In a hearing yesterday, the attorneys requested 43-year-old Ismael
Hernandez-Vallejo be tested for "intellectual disability."
He is accused of killing Agent Javier Vega Jr., on Aug. 3, 2014.
He appeared before state District Judge Migdalia Lopez in Brownsville, where
several criminal motions were addressed. Vega was shot and killed during an
apparent robbery attempt while he and his family were out fishing near Santa
Monica. His father, Javier Vega Sr., was shot in the back.
In December 2015, Lopez granted Willacy County District Attorney Bernard
Ammerman's request to move the capital murder trial to Cameron County.
Yesterday, both parties expressed concern over the implications that may come
with a new district attorney, Annette Hinojosa, having been elected in Willacy
County. Considering the psychological evaluation and concerns brought up by the
defense about a new DA, the prosecution expressed disapproval for the request
because it would stall the trial even further, suggesting someone is "dragging
their feet."
"Let's get this clear," state prosecutor Chuck Mattingly said. "I'm here right
now today. I'll work this case; I'll try this case whenever they want to try
it. I'm just letting the court know that there is going to be a power change
... in Willacy County."
"Secondly, judge, this case is over a year-and-a-half old. And if they don't
know whether their client is intellectually disabled, or incompetent or insane,
by this time or wasn't insane at the time of the incident, then I would suggest
somebody is dragging their feet. Maybe not Mr. (Ed) Stapleton, maybe not Mr.
(Abner) Burnett. Maybe the consulate is, maybe their experts are. A
year-and-a-half or more is plenty of time to make the decision whether or not
he is competent or intellectually disabled," Mattingly added.
Lopez did not issue a ruling.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Hernandez-Vallejo, as 1 of
the charges against him is capital murder by terror threat. He also is charged
with attempted capital murder for the shooting of Vega Sr., as well as
aggravated robbery.
Also charged in Vega's shooting death is Gustavo Tijerina-Sandoval.
The next status hearing for Hernandez-Vallejo has been set for Jan. 25, 2017,
which is one day after Tijerina-Sandoval is scheduled for a status hearing.
(source: The Valley Morning Star)
***************************
State to help Coryell County in capital murder trial set for 2018 ----Chet
Shelton, 27, is charged with capital murder in the slaying of 2-year-old Makai
Brooks Lamar. A trial is scheduled in August 2018.
The Texas Attorney General's office is providing a prosecutor to assist the
Coryell County District Attorney's office with a capital murder case against
Chet Michael Shelton, 27, of Gatesville.
However, the trial won't begin until August 2018 - which will be almost 3 years
after 2-year-old Makai Brooks Lamar was allegedly beaten, sodomized and killed
by Shelton, Coryell County District Attorney Dusty Boyd said Tuesday.
The date was set so far in the future because of the logistics of scheduling 3
different offices in the death penalty case - the attorney general, Boyd's
office and Shelton's regional public defender, Anthony Odiorne, located in
Burnet, Boyd said.
Odiorne, one of Shelton's attorneys, said Tuesday that the regional public
defender's office has a policy of not talking about pending cases.
Regional public defenders, contracted with by individual counties, defend only
in death penalty cases and travel a lot. Finding a date without conflicts was a
challenge, Boyd said.
Utilizing the services of Lisa Tanner from the attorney general's office will
not cost Coryell County taxpayers anything. Tanner will assist Boyd, he said
Tuesday.
Boyd requested the assistance because a child's death is a very unique case and
Tanner has a lot of experience with those cases and in prosecuting crimes where
a baby's death is involved, he said.
Tanner's experience will help the DA's office handle the type of case "we don't
necessarily see very often," Boyd said.
Boyd has never prosecuted a case involving a child's death, he said, although
he has handled cases involving aggravated sexual assault of a child.
"Anytime a baby dies, it is catastrophic to any community, no matter the
community's size," Boyd said. "It's tough for a community to go through."
The district attorney's office will seek the death penalty against Shelton,
Boyd said.
Prior criminal history
Boyd said the trial process will help determine whether or not Makai's mother
had any previous knowledge of Shelton's criminal history.
Texas Department of Public Safety criminal records showed Shelton was arrested
on Dec. 5, 2007, by the Coryell County Sheriff's office and charged with the
aggravated sexual assault of a child, a 1st-degree felony.
However, Shelton pleaded guilty to only a 3rd-degree felony charge of injury to
a child with intentional bodily injury in that case. He was sentenced to 5
years deferred adjudication probation in the Coryell County 52nd District
Court.
Since he pleaded guilty to a lesser felony, Shelton wasn't required to register
as a sex offender.
DPS records showed Shelton committed some kind of offense in December 2010 that
sent him to the Department of Criminal Justice in Huntsville on Dec. 29, 2010.
His sentence was supposed to expire on March 18, 2017, but he was paroled at
some point.
Shelton was on parole at the time of his arrest.
The affidavit said Shelton previously was arrested on 3 counts of aggravated
sexual assault of a child in May 2007, 4 counts of indecency with a child by
sexual contact in May 2007, 3 counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child in
December 2007 and 2 counts of aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury
in October 2010.
However, not all of the 12 cases ended with indictments, according to
information obtained by the Telegram from Coryell County District Clerk Janice
Gray.
Shelton was indicted in June 2007 on 2 charges of aggravated sexual assault of
a child.
The 1st indictment said Shelton allegedly had sexual intercourse on May 31,
2005, with a girl younger than 14.
The 2nd indictment said that Shelton had sexual intercourse on Aug. 31, 2005,
with a girl younger than 14 years of age, but she wasn't the same girl listed
in the 1st indictment.
Arrest affidavit details
An autopsy showed that Makai died from blunt force trauma and had many injuries
to his head and internal organs. The autopsy results also said that Makai was
sodomized, according to an arrest affidavit.
Shelton told a Gatesville Police Department investigator that he was
babysitting Makai for his girlfriend, who was Makai's mother. The mother
reportedly came home for a short period of time and then went back to finish a
double shift at a local restaurant, the affidavit said.
After eating, Makai fell asleep on the couch, Shelton said. He added that he
moved Makai to the child's bedroom and went outside to smoke. Shelton said that
he came back inside, checked on Makai and found he wasn't breathing, the
affidavit said.
Shelton said that he started CPR and it wasn't working, so he carried Makai to
a neighbor, a Coryell County deputy sheriff, for help.
EMS reports said that Makai was found naked on the floor. Marks were found on
the 2-year-old that weren???t consistent with any emergency treatment. Those
injuries were on the head, face and abdomen, and his extremities had various
bruises and burns. At least 3 lacerations seemed to indicate Makai was hit
multiple times on the right side of the head with an object, the affidavit
said.
A quarter-sized stain of blood was found on Makai's pillow and a larger blood
stain was found on the comforter.
Shelton admitted to the investigator that he'd used methamphetamine during the
48 hours before he babysat Makai, according to the affidavit.
(source: Temple Daily Telegram)
NORTH CAROLINA:
NC State Bar panel approves rules for evidence of innocence
North Carolina prosecutors would have to reveal evidence of innocence obtained
after a person is convicted under a rule that a State Bar approved Tuesday.
Previously, prosecutors only had to reveal the evidence of innocence before a
conviction. After agreeing to that rule, the panel went a step further and
tentatively signed off on another new rule that requires all attorneys,
including criminal defense attorneys, to reveal post-conviction evidence of
innocence, provided they're not violating rules including attorney
client-privilege.
"A clear decision was made by the subcommittee today that it was not
comfortable making years ago," said defense attorney Brad Bannon, referring to
a decision several years not to send the prosecutors' rule to the full
committee. "We have seen these wrongful conviction cases increase in the years
since, and we need to be sure that the people most able to correct that
injustice - prosecutors and other lawyers - take steps to do so."
The proposal from the ethics subcommittee now goes to the full ethics
committee, which meets in October. If it is approved, it's then sent to
attorneys for comment.
The 5-member subcommittee had met several times previously to discuss the rule
and discussion Tuesday was brief and mostly concentrated on language to tell
prosecutors that they must consider the evidence they receive and not just
focus on the credibility of the source.
The American Bar Association says 14 states have a rule about prosecutors and
post-conviction evidence of innocence and recommends that each state approve
such a rule.
For the proposal involving all attorneys, the subcommittee discussed whether to
allow attorneys to ignore attorney-client privilege. Eventually, the panel said
the importance of protecting that relationship was greater.
"This is the classic example of a clash of values," said Alice Mine, the State
Bar's assistant executive director and ethics counsel. "We've got this value of
preventing wrongful convictions. But we also have this value of protecting the
interest of our clients. And the duty of confidentiality is really core to the
attorney-client relationship."
Advocates cited a Buncombe County murder case as a prime example of why North
Carolina needed the rule for prosecutors. 5 innocent men served prison terms in
connection with a 2000 home-invasion murder they didn't commit.
Another man confessed in 2003 and implicated an accomplice whose DNA was
eventually found on masks and bandanas near the scene. The district attorney
said in a deposition that he didn't believe the confession and that he never
saw the DNA evidence, although the report from the State Bureau of
Investigation showed it was copied to the DA.
The five received a total $8 million for their wrongful convictions. Some of
them had pleaded guilty to avoid the threat of the death penalty.
(source: wral.com)
*********************
Father fatally stabbed 6-year-old daughter in front of park rangers, feds say
Federal documents released on Tuesday shed light on the tragic death of a
Buncombe County 6-year-old.
On Sep. 9, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Parks Service and the
Buncombe County Sheriff's Office shut down the Blue Ridge Parkway during the
course of a homicide investigation.
FBI agents confirmed Lila Pickering, 6, was stabbed in the heart and killed
along the parkway. Her father, Seth Willis Pickering, was identified by the FBI
as a murder suspect shortly after her death.
On Tuesday, the Department of Justice released a document detailing the federal
complaint against Pickering.
According to the document, Pickering was only allowed to have supervised visits
with Lila, who had been placed in temporary custody by the Buncombe County
Department of Health and Human Services.
Around 5:20 p.m. on the day of her death, Pickering reportedly took Lila and
left her custodian's house without permission. According to court documents,
her custodian said, "Seth, please don't do this, they will put you in jail."
The custodian told officials Pickering just shook his head, placed Lila in his
vehicle and drove off.
As officers were initiating a missing persons report and BOLO for Lila,
National Parks Service rangers observed Pickering's gold Dodge Avenger along
the side of the Blue Ridge Parkway near mile marker 393. The vehicle was
spotted just before 6 p.m.
According to the federal court documents, rangers spotted Pickering and Lila
walking down a steep embankment on the shoulder of the roadway. Pickering was
reportedly carrying a large cooler and bags on his back. Rangers watched as he
cut underbrush and built a small fire.
The rangers, not yet aware of Lila being reported missing, approached Pickering
to investigate the illegal campfire.
When they got within 25 feet of the man and his daughter, Pickering shouted,
"Police!" and lunged at Lila without warning, documents state.
One of the rangers reported hearing a thud-like noise and a high-pitched noise
from Lila who fell to the ground with a knife protruding from her chest,
according to the report.
The medical examiner later determined Lila suffered a stab wound to the heart.
EMS personnel tried to resuscitate her but she died at the scene.
When Pickering was secured in handcuffs, rangers said he told them he killed
Lila so, "Now they will never be able to take her away from me.. She's happier
now.. it's what she wanted."
When interviewed by detectives, documents indicate Pickering told them before
rangers arrived, Lila made him promise "that they would never take her away
from me again."
According to the court records, Pickering told detectives he stabbed her
because, "I reacted the only way I knew that she could go to sleep without
having to cry daddy I want to come home... I knew as soon as they showed up
they would take her away from me and never let me see her again."
The next day, a search warrant was executed at Pickering's home on Emily Rose
Lane in Leicester where investigators reported finding a knife block with a
missing knife. The knife recovered from the scene reportedly matched the set.
Pickering is charged with 1st-degree murder. He appeared in bond court on
Monday where he was denied bond. He could face the death penalty or life in
prison, but prosecutors have said it is too early in the process to determine
what sentence they will be pursuing.
According to Lila's grandmother, Pickering was mentally unstable and had been
in a psychiatric ward before the stabbing. She said the family believes
Pickering was released too early.
Lila's mother reportedly fled to another state in May 2015 to escape an abusive
relationship with the murder suspect. She said in the past, Pickering never
harmed their daughter.
(source: ABC news)
OHIO:
The Ohio Innocence Project just got a record-breaking $15 million donation
The Ohio Innocence Project, a program that works to free people who have been
wrongfully convicted of crimes, just received a $15-million donation - the
largest gift received by an innocence program in history. The money will allow
the Innocence Project to continue its work "in perpetuity" - i.e.: forever.
The program, a part of the the University of Cincinnati College of Law, was
founded in 2003 and to date has freed a total of 24 people who were wrongfully
incarcerated, according to a statement from the University.
One of the people freed by the work of the Ohio Innocence Project was Randy
Jackson, who was incarcerated at 18 and spent 39 years on death row for a
murder he didn't commit.
The $15-million donation was a gift from Ohio philanthropist Richard "Dick"
Rosenthal. In a statement, Rosenthal said "the Ohio Innocence Project has a
laudable mission: to free every innocent person in Ohio. I'm proud to help
ensure its life-saving work continues now and forever ... I'm inspired daily by
the students, faculty and staff who work tirelessly in the pursuit of justice."
There are innocence programs similar to the Ohio Innocence Project across the
country. These programs sift through old cases and seek to overturn convictions
and free people who are incarcerated for crimes they didn't commit; in many
cases, they are able to discover improper convictions thanks to advancements in
DNA analysis since the original trial.
"The Ohio Innocence Project has quickly become a national model for innocence
organizations," Barry Scheck, the co-founder of the New York City-based
Innocence Project, said in a statement. "Thank you to Dick Rosenthal for your
incredible support of the innocent."
(source: mic.com)
OKLAHOMA:
Oklahoma still mulling execution protocols, ensuring delays
Oklahoma, a state with one of the busiest death chambers in the country over
the last 3 decades, will have at least a 2-year delay in lethal injections
after the governing board of its prison system declined to consider new
execution procedures on Tuesday.
At its regular meeting in Taft, the Board of Corrections did not take up new
execution protocols that Attorney General Scott Pruitt wants in place before
executions can resume. After a botched execution in 2014 and drug mix-ups
during the last 2 scheduled lethal injections in 2015, Pruitt said he won't
request any execution dates until five months after the new protocols are
approved and he's confident the death penalty can be carried out without any
problems.
"I want to assure the victims' families who continue to await justice that this
review process will continue to be both deliberate and empirical," Pruitt said
in a statement. "I am confident that the Department of Corrections, under the
leadership of Director (Joe) Allbaugh, is taking the appropriate time needed to
ensure the execution protocols are fully in place and without error in the most
efficient way possible."
Allbaugh, tapped to head the state's prison system after its former director
resigned amid a grand jury probe into the bungled executions, said Tuesday he
was not ready to discuss any details about Oklahoma's execution procedures or
changes to the protocols.
"The protocol is a work in progress," said DOC spokesman Alex Gerszewski.
"There currently is no timeline on when anything will be released."
Meanwhile, 5 Oklahoma death row inmates have exhausted all of their appeals and
are awaiting execution dates.
Oklahoma has executed 112 people since the death penalty was reinstated in
1976, the highest per-capita rate in the nation and 2nd overall only to Texas,
where 537 inmates have been put to death over the last 40 years, according to
the Death Penalty Information Center.
Oklahoma was the 1st state to authorize lethal injection as a method of
execution, and capital punishment has strong, bipartisan support in the
Oklahoma Legislature. After the botched execution of an inmate in 2014 who
writhed on the gurney during a lethal injection that prison officials tried
unsuccessfully to halt, lawmakers approved the use of nitrogen gas as an
alternative to lethal injection.
The Legislature also passed a resolution seeking a public vote on whether to
enshrine the death penalty in the state constitution, making it more difficult
for future legislators or the courts to end it. That state question will appear
on the ballot in November.
Rep. Mike Christian, a former highway patrolman and staunch advocate for the
death penalty who sponsored both measures, said he's disappointed prison
officials have taken so long to develop new procedures and wants them to
include the use of nitrogen gas as an alternative to lethal injection. Nitrogen
gas has never been used to execute inmates in the U.S.
"My question is why they don't at least have some kind of protocols established
for nitrogen hypoxia," said Christian, R-Oklahoma City. "It's 2nd in line
behind lethal injection, and I think lethal injection is on its way out the
door."
Still, death penalty opponents voiced concern that Oklahoma appears to be
moving in the opposite direction of other states, where the death penalty is
being reconsidered altogether.
"The last thing the state of Oklahoma needs to do is rush back into the
business of executing people," said Ryan Kiesel, executive director of the
American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma. "We would prefer that the state get
out of the business of executing its citizens altogether."
(source: Associated Press)
********************
Group asks voters to 'Think Twice Oklahoma' on death penalty state question
As gray skies opened up a deluge of rain, a coalition of groups stood in front
of the Oklahoma Supreme Court and urged voters to "Think Twice" and vote no on
State Question 776, which asks voters to amend to change the Oklahoma
Constitution to allow for alternate methods of execution not prohibited by the
U.S. Constitution.
If passed, the new constitutional language would mean that capital punishment
could not be construed as cruel or unusual punishment and that any change in
the method of execution would not change the sentences of those awaiting death
by any previous procedure.
The question, which Oklahoma citizens will vote on in November, would insert
the death penalty into the Oklahoma State Constitution. Representatives of
numerous groups spoke in order to highlight the attack by the legislature on
the power of the Oklahoma Judiciary to interpret Oklahoma law with respect to
capital punishment.
Members of the anti-776 campaign called Think Twice Oklahoma said the state
question not only cripples the judicial arm of government, but would cost
taxpayers an inordinate amount of money to defend challenges and to carry out
executions.
"I think the conservative position is against the death penalty because it
costs more than life, more than life without parole, it's not representative of
a limited government and it doesn't produce any productive benefits," said Marc
Hyden, advocacy coordinator for the National Conservatives Concerned (About the
Death Penalty) organization, who spoke at the press event.
"Beyond that, I believe the conservative position would be against this state
question because we believe the founding fathers had the foresight to institute
checks and balances, and this aims to subvert those checks and balances. There
should be three branches of government."
Recent polls also indicate that Oklahomans are becoming wary of capital
punishment with more than 53 % of citizens favored looking twice at the death
penalty, or using the death penalty only for the worst of the worst.
"Any time you are circumventing the judiciary, it's very concerning," said
Hyden. "That's exactly what this is doing."
The state question continues a conversation into Oklahoma's capital punishment
record. In 1998, Oklahoma's death row population was 136, but today, 49
offenders sit on death row. However, after the highly-publicized troubled
execution of convicted murderer Clayton Lockett in April 2014, the state has
been under fire for not being able to put a person to death in a humane or
appropriate way.
The latest mishaps of Oklahoma's death row system occurred when the wrong drug
combination halted the execution of Richard Glossip and an investigation
uncovered that Charles Warner was executed using the same wrong drug
combination in January 2015.
"These are not questions about justice, but questions about politics," said
Ryan Kiesel, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of
Oklahoma. "We have a legislature that has for the last several years been
unable to come up with a budget. Rural schools are closing to 4 days a week, we
have rural hospitals that are closing, we have infrastructure that is crumbling
around us ... And yet, our legislators continue to ask us to trust them with
the most awesome authority any government in the history of governments has
ever exercised, and that's the power to kill its own people.
"If we cannot trust our state government to fund our schools, our hospitals,
fund our infrastructure, how in the world can we continue to trust them to
strap someone down on a table, put a needle in their arm and fill it full of
poison until they're dead. We cannot continue to trust them to do that."
Oklahoma currently has a moratorium on executions while protocol issues are
reviewed concerning the lethal injection protocol. Attorney General Scott
Pruitt has said no executions would take place until new protocols were
approved, but states throughout the nation have had problems procuring the
necessary drugs due to embargoes begun by European pharmaceutical companies,
which have been taken up by U.S. firms.
State Question 776 was sponsored by 6 Republican legislators in response to
changing protocols. In 2016, the legislature approved the use of nitrogen gas
for executions, but the state can still allow firing squad or electric chair.
For opponents, removing the language of "cruel and unusual" from law opens up
serious concerns.
Marven Goodman, chair of the Oklahoma Republican Liberty Caucus, said his party
is pro-life, meaning they support protecting life from conception to death.
"Our state should never enshrine law into the constitution," said Goodman.
"Anytime there is a question to put a bridle on the state legislature, which
laws they can pass or not pass, then that???s bypassing a constitutional
republic. Laws should be able to be changed, but bringing this law into the
constitution bypasses the checks and balances."
As part of the Think Twice Oklahoma campaign, others speakers also urged voters
to defeat the state question, including Tina Kelly, Oklahoma Libertarian Party
chair; Connie Johnson, chair of Say NO to SQ 776 Committee and vice chair of
Oklahoma Democratic Party; and other representatives of Think Twice Oklahoma
endorsing organizations, including the ACLU, NAACP, Oklahoma Conference of
Churches, Catholic Charities, Witness to Innocence and many others.
"This is the 1st time the Oklahoma Conference of Churches has actually taken a
stand against a state question," said William Tabbernee, executive director of
the Oklahoma Conference of Churches.
"SQ776 is not only about the death penalty as a whole, but about changing the
constitution in order to tie the hands of future legislators. We believe what
this law tries to do is say any method of execution is alright, even though we
have bungled the way we bungled in the past. They can do death penalty by gas
chamber or use the electric chair or use the guillotine."
The state question would add Section 9A to Article II, stating: "All statutes
of this state requiring, authorizing, imposing or relating to the death penalty
are in full force and effect, subject to legislative amendment or repeal by
statute, initiative or referendum. Any method of execution shall be allowed,
unless prohibited by the United States Constitution. Methods of execution may
be designated by the Legislature. A sentence of death shall not be reduced on
the basis that a method of execution is invalid.
In any case in which an execution method is declared invalid, the death
sentence shall remain in force until the sentence can be lawfully executed by
any valid method. The death penalty provided for under such statutes shall not
be deemed to be, or to constitute, the infliction of cruel or unusual
punishments, nor shall such punishment be deemed to contravene any other
provision of this Constitution."
(source: Red Dirt Report)
KANSAS:
The Carr brothers murder case gets trotted out again, this time attacking
Kansas judges
Kansas conservatives insist they won???t rest until murderers Jonathan and
Reginald Carr are dead and gone.
But how will they live without them?
The Carr brothers, who without doubt committed the most depraved of crimes,
have been an invaluable campaigning weapon in Kansas for years. Now they're
being wielded against 4 Kansas Supreme Court justices whom conservatives have
deemed too liberal.
The 2 men broke into a home in Wichita in December 2000 and sexually tortured 5
people before driving them to a field, shooting them and running them over with
a pickup truck. One of the victims, a 25-year-old woman, survived. A cellist
with the Wichita Symphony who was shot in an attempted carjacking with the same
gun used in the home invasion became the brothers' 5th murder victim when she
died a few weeks later.
Jonathan and Reginald Carr were locked up within 24 hours of their spree. Since
then, politicians have used the fear and revulsion in the wake of their crimes.
The 1st wave of Carr opportunists tried to link their opponents to a 2000
Kansas law that shortened the supervision time for some parolees. Had that law
not been passed, they said, Reginald Carr would have been under state
supervision and presumably would not have committed his acts of mayhem. The
argument was a stretch, and it fell apart completely once Kansas prison
officials fessed up to an employee error that had allowed Reginald Carr to be
released from supervision 6 months sooner than he should have been.
That didn't stop Republican Phill Kline from linking his Democratic opponent,
Paul Morrison, to the Carrs' crimes during the bitter 2006 race for the
attorney general's seat. Morrison had supported the maligned law when he was
Johnson County's district attorney. Kansas voters, apparently more worried
about Kline's misuse of the attorney general's office to attack abortion
providers than they were about some shadowy alleged connection to the Carr
brothers, handed Morrison an easy win.
Fast forward to 2014. Gov. Sam Brownback, facing the humiliating prospect of
losing to a Democrat in deep-red Kansas, called on the memory of the Carr
brothers - who, thanks to the Kansas Supreme Court, had recently been returned
to public consciousness.
In July 2014, the justices decided 6-1 that procedural errors during the
sentencing phase of the Carr brothers??? trial should invalidate their death
sentences (though not their convictions on multiple counts of murder, which
will keep both men locked up forever). The ruling reflected the court's
position that the state's power to take a life demanded scrupulous standards.
But for Kansas Republicans, it was a chance to indulge in some timely
fearmongering.
Brownback's opponent, former Kansas House leader Paul Davis, supported the
state's nonpartisan method of selecting Supreme Court justices. In the warped
logic of the governor's flailing political campaign, this somehow meant that
Davis supported leniency for the Carr brothers.
"Paul Davis, endangering the safety of your family," a mailer from the Kansas
Republican Party blared. It included graphic details of the murders in Wichita
and accused Davis of "voting to protect judges who are handing down such
dangerous rulings."
Pat McFerron, a GOP pollster, had encouraged Brownback's campaign to use the
Supreme Court's decision to demonize Davis. "Our polling shows that when voters
are informed of Davis's relationship with the supreme court justices and
reminded of that court's decision to overthrow the conviction and sentencing of
the Carr Brothers, they break against Davis by a better than 5-to-1 ration,"
McFerron wrote in a memo to Brownback's campaign manager.
The matching TV commercial, McFerron added cheerfully, "will cause great
consternation and gnashing of teeth in the Davis camp."
It did, but not just for the intended reason. Davis said he had been friendly
with one of the Carr brothers' victims, Brad Heyka. Brownback's attempt to
exploit the tragedy was "disgraceful," Davis said.
Disgraceful but not ineffective. Brownback narrowly edged out Davis in November
2014. The gruesome mailer and TV ads portraying Davis as a Carr sympathizer
probably didn't carry the day, but in a close election they undoubtedly played
a role.
Early this year, the U.S. Supreme Court threw more fuel on the fire. In an 8-1
opinion, the nation's highest court ruled that the Kansas court had wrongfully
overturned the Carrs' death sentences. Justice Antonin Scalia, writing shortly
before his death, speculated that "a retention election ... would not come out
favorably for those justices."
Conservative groups needed no such encouragement from on high. Political
operatives inside and outside Kansas already wanted to oust justices Lawton
Nuss, Marla Luckert, Carol Beier and Dan Beier when they came up for retention
this November. (They want to protect a 5th justice, conservative Caleb
Stegall.)
These are the jurists who have ruled in favor of adequate financing for Kansas
schools and also struck down some of the Legislature's patently
unconstitutional laws on abortion, generating scorn from conservatives. But
voters might actually agree with the justices on those issues, so Kansans
should expect to have their TV screens and their mailboxes bloodied anew with
details of the Carr brothers' "Wichita massacre."
Critics can legitimately argue that the Kansas Supreme Court got the Carr
brothers case wrong. As the U.S. Supreme Court noted, a couple of technical
disagreements in the sentencing phase did not outweigh the fact that the crimes
were heinous and the defendants' guilt clear.
But the ruling in the Carr case is just 1 of hundreds issued by the justices up
for retention. To focus on a single sensational case - or the handful of other
death-penalty cases heard by the court - is to ignore the court's
professionalism and the justices' years of expertise in all areas of law.
One person who isn't weighing in on the retention election is Brownback. Keenly
aware of his own unpopularity with voters, he's watching from the sidelines.
But he has a huge stake in what happens in November. As governor, he would have
the final say on a replacement for any justice not retained by voters. He would
choose from a pool of candidates selected by a nominating commission, which
would be under pressure to recommend conservative candidates.
In that scenario, the Kansas Supreme Court would bear Brownback's imprint long
after he leaves public office in 2 years. Exactly as conservatives planned it -
with help from a couple of politically useful murderers.
(source: pitch.com)
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