March 5
PENNSYLVANIA:
Execution stayed for York murderer
A York murderer's execution, originally scheduled for Saturday, has been
stayed, according to online court records.
Aric Shayne Woodard, 43, formerly of West Jackson Street, was sentenced to
death after being found guilty in 2013 of 1st-degree murder for fatally beating
2-year-old Jaques Omari Twinn on Nov. 7, 2011, while baby-sitting the boy and
the boy's little sister.
Jaques was the son of Hayley Twinn of York and Tyrone Kemp of Baltimore.
Pennsylvania Department of Corrections Secretary John Wetzel signed a notice of
execution for Woodard in January, setting March 4 as the execution date.
However, online court records show Woodard filed a motion to stay the execution
on Feb. 6. That motion was granted by Common Pleas Judge Michael E. Bortner on
Feb. 9, according to court records.
Additionally, on Feb. 13, Bortner also granted a motion for an appointment of
legal counsel for Woodard.
Pennsylvania's death penalty: Shortly after taking office in 2015, Gov. Tom
Wolf began issuing reprieves to condemned inmates, citing concerns about flaws
in Pennsylvania's capital-punishment system.
He has said the moratorium will remain in effect at least until he receives a
report from a legislative commission that has been studying the topic for about
five years, according to The Associated Press.
The last execution in Pennsylvania was in 1999.
The background: According to Woodard's charging documents, police were called
to a home in the 100 block of West Maple Street about 2:25 p.m. Nov. 7, 2011,
for a child in cardiac arrest.
? Jaques was rushed to York Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 3:05 p.m.
York City Detective Al Clarkson said at the time that Woodard left the children
alone to go to a nearby store and that when he returned, he assaulted the child
after realizing Jaques had smeared feces on the kitchen carpet.
Woodard had feelings for the children's mother, Hayley Twinn, but she did not
reciprocate, according to Clarkson.
"(Woodard) became frustrated that day," the detective has said. "He knew she
was out with somebody else, and he realized she was using him to watch her kids
while she was out with another guy."
(source: York Dispatch)
KENTUCKY:
State to seek death in slaying case
A Paducah man accused of murder in Marshall County could face the death penalty
if the case goes to trial.
Joseph L. Cunningham, 38, appeared in Marshall Circuit Court Thursday for a
status hearing, during which Assistant Commonwealth Attorney Jacob Ford filed
notice that the prosecution intends to seek the death penalty.
Cunningham was charged with murder after he allegedly shot Gary J. Lambert in
the head on March 25, 2016, and dumped his body near an abandoned residence on
Dalton Lane in Possum Trot. He was additionally charged with 1st-degree
robbery, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, tampering with physical
evidence and 2nd-degree persistent felony offender.
Commonwealth Attorney Mark Blankenship said the decision to seek capital
punishment came after his office reviewed Cunningham's alleged 24-hour crime
spree, which started with a case of arson on March 24 in McCracken County and
ended with Cunningham fleeing to Illinois.
"When we looked at the big picture of everything that was going on, you know he
was sort of on a crime binge when all this happened, so we decided to give the
jury that choice, and if they decide the death penalty is warranted that's fine
and if they decide otherwise, then that's their decision," he said.
For Cunningham's case to qualify for the death penalty, Blankenship said, there
had to be at least1 aggravating circumstance, which in this case was the
robbery charge.
"We believe the murder was committed along with another felony -- robbery --
and that's 1 of the aggravating circumstances that allows a jury to decide on
the death penalty," he said.
The robbery charge, Blankenship said, stems from the fact that Cunningham was
armed during his encounter with Lambert, which resulted in Lambert's death,
coupled with evidence indicating Cunningham had taken Lambert's truck and
several of Lambert's personal effects, including his wallet and credit cards.
Ford said law enforcement officials and Lambert's family were also consulted
before making the decision.
"The decision to seek the death penalty is something that should never be taken
lightly by the state," Ford said in a written statement.
"It deserves the highest amount of care and input from both law enforcement and
the victim's family. The state is not in the business of vengeance. Instead,
justice is our goal in every case, along with ensuring (the) safety of the
public, and this notice simply preserves the right to allow a jury to decide,
should this case go to trial, if capital punishment is the appropriate justice
for Mr. Lambert's death."
Filing the notice will change the nature of future proceedings, Blankenship
said, as the Department of Public Advocacy will likely bring in an attorney
from the Capital Trial Branch.
"So we're going to have a bit of a battle on our hands but we're up for it,"
Blankenship said.
The case against Cunningham started with a house fire at 4102 Schneidman Road
in McCracken County.
McCracken Sheriff Jon Hayden said officers responded to the fire, and
determined it was arson.
After the blaze was extinguished, Hayden said. the homeowner, who had alerted
the authorities, reported jewelry and 4 firearms were missing. The homeowner's
cat also was found dead inside the residence from what was believed to be smoke
inhalation.
Hayden said Cunningham had been staying in the residence with his girlfriend,
40-year-old Kristy Keener, but they had been evicted a few days prior to the
fire, which made them persons of interest.
Later that day, Hayden said, Cunningham and Keener were caught on video
surveillance at Paducah Shooter's Supply on Cairo Road allegedly stealing
several pairs of boots and camouflage clothing.
That night Cunningham and Keener were believed to have met Lambert at Incognito
Gentlemen's Club in Paducah.
Marshall Detective Matt Hilbrecht testified at Cunningham's preliminary hearing
last April that the 3 were seen on video surveillance leaving together in
Lambert's truck. Cunningham later returned alone to the club in that truck, the
detective said.
Cunningham and Keener were arrested early March 25 in Mount Vernon, Illinois,
after local authorities were alerted to an alleged shoplifting incident at a
Love's Truck Stop off Interstate 57.
Keener was charged with shoplifting in McCracken County, but no charges have
been brought in connection with Lambert's case. Blankenship said officials are
still waiting on test results on several pieces of evidence to determine if
Keener was involved.
Cunningham faces charges of 2nd-degree arson, 1st-degree burglary, theft by
unlawful taking, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and 2nd-degree
cruelty to animals in the McCracken County case.
Cunningham is scheduled to next appear in Marshall Circuit Court on April 13.
(source: kentuckynewera.com)
ARKANSAS:
Midazolam in executions lineup----State set to use drug linked to botched
killings elsewhere
The sleep-inducing drug that would be the 1st of 3 used to kill 8 Arkansas
inmates next month has been the subject of lawsuits and national ethics debates
after some botched executions in several states.
The contention, by the inmates' attorneys as well as death penalty opponents,
is that midazolam is inadequate at blocking the pain caused by the subsequent
drugs used to kill -- vecuronium bromide, a paralytic that inhibits breathing,
and potassium chloride, to stop the heart.
In bungled executions using midazolam in recent years in Oklahoma, Ohio,
Arizona and Alabama, the condemned prisoners eventually died, but the prolonged
procedures lasted from 30 minutes to nearly 2 hours.
Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge has successfully defended the state's
3-drug protocol, established by Act 1096 of 2015, in the state's highest court.
In late February, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal by the
state's prisoners, prompting Gov. Asa Hutchinson to schedule the executions for
mid-April.
Lawmakers and Arkansas officials pushing for the executions to proceed have
noted that it has been more than a decade since the state carried out its
highest form of punishment, leaving the victims' families in limbo.
In court documents, attorneys for Rutledge's office pointed to a U.S. Supreme
Court precedent that prisoners must provide a "known and available" alternative
to the midazolam protocol when protesting its use.
A spokesman for Rutledge declined to make her available for comment for this
article, citing the possibility of further legal challenges by the inmates.
"The concerns you read about are always, 'It may, or it maybe or it could,"
said Rep. Doug House, R-North Little Rock, who sponsored the legislation that
became Act 1096. "No expert has ever come out and said it doesn't work."
Midazolam belongs to the class of drugs called benzodiazepines, a group of
psychoactives. The best-known of these is Valium, used to treat anxiety.
Beyond its link to executions, midazolam is widely known in the medical field
for its general use as a sedative, and occasionally for inducing anesthesia,
according to Dr. Joseph Sanford, an assistant professor of anesthesiology at
the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.
Working on receptors in the brain, Sanford said, midazolam causes "hypnosis and
amnesia," meaning it will make the patient sleepy and prevent him from forming
memories, with doses of as much as 2 milligrams. For the average patient, 14
milligrams would be enough to put him out for 80 minutes, he said.
Because it is not an anesthetic, Sanford said, when midazolam is used to put
patients under for surgery, it is usually combined with a pain reliever --
often an opiate -- to prevent the physical reactions associated with pain.
"Midazolam does not block pain," Sanford said.
Before the introduction of midazolam in death penalty procedures in 2013, many
states -- Arkansas 1 of them -- used barbiturates as either the 1st in a 3-drug
cocktail or as the sole drug in lethal injections, according to Megan
McCracken, an attorney with the Death Penalty Clinic at the University of
California, Berkeley, School of Law.
As U.S. manufacturers of those drugs shut down and European providers refused
to sell them to prisons, many states switched to midazolam, McCracken said.
While barbiturates are still legal as a single-drug method of execution in
Arkansas, court filings indicate that the state has had little success in
procuring them.
In 2014, Oklahoma's execution of Clayton Lockett, using midazolam as the 1st of
3 drugs, took 43 minutes. It was later discovered that paramedics and a doctor
struggled to properly place an IV line in Lockett, according to the Tulsa
World.
Several months later, Arizona executed Joseph Wood using a mixture of midazolam
and an opiate, hydromorphone, as the 1st injection. That execution also went
awry, according to news reports and Wood's attorney, Dale Baich, who was a
witness to the death.
"After 10 minutes or so, his mouth opened wide, and he gasped," Baich told the
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. "He was gulping and gasping and struggling to
breathe, and that went on for the next hour and 47 minutes."
Last year, Arizona agreed to stop using midazolam in its lethal injections.
Oklahoma executed another inmate using midazolam in 2015 but has not carried
out the death penalty since.
The lack of a different drug may affect Arkansas' ability to carry out the 8
executions next month.
The Department of Correction's batch of potassium chloride -- the final dose of
the 3-drug protocol -- expired in January, and officials have yet to announce a
new supply. However, Hutchinson told reporters last week that he was confident
the drug could be obtained before April 17, when the first 2 executions are
scheduled.
Under Hutchinson's schedule, the executions will be carried out in pairs over a
period of 10 days. McCracken said she is concerned that the pace of the
executions will put pressure on prison officials, increasing the likelihood of
a botched execution.
Hutchinson told reporters that he was left with no choice other than to
schedule the executions in quick order.
Arkansas has not executed anyone since 2005, in part because of legal
challenges and the difficulty in obtaining execution drugs. Hutchinson said
that has created a "backlog" on death row. There is also a small window of time
to carry out the executions before the prison's supply of midazolam expires at
the end of April.
"I'd love to have those extended over a period of multiple months and years,
but that's not the circumstances that I find myself in," Hutchinson said. "The
families of the victims that have endured this for so many years deserve this
conclusion."
Citing the deaths of Lockett and Wood, as well as prolonged executions in
Alabama and Ohio, the Arkansas inmates filed an amended appeal in Pulaski
County Circuit Court last week seeking to have the midazolam protocol declared
"cruel and unusual punishment."
Their pleas -- citing testimony from an Oklahoma State University pharmacology
professor -- claims midazolam fails to negate the experiences of "pain, panic
and suffocation" from the subsequent paralytic, followed by the "burning pain"
of potassium chloride.
The state's execution protocol specifies that the condemned be given two doses
of midazolam totaling 500 milligrams. Sanford, the UAMS anesthesiologist, said
that at that level, the normal effects of the sedative would be "profound," but
it would be impossible to say what the experience would be like when combined
with the subsequent lethal drugs.
"Whether the patient still experiences pain under anesthesia is still an area
of active research, surprisingly," Sanford said.
(source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)
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