Feb. 25
FLORIDA:
Death Penalty Controversy Reignited With Floridian's Apparent Torture
China, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, and the United States of America ranked 1st
through 5th, respectively, in terms of how many people were executed by their
governments for breaking laws. The number of executions - statistics ran from
2007 through 2012 - for the top (worst?) 5 countries range in the thousands for
China, a nation that doesn't formally release counts of people executed by its
government, to 220 in the United States.
Many civilized nations are opposed to the death penalty, as it isn't humane.
Research indicates that 138 innocent people once facing the death penalty in
the United States were released from custody, as their charges were absolved
because those 138 people were found innocent. Some of the most ruthless
countries on planet Earth support the death penalty. The system costs millions
of dollars, with countless executionees exhibiting symptoms of consciousness
and pain during the execution process.
So, What Does The Death Penalty Have To Do With Anything?
Floridian Eric Scott Branch was executed via lethal injection in Starke's
Florida State Prison on Thursday, February 22, for committing a heinous crime
more than 20 years ago.
Back in 1993, Branch allegedly raped a murdered 21-year-old Susan Morris, then
a college student at the University of West Florida, a state school in the
Sunshine State. Following the slaying, Branch hurriedly dug a shallow grave
just yards off course from a secluded walking trail, where authorities later
found her body.
Branch purportedly admitted that he killed Susan Morris just to have untethered
access to her vehicle. In response to such a cold-blooded, heartless crime,
authorities sentenced Eric Scott Branch to death.
You can???t disagree that what Branch did was heinous in its worst form.
However, you can argue the ethics of what happened during his execution.
Around 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time, on Thursday, February 22, was when Branch was
reported to have screamed disturbingly loudly following administration of the
trio of deadly drugs used in lethal injection in the United States. Following
the scream, Branch proclaimed "Murderers! Murderers! Murderers!" while
violently shaking on the gurney he was restrained on, with thick leather straps
around his arms, chest, waist, and legs.
What You Can Take From This
Death penalty is a controversial, hot-button issue for a reason. Read up on the
ethicality of the death penalty and alternatives to it.
(source: Premier Gazette)
ALABAMA:
Lawyer calls aborted execution attempt for Doyle Lee Hamm 'torture'
Armed with a court order, a doctor will examine an Alabama death-row inmate on
Sunday for signs of injury or suffering sustained during an aborted execution
last week.
Prison officials said they called off a lethal injection for Doyle Lee Hamm,
convicted in the 1987 murder of a hotel clerk, on Thursday night because they
didn't have enough time to carry it out before a death warrant expired at
midnight.
"I wouldn't necessarily characterize what we had tonight as a problem,"
Corrections Commissioner Jeff Dunn told reporters, blaming last-minute appeals
for the delay.
But Hamm's attorney said the execution attempt was badly botched, with the
prison team repeatedly jabbing the cancer survivor in the legs with needles in
a futile effort to find a usable vein.
The 2 members of the IV team - each working on a different side of the body -
flipped Hamm onto his stomach to search for access points on the back of his
leg, lawyer Bernard Harcourt said a statement.
When that failed, Harcourt said in court papers, the IV team tried to place
what's known as a central line into a larger vein.
"Multiple times, they tried to insert a catheter into Doyle Hamm's right groin,
causing severe bleeding and pain," Harcourt wrote.
When Harcourt was able to meet with his client Friday afternoon, Hamm was
bruised and limping, the lawyer said.
"This went beyond ghoulish justice and cruel and unusual punishment," Harcourt,
a Columbia Law professor, said in a statement. "It was torture."
Harcourt went to federal court and convinced a judge to order a medical exam
for Hamm, who has been on death row for 30 years.
The lawyer also wanted to examine the execution chamber and the notes prison
workers took during the procedure, but the judge turned him down.
She did, however, order the Department of Corrections to preserve the notes and
any other material from the execution try, including the clothing Hamm was
wearing.
All prisoners have a constitutional protection against cruel and unusual
punishment, with the courts deciding if a particular execution is likely to
violate that.
Before Thursday, Harcourt had warned that due to Hamm's history of drug abuse
and his illnesses, it would be impossible to find good veins to deliver the
deadly drugs.
A judge ruled the execution could proceed as long as the IV wasn't inserted in
Hamm's arms. The U.S. Supreme Court, with three justices dissenting, then
declined to stop the lethal injection.
Prison officials have given few details about what went on in the death chamber
before Hamm got a reprieve, and they did not respond to a request for comment
this weekend.
A new execution date has not been set, but Dunn told reporters Thursday that he
did not think the trouble the team had finding a vein would prevent the state
from killing Hamm in the future.
"The only indication I have is that in their medical judgement it was more of a
time issue, given the late hour," he said.
3 months ago, Ohio called off the execution of Alva Campbell after the medical
team tried for 30 minutes to find a good vein without success.
And in 2009, another Ohio inmate, Romell Broom, was spared after the execution
worked for two hours to insert a needle. In appeals, he's argued a second
attempt would constitute cruel and unusual punishment.
(source: NBC News)
****************
Death row inmate's lawyer calls execution attempt 'botched'; judge cancels
Monday review
The attorney for a death row inmate who was set to be executed Thursday night
is calling the attempt "botched," and a federal judge has cancelled a hearing
she had set up to review what happened.
Court records entered Friday show a hearing was set for Monday in U.S. Chief
District Judge Karon O Bowdre's court.
She ordered Doyle Lee Hamm to undergo a full medical examination on Saturday,
and those results must be given to the court by Monday morning. The judge also
ordered the state to preserve all evidence that could be relevant to the
matter, including the clothing Hamm was wearing Thursday night when he was
preparing to be executed.
But on Friday afternoon Bowdre partially rescinded her order, canceling
Monday's hearing and lifting the requirement for the doctor conducting the
examination to file a written report by 9 a.m. Monday.
Doyle Lee Hamm was set to be executed Thursday at 6 p.m. by lethal injection.
He was granted a temporary stay by the U.S. Supreme Court before 6 p.m., but
that stay was vacated just after 9 p.m. and the court cleared the way for
61-year-old Hamm to be put to death. At approximately 11:30 p.m., Alabama
Department of Corrections Commissioner Jeff Dunn announced they wouldn't be
executing Hamm that night, because medical personnel would not be able to
prepare him for the procedure by midnight when the death warrant expired.
Death warrants expire at midnight, meaning no execution can be started past
11:59 p.m. on the date specified on the warrant.
Dunn did not specify what exactly the problem was and what medical personnel
had been doing for more than 2 hours between when the stay was lifted and when
medical personnel advised officials on the situation.
Bernard Harcourt, Hamm's longtime attorney and a professor of law and political
science at Columbia University, said on Twitter Thursday night, "they probably
couldn't find a vein and had been poking him for over 2 1/2 hours.... as I had
told them since July! Unconscionable. Simply unconscionable."
Harcourt had argued to courts that Hamm had cancer and his veins could not
support the lethal injection. A federal judge in Birmingham on Tuesday issued
an order saying the execution could proceed, provided the state used veins in
Hamm's lower extremities and did not attempt to use veins in his arms - a
procedure the state had never tried before. The U.S. 11th Circuit Court of
Appeals upheld that order.
During the arguments the Alabama Attorney General's office stated an
independent medical examiner's report showed that, contrary to claims made on
Hamm's behalf, the veins in his legs were suitable and and presented no
obstacle to the execution.
Early Friday morning, Harcourt called the execution attempt "botched." He said,
"The Alabama attorney general, the Alabama Governor, the Governor's General
Counsel, and the Alabama Commissioner of Corrections, should resign. Look at
their statements before the attempted execution, and compare that to what
happened with the botched attempted executions. They should assume
responsibility, or resign."
His comment referred to AG Steve Marshall, Gov. Kay Ivey, her counsel, and
Commissioner Jeff Dunn. While several organizations and lawyers wrote to Ivey
asking her to grant clemency for Hamm, Ivey did not respond to the requests.
Marshall issued a video on social media Wednesday, confirming he received the
same letters. "Tomorrow I will not request that Doyle Hamm's execution be
stopped, but instead I will ask that justice be served," he said in the video.
Tuesday's order from U.S. Chief District Judge Karon O Bowdre comes after
months of a legal battle over whether Doyle Lee Hamm is too sick to be executed
by lethal injection.
Marshall read a quote from the United Nations letter, asking the state to spare
Hamm's life. "That petition attempts to paint a very sympathetic picture of
Doyle Hamm," he said. "What I'm most convinced by is not the words of that
petition, but instead what it doesn't tell you. Because it doesn't tell you the
circumstances of the crime... and it gives you no understanding of the victim
and the consequences to the victim's family of this heinous act."
Hamm was convicted in the 1987 murder and robbery of Patrick Cunningham, a
clerk at Anderson's Motel in Cullman. Cunningham was shot execution style and
found dead behind the reception desk of the motel. He was a husband and father
of 2 children.
"Doyle Hamm received due process and more," Marshall stated in the video.
(source: al.com)
CALIFORNIA:
2nd gang member sentenced to death for 2008 homeless encampment killing
A 2nd gang member was sentenced Feb. 15 in the killings of 5 people at a Long
Beach homeless encampment in 2008, according to the Los Angeles County district
attorney's office.
David Cruz Ponce, 37, was sentenced to death by Los Angeles County Superior
Court Judge Charlaine Olmedo after jurors previously recommended the death
penalty as part of a verdict for the murders.
On Sept. 17, Ponce and co-defendant Max Eliseo Rafael, 31, were found guilty of
5 counts of murder in the deaths of Vanessa Malaepule, 34; Frederick Doyle
Neumeier; 53, Hamid Shraifat, 41; Katherine Verdun, 24; and Lorenzo Perez
Villicana, 44.
The shootings occurred Nov. 1, 2008, in a homeless camp near an offramp of the
405 Freeway in Long Beach, prosecutors said.
Then-Long Beach Police Chief Jim McDonnell said the fatal encounter stemmed
from an ongoing dispute with 1 of the victims over narcotics. The other 4 were
killed to ensure there were no witnesses to the crime, he said at the time.
Ponce and Rafael also were convicted of 1 count each of kidnapping as well as
gang allegations.
Ponce also was found guilty of the 2009 murder of Tony Bledsoe, 18, whose body
was found in Lake Los Angeles.
In January, Rafael was sentenced to 5 consecutive terms of life without the
possibility of parole.
(source: Los Angeles Times)
WASHINGTON:
Justice is biggest reason to end death penalty
Beyond arguments of cost and deterence, the issue of racial justice should
matter most in our state.
Since the 16th century, Lady Justice has often been depicted wearing a
blindfold. The blindfold represents impartiality, the ideal that justice should
be applied without regard to wealth, power or other status. However, to the
NAACP and for many blacks living in Washington state, when it comes to race and
the determination of life or death, Lady Justice sees clearly in vivid color.
Case in point, consider the race of the 8 inmates awaiting execution under
Washington state's death penalty statute. African Americans are
disproportionately represented on death row because jurors in Washington state
are 3 times more likely to recommend a death sentence for a black defendant
than for a white defendant in a similar case. As a horrifying result, black
people, who make up 4 % of the population, make up nearly 38 % of those on
death row. According to the Beckket Report, the race of the victim affects who
receives the death penalty, with homicides of white victims over 4 times more
likely to result in execution.
Justice should be color blind. This legislative session, the NAACP has joined
together with lawmakers and community stakeholders to balance the scales of
fairness. Senate Bill 6052 would repeal the state's death penalty laws. 19
states and the District of Columbia have already abolished this cruel and
unusual punishment, and more states are soon to follow.
Eliminating the death penalty is not only racially just, it is fiscally sound.
According to the Washington State Bar Association report titled, "Executing
Justice," the study found that in the 79 death penalty cases brought between
1981 and 2006, the jury imposed the death sentence in 30 cases. Of those, 19
were reversed on appeal and 7 had appeals pending at the time. 4 cases resulted
in executions, 3 of which involved defendants who had waived their right to
appeal.
The bar association report also found that during the initial trial and on
direct appeal, the costs to prosecution and defense in death penalty cases were
more than $750,000 more costly than non-capital punishment cases, costs that
didn't include potential subsequent appeals to the state Supreme Court, the
federal appeals court and the U.S. Supreme Court.
The lesson learned: Despite extraordinary efforts by the courts and enormous
expense to taxpayers, the modern death penalty remains slow, costly and
uncertain. The NAACP believes that money wasted on death penalty cases should
be better spent on proven crime-prevention strategies like community-oriented
policing, economic development and public health services.
The NAACP seeks real solutions to crime. The death penalty does not serve as a
deterrent to violent crime and aggravated murder. Violent crime remains well
below rates seen in the 1980s and early 1990s. And even compared to a decade
ago, violent crime in 2016 is 18 % lower than it was in 2007, and the murder
rate is 6 % points lower than it was then.
Now is the time for Washington to make justice racially blind. Ending the death
penalty will remove executions given to black defendants that white defendants
who have committed similar crimes receive shelter from. Ending the death
penalty brings financial resources to the state budget. That is money that we
need to put to use on community policing and other proven methods of crime
prevention. We need our law makers to focus on solutions that actually work,
not false deterrents.
The NAACP looks forward to joining the movement across the nation in creating a
criminal justice system that all can believe in. Together, we can make sure
justice is blind.
(source: Commentary; Sheley Secrest is a vice president with the Washington,
Oregon, Alaska State Area Conference of the NAACP----The Herald)
*****************
In bipartisan trend, Washington state advances bill to abolish death penalty
With the mark from Ash Wednesday services on his forehead earlier this month,
Republican State Sen. Mark Miloscia's voice wavered as he made an emotional
plea to his colleagues - join him and vote to abolish the death penalty in the
state of Washington.
"We have been taught, no exceptions, to take care of our brothers and sisters
from conception to natural death," he said, citing his Catholic faith. "All
people deserve to live, [from] the most innocent among us to the most guilty
among us."
Miloscia's religious argument concluded an emotional capital punishment debate
on the floor of the Washington Senate that led to five Republicans crossing the
aisle and supporting the end of the death penalty in the state of Washington.
It passed with a 26-22 vote, and was passed to the Statehouse.
Republican members of the Senate who backed the bill cited their religious
views, fiscal inefficiencies of the death penalty, the unequal application of
the law and the recent rash of exonerations nationwide as reasons for their
support.
Recently, many Republicans have decided the death penalty runs afoul of
conservative principles, helping bolster a nationwide bipartisan push to end
capital punishment - a position typically held by Democrats.
"The latest Gallup poll showed a 10 % point drop in support among Republicans
[for capital punishment] in a space of just 1 year," said Death Penalty
Information Center Director Robert Dunham. "Now there is a significant enough
number of Republicans who are openly opposed to it, so that it is no longer
possible to say that there is an established Republican position on the death
penalty."
The legislation in Washington - where it passed out of the House judicial
committee on a partisan vote on Thursday - is the furthest this type of
legislation has ever come in the state's history.
Washington Democrats and Republicans have made a very public effort to pass a
bipartisan bill since Gov. Jay Inslee placed a moratorium on the state's use of
capital punishment in 2014. Inslee's Republican opponent for governor in 2012,
former Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna, stood shoulder-to-shoulder with
him in a united display of opposition to death sentences.
"They never came this close before, but what they have achieved is a long-term
conversation with legislators that includes Republicans," said McKenna of the
lawmakers pushing the legislation. "It's been a thoughtful conversation. This
is a hugely personal vote for many."
Lawmakers and advocates on both sides are hoping to get it across the finish
line with Republican and Democratic support before the end of the legislative
session on March 2. As with the Senate vote, they will need the support of
Republicans.
"We're all in," said Washington Sen. Reuven Carlyle, a Democrat who has
introduced legislation to abolish the death penalty each of the past 9 years.
"This is at full speed in real time. We are not pulling up the gas pedal 1
millimeter."
This bipartisan effort was further buoyed with the support of King County
Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg, a Republican, and Bob Ferguson, a Democrat
who took over McKenna's role as Washington attorney general. Ferguson recently
made headlines going toe-to-toe with the Trump administration on DACA and over
the White House's travel ban.
But as political divisions grow starker and more entrenched on the federal
level, with ongoing fights over immigration and gun control, Ferguson said it
is more necessary than ever for state lawmakers - on both sides of the
political spectrum - to work across the aisle.
"It's a low bar for a state to be viewed as more bipartisan than Washington
D.C., but I think we are more bipartisan than what I see there," he said. "This
death penalty conversation is part of that development."
Capital punishment has increasingly become an area where Republicans and
Democrats can find common ground.
Though abolishing the death penalty was once a position typically held by
Democrats, it has increasingly become a position among some members of the GOP
as well. Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty analyzed sponsorship
of death penalty repeal bills in state legislatures and found that Republican
sponsorship had increased significantly over the past 5 years. Republican state
lawmakers introduced 10 times as many bills to abolish capital punishment in
2016 than 2000.
"With politics so polarized nationally and with cooperation so hard to come by,
it's ironic that what used to be one of the most divisive issues is bringing
people together," said Dunham.
19 states and Washington D.C. have ended the use of the death penalty. 4
states, including Washington, maintain a moratorium. Those states that
currently maintain capital punishment tend to be more conservative, though the
Nebraska state legislature abolished it in 2015. Nebraska voters reversed that
decision via a ballot question in 2016, however.
In Utah - a state with a Republican supermajority, 62-13, in the state
legislature - the House Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement Committee passed a
bill that would end capital punishment with a 7-4 vote, and it will now go to
the floor. Multiple sources tell NBC News that - despite the support of House
Speaker Greg Hughes - the measure is unlikely to pass.
In the Pacific Northwest, however, Washington lawmakers remain hopeful that
they will be able to pass the legislation - as long as the statehouse votes by
March 2.
"Just take the damn vote," Ferguson said, referring to his state's
representatives. "I get people have reasons to oppose the death penalty or
support it and those are personal reasons, but people also deserve to know
where their elected officials stand."
(source: NBC News)
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