July 28
ALABAMA:
Alabama death row inmate denied rehearing after conviction, sentence upheld
An Alabama death row inmate who was convicted of capital murder for fatally
shooting a Montgomery police officer during a traffic stop has been denied an
application for rehearing, according to the Alabama Department of Corrections.
Mario Dion Woodward, 45, was convicted and sentenced to death in 2008. He
recently appealed his conviction, arguing his attorneys failed to present
certain evidence during the guilty and penalty phases of his trial. His
conviction and sentence had already been upheld in a previous appeal.
The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals upheld Woodward's conviction and death
sentence in April.
Woodward's application for rehearing was denied Friday, the ADOC said.
Evidence presented at Woodward's trial in 2008 showed he fatally shot
Montgomery police officer Keith Houts during a traffic stop on Sept. 28, 2006.
Officer Houts stopped Woodward, who was driving a gray Impala, around 12:30
p.m. When Houts approached the vehicle, Woodward shot him in the jaw, severing
Houts' spine. He shot the officer 4 more times, according to evidence presented
at trial.
After the shooting, Woodward asked his girlfriend and a friend of hers to take
him to Birmingham. During that ride, he told them he had shot a police officer
during a traffic stop. He also made a phone call, asking someone to get rid of
the Impala and threw a gun from the car they were riding in.
Woodward then met up with another friend, destroyed evidence and confessed his
act to another person as he fled the state.
Woodward was arrested by a deputy federal marshal at an Atlanta gas station.
"This case is a tragic reminder of the debt we owe to law enforcement officers
who put their lives on the line every day," Attorney General Steve Marshall
said in April. "Officer Houts was carrying out his routine duties and during
the course of a simple traffic stop, he was viciously murdered. Even after the
killer's first shot cut down his victim, he proceeded to shoot the fallen
officer 4 more times. The death penalty is fitting punishment for Mario
Woodward's evil actions."
(source: al.com)
LOUISIANA:
Edwards just following law on death penalty
Attorney General Jeff Landry is a real piece of work, as evidenced by his
recent letters about the death penalty to Gov. John Bel Edwards. As a devout
Catholic, Landry is opposed to abortion. I understand that: the idea is that
every embryo is a life (which I disagree with) and every life is sacred (which
I do agree with). But where is he on the death penalty? Every life is sacred -
unless some of those sacred lives need to be ended by state action. It's so
much easier to play God in this life and let her sort it out in the next. Since
Jeff Landry is asking where Gov. Edwards stands on the death penalty, let's ask
where AG Landry stands on anti-poverty programs (in a poor state like
Louisiana) that might keep people from killing over a Saints jacket, or on
biological research into criminal behavior, or on other factors that cause
people to kill people. And, as a Catholic, where does HE stand vis-a-vis the
Catholic Church on the question of capital punishment? For that matter, where
does his political base (since being AG is not his ultimate goal) stand on this
question? If they (and he) are against abortion but gung-ho for the death
penalty, what does that say about their logical abilities?
But in the end, whether he supports capital punishment or not, Gov. Edwards is
following the law. If we cannot get the drugs legally necessary to carry out an
execution, we need a stay of future executions. Otherwise, overburdened state
and federal courts will be required to needlessly grant stays, if DAs ever
decide to set execution dates. The governor is following the law. The chief
legal officer in the state is asking the governor to violate the law.
For what it's worth, I spent about 12 years in the Capital Litigation Division
of the Texas Attorney General's Office, the most active death-penalty unit in
the country. I made my share of mistakes - some defendants were granted new
trials, some were acquitted on retrial, some were otherwise freed or sentenced
to life imprisonment. I handled about 23 cases that resulted in executions. I
am convinced that every one of those executed deserved capital punishment
legally. I'm not sure that any of them deserved it morally. But Jeff Landry
does not see a distinction. He sees his job as Attorney General as killing as
many people as possible. Or at least advocating for it. Is that sad? Or not?
Bill Zapalac, retired attorney, New Orleans
(source: Letter to the Editor, The Advocate)
OHIO:
Judge recuses himself from 2 capital murder cases
For the 2nd time in 2 weeks, a judge has recused himself from 2 capital murder
cases due to a conflict of interest.
On Thursday, Judge John Miraldi recused himself from the cases of Lorenzo
Garcia and Antonio Martinez because 1 of Garcia's defense attorneys is Dan
Wightman, who is also serving as defense attorney for Miraldi's son, Jeffrey
Miraldi, in an involuntary manslaughter case.
John Miraldi was selected as judge in the Garcia and Martinez cases after Judge
Mark Betleski recused himself because of past issues with the Lorain Police
Department. Garcia and Martinez are accused of murdering 67-year-old Linda
Wisniewski in Lorain earlier this year.
Last November, Betleski recused himself from all Lorain Police Department cases
where he is a trier of fact. The judge said he chose to do so because of
negative and untrue comments that the Lorain Police Department made about him
in an October press release.
Judge James Walther, who serves as presiding judge for the Lorain County Common
Pleas Court, said each judge needs to make the decision of whether to recuse
themselves from a case.
"If a judge were to say, 'Listen, I'm recusing myself,' nobody can say, 'You
can't recuse yourself.' Once a judge decides that, then they are recused,"
Walther said.
After John Miraldi recused himself from the Garcia and Martinez cases, a new
judge to preside over the case was selected, by pulling a number from a
rust-colored plastic billiard pill bottle used by the county to randomly draw
judges for death penalty cases. Judge James Miraldi was selected as the new
judge for the cases.
The selection and reselection of the presiding judge will not affect the
timeline of the case as the defendants have waived their rights to a speedy
trial.
Some questioned whether James Miraldi would follow suit and recuse himself from
the case, since John Miraldi is his cousin, but James Miraldi said he sees no
reason that there would be a conflict of interest and has no plans to recuse
himself.
Wightman, who represents Garcia, objected to John Miraldi recusing himself from
the case - as did attorney Kreig Brusnahan, who was appointed to sit first
chair for Martinez.
"We objected to the change because we think any defendant has the right to have
the judge that was initially selected to be the judge in the case," Wightman
said. "Especially in a capital murder case, we have to protect the due process
rights of our client."
Wightman said he is fine with James Miraldi serving as judge in the case.
"We're happy with Judge Jim Miraldi, as we would have been with Judge John
Miraldi, as we would have been with Judge Betleski," he said. "At the end of
the day, it's fine, but we need to protect the record to show that we're doing
everything we can and that he will get a fair trial."
Police have said that about 10 p.m. March 27, officers responded to a "burglary
in progress" call at 3625 Amherst Ave. in Lorain. Officers found Wisniewski
dead when they arrived.
Lorain County Coroner Dr. Stephen Evans said Wisniewski suffered multiple stab
wounds to the head, trunk and extremities, and the cause of death was a gunshot
wound to the head.
During a hearing at Lorain Municipal Court, the prosecutor said Wisniewski had
been duct taped and stabbed multiple times.
Additionally, Kenneth "Chip" Williams, 28, who relatives described as a close
family friend of Wisniewski, was found with serious injuries at the home and
was taken to MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland.
During the arraignment in Lorain Municipal Court, authorities said Williams was
shot in the back of the head.
Police arrested Garcia and Martinez later that week in connection with the
incident, charging them with aggravated murder.
Garcia and Martinez are scheduled to appear before James Miraldi on Aug. 2.
(source: The Chronicle-Telegram)
TENNESSEE----impending execution
Analysis: Will Billy Ray Irick receive a stay of his Aug. 9 execution?
After more than 30 years on death row, Billy Ray Irick is less than 2 weeks
from becoming the 1st person executed in Tennessee in nearly a decade.
The 59-year-old Knox County man, convicted in the 1985 rape and murder of a
7-year-old girl, has no remaining legal options on his own case. His execution
is scheduled for Aug. 9.
But, David Raybin, a Nashville attorney who helped write Tennessee's death
penalty statute in 1976, said he would be "astounded" if the state actually
executed Irick anytime soon.
"In my view, I think the state Supreme Court will most certainly grant a stay
here," said Raybin, who has represented clients on death row before.
The state's high court only steps in to delay an execution when there is ample
legal reason to do so. Despite Irick exhausting his own appeals, Raybin said
his participation in a challenge to the state's lethal injection method will
likely provide the rationale needed to delay an execution.
'I don't think they're going to rush this'
Nashville Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle resoundingly rebuked the lawsuit filed by
Irick and 32 other death offenders Thursday, issuing a ruling that allowed the
state to proceed with its controversial 3-drug lethal injection protocol.
But the lawsuit is "postured perfectly" for a stay of execution, Raybin said.
That's because the state's high court has never taken a stance on this specific
lethal injection methodology, and an appeal of Lyle's decision would take at
least three months.
"He's been pending execution years and years, I don't think they're going to
rush this along when you have a definitive issue here," Raybin said.
It would be highly irregular to not issue a stay while an appeal is pending. If
this unlikely scenario were to happen, Gov. Bill Haslam could step in and issue
a stay.
Haslam, who has the authority to grant clemency at any time, is reviewing
Irick's case.
"My role, again, is not to be the 13th juror, it's not to decide is capital
punishment right or wrong - it's the law of the state. My role is to say, did
the process break down anywhere along the way?" Haslam said this week,
discussing his approach to death penalty cases
State Supreme Court can take case
Although typically the case would be appealed to the Tennessee Court of
Appeals, Raybin expects the state Supreme Court may scoop up the case.
Tennessee has a "reach-down" statute, or a law that allows the Supreme Court to
take on a case outside of routine legal channels under extreme circumstances.
Raybin said this case is perfect for such a move: it would speed up the overall
appeal and allow the high court to issue a stay at the same time.
Immediately after Lyle's ruling, attorneys for the death row offenders said
they would appeal.
The "sloppy" ruling provides more than enough fodder for them to potentially
prevail, said Deborah Denno, a law professor at Fordham University in New York
City and a death penalty expert.
"I think they have a strong case for appeal," Denno said. "This is not a
well-argued opinion, and I think there are many ways they can poke large holes
in it."
Lyle said the offenders failed to meet standards established in U.S. Supreme
Court precedents in order to prove the state is violating the U.S.
Constitution.
Those standards are:
There is a different means to carry out the execution that is readily available
and substantially less painful; and
The drugs the state plans to use would cause the inmate to be tortured to
death.
But Denno thought Lyle put far too much trust in the word of the Tennessee
Department of Correction when officials said they could not find other lethal
injection drugs. And she questioned Lyle's process in determining the drugs did
not amount to torture.
Fewer executions, more litigation
Lyle determined the inmates' attorneys presented compelling evidence that the
1st of the 3 drugs to be used, midazolam, did not guarantee inmates would not
feel pain from the 2nd and 3rd drugs used. Kelley Henry, a federal public
defender who led the inmates' case, indicated attorneys would likely focus on
this aspect in the appeal.
The sedative midazolam is 1 of 3 drugs used in the lethal injection process in
Tennessee.
But the chancellor ruled inmates did not prove this pain amounted to torture.
She relied specifically on the amount of time an execution could take. Evidence
in trial found executions could last anywhere from 10 to 18 minutes. That isn't
objectively long enough to be considered torturous, Lyle ruled.
"Any of us know you can experience great torture in far less time than that.
Time has always been one element of assessing torture, but for the court to
hold that, there's really not a basis for it," Denno said.
"Nobody has said 10 to 18 minutes is too short of time to be considered
torturous."
Raybin was less critical of the ruling. He likened the ruling to a
"fact-finding proceeding" that establishes the framework of the appeal.
Regardless of the appellate strategy, both experts agree the continued use of
lethal injections means fewer actual executions and much more litigation.
"Looking way down the road on this, I think ultimately the states are going to
have to come up with some alternative to this other than lethal injection,
because it constantly creates prolonged litigation," Raybin said.
(source: The Tennessean)
NEBRASKA:
Neb. plans morning execution for death-row inmate
Nebraska prison officials have scheduled a morning execution next month for
their longest-serving death-row inmate as they prepare to carry out the state's
1st-ever lethal injection with a never-before-used combination of drugs.
Carey Dean Moore's execution is expected to take place at 10 a.m. on Aug. 14 at
the Nebraska State Penitentiary in Lincoln, the Department of Correctional
Services announced Friday in a news release.
The Nebraska Supreme Court set the date earlier this month when it issued a
death warrant for Moore, who was sentenced to death for the 1979 murders of 2
Omaha taxicab drivers, Reuel Van Ness, Jr. and Maynard Helgeland. Moore, 60,
has spent 38 years on Nebraska's death row.
Corrections Director Scott Frakes said in a statement the prison is following
the procedures "to ensure the order of the court is enforced."
Corrections officials plan to execute Moore by lethal injection with diazepam,
commonly known as Valium; the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl citrate, the
paralytic cisatracurium besylate; and potassium chloride to stop the heart. The
corrections department's supply of potassium chloride is set to expire at the
end of August.
Department officials have said all 4 drugs were purchased in the United States,
but declined to say how the drugs were obtained or who provided them. They're
currently fighting lawsuits by the American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska
and Nebraska media outlets that could force them to release documents
identifying the supplier.
Nebraska's last execution was in 1997, using the electric chair, but the state
Supreme Court later declared the chair unconstitutional.
Corrections officials said they're contacting witnesses for the execution.
State law allows three witnesses to attend on behalf of Moore, in addition to
one member of the clergy. As many as three witnesses may attend on behalf of
the victims' families.
Additionally, Frakes may designate up to 6 other people to witness the
execution. 2 of those must be professional members of the Nebraska news media.
After years of delays, Moore has stopped fighting state officials' efforts to
execute him, and he recently accused them of being too "lazy or incompetent" to
carry out his sentence. He filed a motion in May to dismiss his court-appointed
lawyer, but the state Supreme Court denied his request. Moore also [directed]
his attorney to stop fighting the state's attempts to execute him.
Moore's attorney, Jeff Pickens of the Nebraska Commission on Public Advocacy,
has said he hasn't submitted any new court filings in the case since receiving
that order. Pickens did not immediately respond to a phone message.
(source: Associated Press)
**********************
Carey Dean Moore's execution will be 1st in nation to use 4-drug protocol
A morning execution has been set for double-murderer Carey Dean Moore, a
schedule used in the past to avoid demonstrations by rowdy, late-night crowds
outside the prison.
The Nebraska Department of Correctional Services announced Friday that the
execution of Moore, condemned for killing 2 Omaha cabdrivers in 1979, will
occur at 10 a.m. on Aug. 14.
The execution at the State Penitentiary in Lincoln will be the state's 1st
using lethal injection, and the 1st in the nation to use the 4-drug protocol
recently adopted by state prison officials.
State law allows 3 witnesses to attend the execution on Moore's behalf and 1
member of the clergy. Up to 3 witnesses will be allowed to attend on behalf of
the victims' families.
Corrections Director Scott Frakes may designate up to 6 more people to witness
the execution, including 2 witnesses who must be members of the media.
A press release from the Corrections Department on Friday said the witnesses
had not yet been named, and that the time of the execution squared with past
practices.
The state's last execution, in 1997, was carried out in the morning. Nebraska
prison officials said they switched to a mid-morning execution for Robert
Williams to avoid the raucous, party-like atmosphere that surrounded the 2
previous nighttime executions of Harold Lamont Otey in 1994 and John Joubert in
1996.
Otey's execution attracted a crowd of more than 1,000, including many who
carried signs and some who sang the song "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye" after
it was announced that the death sentence had been carried out.
When Williams was executed, fewer than 60 people gathered outside the State
Penitentiary, and the atmosphere was described as "much quieter" and "mellow."
Moore, 60, shot Omaha cabdrivers Maynard Helgeland and Reuel Van Ness 5 days
apart in 1979. He was sentenced to death in 1980 and has served more time than
any of Nebraska's other 11 death row inmates.
The execution warrant says the Corrections Department shall carry out the
sentence by "administering to appellant, Carey Dean Moore, an intravenous
injection of substance or substances in a quantity sufficient to cause death,
as provided by law."
Prison officials announced late last year that they had obtained 4 lethal
injection drugs to carry out executions, including the powerful opioid
fentanyl. The state has refused to reveal where it obtained the drugs, which
critics, including the ACLU of Nebraska, say is a dangerous flaw, given the
state's past problems in obtaining lethal injection drugs from foreign
suppliers.
1 of the state's drugs is set to expire at the end of August. The attorney
general had asked the State Supreme Court to set the date on July 10, citing
concerns about the drug expiring.
(source: omaha.com)
*****************************
Nebraska death penalty opponents holding daily vigil in front of governor's
mansion
Lisa Knopp has known condemned Nebraska inmate Carey Dean Moore for 23 years.
On Thursday over the noon hour she stood in front of the governor's mansion
with about 30 other death penalty opponents showing their disapproval of
Nebraska's scheduled execution of Moore.
She carried a sign: "We remember the victims but not with more killing."
She didn't want to elaborate on Moore's decision to stop fighting his
execution, scheduled for Aug. 14, but she did say that the entire time she's
known him he's been weary of the process, exhausted by it.
Moore, who killed two Omaha cab drivers in the summer of 1979, has been on
death row 38 years. He has told the Nebraska Supreme Court to dismiss his
attorneys, that he doesn't want anyone to file anything on his behalf.
But Knopp is morally opposed to state executions, and said Moore's death would
be difficult for her even if she didn't know him so well.
"He's one of the most amazing letter writers. There's so much personality in
his letters and I'll miss them," she said.
They started exchanging letters those many years ago because, after meeting him
in a group visit with Nebraskans Against the Death Penalty, she told him she
would help find him a pastor to come and see him in prison.
"I didn't want a pen pal, but I had one ... just so very warm and personable. I
found him to be just very likeable," Knopp said.
And she also visited him at times.
Change and redemption, she said, can happen to anyone, anytime and anyplace.
"And this is just a sterling example of that, somebody who can change utterly,"
she said.
Fran Kaye and several others have been coming faithfully every weekday to the
mansion for the past couple of weeks, even in the pouring rain, Kaye said. The
vigils will continue over the noon hour until the scheduled execution.
She's realistic enough to know these protests alone aren't going to stop an
execution.
"But it's important that we recognize in the future when we come back to this
that there have always been people who opposed this," Kaye said. "This is not
something that nobody thought about, there were plenty of voices saying that
this is wrong and should not be done."
The group also wants to embarrass Gov. Pete Ricketts, she said. It was
"obscene," she said, for him to "buy" with his own money the votes of people
who were not educated about the state killing people.
Kaye said she knows what the men on death row did was wrong. Nobody disagrees
with that. And she doesn't believe anyone on Nebraska's death row is innocent.
But why tell people not to kill and then sanction killing them if they do? she
said. That would be like teaching children not to hit, but then hitting them if
they do.
"There are much better ways of showing that this is wrong," she said.
Mechelle Sky Walker also attended the vigil. She has been an activist for about
20 years, since she was a sophomore in high school and had long-time death
penalty opponent Richard Hargesheimer for a history teacher at Lincoln High
School.
It's a humanistic belief, she said, that we were all born good, and then life
happened. But people can return to that goodness.
"An eye for an eye doesn't work because then we're all blind," she said.
"That's why ... a lot of religious beliefs talk about forgiveness."
A vigil also is planned for the day the execution at 5 p.m. on the north side
of the Capitol.
(source: Lincoln Journal Star)
NEVADA:
Nevada Is Hellbent on Using This Drug to Execute an Inmate - Even if the
Manufacturer Objects----The state appealed to the state Supreme Court in order
to execute Scott Dozier.
On Wednesday, the state of Nevada filed a petition with the state Supreme Court
asking the high court to throw out a decision made by a Clark County judge that
halted the execution of Scott Dozier. The inmate was scheduled to be executed
on July 11, and the state had planned to use a untried drug combination that
included midazolam, a controversial sedative blamed for several botched
executions, and fentanyl, the powerful opioid. But hours before Dozier's
scheduled execution, a county judge halted the execution after Alvogen, the
manufacturer of midazolam, filed a lawsuit claiming that the state had obtained
the drug under false pretenses.
The new petition filed by the state accuses Alvogen of mounting a campaign to
save its image. The appeal also alleges that Nevada is racing against the
clock, saying that if the state Supreme Court denies their petition, its supply
of execution drugs may expire before it gets a chance to execute Dozier.
Scott Dozier has been on death row since 2007 for the 2002 murder of Jeremiah
Miller. Since 2016, he has been adamant that he wants to be put to death,
regardless of the pain. He was set to become the 1st person in the United
States to be put to death with fentanyl. But the day before his execution,
Alvogen filed a lawsuit against the state alleging that Nevada purchased the
drugs by "subterfuge" when the state obtained it through a 3rd-party which
didn't know Nevada intended to use the midazolam in an execution. Just hours
before the execution was scheduled to begin, Clark County District Court Judge
Elizabeth Gonzalez issued a temporary restraining order blocking Nevada from
using the sedative, sending the state scrambling to find a solution.
Now the state is alleging that Alvogen's lawsuit was a public relations stunt.
???[Alvogen] filed this lawsuit to salvage its image and shift the blame to the
State for Alvogen's failure to impose the controls that it was touting to
anti-death penalty advocates," the petition says.
To Nevada, halting this execution is detrimental to Dozier's victims and
creates chaos within the state's criminal justice system. "Whether it
ultimately wins or loses, Alvogen scores points in the public relations arena
just for bringing this lawsuit," the petition says, "while it remains
unbothered by the turmoil it has inflicted on Nevada's criminal justice system
and the victims."
(source: motherjones.com)
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