April 19
TEXAS:
Rare estate sale find shows how capital punishment was once carried out in
Harris County
A striking piece of Houston history sold earlier this week on eBay, a reminder
of how criminal justice was once meted out in Harris County.
The medal, about the size of a quarter, depicts a hooded, suit-wearing figure
hanging from the gallows. Inscribed on the front is the name Henry McGee, his
ethnicity is described as "colored" and the date of his execution is provided:
Aug. 12, 1892.
Also inscribed is the name of McGee's victim, Houston police officer James
Fenn. We then learn the time it took for McGee to die on the gallows, 2
minutes, 30 seconds.
The back of the medal reads, "Presented to R.E. Sutton by J. Warfel." A city
directory from that period lists a Robert E. Sutton as deputy sheriff and
assistant jailer. There are 2 Warfels listed in the directory, one of whom was
a watchmaker.
The medal, which came from a Houston-area estate sale, baffled some Texas
historians.
"I never came across anything like that," said Mitchel P. Roth, professor of
criminal justice and criminology at Sam Houston State University and co-author
of "Houston Blue: The Story of the Houston Police Department."
At the time of McGee's execution, the Houston Daily Post looked back on the
case and noted "there was strong talk of lynching" after he was jailed.
4 men are known to have been lynched in the county in the 1800s and early 20th
century. No doubt that when McGee was arrested, the mob-fueled slaying of John
Walton, suspected in a burglary and attempted rape the previous year, was on
many Houstonians' minds. A brother-in-law of the burglarized homeowner, also a
Houston cop, took part in the lynching.
McGee's arrest came at time when the South was experiencing a rising number of
lynchings that continued for decades.
Patricia Bernstein, author of "The First Waco Horror: the Lynching of Jesse
Washington and the Rise of the NAACP" said it was amazing that McGee was not
lynched and that he was tried twice for Fenn's death.
"It was almost like there were 2 separate systems of justice, for blacks and
whites," she said, noting that wealthy, well-placed whites tended to fare
better in the criminal justice system than poor whites. The system, though, was
always going to be worse for African Americans, she said.
Cary Wintz, distinguished professor of history at Texas Southern University saw
the medal as a personal item, given its rarity.
"To me, the issue is how many did he make?" he said, speculating that there
could have been some personal connection between Sutton and Fenn that led
Warfel to create it. He and other historians also wondered what was it about
the case that prompted this.
"This one is just off the wall," Wintz said.
Bernstein found the medal appalling, even if it depicts a lawful execution.
"It's a medal that celebrates the murder of somebody," she said.
Roth said badges, and even ball-and-chains, will appear in police and criminal
justice collections, but he had never seen anything like this object.
Here's what is known about the crime:
On March 14, 1891, Fenn was at a gathering spot known as the Broom Factory
where alcohol and music mixed in the Second Ward. Fenn was sent there by the
chief of police to maintain order, according to a decision by the Texas Court
of Criminal Appeals. This was not his first time there as he was considered
popular in the African-American community.
McGee, who once worked as a waiter at the Capitol and Grand Central hotels,
apparently held a grudge against Fenn over an earlier arrest for shooting a
pistol and threatened to kill the officer if he "was ever sent to the poor farm
in consequence of an arrest."
"Very soon afterwards a pistol was fired, and Fenn and another officer, Frank
Michael, went in the direction of the pistol shot, where a man stood
flourishing a pistol in his right hand," according to the appeals court. "As
they got close to him, he deliberately lowered the pistol in front of him, and
holding it (in) both hands, fired upon Fenn and killed him."
McGee fled but was captured a few days later at a home occupied by 2 women in
the First Ward.
McGee soon went on trial and was convicted and sentenced to death. That
conviction was reversed on appeal and sent back to the trial court because of
the admission of improper testimony. The following year, McGee was tried and
sentenced to death again.
***
At 7 a.m. on Aug. 12, 1892, a crowd of Houstonians gathered outside the Harris
County Jail for McGee's execution.
"Men, women and children of all conditions congregated about the jail and gazed
with renewed interest at the iron-girded pile of brick and mortar which barred
their morbid curiosity by shutting out sight of the condemned man," the Houston
Daily Post noted. "As time worn on the [motley] crew increased, until the
sidewalks could no longer hold them."
About four hours later, inside the jail, McGee made his way to the gallows
assisted by the Rev. Jack Yates and the Rev. Henry Watts. He asserted his
innocence and instead put blame on an unidentified person for killing Fenn.
McGee also talked openly of his religious conversion and offered goodbyes to
Sheriff George W. Ellis and his jailers, including Sutton.
After his execution, relatives took McGee's body to Lynchburg for burial.
Fenn is buried in Glenwood Cemetery.
(source: Houston Chronicle)
FLORIDA:
He killed his wife, young daughter with a machete, cops say. Now, he faces
execution.----Family speaks out about the ‘monster’ who is suspected of
murdering his wife and young daughter with a machete
A Miami Gardens man accused of murdering his wife and 10-year-old with a
machete is now facing possible execution.
Prosecutors on Thursday announced they plan to seek the death penalty for Noel
Chambers, 57, after a grand jury indicted him on charges of 1st-degree murder.
He pleaded not guilty Thursday during a hearing in front of Miami-Dade Circuit
Judge Stacy Glick.
Chambers used the large blade to kill Lorice Harris and her daughter, Shayla,
on March 30 at an apartment in Miami Gardens, police say.
The woman’s mutilated body was found on the porch, the girl inside a bedroom.
Another daughter, Shanalee Chambers, 29, was critically injured in the attack.
Chambers disappeared, sparking a sprawling three-day manhunt in North
Miami-Dade that ended when firefighters spotted him walking outside their
station.
Investigators believe Chambers was set off because his wife asked him for a
divorce. During the manhunt, the woman’s family called him a “monster.”
(source: miamiherald.com)
********************
State seeks death penalty against man charged with killing Cocoa mother of 4
The state attorney’s office filed notice this week that it plans to seek the
death penalty against a man suspected of kidnapping a 31-year-old mother of 4,
then shooting her to death and leaving her body in a remote stretch of Osceola
County.
Prosecutors examining the case file prepared by Cocoa police said the actions
of Joshua Taylor were ‘especially cruel and calculated’ to prevent Tashaun
Jackson from testifying against him in another criminal case in which she was
the victim.
A grand jury indicted Taylor, 30, on 1st-degree premeditated murder with a
firearm, kidnapping while inflicting death, and possession of a firearm by
felon charges in connection with the Feb. 9 death of Jackson.
Jackson was reported missing Feb. 9 after she failed to return home during a
quick errand to a nearby convenience store and a stop at McDonald’s. Cocoa
police said Taylor, who completed a 12-year sentence in state prison for an
unrelated carjacking charge last April, targeted Jackson she was cooperating as
a witness against him in a burglary that took place at her home.
Surveillance video showed Jackson at a 7-Eleven store, then leaving. Later, say
police, Taylor found Jackson, got her into his car and then drove her to
Osceola County. Police said Taylor shot the mother the same day.
Jackson's mother is now caring for the children. The family spoke out about the
case, drawing attention to Taylor and Jackson's previous concerns about his
behavior.
Taylor remains held without bond at the Brevard County Jail in Sharpes. A court
hearing on the case is set for July 23 at the Moore Justice Center in Viera.
(source: floridatoday.com)
***********************
State Attorney Phil Archer Files Notice of Intent to Seek Death Penalty for
Joshua Taylor
The State of Florida filed a Notice of Intent to Seek the Death Penalty for
Joshua Lemar Taylor, 30, in the 1st Degree Premeditated Murder of 31-year-old
Tashaun Jackson on February 10, 2019.
Taylor had been indicted by the Grand Jury on March 19, 2019.
On February 10, 2019, Cocoa Police responded to a report that Jackson failed to
return home after walking to a nearby convenience store the day before.
Surveillance video confirmed Jackson had been at the store but left alone a few
minutes after arriving.
Jackson’s body was discovered almost a week later on February 15 in rural
Osceola County.
A subsequent investigation established that Jackson had been abducted and
killed by Taylor on the same day of her disappearance.
Taylor was arrested by Cocoa Police on February 26 at his mother’s home in
Cocoa.
In their notice, prosecutors described the murder as “especially heinous,
atrocious, or cruel” and “was committed in a cold, calculated, and premeditated
manner without any pretense of moral or legal justification.”
They also cited provisions indicating that Taylor had committed the murder for
the purpose of silencing Jackson as a witness and attempting to prevent the
State from prosecuting him for a 2018 burglary at Jackson’s home.
Taylor will remain in custody with no bond at the Brevard County Jail.
The case is set for Docket Review before Judge Jeffrey Mahl on July 23 at the
Moore Criminal Justice Center in Viera.
(source: spacecoastdaily.com)
******************
State to seek death penalty against man accused of killing son
Bill Eddins, State Attorney for the First Judicial Circuit, announced Thursday
that his office will seek the death penalty against a Bluewater Bay man accused
of stabbing his 3-year-old son to death.
Frederick Rudolph Franken Sr. awaits trial in the Okaloosa County Jail on the
charge of 1st degree premeditated murder and/or 1st degree murder, according to
a press release from Eddins’ office. He is being held without bond.
Franken was indicted by the Okaloosa Grand Jury on April 8, 2019 for the March
15 stabbing of his son in their home.
(source: nwfdailynews.com)
LOUISIANA:
Sister Helen Prejean: Holy Week should inspire Louisiana residents to end the
death penalty
In the early morning of April 5, 1984, a prison vehicle brought me from the
execution chamber to the front gates of the Louisiana State Penitentiary at
Angola, where I promptly bent over in the dark and threw up. I had just
witnessed a man electrocuted to death at the hands of my state. His killing was
a legal act, declared so by the U.S. Supreme Court. About 80 % of Louisiana
citizens supported it, and few church leaders publicly protested it.
I was soon to learn it was not that our citizens' inherent vengefulness that
led to popular support for the death penalty. The truth was that in the late
1970s, violent crime was on the rise, fear was palpable, and “tough on crime”
politicians misled us into thinking that some criminals were so evil that only
death was a fitting punishment. And surely, with the “best system of justice in
the world,” the chances of condemning an innocent seemed negligible.
Today, with 30-plus years of state executions and a whole lot of mistakes under
our belts, we are beginning to see things differently. Per capita, our state
has wrongfully condemned more people to death than any other state. Consider
Glenn Ford, who was exonerated after almost 30 years on death row, then died
one year later of lung cancer. Or ask John Thompson, who spent 18 years in
prison, 14 on death row, because a prosecutor had hidden blood evidence
ultimately used for Thompson’s exoneration. Or ask Manuel Ortiz, a courageous
man whose innocence I believe in and whose spiritual adviser I am privileged to
be, accompanying him and fighting for his release as he agonizes through 27
years in the hell hole of Louisiana’s death row.
Louisiana is not alone in its wrongful convictions. As of April 2019, 165
wrongfully convicted death row prisoners have been exonerated. When you look at
the practice of the death penalty, mistakes are inevitable. Some 98 percent of
people tried for capital murder are poor and cannot hire crackerjack defense
lawyers, which means that the truth often does not come out at trial.
Death penalty cases are expensive to prosecute, too, because the penalty is
final, and trials and appeals are complicated. Those convicted spend 19 years,
on average, on death row, forcing victims’ families to endure years of appeals
under a public spotlight. What if we took the millions of dollars spent on a
handful of capital cases and funded support services for victims instead? Or
redirected resources into educating and mentoring at-risk kids to help prevent
violent crimes from happening in the first place?
As we conclude Holy Week, we have for the 3rd year bipartisan bills to repeal
the death penalty before the House (HB 215) and Senate (SB 112). Louisiana has
the chance to become the 1st “Deep South” state to end the death penalty. And
now, for the first time, an initiative is being launched for the full force of
Catholic young people across the state to join forces with their bishops
through larepeal.org to turn Louisiana from a death state to a life state. As
we have seen with young people from Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida
seeking to end gun violence, and with the million students from 120 countries
who marched to address climate change, when young people, our future, are on
the move, there’s hope.
(source: Sister Helen Prejean, a Baton Rouge native and member of the
Congregation of St. Joseph, is an internationally recognized opponent of the
death penalty. She's authored 3 books, including "Dead Man Walking" and the
forthcoming "River of Fire: My Spiritual Journey." She writes at
sisterhelen.org.----The Advocate)
NEW MEXICO:
One man’s journey from death row to political advocacy
Ron Keine plans to return to the state that tried to kill him. It won’t be a
vacation.
If nothing else, he will prove there can be life after death row.
But his hopes are higher. Keine, 71, will try to persuade state legislators to
approve a law providing financial compensation to people who were wrongfully
convicted of a crime.
He expects to receive nothing for himself. Not after all these years.
Keine and 3 other men received death sentences in the 1974 murder of a
university student in Bernalillo County. The defendants were in Southern
California when the crime occurred, and they could prove it.
None of that evidence mattered. In his case, appearances obliterated truth.
Keine said even his own lawyer believed he was guilty.
Keine and his cohorts were members of a rough outfit, the Vagos Motorcycle
Club. He said that was all it took for then-District Attorney James L.
Brandenburg to assume their guilt and prosecute them for 1st-degree murder.
“The facts didn’t matter, especially for a bunch of dirty bikers,” Keine said
in a phone interview from his home in suburban Detroit. “If we had been
preachers, they never would have gone after us.”
Three of the bikers, Keine included, were from Michigan. The Detroit News
launched its own investigation into the murder and prosecution in New Mexico.
The newspaper produced extraordinary journalism that exposed every flaw in the
prosecution, most notably the lies of a woman who had testified to witnessing
the killing.
The News called the case “an incredible tale of perjured testimony, witness
coercion and trial by community opinion.”
Then a drifter from Georgia, Kerry Rodney Lee, had a religious conversion and
confessed to the murder. His admission was bolstered by ballistics evidence. A
gun Lee had stolen was the weapon used in the killing. He was convicted of
2nd-degree murder.
Keine had gone from condemned man to freedom. He walked out of the old state
penitentiary on a snowy day, unsure of what he would do with the rest of his
life.
“When you get out of something like that, a murder case, you can’t get a job,”
he said.
Keine and the other three men who were exonerated tried to sue the people who
sent them to death row. Detectives and prosecutors had immunity.
The bikers successfully sued a medical examiner who had been a witness for the
state. Keine said he received $2,200.
The dignity of honest work helped him to survive. He became an entrepreneur,
selling rock salt door to door in Detroit.
Of the four bikers who faced the gas chamber, Keine is the only one still
alive.
Another of the men, Richard “Doc” Greer, committed suicide after his
exoneration and release from prison.
“I have a lot of survivor’s guilt,” Keine said. “Doc, toward the end of our
time on death row, well, he lost hope.”
Keine is active in the national organization Witness to Innocence. It’s led by
men who were on death row.
New Mexico repealed the death penalty in 2009, but Republican legislators tried
to bring it back in 2016. Juan Melendez, a member of Witness to Innocence,
provided the most compelling testimony against the bill.
Melendez spent almost 18 years on death row in Florida.
“Amigo,” he said, “I never met the man they said I killed.”
Another interest of the organization is obtaining compensation for the
wrongfully convicted.
New Mexico is one of 17 states without such a law. Keine, a Republican, says he
can be effective in persuading fiscal hawks that a compensation statute for
exonerated convicts is good policy.
Thirty-three states have compensation laws. Some are insubstantial. Others are
ignored.
For example, Keine’s home state of Michigan this year received heavy criticism
for failing to make payments promised to the wrongfully convicted. They
included a man who served a decade in prison for rape and now can’t find a job.
Keine says compensating the wrongfully convicted is a moral cause, just like
ending the death penalty.
New Mexico paid to house, feed and terrify him on death row.
He says he will make the case that it should pay innocents who wasted years in
prison.
(source: Santa Fe New Mexican)
ARIZONA:
Court overturns death sentence in 1987 execution-style Yuma murder
A federal appeals court Wednesday overturned the death sentence for Theodore
Washington, the last of 3 defendants still on death row in the 1987
execution-style murder of Sterleen Hill during a “disastrously violent home
invasion” in Yuma.
A divided 3-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that
Washington’s trial attorney failed to present evidence of his client’s “diffuse
brain damage, and his history of substance abuse” and other problems that might
have weighed against the death penalty.
“This raises a reasonable probability that, had the court been presented with
the mitigation evidence the first instance, the outcome would have been
different,” Judge Ronald Gould wrote in the opinion for the court, which
ordered a new sentencing hearing for Washington.
But Judge Consuelo Callahan dissented, writing that there is “no good reason”
to second-guess the trial judge in the case and adding that the only injustice
“is our unwarranted interference” in the case.
Lawyers in the case did not immediately respond to a request for comment on
Wednesday’s ruling, the most recent in years of appeals by Washington.
The case began on the night of June 8, 1987, when two men forced their way into
the Yuma home of Ralph and Sterleen Hill, looking for the Hills’ daughter who
had left her common-law husband and returned to her parents’ house.
The Hills were bound and forced to lie face down on their bedroom floor while
the men ransacked the house, demanding drugs or money and intermittently
twisting a pistol into Ralph Hill’s ear, according to court documents. At some
point, the men shot Ralph Hill in the back of the head with a shotgun, reloaded
and then shot Sterleen execution-style.
She died but Ralph Hill survived with serious wounds.
Fred Robinson, Susan Hill’s common-law husband, was arrested shortly after the
attack and Washington and Jimmy Mathers were arrested soon thereafter. Each of
the men was charged with six counts, including murder, attempted murder,
assault, burglary and armed robbery.
The three were tried together in December 1987, all 3 were convicted on 6
counts and all were sentenced in January 1988 to death row.
The Arizona Supreme Court vacated Mathers’ conviction for insufficient
evidence, but upheld Washington and Robison’s convictions. The two appealed but
had their convictions and sentences upheld by Superior Court Judge Stewart
Bradshaw, the same judge who presided at their trials and sentencing.
In a subsequent appeal, however, the 9th Circuit vacated Robinson’s death
sentence, agreeing with his argument that his trial attorney had utterly failed
to mount a defense in the sentencing phase of his trial.
Gould said the ruling in Robinson’s case cast a “long shadow” over Washington,
who made a similar argument – among others – on his latest appeal.
Washington said that had his attorney properly investigated his past, it would
have shown that he suffered daily whippings as a child, was sedated with
alcohol and later became an alcoholic, had a cocaine problem and a low IQ – all
of which could have argued against the death penalty.
“The record here amply demonstrates that (defense attorney Robert) Clarke’s
representation of Washington at the penalty phase was objectively unreasonable
and deficient,” Gould wrote.
Gould said Bradshaw “committed precisely the same error” with Washington as he
did in Robinson’s case, and that there was a good chance he would have ruled
differently if he had all the facts about Washington’s past.
The court sent the case back with orders for a new sentencing hearing or, if
not, for the state to change Washington’s sentence to life in prison.
But Callahan said that Bradshaw did have the evidence he needed and was in the
best position to rule.
“There is no good reason for us to dismiss Judge Bradshaw’s conclusion from our
lofty perch 25 years later,” Callahan wrote. She said Washington’s claim of an
ineffective defense “presents no basis for vacating his sentence.”
Callahan also said there is “a temptation to bend the governing legal
standards” to “equalize the outcomes,” because Mathers had his conviction
overturned and Robinson had his death sentence vacated.
“However enticing the impulse, that is not our role,” she said. “Ours is the
duty to apply the law to determine whether Washington has met his high burden
of showing a constitutional violation that deprived him of a fair trial.
“He has not,” Callahan said.
Theodore Washington was the only one of three men still on Arizona’s death row
in connection with the 1987 execution-style murder of Sterleen Hill in a Yuma
home-invasion robbery. (source: Tucson Sentinel)
******************
Capital Case Oversight Committee Meets To Review Arizona Death Penalty Case
Load
A committee that reviews death penalty cases in Arizona met in Phoenix on
Thursday to recommend future policy changes for the State Bar of Arizona and
the Arizona Supreme Court.
The Capital Case Oversight Committee was established by the state Supreme Court
in 2007, “to study and recommend measures to facilitate capital case reduction
efforts, make recommendations for adequate notice to the Supreme Court to
assist the Court in making the necessary modifications to its staffing levels
and judicial assignments to ensure the timely processing of appeals, and
develop recommendations for any formal policies deemed necessary,” according to
the Arizona Judicial Branch website.
Retired Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Ronald Reinstein chairs the
committee, which is made up of various stakeholders, including judges, defense
attorneys and prosecutors.
“When Andrew Thomas was the county attorney, the cases ballooned to 143 pending
cases in Maricopa County,” Reinstein said. “It was taking up almost all the
resources of the criminal bench in Maricopa County, so the Chief Justice formed
a Capital Case Task Force.”
That task force would then create the review committee which continues to meet
and provide review and guidance.
“Death is supposed to be different,” Reinstein said, “as opposed to just
filing, you know, cases without considering what the ramifications are.”
The committee tracks capital case loads in each county as well as the verdicts
for the cases.
Reinstein says since the committee began tracking numbers, it has found about
16 % of death notices filed in Maricopa County resulted in the death penalty.
He believes this realization, as well as the costly nature of pursuing the
death penalty, has led to an overall decline in capital cases being filed.
“Once you file that death notice is triggers the appointment of 2 counsel for
the defense — an investigator, a paralegal, mitigation specialists, expert
witnesses and the like,” he said.
“Prosecutors in particular see the results,” Reinstein said. “It causes them to
really take a look as to what warrants a notice of intention to seek the death
penalty.”
Representatives told the committee there are currently 48 capital cases pending
in Maricopa County.
Reinstein says the next items on its agenda will be to form a work group to
make recommendations to the state bar on revised jury instructions in capital
cases. It also will make recommendations to the Supreme Court on judicial
training in the jury selection process.
(source: KJZZ news)
NEVADA:
Nevada Democrats fail to move forward on death penalty ban
Opponents of capital punishment began the Nevada legislative session bolstered
by the governor's general disapproval of the death penalty.
But 2 bills that would have banned the punishment didn't receive hearings and
failed last week due a legislative deadline.
Political observers say Democratic leadership wanted to avoid a divisive debate
this session over the death penalty -- an issue they say moderate Democrats
have a hard time fully embracing in the state with a history of law-and-order
politics.
"There's this symbolic belief that the death penalty gives us justice," said
Eric Herzik, a political science professor the University of Nevada, Reno.
Fred Lokken, a political science professor at Truckee Meadows Community
College, said Democratic leadership is trying to steer away from certain issues
that could serve as a rallying cry for Republicans in the 2020 election.
Democrats don't want to move too far to the left and risk losing control of the
Legislature, he said.
"The death penalty is probably a far better topic for 2021," Lokken said.
The state has not carried out an execution since 2006 and some supporters have
acknowledged a lack of urgency to deal with the issue.
Scott Coffee, a veteran deputy public defender in Clark County, said it has the
highest rate of pending capital punishment cases of any metropolitan area in
the nation. He argued that the two stalled bills were the best chances in
decades to end the punishment in Nevada.
It "wasn't a priority for the Democratic leadership," he said.
Supporters of a ban argue that capital punishment cases are costly. A state
audit found such cases cost about $532,000 more than other murder cases. It
says those cases cost more due to procedural safeguards that seek error-free
sentences.
State Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro, a Democrat, pointed to other
criminal justice reforms efforts when asked if a death penalty debate was too
great of a political battle for the Democrats to take on.
"I think we're really trying to focus on some of the criminal justice reform
ideas that I think really can help improve the system for very real problems
that are happening right now," she said.
Democratic Assemblyman Steve Yeager, who leads the Assembly judiciary
committee, said the panel did not have enough time to conduct a lengthy hearing
on the death penalty. He said the situation could have been different if the
Senate had passed a measure.
Helen Kalla, a spokeswoman for Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak said the governor
is personally opposed to the death penalty except in extreme circumstances. But
Nevada law does not give the governor unilateral authority to commute a death
sentence, she said.
Democratic Assemblyman Ozzie Fumo, a Las Vegas defense attorney who has
represented death row inmates, sponsored that chamber's bill banning the death
penalty. He said he is baffled that lawmakers did not consider the legislation.
"We spend millions of dollars defending these people and the state pays for
it," he said.
(source: Associated Press)
WASHINGTON:
Abolition of death penalty won’t happen in 2019. House Democrats cite other
priorities----The Washington State Supreme Court said Thursday that the death
penalty is unconstitutional, because it is “imposed in an arbitrary and
racially biased manner.” The ruling was part of a 1996 Tacoma case, in which
the murderer was sentenced to death
A bill to eliminate the death penalty from Washington’s statutes won’t reach
the governor’s desk to become law this year.
The Senate passed a death-penalty abolition bill on Feb. 15 by a 28-19 margin,
but the House did not vote on it by Wednesday’s deadline for non-budget bills
to pass from the opposite chamber.
Attorney General Bob Ferguson, who requested that legislators pass the bill,
said Thursday the House had enough votes for approval.
“Simply put, the votes are there. We provided House leadership with a
bipartisan list of 54 members committed to voting to abolish Washington’s death
penalty. There’s no other way to put it — I’m extremely disappointed,” said
Ferguson, a Democrat who is exploring a possible run for governor if Jay Inslee
does not seek a 3rd term.
Rep. Monica Stonier, D-Vancouver, said the bill did have “considerable support”
in the Democratic-controlled chamber,” but she noted that the “death penalty is
illegal at this time” and holding off until next year to vote didn’t involve
any risk.
She said House Democratic leaders had to set priorities. Those included passing
bills so that individuals no longer will receive life prison sentences for
second-degree robbery under the “three strikes” law and parents can sue for the
wrongful death of their adult children.
“These have an impact immediately in the next year on people’s lives,” said
Stonier, the Majority Floor Leader.
Sen. Reuven Carlyle, the Seattle Democrat who was the lead sponsor of SB 5339,
said 54 was the minimum number of House members who would have voted yes on the
bill. He blamed House Speaker Frank Chopp, D-Seattle, for not bringing it to a
vote by Wednesday’s deadline. The bill also died in the House last year after
the Senate approved it.
“This decision rests squarely and unequivocally on the desk of the Speaker.
It’s his choice, his decision, and his silence has been deafening,” Carlyle
said.
Stonier said House Democratic leaders make many decisions on which bills to
bring to the floor as a team, and “some of them, I think, the Speaker makes in
his position.”
“As Floor Leader, I can tell you if I had run that bill as much as I really
would have liked to and as much as I advocated and pushed to find ways to do
it, some other priorities may not have made it off the floor this year,” she
said.
The state Supreme Court last year struck down the death penalty law because it
was imposed in an “arbitrary and racially biased manner.” The high court
stressed that the law — not the death penalty itself — was unconstitutional.
The ruling left open the possibility that the Legislature might enact a
“carefully drafted” statute to impose capital punishment in this state, but it
cannot create a system that offends constitutional rights, Chief Justice Mary
E. Fairhurst wrote.
Carlyle’s bill was intended to slam the door shut on that possibility.
The bill would have codified the Supreme Court’s decision and current practice,
which is to sentence those convicted of aggravated first-degree murder to life
in prison without the possibility of release or parole. If the measure had
become law, legislators also wouldn’t have been able to amend the death penalty
statute. Sen. Keith Wagoner, R-Sedro Woolley, tried to do that earlier this
year, but his bill never got out of committee.
The last execution in Washington state was in 2010 when the state used lethal
injection to put Cal Brown to death for the 1991 murder of a Seattle woman. In
2014, Inslee declared a moratorium on capital punishment. The Democratic
majorities in the House and Senate are opposed to the death penalty.
When the House Public Safety Committee approved the death penalty bill on April
1, Rep. Roger Goodman, D-Kirkland, said lawmakers needed to remove any
“uncertainty” about the death penalty’s legal status.
“I do believe that the Legislature should have the last word on this matter,
because the Legislature is vested solely with the authority to establish
sentences for crimes. My position is that the death penalty should not be an
option,” said Goodman, who is the committee chairman.
Rep. Jenny Graham, R-Spokane, was among the GOP members who voted against the
death penalty bill in committee. Graham took the oath of office in January on
the Bible of her sister, Debra, who was murdered by the Green River Killer,
Gary Ridgway.
“If not for the death penalty, Washington state would not have ever gotten the
answers surrounding the most prolific serial killer case in U.S. history. That
is an inarguable fact. I take offense to some people saying the death penalty
doesn’t work,” she said.
An aide said Graham was unavailable for comment Thursday.
In a Feb. 23 op-ed in The (Spokane) Spokesman-Review, Graham wrote that in
order to avoid the death penalty, Ridgway agreed in a plea deal with the King
County prosecutor to disclose the locations of many of his victims who were
missing.
“Victims’ families were finally able to give their loved ones a proper burial,”
Graham wrote.
20 states and the District of Columbia do not have the death penalty, either by
legislative action or court decision, according to the Death Penalty
Information Center, a Washington, D.C. nonprofit group. It’s unclear how many
of those 21 jurisdictions without the death penalty also have the law still on
their books like Washington.
Carlyle said he expects the bill will pass next year if there’s a new House
speaker. Chopp, the state’s longest-serving speaker, announced last year he
would step down from his leadership position after this year’s legislative
session but would remain a House member.
(source: thenewstribune.com)
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