August 31
FLORIDA:
Gambling $7 million to execute high school shooter who admits guilt?
Lawmakers, agencies and industries are known to quibble over the value of a
human life when deciding whether the benefits outweigh the costs of a proposed
law or regulation. The EPA, for example, puts a person's worth at $10 million.
But Florida's politicians never ask, nor do they seem to care, about the cost
of taking a life.
The answer would undermine their allegiance to the death penalty.
Studies elsewhere agree that sending a criminal to the execution chamber is
many times more expensive than to try, convict and imprison him for life. It
costs California, with the largest death row, an estimated $170 million
annually. On learning that, Gov. Gavin Newsome declared a moratorium.
In Florida, a single case is about to cost $7 million, minimum. That's what the
prosecution and defense estimate it will cost to have a jury decide whether
Nikolas Cruz should die or serve life in prison without parole for killing 17
students and staff — and wounding 17 more — at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High
School. That doesn't include the cost of appeals if the verdict is death.
The evidence of what Cruz did on Valentine's Day 2018 is so overwhelming that
the only question is whether he will be put to death many years from now or
forever locked away on Aug. 28. Cruz has offered to plead guilty without trial,
accepting 34 life sentences, if State Attorney Mike Satz would agree to take
the death penalty off the table.
But Satz is refusing to do that, even though his intention to not seek
reelection next year should eliminate political pressure from the equation. He
says the community should decide.
From Satz's point of view, if the Parkland massacre doesn't deserve the death
penalty, what does? If he didn't demand it for Cruz, who is white, how could he
justify it for someone black or Hispanic who kills 1 or 2 people during a
robbery?
Those are pertinent questions, but they beg a bigger one: Is the death penalty
worth the cost for what arguable good it does? We think the answer is no. The
death penalty's time has passed in most other industrial nations and should
here as well. So long as the death penalty remains on the books, prosecutors
will feel bound by duty or politics to regularly demand it, regardless of the
expense.
With Cruz, our community's costs are traumatic as well as financial. Satz wants
to walk jurors through the 1200 Building, where the massacre occurred. That
means BSO must pay to preserve the building as a crime scene, even though the
school district wants to tear it down. It also means MSD students must continue
to relive the mental and emotional horrors every time they walk past that
building. To Satz, it's critical evidence.
But it's critical only to getting the death sentence. That extra dose of trial
psychology does not justify its harm to the students.
After the recent mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton, this might strike some
as an inopportune time to question the death penalty. To the contrary, those
outrages demonstrate the futility of the death penalty as a deterrent. Ohio and
Texas are death penalty states. Texas has executed more people — 561 — than the
next 6 states combined.
The federal government also has announced that it is resuming executions. Since
Dylan Roof was sentenced to death in January 2017 for murdering nine black
worshippers at a Charleston, S.C., church, there have been 19 more mass
shootings, according to the Washington Post's very conservative tally, which
excludes robberies, domestic violence and gang wars. The Gun Violence Archive,
using much broader measures, numbers 566 just since Parkland a year and a half
ago.
What passes for conventional wisdom among foolish people holds that the only
thing wrong with the death penalty is that it takes too long to carry out. But
the courts are not going to rush people into the death chambers, as President
Trump proposes. Nor should they. The staggering number of death row
exonerations since 1972 — 166, including 29 in Florida alone — warns against
any such haste.
Deterrence obviously didn't work on Cruz, whose case could set new records for
expense, at least locally.
Florida now requires a unanimous vote to condemn someone to death. Is it worth
wagering $7 million to execute someone who admits his guilt? Florida
policymakers can't avoid such questions forever.
(source: Sun Sentinel Editorial Board)
TENNESSEE:
Episcopalians long invested in former death row inmate 'grateful for the life
spared'
Episcopalians play a special role in Tennessee inmate Abu-Ali Abdur'Rahman's
life behind bars.
They are his visitors to death row, his courtroom supporters and his bishop.
On Friday, the Episcopalians were among the slate of people who welcomed
Criminal Court Judge Monte Watkins' decision to remove Abdur'Rahman from
Tennessee's death row.
"I’m very thankful to God for this good news about Abu," Tennessee Episcopal
Bishop John Bauerschmidt said in an email. "The Episcopal Church has long
spoken against the death penalty through resolutions of our General
Convention."
Instead of being put to death on April 16, Abdur'Rahman, 68, will spend the
rest of his life in prison for the 1986 Nashville stabbings that killed Patrick
Daniels and wounded Norma Jean Norman. At the time, Abdur'Rahman went by the
name James L. Jones Jr.
Abdur'Rahman's defense attorney Brad MacLean and Davidson County District
Attorney Glenn Funk argued Wednesday that racial bias and misconduct by a
prosecutor tainted Abdur'Rahman's 1987 murder trial. The judge agreed Friday to
the deal the attorneys struck to vacate his death sentence.
After 32 years of legal challenges, the victims' family members were eager for
closure. Norman's daughters said after Friday's court hearing that they
supported the deal and were relieved the case was done. Daniels' brother told
the district attorney he would have liked to see the execution carried out. In
a separate comment, he said he wanted the case to be over.
The judge's decision thrilled the Very Rev. Timothy Kimbrough, who is the dean
and rector of Christ Church Cathedral in Nashville. He was one of the
Episcopalians in court Wednesday for Abdur'Rahman's initial hearing and one of
his visitors.
"I'm grateful for the life spared," Kimbrough said, talking on the phone Friday
while traveling out of state. "I'm grateful for the building precedent that
would erase the pretext of racism as an opportunity to expedite justice when
other means might have been pursued."
Many of the Episcopalians who have supported Abdur'Rahman during his 32 years
behind bars and other men on Tennessee's death row are connected to Christ
Church Cathedral. Since the state resumed executions just over a year ago, they
have shown up along with people of other faiths to the vigils held outside
Riverbend prison on execution nights.
"I believe that the work with those who are on death row and the call for
Christians to be about that work has little to do with guilt or innocence, but
everything to do with human dignity and the gospel prerogative of a 2nd
chance," Kimbrough said.
Ed Miller, a member of the Episcopal cathedral, is one of Abdur'Rahman's weekly
visitors and an attorney who worked on his clemency petition.
He was inspired to get involved after hearing Roman Catholic nun and death
penalty abolitionist Helen Prejean speak at his church. He read her books,
"Dead Man Walking" and "The Death of Innocents," too.
The Rev. Joe Ingle, a United Church of Christ minister who helps coordinate
visitors for inmates on Tennessee's death row and also regularly attends
worship services at Christ Church Cathedral, connected Miller with
Abdur'Rahman.
The relationship Miller built with Abdur'Rahman during those weekly visits
contributed to the inmate's decision to join the Episcopal Church, said Miller,
who calls Abdur'Rahman "brother."
On Oct. 15, 2014, Bauerschmidt confirmed Abdur'Rahman during a special service
held in the library building on Riverbend's death row unit. Kimbrough and
Miller were in attendance, too.
Abdur'Rahman had a chance to thank everyone and sing a song.
"Abu has a gorgeous voice," said Miller, talking on the phone Friday while
traveling out of state. "By the time he finished singing 'Amazing Grace' there
was not a person in that room who did not have tears in his or her eyes. It was
just absolutely amazing."
Linda Manning was there, too.
"It was incredibly powerful — one of the most profound spiritual moments I've
participated in my life," said Manning, who grew up in the Episcopal Church but
is now a Buddhist practitioner.
For 19 years, she has served as Abdur'Rahman's spiritual adviser. Manning was
protesting the state resuming the carrying out of death sentences in 2000 when
she found out that Abdur-Rahman did not have anyone to visit him as his own
execution date loomed.
Spiritual adviser was a role Manning initially thought would last only 6
months, but Abdur'Rahman's execution was delayed and their relationship has
continued for years.
She called Abdur'Rahman a deeply spiritual man who has explored religious
practices behind bars. In 1988, he converted to Islam.
"It’s been quite a journey. I’m very grateful for it. Abu feels like family to
me. I have learned a great deal from him about many things, but certainly about
faith and hope and confidence in the spiritual arc in his life," Manning said.
"He has never lost hope, and today that was confirmed for him."
She thinks far more should be done to care for victims, but Manning does not
think it is mutually exclusive with caring for prisoners.
"I truly believe that the way our criminal justice system currently operates,
we are very unkind to victims having them go through this, in Abdur'Rahman's
case, 32-year process," Manning said. "They are still trying to cope with what
is happening to them and there is no final outcome."
She does not think caring for prisoners takes anything away from caring for
victims.
"What we need to focus on for everyone involved is healing," Manning said.
(source: The Tennessean)
CALIFORNIA:
Families confront cop killer sentenced to death for shooting 2: 'I hope you
burn in hell'
A California man was sentenced to death Friday for the “planned and calculated”
killings of 2 Palm Springs police officers during a standoff in 2016, according
to reports.
John Hernandez Felix fatally shot Officers Jose "Gil" Vega and Lesley Zerebny
and injured several others with an AR-15 rifle when they responded to his home
on a domestic violence call, authorities have said.
“Mr. Felix, there’s not much I can say that hasn’t already been said," the
judge said as Felix sat in silence. "Your calloused actions ruined many lives.
I hope that what little was done here today will bring some peace to these
families," the Desert Sun reported.
Last spring, a jury found Felix guilty on 2 counts of 1st-degree murder and the
attempted murder of 6 other officers. They recommended the death penalty. He
was additionally sentenced to 368 years to life for the murders.
"I hope he suffers," Zerebny's sister, Britta Kling, said in court while asking
the judge to uphold the jury’s recommendation, the Desert Sun reported. "You
can’t sufficiently sentence him for what he has done."
"You're gonna be sitting in that cage for a long time," Zerebny's father, David
Kling, told the killer. "My only message to you is, 'I hope you burn in hell,
Felix.'"
(source: Fox News)
OREGON:
State appeals reversal of McAnulty conviction----Angela McAnulty pleaded guilty
to killing her daughter Jeanette Maples in 2011, and a retired judge from
Malheur County tossed out McAnulty’s conviction last month.
The State of Oregon is appealing a judge’s decision to toss out the conviction
and sentencing of a Eugene woman who pleaded guilty to torturing and killing
her 15-year-old daughter in 2009.
The Oregonian/OregonLive reports that the appeal, which was filed in court on
Friday, aims to prevent Angela McAnulty from getting a new trial.
The Oregon Department of Justice didn't file arguments behind their decision to
appeal, The Oregonian reports.
McAnulty was the only woman on death row in Oregon. She pleaded guilty to
killing her daughter Jeanette Maples in 2011, and a retired judge from Malheur
County tossed out McAnulty’s conviction last month.
Senior Circuit Court Judge J. Burdette Pratt said McAnulty should get a new
trial because her attorneys failed to adequately represent or advise her during
her trial.
Kenneth Hadley, who was part of her defense team, said they only had a month
and a half to prepare and felt rushed.
“I thought that was terribly unfair,” Hadley said.
'THERE IS A LOT OF WORK TO DO': MCANULTY CASE A TRAGIC REMINDER FOR CHILD
WELFARE ADVOCATE
Hadley said prosecutors did not give McAnulty a plea deal, unlike her husband.
He said McAnulty pleading guilty with the death penalty still on the table was
meant to show the jury that she was taking responsibility for her actions and
was shocked when the jury came back with the death penalty verdict.
Hadley said they brought up her childhood trauma and mental illness during the
sentencing phase, but court records filed on McAnulty claim only a fraction of
the available evidence was presented.
When reversing McAnulty’s conviction, Pratt noted that the evidence in the
crime was “particularly gruesome."
According to prosecutors, McAnulty singled out her daughter Jeanette Maples to
beat and starve while allowing her other 2 children to eat. (source: KEZI TV
news)
US MILITARY:
Death penalty trial date set for alleged September 11 attackers----Judge says
long-awaited trial will face 'a host of administrative and logistics
challenges' with torture being a factor.
Alleged September 11 plotter Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and 4 others held at the
Guantanamo Bay prison camp will finally go to trial in 2021, almost 20 years
after the devastating attack on the United States involving hijacked airliners.
A military judge set a January 2021 date for the start of the long-stalled war
crimes trial of the 5 men being held at Guantanamo Bay on charges of planning
and aiding the September 11 attacks, which led to a US invasion of and 18-year
war in Afghanistan.
Mohammed, Walid bin Attash, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, Ammar al-Baluchi, and Mustafa
al-Hawsawi are accused of planning and participating in the plot - allegedly
hatched by al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden - to hijack four airliners and crash
them into New York City's World Trade Center and buildings in Washington, DC.
2 of the planes struck the World Trade Center's twin towers, another hit the
Pentagon, and a 4th crashed into a field in Pennsylvania killing nearly 3,000
people on September 11, 2001.
"We've been wanting a date for a very long time," Terry Strada, whose husband
Tom was killed in the attack, told the New York Times. "This is good news. I
certainly hope nothing will happen between now and then to change this. The
families have suffered long enough."
'War on terror'
Judge Shane Cohen, an Air Force colonel, set the start date in a case that has
been bogged down in pretrial litigation for years.
Cohen said the trial at the US military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, "will
face a host of administrative and logistics challenges".
The five will be the first to go on trial in the "military commissions"
established to handle the "war on terror" detainees captured and sent to
Guantanamo after September 11.
The five were formally charged in 2012 with conspiracy, attacking civilians,
murder in violation of the law of war, aircraft hijacking and terrorism.
The men were captured in Pakistan in 2002-2003 and moved to Guantanamo Bay
prison after spending years in clandestine CIA detention facilities where they
were tortured.
The CIA subjected Mohammed to waterboarding 183 times in 2003, which former US
President George W Bush later said he personally authorised. Mohammed's lawyers
have argued that discussion of his torture is necessary for a free trial.
Karen Greenberg, director of the Center of National Security, said the
suspects' torture and their mental health conditions would be major factors in
the trial considering they face the death penalty if convicted.
"What lies at the heart of this case is is it possible to bring this case with
clean evidence - evidence that was not derived from torture," Greenberg told Al
Jazeera.
Some have questioned whether the trial will actually go forward as defence
lawyers have said they will attempt to halt the proceedings, according to the
Times.
"For a January 2021 trial date to happen, the government would have to drop its
obstructionism and produce a lot of important evidence and witnesses," James G
Connell III, Baluchi's lead defence counsel, was quoted as saying.
(source: aljazeera.com)
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