Sept. 27
ARKANSAS:
White supremacist on death row who killed three of family seeks relief, says
'junk science' gave him 'psychopath' tag ---- Daniel Lee along with Chevie
Kehoe, who wanted a whites-only country, killed the family and dumped them in
Illinois Bayou in 1999.
A man who murdered an entire Arkansas family in 1999 and is currently on death
row has now filed for relief from the sentence. Daniel Lewis Lee, 46, from
Oklahoma, had been convicted of slaying a Pope County family, which included an
8-year-old girl, along with Chevie Kehoe. The 2 were said to be white
supremacists who had wanted to steal guns and money from the family, with
ambitions to start a whites-only country in the Pacific Northwest.
The two were convicted of a number of charges, including the murders of Bill
Mueller, 53; Nancy Mueller, 28; and Sarah Powell, 8. Prosecutors from the U.S.
Department of Justice had said that Lee along with Kehoe had first shot the
three with a stun gun, covered their heads with plastic bags, and sealed them
with duct tape. He then threw the weighted bodies into the Illinois Bayou.
While Lee was given the death penalty, Kehoe was given a life sentence.
Prosecutors believed that Kehoe had been the leader of the group and Lee was
not the ring leader. A psychological evaluation said Lee was a psychopath and a
danger to others.
His lawyer Morris Moon said in a statement to MEAWW that Lee's sentence was
unconstitutional. The attorneys filed a habeas petition on September 26 and
asked the court in Indiana – which does have the power to consider these claims
– to overturn Lee’s unconstitutional death sentence and prevent him from being
executed on December 9, Moon said. Moon said the "dangerous psychopath" tag was
a result of "junk science."
“The government obtained a death sentence against Danny Lee using junk science.
It promoted the fiction that Mr. Lee was a ‘dangerous psychopath’ based on a
forensic instrument that even the government’s own trial expert now admits
lacks any scientific validity," he said in a statement. He further added that
the jury had also been misled.
“That junk science was not the only false evidence the government used to
secure a death sentence. It also misled the jury into believing that Mr. Lee
had committed a prior murder as a juvenile," he said. "The government’s
presentation about Mr. Lee’s ‘history of violence’ was not only highly
inflammatory, it was also categorically false. Court records demonstrate that a
state judge had actually dismissed the inflated murder charge against Mr. Lee
after looking at the evidence," he said.
Pointing out the fact that Kehoe was slapped with a life sentence without
parole, he said that it was also "important to remember that Mr. Lee’s
more-culpable co-defendant, Chevie Kehoe, does not face execution."
Lee's execution is back on after Attorney General William Barr's July
announcement to resume the federal death penalty. Murderers Lezmond Mitchell,
Wesley Ira Purkey, Alfred Bourgeois and Dustin Lee Honken are others currently
scheduled to be executed.
(source: meaww.com)
********************
Arkansas judge asks that bid to reassign cases get tossed
An Arkansas judge who demonstrated against the death penalty is asking the
state Supreme Court to dismiss the attorney general's request to prohibit the
judge from hearing cases involving her office.
Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen told the state Supreme Court
Thursday that the request by Attorney General Leslie Rutledge to reassign the
civil cases is a "blatant attempt" to defy Arkansas' constitution and its
process for investigating complaints against judges. Rutledge has accused
Griffen of regularly demonstrating bias against her staff in his court.
Griffen was prohibited from handling execution cases in April 2017 after he was
photographed participating in a death penalty demonstration the same day he
blocked Arkansas from using a lethal injection drug. The court last week
rejected Griffen's request to resume hearing execution cases.
(source: Associated Press)
MISSOURI----impending execution
Missouri Governor Is Last Hope For Death Row Inmate
Missouri is scheduled to execute Russell Bucklew by lethal injection on
Tuesday, but his advocates want Gov. Mike Parson to stop it because they say a
medical condition would make him endure needless pain.
The Cape Girardeau man was convicted of murder, rape and kidnapping in 1997.
His lawyers and advocates are not challenging his guilt, but instead say
Bucklew’s rare medical condition would cause him to suffer a cruel and unusual
punishment. Bucklew has a condition that causes blood-filled tumors to grow in
his head, neck and throat. A medical exam completed by Joel Zivot, an associate
professorat Emory University’s School of Medicine, concluded that Bucklew had a
“very high risk” of choking to death on his own blood if executed by lethal
injection. This could happen as a result of his tumors rupturing, and Bucklew
“would experience feelings of suffocation and extreme and excruciating pain.”
Bucklew requested alternate means of execution, suggesting death by gas chamber
instead. The request made it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where it
was denied in April.
“The United States Supreme Court said that he’s not entitled to any different
kind of execution than anybody else would be, and so that execution is set to
be carried out on Oct. 1,” said Attorney General Eric Schmitt, who argued the
state’s case.
Missouri doesn’t have a working gas chamber and hasn’t used any other form of
execution since 1989. Schmitt said that’s why the Supreme Court issued its
ruling.
“The Supreme Court weighed in on that specifically,” he said. “That someone
who’s committed heinous acts of violence and killed other human beings isn’t
entitled to pick the execution method.”
Parson’s office released a statement that said “the Governor takes seriously
both his duty and responsibility to see that lawfully entered capital sentences
are carried out in accordance with state law. Each case of capital punishment
will be thoroughly reviewed before any decision for pardon or clemency is made.
Governor Parson has consistently supported capital punishment when merited by
the circumstances and all other legal remedies have been exhausted and when due
process has been satisfied.”
The ACLU and Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (MADP) collected
roughly 70,000 signatures on a Change.org petition to stop Bucklew’s execution,
which they call “torturous.” The petition was given to Parson’s office on
Thursday.
“The application of the death penalty is not going to bring justice for the
murder that occured,” said Elyse Max with MADP.
Missouri NAACP President Nimrod Chapel said if Bucklew is executed by lethal
injection, this will likely become a much bigger issue.
“As I understand it, there will be an international inquiry as to whether
Missouri has violated human rights laws by executing a man in Mr. Bucklew’s
condition,” he said.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in Washington D.C., has also been
advocating for Bucklew’s clemency.
Max and Chapel said the governor’s staff has met with advocates of Bucklew.
They say they are remaining hopeful Parson will grant clemency.
“He’s got the job of being a backstop to the courts when the courts are trying
to make our state implicit in this inhumane act,” said Max. “I don’t think that
he probably wants Missouri to be a stain for the nation in this way."
The last execution in Missouri took place in January 2017.
(source: news.stlpublicradio.org)
*****************
Advocates rally to spare Missouri death row inmate Russell Bucklew
Advocates have delivered more than 57,000 petition signatures asking Missouri
Gov. Mike Parson to stop the execution of a convicted killer with a rare
medical condition.
About 20 protesters rallied Thursday at the Capitol to save Russell Bucklew.
Several repeated “this is not what we stand for in Missouri” while delivering
petitions.
Bucklew is scheduled to die Oct. 1.
He suffers from cavernous hemangioma, causing blood-filled tumors in his head,
neck, and throat. His attorneys say a tracheostomy tube he needs to breathe
increases the risk that he could choke on his blood if tumors rupture during
his execution.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in April that the execution could proceed. A
spokeswoman for the Republican governor has said Parson supports capital
punishment but will examine the clemency request.
(source: Associated Press)
***********************
Prosecutor on Bucklew case speaks out on pending execution ---- Mo. set to
execute death row inmate
There are new details on the planned execution of Russell Bucklew, the man
behind a brutal Cape Girardeau County crime spree in 1996.
Bucklew’s execution date is scheduled for Oct. 1. Advocates are speaking out
against it.
Bucklew is set to die for killing Michael Sanders in March 1996, then
kidnapping and raping his ex-girlfriend, who was dating Sanders at the time.
He's been granted a stay before. Twice because of a rare medical condition that
his attorneys argue would cause Bucklew to suffer if he dies by lethal
injection.
However, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against him last fall.
Morley Swingle who prosecuted Bucklew said it appears Bucklew's only chance of
avoiding the death penalty is to be granted clemency by Governor Mike Parson.
Swingle will be a witness to Bucklew’s execution.
(source: KFVS news)
OKLAHOMA:
Court upholds death penalty in Oklahoma woman's fiery death
The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals has upheld the death penalty given a man
convicted of setting his girlfriend on fire, causing her death.
The court Thursday handed down the ruling to 36-year-old Donnie Harris of
Talihina, who was convicted of first-degree murder for the death of 25-year-old
Kristi Ferguson of Pocola.
Among other things, the court rejected claims that Harris did not receive a
fair trial.
Harris was accused of dowsing Ferguson with gasoline and setting her on fire on
Feb. 18, 2012. She suffered second- and third-degree burns over 50% of her body
and died 19 days later.
A Le Flore County jury convicted Harris and recommended the death penalty after
finding the murder especially heinous, atrocious or cruel.
Harris' attorney, Kristi Christopher, declined comment on the ruling.
(source: Associated Press)
USA:
Trump caught on audio suggesting the death penalty for Ukraine whistleblower at
private meeting: report
President Donald Trump was caught on tape suggesting that the whistleblower who
filed a complaint against him should be executed.
The Los Angeles Times reports that the president spoke at a private breakfast
on Thursday at the Intercontinental Hotel in New York City in which he likened
the Ukraine whistleblower to a “spy” and suggested that he receive the death
penalty for filing his complaint.
“I want to know who’s the person, who’s the person who gave the whistle-blower
the information? Because that’s close to a spy,” Trump said. “You know what we
used to do in the old days when we were smart? Right? The spies and treason, we
used to handle it a little differently than we do now.”
Despite the president’s bloodthirsty rants, both the intelligence community
inspector general and the acting director of national intelligence have said
that the whistleblower followed all proper protocols in filing his complaint.
Trump also ranted against the “scum” in the media during his remarks, according
to the report.
“You know, these animals in the press,” Trump said. “They’re animals, some of
the worst human beings you’ll ever meet… They’re scum. Many of them are scum,
and then you have some good reporters, but not many of them, I’ll be honest
with you.”
(source: rawstory.com)
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