[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ALABAMA
May 16 ALABAMAimpending execution Defense: Alabama governor denies reprieve before execution Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey refused a reprieve for an inmate set for execution Thursday night for a quadruple killing that occurred after a dispute over a pickup truck, the prisoner's lawyer said. The decision apparently cleared the way for Michael Brandon Samra to be put to death by lethal injection since the defense said it doesn't plan to file last-minute appeals. A lawyer for Samra, Steven Sears, said he received the denial from Gov. Ivey's office about eight hours before execution, set for a state prison in Atmore. Ivey's staff did not respond to an email seeking comment. Samra was convicted of capital murder in the killing of two adults and two young girls near Birmingham in 1997. Evidence showed the slayings stemmed from a friend's argument with his father over a pickup truck. The clemency request highlighted that Samra, 41, was only 19 at the time of the killings. Samra and a friend, Mark Duke, were convicted of capital murder in the deaths of Duke's father, the father's girlfriend and the woman's two elementary-age daughters in 1997. The two adults were shot and the children had their throats slit. Evidence showed Duke planned the killings because he was angry that his father wouldn't let him use his pickup. Duke and Samra were both originally convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death, but Duke's sentence was overturned because he was 16 at the time of the killings and the Supreme Court later banned executing inmates younger than 18 at the time of their crimes. Samra was 19 at the time and asked the U.S. Supreme Court to delay his execution while the Kentucky Supreme Court considers whether anyone younger than 21 at the time of a crime should be put to death, but the justices refused . The request for a gubernatorial reprieve was based on similar grounds. It also said Duke was more to blame for the killings than Samra. Court documents show Duke and Samra killed the four at a home in Pelham, a Birmingham suburb, on March 23, 1997. The day before, Mark Duke and his father, Randy Duke, got into a heated argument over the man's refusal to let the son borrow his truck. After enlisting friends to help, Mark Duke killed his father with a gunshot to the face and Samra shot the man's girlfriend, Dedra Mims Hunt, who survived and fled to another part of the house. Mark Duke found the woman in a bathroom and shot her, court documents show. Out of bullets, he then used a knife to slit the throat of the woman's 6-year-old daughter, Chelisa Hunt. Samra cut the throat of the woman's 7-year-old daughter, Chelsea Hunt, as she begged for mercy while Duke held the child down. In a letter to the governor seeking mercy for the inmate, Samra's lawyer said his client confessed to the slayings, expressed remorse and participated only at Mark Duke's request. Two other men who were teenage friends of Samra and Mark Duke at the time of the killings served prison sentences for lesser roles. David Layne Collums and Michael Lafayette Ellison, both now 39, were accused of helping plan and cover-up the killings. Another execution is scheduled Thursday in Tennessee , that of 68-year-old Don Johnson, who was condemned to die for the 1984 suffocation of his wife. (source: Associated Press) ___ A service courtesy of Washburn University School of Law www.washburnlaw.edu DeathPenalty mailing list DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty Unsubscribe: http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/options/deathpenalty
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ALABAMA
April 12 ALABAMA: Over 3 A.M. Dissent, Supreme Court Says Alabama Execution May Proceed A bitterly divided Supreme Court ruled early Friday morning that the execution of an Alabama death row inmate could proceed. The vote was 5 to 4. Justice Stephen G. Breyer’s anguished dissent, issued around 3 a.m., said the majority had denied his request that the execution be delayed so that the justices could discuss the matter at their scheduled private conference on Friday morning. That was a rare glimpse into deliberations that are ordinarily secret. The dispute among the justices lasted long enough that Alabama officials called off the execution of the inmate, Christopher L. Price, which had been scheduled for Thursday night. They said a new execution date will be set. “To proceed in this way calls into question the basic principles of fairness that should underlie our criminal justice system,” Justice Breyer wrote. “To proceed in this matter in the middle of the night without giving all members of the court the opportunity for discussion tomorrow morning is, I believe, unfortunate.” The majority, in a brief unsigned opinion, said Mr. Price had waited too long to raise his claim that Alabama’s method of execution, a lethal injection of three chemicals, could subject him to excruciating pain. Mr. Price asked to be executed using nitrogen gas, a method allowed by Alabama law. The case is the latest example of an increasingly rancorous divide on the Supreme Court over the death penalty, with conservative justices frustrated over what they considered excessive delays in carrying out executions. The liberal justices, on the other hand, have accused the majority of reckless haste that could give rise to pain amounting to torture. The replacement of Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, who was a moderating force in capital cases, with the more conservative Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh has hardened the divide between the two sides. This term’s major cases will be decided in the coming months and similar angry splits are likely. Mr. Price and an accomplice were convicted of using a sword and dagger to kill William Lynn, a minister, in his home in Bazemore, Ala., in 1991 while he was preparing Christmas presents for his grandchildren. The pastor’s wife, Bessie Lynn, was badly wounded in the attack but survived. Mr. Price admitted to participating in robbing the couple but claimed that only his accomplice had harmed them. In June, Alabama gave death row inmates 30 days to choose nitrogen hypoxia, which deprives the body of oxygen, as the way they would be executed, and Mr. Price had failed to do so. The majority said that was the end of the matter. Lower courts entered stays of execution on Thursday, citing new evidence and questions about jurisdiction. Around 9 p.m. on Thursday, Alabama officials asked the Supreme Court to lift the stays. It agreed about six hours later. Earlier this month, in rejecting a challenge from a Missouri inmate about how he was to be put to death, Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, writing for a five-justice majority, said “courts should police carefully against attempts to use such challenges as tools to interpose unjustified delay.” That decision followed a 5-to-4 ruling in February to allow the execution of a Muslim inmate in Alabama after his request to have his imam be present was denied, with the majority saying he should have asked sooner. In dissent, Justice Elena Kagan wrote that the majority was “profoundly wrong.” In March, the court stayed the execution of a Buddhist inmate in Texas in similar circumstances, over two noted dissents, with the majority apparently satisfied that the request had been timely. In his seven-page dissent on Friday, Justice Breyer reviewed the proceedings in Mr. Price’s case and said undue haste had undermined justice. Justices Kagan, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor joined his dissent in the case, Dunn v. Price, No. 18A1053. “Should anyone doubt that death sentences in the United States can be carried out in an arbitrary way,” Justice Breyer wrote, “let that person review the following circumstances as they have been presented to our court this evening.” He said his colleagues had turned away his request to discuss the matter in person. Late-night rulings on death penalty stay applications are not unheard-of, but they are seldom issued in the predawn hours. Sign Up for On Politics With Lisa Lerer A spotlight on the people reshaping our politics. A conversation with voters across the country. And a guiding hand through the endless news cycle, telling you what you really need to know. “I requested that the court take no action until tomorrow, when the matter could be discussed at conference,” he wrote, referring to a private meeting that is regularly scheduled for most Friday mornings during the court’s term. “I recognized that my request would delay resolution of the application
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ALABAMA, USA
February 7 ALABAMAexecution Alabama executes inmate who wanted imam present A Muslim inmate who complained in a legal challenge that Alabama wouldn't let his Islamic spiritual adviser be present in the execution chamber has been put to death after the nation's highest court cleared the way. Authorities say 42-year-old Dominique Ray was pronounced dead Thursday night of a lethal injection at the state prison in Atmore. Ray's attorneys had challenged Alabama's execution procedure, saying it favors Christian inmates because a Christian chaplain employed by the prison typically is in the chamber during an execution. Ray requested an imam instead but that was denied. The state said it refuses to let a non-prison employee into the execution room, but agreed not to have the chaplain present. Ray's spiritual adviser watched from an adjoining witness room. The U.S. Supreme Court overruled a lower court decision Wednesday staying the execution plans. Ray was convicted of the 1995 murder of 15-year-old Tiffany Harville. Ray becomes the 1st condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Alabama and the 64th overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 1983. Ray becomes the 2nd condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1, 492nd overall since the nation resumed executions on Janaury 17, 1977, about 7 months after the US Supreme Court re-legalized the death penalty nationwide in its July 2, 1976 Gregg v Georgia decision. (sources: Associated Press & Rick Halperin) *** USAcountdown to nation's 1500th execution With the execution of Dominique Ray in Alabama on February 7, the USA has now executed 1,492 condemned individuals since the death penalty was relegalized on July 2, 1976 in the US Supreme Court Gregg v Georgia decision. Gary Gilmore was the first perons executed, in Utah, on January 17, 1977. Below is a list of scheduled executions as the nation approaches a terrible milestone of 1500 executions in the modern era. NOTE: The list is likely to change over the coming months as new execution dates are added and possible stays of execution occur. 1493---Feb. 28Billy CobleTexas 1494---Mar. 28Patrick MurphyTexas 1495---Apr. 11Mark RobertsonTexas 1496---Apr. 24John King--Texas 1497---May 2--Dexter JohnsonTexas 1498---May 16-Donnie Johnson---Tennessee 1499---May 29-Cleveland JacksonOhio 1500---July 10--Kareem Jackson--Ohio 1501---Aug. 14-Gregory Lott---Ohio (source: Rick Halperin) ___ A service courtesy of Washburn University School of Law www.washburnlaw.edu DeathPenalty mailing list DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty Unsubscribe: http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/options/deathpenalty
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ALABAMA
February 7 ALABAMAstay of execution lifted Supreme Court: Execution of Muslim inmate can proceed The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday rejected claims from a Muslim inmate who said his religious rights were being violated, clearing the way for the lethal injection to go forward Thursday night. In a 5-4 decision, justices vacated a stay issued by a lower court that had been blocking the execution of Dominique Ray, 42. Ray argued Alabama's execution procedure favors Christian inmates because a Christian chaplain employed by the prison typically remains in the execution chamber during a lethal injection, but the state would not let his imam be present. Justice Elena Kagan wrote in a dissent that the dissenting justice considered the decision to let the execution go forward "profoundly wrong." Attorneys for the state said Ray had ample opportunity to visit with his imam before his scheduled execution, that only prison employees are allowed in the chamber for security reasons, and that the imam can visit him before he's led to the execution chamber and witness the execution from an adjoining room. Prison system spokesman Bob Horton said Ray was visited by his imam both Wednesday and Thursday and that Ray again renewed a request to have the adviser present — the request that has been denied. Other states generally allow spiritual advisers to accompany condemned inmates up to the execution chamber but not into it, said Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, which studies capital punishment in the United States. Durham said did not know of any other state where the execution protocol calls for a Christian chaplain to be present in the execution chamber. Ray was sentenced to death for the slaying of 15-year-old Tiffany Harville. The girl disappeared from her Selma home in July 1995, and her decomposing body was found in a cotton field a month later. Ray was convicted in 1999 after another man, Marcus Owden, confessed to his role in the crime and implicated Ray. Owden told police that they had picked the girl up for a night out on the town and then raped her. Owden said that Ray cut the girl's throat. Owden pleaded guilty to murder, testified against Ray and is serving a life sentence without parole. A jury recommended the death penalty for Ray by an 11-1 vote. Ray's attorneys had also asked in legal filings to stay the execution on other grounds. Lawyers say it was not disclosed to the defense team that records from a state psychiatric facility suggested Owden suffered from schizophrenia and delusions. The Supreme Court also rejected that claim Thursday. (source: Associated Press) ___ A service courtesy of Washburn University School of Law www.washburnlaw.edu DeathPenalty mailing list DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty Unsubscribe: http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/options/deathpenalty
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ALABAMA
February 6 ALABAMA: Court grants Muslim death row inmate stay of execution The U.S. Court of Appeals has granted a stay of execution for a Muslim death row inmate in Alabama as he continues his ongoing bid to have an imam present at his execution. Domineque Ray on Monday motioned the U.S. Court of Appeals for a stay after a federal district court judge denied a stay last week. The absence of his imam in Alabama's death chamber would violate his constitutional rights, as the state has an established practice of including a Christian prison chaplain in previous executions, Ray's lawyers argued in court filings. Ray was sentenced to death for the 1995 rape and fatal stabbing of 15-year-old Tiffany Harville of Selma. Months before his death penalty trial, he was sentenced to life for a 1994 slaying of two teen brothers, The Associated Press reports. (source: Montgomery Advertiser) ___ A service courtesy of Washburn University School of Law www.washburnlaw.edu DeathPenalty mailing list DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty Unsubscribe: http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/options/deathpenalty
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ALABAMA
April 19 ALABAMAexecution Walter Leroy Moody executed for 1989 murder of federal judge Walter Leroy Moody has been executed for the 1989 murder of a federal judge, the office of Gov. Kay Ivey confirms. Earlier Thursday evening the U.S. Supreme Court lifted a stay of execution that temporarily halted Alabama's execution of Walter Leroy Moody, Jr. The order cleared the way for the execution to proceed. Ivey released the following statement after the sentence was carried out: I approach every execution by giving the condemned, and the issues raised by the underlying case, the careful consideration both deserve. My ultimate desire is to see justice rightly administered. “Mr. Moody was convicted of killing Federal Judge Robert Vance and severely injuring Judge Vance’s wife with a bomb purposefully created to kill and maim. The crimes committed by Mr. Moody were intentional, well-planned and aimed at inflicting the most possible harm. A jury found him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt and his conviction has been upheld at every level of the judicial system. “For our system of government to work properly, the judiciary must be able to operate without undue outside influence. By targeting and murdering a respected jurist, Mr. Moody not only committed capital murder, he also sought to interrupt the flow of justice. After considering the facts of his horrendous and intentional crime, I have allowed Mr. Moody’s sentence to be carried out in accordance with the laws of this state and in the interest of ensuring justice for the victim and his family. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall also released a statement after the execution: Nearly 30 years ago, 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Robert Vance was brutally slain when a pipe bomb sent to his Birmingham home exploded. Walter Leroy Moody was convicted of Judge Vance’s murder in both federal and state courts. Even though he was also convicted of a similar pipe bomb death of a Georgia attorney, Moody has spent the better part of three decades trying to avoid justice. Tonight, Mr. Moody’s appeals finally came to a rightful end. Justice has been served. The 83-year-old had appealed to the nation's highest court, citing vein issues as his execution loomed. A package bomber who created a wave of terror across the South in the 1980s, Moody was executed by lethal injection at Holman Correctional Facility. The execution was slated to happen nearly 30 years after Moody killed Robert S. Vance, a federal judge, with a bomb mailed to his home. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, Moody was the oldest inmate put to death in the United States in modern times. Moody was also convicted in federal court of killing a black civil rights attorney from Savannah, Georgia, and mailing a bomb to a civil rights organization. Moody becomes the 2nd condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Alabama and the 63rd overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 1983. Moody becomes the 8th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1473rd overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977. (sources: Associated Press & Rick Halperin) ___ A service courtesy of Washburn University School of Law www.washburnlaw.edu DeathPenalty mailing list DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty Unsubscribe: http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/options/deathpenalty
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ALABAMA
April 19 ALABAMA: Execution of Walter Moody for judge’s mail-bomb slaying is stayed temporarily Our news partner AL.com reports that the U.S. Supreme Court has issued a temporary stay of the execution, according to the Alabama Department of Corrections. Temporary stays in recent executions have generally delayed execution until later in the evening. Alabama must execute, or begin the execution, before midnight or face having to go to the Alabama Supreme Court to set a new execution date because the death warrant is only good for one day. Previous story: An inmate convicted in the mail-bomb death of a federal judge killed during a wave of Southern terror in 1989 was scheduled to be executed Thursday as the oldest prisoner put to death in the United States in modern times. Walter Leroy Moody Jr., 83, is scheduled to receive a lethal injection Thursday evening. At his 1996 trial, prosecutors described Moody as a meticulous coward who committed murder by mail because of his obsession with getting revenge on the legal system, and then committed more package bombings to make it look like the Ku Klux Klan was behind the judge’s murder. If his execution is carried out, Moody will be the oldest inmate put to death since executions resumed in the U.S. in the 1970s, according to the non-profit Death Penalty Information Center. His attorneys have not raised his age in legal filings, but have argued in a clemency petition to Alabama’s governor that his age and health would complicate the lethal injection procedure. Judge Robert S. Vance, a member of the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, was at his kitchen table in Mountain Brook, Alabama, on Dec. 16, 1989, when he opened a package after a morning of errands and yard work. The explosion ripped through the home near Birmingham, killing Vance instantly and severely injuring his wife, Helen. Prosecutors said Moody, who had attended law school, had a grudge against the legal system because the 11th Circuit refused to overturn a 1972 pipe-bomb possession conviction that prevented him from practicing law. Authorities said Moody mailed out a total of four package bombs in December 1989. A device linked to Moody killed Robert E. Robinson, a black civil rights attorney from Savannah, Georgia. Two other mail bombs were later intercepted and defused, including one at an NAACP office in Jacksonville, Florida. Authorities said those bombs were meant to make investigators think the crimes were racially motivated. Moody was first convicted in 1991 in federal court and sentenced to seven life terms plus 400 years. He was later convicted in state court in 1996 and sentenced to death for Vance’s murder. Moody’s attorneys asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stay his execution in order to review whether his federal sentence, which was handed down first, can be interrupted. They also argued that the aggravating factors used to impose a death sentence were improper. Separately, Moody’s lawyer asked the Alabama Supreme Court to block the lethal injection arguing that an emergency medical technician who assessed Moody on Wednesday told the inmate he had “spider veins” and seemed concerned. Alabama halted an execution last month after workers couldn’t find a usable vein on a 61-year-old inmate. Vance’s son, Robert Vance Jr., now a circuit judge in Jefferson County and Democratic candidate for chief justice in Alabama, said it’s important that people remember how his father lived, not just how he died. “He was a great judge, a great lawyer before that, and a great father,” he said. Friends said the senior Vance quietly fought for the rights of underprivileged as both a jurist and a politician. As chairman of the Alabama Democratic Party in the 1960s and early 1970s, Vance worked to bring African-Americans into the party and fought then-Gov. George C. Wallace’s and other segregationists effort to control the party machinery, said Al LaPierre, who worked for Vance in the 1970s. “He believed the Democratic Party should be open and not be the party of George Wallace and the Dixiecrats,” LaPierre said. Moody had sent a letter from death row to the younger Vance claiming he was the innocent victim of a government conspiracy. “Had my Dad been murdered, I would want to know who had done it,” Moody wrote. Vance said he tossed the letter in the trash. The younger Vance, who does not plan to witness the execution, said he had to make peace with his father’s death, but said he has no doubt that Moody is guilty. Moody, he said, fits the definition of a psychopath. In the effort to spare his life, Moody’s attorneys have raised his victim’s personal opposition to the death penalty in their request for clemency from Gov. Kay Ivey. “The murder of Judge Vance was unprovoked and inexcusable. Judge Vance was, by all accounts, a devoted husband, caring father, and remarkable jurist. He was also, by
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ALABAMA
Feb. 23 ALABAMAexecution postponed Execution of Alabama inmate Doyle Lee Hamm called off Doyle Lee Hamm survived his date with the executioner Thursday, as Alabama was unable to begin the procedure before the death warrant expired at midnight. Hamm, 61, was convicted of killing Cullman hotel clerk Patrick Cunningham in January 1987. Recent appeals in his case involved the question of whether cancer had left him healthy enough to be executed without excessive suffering. Thursday night's execution originally was set for 6 p.m. A temporary stay from the U.S. Supreme Court was lifted at about 9 p.m., leaving the state clear to proceed. But from that point, things moved slowly. It was 10 p.m. before media observers and other witnesses were transferred to Holman Correctional Facility. Once on site, they were kept in vehicles outside the actual death row facilities. Such waits are not unusual, but this one lasted well over an hour. Shortly before 11:30 p.m., Department of Corrections officials and guards could be seen conferring, though it was not immediately clear what was happening. There's a recent precedent for late executions: That of Tommy Arthur, in May 2017, began only a few minutes before midnight, the time when Alabama's death warrants expire. Arthur's time of death actually was after midnight, but the warrants only specify that the process must begin before midnight. (source: al.com) ___ A service courtesy of Washburn University School of Law www.washburnlaw.edu DeathPenalty mailing list DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty Unsubscribe: http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/options/deathpenalty
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ALABAMA
Feb. 22 ALABAMA: Court lifts stay, state proceeding with execution of Alabama inmate Doyle Lee Hamm The U.S. Supreme Court has lifted its temporary stay of execution of Doyle Lee Hamm. Preparations are being made and the execution is expected to proceed in about 45 minutes. Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor dissented in lifting stay and consideration of certiorari - or review of the case. Justice Breyer respected denial but says "rather than develop a "constitutional jurisprudence that focuses upon the special circumstances of the aged," he would reconsider constitutionality of death penalty itself. (source: al.com) ___ A service courtesy of Washburn University School of Law www.washburnlaw.edu DeathPenalty mailing list DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty Unsubscribe: http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/options/deathpenalty
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ALABAMA
Jan. 25 ALABAMA: U.S. Supreme Court halts execution of Alabama man for 1985 murder David Beasley The U.S. Supreme Court halted the planned execution on Thursday of an Alabama man convicted of murdering a police officer in 1985 after attorneys petitioned to spare the man’s life, arguing that he had suffered several strokes that left him unable to remember the crime. Vernon Madison, 67, has spent more than 3 decades on death row for killing Mobile police officer Julius Schulte. In the appeal this week, Madison’s lawyers said he is not competent to be executed because he is legally blind, cannot walk without assistance and is unable to recall the murder or understand his punishment. ”His mind and body are failing,” lawyers wrote in the petition. Alabama prison spokesman Bob Horton said the state will not execute Madison as planned because of the U.S. Supreme Court order. “The application for stay of execution of sentence of death presented to Justice Thomas and by him referred to the Court is granted pending the disposition of the petition for a writ of certiorari,” the Supreme Court said, without elaborating on the reason for its decision. In 2016, the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Madison was no longer legally eligible to be executed because of his memory loss. But the U.S. Supreme Court in November reversed that decision, saying court precedent had not established “that a prisoner is incompetent to be executed because of a failure to remember his commission of the crime.” Madison’s attorneys asked justices to reconsider the case. They said in their petition that the state failed to disclose that a court-appointed psychologist who evaluated Madison was addicted to narcotics and had been suspended from his practice for forging prescriptions, making his findings invalid. Lawyers for Alabama argue that Madison’s own expert witness has testified that he understands what he was tried for and “the meaning of a death sentence.” According to court records, Madison killed Schulte during a domestic dispute that Madison was having with his girlfriend. Madison appeared to leave his girlfriend’s home after retrieving his belongings, but then crept up behind Schulte as he sat in his patrol car and shot him twice in the back of the head with a .32-caliber pistol. Madison, who is black, was sentenced to death in 1994 in his third trial after his first two convictions were thrown out on appeal for racial discrimination in jury selection and other prosecutorial misconduct. (source: Reuters) ___ A service courtesy of Washburn University School of Law www.washburnlaw.edu DeathPenalty mailing list DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty Unsubscribe: http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/options/deathpenalty
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ALABAMA
Oct. 19 ALABAMAexecution Alabamna executes Torrey Twane McNabb Following last-minute court challenges, Alabama carried the execution Thursday evening of Torrey Twane McNabb, convicted of killing a Montgomery police officer in 1997. McNabb's attorneys filed appeals in the case throughout Thursday to halt the execution that was set for 6 p.m. at the Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore. the last stay was lifted between 8 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. McNabb's official time of death was 9:38 p.m. McNabb's final words were: "Mom, sis, look at my eyes. I'm unafraid ... To the state of Alabama, I hate you motherf***ers. I hate you. I hate you." A brief portion of his final words was unintelligible. McNabb becomes the 3rd condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Alabama and the 61st overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 1983. McNabb becomes the 21st condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1463rd overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977. The USA carried out 20 executions last year, and currently there are 6 executions scheduled nationwide in November and 1 in December. (sources: al.com & Rick Halperin) ___ A service courtesy of Washburn University School of Law www.washburnlaw.edu DeathPenalty mailing list DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty Unsubscribe: http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/options/deathpenalty
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ALABAMA
Oct. 19 ALABAMAimpending execution U.S. Supreme Court OKs execution of Montgomery cop-killer The U.S. Supreme Court has cleared the way for tonight's execution of Alabama death row inmate Torrey Twane McNabb. The execution by lethal injection is set for 6 p.m. at the Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore. McNabb, 40, who was convicted in the shooting death of a Montgomery police officer, had tonight's execution stayed by a federal judge on Monday. A three-member panel of the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday kept that stay in place. The Alabama Attorney General's Office, on behalf of the Alabama Department of Corrections, then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court late Wednesday in an effort to have the execution go on at 6 p.m. tonight. In a brief order issued just after 4 p.m. today, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered the stay be lifted, clearing the way for tonight's execution. "Alabama has already carried out four executions using this protocol," the AG stated in its appeal to the Supreme Court. "Three of those executed inmates were co-plaintiffs in this case, and their stay requests were denied by both this Court and the Eleventh Circuit." McNabb has spent the last 18 years on death row, after being convicted of fatally shooting Montgomery police officer Anderson Gordon in September 1997. McNabb was convicted on two capital murder counts-- one for killing Gordon while he was on duty, and one for killing him as Gordon sat in his patrol car. McNabb also was found guilty of two additional counts of attempted murder. (source: al.com) ___ A service courtesy of Washburn University School of Law www.washburnlaw.edu DeathPenalty mailing list DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty Unsubscribe: http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/options/deathpenalty
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ALABAMA
Oct. 19 ALABAMA: U.S. Supreme Court to consider Torrey McNabb execution The fate of an inmate convicted of murdering a Montgomery police officer 20 years ago is in the hands of the nation’s highest court. The Alabama Attorney General’s Office Wednesday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to allow Thursday’s scheduled execution of Torrey McNabb to go forward, arguing the inmate has failed to show that a challenge to the state’s method of execution is likely to succeed. “(McNabb) offered no new evidence in support of his request for a stay, essentially relying on the same allegations, expert reports, and deposition excerpts that he attached to his complaint and that have been part of the record for some time,” lawyers for the Attorney General’s Office wrote. If the high court lifts the lower court’s stay, officials will execute McNabb, 40, on Thursday evening. McNabb’s attorneys argue that should not take place before a federal district court holds hearings on the inmates’ challenge. McNabb shot Montgomery police officer Anderson Gordon III on Sept. 24, 1997 while Gordon was in a parked police car responding to an accident. McNabb fired at another officer who pursued him before police captured him. At his trial in January 1999, McNabb admitted to shooting Gordon and apologized to Gordon’s family from the witness stand. Both he and his attorneys argued that McNabb ingested a large amount of cocaine that day, which made him paranoid. The jury convicted McNabb and recommended a sentence of death. That sentence has been upheld in federal and state courts. Alabama executes condemned inmates using a three-drug lethal injection process. The inmate is first administered midazolam, which aims to render the condemned inmate unconscious. After a consciousness check, officials inject the inmate with rocuronium bromide, which paralyzes the muscles, and potassium chloride, which stops the heart. The state has executed four inmates under the protocol since the beginning of 2016. Three executions took place without visible incident. But Ronald Bert Smith gasped and coughed for 13 minutes of his 34-minute execution last December, a reaction similar to other botched executions involving midazolam. Critics say the drug cannot maintain unconsciousness in the face of high-stress events, such as an inmate’s pending execution. The inmates argue for alternative methods of execution, such as large single-dose injections of midazolam or pentobarbital. The state argues the inmates have not shown those methods would be less painful, or practical. U.S. District Judge Keith Watkins dismissed the inmates’ lawsuit last November, but the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ordered new hearings in the case last month. Citing that directive, Watkins stayed the execution of Jeffery Borden earlier this month and entered his stay of McNabb’s execution on Monday. A three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. (source: Montgomery Advertiser) ___ A service courtesy of Washburn University School of Law www.washburnlaw.edu DeathPenalty mailing list DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty Unsubscribe: http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/options/deathpenalty
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ALABAMA
Oct. 16 ALABAMAstay of impending execution Execution stayed for Alabama man convicted of killing cop A federal court granted a stay of execution for Alabama death row inmate Torrey Twane McNabb, who was scheduled to die by lethal injection on Thursday. The order was issued on Monday by Chief U.S. District Judge W. Keith Watkins of the Middle District of Alabama Northern Division. The state has appealed the stay. The execution was scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday at the Hollman Correctional Facility in Atmore. McNabb has spent the last 18 years on death row, after being convicted of fatally shooting Montgomery police officer Anderson Gordon in September 1997. McNabb was convicted on two capital murder counts-- one for killing Gordon while he was on duty, and one for killing him as Gordon sat in his patrol car. McNabb also was found guilty of two additional counts of attempted murder. McNabb's attorney John Anthony Palombi, an assistant federal defender, filed an emergency motion for stay of execution on Oct. 11. The defense claims the "challenged method of execution presents a substantial risk of serious harm" and that there's an alternative that can reduce the risk of severe pain. A federal court of appeals stayed the execution of Jeffery Lynn Borden on Oct. 2 on similar grounds. "Borden, in almost identical circumstances, received a stay of execution," Monday's order stated. "Defendants did not appeal, admittedly in part because of the late litigation hour. The court, in equity and good conscience, cannot treat McNabb differently than Borden when the stakes are this high. There is no evidentiary justification for disparate treatment of McNabb." (source: al.com) ___ A service courtesy of Washburn University School of Law www.washburnlaw.edu DeathPenalty mailing list DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty Unsubscribe: http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/options/deathpenalty
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ALABAMA
Oct. 5 ALABAMAstay of impending execution Alabama Death Row inmate execution called off for tonight The Alabama Department of Corrections has announced that tonight's execution is called off after the Alabama Attorney General's Office decided not to appeal a stay that had been issued in the case. That means the state will have to reset the execution for a later time. U.S. District Court Judge Keith Watkins has issued a stay of execution for Borden. Efforts to immediately reach the Alabama Attorney General's to see if they will appeal the decision were unsuccessful. On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court lifted the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals' injunction last week that had stayed Borden's execution so Watkins could have time to hold an evidentiary hearing in an inmate lawsuit that claims the lethal injection drug combination used by Alabama is unconstitutional. The court had previously - on Sept. 6 - ordered Watkins to hold the hearing. In his order staying the execution this afternoon Watkins noted the 11th Circuits' Sept. 6 order. "This court is not authorized to ignore the instructions of the Eleventh Circuit. If Mr. Borden is executed as scheduled, this court will be unable to comply with the Eleventh Circuit's mandate. Given the unusual procedural posture of this case, preservation of this court's ability to comply with the clear directives of the Eleventh Court requires issuance of the injunction requested (the stay)," the judge stated. After the U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Borden's attorneys filed a renewed request to the 11th Circuit for a "traditional stay" of the execution. That court quickly denied it. Then, this morning, Borden's attorneys filed a request with Watkins to issue the stay. Borden is entitled to a stay of execution to allow him to continue his challenge to Alabama's method of execution, his attorneys argue in their motion. "Borden can show that he has a substantial likelihood of success on the merits of his claim that Alabama's three-drug protocol violates the Eighth Amendment (against cruel and unusual punishment)," the attorneys with the Alabama federal public defenders' office. "The Eleventh Circuit ruled that if Mr. Borden can prove the facts alleged in his complaint, he meets both prongs of the Baze standard (a previous ruling). He has evidence to show that there is a substantial risk that midazolam will not anesthetize him, and he will be paralyzed, suffocating, and unable to alert anyone before he is burned alive from the inside by potassium chloride. He also has evidence that there are alternative methods of execution available to the state that do not contain that risk." The Alabama Attorney General's Office has stated in court records that the state's lethal injection method had already been litigated in another case and ruled constitutional. In its response this morning to this morning's appeal by Borden's attorneys the Alabama Attorney General's Office writes to the federal judge that: "The Supreme Court's vacation of the Eleventh Circuit's stay strongly weighs against any further request for a stay of execution, and this court should reject Borden's attempt to obtain a second bite at the apple. In any event, Borden has failed to establish that he is entitled to a stay of execution." Alabama also has set an Oct. 19 execution for Torrey Twane McNabb for his conviction in the fatal shooting of Montgomery police officer Anderson Gordon in September 1997. Alabama's number of executions were fewer in the last few years as the state dealt with lawsuits over its new lethal injection drug combination. Alabama and other states had to look for new drugs after manufacturerers began prohibiting the use of them for executions. Inmates in Alabama and other states, including Borden, have argued that Midazolam doesn't sedate them enough to ward off the pain of the other two drugs to stop their heart and lungs. The U.S. Supreme Court had ruled two years ago that states could use Midzaolam, despite problems with some inmates struggling on the gurneys. Attorneys for Alabama death row Inmate Ronald Bert Smith believe he suffered during his Dec. 8, 2016 execution - gasping, coughing, and heaving for 13 minutes. The state prisons commissioner denied anything happened outside the state's protocol for that execution. While the number of executions have been down across the nation, so has the number of people being sentenced to death in Alabama and other states, according to one report. Borden, who has been on death row 22 years, was convicted of killing his estranged wife, Cheryl Borden, and her father, Roland Harris at a Christmas Eve family gathering in Gardendale. According to an appeals court summary of the shooting, here is what happened: Jeffrey Borden arrived at the Harris's residence with his and Cheryl's three children. The children had spent the previous week visiting Borden, who was
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ALABAMA----Stop Execution Of Jeffrey Borden (USA: 500.17)
Urgent Action STATE MOVES TO HAVE STAY OF EXECUTION LIFTED The State of Alabama has asked the US Supreme Court to lift a stay of execution granted to Jeffrey Borden, and to be allowed to execute him before midnight on 5 October. While the stay relates to a challenge to the state’s lethal injection protocol, Jeffrey Borden is said by his lawyers to have a severe mental disability and to be “actively psychotic”. Write a letter, send an email, call, fax or tweet: * Call on the governor to stop this execution of Jeffrey Borden and to commute his death sentence; * Note with deep concern the evidence of Jeffrey Borden’s serious mental disability; * Explain that you are not seeking to downplay the seriousness of the crime or the suffering caused Friendly reminder: If you send an email, please create your own instead of forwarding this one! Contact below official by 5 October, 2017: Governor Kay Ivey Alabama State Capitol 600 Dexter Avenue Montgomery, Alabama 36130, USA Fax: +1 334 353 0004 Email: http://216.226.177.218/forms/contact.aspx (If you are not based in the US, please use Amnesty’s New York office as your address: 5 Penn Plaza, 16th Floor, New York, NY 10001) Salutation: Dear Governor ___ A service courtesy of Washburn University School of Law www.washburnlaw.edu DeathPenalty mailing list DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty Unsubscribe: http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/options/deathpenalty
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ALABAMA
Sept. 29 ALABAMAstay of impending execution A federal appeals court has granted a stay of execution for Alabama death row inmate Jeffrey Lynn Borden, who was scheduled to die by lethal injection next week. The order from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit stayed Borden's execution, set for Thursday at 6 p.m. "His...challenge began in September 2016 (long before the State obtained a warrant for his execution) and is ongoing today. Moreover, in a case raising a similar challenge...we recently held that there is a genuine issue of material fact regarding whether Alabama's current method of execution violates the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment and remanded for further proceedings," the order states. Borden's scheduled execution "would interfere with our ability to give effect to--and prevent interference with--these decisions." On September 6, the court reversed the district court's dismissal of Borden's (and several other death row inmates') claims that Alabama's 3-drug execution method is unconstitutional, and ordered the U.S. District Court for the Alabama Middle District revisit the case and hold an evidentiary hearing. "Our decision to enjoin Mr. Borden's execution is not an indictment of Alabama or its officials," the order Friday stated. "Under the circumstances of this case, we have concluded that an injunction is warranted to give the District Court enough time to receive our mandate and proceed accordingly." Borden has been on death row for 22 years, and was convicted of the murders of Cheryl Borden and her father Roland Harris. The murders took place at a family gathering in Gardendale on Christmas Eve 1993. Court records show Borden travelled from Huntsville to Gardendale to bring his 3 children to Cheryl Borden, his legally separate wife and the children's mother. After Cheryl Borden arrived, Jeffrey Borden shot her in the back of her head outside the house in the presence of the children. Borden then shot Roland Harris, his wife's father, in the back as Harris tried to run into the house. John Palombi, Assistant Federal Defender with the Federal Defenders for the Middle District of Alabama, represents both Borden and McNabb. He stated, "We are pleased that the 11th Circuit has enjoined Mr. Borden's execution. This will allow his challenge to Alabama's method of execution to proceed without the threat of an impending execution, and will permit the District Court to have sufficient time to give this case the measured consideration it deserves." Friday's order states Borden cannot be executed before October 19. Another death row inmate, Torrey McNabb, is scheduled to be executed on October 19. McNabb had also filed a motion to have his execution stayed, but the court entered a second order Friday denying McNabb's request. The court's order showed McNabb must wait until after October 5, when their original reversal of the district court's dismissal is mandated and the district court judge court can hold an evidentiary hearing. "We will certainly follow the Circuit Court's direction and promptly file a motion for stay of execution for Mr. McNabb in the District Court when that court regains jurisdiction," Palombi said. (source: phadp.org) ___ A service courtesy of Washburn University School of Law www.washburnlaw.edu DeathPenalty mailing list DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty Unsubscribe: http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/options/deathpenalty
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ALABAMA
Aug. 30 ALABAMA2 new execution dates An execution date for Oct 5 has been set for Jeffrey Borden and another execution date for Oct 19 has been set for Torrey McNabb; both dates should be considered serious. (source: MC/RH) ___ A service courtesy of Washburn University School of Law www.washburnlaw.edu DeathPenalty mailing list DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty Unsubscribe: http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/options/deathpenalty
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ALABAMA
June 8 ALABAMAexecution Robert Bryant Melson executed for 1994 triple slaying most recent mugshot from the ADOC Tonight Alabama death row inmate Robert Bryant Melson was executed by lethal injection for the 1994 slayings of 3 fast food restaurant workers in Gadsden. It was the 2nd execution for Alabama in 2 weeks. The execution of Melson -- convicted of numerous counts of capital murder, attempted murder, and robbery in the shooting at Popeye's -- was delayed by federal and state appeal courts on his requests for a stay. The execution was set for 6 p.m. at Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, but did not begin until 9:55 p.m. Commissioner Jeff Dunn made a statement at the media center following the execution. He read a statement from Tamika Collins' family, part of which said, "[Melson] feels that he should not suffer a little pain... what does he think those three people felt?... I see no feeling for anyone but himself." A cousin of Tamika Collins also wrote a statement. It said, "The day has finally arrived... it does not change the acts he so violently carried out." The cousin, whose name was not given, also said of Collins' late father, "This was a day he waited for." Collins mother and two sisters witnessed the execution. No family members of Melson were present. Dunn said he was not aware of any other executions planned, but the Department of Corrections has supplies of the lethal drugs if necessary. Melson was officially pronounced dead at 10:27 p.m. When asked if he had any last words, Melson shook his head "no." His hands were shaking before the execution began at approximately 9:59 p.m. For approximately 7 minutes, Melson appeared to have slightly labored breathing. His breathing then slowed, and he did not respond to a consciousness check by a corrections officer before the 2nd 2 drugs in the 3-drug execution method-- which stop the heart and breathing-- were administered. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall released the following statement Thursday night after Melson's execution: "Robert Melson's decades-long avoidance of justice is over. For 23 years, the families of the three young people whose lives he took, as well as a survivor, have waited for closure and healing. That process can finally begin tonight." Melson becomes the 2nd condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Alabama and the 60th overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 1983. Melson becomes the 13th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1455th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977. (sources: al.com & Rick Halperin) ___ A service courtesy of Washburn University School of Law www.washburnlaw.edu DeathPenalty mailing list DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty Unsubscribe: http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/options/deathpenalty
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ALABAMA
June 8 ALBAMA: Temporary stay granted for death row inmate Robert Melson The U.S. Supreme Court has temporarily halted the death of an Alabama inmate as it reviews his request to block his execution over questions regarding a sedative’s effectiveness. Justices issued the temporary stay Thursday evening about 15 minutes before 46-year-old Robert Bryant Melson was scheduled to be executed by lethal injection. Melson was convicted of killing three people during a 1994 robbery of a fast food restaurant. Melson’s attorneys argued that Alabama plans to use an ineffective sedative that will not render Melson unconscious before other drugs stop his lungs and heart. They cited the December execution in which an Alabama man coughed and heaved for 13 minutes. His attorneys argued the execution showed “the horrific results of using midazolam in a way it was never intended _ as an anesthetic.” The Alabama attorney general’s office had asked for the execution to proceed arguing the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld midazolam’s use and allowed other executions to proceed using it. Alabama has executed three inmates using midazolam. (source: Associated Press) ___ A service courtesy of Washburn University School of Law www.washburnlaw.edu DeathPenalty mailing list DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty Unsubscribe: http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/options/deathpenalty
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ALABAMA
June 8 ALABAMAimpending execution Alabama Supreme Court denies stay: Execution of Robert Bryant Melson Tonight Alabama Death Row inmate Robert Bryant Melson is set to die by lethal injection for the 1994 slayings of three fast foot restaurant workers in Gadsden. It would be the second execution for Alabama in two weeks. Meanwhile, Melson -- convicted of numerous counts of capital murder, attempted murder, and robbery in the shooting at Popeye's -- is awaiting action by federal and state appeal courts on his requests to stay the execution set for 6 p.m. at Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore. Melson was granted a temporary stay last week, but the Supreme Court of the United States vacated the stay Tuesday night. The stay of the execution was lifted in an order issued by Associate Justice Clarence Thomas. Three of the nine Supreme Court associate justices-- Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, and Sonia Sotomayor-- said they did not want to vacate the stay of execution, according to the order. Wednesday morning, John Palombi and Leslie Smith with the Federal Defenders for the Middle District of Alabama filed a motion to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals and one to the Alabama Supreme Court for stays. In the state supreme court motion, Melson's attorneys say the federal courts have yet to rule on whether Alabama's method of execution is unconstitutional and violates the eighth amendment. The lawyers' filing to the 11th Circuit states that Melson has a likelihood of winning an appeal on his challenge to midazolam, the first drug in the lethal three-drug method. Melson's attorneys asked the 11th Circuit to stay the execution pending the results of Melson's challenge. The challenge, which lists four other inmates as petitioners, concentrates on midazolam, the first drug in the execution cocktail. Melson and the other inmates claim the drug does not completely sedate a person so that they cannot feel the pain of the second and third drugs in the cocktail, which stop the heart and breathing. In the state supreme court motion, Melson's attorneys say the federal courts have yet to rule on whether Alabama's method of execution is unconstitutional and violates the eighth amendment. A lower court had dismissed the challenge, but Melson's attorneys appealed to the 11th Circuit and asked for a temporary stay last week. That temporary stay was granted last Friday before being struck down Tuesday by SCOTUS. On April 15, 1994, Melson and Cuhuatemoc Peraita robbed the Gadsden Popeyes Chicken and Biscuits restaurant, where had previously worked. After taking approximately $2,100, the men herded the four Popeye's employees into the store's freezer. Moments later, survivor Bryant Archer said, the freezer door opened and Melson began firing. Nathaniel Baker, 17; Tamika Collins, 18; and Darrell Collier, 23, were all fatally shot in the freezer; Archer was shot five times, but was able to stand up, walk to the office, and call police. When officers arrived, Archer told police one of the attackers was Peraita. Archer also said Peraita drove a black Monte Carlo, so police issued a lookout bulletin for the vehicle. Melson and Peraita were arrested about an hour later. After his conviction in 1996, Melson has been on death row at Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore. Peraita was originally sentenced to life in prison, but moved to death row in 2001 after fatally stabbing another Holman inmate. Robert Melson is set to be executed Thursday for his role in the Popeye's shooting of 1994, which left three people dead. Bryant Archer, the surviving victim, speaks out to AL.com about the shooting and his life now. According to a spokesperson for Gov. Kay Ivey on Wednesday, the governor received a request for clemency from Melson. Alabama has already carried out three executions using the three-drug protocol that Melson is challenging, including the May 25 execution of Tommy Arthur in which the 11th Circuit denied a stay. Two other Alabama inmates who were executed -- Ronald Bert Smith and Christopher Brooks -- also were co-plaintiffs in the case with Melson. Court documents filed in Melson's case argue the state's switch to midazolam from pentobarbital during executions has caused a "method of execution that has failed to work properly in four states, including Alabama." During Smith's Dec. 8 execution, he heaved, coughed and gasped for breath for about 13 minutes after apparently being administered midazolam. At times his left eye also appeared to be slightly open. He underwent two consciousness tests to make sure he couldn't feel pain before the execution continued. Smith's attorneys called it "botched," but Alabama Prison Commissioner Jeff Dunn said Smith's execution went as outlined in the prison system's execution protocol. Archer will not attend the execution, he said, because of a previously planned vacation with his wife and
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ALABAMA
May 25 ALABAMAimpending execution Stay lifted; Tommy Arthur to be executed tonight The U.S. Supreme Court's stay of execution has been lifted for convicted Muscle Shoals murderer Tommy Arthur. Arthur is set to be executed late Thursday. Arthur was originally scheduled for death by lethal injection at 6 p.m. The U.S. Supreme Court issued a stay within an hour of that time. The stay was lifted after about 10:30 p.m. Arthur, 75, was convicted of the 1982 murder for hire of Troy Wicker in Muscle Shoals. He has maintained his innocence all along and had already dodged execution seven times before Thursday. His attorneys tried to delay execution an eighth time by filing paperwork claiming there are potential problems with the drugs used during execution. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the stay request. The motion then went to the Supreme Court where it was signed by Justice Clarence Thomas. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall then filed a motion for the stay to be lifted. Arthur declined to eat his breakfast or his last meal on Thursday. He requested family photos in the execution room with him. (source: WSFA news) ___ A service courtesy of Washburn University School of Law www.washburnlaw.edu DeathPenalty mailing list DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty Unsubscribe: http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/options/deathpenalty
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ALABAMA
May 8 ALABAMAimpending execution Urgent Action EXECUTION RE-SET AFTER 30 YEARS ON DEATH ROW Thomas Arthur, aged 75, is due to be executed in Alabama on 25 May. This is his 8th execution date since 2001, 3 times coming within a day of being killed. He maintains his innocence. This would be the 1st execution under the current Alabama governor Write a letter, send an email, call, fax or tweet: * Noting Thomas Arthur has not asked the governor for clemency, but calling on her to stop his execution; * Noting that during the time that Thomas Arthur has been on death row, evidence of arbitariness and error in the US capital justice system has mounted, and the use of the death penalty has declined as concern has grown; * Noting his disproportionate punishment compared to the other persons said to be involved in the murder; * Expressing concern that the state has blocked advanced DNA testing in this case. Friendly reminder: If you send an email, please create your own instead of forwarding this one! Contact below official by 25 May, 2017: Governor Kay Ivey Alabama State Capitol 600 Dexter Avenue Montgomery, Alabama 36130 USA Fax: +1 334 353 0004 Email: http://governor.alabama.gov/contact (use US detail) Salutation: Dear Governor ___ A service courtesy of Washburn University School of Law www.washburnlaw.edu DeathPenalty mailing list DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty Unsubscribe: http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/options/deathpenalty
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ALABAMA
April 5 ALABAMA: The Alabama Supreme Court has set 2 execution dates. Thomas Arthur May 25th 2017 Robert Melson June 8th 2017 These dates should be considered serious. (source: Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty) ___ A service courtesy of Washburn University School of Law www.washburnlaw.edu DeathPenalty mailing list DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty Unsubscribe: http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/options/deathpenalty
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ALABAMA
Dec. 8 ALABAMAexecution Ronald Smith executed for 1994 capital murder Ronald Smith was executed Thursday night for committing capital murder in 1994. He was pronounced dead at 11:05 p.m. Media witnesses said Smith gasped and coughed for 13 minutes of execution, which began at 10:25 and ended at 11:05. He was twice administered a consciousness check, and gave a level of reaction media witnesses who have covered several executions say they have never seen. It is the Alabama Department of Corrections' protocol to give a consciousness check after the 1st drug in the 3-drug lethal injection is given. The 1st drug is meant to anesthetize inmate's beyond consciousness. The 2nd drug is a paralytic and the third stops the heart. The 1st conscious check was at 10:37, the 2nd was at 10:46, ADOC spokesman Bob Horton said. Kent Faulk, an al.com reporter who witnessed Smith's execution along with 2 other lethal injection executions said this was the 1st time he has seen a consciousness check given twice. Smith's family did not attend the execution. One member of the victim's family who wished to not be identified was present. His was the 2nd execution in Alabama this year; Christopher Brooks was executed in January for a 1992 rape and murder. Shortly after his arrest, Smith confessed to killing and attempting to rob Wilson, a convenience store clerk and new father. A Madison County jury found 24-year-old Smith guilty of capital murder. They voted 7-5 to sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole. 2 months later, the judge overrode their decision and gave him death. He cited the "particularly heinous" nature of the crime, pointing to evidence that indicated Smith killed Wilson "execution style." Alabama is the last state in the country that allows a judge to override a jury's recommended sentence. In January, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Hurst v. Florida that Florida's sentencing scheme, which also allowed judicial override, was unconstitutional. Following Hurst, The Delaware Supreme Court found that its sentencing scheme that also let judges override juries was also unconstitutional. Smith's attorneys petitioned SCOTUS to stay the execution in light of Hurst. Despite issuing two temporary stays in the hours leading up to Smith's execution, the high court ultimately denied his appeal in a 4-4 split. They filed another appeal asking the court to stay the execution that would have challenged the state's lethal injection protocol. The U.S. Supreme Court denied that petition as well. Less than a month ago, SCOTUS issued a stay of execution for Thomas Arthur, who had also challenged the death penalty protocol in a complaint separate from Smith's. The justices were again split 4-4 on whether to issue a stay, but Chief Justice John Roberts then cast a courtesy vote, allowing Arthur's execution to be delayed. It was the 7th time Arthur avoided execution. Both suits alleged that Alabama's death penalty process would cause cruel and unusual pain because the 1st drug administered does not properly anesthetize the condemned before injecting the 2nd and 3rd drugs. Without proper anesthetization, condemned inmates would feel burning and paralyzing sensations caused by the 2nd and 3rd drugs. U.S. District Judge Keith Watkins ultimately ruled against Smith. Smith's attorneys appealed his decision to the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, but that court upheld Watkins' decision. Prior to his execution, Smith met with his mother, father, son and 4 friends. He was served a last meal at 2:34 p.m. He declined breakfast. A practicing Methodist, 45-year-old Smith asked to receive Holy Communion at 3:30 p.m. Department of Corrections Spokesman Bob Horton said his request was granted. Smith becomes the 2nd condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Alabama and the 58th overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 1983. Smith becomes the 20th and last person to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1442nd overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977. (sources: Montgomery Advertiser & Rick Halperin) ___ A service courtesy of Washburn University School of Law www.washburnlaw.edu DeathPenalty mailing list DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty Unsubscribe: http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/options/deathpenalty
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ALABAMA
Dec. 8 ALABAMAimminent execution Execution of Alabama Death Row inmate Ronald Bert Smith set to proceed The U.S. Supreme Court has yet again refused to stay Ronald Bert Smith's execution. The execution is now set for 9:45 p.m. As with the two stays denied by the high court earlier tonight, Smith's attorneys again sought a reconsideration, this time in order to give them time to file an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court over the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals denial on Thursday of their appeal on the challenge to the state's three-drug method of execution. That third request was denied, a spokesperson for the court confirmed. Smith's attorneys had decided not to appeal on the drug issue but instead appealed to SCOTUS over Alabama's law that allows judges to override jury recommendations for life. The Alabama Supreme Court had denied the appeal on the override issue. Smith, a former Eagle Scout and Army reservist convicted in the 1994 slaying of a Huntsville convenience store clerk, for the second time tonight has been granted a temporary stay of execution by a U.S. Supreme Court justice. Smith, 45, was set to be executed by lethal injection at 6 p.m. at the Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore. He was to be the second inmate executed this year in Alabama. The state in January executed Christopher Eugene Brooks, Alabama's first execution since 2013. Two other executions scheduled this year, those of Vernon Madison and Tommy Arthur, were stayed earlier in 2016 by appeal courts. Smith had been granted a temporary stay at 5:14 p.m. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas issued the stay "pending further order of the court." The Department of Corrections treated this as a temporary stay of the execution and as of 6:30 p.m. Thursday had not cancelled it. But, at 7:25 p.m., the U.S. Supreme Court vacated Thomas' order and denied the stay. "The application for stay of execution of sentence of death presented to Justice Thomas and by him referred to the Court is denied. The order heretofore entered by Justice Thomas is vacated." Four justices - Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan would grant the application for stay of execution but they needed five to grant the stay. The Department of Corrections then reset the execution at 8:15 p.m. tonight. But then about 7:40 p.m. prisons spokesman Bob Horton announced that the Attorney General's Office had been told that another U.S. Supreme Court Justice has asked for another temporary stay. That stay was granted by Thomas again "pending further order of the undersigned or of the Court." After the original stay was denied, Smith's attorneys requested a reconsideration of the stay. "The Court released an order earlier today from which it appears that four Justices favor review of Mr. Smith's petition for writ of certiorari (review), but he did not receive five votes to stay of Mr. Smith's impending execution," Smith's attorneys stated in their request for reconsideration of the denial. "Because the Court's inconsistent practices respecting 5-4 stay denials in capital cases clash with the appearance and reality both of equal justice under law and of sound judicial decision-making, Mr. Smith asks this Court to reconsider the Court's denial of his application for a stay of execution." Alabama has until midnight tonight to execute Smith. Otherwise it would have to go back to the Alabama Supreme Court and seek another execution date. On Thursday, the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals denied his request for a stay of execution That court also affirmed a district court's dismissal of Smith's lawsuit challenging Alabama's three-drug lethal injection combination as cruel and unusual punishment. At the U.S. Supreme Court, attorneys for Smith are also seeking a stay of execution. The lawyers also are appealing the dismissal by the Alabama Supreme Court of Smith's claim that the state's death penalty sentencing law, which allows judges to override jury sentencing recommendations, is unconstitutional. In November the U.S. Supreme Court issued a similar stay in the Tommy Arthur case. There were temporary stays issued before the execution was called off for that night. The Associated Press also reported that Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley had no plans to stop the execution, a spokeswoman said Thursday evening. Smith's attorneys had petitioned Bentley seeking to have his sentence commuted to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Bentley has never granted clemency to a death row inmate. While waiting word from the U.S. Supreme Court Smith met with his mother, father and son and four other visitors today. Smith declined to eat breakfast but as his request for his last meal, which he was offered at 2:34 p.m. and ate, was three pieces of chicken and fries, Prisons Public Information Officer Bob Horton said. A special last request was that he be allowed to take Holy
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ALABAMA
Nov. 3 ALABAMAstay of execution Tommy Arthur's execution temporarily stayed by US Supreme Court The U.S. Supreme Court has temporarily stayed the execution. "IT IS ORDERED that execution of the sentence of death is hereby stayed pending further order of the undersigned or of the Court," the order states, according to AL.com's Lawrence Specker. The order was signed by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Alabama prison's spokesman Bob Horton, however, said that the order is only a temporary stay and prison officials are still waiting to hear if the Supreme Court rules tonight. If the court rules before midnight and denies the stay then it is possible the execution could go forward tonight, Horton said. If the court doesn't rule by then, however, the state would have to reset the execution for another day because the death warrant is for Thursday only, he said. "We're in a holding pattern ... We're going to continue to wait for the Supreme Court," Horton said. Alabama has delayed tonight's execution of Tommy Arthur by two hours to allow the U.S. Supreme Court to consider motions by the inmate's attorneys, a prison spokesman said. The delay was set to end at 8 p.m. but, as of now, it is not clear when, or if, the execution will proceed. Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner Jeff Dunn agreed to the temporary delay of the execution so the Supreme Court could review the split 11th Circuit decision on Wednesday to deny Arthur's stay of execution, said Alabama Department of Corrections Public Information Officer Bob Horton. If Alabama had not agreed to a temporary halt then the U.S. Supreme Court would have issued a temporary stay, Horton said. The execution had been set for 6 p.m. In that 2-1 decision 11th Circuit decision Circuit Judge Charles Wilson said the execution should have been stayed in order for Arthur's appeals on his lethal injection challenge. "Due to the scarcity of and secrecy surrounding lethal injection drugs, it is all but impossible for a prisoner to set forth a viable lethal-injection-based alternative," Wilson wrote in his dissent in Wednesday's opinion. "The Majority's decision therefore checkmates countless Alabama and Florida prisoners, nullifying their constitutional right to a humane execution." Wilson also stated that the majority in the ruling – Hull and Circuit Judge Stanley Marcus - determines that Arthur's suggestion of a firing squad was not feasible and readily implemented because Alabama law does not authorize the firing squad. "Arthur should be permitted to amend his complaint to include the firing squad as an execution alternative to Alabama's lethal injection protocol. The firing squad is a potentially viable alternative, and Arthur may be entitled to relief under Baze and Glossip (U.S. Supreme Court ruling) based on that method of execution," Wilson wrote. Arthur has remained defiant as he waits to see if the U.S. Supreme Court will stay his execution at the Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore. Arthur's attorneys overnight filed a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court seeking a stay after the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals refused to block the execution. Arthur today told AL.com in a telephone interview he is hopeful this execution will be stayed, as were six other execution dates he has faced in the last 15 years. "We've still got wiggle room," Arthur said this afternoon. "We're not done yet." Asked today if he accepted the reality he might not avoid today's execution, Arthur replied: "All I can do is sit here and hate it." Arthur said he has had no visitors today although his lawyers had just arrived at the prison when he spoke to AL.com. Arthur says he plans to make a final statement if he is executed today. 9source: al.com) ** Supreme Court stays execution of Alabama inmate The U.S. Supreme Court has stayed the execution of an Alabama inmate convicted in a 1982 murder-for-hire. The court on Thursday night stayed the execution of Tommy Arthur without comment, until further order of the court. 74-year-old Arthur had been scheduled to be executed Thursday evening by lethal injection at the Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore. Prison system spokesman Bob Horton said the state will wait until Arthur's death warrant expires at midnight to see if the execution can proceed. He was convicted of killing Troy Wicker. Police on Feb. 1, 1982 found Wicker shot to death in his bed. Wicker's wife initially said she had been raped and an intruder killed her husband. She later testified that she had sex with Arthur and promised him $10,000 to kill her husband. This is the 7th time Arthur, who has waged a lengthy legal battle challenging his conviction and the death penalty, has been granted an execution stay. (source: Associated Press)___ A service courtesy of Washburn University School
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ALABAMA
May 12 ALABAMAstay of impending execution Alabama Delays Execution of Cop Killer Vernon Madison by Lethal Injection A federal appeals court has delayed the execution of an Alabama inmate, saying there should be more time to review his claim that he is no longer competent because of strokes and dementia. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued the stay Thursday morning, about seven hours ahead of when Vernon Madison was scheduled to die by lethal injection. Madison was convicted in the 1985 killing Mobile police Officer Julius Schulte. Schulte had responded to a domestic call involving Madison. Prosecutors said Madison crept up and shot Schulte in the back of the head as he sat in his police car. Madison's attorneys had argued that he no longer had a rational understanding of his impending execution. The court said it will hold oral arguments on Madison's competency in June. A circuit court last month ruled Madison was competent to be executed despite a decline in his cognitive abilities after a stroke. "Over the course of the past year, Mr. Madison has suffered from multiple strokes that have resulted in significant cognitive decline, suffers from a major vascular neurocognitive disorder, or vascular dementia, and does not rationally understand why the State of Alabama is attempting to execute him," attorneys for Madison previously wrote. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that it violates the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment to execute prisoners who lack a rational understanding that they are about to be executed and why. Madison's attorneys argued a lower court erred and did not fully consider the scope of his dementia when it ruled him competent. A defense expert found that Madison had an IQ of 72 and his attorneys said he is confused about the status of his case and has talked of going to live in Florida when he is released from prison. The stay request came after an Alabama circuit judge ruled Madison was competent and a federal judge refused a stay. Alabama has seen a lull in executions of more than 2 years because of difficulty obtaining lethal injection drugs and litigation over the death penalty (source: Associated Press) *** Alabama leads nation in death row inmates per capita Tonight Alabama will put to death 65-year-old Vernon Madison, a man who grew old awaiting his sentence for the 1985 slaying of police Officer Julius Schulte. Madison's execution will leave 184 death row inmates in Alabama, highest number of inmates per capita in the nation. 19 states do not or no longer employ the death penalty. About half of the remaining 31 use it seldom and have few inmates awaiting execution. Alabama leads nation But even among the state's that regularly sentence violent criminals to death, Alabama stands apart. Alabama houses nearly 4 inmates on death row for every 100,000 residents. That's 4 for every Tuscaloosa stadium's worth of Alabamians. That's the equivalent of 7 or 8 death row inmates for the population of Mobile or Birmingham or Huntsville. That's more death row inmates per city than many places see per state. Perhaps more surprising, when adjusting for population, an Alabamian is about 4 times as likely as a Texan to end up on death row. Much larger states like Texas and California have more inmates on death row, but none employ death row at the same rate as small Alabama. Alabama puts people on death row at twice the rate of Florida, 3 times the rate of Oklahoma. Only Nevada comes close. And it's not that close. See the breakdown by state below: Who is on death row In Alabama, inmates on death row are nearly all men. That's 85 white males and 92 black males. There are just 5 women on death row in Alabama -- 4 white women and 1 African-American woman. Many cases span decades. 10 of the Alabama inmates, like Madison, have been awaiting execution since before 1990. It's not that Alabama halted the use of the death sentence. Today's execution marks 8 under Gov. Robert Bentley. State records show 25 executions under former Gov. Bob Riley. There have been 211 executions since 1929. About 72 % of those executed by Alabama were African-American males. The state has executed only 4 women. Houston County leads Alabama However, not every district attorney in Alabama is as likely to seek a death sentence. Certain counties within Alabama tend to see it far more often than others. Adjust for total population shows that no county uses the death penalty more often than Houston County, home to Dothan in southeast Alabama. That puts Houston County in rare territory in the United States. That means Houston imposes the death penalty more often than any other county in a state that imposes the death penalty more often than any other state in the nation. (source: al.com) ___ A service courtesy of Washburn University
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ALABAMA
Feb. 12 ALABAMAimpending execution 11th Circuit clears way for Tommy Arthur execution on Feb. 19 A federal appeals court is clearing the way for the execution of an Alabama inmate next week. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday lifted a stay of execution for death row inmate Tommy Arthur. The decision came at the request of the state. The court says Arthur's execution can go ahead on Feb. 19. The court says Arthur can file additional challenges, but his attorneys need to do so quickly. Arthur contends Alabama's lethal injection method is unconstitutional. His lawyers say Alabama uses the same chemicals that led to botched executions in other states. Arthur has been on death row since 1983 for the contract killing of Muscle Shoals businessman Troy Wicker in 1982. He's successfully fought off multiple execution dates and says he is innocent. (source: Associated Press) ** Tommy Arthur, convicted in 1982 Muscle Shoals murder, now set for execution Feb. 19 Tommy Arthur, whose execution in Alabama has been delayed several times in recent years, is once again set to die by lethal injection. The new date is February 19, 2015 at Holman Prison in Atmore. He is 1 of Alabama's longest-serving death row inmates. On Thursday, the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals lifted its stay on Arthur's execution, paving the way for the state to put him to death. However, the court indicated Arthur still has the avenue of seeking an injunction or restraining order through federal district court. Arthur called WHNT News 19 collect on Thursday morning to inform us of this development in the case. Arthur was convicted of killing Muscle Shoals businessman Troy Wicker in 1982, in a murder-for-hire case. He's been on death row since 1983, with his execution being delayed at least 5 times. The latest delay had to do with Arthur's appeal of drugs used to execute inmates. His attorneys argue it could be cruel and unusual punishment. This is one of a number of appeals in different states over the new drug combinations used in lethal injections. (source: WHNT news) ___ DeathPenalty mailing list DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty Search the Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/deathpenalty@lists.washlaw.edu/ ~~~ A free service of WashLaw http://washlaw.edu (785)670.1088 ~~~
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ALABAMA
April 1 ALABAMA: Cruel and unusual?: Death row inmate challenges state execution procedure A death row inmate who had his execution blocked by a federal court that cited Alabama’s “secrecy” concerning its execution procedure says that procedure could leave him conscious while drugs that stop his breathing and his heart flow through his body. Attorneys for Thomas Arthur, who was convicted in a 1982 murder-for-hire scheme, argue that the use of pentobarbital to anesthetize a prisoner during an execution violates Arthur’s Eighth Amendment protections. Suhana Han, Arthur’s attorney, claims the drug does not work fast enough to prevent the inmate from feeling the potentially painful effects of the 2 drugs that follow, and that the state’s secrecy surrounding its execution protocols makes it impossible to determine whether its use constitutes cruel and unusual punishment, or even if the state follows its own procedures during executions. Documents filed by Arthur’s attorneys cite the execution of inmate Eddie Powell last year, in which officials apparently did not pinch Powell, the final step of a consciousness test before the fatal drugs are administered. “What we’re asking the court to do is allow us the opportunity to prove our claim,” Han said. “Alabama has never had its lethal injection process challenged at trial on the merits.” Arthur was scheduled to be executed March 29, but the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals on March 21 overturned a lower court’s dismissal of Arthur’s appeal on the use of pentobarbital, finding there was no evidence that Alabama was conducting executions in a constitutional manner. The situation, the court wrote, was “exacerbated by Alabama’s policy maintaining secrecy surrounding every aspect of its 3-drug execution method. “It is certainly not speculative and indeed plausible that Alabama will disparately treat Arthur because the protocol is not certain and could be unexpectedly changed for his execution,” the court wrote. Brian Corbett, a spokesman for the Alabama Department of Corrections, declined comment last week, saying he was not at liberty to discuss the state’s execution procedures. The Alabama Attorney General’s office also declined comment on the case. Arthur was convicted of murder in the 1982 death of Muscle Shoals businessman Troy Wicker Jr. Wicker’s murder occurred while Arthur was in a work release program after being convicted of murdering the sister of his common-law wife in 1977. Arthur has maintained that he is innocent of Wicker’s murder. The state Department of Corrections does not release information on its execution procedures, but the protocols have come out in litigation over capital punishment. The condemned are first administered pentobarbital, rendering the condemned unconscious. After the pentobarbital, the inmate is given pancuronium bromide, which paralyzes the inmate’s muscles and stops breathing. Finally, the condemned receives a dosage of potassium chloride, which stops the heart. Alabama, like other states with the death penalty, had used sodium thiopental until 2011, when Hospira, the manufacturer of the drug, stopped making it in the United States. Pentobarbital, which had been used by veterinarians and in physician-assisted suicide in some countries, was adopted as a replacement by most states. The Death Penalty Information Center said the drug was used in 35 executions in the United States last year, including 5 in Alabama. According to court filings, sodium thiapentol takes about 60 seconds to render an inmate unconscious. But Arthur’s attorneys, citing affidavits from two experts, argue that pentobarbital can take between 15 to 60 minutes to reach “maximum effect, which, in the context of a lethal injection, is an inmate’s anesthetization,” a brief filed by Arthur’s attorneys said. With executions usually taking place within a half-hour attorneys for Arthur argue, that an inmate could feel the effects of the other two drugs before the pentobarbital takes hold. “The Supreme Court recognizes that if an inmate is not unconscious, that will cause excruciating pain,” Han said. “If an inmate is not unconscious, (pancuronium bromide) is comparable to feeling like you’re being buried alive. The 3rd drug, we’re told, is comparable to your veins and your heart being on fire.” In filings with the court, the Attorney General’s office has cited experts who say that a longer-acting anesthetic like pentobarbital would be preferable to sodium thiopental, quoting one of Arthur’s experts in a prior affidavit as saying sodium thiopental “has a quick onset and a short duration.” The state further argued that the time it took for the drugs to take effect was irrelevant, as corrections officials would not allow an execution to move forward if the inmate was found to be conscious. “Contrary to Arthur’s argument, the amount of time it takes for pentobarbital to reach
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ALABAMA----EXECUTION ALERT, CAREY GRAYSON, Please Act!
Friends, Even while rejoicing about the stay of execution for Tommy Arthur, please let us keep in mind that this stay does not automatically mean that Carey Grayson will receive one. If you have not contacted Governor Bentley yet on Carey Grayson's behalf, please do not delay! This is an extremely serious date! Carey Grayson's tragic history of early abandonment and mental illness cries out for a commutation. Please help us! EXECUTION ALERT Carey Grayson April 12th Please contact Governor Robert Bentley and ask him to stay this execution and commute the sentence! THE HONORABLE GOVERNOR ROBERT BENTLEY STATE CAPITOL N 104 600 Dexter Ave MONTGOMERY, AL 36130 2751 PHONE 1-334-242-7100 FAX: 1-334-242-3282 Email: http://governor.alabama.gov/contact/contact_form.aspx Talking Points for Carey Grayson 1) The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals refused to even consider any of Mr. Grayson's arguments by denying him permission to appeal. 2) Mr. Grayson challenged the reliability of his death sentence because his lawyers failed to adequately investigate in preparation of the penalty phase of his capital trial. Mr. Grayson also challenged the fact that the State presented inconsistent theories at the trials for himself and his three co-defendants--arguing at each trial that the defendant on trial was the most culpable in the crime and that the others were less so. 3) They failed to find and present to the sentencing judge and jury information about Mr. Grayson's very tragic background, including that he was severely neglected by his parents, went hungry for years after his mother died when he was 12, a history of mental illness within his family, as well as his own mental illness,(bipolar) and the fact that he was homeless and left to fend for himself at the age of 15. 4) The U.S. Supreme Court recently detailed the deficiencies in Alabama's death penalty system. Mr. Grayson's case highlights many of these. 5) Mr. Grayson had three co-defendants, all of whom were found guilty. However, Mr. Grayson is the only one subject to the death penalty due to the fact that he was 19 at the time of the crime and his co-defendants were younger. This is in spite of the fact that at his co-defendants’ trials the State argued that Mr. Grayson was less culpable than the other co-defendants. However, the same prosecutor argued at Mr. Grayson's trial that he was the most culpable. Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty www.phadp.org___ DeathPenalty mailing list DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty Search the Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/deathpenalty@lists.washlaw.edu/ ~~~ A free service of WashLaw http://washlaw.edu (785)670.1088 ~~~
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ALABAMA
Oct. 19 ALABAMAimpending execution Baby killer set to die A man who begged for death after admitting to killing his 6-month-old son will get his wish Thursday evening. Christopher Thomas Johnson is scheduled to be executed at 6 p.m. Thursday at Holman Prison in Atmore. He was convicted in 2006 of beating to death his 6-month-old son, Elias Ocean Johnson. During Johnson’s trial he chose to fire his public defenders and represent himself during the last day of the trial. He contended that they did not tell him he could be convicted of manslaughter — he wanted to be executed instead. After taking the stand on the final day, Johnson confessed to the crime that left the infant boy dead. Before Johnson’s testimony, a forensic pathologist testified that Elias died of blunt force trauma, and that the baby had at least 85 injuries. She also said the child had blood in its stomach and lungs. Johnson testified that he killed his son because he hated his wife, Dana Johnson. After a 15-minute confession, Johnson was convicted on capital murder charges by the jury. Following the conviction, Johnson told the judge and jury that he wanted to die. After the jury recommended the death sentence, the judge agreed to their recommendation and sentenced Johnson to death. During his time in prison, Johnson refused to appeal his conviction. The case has been reviewed by the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals, which upheld the court’s decision by vote of 5-0. Inmates typically have the right to appeal death sentences until the hour of the execution. However, Brian Corbett with the Alabama Department of Corrections said if Johnson has missed necessary deadlines in the appeals process, last-minute appeals would not be possible. Corbett said Johnson will spend the next 2 days at Holman Prison with extended visiting privileges until Thursday. “Generally speaking, he has the opportunity for extended visitation from around 9 a.m. until about 4 p.m.,” Corbett said. “Then he will be moved back into a cell adjacent to the lethal injection chamber.” (source: Brewton Standard) ___ DeathPenalty mailing list DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty Search the Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/deathpenalty@lists.washlaw.edu/ ~~~ A free service of WashLaw http://washlaw.edu (785)670.1088 ~~~
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news-----ALABAMA
Dec. 5 ALABAMAstay of impending execution Court delays another execution The Supreme Court on Wednesday afternoon delayed the execution of Thomas D. Arthur, previously scheduled for 6 p.m. on Thursday. Arthur has a petition pending (Arthur v. Allen, 07-395) challenging the states use of a lethal injection protocol to carry out executions. The Court has not acted on the petition. Its order on Wednesday stayed the execution until it acts on the petition, or, if the petition is granted, until the case is decided. Besides raising a constitutional challenge to the lethal injection method, Arthurs appeal raises another issue the Court has yet to decide: when a constitutional challenge to this method of execution is considered timely filed, when the issue is raised under federal civil rights law, rather than federal habeas law. The Court in recent weeks has not permitted any execution to proceed when the inmate has sought a stay while challenging lethal injection. It is scheduled to hold a hearing on such challenges on Jan. 7 at 10 a.m. (source: US Supreme Court Blog)
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ALABAMA----More Action Needed - Thomas Douglas Arthur at Risk of Imminent Execution in Alabama - ALL APPEALS NEEDED BY DECEMBER 6
URGENT ACTION APPEAL Note: Please write on behalf of these persons even though you may not have received the original UA when issued on August 30, 2007. Thanks! 29 November 2007 Further information on UA 225/07 (30 August 2007) and follow-up (28 September 2007) -- Death penalty/Legal concern USA (Alabama) Thomas Douglas Arthur (m), white, aged 65 Thomas Arthur is now scheduled for execution on 6 December in Alabama. The state is pursuing his execution despite what appears to be a moratorium on executions in the USA pending the US Supreme Court's examination of the constitutionality of lethal injections. In addition, Alabama has not granted Thomas Arthur's request to be allowed to conduct DNA testing of evidence relating to the crime. Thomas Arthur was sentenced to death for the 1982 murder of Troy Wicker. The victim's wife, Judy Wicker, was also convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder. She was released on parole after testifying at Thomas Arthur's 1991 retrial. At her own trial, Judy Wicker had testified that Thomas Arthur was not involved in the murder, but that a stranger had killed her husband, and had also raped her, as she had told the police. At Arthur's 1991 retrial, she testified that she, Teresa Rowland and Rowland's boyfriend Theron McKinney had discussed killing Troy Wicker in early 1981. She testified that she knew that the murder would take place on 1 February 1982, that she and Thomas Arthur had gone to the house together, and that she had agreed to tell the police that her husband had been murdered by an African American burglar. She said that she collected $90,000 in insurance proceeds, and that she paid $10,000 to Arthur and $6,000 to Rowland, and gave a car and jewelry to McKinney for their assistance in the murder. Teresa Rowland and Theron McKinney were apparently not investigated for their alleged role in the crime. Neither of them was prosecuted. Thomas Arthur maintains his innocence of the murder. No physical evidence links him to the crime. Hair samples and fingerprints from the crime scene were tested, but did not match Thomas Arthur's. He was convicted on disputed circumstantial evidence and the testimony of Judy Wicker, who had committed perjury at either her trial or Arthur's retrial. On appeal in 2002, two affidavits were filed which contradict Judy Wicker's testimony that Thomas Arthur was with her on the morning of the murder. The affidavits, signed by Alphonso High and Ray Melson, stated that he had visited them that morning. The state has not disputed that these affidavits, if true, establish that Thomas Arthur was about an hour's drive away from the Wickers' home at the time of the murder. However, the state obtained its own affidavits from High and Melson contradicting their original statements. Thomas Arthur's lawyers raised critical questions about the circumstances under which these witnesses retreated from their original testimonies and requested a hearing to resolve the factual disputes; their request was denied. In 2006, the US Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit ruled that the disputed affidavits were not sufficient to meet the threshold for a federal hearing on new evidence of innocence under US law. In support of his argument that he should be allowed back into court for a hearing on his innocence claim, Thomas Arthur is seeking to have modern DNA testing conducted on various pieces of evidence related to the crime, including Judy Wicker's bloodstained clothing, the rape evidence, and hair samples. Such testing, it is argued, could establish that someone other than him was at the crime scene, thereby discrediting Judy Wicker's trial testimony against Arthur. On 5 November 2007, the Innocence Project, which represents inmates seeking DNA testing to prove their innocence, wrote to the Alabama Governor's Office responding to its request for advice on how to approach requests for post-conviction DNA testing in capital cases. In its letter to the Governor's Policy Director, the Innocence Project outlined its guidance and urged the Governor to grant DNA testing in Thomas Arthur's case. Its letter stated: We believe that the Arthur case easily fits within the category of cases where DNA testing should be granted... In fact, DNA testing has the potential to conclusively prove that Mr Arthur was
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news-----ALABAMA
Sept. 22 ALABAMAimpending execution 11th Circuit denies stay for Alabama inmate facing execution A federal appeals court Friday denied a stay of execution for 65-year-old Tommy Arthur, who faces lethal injection on Thursday in the murder-for-hire shooting death of a Muscle Shoals man. Arthur's attorneys had asked the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to delay the execution at Holman prison near Atmore until civil suits challenging use of lethal injection and another seeking DNA evidence could go to trial. Arthur was sentenced to die for the Feb. 1, 1982, killing of 35-year-old Troy Wicker, who was shot in the right eye as he lay in bed in his Muscle Shoals home. At the time of his arrest, Arthur was serving a sentence for an unrelated murder and assigned to a prison work release center. A 3-judge panel of the 11th Circuit on Monday rejected the lethal injection challenge, and on Friday the panel upheld the lower court's order dismissing Arthur's bid for DNA testing of evidence from his trial. There was no justification for Arthur's failure to bring his request for physical evidence for DNA testing earlier to allow sufficient time for full adjudication on the merits of this claim, the order stated. Assistant Attorney General Clay Crenshaw, the state's capital litigation chief, said the 11th Circuit's order is pretty specific that any testing results wouldn't exonerate Arthur. State prosecutors had argued that Arthur was unable to show that DNA testing of evidence would clear him. Arthur's attorney disagreed. That's a dispute between the lawyers as to what the evidence will show. Reliable science can settle this dispute, said Suhana S. Han, a New York attorney representing Arthur. She said Friday she was still analyzing the 11th Circuit's decision, but expects to file a U.S. Supreme Court appeal. State prosecutors say Arthur exhausted state and federal appeals of his conviction when the U.S. Supreme Court denied a review on April 16. On Thursday, Gov. Bob Riley's spokesman, Jeff Emerson, said the governor had no current plans to block Arthur's execution despite appeals from Arthur's supporters, including the New York-based Innocence Project and the anti-death penalty Amnesty International USA. Arthur's first 2 convictions and death sentences in the Wicker murder were overturned on appeal. But Arthur has been on death row at Holman prison near Atmore about 16 years after being convicted for capital murder and sentenced to death in 1992 at his 3rd trial. Judy Wicker, now 60, testified that she began a sexual relationship with Arthur after he committed to killing her husband and that she paid him $10,000 for the slaying. She initially said an intruder, not Arthur, killed her husband. She was given a life sentence for her part in the murder and paroled after 10 years behind bars. Han contended Wicker changed her story to protect her parole chances and that DNA testing of evidence collected from her could prove that her initial story about being raped is true. But the lower court concluded that there was no basis in the record for Arthur's belief that the blood on Judy Wicker's clothing belonged to her assailant, Arthur or to anyone other than Judy Wicker, who was injured in a struggle. Arthur's attorneys had sought DNA testing of the rape kit, among other evidence. But the lower court ruled that Arthur did not offer any reason to believe that testing the rape kit would help show that he was more likely than not actually innocent. (source: Associated Press)
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news------ALABAMA
July 30 ALABAMAnew execution date Supreme Court Sets Execution Date For Daniel Siebert In MOntgomery, the Alabama Supreme Court has set an October 25 execution date for Danial Lee Siebert for the 1986 murders in Talladega of a deaf student and her 2 children. The Supreme Court Monday granted a petition from the Alabama Attorney General's office, asking it set an execution date for the 53-year-old Siebert. He has been on death row for 20 years. Siebert was sentenced to death for the February 19, 1986, strangulation deaths of 24-year-old Sherri Weathers and her 2 sons, 5-year-old Chad and 4-year-old Joey. Weathers was a student at the Alabama School for the Deaf in Talladega and had been dating Siebert. The bodies of Weathers and her children were found several days later in her Talladega apartment. Siebert was also convicted of capital murder in the death of Linda Jarman. Jarman was a neighbor of Weathers and was killed the same night. Siebert was arrested 6 months later in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee, following a manhunt. Assistant Attorney General Clay Crenshaw said Siebert has exhausted all of his appeals for the killing of Weathers and her children. (source: Associated Press)
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news-----ALABAMA
July 20 ALABAMAimpending execution Guilty of a crime, or of being poor? If you will ... Picture yourself, sitting on a cold Stainless steel commode in a cage, Head bowed, waiting to grieve. When suddenly, a rat and a cockroach go by. Scurrying along in their train come the warden, The prison commissioner, the governor And the attorney general. Bereft, you continue the process of grieving As these ... break their contemptuous, yet Fearful stride through the facility, pausing To stare fascinated at this particular cage of ... Be dignified, as you complete those personal Rituals of grief. - A Thrilling Proposition by Darrell Grayson Darrell Grayson will die without justice next Thursday if Gov. Bob Riley doesn't take action. Grayson, who along with Victor Kennedy was convicted of the 1980 rape and murder of 86-year-old Annie Orr, has been on Death Row for 25 years. But because Grayson's conviction has been tainted, Riley and the state should be uncomfortable with proceeding with his execution. An affidavit from one of the men who had been playing cards and drinking with Grayson said that Grayson was passed out, drunk and high, when the crime was committed. Grayson also had no prior record. And there was no DNA evidence linking him to the crimes. But none of that mattered because Grayson didn't have the money to pay a private lawyer to defend him. The court had to appoint him a public defender. And the state of Alabama severely limited payments to public defenders for research and investigation at the time that Grayson was on trial. So the real reason that Grayson may be killed by the state of Alabama next Thursday is that he is poor. One of the problems we faced in this case is the fact that I was only given $500 to hire experts and carry out any other trial expenses associated with the case, said Richard W. Bell, Grayson's trial and appeal attorney, in a letter to Gov. Riley. It was always problematical in my mind as to what exactly caused the death of Ms. Orr due to the fact that her hands were not bound, she was not traumatized and was not rendered unconscious by any type of drug or substance. Once again, I must emphasize the importance of the lack of adequate funding which terribly prohibited my efforts to defend Mr. Grayson in this matter. If I had had the necessary funds available for expert witnesses who could have presented contradictory evidence as to the cause of death ... the jury's decision could have been quite different. This doesn't mean that Grayson would have been found innocent. According to trial records, Grayson and Kennedy had been planning to rob Annie Orr for some time. But planning a robbery - or even committing one - is not rape or murder. It isn't a capital crime. Had Grayson's attorney been able to represent him adequately, Grayson may well not be facing death now. Bell ended his letter to Riley by asking the governor to commute Grayson's sentence to life without parole. He didn't ask for a pardon; neither, as far as I know, has Grayson. In my opinion, justice must be fairly administered to all persons and to allow them to have the resources equal to the resources to the state of Alabama when a life is at stake, Bell said. This was not done in this case and it was intentional by the Legislature of the state of Alabama to severely limit and prohibit a valid and effective defense for indigent individuals. Darrell Grayson was caught in the trap of poverty. It may not be an injustice that Grayson has done prison time. But it certainly is unjust for Alabama to kill a man simply because he is poor. (source: Huntsville Times)
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ALABAMA
May 16 ALABAMA: Condemned convicts deserve representation The propriety of the death penalty in a civilized society dedicated to the ideal of justice has been debated for decades. No agreement appears imminent between the 2 sides. But surely capital punishment advocates and opponents can agree on one issue regarding its implementation: Defendants whose lives hang in the balance are entitled to competent legal representation. Apparently, that is not the case in Alabama. Seven prominent members of the bar in our state including 3 former Alabama Supreme Court justices, 3 former State Bar presidents and a former Criminal Appeals Court judge filed a friend-of-the-court brief last week urging the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case of 6 Alabama death-row inmates who claim they were denied adequate representation. Alabama's legal system regarding the provision of counsel to indigent death row inmates ... is in a state of crisis, the former judicial system officials said. Alabama is the only state that doesn't provide condemned inmates with attorneys for post-conviction appeals, The Birmingham News reported in a story on the filing. Other states have established post-conviction defender programs or have funds to assist indigent convicts with legal costs in the appeals process. Regardless of how one feels about capital punishment, surely all can agree that justice is the ultimate goal of the criminal justice system. And for justice to prevail, prosecution and defense must be sufficiently competent. Anything less is the equivalent of vigilantism. (source: Editorial, Decatur Daily)
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ALABAMA
Jan. 6 ALABAMA: Talladega, St. Clair counties grant few death sentences Although the state of Alabama as a whole is bucking the national trend of declining numbers of convicted murderers sentenced to death, there has been only 1 death sentence handed down in Talladega and St. Clair counties in the last 6 years. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, a record low of 114 inmates were condemned to die in 2006, down from 128 in 2005. But Alabama courts handed down 13 in 2006, up from 10 in 2005. Although lethal injection was recommended by a Talladega County jury, a 2003 case against Jimmy Lee Brooks Jr. originated in Russell County. It was moved to Talladega due to pretrial publicity, but was prosecuted by the Russell County District Attorneys Office, and the ultimate sentence was imposed by a Russell County circuit judge. Except for the Brooks case, the death penalty was last handed down in Talladega in 2000. The last death penalty in St. Clair County was a year before that. Nationally, one of the frequently cited concerns regarding the death penalty is in the area of judicial override, meaning that the judge is not bound by a jury's recommendation at sentencing. According to the Associated Press, Alabama and Florida are the only remaining death penalty states with judicial override, and only Alabama allows a judge to impose a death sentence when a majority of the jurors vote for life without parole. The last capital murder trial we had in St. Clair was the retrial of a man previously sentenced to death for beating his 4-year-old son to death, St. Clair County District Attorney Richard Minor said. There was a flaw in the jury instruction, and the case was remanded. The jury convicted him a 2nd time, and again recommended the death penalty, but the judge chose to sentence him to life without parole instead. I can actually think of 2 or 3 other cases like that in the last few years, so when people talk about doing away with judicial overrides, they might want to be careful what they wish for. I've seen more death penalty recommendations overridden than I have life without parole recommendations. Minor speculated this might be the case because with St. Clair County being so conservative, judicial overrides might not be as significant an issue here as, say, Jefferson County. Most of the legislators I've heard talking about this seem to be from the Jefferson County area, anyway. Since the last death sentence was imposed in a local case in Talladega, four capital murder indictments have made it to trial, all resulting in sentences of life without possibility of parole. According to District Attorney Steve Giddens, 2 of the cases were resolved by pleas and in the other 2 the ultimate sanction did not apply. One because of a loophole in the capital murder statute and the other based on a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision. In the former instance, the state Legislature amended the capital murder statute to include murder by shooting into and from a vehicle. The Legislature did not similarly amend the list of aggravating circumstances that a jury can consider when deciding between death and life without parole. The latter involved a defendant with an IQ of less than 70. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Atkins v. Virginia that executing a defendant meeting the legal definition of mentally retarded constituted cruel and unusual punishment. There is currently only 1 capital case pending in St. Clair County, and 5 pending in Talladega County. Whether or not a defendant gets the death penalty depends on their being convicted of a capital crime based on the law and the evidence, Giddens said. I don't really have an opinion on the numbers other than to say that I do not seek the death penalty arbitrarily. The facts are questions for the jury, and they make a recommendation to the judge. That's the way it's always been. Minor said he didn't really know why there had been so few recent capital prosecutions in St. Clair County. There was a time a few years ago when we had 5 or 6 pending at a time, just left and right, he said. Violent crime is down nationally, and we have not seen a great number of homicides here, although we just found a body in Riverside 2 days ago, so maybe I shouldn't say that. We've seen a decrease in manufacturing cases, but most of our other felonies have remained pretty constant. The last alleged capital murder in Talladega County was in 2005, and the oldest pending case is a remand for a conviction more than 20 years ago. The remaining 3 have been pending for several years now, for a variety of reasons, according to Giddens. Everything takes time, he said. You have to wait on the autopsy, then for forensics, for ballistics, and now with Atkins you need to make sure the defendants IQ is over 70. Then you need to conduct a hearing on that. Then you have hearings on defense requests for independent DNA, independent forensic analysis, a psychiatric evaluation,
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news --- ALABAMA
death penalty news September 23, 2005 ALABAMA --- execution Ala. Man Executed for Killing Family of 3 A man convicted of killing a family of three and driving off in their vintage sports car was executed by injection Thursday. John W. Peoples Jr., 48, died at 6:27 p.m. at Holman Prison near Atmore, prison officials said. Peoples was convicted in 1983 in the killing of Pell City businessman Paul G. Franklin, his wife, Judy Choron Franklin, both 34, and their 10-year-old son, Paul. Peoples did not look at or offer an apology to relatives of the Franklins, but thanked his own family for their support. The Franklins' relatives said they were relieved that Peoples was dead, but were surprised at his apparent lack of remorse. Seemed a lot easier on him the way he died versus the way they died, said Bill Choron, the slain woman's brother. The execution was carried out after the Supreme Court denied Peoples' request for a delay and Gov. Bob Riley turned down his bid for clemency. Peoples argued in his plea that he had a right to die by electrocution, as his original death sentence stipulated, instead of lethal injection, a method Alabama adopted beginning in 2002. The state, in its response to the Supreme Court, said Peoples missed the deadline to request the electric chair. The boy and his mother were beaten to death with a rifle, but the father's body was too decomposed by the time he was found for investigators to determine the cause of death. Prosecutors say Peoples killed the three because he wanted their 1968 red Corvette, and he was arrested after attempting to sell the car shortly after the killings. Peoples' cousin, Timothy Gooden, is serving a life sentence in the case. He allegedly was with Peoples the night of the slayings. John W. Peoples Jr. becomes the 4th inmate executed in Alabama this year and the 34th since the state resumed capital punishment on April 22, 1983. He is the 39th person put to death nationwide in 2005 and the 983rd overall since 1977. (source: AP / Tuscaloosa News Joerg Sommer) Alabama inmates executed since death penalty reinstated By The Associated Press Condemned inmates executed in Alabama, and date of death, since the state restored its capital punishment law in the mid-1970s: John Louis Evans III, April 22, 1983 Arthur L. Jones, March 20, 1986 Wayne Eugene Ritter, Aug. 28, 1987 Michael Lindsey, May 26, 1989 Horace Dunkins, July 14, 1989 Herbert Richardson, Aug. 18, 1989 Arthur J. Julius, Nov. 17, 1989 Wallace Norrell Thomas, July 13, 1990 Larry G. Heath, March 20, 1992 Cornelius Singleton, Nov. 20, 1992 Willie Clisby, April 28, 1995 Varnall Weeks, May 12, 1995 Edward Horsley, Feb. 16, 1996 Billy Wayne Waldrop, Jan. 10, 1997 Walter Hill, May 2, 1997 Henry Francis Hays, June 6, 1997 Steven Allen Thompson, May 8, 1998 Brian Keith Baldwin, June 18, 1999 Victor Kennedy, Aug. 6, 1999 David Ray Duren, Jan. 7, 2000 Freddie Lee Wright, March 3, 2000 Robert Lee Tarver Jr., April 14, 2000 Pernell Ford, June 2, 2000 Lynda Lyon Block, May 10, 2002 Anthony Keith Johnson, Dec. 12, 2002 Michael Eugene Thompson, March 13, 2003 Gary L. Brown, April 24, 2003 Tommy J. Fortenberry, Aug. 7, 2003 James B. Hubbard, Aug. 5, 2004 David Kevin Hocker, Sept. 30, 2004 Mario Centobie, April 28, 2005 Jerry Paul Henderson, June 2, 2005 George Sibley Jr. Aug. 4, 2005 John W. Peoples Jr. Sept. 22, 2005 (source: Alabama Department of Corrections / Tuscaloosa News)
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----ALABAMA
April 28 ALABAMAexecution Convicted cop killer executed by lethal injection in Alabama Mario Centobie had no final statement before his execution Thursday for the 1998 murder of a Moody police officer. Centobie, 39, of Biloxi, Miss., was executed at 6:22 p.m. CST. He stared at the ceiling, never looking toward the witnesses, throughout the execution process, which took approximately 20 minutes and was carried out without incident. The U.S. Supreme Court earlier denied a final appeal by a public defender to block the execution. Centobie met until 4:30 p.m. with his mother, 2 brothers and a sister, Department of Corrections spokesman Brian Corbett said. Centobie was convicted and sentenced to death for killing Moody police officer Keith Turner in 1998 while a fugitive from Mississippi. Centobie becomes the 1st condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Alabama, and the 31st overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 1983. Centobie becomes the 18th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 962nd overall since America resumed executions on January 17, 1977. (sources: Associated Press Rick Halperin)
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news------ALABAMA
June 27 ALABAMA: In 2 horrific homicides, jury recommends life - why? With nearly 200 people on death row, Alabama's courts are hardly shy about imposing capital sentences. But juries in 2 closely watched trials recently voted to spare the lives of convicted killers - with multiple victims in 2 horrific homicideIn two horrific homicides, jury recommends life - why? With nearly 200 people on death row, Alabama's courts are hardly shy about imposing capital sentences. But juries in 2 closely watched trials recently voted to spare the lives of convicted killers - with multiple victims in 2 horrific homicide cases - decisions that angered prosecutors and victims' families and offered new encouragement to opponents of capital punishment. Last week, jurors in Birmingham recommended life without parole instead of death by lethal injection for an admitted drug dealer who said he gunned down 3 police officers in self-defense. In rural Luverne less than a week earlier, jurors chose life for a man after convicting him of murdering 6 members of his girlfriend's family. No 2 trials are alike, and both men could still get death since prosecutors say they will ask judges to override the juries and impose capital sentences, as state law allows. But the Birmingham prosecutor said he has noticed a subtle trend that may account for a jurors' reluctance to opt for death. I think something's changing in society, said Jefferson County District Attorney David Barber, a prosecutor since 1972. People do not like to be held accountable for their actions, therefore they do not like to hold other people accountable for theirs. Death penalty opponent Bryan Stevenson doubts Barber's theory since Alabama's death row is home to 192 people and adds new residents each year. Instead, Stevenson believes jurors are being swayed by what he characterizes as fundamental problems with capital punishment. We are constantly hearing about people who were wrongly convicted or wrongly sentenced, and I think people are becoming a lot more aware of politicians using the death penalty to advance their own careers, said Stevenson, executive director of the Montgomery-based Equal Justice Initiative of Alabama, which defends death row inmates. In Jefferson County, an urban jury deliberated about 2 1/2 days before recommending life imprisonment for Kerry Spencer, 25. Spencer told jurors he fatally shot the three officers last year out of fear after they entered the rundown house where he and a friend sold drugs. In rural Crenshaw County, jurors recommended life for Westley Devon Harris, 25, who was convicted in the systematic shotgun murders of 6 members of a family at their farm in August 2002. Prosecutors said Harris confessed to the mass killings, but the defense raised questions about his statements and what actually happened. State law requires that at least 10 members of a 12-person jury must agree to recommend death, but only 7 votes are required for a recommendation of life without parole. In each case, the jury lacked enough votes to recommend that judges impose death sentences, but enough agreed to recommend life without parole. Barber said his office will ask a judge to sentence Spencer to death, and the state is still seeking a death sentence for Harris. We must impose a sanction commensurate with the wickedness and brutality of this killing spree, Attorney General Troy King said in a statement. If ever the death penalty was warranted, it is in this case of the worst mass murder in Alabama in modern times. But Stevenson said juries are more often influenced by the defendant than the crime in deciding whether to opt for life or death. Factors like a defendant's family history and mental capacity - mitigating circumstances that defense lawyers often cite in asking juries for leniency - can play on jurors' hearts more than brutality when it comes to life or death decisions, Stevenson said. It is certainly encouraging that the jury would see mitigation and act appropriately, said Stevenson. But it is still the exception rather than the norm. (source: Associated Press)
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ALABAMA----Talking Points for George Sibley. Execution date set for 8.4.05
Friends, As you know the State of Alabama has set August 4th as the execution date for George Sibley. George Sibley has chosen to represent himself and identified the following issues as his talking points when requesting clemency from Governor Bob Riley: 1. The State set the execution date a day before the last date for his appeal and is thus denying him access to legal remedies. 2. He did not kill Officer Motley. 3. He was not legally complicit in killing Officer Motley. We urge you to let your voices be heard each and every time the State of Alabama prepares to take another life. When we do not act we condone the killing, so please tell the State of Alabama that it does not kill in your name and request clemency for George Sibley. The Governor of Alabama THE HONORABLE GOVERNOR BOB RILEY STATE CAPITOL N 104 11 S. UNION ST. # 600 MONTGOMERY, AL 36130 2751 FURTHER DETAILS ON HOW TO REACH THE GOVERNOR: PHONE 334 242 7100 FAX: 334 242 0937 Website: www.governor.state.al.us Email: http://www.governor.state.al.us/contact.htm Attorney General Troy King Address, phone and email are on his website. You are thereby invited to use them freely! http://www.ago.state.al.us/ Office of the Attorney General Alabama State House 11 South Union Street, Third Floor Montgomery, AL 36130 Alabama Parole Board P.O. Box 302405 Montgomery Al 36130 Phone 334 242 8730 Fax 334 242 8700 email: wsegr...@paroles.state.al.us Major Newspapers BIRMINGHAM NEWS Letter to the Editor Attn: Bob Blalock P.O. Box 2553 Birmingham , Al 35202 ep...@bhamnews.com MOBILE REGISTER Mobile Register P.O. Box 2488 Mobile , Al 36652 cole...@mobileregister.com MONTGOMERY ADVERTISER Letter to the Editor Montgomery Advertiser P.O. Box 1000 Montgomery . Al 36101-1000 Fax 334 261 1597 jernha...@montgomeryadvertiser.com FLORENCE TIMES DAILY Letter to the Editor Florence Times Daily P.O. Box 797 Florence , Al 35631 v...@timesdaily.com TUSCALOOSA NEWS Letter to the Editor P.O. Box 20587 Tuscaloosa , Al 35402-0587 ben.wind...@tuscaloosanews.com HUNTSVILLE TIMES Letter to the Editor The Huntsville Times P.O. Box 1487 Huntsville , Al 35807 lett...@htimes.com The Board of Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----ALABAMA
August 5 ALABAMA: Judge restricts testimony on video games in murder trial In Fayette, a judge ruled Friday that expert testimony on video games can't be presented in the trial of Devin Moore, who's accused of killing 3 members of the Fayette Police Department. While the jury in Moore's capital murder trial was outside the courtroom, Circuit Judge James Moore questioned psychologist Marianne Rosenzweig, who was on the witness stand for a second day. The judge asked her about any research relating specifically to video games causing violent behavior in people suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. The Tuscaloosa News reported that Rosenzweig indicated there were no studies she knew of that had been developed using those specific parameters. Devin Moore's attorneys have argued that he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, brought on by abuse and neglect as a child, and that it was linked with extensive watching of Grand Theft Auto videos that mirrored the crime. Defense attorney Jim Standridge objected to the narrow restrictions required by the judge. Standridge argued that there were studies indicating that people in a fearful state revert to repetitive behavior. Devin Moore, 20, is charged with capital murder in the June 7, 2003 deaths of Fayette officers Arnold Strickland, 55, and James Crump, 40, and dispatcher Leslie Ace Mealer, 38. He allegedly grabbed Strickland's gun while being booked on a stolen auto charge and used it to shoot the victims before fleeing the police station. Rosenzweig testified Friday that Devin Moore was in a dream state when the shootings occurred. He thought he was in a bad dream, the psychologist said. He thought it was a nightmare he couldn't wake up from. ** Court upholds death sentence for Dothan woman in toddler death A state appeals court upheld the death sentence of a Dothan woman who beat and stomped her adopted daughter to death, rejecting her claim that she didn't deserve death because she may have knocked the child unconscious first. In a 5-0 decision Friday, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals said the death sentence was appropriate for Patricia Blackmon, who was convicted in the May 1999 capital murder of 2-year-old Dominiqua Bryant. The child's body sustained numerous injuries, including a fractured skull, and was stomped with such force that an imprint from a shoe was left on her chest. In her appeal, Blackmon argued that the medical examiner who testified at her trial could not say to a medical certainty that Bryant was conscious during the beating, meaning the child may not have experienced enough pain to merit the heinous, atrocious or cruel guidelines for the death penalty to be imposed. The appeals court dismissed that argument. Blackmon brutally bludgeoned to death a helpless 2-year-old child using a pool cue and sometime during the beating stomped on her chest, the court said. By anyone's standards the murder in this case was especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel. During the trial, prosecutors said the evidence showed that Bryant suffered greatly before she died. Bryant had injuries on both her front and back, proving that she struggled to get away while she was being beaten, prosecutors said. The appeals court also rejected Blackmon's motion for a new trial, in which she claimed pretrial publicity had tainted the jury. *** Lee County jury convicts man of capital murder It took a Lee County jury about 3 hours to find 27-year-old James Edward Gary Junior guilty of capital murder. The Phenix City man was convicted yesterday of killing a Lee County couple, 68-year-old Thurman Ray Ratliff, and his wife, 62-year-old Katherine Combs Ratliff, of Beauregard. Prosecutors said the Ratliffs were shot to death during a January 2002 robbery in their home on Alabama Highway 51. Jurors return today for the sentencing phase -- they can either recommend that Gary be given the death penalty or spend the rest of his life in prison without parole. (source for all: Associated Press)
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news-----ALABAMA
August 4 ALABAMA: Federal court denies Alabama's oldest death row inmate stay of execution A federal appeals court today refused to block the execution of James Barney Hubbard. The state's oldest death row inmate is scheduled to die by lethal injection tomorrow (Thursday) night. The 74-year-old convicted double-murderer asked the 11th U-S Circuit Court of Appeals to block his execution, arguing he is too old and sick to be put to death. Hubbard contends that because of his advanced age and mental incompetence, his execution would be a form of cruel and unusual punishment. He was recently diagnosed with dementia by a psychologist and claims that he is suffers from several other health-related ailments. Hubbard was sentenced to die for the 1977 killing of 62-year-old Lillian Montgomery, a Tuscaloosa woman who befriended him after he served a prison sentence for another killing, also in Tuscaloosa County in 1957. (source: Associated Press)
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----ALABAMA
Aug. 5 ALABAMA: Supreme Court denies stay of execution to aging Alabama inmate A 74-year-old condemned murderer was denied a stay by the U.S. Supreme Court as he neared a scheduled execution Thursday that would make him the oldest inmate put to death in the United States in decades. In a 5-4 decision, the high court denied a stay for James Barney Hubbard, whose attorney contended it would amount to cruel and unusual punishment to execute an inmate so old and mentally incompetent. Hubbard, Alabama's oldest death row inmate, was scheduled to die at 6 p.m. CDT by lethal injection at Holman Prison for the 1977 murder of 62-year-old Lillian Montgomery of Tuscaloosa. She was shot in the head and robbed after befriehnding Hubbard, who had been released from prison after serving 19 years for a 1957 killing. He had also asked for a commuted sentence from Gov. Bob Riley, who after the Supreme Court's decision said he would not block the execution. He said Hubbard had committed a heinous and violent crime. Justice has not been swift in this case, but justice must be delivered, Riley said. Defense Attorney Alan Rose said Hubbard would be the oldest person executed in the United States in 63 years. In his filing with the Supreme Court, Rose said that Hubbard's age-based execution claim appears to raise a novel issue, but added that it is in line with claims of cruel and unusual punishment made by others based upon their status. The state, in response, said the age and dementia claims should have been made earlier and are now barred by law. Murderers especially repeat killers like Hubbard do not deserve 'leniency' merely because their life of crime does not result in the imposition of a death sentence until later in life, the state's response said. Hubbard, in his federal appeals, said he didn't speak up about his mental state and health sooner because the conditions were related to his aging and didn't exist when he was younger. Court filings on his behalf say he has been diagnosed with dementia, along with other ailments. The state's response said dementia does not automatically mean a person is mentally incompetent and that Hubbard had not sought mental treatment during his recent decades as a condemned inmate. Hubbard appealed to the high court Wednesday after the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a 2-1 vote denied the request for a stay. In the Supreme Court's 5-4 decision, the stay was denied by Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Justices Sandra Day O'Connor, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy and Clarence Thomas. Justices John Paul Stevens, David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer would have granted the stay. Records from the Death Penalty Information Center show Hubbard would be the oldest U.S. prisoner put to death since executions resumed in 1977 with approval of the U.S. Supreme Court. According to the Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, Hubbard would be the oldest person executed in the United States since 1941, when James Stephens of Colorado was executed at age 76. (source: Associated Press)
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news---ALABAMA
Sept. 23 ALABAMA: Take action now at http://www.democracyinaction.org/ncadp/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=150 (source: NCADP)
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----ALABAMA
Sept. 27 ALABAMAimpending volunteer execution Hocker faces execution for murder of his boss in Houston County David Kevin Hocker continues to waive any appeals and is scheduled to be executed at 6 p.m. Thursday for stabbing his boss to death in Houston County in 1998 and stealing his money to buy crack cocaine. Hocker, 33, has filed no final-week appeal of his death sentence for the March 21, 1998, stabbing death and robbery of Jerry Wayne Robinson, 47, of Columbia in Houston County, state's attorneys said Monday. Hocker, who had been living in a Dothan motel, was accused of shooting Robinson as he sat in a truck in Headland and dumping Robinson's body in neighboring Henry County. A worker with Robinson's structural steel detailing company, Hocker used the victim's bank card to get cash to purchase $400 worth of crack cocaine. He later turned himself in at the Mobile County Sheriff's Department. Hocker's initial appeal was rejected by the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals. He then filed court documents waiving his right to further appeals. Alabama Department of Corrections spokesman Brian Corbett said Hocker has given no indication that he has changed his mind. Corbett said prison officials are going on with plans for the execution by lethal injection Thursday at Holman Prison in Atmore. Hocker has not made a request for clemency to Alabama Gov. Bob Riley, said Jeff Emerson, the governor's communications director. During his trial 4 years ago, Hocker admitted killing Robinson. I'm guilty, he told the judge. (source: Associated Press)
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----ALABAMA
Jan. 7 ALABAMA: 1st death sentence changed in Alabama due to mental retardation For the 1st time, a condemned Alabama killer has avoided the death penalty because of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling against executing the mentally retarded. In a 5-0 decision Friday, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals said the death penalty can't be used against James Henry Borden Jr., who killed a Lawrence County woman in front of her grandchildren a decade ago. The judges agreed with the attorney general's staff that Borden's sentence must be changed from death to life in prison without parole because of the U.S. Supreme Court's 2002 decision that said mentally retarded killers can't be executed. After reviewing the record and the findings of the circuit court, we find that Borden is mentally retarded and therefore cannot be sentenced to death, Judge Bucky McMillan wrote. Clay Crenshaw, chief of the attorney general's capital litigation division, said Borden is the 1st inmate in Alabama to get a new sentence due to the 2002 ruling. He said the attorney general's staff agreed that the sentence should be changed after IQ tests over a period of years consistently showed that Borden was retarded. The Court of Criminal Appeals noted that an expert in a recent lower court proceeding determined Borden has an IQ of 53, and during his 1994 trial two experts put his IQ at 65 and 66. All scores fall in the range of mild mental retardation, the appeals court said. Borden, 55, was convicted and sentenced to die for the Sept. 5, 1993, murder of 63-year-old Nellie Ledbetter. She was sitting on the front porch of her Lawrence County home when Borden stabbed her to death as her young grandchildren watched. Ledbetter's 11-year-old grandson, Josh, testified at the trial that Borden was the man who fatally stabbed his grandmother when she refused to leave with him. Court records showed Borden had been convicted of another murder about 20 years earlier. State and federal appeals courts have ordered hearings for other Alabama death row inmates who have claimed mental retardation. Bryan Stevenson, an attorney for Borden and director of the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, said he anticipates more decisions like Borden's. Until the Supreme Court ruled, we were not shielding people who were mentally disabled from death sentences, he said. One of Alabama's most widely known death row inmates, Glenn Holladay, has a mental retardation hearing scheduled in March. Holladay was sentenced to die for killing 3 people in Gadsden in 1986. In May 2003, he was within 2 days of being executed when a federal appeals court halted the execution and ordered that the convicted killer get another chance to prove that he is retarded. (source: Associated Press)
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----ALABAMA
Community Affairs CommitteeA multiracial Organization Dedicated to Achieving Racial Justice Harmony in the Birmingham Community - Race Relations Roundtable Wednesday, March 2, 2005 7:30 am Alagasco Midtown Marketing Center (20th Street 1st Avenue South) CAPITAL PUNISHMENT : YES or NO ? What do you think ? Come hear from capital punishment proponent District Attorney, David Barber And anti-death penalty activist, George Jones Be Informed. Then decide. The Roundtable meets the first Wednesday of each month. Free continental breakfast is served sponsored by Alagasco. To RSVP, fax this form to 324-8799, call 324-8797, or email aime...@bellsouth.net. NAME __ ORGANIZATION__ _ Yes, I will attend March's Race Relations Roundtable. __No, I will not attend March's Race Relations Roundtable Metropolitan Human Relations Commission 1040 19th Street North * PO Box 13589 * Birmingham, AL 35203 205-458-3390 (P) / 205-324-8799 (F)
