July 10
TEXAS:
Texas inmates reveal what life is like on 'suffocating' death row
They call Huntsville the capital of capital punishment. This small town in
Texas has the most active death chamber in America.
The debate about the morality of executing prisoners by lethal injection is
largely bypassing this heavily pro-death penalty state.
Many US states - in fact, polls show that many Americans - are taking a 2nd
look at this method of killing, following the botched execution of 2 prisoners.
They were left in visible agony and took many minutes to die after the cocktail
of drugs being pumped into their bodies failed to do the job cleanly and
quickly.
Amid the great debate that has been ignited by this grim debacle, one group of
people have never been asked about their views of death by lethal injection:
Death row prisoners themselves.
We were granted permission to enter death row in Texas and speak with 2 of the
next men to be executed. 1 is a double killer, who shot his former girlfriend
and her brother to death. The other is a hitman for the Mexican mafia who
strangled a woman.
They spoke to me about their views of their imminent deaths.
Manuel Vasquez says he wants to die because his 15 years in solitary
confinement is intolerable and does not amount to a life worth living.
Willie Trottie says he is being used as a human experiment since Texas refuses
to disclose what quantities of the drug will be used as he is strapped down and
put to death.
Both men say that lethal injection might seem to outsiders as a benign way to
die, but they believe it is like being drowned. They claim it amounts to the
"cruel and unusual punishment" that is outlawed by the US Constitution.
Needless to say the views of these killers will not change minds in Texas,
where the Death Chamber continues to be busy.
(source: ITV news)
*****************
Prosecutor: Gunman shot 7 relatives execution style
The suspect in a mass shooting that left 6 people dead, including 4 children,
and 1 injured tied up his victims and shot each 1 in the head, prosecutors said
Thursday.
The Harris County Sheriff's Office says Ronald Lee Haskell, 33, was booked
Thursday on a capital murder/multiple murders charge and held without bond.
Police say Haskell arrived at the home wearing a FedEx uniform and once inside,
he gathered several children in the home and waited for their parents to come
home. He then shot seven people. 6 died and 1 girl survived.
"He came to this location yesterday afternoon ... and came under the guise of a
FedEx driver wearing a FedEx shirt," said Harris County Precinct 4 Constable
Ron Hickman. "(He) gathered up the children that were here and awaited the
arrival of the parents. Sometime later the victims were shot in this residence,
and we now learned that Mr. Haskell was married to a relative of the residents
of this home."
Detectives said Haskell knocked on the front door of the home and when the
15-year-old girl answered he asked for her parents. She told him they were not
home and so he left.
Investigators said he came back a short time later and asked her again for her
parents, but this time he told her his name and the girl recognized him as her
ex-uncle. She tried to close the door on him, but he kicked it in, detectives
said.
Authorities identified the dead as Stephen Stay, 39, and Katie Stay, 33, and
their 2 boys, ages 4 and 14; and 2 girls, ages 7 and 9.
Haskell demanded to know the whereabouts of his estranged wife, who was related
to the Stays.
During Haskell's first court appearance Thursday, prosecutor Tammy Thomas said
Haskell tied up the family, placed them face down, and then shot each of them
in the head execution style.
Hickman corrected an earlier report that said Haskell was the father of the
children. He did not release details of Haskell's relationship to the family,
but described the adults killed as the children's parents.
Deputies said the15-year-old girl suffered a bullet fracture to her skull. They
said she played dead until Haskell left and then alerted authorities that he
was on his way to her grandparents' home to kill more relatives.
A standoff ensued when deputies cornered Haskell in a cul-de-sac in a nearby
neighborhood. He surrendered after 4 hours.
During the standoff, Deputy Thomas Gilliland said there were "2 hours of
constant talking with a man armed with a pistol to his head and who had just
killed 6 people."
Gilliland described the man as in his 30s with a beard "and cool as a
cucumber." He said that when he and other officers first approached, the man
was "just sitting in his car looking out at us."
The surviving teen girl was in "very critical condition" at Memorial Hermann
Hospital in Houston as of late Wednesday, Gilliland said.
In a statement released by FedEX officials Thursday, the company extended its
condolences to "all those involved in this tragic incident." The statement
indicated that Haskell formerly "provided service for FedEx, but has not done
so since January."
(source: USA Today)
CONNECTICUT:
Death row inmate seeks to avoid death penalty
The state Supreme Court listened to arguments on Thursday from a man seeking to
get off of death row.
The 42-year-old has been trying to appeal his sentence since the death penalty
was abolished in Connecticut.
Peeler was convicted of directing his brother to kill Karen Clarke and her
8-year-old son, Leroy Brown Jr., in Bridgeport in 1999.
The boy was set to testify against Peeler for an earlier killing.
Both brothers were concerned that Leroy witnessed Peeler kill his mother's
boyfriend.
However, Peeler's attorney raised more than 30 claims in his appeal.
A penalty hearing was held before a jury, according to court officials, in
which the state sought the death penalty. The state said the penalty was
warranted because how heinous the crimes were, because he paid for it and
because a child was one of the victims.
Peeler's attorney, however, argued that while he was an accessory, his
participation in the crimes was actually minor. They said there was other
factors as well.
The defense said that the jury unanimously rejected 2 statutory mitigating
factors before the death sentence could be imposed, which would make the
special verdict form that the jury completed defective. They said that
essentially permitted the jury to impose the death penalty even if the jury was
unable to make a unanimous finding.
Peeler's brother was also convicted in the murders. However, he was given a
20-year sentence for his role.
State lawmakers abolished the death penalty in 2012. However, it only applied
to cases going forward.
While Peeler argued that his death penalty conviction was unconstitutional,
that argument was not heard on Thursday.
(source: WFSB news)
FLORIDA----execution
Florida carries out its 7th execution of the year
Eddie Davis, who was convicted of raping and murdering an 11-year-old girl in
1994, was executed in Florida on Thursday evening.
Davis had appealed to delay the execution, arguing that he has a health
condition that would make the injection painful, but the Florida State Supreme
Court denied an appeal from Davis earlier this week.
The Florida Department of Corrections said that Davis was executed at 6:43 p.m.
at the state prison in Starke, located about 50 minutes southeast of
Jacksonville.
Davis was the 1st execution in the country since 3 executions were carried out
in under 24 hours last month, a surge in capital punishment that followed
nearly 2 months without any executions in the country. That span, meanwhile,
followed a botched lethal injection in Oklahoma that drew considerable
criticism and brought international attention to the death penalty in the U.S.
Lethal injections in Florida utilize 3 drugs: midazolam hydrochloride,
vecuronium bromide and potassium chloride. Davis was the 7th person executed in
Florida, which ties Texas for the most executions in a single state this year.
Davis becomes the 88th condemned inmate to be put to death in Florida since the
state resumed capital punishment in 1979. Only Texas (515), Oklahoma (111), and
Virginia (110) have executed more inmates since the USA re-legalized the death
penalty on July 2, 1976.
Davis becomes the 24th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA
and the 1383rd overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977.
(sources: Washington Post & Rick Halperin)
OHIO:
Grand jury indicts Williams for Gina Burger murder
A homeless 18-year-old man could face the death penalty if convicted of the
murder of a 16-year-old girl who was found in a Mercer County, Pa., waste
facility late last month.
A Mahoning County grand jury today indicted Ricki Williams on a charge of
aggravated murder with death penalty specifications, for the June 23 stabbing
death of Gina Burger in the Compass West apartment complex in Austintown.
Williams also faces counts of kidnapping, abduction, possession of criminal
tools, abuse of a corpse and a misdemeanor count of criminal trespassing.
Grand jurors that Williams is eligible for the death penalty because Burger was
murdered when Williams was committing another felony, which is the kidnapping
and abduction counts.
(source: Youngstown Vindicator)
**********************
Ohio court upholds death sentence for man who fatally stabbed girlfriend's
business partner
A divided Ohio Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence of a man who fatally
stabbed his girlfriend's business partner in an argument over a forged check.
The court's 4-3 ruling Thursday rejected claims by condemned killer Gregory
Osie that he didn't deserve to die for killing David Williams in southwest
Ohio's Butler County in 2009.
Writing for the majority, Justice Sharon Kennedy backed prosecutors' arguments
that Osie feared Williams might press charges over money missing from Williams'
business.
At issue was the portion of Ohio law allowing the death penalty for killings
committed to eliminate witnesses.
3 justices said the evidence wasn't strong enough that the 52-year-old Osie
killed Williams to silence him.
Osie's attorney says she expects to ask the court to reconsider its decision.
(source: Associated Press)
ARKANSAS----death row inmate dies
Death-row inmate dies after illness
A death row inmate who killed a Prescott woman and her fiance in 1992 has died
in custody of apparent natural causes, authorities said.
Arkansas Department of Correction officials said Joe Dansby, 61, had been under
treatment at the Ouachita River Correctional Unit hospital for about a year
after developing an unspecified illness. He was taken by ambulance to a Malvern
hospital Monday night, where he was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at
10:35 p.m., the agency said.
"There's nothing suspicious about his death," Department of Correction
spokesman Shea Wilson said. "There's not been any issues like that. He had been
ill and had been housed at the hospital. There's nothing to indicate anything
other than a natural death."
The full extent of Dansby's illness was not released, though Wilson said he
faced "serious health issues." She said he suffered from spinal problems and
was confined to a wheelchair
Dansby was convicted in 1997 of 2 counts of capital murder in the fatal
shootings of 23-year-old Jeff Lewis and 21-year-old Malissa Clark, who were
found dead in rural Nevada County.
(source: arkansasonline.com)
NEBRASKA:
Nikko Jenkins: Is He Competent for Death Penalty Phase?
Nikko Jenkins mental health is once again on trial. This morning, psychiatrists
are back on the stand to offer competing opinions to whether Jenkins is
competent for the death penalty phase of his case.
The testimony is expected to last most of the day. As many as 4 psychiatrists
are expected to testify.
This morning, Dr. Bruce Gutnik told Judge Peter Bataillon it was his opinion
that Nikko Jenkins is not competent to face a 3-judge panel to determine
capital punishment.
"He thought he was a God...that he was being offered up as a sacrifice," said
Gutnik, who evaluated Jenkins on 4 occasions. "Most people facing death penalty
don't come up with that kind of scenario."
Bataillon found Jenkins competent earlier this year to stand trial. At the
previous hearing, Dr. Gutnik argued that Jenkins was not competent - but could
be restored to competency with the right treatment and medications.
Dr. Scott Moore testified for the state in much the same way he did at an
earlier hearing. He argued it was his opinion that Nikko Jenkins was faking
mental illness.
"I think he's lying all the time," said Dr. Moore. "[Jenkins] has always used
fanciful stories so that he's not held accountable for his actions."
Dr. Jane Dahlke also testified. Jenkins' attorney, Tom Riley, said she was
there as a rebuttal witness to the state's assertion that Jenkins is faking
mental illness.
Riley: "Do 8-year-olds fake mental illness?"
Dahlke: "I don't see it very often."
She examined Jenkins when he was 8 in 1995 at Richard Young access center. His
mother brought him there because he was saying he was going to hurt himself. He
was hospitalized for 11 days.
Dr. Dahlke told the court that, back then, Jenkins had threatened to kill
people and chased a sister around the house with a knife. He had earlier
brought a gun to elementary school.
Nikko Jenkins pleaded no contest to the murders of four people last August.
(source: WOWT 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
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
