August 7 NEVADA----impending execution//volunteer Nevada executions follow precise procedures Unless Terry Jess Dennis asks for a last-minute stay, the condemned inmate will be led through a submarine-type door into the Nevada State Prison's death chamber and be executed at 9 p.m. Thursday. Dennis will have already had his final meal, coffee, cigarettes or a cigar if he wants in a "last night" cell just outside the half-century-old death chamber. Before his last meal, Dennis will be able to send out letters and make final phone calls. He might choose to give away his personal items to other inmates. The condemned man can receive visits by the chaplain, warden or prison director. Dennis' brother already visited him, and no other family members are expected. Dennis has requested a set of clean prison denims, and has asked for cigarettes during his final days, prison spokesman Fritz Schlottman said. To guard against suicide attempts, a "death watch" guard keeps an eye on the convict at all times. Dennis can't have any electrical items, such as a radio or television, although they can be placed in the corridor just outside the cell. A few hours before the execution, Dennis will be given a sedative to relax him and discourage any last-minute resistance. About half an hour before the execution deadline, Dennis will be brought into a 9-by-12-foot, beige-painted room. There he will be strapped to a gurney with 8 automobile seat belts. If he can't or won't walk to the death room, guards will carry him in. While lying on the gurney, Dennis will be able to see two bare light bulbs and the old exhaust pipe that was used to fill the room with cyanide gas until the Legislature discontinued the practice in 1983. If he turns his head, Dennis will see a heart monitor. Through a 3-panel window on his right he can see the nine witnesses who are required by law to watch his execution, plus a dozen or so other witnesses who will stand in a 13-by-20-foot viewing room. Behind him, a one-way mirror hides the faces of 2 prison employees in a closet-sized "executioners" room." Unless the red phone outside the death chamber brings last-minute legal relief, the prison workers will pump 3 injections through tubes running out of the wall and into the prisoner's veins. The 1st is an overdose of a "downer" that can cause death. Another stops breathing, and a 3rd stops the heart. A few minutes later if all has gone as scheduled, a doctor will pronounce Dennis dead. Window shades on the death chamber windows will be pulled down, the needles removed from his arm, and the body transported to a mortuary. 2 and possibly 3 other locations at the prison were used before James Williams was executed in the current death chamber in 1950 for murdering a co-worker in Elko. 21 condemned men have died in the chamber since. Those executions are among 52 at the state prison since 1901, when it was designated as the location for all executions in the state of Nevada. Jesse Bishop, convicted of murder in a Las Vegas casino robbery, was the last person to be executed in the chamber by lethal gas, in 1979. Since then, all executions have been by lethal injection. Bishop and the other condemned men who followed him were "table jumpers," guard parlance for inmates who didn't resist as they were led to the death chamber and strapped into a chair or onto the gurney that's now used. Sebastian Bridges' execution on April 21, 2001, wasn't so typical. Wearing his brown, double-breasted Pierre Cardin suit and shiny, new black shoes, Bridges appeared calm at first. But then he broke down, sobbing and screaming, "You want to kill me like a dog." Still Bridges wouldn't appeal. Had he done so, even at the last minute, the execution would have been called off. (source: Associated Press) USA: Religious students' politics cross lines Strongly religious college students have conservative views on sex, abortion, gay rights and drugs, but more liberal views on gun control and the death penalty, a new study says. The study by UCLA's Higher Education Research Institute polled nearly 3,700 college juniors at 46 schools across the country, and found that 1/5 of college students are "highly religious." A similar percentage said they have little interest in religion. Those 2 groups have widely divergent views on a number of social issues, the study found. While 80 % of the least religious students said they felt casual sex was acceptable, only 7 % of the most religious students felt the same way. The least religious students were more than 3 times as likely to support legalized abortion, while highly religious students were more than twice as likely to support laws prohibiting homosexual relationships. But while highly religious students tend to be more conservative than less religious students on certain issues, they can be more liberal on other issues, the study found. Compared to those with little or no religious interests, a higher percentage of highly religious students supported federal controls on handguns sales (75 % to 70 %) and they also were more likely to support abolition of the death penalty (38 % to 23 %). College women reported higher levels of spirituality and religiousness in the study than did college men. Women reported more than 150 % more commitment to religion and spirituality and half as much religious skepticism as men. To determine their level of religiosity, students were asked whether they attended religious services, read sacred texts or joined a religious organization on campus. (source : The Baptist Standard) ********************* In the Jury Room 10-11 p.m. Tuesday-Wednesday, Aug. 10-11 (10-11 p.m. Tuesdays thereafter) ABC Now this is a reality show. "In the Jury Room" captures a much-maligned judicial process with much grit and candor, with ABC News taking its cameras behind the scenes and looking at how real criminal juries go through their paces of deliberation, verdict and penalty phase. Narrated by ABC's senior legal correspondent Cynthia McFadden, the seven-part docu series feels like a real landmark in the way it exposes how juries of one's peers really operate. And while the now-canceled Fox series "The Jury" (which premiered a few months back) also did a fine job of demonstrating how a jury meets its civic duty, it was a dramatization and thus not the same animal. This is the real deal. And in the first 3 segments supplied for review, what's striking is the way that those involved don't appear to be playing for the cameras virtually at all. "In the Jury Room" opens with a two-parter taped before the Ohio Supreme Court that examines the State of Ohio vs. Mark Ducic. Ducic is a ne'er-do-well and drug addict who is on trial for capital murder. He's charged with having injected lethal amounts of drugs into the systems of two individuals whose deaths were originally suspected to be accidental overdoses. But after he's implicated (allegedly killing the 2nd victim to keep him from ratting him out about the first), Ducic sings like a canary to a jailhouse informant, boasting of getting away with it and essentially implicating himself with his braggadocio. He is either telling the truth or is a Walter Mitty-esque dreamer who compulsively lies. Either way, his words have gotten him into deep doo-doo. With impressive access granted by the court, the ABC News cameras are there to record all of the protagonists in Part 1 -- including an increasingly frightened Ducic and his noble defense lawyers. For the second night, the cameras move into the jury room to give the audience fly-on-the-wall access to the clashes and contentiousness. It's fascinating stuff, particularly when the focus latches onto a lone juror holdout and the pressure exerted by the others. The interchanges are inspiring for the way they showcase just how seriously those involved are taking their jobs as jurors while stopping short of becoming outright hostile -- or maybe that part was simply snipped from the final show. A third hour moves to Colorado for the trial of a 20-year-old woman named Laura Trujillo who is facing 48 years in prison in the beating death of her 2-year-old daughter. The alleged perpetrator was either her or Trujillo's violent boyfriend. But she's charged with, at best, having done nothing to stop beatings that led to the toddler's death (or doing the deed herself). Each of the hours in "In the Jury Room" moves through the pretrial prep, the case buildup and the prosecution in something of truncated fashion so as to get quicker to the deliberations (with the first installment being a notable exception). But every step of this is fairly unprecedented. The idea of public defenders and defense attorneys allowing recording devices to potentially compromise the lawyer-client relationship is a risky move for all involved, as is that of judges who permit cameras into the confidential inner sanctum of their chambers. That it plays as seamlessly and powerfully as it does is a testament to the obvious respect that the producers have for the process itself -- and to a group of editors who perform their duties with great skill. In the Jury Room----ABC ABC News: Credits: Senior executive producer: Rudy Bednar Executive producer: Michael Bicks Producers: Laura Viddy, Susan Kriskey, George Kachadorian Field producers: Grace Hu, Anna Wild Toomey Associate producers: Jenna Millman, Christina Kiely Editors: George Kachadorian, Karen Silverstein, James Rutenbeck, Vanessa Boris Camera: Douglas Monroe, Bill McMillin, Scott McLean, Chris Bell, Dave Bowden Technical directors: Mitchell Wagenberg, Eric Wagenberg, Craig Haft Narrator: Cynthia McFadden (source: The Hollywood Reporter) ALABAMA: Executed, by lethal injection: the 74-year-old so stricken by dementia he forgot who he was The killing for which James Barney Hubbard was convicted happened so long ago that Elvis Presley was still performing live concerts. For 27 years Hubbard and his lawyers had fought to extend his life, filing appeal after appeal with the courts as he lingered on death row, getting ever older and more sick. On Thursday, with those appeals finally exhausted, Hubbard, weakened by dementia, was executed by lethal injection in a jail in Alabama. He was 74 - the oldest person to be executed in the United States for 6 decades. While some of his victims' relatives welcomed his death, the execution is set to trigger fresh questions about the use of the death penalty in the US in regard to its fairness and its applicability to those suffering from mental illness. There were days when Hubbard's dementia was so bad that he did not know who he was or what he had been convicted of. Alan Rose, Hubbard's lawyer for the past 16 years, was among the witnesses at the Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore. "He is a sick, frail man," he said. "He is harmless, and it makes no sense for the state of Alabama to have executed him." Hubbard was convicted of the shooting in 1997 of Lillian Montgomery, a widow who ran a grocery store in Tuscaloosa. Lonely and suffering from alcohol problems, she had agreed to take in Hubbard after he was released on parole for his involvement in a killing in 1957. Mrs Montgomery's family claimed that on the day of her death, she and Hubbard had been drinking together. Hubbard always denied the killing, saying she had shot herself, even though she suffered three gunshot wounds to the face from a Smith and Wesson .38 revolver. She had been given the gun by her oldest son, Jimmy, to protect herself at the store. Mr Montgomery was among six members of the family who attended the execution on Thursday evening. He said the last time he had seen his mother alive was when he went to pick her up to take her to see Elvis perform at the Memorial Coliseum in Tuscaloosa. Afterwards he told reporters he had been disappointed that Hubbard, silent and pale and suffering from cancer, hepatitis and emphysema, chose to make no final words of apology when he was strapped to the gurney (the trolley). He said he appeared to die too painlessly once the combination of three chemicals were released into his veins. "I personally was glad to see this part of our lives end today, and maybe we can get on down the road with some of the things we've been trying to do," he said. "He looked like he was quite comfortable on that gurney. I'd just as soon see the electric chair still in use or maybe the firing squad. It seems like he just dozed off." Hubbard's time lingering on death row ran out after Mr Rose's appeal to the Supreme Court was turned down. He had argued that given his age and sickness, executing represented a "cruel and unusual punishment", as prohibited by the 8th amendment to the US constitution. On Thursday morning the court decided by 5-4 not to stay the execution. At that stage the only person who could have saved Hubbard was Bob Riley, the state's Republican Governor. Mr Riley refused to commute Hubbard's sentence for what he called a "heinous and violent" crime. "Justice has not been swift in this case, but justice must be delivered," he said. And so, after a final meal, Hubbard was taken to the execution chamber and put to death. Witnesses said that Hubbard said nothing but looked to his daughter, who was also present, and nodded. He was declared dead at 6.36pm. Hubbard was the oldest person to be executed since 1941, when James Stephens of Colorado was executed aged 76. In 2002, the Supreme Court blocked the execution of mentally retarded prisoners. But so far, it has failed to address the issue of prisoners suffering from mental illness. "The next thing we expect the court to look at is the execution of juveniles this September," said Brenda Bowser of the Death Penalty Information Centre in Washington DC. "Maybe after that it will look at mental illness." Campaign groups in Alabama had asked for the state to commute Hubbard's sentence. US EXECUTIONS 2004 Top 5 states: Texas 10; Ohio 6; Oklahoma 5; South Carolina 4; Virginia 3 Prisoners on death row Top 5: North Carolina 214; Pennsylvania 241; California 625; Texas 453; Florida 380 Current US death row population by race: White 45.6 %; Black 41.9 %; Hispanic 10.2 %; other 2.3 % No of states practising death penalty: 38 In 2003, Texas executed 256 prisoners (32 %), while all other US states with death penalty statutes executed 432 prisoners (62 %). On the federal level, 3.5 % of people sentenced to death have been innocent. In one example of state-level problems, Illinois had an error rate of 4.5 % More than 114 people have been freed from death row since 1972, including 23 form the state of Florida alone Authorised methods of execution: Gas chamber, lethal injection, firing squad, hanging, electrocution (source: The Independent (UK) ************************ Justice could be moving up----Next chief of the Supreme Court might be Thomas, biographer says Clarence Thomas has been interviewed by White House lawyers as a possible choice to be the next chief justice of the United States, says the author of a new biography. Thomas says he isn't interested but could find it hard to turn down an opportunity to be the 1st black man to lead the Supreme Court, said biographer Ken Foskett. Judging Thomas, out this week from William Morrow, traces Thomas' life from rough beginnings in rural Georgia, through Yale Law School to his life today. Thomas initially refused Foskett's request for interviews, but later spoke to the author both on and off the record. Thomas likes NASCAR and football, plays a fierce game of basketball and during the court's summer recess tours the nation in a 40-foot mobile home decorated with orange flames, Foskett wrote. Thomas is friendly and outgoing in person, though he almost never says a word during the court's oral arguments, Foskett said. "I think people would be surprised to know that Thomas knows everyone in the building by first name," Foskett said. Thomas is the youngest of the justices at 56 and could remain on the court for decades. Whether he is elevated to chief justice "all depends on Bush being re-elected," Foskett said. Thomas' promotion to the court's top job would also depend on the exit of his boss, 79-year-old Chief Justice William Rehnquist. Rehnquist is not expected to retire before the November presidential election, but might do so in a 2nd Bush term. The White House has a short list of candidates for any Supreme Court vacancy, and presumably has interviewed several potential nominees to succeed Rehnquist. Nominating Thomas would guarantee a rancorous Senate confirmation battle and a reprise of lurid allegations of sexual harassment involving former employee Anita Hill. (source: Associated Press) IDAHO: Death row inmate fears Aryans All but 1 of Idaho's 5 death-row inmates released into the general prison population have been moved back to their solitary cells. Death-row inmate Mark Henry Lankford says he was a victim of a growing gang of white supremacist inmates that the guards can't control. Lankford is segregated after being beaten in his call on July 14th by 2 inmates his attorney identified as Aryans. Randall Lynn McKinney is the only death-row prisoner still in the general population at the maximum-security prison. Warden Greg Fisher is downplaying Lankford's claims, although he admits there is an Aryan presence in the prison. (source: Associated Press) CALIFORNIA: New DNA tests fail to exonerate Death Row inmate Kevin Cooper In San Diego, a prosecutor says new D-N-A tests sought by death row inmate Kevin Cooper has failed to exonerate him of the 1983 murders of 4 people. The tests show that hairs found on 3 victims were likely their own. Deputy Attorney General Holly Wilkens maintains the finding undermines Cooper's theory that other people committed the murder. Cooper was sentenced to die in 1985 for killing Douglas and Peggy Ryen, their 10-year-old daughter, Jessica, and family friend 11-year-old friend Christopher Hughes. 8-year-old Joshua Ryen had his throat slit but survived. Prosecutors say Cooper attacked the family with a butcher knife and hatchet at their Chino Hills home. Cooper was 8 hours away from being executed in February when an appeals court granted a stay. Another judge ordered the D-N-A testing in June. (source: Associated Press)
