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Death Penalty News & Views 2007
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Death Penalty News & Views 2007
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Click Headline for Full Story December 2007
Court Orders New Competency Hearing in Trial of Mass Murderer
12-31-07 -- The state Supreme Court has ordered another hearing to determine whether mass murderer George Banks is too mentally ill to be executed. . . . A state court ruled in February 2006 that Banks, who killed 13 people in a 1982 shooting rampage, was delusional, psychotic and had no capacity to assist in his own defense. . . . But the high court, in a ruling filed Friday, said a Common Pleas court erred in barring the commonwealth's psychiatrist from testifying and then denied a second state expert witness time to prepare properly. . . . The justices ordered the lower court to "expeditiously" conduct a new hearing to allow the state to "present a meaningful case" on Banks' competency. They warned the lower court "not to be diverted by tangential notions and assertions."
THIS WEEK FROM DPIC
12-28-07 --It is a shameful distinction, but Texas is the undisputed capital of capital punishment. At a time when the rest of the country is having serious doubts about the death penalty, more than 60 percent of all American executions this year took place in Texas. That gaping disparity provides further evidence that Texas’s governor, Legislature, courts and voters should reassess their addiction to executions. . . . As Adam Liptak reported in The Times on Wednesday, in the last three years, Texas’s share of the nation’s executions has gone from 32 percent to 62 percent. This year, Texas executed 26 people. No other state executed more than three. . . . It is not that Texas sentences people to death at a much higher rate than other states. Rather, Texas has proved to be much more willing than others to carry out the sentences it has imposed. . . . The participants in Texas’s death penalty process, including the governor and the pardon board, are more enthusiastic about moving things along than they are in many states. Texas’s system also contains some special features, like the power of district attorneys to set execution dates. Prosecutors are likely to be more eager than judges to see an execution carried out. At 60% of Total, Texas Is Bucking Execution Trend
12-26-07 -- This year’s death penalty bombshells — a de facto national moratorium, a state abolition and the smallest number of executions in more than a decade — have masked what may be the most significant and lasting development. For the first time in the modern history of the death penalty, more than 60 percent of all American executions took place in Texas. . . . Over the past three decades, the proportion of executions nationwide performed in Texas has held relatively steady, averaging 37 percent. Only once before, in 1986, has the state accounted for even a slight majority of the executions, and that was in a year with 18 executions nationwide. . . . But enthusiasm for executions outside of Texas has dropped sharply. Of the 42 executions in the last year, 26 were in Texas. The remaining 16 were spread across nine other states, none of which executed more than three people. Many legal experts say the trend will probably continue.
Capital punishment loses ground, for good reasons.
12-23-07 -- IN MANY ways 2007 was a remarkable year in the history of the death penalty. Forty-two people were executed, the fewest since 1994 and down from last year's 53. According to a year-end report by the Death Penalty Information Center, fewer prisoners were sentenced to death in 2007 than in any year since 1976, when the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment. . . . Some of the downward momentum can be attributed to the Supreme Court itself, which imposed a de facto moratorium on executions until it decides whether lethal injection -- the most common method of execution in the country -- constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. Roughly 40 cases involving the death penalty were put on hold as a result. END OF 2007 DEATH PENALTY REPORTS
Federal Judge Delays Alabama's Next Execution\
12-21-07 -- (AP) - A federal judge has put Alabama's next scheduled execution on hold. U.S. District Judge Keith Watkins delayed the scheduled execution of James Harvey Callahan on January 31st until the judge can hold a trial on a lawsuit filed by Callahan. . . . The inmate's lawsuit claims Alabama's lethal injection procedures are unconstitutionally cruel. . . . The judge has not set a trial date for Callahan's lawsuit because he's awaiting a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on a similar case from Kentucky. . .. Callahan was convicted of capital murder for the kidnapping, rape and strangulation of a 26-year-old woman in Jacksonville in 1982. Legal Challenges Put Brakes on Executions Annual Total Hits a 13-Year Low
12-19-07 -- The number of executions in the United States hit a 13-year low in 2007, mostly because of a de facto moratorium on the death penalty prompted by challenges against the use of lethal injection, according to a report by a group that opposes capital punishment. . . . There were 42 executions in 2007, down from 53 last year and the lowest number since 31 people were put to death in 1994, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. . . . The most immediate reason is court challenges across the nation that focus on the constitutionality of the chemical combination used in lethal injections by all but one of the 36 states that have the death penalty. . . . There have been no executions since Sept. 25, the day the Supreme Court agreed to hear a challenge from two Kentucky death row inmates that the procedure violates the Eighth Amendment's protection against cruel and unusual punishment. The report said that more than 40 executions across the country have been stayed because of concerns about physical pain experienced during the procedure.
Attorney finds possible murder weapon in death penalty case
12-19-07 -- An attorney representing a man who sits on death row has asked the California Supreme Court to grant a new trial after a possible murder weapon was found in a field here. . . . Defense lawyer Scott Kauffman filed an emergency motion with the state's highest court on Friday, arguing new evidence could prove the innocence of his client Dennis Lawley. The court has scheduled arguments for Jan. 9. . . . Lawley, now 66, was convicted for ordering the 1989 murder of Kenneth Lawton Stewart, who was killed four days after he was released from state prison. Brian Seabourn, the man allegedly hired to kill Stewart, has said Lawley had nothing to do with the crime and the real murder weapon was buried in a field in Modesto. . . . Last week, Kauffman and others searched the area. On Thursday, working alone, Kauffman found the weapon.
N.J. Ends Capital Punishment, Commutes All Death Sentences First state to legislatively repeal the death penalty since 1965, and since the Supreme Court reauthorized it in 1976
12-19-07 -- A quarter-century after it was reinstated and without it ever being used, New Jersey's death penalty is repealed. . . . Gov. Jon Corzine on Monday signed legislation that eliminates capital punishment as a sentence and replaces it with life in prison without parole. . . . At the same time, he commuted the death sentences of the eight men presently on death row at New Jersey State Prison in Trenton to life without parole. . . . "These commutations, along with today’s bill signing, brings to a close in New Jersey the protracted moral and practical debate on the death penalty," Corzine said at the signing ceremony. . . . New Jersey thus becomes the first state to legislatively repeal the death penalty since 1965 and also the first since the U.S. Supreme Court reauthorized capital punishment in 1976.
Blunt calls for death penalty for child rape
12-17-07 -- Gov. Matt Blunt on Thursday called for the death penalty for child rape, a move critics said likely would encourage sexual predators to kill their young victims. . . . Blunt’s proposal would impose the death penalty on those who commit forcible rape or forcible sodomy on children younger than 12. . . . The governor announced his proposal at an Internet crimes summit in Jefferson City, where he took a tough stance on cyber predators. . . . “Sexual predators in Missouri should be put on notice that if they think they can roam Internet chat rooms or our neighborhoods for Missouri victims without consequence, they are wrong,” Blunt said in a statement. . . . If Missouri passed such a law, it would join a handful of other states, including Oklahoma, South Carolina and Louisiana, with similar measures. A man convicted of raping a child under the Louisiana law now sits on death row in that state, and the case may be headed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
New Jersey Moves to End Its Death Penalty
12-14-07 -- The New Jersey General Assembly approved a bill eliminating capital punishment on Thursday, clearing the way for Gov. Jon S. Corzine to sign the measure as early as Monday. . . . Mr. Corzine said he would act quickly. “It will be very, very prompt,” he said at a news conference on Thursday. “I’m sure it will be within the next week.” . . . Once he signs the bill, New Jersey will become the first state in the modern era of capital punishment to repeal the death penalty. . . . The measure has moved at an unusually fast pace through the Legislature. In the last week, it passed a Senate committee, an Assembly committee and both houses, leading many Republicans to accuse the Democratic leadership of trying to rush the bill through a lame-duck session. . . . “I am ashamed the Assembly would consider this bill today,” said Assemblyman Richard A. Merkt, a conservative Republican from Randolph. . . . The voting did not break down exclusively along party lines, however. Three Republicans joined 41 Democrats in the Assembly to pass the bill, 44 to 36. Surprisingly, nine Democrats voted against the measure. On Monday in the Senate, 4 Republicans joined 17 Democrats to muster just enough support to get the 21 votes needed to pass a bill.
Seeking justice after the trial Prosecutors may face charges over alleged mishandling of Union County murder
12-12-07 -- Jonathan Gregory Hoffman didn't get a fair murder trial. No one disputes that. . . . Now the prosecutors who put him on death row in 1996 will learn in coming weeks whether they will be charged with a crime. The N.C. State Bar says the men hid information about a key witness that might have freed Hoffman. . . . That witness, Hoffman's second cousin, agreed to testify against Hoffman only if he received deals for crimes he committed. . . . No one disputes that Hoffman's cousin got the deals. No one disputes that the judge, jury and defense attorneys didn't know about them. Hoffman has won a new trial because of it. . . . The dispute is about whether former Union County District Attorney Ken Honeycutt and assistant DA Scott Brewer knew of the deals, and when. . . . That question has put much at stake for both men: their law licenses, their careers, their reputations. . . . Hoffman's arrest and conviction is a story steeped in intrigue.
Drug dealer sentenced to death for killing boy, mom
12-10-07 -- Oswald Clarke still cries over the murder of his sister and 8-year-old nephew eight years ago, but he found some solace Monday as a judge sentenced a drug dealer to death for ordering the killings. . . . Russell Peeler Jr., 35, was convicted in 2000 of ordering his younger brother to kill Karen Clarke and her son, Leroy "B.J." Brown Jr., in their Bridgeport duplex. . . . The boy was expected to be the key witness against Peeler in the fatal shooting of Clarke's boyfriend. . . . "Finally, because of this result, we can now move on with the rest of our lives, feeling like we have some sense of peace and closure," Clarke told the court, crying. "This is the first time in eight years we felt like we got some semblance of justice." . . . But Russhell Peeler, 17, was inconsolable as she watched a judge sentence her father to death by lethal injection. She vowed to become an attorney and work for his freedom.
Judges reject convicted killer's claims
12-5-07 -- A federal appeals court affirmed the conviction of death row inmate Kevin Cooper on Tuesday, again putting him in line to be executed for the 1983 murders of four people in Chino Hills. . . . ooper, convicted in 1985, claimed he was framed for the killings. But a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously rejected those claims in a 35-page written ruling. . . . Two of the judges wrote they have no doubt of Cooper's guilt. . . . "As the district court, and all the state courts, have repeatedly found, evidence of Cooper's guilt was overwhelming," Judge Pamela Ann Rymer wrote. "The tests that he asked for to show his innocence `once and for all' show nothing of the sort." . . . The third judge agreed that Cooper's appeals should be denied on legal grounds, but expressed concerns over holes in the evidence that have cast doubt on the case for more than 20 years. . . . "These facts are all the more troubling because Cooper's life is at stake," Judge Margaret McKeown wrote. PDF Document: Cooper ruling
State wants death penalty reinstated
12-3-07 -- The state attorney general's office asked a federal appeals court to reinstate the death sentence against a Fort Wayne man convicted of killing four people, including his brother and his sister's fiance. . . . The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago heard oral arguments Monday on whether Joseph Corcoran should be put to death. . . . U.S. District Judge Allen Sharp ruled in April that then-Allen County Prosecutor Robert Gevers inappropriately punished Corcoran for turning down Gevers' offer to not seek the death penalty if Corcoran pleaded guilty. Gevers then offered not to seek the death penalty if Corcoran chose a bench trial, allowing a judge to rule on his case rather than a jury. Corcoran again refused.
NJ top court upholds killer's death sentence
12-3-07 -- A unanimous state Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the death sentence for Ambrose Harris, ruling that the special circumstances that removed another killer from death row did not apply to Harris. . . . The 7-0 decision rejected the latest appeal by Harris, finding that the inmate could not muster a majority of sitting justices who had sided with him on prior appeals. . . . The ruling, however, may have little practical effect for Harris and the seven other inmates on the state's death row at New Jersey State Prison in Trenton, since New Jersey may be on the verge of scrapping the death penalty.
Texas sentences more people to
death than any other state in America, and the emotional toll on
its defence lawyers is so great that many only ever work on a
handful of cases. Not so Jerry Guerinot. He's defended 39 men
and women. The bad news: 20 have been sentenced to death. Is he
incompetent, or does he just get the 'hardest cases'?
12-3-07 -- A few miles west of downtown Houston, in his office on a scruffy industrial estate, Jerry Guerinot, probably America's most dangerous defence lawyer, reflects on his career. For a conscientious attorney, death penalty murder trials create 'absolutely the most pressure you can have', he says emphatically. 'You never want anybody to be sentenced to death on your watch. I'm never happy to see anybody get sentenced to death. I don't think anybody could ever be happy.' . .. Guerinot, a big man with a booming voice and thinning, silvery hair, says that at the age of 62 he's finally had enough of the legal death business in which he's toiled for more than 25 years. '[If] the state tries you for the death penalty in Harris County [the jurisdiction in which Houston sits], the chances of you getting it are huge. And the chances of you having it carried out against you are even bigger.' Guerinot is right - as of July this year, 98 Harris County men and two women have been dispatched since the US Supreme Court restored the death penalty in 1976. Houston has 1.3 per cent of America's population but carries out 10 per cent of its executions.
November 2007
New York's Last Death Row Inmate Resentenced
11-30-07 -- New York's last inmate on death row was resentenced to life without parole for the execution-style killings of five employees at a fast food restaurant. . . . John Taylor, whose death penalty sentence was overturned last month by the state's highest court, showed no emotion Thursday as he was led into a New York City courtroom nearly filled with relatives and friends of the victims. . . . "Look at me, John Taylor; look at me. Do you know the pain I am feeling for my child?" Jean Truman Smith said angrily as she gave her victim impact statement before the sentencing. Her daughter, 23-year-old Anita, was one of seven employees shot in the head by Taylor and a co-defendant in 2000 at a Wendy's restaurant in the Queens section of New York. . . . All the victims were blindfolded during a robbery and herded into the restaurant's walk-in freezer, where they were forced to kneel and were shot at close range. Two victims survived but were critically wounded. . . . Taylor, 43, shackled and handcuffed, avoided eye contact with the family members. States know that their lethal injection procedure may cause excruciating pain, yet they defend it anyway.
Justices won't allow Alabama death row inmate's challenge
11-26-07 -- The Supreme Court on Monday refused to allow a death row inmate to try to prove his innocence through DNA testing. . . . Thomas Arthur, 65, was sentenced for the 1982 killing of Troy Wicker of Muscle Shoals, Ala. His execution has been set for Dec 6, but is expected to be delayed because of a pending Supreme Court case involving lethal injections. . . . The victim's wife, Judy Wicker, testified at Arthur's trial that she had sex with him and paid him $10,000 to kill her husband, who was shot in the face as he lay in bed. Earlier at her own trial, Wicker testified that a man burglarizing her home raped her, knocked her unconscious and then shot her husband.
California's high court seeks death penalty fix Justices propose to deal with the massive backlog by allowing case review to be transferred to lower courts.
11-20-07 -- The California Supreme Court on Monday called for a constitutional amendment to ease the backlog in the state's death penalty system, which takes an average of 17 years to execute a condemned convict -- twice the national average. . . . The amendment would permit the state's high court, which has had exclusive oversight of capital appeals since California became a state in 1850, to transfer review of some death penalty cases to lower courts. Chief Justice Ronald M. George, who announced the proposal, said he wanted the Legislature to put the amendment on the November 2008 ballot. . . . The system's delays and ensuing backlogs are bad for the condemned inmates, prosecutors and the public interest "in finality and enforcement of the law," George said in a phone interview Monday.
A last-ditch appeal to keep death penalty Pair urge life in prison with no chance of parole
11-19-07 -- As lawmakers prepare to vote next month to repeal New Jersey's never-used death penalty, two supporters of capital punishment argued yesterday that it is the only just penalty for some particularly vicious murderers. . . . At a Statehouse news conference, Sen. Gerald Cardinale (R-Bergen) and New York Law School professor Robert Blecker said it would be a mistake for lawmakers to rush to repeal capital punishment during the lame-duck session that ends at noon on Jan. 8. . . . "Some people deserve to die and we have an obligation to execute them," said Blecker, one of the leading academic supporters of the death penalty. He argued the demands of justice were ignored by a state study commission that recommended replacing capital punishment with life imprisonment without parole. . . . That commission, Blecker said, also gave no serious consideration to fixing the flaws in the current death penalty law, which was enacted 25 years ago. . . . Cardinale said he is preparing bills to do just that. One would require jurors to spare a defendant's life if there is any "lingering doubt" about his guilt; the other would limit state appeals by death row inmates.
Both Sides Play Victim in Death Penalty Case Defense says police targeted wrong man in '89 murder probe, while prosecutor rails against media accounts' 'one-sided ideology'
11-14-07 -- The death penalty case of Troy Anthony Davis came before the Supreme Court of Georgia on Tuesday, with his lawyers claiming he is the victim of mistaken identity and a Savannah prosecutor claiming that the state is a victim of an unfair public opinion campaign. . . . Davis deserves a new trial because he was not responsible for the 1989 murder of Savannah policeman Mark Allen McPhail, one of his lawyers told the court. . . . "This is a case of reasonable doubt and innocence," Washington attorney Jason Ewart said. . . . Along with family members of Davis and McPhail, representatives from the organizations that turned Davis into a cause célèbre over the summer -- such as Amnesty International, the Southern Center for Human Rights, the American Civil Liberties Union and the NAACP -- attended the 40-minute argument. . . . Chatham District Attorney Spencer Lawton Jr. offered up thanks that the time for courtroom arguments had come.
Widow's execution lawsuit moved to new court
11-12-07 -- A lawsuit filed against a judge who prevented a convicted killer from making a last-minute appeal by not extending office hours has been withdrawn from one court and moved to another, an attorney for the inmate's widow said Saturday. . . . The original lawsuit was filed Wednesday in federal court in Houston, accusing Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Presiding Judge Sharon Keller of violating Michael Richard's rights by preventing his attorneys from filing an appeal hours before his execution. . . . Civil rights lawyer Randall Kallinen said Friday that the dismissal is part of his strategy and that Wednesday's news conference at the Houston federal courthouse was not a publicity stunt. . . . "I really cannot divulge my strategy right now, but I'm sure it will become evident in the near future," Kallinen said. . . . A day after filing, Marsha Richard withdrew the suit, which accused Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Presiding Judge Sharon Keller of causing the inmate's Sept. 25 lethal injection. The lawsuit said Keller violated Michael Richard's due process rights when she ordered the court clerk's office to close promptly at 5 p.m. on Sept. 25 before his lawyers could file an appeal. . . . The notice of dismissal, filed Thursday by Kallinen, offers no explanation. . . . "I wish I could tell you, but the other side may use anything in the media to their advantage," he said. Unequal Justice: Anyone can get a deal Chapter 2 in a five-chapter series.
11-12-07 -- The first time Eddie Mae Dudley committed murder, she stabbed a woman in a fight over a beer. . . . The second time, she shot one of her housemates – an elderly stroke victim who used a walker – when he wouldn't get out of bed. . . . Ms. Dudley served seven years in prison for No. 1. The only consequence for No. 2 was five years of probation. . . . If she committed a third murder today, she could get probation again. Many people with violent histories remain eligible forever because of little-known quirks in Texas law. . . . Ms. Dudley isn't the only two-time killer who's served probation in Dallas County since 2000. The Dallas Morning News identified two more. . . . Ronald Violet was already on probation for bludgeoning a man to death when he did it again. Before that, he'd been convicted of sexually abusing a girl. . . . Shane Webb's first murder earned him a 10-year prison sentence. After his release, he assaulted a girlfriend and then shot a man to death. . . . Other violent offenders who won probation include two men who murdered while trying to commit robbery – a crime potentially punishable by death.
Defendant risks all in making own case Man representing himself in death penalty trial
11-9-07 -- Norman Edwin Starnes is attempting to do what only one other man has done: represent himself in a Lexington County death penalty trial and live to tell about it. . . . To do that, he’ll have to keep his cool while prosecutors portray him as a heartless double-murderer, hold his ground against three experienced prosecutors and cross-examine his ex-girlfriend — the woman who turned him in to police. . . . And he’ll have to do it in a county that has sent more people to Death Row — including him — than any other county in the state. . . . Starnes was sentenced to death after his first trial in 1997, when he had a lawyer arguing his case for him. After the state Supreme Court granted him a new trial in 2000, Starnes decided he would represent himself. . . . “I believe that I know this case better than any lawyer can present,” Starnes told jurors during his opening statement Wednesday afternoon.
Ala. Inmate With Cancer Loses Appeal
11-7-07 -- (AP) -- A death row inmate who wants his cancer to kill him before the state can lost an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday, but he still won't be executed "for months or years," a prosecutor said. . . . Quadruple murderer Daniel Lee Siebert, 53, has had pancreatic cancer since at least June, according to court documents; that form of cancer can spread quickly and cause death within weeks. He has been fighting in court to die naturally.. . . Alabama courts had ruled that Siebert missed a deadline for challenging his conviction at the state level in the 1986 killing of Linda Ann Jarman. Alabama officials argued the missed deadline barred him from filing a petition in federal court as well, but the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with Siebert. . . . In the unsigned decision, the Supreme Court ruled that Siebert was not entitled to file in the federal courts since he missed the state deadline. Justices John Paul Stevens and Ruth Bader Ginsburg dissented. . . . In a separate case, Siebert came within a day of dying last month for the strangulation of Jarman's next-door neighbor, Sherri Weathers, and Weathers' two young sons in Talladega on Feb. 19, 1986, the same night Jarman was killed.
Texas court bows to outcry from public, prominent lawyers Judges will accept after-hours pleadings in death penalty cases
11-7-07 -- Texas' highest criminal court, under fire for refusing to accept an after-hours appeal in a death penalty case, will now let lawyers file emergency motions by e-mail. . . . The change, announced Tuesday via e-mail and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeal's Web site, applies to death penalty cases and other "extraordinary" matters. . . . The policy shift came two weeks after almost 330 lawyers, including many of the state's most prominent jurists, submitted petitions asking the court to avoid repeating events that led to the execution of Michael Richard on Sept. 25. . . . That morning, the U.S. Supreme Court had accepted a case challenging the constitutionality of the lethal injection methods used in Texas and other states. Richard's lawyers, working on an appeal based on the challenge, asked the court to stay open 20 to 30 minutes beyond 5 p.m. because computer trouble delayed printing their brief. . . . Presiding Judge Sharon Keller refused the request, and Richard was executed hours later. Her action was condemned by death penalty critics and lawyers concerned about open access to courts.
Capital Cases Stalling as Costs Grow Daunting
11-5-07 -- When Hilton M. Fuller Jr., a semiretired judge of the silver-haired, Southern-gentleman variety, agreed to preside over the trial in a notorious courthouse shooting here, he took a job no one else wanted — the legal community was still in shock over the death of a judge, a court reporter, a sheriff’s deputy and a federal agent. . . . But now, two years later, the truly thankless nature of Judge Fuller’s task has become evident. The legislature has threatened to impeach him. Columnists have taken him to task. On Friday, the district attorney sued him in State Supreme Court. Even fellow judges have abandoned their usual reticence. On a recent afternoon, he received a copy of an e-mail message from a colleague calling him a “debacle,” an “embarrassment” and a “fool.” And the trial has yet to begin. . . . The anger directed at Judge Fuller revolves around an issue more and more states are being forced to confront — the rising cost of an adequate defense in death-penalty cases. Even as an examination of lethal injection by the Supreme Court has seemingly suspended the practice across the country, many experts predict that the cost issue will have far broader implications for the future of the death penalty. . . . States unwilling to pay the huge costs of defending people charged in capital cases may be unable to conduct executions. The Supreme Court should end both lethal injection and capital punishment altogether
11-2-07 -- Tuesday evening, Earl W. Berry, a Mississippi prisoner condemned to lethal injection, was just moments away from facing his fate when the Supreme Court wisely granted a stay of execution. Legal experts say that this decision signals to lower courts that a de facto moratorium on lethal injection is in place, at least until the Supreme Court hears a case on whether injection is cruel and unusual later this term. Although this is a step in the right direction, it is a distraction to the real issue at hand: the ultimate end of capital punishment. . . . It seems likely that the Court will maintain this moratorium on capital punishment until it issues a ruling on whether lethal injection is constitutional, which is appropriate when both the legality and morality of lethal injection remain in question. However, the case it will hear in January relates only to the mode of punishment, not its very existence. While the number of executions per year has dropped to 42 this year, its lowest level in more than a decade, we cannot let the moratorium distract us from the larger issues at stake. . . . Although lethal injection is less gruesome than other methods of execution, it is no less brutal. Research indicates that the anesthetic can wear off, while another drug keeps the condemned paralyzed, thus giving the illusion of serenity, underscored with massive unseen pain. The drugs are known to take anywhere between seven minutes to two hours to be effective, and finding a suitable vein is often a long, torturous ordeal. It is stupefying to fathom that lethal injection, which has been used for almost 25 years, is only now being seen as cruel and unusual punishment.
State Supreme Court upholds lethal injection procedures
11-2-07 -- Florida's Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the state's lethal injection procedures are not cruel and unusual, which could clear the way for an execution scheduled for this month. . . . The justices wrote "we reject the conclusion that lethal injection as applied in Florida is unconstitutional." The decision was unanimous. . . . Lethal injection procedures are also under review by the U.S. Supreme Court. The high court has allowed only one execution to be carried out since it agreed in September to hear a case from Kentucky that raises a similar challenge. . . . The state Supreme Court ruled that Florida's lethal injection procedure doesn't violate the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment, particularly since safeguards were put in place after a problematic December execution. . . . In that execution, it took 34 minutes — twice as long as usual — for convicted killer Angel Diaz to die. . . . Although the court decided the procedure is valid, it didn't rule specifically on a request for a stay of execution for Mark Dean Schwab, one of two condemned inmates who challenged the procedure. Schwab is scheduled to be executed Nov. 15 if the stay isn't granted.
October 2007
California may be forced to redesign executions A decision to toss latest plan would increase uncertainty over state's death penalty, already on hold because of a constitutional challenge.
10-31-07 -- California may have to go back to the drawing board to redesign how to execute condemned inmates by lethal injection, under a tentative ruling Tuesday by a Marin County Superior Court judge. . . . Judge Lynn O'Malley Taylor's decision to toss the state's design, if it becomes final, will cast more uncertainty on California's death penalty, already on a de facto moratorium for the last 20 months because of a constitutional challenge to lethal injection. . . . Critics across the country have objected that lethal injection amounts to cruel and unusual punishment, contending that the three-drug cocktail that is used includes a paralyzing chemical that masks extreme pain. . . . The U.S. Supreme Court is considering a challenge to lethal injection in a Kentucky case.
Hello? Hello?! Criminal justice
10-31-07 -- During Presiding Judge Sharon Keller's tenure, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has been derided for seeing no harm when lawyers commit obvious errors. In its zeal to uphold convictions come what may, the court has been scolded by the U.S. Supreme Court for not following precedent. . . . But for sheer myopia, it's hard to top Keller's refusal to keep the court open long enough to accept an emergency appeal from a Death Row inmate about to be executed. . . . Even Keller's fellow judges were dumbfounded by her rigidity. . . . There's no question that rules exist for a reason. And justice doe | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
