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November 2011
UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT
U.S. Supreme Court rejects
killer's appeal
By
Allan Turner, Houston Chronicle
11-07-11 --
The U.S. Supreme Court today
rejected Houston killer Duane Buck's request that it review his
death sentence - a punishment handed down despite former Texas
Attorney John Cornyn's assessment that it might have been
tainted by racial considerations.
. . . The high court
stopped Buck's Sept. 15 execution in order to decide whether to
take up the case. Buck, 48, was sentenced to die for the July
1995 murders of his former girlfriend, Debra Gardner, and her
friend, Kenneth Butler. Buck also shot his sister, Phyllis
Taylor, in the chest at point-blank range, but she survived and
later argued that the killer should be spared.
Race Factor Merits Look at
Texas Death Row Case
By
Barbara Leonard, Courthouse News Service
11-07-11 --
Justices Sonia Sotomayor and
Elena Kagan said Monday they would have wanted the Supreme Court
to review a Texas death sentence case "marred by racial
overtones" and potential misconduct by state prosecutors.
. . . After Duane E. Buck
was convicted of capital murder in Texas, the prosecutor
emphasized that black men like Buck are statistically more
likely to commit violent crimes. A jury sentenced Buck to death.
. . . Buck has failed to
convince state and federal courts to review his case, with the
most recent refusal coming from the Supreme Court on Monday.
. . . A seven-page
dissent authored by Sotomayor notes, however, that the
psychologist who testified at Buck's sentencing hearing, Walter
Quijano, has an unsettling record. In six capital cases to which
Quijano was called as a witness, as with the Buck trial, "the
salient fact was that the prosecution invited the jury to
consider race as a factor in sentencing. And in each case, the
defendant was sentenced to death."
Supreme Court Reinstates
Death Sentence in Summary Reversal of 6th Circuit
By
Debra Cassens Weiss, ABA Journal
11-07-11 --
The U.S. Supreme Court has
reinstated the death sentence of an Ohio inmate in a summary
reversal of the Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals.
. . . The defendant,
Archie Dixon, was convicted of murdering a man to steal his car.
According to the Supreme Court’s per curiam
opinion
(PDF), the 6th Circuit “purported to identify three … grievous
errors” by the Ohio Supreme Court when the state court affirmed
Dixon’s conviction and found no Miranda violation.
TEXAS
Texas court stays Wednesday execution as lawyers seek DNA tests
From
Ashley Hayes and Bill Mears, CNN
11-07-11 --
A Texas court granted a stay of
execution for convicted murderer Henry "Hank" Skinner on Monday,
giving Skinner time to pursue DNA testing his lawyers say could
prove his innocence. . . . Skinner had been scheduled to die by
lethal injection Wednesday evening for the New Year's Eve 1993
killings of his live-in girlfriend, Twila Busby, and her two
adult sons in the Texas Panhandle town of Pampa. But the state
Court of Criminal Appeals halted the proceeding Monday
afternoon, ruling that it needed time to review the state's
revised law on DNA testing. . . . In a written statement,
Skinner's lawyer, Rob Owen, said the decision "has ensured that
Mr. Skinner's request for DNA testing will receive the thorough
and serious consideration it deserves."
CALIFORNIA
State executions to remain on hold another year
Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
11-04-11 --
Executions in California, halted by court order since 2006
because of questions about the state's lethal injection
procedures, will remain on hold until at least late next
year, court filings disclosed Thursday.
. . . State prison
officials have been trying to revise and win judicial
approval for their execution methods since a federal judge
blocked the February 2006 execution of Michael Morales,
convicted of raping and murdering a Lodi teenager in 1981.
. . . U.S. District
Judge Jeremy Fogel ruled later in 2006 that deficiencies in
staff training, supervision and procedures for preparing and
administering the lethal chemicals had created an undue risk
of a botched execution that would leave the inmate conscious
and in agony while dying.
OHIO
Ohio court rejects execution delay
By Andrew Welsh-Huggins, AP Legal Affairs Writer /
Boston.com
11-04-11 --
The Ohio Supreme Court has rejected three separate requests
for a delay in execution by a condemned inmate who shot his
three sons as they slept.
. . . The court's
decisions Friday moved 66-year-old Reginald Brooks closer to
being the first Ohio inmate executed in six months.
. . . Earlier Friday
a federal judge also rejected Brooks' request to delay his
Nov. 15 execution while upholding Ohio's new rules for
carrying out lethal injection.
. . . The Supreme
Court rejected appeals by Brooks to allow him to argue his
mental competency and for a new trial.
. . . The court also
rejected a request for a delay until a statewide committee
finishes studying the fairness of Ohio's capital punishment
law.
TEXAS
Texas Gov. Rick Perry urged to stay execution, allow for DNA
testing
Molly Hennessy-Fiske in Houston, Los Angeles Times
11-04-11 --
More than 120,000 people have signed an online petition
calling for Texas Gov. Rick Perry to halt the execution of
convicted murderer Hank Skinner to allow for the testing of
DNA evidence that Skinner says could exonerate him.
. . . Many of those
who signed the
petition on Change.org -- more than 85,000 --
added their names Thursday after a Texas judge
ruled against the DNA testing.
. . . "We urge you to
uphold the very standards you are promoting as part of a
very much needed criminal justice reform and we ask you to
demand the withdrawal of the execution warrant and that DNA
testing be granted to Mr. Skinner in the best possible
time," the petition says. "We trust you to do the right
thing for justice and for the truth in Texas, before it is
too late."
. . . Skinner, 49, is
scheduled to be executed Wednesday for the 1993 deaths of
his girlfriend, Twila Busby, and her two adult sons in the
Panhandle town of Pampa, about 55 miles east of Amarillo.
Skinner admits to having been at the murder scene, but says
he was too groggy from a mixture of alcohol and codeine to
have committed the crimes.
Texan on death row won't get DNA test
Associated Press, Houston Chronicle
11-03-11 --
A judge has denied a Texas death row inmate's request to
test DNA evidence that his attorneys say could prove
his innocence.
. . . Hank Skinner is
set to be executed next Wednesday for the 1993 deaths of his
girlfriend and her two sons.
. . . Skinner's
attorneys had asked for testing of DNA evidence that had not
been tested before his 1995 trial.
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October 2011
GEORGIA
Costs: State Budget Cuts Affecting Prosecution and
Defense Across the Country
Death Penalty Information Center
10-31-11 --
Even as death penalty cases continue to absorb tens of millions
of taxpayer dollars, state budget cuts are affecting courts,
public defenders,and district attorney's offices across the
country, raising concerns about delays and inadequate
representation. Reduced budgets are impacting all aspects of the
court system, including civil and criminal cases, and delaying
death penalty cases. Prosecutors are forced to ignore some
violations, judges are delaying trials, and in some cases, those
charged with violent crimes have been set free because speedy
trial requirements can't be met. "It's extremely frustrating,"
said Scott Burns of the National District Attorneys Association.
"Frankly, the people that do these jobs have a lot of passion.
They don't do these jobs for the money. They are in America's
courtrooms every day to protect victims and do justice. And
they're rewarded with terminations, furloughs and cuts in pay."
On the defense side, in the last three years, Georgia has cut
funding for the Georgia Resource Center, which represents
indigent death penalty defendants in post-conviction
proceedings, by $250,000, forcing the center to reduce its
staff. "We've been running on a shoestring for years and we are
minimally available to take care of all the guys on death row,"
said Brian Kammer, the center's executive director. "But with
this kind of funding loss, we're getting crippled." /
Read more
PENNSYLVANIA
Studies: Review of Pennsylvania Death Penalty Cases Shows
Low Pay and Serious Errors by Defense Lawyers
Death Penalty Information Center
10-28-11 --
The Philadelphia Inquirer recently conducted a review of death
penalty appeals in Pennsylvania spanning three decades and found
a pattern of ineffective assistance by defense attorneys. More
than 125 capital murder trials in the Pennsylvania, including 69
in Philadelphia, have been reversed or sent back by state and
federal courts after finding that mistakes by the defense
attorney deprived the defendant of a fair trial. These do not
include cases in which courts found that lawyers made obvious
mistakes but ruled that the mistakes did not affect the outcome
of the case. The Inquirer found that lawyers defending those
facing the death penalty often spent little time preparing their
cases, sometimes neglecting basic steps such as interviewing
defendants, finding witnesses, and investigating a defendant's
background. For example, in a closing argument, Wilson Cooper's
lawyer quoted a Biblical passage that called for the death
penalty only in the killing of a pregnant woman, forgetting that
Cooper had killed a pregnant woman. Legal experts agreed that
there are systemic problems in the state's indigent defense
program, exemplified by underpaid and overworked lawyers who
take on death penalty cases. In Philadelphia, court-appointed
lawyers receive $2000 for trial preparation in a capital case
and $400 per day in court. Critics say the fees, which are the
lowest in the state, deter good lawyers from working on death
penalty cases and inevitably lead to reversals. Ronald D.
Castille, the chief justice of the state Supreme Court, recently
cited "intolerable" errors by defense lawyers, compounded by
some "idiotic" appellate briefs. The justice, who recently
ordered a review of attorney pay rates, said that such practices
all but guarantee delays and new court hearings that prolong
cases for years. /
Read more
TEXAS
New Voices: Former Judges, Prosecutors, and Elected
Officials Call for DNA Testing and Stay of Texas Execution
Death Penalty Information Center
10-27-11 --
On October 27, a group of former Texas judges, prosecutors and
law enforcement officers delivered a letter to Governor Rick
Perry, Attorney General Greg Abbott and District Attorney Lynn
Switzer requesting DNA tests for death row inmate Hank Skinner.
Signatories to the letter include: Mark White, former Governor
of Texas Morris L. Overstreet, former Judge of the Texas Court
of Criminal Appeals; Sam Millsap, former Bexar County District
Attorney; Kenneth J. Mighell, former United States Attorney for
the Northern District of Texas; Earl D. Musick, former
Lieutenant of the Houston Police Department; and Rodney Ellis,
curremt State Senator. Skinner is scheduled to be executed on
November 9 despite the fact that key pieces of DNA evidence in
his case have never been tested. Skinner has court decisions
pending in both federal and state courts, but his execution has
not been stayed. The authors of the letter expressed “grave and
growing concerns about the State’s stubborn refusal to date to
test all the evidence in the Skinner case. Executing Mr. Skinner
without testing all the relevant evidence would suggest official
indifference to the possibility of error in this case and
needlessly undermine public confidence in Texas’s criminal
justice system.” The letter concluded, “There is simply no
justifiable reason why Texas continues to waste taxpayer dollars
in its decade-long fight to prevent scientific testing in Mr.
Skinner’s case. We implore you to take the lead in the search
for truth in this case. Test the DNA evidence before moving
forward with Mr. Skinner’s execution.” /
Read more
CALIFORNIA
Coalition Including Victims' Families and Law Enforcement
Officials Launches Death Penalty Repeal Initiative
Death Penalty Information Center
10-26-11 --
A broad range of citizens in California launched a signature
campaign on October 25 to replace the death penalty with life in
prison and no parole through a ballot initiative in November
2012. The signature drive was announced at the city hall in San
Francisco and was attended by murder victims' families and law
enforcement officials, such as San Francisco Sheriff Michael
Hennessey who support the measure. Hennessey cited a study
released last June showing that California has sent $4 billion
on the death penalty since it was restored in 1977. The ballot
initiative is called the Savings, Accountability and Full
Enforcement (SAFE) for California Act, and the campaign must
gather 504,000 voter signatures in order to qualify for the
election. Natasha Minsker, statewide manager for the campaign,
said, "Californians are ready for the SAFE California Act
because now they realize we have wasted literally billions of
dollars on a failed death penalty system. It's time to take our
resources and put them instead toward public safety." The
initiative directs funds saved to go to victims' families and to
improve law enforcement. California has not had an execution
since 2006. A recent Field Poll released last month showed that
more voters (48%) would prefer the punishment of life without
parole for someone convicted of first-degree murder than the
death penalty (40%). /
Read more
New Resources: DPIC Launches Revised College Curriculum
Death Penalty Information Center
10-25-11 --
The Death Penalty
Information Center is pleased to announce a greatly expanded
version of its college-level curriculum,
Capital Punishment in Context (CPIC). The curriculum
is free to professors and students and is available online. The
curriculum uses a case-study approach, providing detailed
factual accounts of actual death penalty cases, along with a
rich variety of supplementary materials. Probing questions for
additional research are offered in a variety of issue areas.
Supplementing the case studies of
Gary Graham and
Juan Garza, CPIC now offers studies on
Anthony Porter and
Aileen Wuornos, whose cases garnered significant
national attention. Porter was exonerated after students at the
Medill School of Journalism investigated his case. Wuornos, who
was accused of being a serial killer, was the subject of
widespread media attention and at least two movies. The college
curriculum provides a complete narrative of each case, including
original resources such as homicide reports, affidavits, and
transcripts of testimony from witnesses. The narratives are
followed by a discussion of the issues raised by each case,
enabling students to research further into a broad variety of
topics. The curriculum has been widely used by educators across
the country in such fields as sociology, civics, criminal
justice and many other areas. /
Read more
New Voices: The "Death Penalty's Unlikely Opponents"
Death Penalty Information Center
10-24-11 --
A recent CNN perspective examined the views of those they called
"the most unlikely opponents of the death penalty, people who
lost loved ones to unspeakable violence yet believe executing
the killer will do nothing for family members or society." For
example, Ross Byrd, the son of James Byrd, Jr., who was dragged
to his death behind a truck in Texas by Lawrence Brewer,
nevertheless objected to Brewer's execution, saying "You can't
fight murder with murder." In Mississippi, the mother and
siblings of James Anderson asked for his killer's life to be
spared. In a letter to the district attorney, Barbara Anderson
Young, Anderson's sister, cited the family's faith as one of the
reasons why they opposed capital punishment. And Charisse
Coleman, whose brother Russell (both pictured) was shot in a
liquor store in Shreveport, Louisiana, pointed to the
fallibility of the system: "The criminal justice [system]," she
said, "is created by and conducted by humans. As long as we're
capable of making mistakes, we shouldn't be deciding who lives
and dies." Her views did not stem from sympathy for the
defendant: "My opposition to the death penalty has nothing to do
with Bobby Lee Hampton," she said. "He's a bad dude. He's never
going to be a good dude. If I got a call that said Bobby Lee
Hampton dropped dead in his cell last night, I don't think it
would create a ripple in my pond. . . [but] I will [not] let
Bobby Lee Hampton make me a victim, too, by taking me down that
road of bitterness and revenge." /
Read more
FLORIDA
Judge rejects condemned Fla.
inmate's appeal
By
Mitch Stacy, Associated Press / MiamiHerald.com
10-24-11 --
An inmate scheduled for execution next month will take his
latest appeal to the Florida Supreme Court after losing an
initial round in state court, his attorney said Monday.
. . . Pinellas-Pasco
Circuit Judge Philip J. Federico said in an order Monday that
Oba Chandler's appeal on constitutional grounds was
insufficient. His attorney, Baya Harrison III, had sought to
block the Nov. 15 execution and have a new jury seated to again
decide whether Chandler should live or die.
TEXAS
Texas death row inmate asking
courts to force prosecutor to turn over evidence for DNA tests
By
Associated Press, Washington Post
10-24-11 --
Just weeks away from execution, a Texas death row inmate is
asking the courts to force prosecutors to turn over knives and
clothing that were never tested for DNA, claiming that the
evidence could show he didn’t kill his girlfriend and her sons
nearly two decades ago.
. . . But prosecutors say
the latest request from Henry Watkins Skinner, who came within
an hour of lethal injection last year before the U.S. Supreme
Court stepped in, is an empty tactic to again delay his death.
. . . Both sides will
argue their case Monday in Amarillo before federal Magistrate
Judge Clinton Averitte. The hearing comes after the U.S. Supreme
Court ruled that Skinner could ask for the untested evidence,
but left unresolved whether those items had to be surrendered by
Gray County District Attorney Lynn Switzer.
PENNSYLVANIA
In life and death cases,
costly mistakes
By
Nancy Phillips, Inquirer Staff Writer
10-23-11 --
Willie Cooper, convicted of strangling his brother's girlfriend
to death in a Germantown apartment, was awaiting a jury's
decision on whether he should be sentenced to death, when his
lawyer rose to speak on his behalf.
. . . Citing the biblical
passage "an eye for an eye," the lawyer told jurors that the
ancient edict called for the death penalty only in the killing
of a pregnant woman.
. . . Cooper had killed a
pregnant woman.
. . . Inexplicably, his
lawyer had forgotten that.
. . . The jury voted to
impose the death penalty.
. . . Cooper's case is
among more than 125 capital murder trials in Pennsylvania - 69
in Philadelphia alone - that state and federal appeals courts
have reversed or sent back for new hearings because mistakes by
defense lawyers deprived the accused of a fair trial.
MASSACHUSETTS
Judge blasted for killer flip
Death penalty overturned in
Sampson case
By
O’Ryan Johnson and John Zaremba, Boston Herald
10-21-11 --
The stunning decision to overturn admitted spree killer Gary
Sampson’s death sentence was an outrageous and injudicious act
of “ego” from the bench, the father of sadistically tortured
victim Jonathan Rizzo said yesterday after learning that U.S.
District Judge Mark L. Wolf had given the heartless murderer
another chance at life.
. . . “I wish I could say
I was surprised,” a dispirited Mike Rizzo said. “I’m not
surprised. I’m extremely disappointed and phenomenally outraged
at the fact that one man with the ego the size of Judge Wolf’s
tried to overturn the good work done by so many people in coming
to the right decision many years ago.”
. . . “I believe Judge
Wolf is trying what he thinks is good for his image and himself.
He doesn’t care about anybody else,” Rizzo said.
PENNSYLVANIA
Studies: Causes of Wrongful Convictions in Pennsylvania
Death Penalty Information Center
10-21-11 --
A recent report from the Pennsylvania Advisory Committee on
Wrongful Convictions called for serious reforms in the state's
criminal justice system. The committee, which was instructed to
identify the most common causes of wrongful convictions (some of
which were capital cases) and any current laws and procedures
implicated in each type of causation, found that, "under [the
current] institutional structure, defendants have been punished
for crimes they did not commit. Compounding these concerns,
biological evidence is available in only a small number of cases
involving violent crimes. There is every reason to believe that
mistaken identifications, false confessions, inadequate legal
representation, and other factors underlying wrongful
convictions occur with comparable regularity in criminal cases
where DNA is absent." The committee determined the most common
causes of wrongful convictions to be: “mistaken eyewitness
identifications; false confessions; perjurious informant
testimony; inaccurate scientific evidence; prosecutorial and
defense lawyer misconduct; and inadequate funding for defense
services," and made several proposals that are intended to
address each cause. The report concludes, "The system cannot
routinely accept the conviction of an innocent person without
being challenged to consider measures to reduce the likelihood
of error and grant redress to victims of these errors...
[Exonerations] represent tragedy not only for the person whose
life is irreparably damaged by incarceration for a crime he did
not commit, but also for the victim since each wrongful
conviction also represents the failure to convict the true
perpetrator."
Read full report. /
Read more
New Resources: Five New States Added to State Information
Pages
Death Penalty Information Center
10-20-11 --
DPIC is pleased to
announce the addition of five more states to our
State Information Pages. Information is now
available for 25 states, including the latest entries:
Arizona,
Colorado,
Delaware,
Massachusetts and
New York. These pages provide historical and current
information on the death penalty for each state (regardless of
whether it currently has the death penalty), including famous
cases, past legislative actions, and links to key
organizations. For frequently-updated information, such as
execution totals, the size of death row, or the number of
exonerations, see our
State-by-State Database. The remaining state pages
will be made available soon, especially as residents send
information, pictures, and links to organizations. You can
reach the State Information Pages through the "State by State"
button at the top of every page on our website or under the
"Resources" tab in our main menu. /
Read more
ALABAMA
Race: Historic Civil Rights Suit Filed in Alabama Over
Exclusion of Blacks from Jury Service
Death Penalty Information Center
10-19-11 --
On October 19, five African Americans filed a federal civil
rights lawsuit charging that Alabama has illegally excluded
blacks from serving on death penalty juries in Houston and Henry
Counties. The plaintiffs in this class action suit were all
previously barred from serving on juries in capital or other
serious felony cases. In each case, state courts found blacks
were illegally excluded from jury service because of their
race. Bryan Stevenson, lead attorney for the plaintiffs and
executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative in Alabama,
pointed particularly to the actions of District Attorney Douglas
Valeska: "Mr. Valeska has repeatedly been found to have
illegally excluded black people from jury service with
peremptory strikes in capital cases but he continues the
practice because most people don't know about it." He continued,
"The underrepresentation and exclusion of people of color from
juries has seriously damaged the credibility and reliability of
the criminal justice system. Individual case reversals haven't
stopped this illegal practice, so there must be greater
accountability." The lawsuit alleges that, from 2006 to 2010,
state prosecutors in Dothan used peremptory strikes to exclude
82% of qualified black jurors in death penalty cases. As a
result, the jury in every death penalty case in Houston County
over this period has been either all white or had only a single
black juror, despite the fact that the circuit is nearly 25%
African American. Houston County has the highest per capita
death sentencing rate in Alabama. /
Read more
Studies: "Geography of the Death Penalty and its
Ramifications"
Death Penalty Information Center
10-18-11 --
A new study by Professor Robert J. Smith of the DePaul
University College of Law examines the imposition of death
sentences by counties in the U.S. The author, who is also part
of The Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice
at Harvard, found that only a relatively few counties impose a
large percentage of death sentences, while a large majority of
jurisdictions have abandoned the use of capital punishment.
Prof. Smith's study found that death sentences that resulted in
executions between 2004-2009 were handed down in less than 1% of
counties in the United States. He noted in the abstract to the
study, "There is nothing to suggest that the murders committed
in those active death-sentencing counties are more heinous than
murders committed in other counties. Nor is there evidence to
suggest that the offenders in those counties are more
incorrigible than those who commit crimes in other counties."
The skewed geography of the death penalty might lead to
challenges to the constitutionality of the practice under the
Eighth Amendment, which bars the arbitrary application of a
punishment. The study, titled "The Georgraphy of the Death
Penalty and its Ramifications," will be published in a
forthcoming edition of the Boston University Law Review. /
Read more
OHIO
Costs:
Ohio Judge Warns of High Costs in Upcoming Death Penalty Trial
Death Penalty Information Center
10-17-11 --
An upcoming death penalty trial in Ohio will cost three to four
times more than the cost of a life-without-parole trial,
according to the trial judge, Michael Sage (pictured). The death
penalty trial for Hector Alvarenga Retana, scheduled to begin on
October 31, is expected to cost Butler County an estimated
$250,000, according to the judge, not counting the cost of
appeals. He said, “[The cost] is so great we can’t afford to
pay for that directly out of our ongoing budget. All the costs
associated with that we take directly to the commissioners.” A
co-defendant in the case also faced the death penalty but was
sentenced to prison for 78-years-to-life. Despite the high
costs, defense attorneys are often paid very little. Chris
Pagan, who has defended several death penalty cases, recently
said he would have to abandon this type of work because of the
inadequate compensation death penalty defense attorneys receive:
"The [compensation rates] are extremely low compared with the
costs in other metropolitan areas. . . . I’m not doing it
anymore I can’t afford it. You get 40 bucks an hour and my
overhead costs more than that.” /
Read more
UNITED
STATES SUPREME COURT
Unreliable eyewitnesses put
defendants on death row
By
Michael Kirkland, UPI
10-16-11 --
Does the routine use of
eyewitnesses in American criminal cases contribute to trials
that put innocent people behind bars -- even on death row?
Evidence suggests it does.
. . . The U.S. Supreme
Court is getting ready to hear a case out of New Hampshire that
deals with a subtle but important point in the witness process.
. . . Lawyers for a
hapless burglar say the case asks whether the due process -- or
fair trial and procedure -- guarantee in the 14th Amendment bans
the use of all "unreliable eyewitness identification" arising
from "impermissibly suggestive circumstances and which are very
substantially likely to lead to misidentification, or only to
those identifications which are also the product of 'improper
state action?'" -- meaning police manipulation.
Gallup Poll: 35% oppose death
penalty
By
Gary Strauss, USA TODAY
10-13-11 --
More than one-third of Americans now oppose the death penalty —
the highest level in nearly 40 years — according to a Gallup
Poll out Thursday. . . . Moreover, those who believe the death
penalty is being applied fairly, and those who say it isn't used
often enough, are at the lowest levels in a decade, underscoring
significant changes in attitudes. . . . Gallup found that 35% of
those polled oppose the death penalty — the highest opposition
since March 1972. That year, the Supreme Court effectively ruled
that the death penalty was constitutional unless it was applied
unfairly. By 1976, several states had reinstituted capital
punishment. . . . Just 40% of those polled last week believe the
death penalty isn't imposed often enough, the lowest level since
May 2001.
Books:
"Anatomy of Injustice: A Murder Case Gone Wrong"
Death Penalty Information Center
10-13-11 --
A new book by Pulitzer
Prize-winning journalist Raymond Bonner, Anatomy of Injustice: A
Murder Case Gone Wrong, investigates the shortcomings of the
justice system in the case of Edward Lee Elmore, a black man
sentenced to death in South Carolina in 1982. Elmore, who was
semi-literate with intellectual disabilities, was sent to death
row for the murder and sexual assault of a white woman, even
though there was little connection between him and the victim.
He was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death barely ninety
days after the victim's body was found. Bonner describes a
comprehensive story of racism, prosecutorial misconduct, and
ineffective representation in Elmore's case and concludes that
the same injustices occur in other murder cases across the
country. DPIC Note: Elmore was eventually spared from execution
when a South Carolina court ruled in 2010 that he suffered from
mental retardation. At one time, he was the longest serving
death row inmate in the state. /
Read more
UNITED
STATES SUPREME COURT
Supreme Court refuses to
reinstate Abu-Jamal death sentence
By
Joseph A. Slobodzian, The Philadelphia Inquirer Staff Writer
10-12-11 --
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to hear a petition by
the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office seeking to reinstate
the death penalty against Mumia Abu-Jamal.
. . . The ruling in the
case of Abu-Jamal - convicted of murder in the 1981 shooting of
Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner - was one of more
than 250 appeals summarily rejected by the high court without
comment. It means that, unless the District Attorney's Office
decides to conduct a new sentencing hearing, Abu-Jamal, 57, will
continue serving a life sentence with no chance of parole.
Books:
"Cruel and Unusual: The American
Death Penalty and the Founders' Eighth Amendment"
Death Penalty Information Center
10-11-11 --
A forthcoming book by John D. Bessler, "Cruel and Unusual: The
American Death Penalty and the Founders' Eighth Amendment,"
discusses the history of the Eighth Amendment and the country's
founders’ views on capital punishment. While the conventional
wisdom is that the founders were avid death penalty supporters,
Bessler's examination shows they had conflicting and ambivalent
views on the subject. Bessler analyzes the U.S. Supreme Court’s
Eighth Amendment case law and argues that the death penalty
should probably be held unconstitutional. Sister Helen Prejean,
noted activist and author of Dead Man Walking, described
Bessler's book as: “A searing indictment of capital punishment,
this pioneering history of the Cruel and Unusual Punishments
Clause is destined to reframe America’s death penalty debate. As
a definitive account of the Eighth Amendment’s origins and the
Founding Fathers’ own ambivalent views on executions, it will
forever change our perceptions of cruelty and penal reform in
the founding era." John Bessler is an associate professor at the
University of Baltimore School of Law and an adjunct professor
at the Georgetown University Law Center. /
Read more
New Resources:
DPIC's Latest Podcast Addresses Death Row Conditions and Related
Issues
Death Penalty Information Center
10-10-11 --
The latest edition of the Death Penalty Information Center's
series of podcasts, DPIC on the Issues, is now available for
listening or downloading. This podcast--the 16th in the
series--discusses the little-understood world of death row,
exploring the conditions on the row and the length of time
prisoners spend there. The podcast discusses some of the legal
issues that have arisen regarding the extended deprivation and
isolation common to death rows around the country, including the
risk of mental deterioration among the inmates. First-hand
descriptions of the death-row experience are also offered. Click
here to listen to this latest
podcast.
Generally, these podcasts offer concise, informative discussions
of important death penalty issues. Other recent
episodes
focused on the
U.S. Supreme Court
and the
Legal Process
involved in a capital case. You can subscribe to receive
automatic updates through
iTunes when new
episodes are posted and receive access to all previous episodes.
Other audio and video resources, along with all of DPIC's
podcasts, can be found on our
Multimedia
page.
GEORGIA
Prosecutor:
Troy Davis appeals driven by
'doubt campaign' rather than truth
By
Spencer Lawton, Special to the Daily Report
10-10-11 --
As the lead prosecutor in the trial of Troy Davis, I can say
that the case has been badly mismanaged by one of our most
important institutions, one impressed with a profound public
trust. And while the criminal justice system isn't irretrievably
broken, it is very badly damaged. People are right to wonder how
the system could put to death a man with so much doubt
remaining. How is this to be explained?
. . .
There are two Troy Davis
cases. Davis I was decided on the facts in courts of law, where
he was fairly convicted and sentenced, and his appeals were
denied.
. . .
Davis II is still under
way as a public relations campaign where his innocence is
proclaimed on the strength of a "doubt" that is manufactured and
false, the overarching purpose being to defeat the death
penalty.
. . .
The mantra has become "no
physical evidence, and seven out of nine eyewitnesses recanted."
Neither is true.
. . .
There was physical
(ballistic) evidence and persuasive circumstantial evidence.
Some of the so-called recantations weren't recantations at all,
others were flatly unbelievable, and others were subsequently
abandoned by the defense in a federal evidentiary hearing.
. . . Still, for 15 years
nearly every news report of the Davis case continued to state,
as if it were fact, that seven of nine eyewitnesses recanted.
This without mentioning that the "recantations'' had been
thoroughly discredited. No wonder doubt flourished.
New Resources:
DPIC Offers Analysis of Executions by County
Death Penalty Information Center
10-07-11 --
The Death Penalty Information Center is pleased to offer a new
page illustrating the geography of the death penalty--Executions
by County. This
page shows the top 15 counties in the U.S. measured by the
number of executions since 1976 that emanated from these
counties. As revealed on the map, a small number of counties
are responsible for a disproportionate number of executions.
(Click on the map at left to enlarge.) The information
contrasts with the counties that have had the most murders,
which is also provided.
The top 15 counties accounted
for 32% of the executions (402) in the U.S. since 1976, even
though they represent less than 1% of the total number of
counties in the country. Counties in Texas accounted for 9 out
of the top 15 jurisdictions by executions since 1976. The page
also lists the top counties by execution outside of Texas.
DPIC's newly revised
Execution Database
enables you to sort executions by county and by state for
further analysis. /
Read more
FLORIDA
Fla. Justices order hearing
in Smith death appeal
The
Associated Press, MiamiHerald.com
10-07-11 --
The Florida Supreme Court says a trial judge must hold a hearing
on new evidence in a 1983 murder case.
. . . The justices on
Thursday issued the order in the case of death row inmate
Derrick Tyrone Smith. He was convicted of fatally shooting of a
St. Petersburg taxi driver.
. . . The order reversed
a Pinellas County circuit judge's denial of an evidentiary
hearing.
New Voices:
Former Georgia Prison Warden Discusses Impact of Executions on
Officers
Death Penalty Information Center
10-06-11 --
Dr. Allen Ault, a retired Georgia prison warden, recently
appeared on MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Show, discussing the effects
of carrying out executions on prison workers. Dr. Ault was one
of six retired prison wardens who had urged Georgia corrections
officials and Governor Nathan Deal to do what they could to halt
the execution of Troy Davis. Davis was executed on September
21, 2011. Dr. Ault discussed the difficult questions prison
officials face when participating in an execution. He said,
"You're killing somebody. And there`s no denying that. And
especially when we know that several people have been declared
innocent with the new scientific techniques, and we're not real
sure if the individual we're executing this evening or next week
is really guilty - that in itself, that kind of doubt. The
other thing most of us know [is] all the research which
indicates that capital punishment does not deter... it seems so
illogical to say to the public we do not want you to kill, and
to demonstrate that, we're going to kill individuals." Dr. Ault
also recounted his experience with victims' family members after
an execution: "In every execution that I attended, I spent time
with the victim's family. And most of the victims' families
that I talked with, they thought they were going to get a lot of
relief or closure from the execution. And in most cases, they
did not." /
Read more
NEW YORK
OP-ED:
Mario Cuomo Calls Capital Punishment Corrosive to Society
Death Penalty Information Center
10-05-11 --
In a recent op-ed in the New York Daily News, former New York
Governor Mario Cuomo called the death penalty a "serious moral
problem" that is "corrosive" to a democratic citizenry. He said
many of the problems of the death penalty--ineffectiveness as a
deterrent, unfairness, and the risk of executing the
innocent--are inevitable: "These imperfections - as well as the
horrible and irreversible injustice they can produce - are
inevitable. In this country, a defendant is convicted on proof
beyond a reasonable doubt - not proof that can be known with
absolute certainty. There's no such thing as absolute certainty
in our law." He advocated for alternative punishments for
murder, particularly life in prison without the possibility of
parole: "There is a punishment that is much better than the
death penalty: one that juries will not be reluctant to impose;
one that is so menacing to a potential killer, that it could
actually deter; one that does not require us to be infallible so
as to avoid taking an innocent life; and one that does not
require us to stoop to the level of the killers." Cuomo
mentioned the execution of Troy Davis as an example of the risks
posed by the uncertainties in the system. As governor, Cuomo
repeatedly vetoed legislation to restore New York's death
penalty. /
Read more
CALIFORNIA
Public Opinion:
New Poll Shows California Voters Support Life Without Parole
Over Death Penalty
Death Penalty Information Center
10-04-11 --
The recent Field Poll
conducted in California indicated that more voters now prefer
life without the possibility of parole instead of the death
penalty for convicted murderers. For the first time since the
poll began asking the question over a decade ago, more voters
(48%) say they would prefer that someone convicted of
first-degree murder be sentenced to life without parole than the
death penalty (40%). Eleven years ago, only 37% of respondents
favored the life sentence and 44% preferred the death penalty, a
15 point change in the spread. Field Poll director Mark
DiCamillo said that voters are far more skeptical of the death
penalty now than they were twenty years ago: "There has been a
change in attitude," he said. "Twenty-two years ago, the death
penalty side argument prevailed by a large majority - now voters
are divided in their opinions on many statements, including the
cost of death versus life in prison, does a life sentence
actually guarantee they will stay in prison, whether innocent
people are executed, and their views of how it is administered
to the ethnic population." A recent study in California found
that maintaining the death penalty costs taxpayers $184 million
a year more than if the state's condemned killers were kept in
prison for life. /
Read more
UNITED
STATES SUPREME COURT
Supreme Court:
Alabama Man Facing Execution Because Attorneys Left Without
Filing Appeal
Death Penalty Information Center
10-03-11 --
In one of the first cases of the new term, the U.S. Supreme
Court on October 4 will hear from attorneys for death-row inmate
Cory Maples of Alabama, whose appeal was rejected by lower
courts because his lawyers quit and missed a critical filing
deadline in his state appeal. Copies of an Alabama court ruling
in his case were sent to a volunteer New York law firm handling
his appeals but were returned unopened to the court because the
attorneys representing Maples had left the firm. Maples did not
find out about the ruling or the fact that his attorneys had
left until the deadline to file his state appeal had expired.
Gregory Garre, Maples' new attorney and former solicitor general
under President George W. Bush, told the Court in a brief that
the case "raises the shocking prospect that a man may be
executed without any federal court review of serious
constitutional claims due to a series of events for which all
agree he was blameless.” Alabama's Solicitor General, John C.
Neiman Jr., replied that, "Maples is unquestionably guilty of
murdering two people, and his conviction is now 15 years old.
He has received some sort of judicial review of every claim he
has made." Maples was trying to challenge the competency of his
original trial lawyers, who were inexperienced and offered only
$1,000 each to prepare for his trial. They presented only 1
hour of testimony in his defense, and told the jury that they
"may appear to be stumbling around in the dark." The case is
Maples v. Thomas, No. 10-63. /
Read more
September 2011
New Voices:
Alec Baldwin's Views on the
Death Penalty in the Wake of Troy Davis Execution
Death Penalty Information Center
09-30-11 --
A recent article by Alec Baldwin in the Huffington Post offered
the actor's reflections on the execution of Troy Davis in
Georgia. Baldwin said that his position on the death penalty
"has little to do with opposition to any 'eye for an eye'
sentiments," but instead, "It has to do specifically with the
misapplication of the death penalty in terms of race, in terms
of the potency of court-appointed counsel and in terms of the
admission of DNA evidence in cases where tragically slipshod
work by police and prosecutors is undone by modern technology."
Baldwin said that concern for wrongful executions was a
significant reason that led to his opposition of capital
punishment, even though some crimes evoked an emotional desire
for executing the offender. He concluded, "The death penalty
costs us a lot money. . . . The death penalty costs us more
money than it costs to house an inmate for life. We don't want
to kill innocent people. And we don't need to kill the guilty
ones either." Read full text below. /
Read more
Religious Views:
Over 150 Catholic Theologians Call for Repeal of the Death
Penalty
Death Penalty Information Center
Testimony, Resolutions,
Statements, & Speeches
09-29-11 --
In response to the executions of Troy Davis and Lawrence Brewer
on September 21, over 150 Catholic theologians have signed a
statement calling for the abolition of the death penalty in
United States. The theologians stated: "[W]e oppose the death
penalty, whether a person on death row is guilty or innocent, on
both theological and practical grounds. While we especially
deplore and lament the killing of Troy Davis, we also decry the
death sentences of the more than 3,200 inmates on death row and
the 1,268 executions since the death penalty was reinstated by
the Supreme Court in 1976. We urge our nation to abolish capital
punishment, and we also implore our churches to work
unwaveringly to end it as well as all other threats to human
life and dignity." The statement cited former Supreme Court
Justice William Brennan, who wrote, "The death penalty is
imposed not only in a freakish and discriminatory manner, but
also in some cases upon defendants who are innocent." The
theologians also pointed to studies showing racial and economic
bias in the death penalty system and to past statements from the
U.S. Council of Catholic Bishops and the Pope. /
Read more
OHIO
Clemency:
Ohio Death Row Inmate Granted Clemency, Citing 'Brutally Abusive
Upbringing'
Death Penalty Information Center
09-28-11 --
On September 26, Ohio Governor John Kasich (pictured) granted
clemency to Joseph Murphy, commuting his death sentence to life
without parole, citing the defendant's horrific childhood.
Murphy was scheduled for execution on October 18. The Ohio
Parole Board had unanimously recommended sparing Murphy's life,
citing evidence from Murphy's childhood that indicated he was
beaten, starved and sexually abused. The Parole Board also
cited a 1992 Ohio Supreme Court decision in which late Justice
Moyer said he knew of no other case in which a defendant "was as
destined for disaster as was Joseph Murphy." Governor Kasich
issued the following statement regarding the clemency: "Joseph
Murphy’s murder of Ruth Predmore was heinous and disturbing and
he deserves—and continues to receive—severe punishment. Even
though as a child and adolescent Murphy suffered uniquely severe
and sustained verbal, physical and sexual abuse from those who
should have loved him, it does not excuse his crime.... After
examining this case in detail with counsel I agree with Chief
Justice Moyer, the National Association of Mental Illness and
the Parole Board’s unanimous 8-0 decision that considering
Joseph Murphy’s brutally abusive upbringing and the relatively
young age at which he committed this terrible crime, the death
penalty is not appropriate in this case. Thus, I have commuted
his sentence to life in prison with no chance for parole." /
Read more
Editorials:
New York Times: "An Indefensible Punishment"
Death Penalty Information Center
09-27-11 --
The lead editorial in the New York Times on September 26 called
for an end to the death penalty because, the editors said, it
cannot be made to comply with the U.S. Constitution. The
editoral reviewed the 35-year history since the death penalty
was reinstated in 1976 and concluded, "The death penalty is
grotesque and immoral and should be repealed." The paper
pointed to the recent case of Troy Davis, who was executed on
September 21 in Georgia, and to the continuing arbitrariness in
the way the death penalty is applied. It also highlighted the
ongoing problems of racial bias, the risk of executing the
innocent, and the poor quality of representation in capital
cases. The death penalty, they said, is driven by political
misuse: "Politics ... permeates the death penalty, adding to
chances of arbitrary administration. Most prosecutors in
jurisdictions with the penalty are elected and control the
decision to seek the punishment. Within the same state,
differing politics from county to county have led to huge
disparities in use of the penalty, when the crime rates and
demographics were similar." Citing statistics from DPIC's List
of Exonerations, the editorial noted, "Under this horrifying
system, 17 innocent people sentenced to death have been
exonerated and released based on DNA evidence, and 112 other
people based on other evidence. All but a few developed nations
have abolished the death penalty," and concluded, "It is time
Americans acknowledged that the death penalty cannot be made to
comply with the Constitution and is in every way indefensible."
/
Read more
GEORGIA
Is this justice... or a legal
lynching?
By
Oliver Harvey, The Sun Chief Feature Writer
09-23-11 --
STRAPPED down as he awaited death by lethal injection yesterday,
Troy Davis slowly craned his head to stare at the family of the
man he was accused of murdering.
. . .
As his final seconds
ticked away, Davis then uttered his last earthly words to the
loved ones of slain policeman Mark MacPhail, separated from him
by a glass window.
. . .
Staring into their eyes,
he said in a clear voice: "I'm not the one who personally killed
your son, your father, your brother. I am innocent.
. . .
"All I can ask is that
you look deeper into this case so you really can finally see the
truth."
. . .
Pausing to address his
executioners at Jackson prison, in the south eastern US state of
Georgia, he added: "For those about to take my life, God have
mercy on your souls. And may God bless your souls."
. . .
Death-row inmate Davis,
42, had been convicted in 1991 of killing off-duty cop MacPhail.
He always maintained he was innocent.
NORTH
CAROLINA
Mental Illness:
North Carolina Man Guilty of Shooting Spree at Nursing Home
Avoids Death Penalty
Death Penalty Information Center
09-23-11 --
Despite being found guilty of eight murders of mostly elderly
people and the prosecution seeking the death penalty, a North
Carolina jury recently convicted Robert Stewart of second degree
murder, thereby avoiding the possibility of a death sentence.
On September 5, he was sentenced to prison for over 100 years.
Stewart had gone on a shooting spree at a Carthage nursing home
in 2009, apparently under the influence of alcohol and
prescription drugs. Although none of the jurors disclosed their
rationale for opting for second-degree instead of first-degree
murder, both diminished mental capacity and voluntary
intoxication were offered as rationales by the Stewart's defense
team. The prosecutor, Peter Strickland, said the families are
“getting solace in the fact that he was sentenced to more than
131 years." /
Read more
GEORGIA
World shocked by U.S.
execution of Troy Davis
By
Peter Wilkinson, CNN
09-22-11 --
Troy Davis may be dead, but his execution Thursday in the
American state of Georgia has made him the poster boy for the
global movement to end the death penalty. . . . World figures,
including Pope Benedict XVI and former U.S. President Jimmy
Carter, human groups and commentators urged the execution to be
halted -- but to no avail. On Wednesday Davis was put to death
by lethal injection for the 1989 killing of off-duty police
officer Mark MacPhail despite doubts being raised over the
conviction. . . . The execution sparked angry reactions and
protests in European capitals -- as well as outrage on social
media. "We strongly deplore that the numerous appeals for
clemency were not heeded," the French foreign ministry said. . .
. "There are still serious doubts about his guilt," said
Germany's junior minister for human rights Markus Loening. "An
execution is irreversible -- a judicial error can never be
repaired."
MISSISSIPPI
New Voices:
In Inter-racial Killing, Victim's Family Asks District Attorney
Not to Pursue Death Penalty
Death Penalty Information Center
09-22-11 -- Family members of
James Anderson who was killed on June 26 in Jackson,
Mississippi, are asking the District Attorney not to seek the
death penalty for Anderson's killer. Deryl Dedmon, a white
teenager, was charged with Anderson's murder after he and other
white teens took turns beating him. Dedmon then drove over
Anderson with a truck. Barbara Anderson Young, the victim's
sister, wrote a letter to the D.A. on behalf of their mother and
two brothers, saying that their opposition to the death penalty
is "deeply rooted in our religious faith, a faith that was
central in James' life as well." The letter continued, "We also
oppose the death penalty because it historically has been used
in Mississippi and the South primarily against people of color
for killing whites. Executing James' killers will not help
balance the scales. But sparing them may help to spark a
dialogue that one day will lead to the elimination of capital
punishment." On September 21, Texas executed Lawrence Brewer, a
white supremacist who dragged an African-American man to death
in Jasper 13 years ago. Some members of the victim's family
also opposed the death penalty. /
Read more
TEXAS
Texas Prisons End Special
Last Meals for Inmates After 'Ridiculous' Request
Associated Press, Fox News
09-22-11 -- Texas inmates who are
set to be executed will no longer get their choice of last
meals, a change prison officials made Thursday after a prominent
state senator became miffed over an expansive request from a man
condemned for a notorious dragging death. . . . Lawrence Russell
Brewer, who was executed Wednesday for the hate crime slaying of
James Byrd Jr. more than a decade ago, asked for two chicken
fried steaks, a triple-meat bacon cheeseburger, fried okra, a
pound of barbecue, three fajitas, a meat lover's pizza, a pint
of ice cream and a slab of peanut butter fudge with crushed
peanuts. Prison officials said Brewer didn't eat any of it.
TEXAS
U.S. Supreme Court Halts
Execution For Third Time in a Year
Death Penalty Information Center
09-21-11 --
Desert Storm veteran Cleve
Foster (pictured), who faced execution in Texas for the third
time this year for a murder nearly a decade ago, was granted
another stay by the U.S. Supreme Court on September 20. The
Supreme Court stopped Foster's execution twice before in 2011.
In January, six hours before his scheduled execution, the
Justices granted a reprieve to allow them more time to consider
his appeal. In April, the Court again halted his execution when
his lawyers sought a rehearing, claiming that Foster was
innocent and had ineffective legal assistance at his trial and
during the early stages of his appeal. They later lifted the
stay. Foster has always maintained that his friend was
responsible for the murder. The friend also received the death
penalty for the crime but died of cancer before he was
executed.
Duane Buck,
who was scheduled to be executed in Texas on Sept. 15, received
a reprieve similar to Foster's from the Supreme Court. /
Read more
New Voices:
Author of California Death Penalty Says "It is time to undo it"
Death Penalty Information Center
09-19-11 -- In an op-ed for the
Los Angeles Daily News, Don Heller a Republican, former
prosecutor, and the author of the 1978 ballot initiative that
reinstated California's death penalty, voiced his support for
replacing the death penalty with life without parole. "It makes
no sense to prop up such a failed system," he wrote. He urged
California voters to support a new ballot initiative that would
abolish the state's death penalty, citing the system's
"staggering" costs and the risk of executing the innocent. In
discussing the failures of the initiative he authored over 30
years ago, he said, "I never contemplated the staggering cost of
implementing the death penalty: more than $4 billion to date and
approximately $185 million projected per year in ongoing costs."
He said he also did not think about the chance that an innocent
person could be executed: "I am convinced that at least one
innocent person may have been executed under the current death
penalty law. It was not my intent nor do I believe that of the
voters who overwhelmingly enacted the death penalty law in 1978.
We did not consider that horrific possibility." Heller
emphasized that he is not "soft on crime," but that "life
without parole protects public safety better than a death
sentence." Additionally, he said the money spent on the death
penalty could be better used elsewhere, as California cuts
funding for police officers and prosecutors. "Paradoxically, the
cost of capital punishment takes away funds that could be used
to enhance public safety." Read full op-ed below. /
Read more
FLORIDA
Florida's Death Penalty
Marked by Arbitrary Decisions
Death Penalty Information Center
09-15-11 --
Mike Thomas, columnist for the Orlando Sentinel in Florida,
recently examined the arbitrariness of the state's death penalty
system. "There is no rhyme or reason here," he wrote. "A
governor's decision on whose death warrant to sign, as well as a
judge's decision on which appeal to accept, are about as
arbitrary as a prosecutor's decision to pursue the death
penalty. We spend an estimated $51 million annually on this
nonsense, and for our investment we haven't executed anyone
going on a year and a half." Thomas examined recent murder
cases in the state, where the death penalty is pursued in one
but not the other, concluding that "The odds certainly seem to
favor those who can afford top legal talent." He saw little
chance for change in this process: "A new drug that Florida
plans to use in its lethal cocktail finally survived all the
legal challenges, including one by [death row inmate Manuel]
Valle, only to be pulled by the manufacturer. A new drug will
mean more challenges. A federal judge recently ruled that
Florida's death-penalty statute is unconstitutional because the
condemning jury doesn't have to disclose which aggravating
circumstances led to its recommendation. On and on it goes." /
Read more
TEXAS
U.S. Supreme Court stays
execution of Texas inmate
By
Michael Graczyk, The Associated Press, Star-Telegram
09-15-11 --
The U.S. Supreme Court halted the execution Thursday of a black
man convicted of a double murder in Houston 16 years ago,
agreeing to review his appeal that his death sentence was unfair
because of a comment about his race during the sentencing phase
of his trial.
. . .
Duane Buck, 48, was
praying in the holding cell when his lawyers called to tell him
about the reprieve.
. . .
"Praise the Lord!" Buck
said, according to a prison spokesman. "God is worthy to be
praised. God's mercy triumphs over judgment.
. . . "I feel good."
.
. . Buck was sentenced to
death for shooting his ex-girlfriend and a man in her apartment
in July 1995. Buck's guilt is not in question, but his lawyers
say the Harris County jury was unfairly influenced by a
psychologist's testimony that black people are more likely to
commit violence than other ethnic groups.
GEORGIA
|
Troy Davis artwork by Amnesty International |
Execution date set for Troy Davis. Too Much Doubt…
Brother Jesse, Houston Chronicle (blog)
09-14-11 --
This is very disheartening. No, this is sickening. America’s
injustice….ahem, justice system has run its course.
. . . For the fourth
time, the clock is ticking on the life of Georgia death row
inmate Troy Anthony Davis. A Chatham County judge recently
signed his death warrant and the Georgia Department of
Corrections has set his execution by lethal ejection for the
evening of Sept. 21. Yes, in only a few days!
. . . Mr. Davis, 42,
and his legal team will have an opportunity to go before the
Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles to plea for clemency in
a hearing set for Sept. 19.
. . . All of his
appeals have been exhausted, however, his family and
supporters are refusing to go away silently.
. . . “Troy is in
good spirits. He is prayed up and he says that they will not
be able to detour him because he knows whatever happens is
Allah’s Will for him,” Martina Correia, his sister, told me
in a phone conversation for a story I wrote in The Final
Call newspaper.
. . . “Since they
gave the execution date, Troy has been calling home about
twice a day. He believes he can never die because his name
has touched the lives of so many around the world,” said Ms.
Correia, who is presently in a wheelchair due to some health
challenges.
. . . What Can We Do?
Here’s a few things from
Amnesty International:
OHIO
Ohio's Chief Justice Calls
for Death Penalty Review
Death Penalty Information Center
09-14-11 --
The Chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court, Maureen O'Connor,
has initiated a review of the state's death penalty to determine
if changes should be made and asking, "Is the system we have the
best we can do?" To conduct the study, Justice O'Connor called
for a 20-person committee of judges, prosecuting attorneys,
criminal defense lawyers, lawmakers and academic experts
convened by the state's Supreme Court and the Ohio State Bar
Association. She stated the review "will make sure the current
system is administered fairly, efficiently, and in the most
judicious manner possible." The committee will also review a
2007 report by the American Bar Association that called for a
moratorium on the death penalty while problems identified in the
report were examined. Another Supreme Court Justice, Paul
Pfeifer, who helped write the 1981 death penalty law as a state
senator, has called for such a review in recent years, and has
said the law should probably be abolished. /
Read more
|
PowWeb is a Victims-of-Law
Affiliate as well as a client of PowWeb |
ALABAMA
New Voices:
Former Judge Changes Mind on Death Sentence as Execution
Approaches
Death Penalty Information Center
09-13-11 --
Retired Alabama Judge Loyd Little recently changed his mind
about a death sentence he imposed on Derrick Mason in 1995 for a
murder during a convenience store robbery. Mason is scheduled
for execution on September 22. Judge Little wrote a letter to
be submitted to Alabama Governor Robert Bentley requesting that
Mason's sentence be commuted to life in prison without parole.
The judge explained the change in his thinking: "Years of
experience and seeing so many other capital murder cases where
it was imposed and where it was not imposed. . . . I realized it
really was not the right decision." Judge Little had only been
on the bench six months when he heard Mason's case. In Alabama,
the jury makes only a recommendation regarding sentencing. The
trial judge makes the actual life or death decision. /
Read more
TEXAS
New Voices:
Former Texas Assistant District Attorney Now Wants to Halt
Execution
Death Penalty Information Center
09-12-11 --
Linda Geffin was one of the Texas prosecutors who won a
conviction and death sentence for Duane Buck in 1997. She is
now the division chief of the Special Prosecutions Unit in the
Office of the Harris County Attorney, and she is urging Gov.
Rick Perry and other state officials to stop Buck's September 15
execution because improper race evidence was put before the jury
considering his sentence. In a letter to state officials,
Geffin said that former Texas Attorney General John Cornyn had
previously acknowledged the "improper injection of race in the
sentencing hearing in Mr. Buck's case," and that "No individual
should be executed without being afforded a fair trial,
untainted by considerations of race." On June 9, 2000, Cornyn
called for new sentencing trials for the defendents who had been
improperly sentenced to death because of the racially biased
testimony. Of those seven defendents, Buck is the only one who
has not been granted a new sentencing. /
Read more
TEXAS
Where's justice in the
execution process?
By
Patricia Kilday Hart, Houston Chronicle
09-12-11 --
Dr. Death. It was a fitting nickname for the tall gentleman with
a spectral complexion who haunted the corridors of the Dallas
County Courthouse in the 1980s.
. . . Summoned by
prosecutors to testify in more than 100 capital murder cases,
Dr. James Grigson delivered his diagnosis with creepy Marcus
Welby-ish solemnity. Sometimes without having met a defendant,
he'd confirm what prosecutors needed jurors to hear - that the
miscreant posed a continuing threat to society.
. . . He checked an
important box for prosecutors who, under Texas' death penalty
law, had to prove to juries that the "future dangerousness" of a
defendant warranted execution. Without his testimony, the cases
would have been run-of-the-mill murders with ordinary
prison sentences.
High Percentage of U.S.
Military Death Sentences Overturned
Death Penalty Information Center
09-09-11 --
Of the 16 death sentences that have been imposed since the U.S.
military made significant changes to its death penalty system in
1984, 10 have been overturned and all the defendants were
resentenced to life. There have been no executions, and the 6
remaining cases are still under appeal. Military appellate
courts overturned the sentences because of mistakes made at many
levels of the military's judicial system, including inadequate
defense representation, prosecutorial misconduct, and improper
jury instructions. Some observers attribute these widespread
errors to an outdated system that has not enacted institutional
changes to match current death penalty representation standards
in civilian courts. Young, inexperienced lawyers are regularly
assigned to represent capital defendants. David Bruck, a
veteran defense lawyer and director of the Virginia Capital Case
Clearinghouse, said, "If you have a system where . . . where the
lawyers are always trying their first capital case, you're going
to guarantee the same kinds of mistakes . . . are going to be
made over and over again." A 2009 law requires the military to
appoint qualified attorneys for terrorism suspects, but no such
requirement exists for average service members who face criminal
charges. Military officials interpret its 80% death sentence
reversal rate not as an indicator of the need for reform but as
a natural part of the natural appeals process. /
Read more
New Voices:
"Death Penalty - Costly for
Families of Victims Too"
Death Penalty Information Center
09-08-11 --
Karil Klingbeil, whose sister was murdered 30 years ago in
Washington, recently wrote an op-ed in the Seattle Times
regarding the emotional and psychological impact that seeking
the death penalty can have on victims’ family members and
friends. Klingbeil, a former director of social work at
Harborview Medical Center, was initially in favor of the death
penalty for her sister’s killer, Mitchell Rupe. Over the years,
however, she came to oppose it in favor of life in prison
without parole. She wrote, “Victims' families, like our family,
relive the horror of their loved one's murder with every court
proceeding. Our system cannot seek this ultimate punishment
without a great deal of procedure to avoid and correct errors,
and still errors are made. The more hearings and trials there
are, the more emotional trauma there is for the surviving family
members.” Klingbeil said she supports repealing the death
penalty, calling it "a barbaric remnant of uncivilized
society." She concluded, "It does constitute a cruel and
unusual punishment at odds with our culture and way of life in
the United States. We should be putting the money we spend on
the death penalty on the front end of crime and apply it toward
prevention." Read full op-ed below. /
Read more
New Resources:
2011 DEATH ROW USA Report Now Available
Death Penalty Information Center
09-07-11 --
The latest edition of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund's "Death
Row USA" showed a
slight increase of 9 inmates in the death row population in the
United States between October 1, 2010 and January 1, 2011.
However, death row is still significantly smaller now (3,251
inmates) than in 2000 (3,682 inmates). The size of death row
also declined overall in 2010. The size of death row is
affected by the number of death sentences and the number of
executions. Nationally, the racial composition of those on death
row is 44% white, 42% black, and 12% Latino/Latina. Texas,
Louisiana, and Connecticut had death rows consisting of 70%
minority defendants. California continues to have the largest
death row population (721), followed by Florida (398), Texas
(321), Pennsylvania (219), and Alabama (206). California and
Pennsylvania have not carried out an executiion in over five
years. The report contains the latest death row population
figures, execution statistics, and an overview of recent legal
developments related to capital punishment. /
Read more
New Resources:
States Ranked by Executions Per Death Sentence
Death Penalty Information Center
09-06-11 --
DPIC has updated its
Executions Per Death Death
Sentence page to
reflect data through 2010. This page lists states in order of
the percentage of death sentences resulting in an execution
since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. If every death
sentence resulted in an execution, the state would be at 100%,
or a rate of 1.00. Using this ratio of executions per death
sentence, the first five states are Virginia (.725), Texas
(.498), Utah (.368), Missouri (.347), and Delaware (.311). Of
those states that have carried out at least one execution, the
five states with the lowest rate of execution are Pennsylvania
(.008), California (.015), Idaho (.025), Oregon (.028), and
Tennessee (.035). Four states with the death penalty during
this time period had no executions: Kansas, New Hampshire, New
Jersey, and New York. The latter two have abandoned the death
penalty. Nationally, about 15% of death sentences have resulted
in an execution (a rate of .150). Another measure of state
execution rates is
executions per capita
(population). Under this standard, Oklahoma and Texas are the
leading states. /
Read more
TEXAS
With Evidence Still Not
Tested for DNA, Texas Attorneys Move to Halt Execution
Death Penalty Information Center
09-05-11 --
Texas is planning to
execute Hank Skinner on November 9 despite the fact that vital
evidence from the crime scene in his case has not been subjected
to DNA testing. Skinner has always maintained his innocence.
In 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court held that Skinner could file in
federal court to compel the testing, but that litigation has not
been completed. Moreover, a new Texas law became effective on
September 1 to ensure that procedural barriers do not prevent
the testing of biological evidence that was not previously
tested or could be subjected to newer testing. State senator
Rodney Ellis, who co-sponsored the new law that passed the Texas
Legislature with overwhelming bipartisan support, said, “The new
law was intended to make advanced DNA testing available in all
cases where it can aid the truth-seeking process, and Skinner's
case falls squarely within that category.” So far, Texas
authorities have resisted performing the DNA tests for over 10
years. Skinner's attorneys filed motions in state district
court on September 2 to compel the testing and withdraw the
execution date. /
Read more
TEXAS
Only Texas Inmate Not
Resentenced After Admittedly Racially Biased Testimony Faces
Execution
Death Penalty Information Center
09-02-11 --
 Texas
inmate Duane Buck (pictured) is one of seven death row inmates
whose death sentences were tainted by improper racial testimony
presented at their trials. In 2000, then-Texas Attorney General
John Cornyn (now Senator) confessed the state's error to the
U.S. Supreme Court, noting that seven cases had been tainted by
improper prosecution testimony. "It is inappropriate to allow
race to be considered as a factor in our criminal justice
system," Cornyn said. "The people of Texas want and deserve a
system that affords the same fairness to everyone.” Six inmates
received new sentencing trials, but Buck did not. All seven
trials involved testimony by psychologist Walter Quijano, who
told juries that defendants were more likely to commit future
crimes if they were black or Hispanic. The potential for future
dangerousness is a key factor in juries' sentencing decisions in
Texas. The prosecutor at Buck's sentencing trial asked Quijano:
"The race factor, black, increases the future dangerousness for
various complicated reasons; is that correct?" "Yes," Quijano
said. Originally, Quijano had been called by the defense and
testified that he did not believe Buck would be dangerous in the
future. /
Read more
Studies:
Significant Racial Disparities Found in Military Death Penalty
Death Penalty Information Center
09-01-11 --
A soon-to-be-published study has found significant racial
disparities in the U.S. military's death penalty. The study,
which will be published in the Journal of Criminal Law and
Criminology, found that minorities in the military are twice as
likely to be sentenced to death as whites accused of similar
crimes. The study examined all 105 potential capital cases since
the military death penalty was reinstated in 1984. Of the 16
death sentences handed down in that time, 10 were of minority
defendants. The authors did not attribute the disparities to
intentional bias: "There is no suggestion here that any
participant in the military criminal justice system consciously
and knowingly discriminated on the basis of the race of the
accused or the victim," the authors said. "However, there is
substantial evidence that many actors in the American criminal
justice system are unconsciously influenced by the race of
defendants and their victims." A New York Times editorial about
the study noted how rarely death sentences are handed down in
the military, that there have been no military executions since
1961, and that 8 out of 10 death sentences have been overturned.
Six men are currently on the U.S. military's death row. The
editorial concluded, "The de facto moratorium has not made the
country or the military less secure. The evidence of persistent
racial bias is further evidence that it is time for the military
system to abolish the death penalty." /
Read more
August 2011
FLORIDA
Upcoming Execution:
Florida Case Raises Numerous Legal Concerns
Death Penalty Information Center
08-31-11 --
Florida has set an
execution date of Septmeber 6 for Manuel Valle, a foreign
national from Cuba who was deprived of his rights under the
Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. The European Union's
ambassador to the U.S. has asked Florida to halt the execution,
and Florida's Catholic Bishops have also requested clemency for
Valle, saying, "Killing someone because they killed diminishes
respect for life and promotes a culture of violence and
vengeance." The state plans to introduce the anesthetic
pentobarbital for this execution, despite the fact that the
manufacturer of the drug, Lundbeck, Inc., has asked Florida to
refrain from such use, saying it "contradicts everything we are
in business to do." Valle has been on death row for about 33
years, raising other questions about cruel and unusual
punishment in his case.
In another case,
a federal judge has found Florida's statute to be
unconstitutional. If that ruling is upheld on appeal, it could
affect Valle's case as well, but only if he is still alive.
UPDATE: Valle's execution has been stayed at least until Sept.
28.. /
Read more
IDAHO
Judge rejects Idaho woman's
death penalty appeal
Rebecca Boone, Associated Press, Houston Chronicle
08-30-11 --
A federal judge has dismissed the appeal of the only woman
facing the death penalty in Idaho but cleared Robin Row to ask a
higher court to consider a handful of issues in the case.
. . . Row, 53, was
convicted of the 1992 killing of her husband and two children by
setting their Boise duplex on fire. At her sentencing the
following year, a judge said she was a pathological liar and
"the embodiment of the cold-blooded, pitiless slayer."
. . . Row's appeals
bounced through the court system over the next several years as
she said there were multiple problems with her case, including a
contention that secret tape recordings of phone calls shouldn't
have been allowed into evidence and a claim that she had brain
damage. Row contended that if enough testimony about the
condition had been presented in court, the case would likely
have ended differently.
Lethal Injections:
Ohio and Other States Face
New Hurdles with Their Execution Process
Death Penalty Information Center
08-30-11 --
Ohio is the only state currently using a single dose of the drug
pentobarbital to execute inmates, while other states are using
pentobarbital as part of a three-drug protocol. According to the
Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (DRC), the
state's supply of the drug will last only until February.
Lundbeck, Inc., the manufacturer of pentobarbital, has said they
are putting systems in place to block the use of their product
in executions. Ohio recently announced changes to its execution
protocol that would allow it to use a backup method of execution
if the state cannot obtain pentobarbital. However, the new
method has never been used, and involves injecting two drugs
directly into an inmate's muscles, bypassing the veins. Under
that method, the sedative midazolam would be followed by the
painkiller hydromorphone. There is a possibility of vomiting
and convulsions with this protocol. As with previous changes to
execution procedures, the new method could be challenged in
court. Tim Young, a State Public Defender, described the new
method as, "Untested, anywhere, ever." Because of its limited
shelf-life and restrictions by the manufacturer, other states
are likey to run out of pentobarbital by 2013. States might
turn to the sedative propofol, but it is also facing shortages,
according to the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists.
/
Read more
CALIFORNIA
California "Taxpayers for
Justice" Launches Initiative to Put Death Penalty on 2012 Ballot
Death Penalty Information Center
08-29-11 --
After years of reports about the high costs of California's
death penalty, including a recent study that found the state has
already spent $4 billion on capital punishment resulting in 13
executions, a group of Californians has announced a citizens'
initiative to put death penalty repeal on the 2012 ballot. The
group, Taxpayers for Justice, includes over 100 law enforcement
leaders, in addition to crime-victim advocates and exonerated
individuals. Among them is former Los Angeles County District
Attorney Gil Garcetti, whose office pursued dozens of capital
cases during his 32 years as a prosecutor. He said, "My
frustration is more about the fact that the death penalty does
not serve any useful purpose and it's very expensive." The high
cost of California's death penalty has gained attention as the
state faces major budget cuts.
A study
released in June by U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Arthur L.
Alarcon found that California's death penalty system is
currently costing the state about $184 million per year. In
April, California Governor Jerry Brown
cancelled plans
to build a new death row, saying "It would be unconscionable to
earmark $356 million for a new and improved death row while
making severe cuts to education and programs that serve the most
vulnerable among us." The ballot initiative will be announced at
a press conference in Sacramento on August 29, with Jeanne
Woodford, the former warden of San Quentin State Prison who
oversaw four executions, as one of the speakers. /
Read more
MILITARY
COURTS
Military has called off 10
executions
UPI
08-28-11 --
Ten of the 16 U.S. military personnel sentenced to death since
1984 have had their sentences overturned, officials say.
. . . McClatchy
Newspapers reported Sunday military appellate courts spared the
defendants the death penalty because of mistakes made throughout
the military's judicial system.
. . . Most of the former
death row inmates have been re-sentenced to life in prison.
. . . McClatchy said
critics say in many cases, defendants charged with capital
crimes are given young, inexperienced lawyers to represent them.
. . . "If you have a
system where it's always amateur hour and where the lawyers are
always trying their first capital case, you're going to
guarantee the same kinds of mistakes that have resulted in many,
many cases being reversed -- because of ineffective assistance
of counsel -- for the last 30 years are going to be made over
and over again," David Bruck, director of the legal aid
organization Virginia Capital Case Clearinghouse, said.
RHODE
ISLAND
New Voices:
Rhode Island's Governor Explains His Resistance to Federal Death
Penalty Case
Death Penalty Information Center
08-25-11 --
Rhode Island Governor Lincoln D. Chafee (Indep.) recently
explained his denial of a request to transfer Jason Pleau to the
federal government for a potential death penalty prosecution.
Chafee stated, " As a matter of public policy, Rhode Islanders
have long opposed the death penalty, even for the most heinous
crimes. To voluntarily let Mr. Pleau be exposed to the federal
death penalty for a crime committed in Rhode Island would be an
abdication of one of my core responsibilities as governor:
defending and upholding the legitimate public-policy choices
made by the people of this state." In his op-ed in the
Providence Journal, the governor noted that Pleau had offered to
plead guilty to murder in state court and accept a sentence of
life without parole. Chafee rejected the accusation that his
actions were driven by a personal opposition to capital
punishment. The governor noted that Rhode Island abolished the
death penalty in 1852, although a very narrow death penalty
statute was put in place afterwards. That law was finally
removed in 1984, and no executions occurred in Rhode Island
after 1852. /
Read more
Studies: "Minority Practice,
Majority's Burden: The Death Penalty Today"
Death Penalty Information Center
08-24-11 --
A new report by Professor James S. Liebman and Peter Clarke from
Columbia University Law School analyzes the declining use of the
death penalty and concludes that, although it is abstractly
supported by two-thirds of the public, the death penalty is
actually practiced by only a distinct minority of jurisdictions
in the United States. In their forthcoming article, "Minority
Practice, Majority's Burden: The Death Penalty Today," Liebman
and Clarke attempt to explain why the use of the death penalty
tends to predominate in certain communities, and why relatively
few executions are carried out compared to the number of death
sentences imposed. The abstract of the report states, "It turns
out that the imposition of death sentences, particularly for
felony murder . . . provides parochial and libertarian
communities with a quick and cheap alternative to effective law
enforcement." The authors conclude in the body of the report,
"As spare and unvarnished as this response is locally, it is
costly to the majority of communities and their residents who do
not much use the death penalty. It leaves crime unattended that
spills over into neighboring communities. It generates verdicts
fraught with costly error. It misleads the family of murder
victims into thinking death verdicts will be executed, not just
expressed. . . . Although hidden and diffuse, the costs are so
great that one has to wonder why the majority puts up with
them." The report will be published in a forthcoming volume of
the Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law. /
Read more
New Voices:
Ohio Republican Leads Efforts Against Death Penalty
Death Penalty Information Center
08-22-11 --
Ohio Rep. Terry Blair is one of two Republican co-sponsors of
House Bill 160, a bill that would replace the death penalty in
the state with life without the possibility of parole. Blair,
whose opinion on the death penalty puts him in the minority in
the 59-member House Republican caucus, attributes his views to
his religious beliefs. “I don’t think we have any business in
taking another person’s life, even for what we call a legal
purpose or what we might refer to as a justified purpose... The
creeds of the church say that life is to be protected all along,
from natural birth to natural death." Blair is co-sponsoring
the bill with Democrats Ted Celeste and Nickie Antonio.
Exeuctions are on hold in Ohio after U.S. District Judge Gregory
L. Frost halted an execution because of concerns about the
state's lethal injection process. Ohio prison officials have
submitted a modified lethal injection protocol in anticipation
of resuming executions next month. In 2010, Ohio was second only
to Texas in the number of executions carried out. /
Read more
WASHINGTON
Costs:
Capital Trials Put Strain on Struggling County's Budget;
Prosecutors Laid Off
Death Penalty Information Center
08-16-11 --
In Washington, King County has spent $656,564 to prosecute three
capital defendants in two cases and over $4.3 million to defend
the accused. The trials have yet to begin, but money has been
needed for expert witnesses, investigators, and forensic
analysis. Prosecution costs do not include work done by police
officers and crime-lab analysts. The county has struggled with
constraints on its criminal justice budget and has eliminated
the jobs of 36 prosecutors since 2008. A third case prosecuted
last year has thus far cost the county another $2.4 million.
Other counties with similar budgetary concerns have chosen not
to seek the death penalty. Defense attorney Jeff Ellis said that
the high cost of the death penalty may be partly responsible for
the drop in death penalty cases in other areas. He said, "There
is a downturn in the number of death-penalty sentences being
sought and imposed because of the costs associated with them.
What's happening now [in King County] is a reverse of what's
happening nationwide." According to a 2006 study released by the
Washington State Bar Association, a death penalty trial costs
approximately $470,000 more than a murder case in which the
death penalty is not sought, and an additional $70,000 in court
costs. The study also found that more than $200,000 is spent on
average on appeals. /
Read more
New Voices:
Four Who Experienced a Family Murder Speak About the Death
Penalty
Death Penalty Information Center
08-12-11 --
Kathryn Gaines, Rita Shoulders, Ruth Lowe and Victoria Cox all
had someone in their family murdered but all believe that a
death sentence for the killers would only deepen their personal
wounds. Shoulders lost her sister to murder; Cox lost her
brother; Lowe also lost her brother; and Gaines experienced the
death of her eldest grandchild a year ago. All four women are
members of St. Martin de Porres Church in West Louisville,
Kentucky, and have participated in videos to relate their
experienes. Ruth Lowe said of the man who killed her brother,
"I’m learning to forgive. And even if I had the chance I
wouldn’t want him executed. It would do nothing for me; it would
do nothing for the rest of my family. To take his life would
make no sense.” Kathryn Gaines said, "You cannot bring a life
back by taking away another life. It hurts a whole family." The
videos of the four women's stories can be found
here. The women's stories are also being told in a
series of articles in The Record, a Catholic newspaper published
in central Kentucky. /
Read more
New Resources:
Five New States Added to State
Information Pages
Death Penalty Information Center
08-11-11 --
DPIC is pleased to announce the addition of five more states to
one of our latest resources, the
State Information Pages.
Adding to the original 15 state pages made available earlier,
pages for
Alaska,
Kansas,
North Carolina,
South Carolina,
and
Wisconsin
may now be accessed as well. These pages provide historical and
current information on the death penalty for each state
(regardless of whether it currently has the death penalty),
including famous cases, past legislative actions, and important
links to key organizations. For frequently-updated information,
such as execution totals, the size of death row, and murder
rates, see our
state-by-state database.
More pages will be made available soon. You can reach the State
Information Pages through the "State by State" button at the top
of every page on our website or under the "Resources" tab in our
main menu. /
Read more
INDIANA
Costs:
In Indiana, the Death Penalty is Very Expensive with Little or
No Return
Death Penalty Information Center
08-09-11 --
Seeking the death penalty in Indiana is very expensive, even
though most cases in which the death penalty is sought do not
end in an execution. According to the Indiana Public Defender
Council, only 16% percent of death penalty cases in the state
filed between 1990 and 2009 (30 out of 188) ended with a death
sentence, and even fewer resulted in an execution. In
Vanderburgh County, where taxpayers have spent $800,000 in the
last two decades defending capital cases, only one of the last
five death penalty trials has resulted in an execution. Parke
County had to raise its taxes to pay for the prosecution of a
death penalty case, which ultimately ended with a guilty plea
and a life-without-parole sentence. Vanderburgh County
Councilman Tom Shetler acknowledged the current system can be
burdensome, "There is no doubt financially it is a serious
hardship on the taxpayers," Shetler said. According to a fiscal
impact report presented by the Indiana Legislative Services
agency, the average cost of a death penalty trial and direct
appeal was more than $450,000--over 10 times the cost of a
life-without-parole trial, which averaged $42,658. The same
report also found that 19 of the 26 death penalty cases between
2000 and 2007 ended in plea agreements for sentences of life
without parole. /
Read more
New Resources:
DPIC's Latest Podcast Addresses the Supreme Court's Role in the
Death Penalty
Death Penalty Information Center
08-08-11 --
The latest edition of the Death Penalty Information Center's
series of podcasts, DPIC on the Issues, is now available. This
podcast addresses questions about the U.S. Supreme Court's role
in overseeing the constitutionality of the death penalty. The
podcast discusses the kinds of cases the Court takes on review
and briefly describes a few key Supreme Court decisions on the
death penalty, including Furman v. Georgia and Gregg v.
Georgia. The Supreme Court's role in the recent limitations on
applying the death penalty, such as the ban on executing
juvenile offenders and those with intellectual disabilities, is
also discussed. Click here to listen to this latest
podcast,
the 15th in DPIC's series. Generally, the series offers brief,
informative discussions of important death penalty issues. Other
recent
episodes
include discussions on the
Legal Process
and on
Mental Illness.
You can subscribe to receive automatic updates through
iTunes when new
episodes are posted and receive access to all previous episodes.
Other audio and video resources, along with all of DPIC's
podcasts, can be found on our
Multimedia
page. /
Read more
Death Penalty Information Center
08-05-11 --
The Death Penalty
Information Center has prepared a summary of a comprehensive
cost study of California's death penalty system recently
published by federal Judge Arthur L. Alarcon and Loyola Law
School Professor Paula M. Mitchell. The original study is
entitled Executing the Will of the Voters?: A Roadmap to Mend or
End the California Legislature's Multi-Billion Dollar Death
Penalty Debacle, and it was published in a special issue of the
Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review. Using charts, graphs, and
pertinent quotes, DPIC's summary shows how the authors arrived
at the $4 billion price tag for the state's death penalty
system. The summary illustrates the percentage of costs
attributable to trials, appeals and incarceration, and explains
why the system is so expensive. It also provides the
legislative history of the state's statute and why the authors
believe the law may be subject to reversal by the courts. The
report and summary conclude with the authors' recommendations
for saving the state hundreds of millions of dollars by either
sharply curtailing the use of the death penalty or doing away
with it completely. See
DPIC's Summary of the Study
or
read the entire article.
/
Read more
MICHIGAN
First Federal Death Sentence
in Non-Death Penalty State Overturned
Death Penalty Information Center
08-04-11 -- On August 3 the U.S.
Court of the Appeals for the Sixth Circuit overturned the
federal death sentence of Marvin Gabrion, who was convicted of a
1997 murder in a National Forest in Michigan. Gabrion was
the first defendant in the country to receive the federal death
penalty for a crime committed in a non-death penalty state since
the federal death penalty was reinstated in 1988. All
three members of the judicial panel upheld Gabriion's murder
conviction, but two judges called for another sentencing trial
because Gabrion's defense team was barred from telling jurors
that he would not have faced the death penalty if he had been
prosecuted in state court because Michigan does not allow
capital punishment. The court held that such information could
have served as a mitigating factor, perhaps convincing some
jurors not to vote for death. In deciding Gabrion's direct
appeal, the court wrote, "The case was not brought to serve a
special national interest like treason or terrorism different
from the normal state interest in punishing murder. The jury
should be given the opportunity to consider whether one or more
of them would choose a life sentence rather than the death
penalty when the same jury considering the same defendant's
proper punishment for the same crime but prosecuted in Michigan
state court could not impose the death penalty." The
federal government had jurisdiction over the crime because the
victim's body was found in a portion of a lake in Manistee
National Forest that is federal property. Gabrion was the
first person to receive a death sentence in Michigan since 1937.
/
Read more
INTERNATIONAL
Studies:
Amnesty International's Report on the U.S. Death Penalty After
35 Years
Death Penalty Information Center
08-02-11 --
A report released by Amnesty
International in July looks at recent developments in the lethal
injection controversy in the U.S. and provides an overview of
the death penalty since it was reinstated in 1976 in Gregg v.
Georgia. Amnesty's report, entitled "An Embarrassment of
Hitches: Reflections on the Death Penalty, 35 Years After Gregg
v. Georgia, As States Scramble for Lethal Injection Drugs,"
begins with a discussion of a lawsuit filed by attorneys for
Arizona death row inmate Donald Beaty against federal
authorities for allowing the importation of sodium thiopental
from international sources in violation of federal law. The
Arizona Department of Corrections announced the evening before
Beaty's execution that they would switch to pentobarbital in
order to avoid legal questions about the use of sodium
thiopental, which they had obtained from overseas. The report
concludes, "The USA’s international isolation on the death
penalty has become more and more acute. It is even impacting the
scramble by authorities in the USA as they try to fix their
lethal injection protocols to take account of the shortage of
one of the ingredients they had become used to employing in
their death chambers. The USA now faces not just opposition from
other governments to its continuing use of the death penalty,
but also from pharmaceutical companies that manufacture drugs
for patient care – not for killing prisoners."
Read full report.
/
Read more
PENNSYLVANIA
DNA tests prove convict in
1989 murder was the killer, DA says
By
Riley Yates, Of The Morning Call
08-01-11 --
Twenty-two years after Scott D. Oliver raped and murdered an
11-year-old girl in Easton, his claims of innocence have ended
with new DNA testing proving he committed the brutal crime,
Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli said
Monday.
. . .Though Scott D.
Oliver, 43, had long maintained he was wrongfully convicted,
recent tests done at the request of The Innocence Project showed
that his hair was found on victim Melissa Jaroschak's body,
Morganelli said. . . . "Any questions that may have remained
about Scott Oliver's guilt in this case have now been
conclusively answered," Morganelli said. "May Melissa Jaroschak
rest in peace. And may her family now know that this case is
closed for good."
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Deal of the Day at Heartland America |
July
2011
New Resources:
DPIC Presents Updated Execution Database
Death Penalty Information Center
07-28-11 -- The Death Penalty
Information Center is pleased to offer a new and more
comprehensive version of our
Execution Database.
The new database includes information on the county where the
crime was committed and on the gender of victim, in addition to
the information available in our previous database. The
database includes such categories as Race of Defendant and
Victim, Foreign Nationals, Method of Execution, and Age at
Execution. Moreover, results of searches are sortable by each
search category. This will allow, for example, all the
executions in a particular county to appear together. The
Execution Database covers all executions since the death penalty
was reinstated in 1976. Information in this database was
obtained from news reports, state Departments of Corrections and
the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. County and victim-gender
information was provided by Professor Frank Baumgartner of the
University of North Carolina. Please
contact us
with any comments or questions regarding this new resource.
FEDERAL COURTS
At 1st Circuit, a death penalty showdown
Sheri Qualters, The National Law Journal
07-28-11 --
Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln
Chafee's battle to prevent the U.S. government from gaining
custody of a state inmate facing charges that could call for the
death penalty made its way to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
1st Circuit on Thursday.
. . .
The oral argument in U.S.
v. Pleau and the related In re Pleau drew a standing-room-only
crowd to the Boston appellate courtroom. The defendant's counsel
believes it to be the first reported case about a governor's
refusal of a request from the United States for the temporary
custody of a prisoner pursuant to the Interstate Agreement on
Detainers Act.
. . .
Jason Wayne Pleau is
appealing a June 30 order by Judge William Smith of the District
of Rhode Island granting the U.S. government's petition for a
writ of habeas corpus ad prosequendum for him to face federal
charges. Pleau also filed a petition for a writ of prohibition.
He's asking the 1st Circuit to permanently stay the district
court's order granting the government's petition for his
custody.
ALABAMA
New Voices: "Alabama Juries, Not Judges, Should Decide
Death Sentences"
Death Penalty Information Center
07-27-11 --
O.H. Eaton Jr. who served as a judge for many years in Florida,
recently wrote an op-ed in the Birmingham News calling for an
end to Alabama's law that allows judges to override juries'
sentencing recommendations in death penalty cases. Eaton, who
presided over numerous capital cases during his 24 years on the
bench, said that his experience convinced him that the practive
of judicial override is unfair. Citing a report recently
published by the Equal Justice Initiative, Eaton noted that
one-fifth of Alabama's death row inmates face execution even
though their juries believed they should have been sentenced to
life in prison. He wrote, "While consistency in sentencing is
the argument most often heard in support of judicial override,
the evidence indicates that allowing judges to ignore jury
recommendations actually leads to less consistency in sentencing
rather than more. Some judges are more likely to override than
others. Some counties are generally more supportive of the death
penalty than others. So, a death sentence ends up depending on
geography and luck of the judicial draw rather than the facts of
the case." Eaton suggested a short-term solution of imposing a
rigorous legal standard for allowing judicial override, but
ultimately he recommended that juries should make the sentencing
decision. Read full op-ed below. /
Read more
DELAWARE
Lawyers arguing today for halt to Friday execution of ax
murderer
Written by Esteban Parra, The News Journal
07-27-11 --
Attorneys trying to halt the execution of convicted ax murderer
Robert W. Jackson III will present arguments today in a series
of court hearings across the state. . . . The first began in
Wilmington at 9 a.m. before U.S. District Judge Sue Robinson to
raise objections to the new drug Delaware uses as part of its
three-drug lethal-injection formula. . . . A second hearing is
slated for this afternoon in Dover, where attorneys will ask the
state Supreme Court to delay the Friday execution so the land’s
highest court can review the case, said Marc Bookman, one of
Jackson’s lawyers and executive director for the Atlantic Center
for Capital Representation, a Philadelphia-based nonprofit that
gives representation in death penalty trials. . . . Jackson is
scheduled to be executed between midnight and 3 a.m. Friday for
the 1992 killing of 47-year-old Elizabeth Girardi during a
robbery of her Hockessin home.
FLORIDA
Florida Supreme Court Stays
Execution to Allow Lethal Injection Hearing
Death Penalty Information Center
07-26-11 --
On July 25, the Florida Supreme Court (4-3) stayed the August 2
execution of Manuel Valle to allow a lower court to consider a
challenge to a new lethal injection drug. Last month, Florida
substituted pentobarbital for sodium thiopental as the first
drug in its three-drug protocol for executions. Florida and
many other states were forced to seek alternatives to sodium
thiopental when the drug's sole U.S. manufacturer decided to
stop its production. Valle's lawyers contend that the use of
pentobarbital would subject him to a substantial risk of harm
because the drug has never been tested on humans for the purpose
of inducing an anesthetic coma. Federal judges in Ohio and
Delaware have also recently stayed executions in those states
because of lethal injection challenges, although the stay in
Delaware was lifted pending clarification of the basis for the
stay. On separate grounds, a federal judge in Florida found the
state's death penalty law unconstitutional because jurors are
not given decision-making power to determine whether a defendant
is eligible for the death penalty. That case is still under
review. /
Read more
North
Carolina
North Carolina Court to Hear First Challenge under State's
Racial Justice Act
Death Penalty Information Center
07-25-11 --
Marcus Robinson will be the first North Carolina death row
inmate to have a sentencing challenge heard in court based on
the state's 2009 Racial Justice Act. According to the act, a
death row inmate who can establish through statistical studies
that his sentence was racially discriminatory can seek to have
it commuted to life in prison. Robinson's lawyers plan to argue
that he received a death sentence partly because he is black and
his victim was white They plan to cite several North Carolina
studies, including one that found that a defendant who killed a
white victim was 2.6 times more likely to be sentenced to death
than if there were no white victims in the crime. His lawyers
will also cite statistics showing that prosecutors in the state
reject minorities for capital juries at twice the rate they
reject whites. In Robinson's case, the prosecutors rejected
half the potential jurors who were black but only 15 percent of
potential jurors who were other races. His sentencing jury was
comprised of nine whites, one American Indian and two blacks,
plus two white alternates. The Racial Justice Act was challenged
in the state's prior legislative session, but it was upheld. /
Read more
U.S.
Military
DPIC Resource:
The Military Death Penalty
Death Penalty Information Center
07-22-11 -- The capital
arraignment on July 20 of Army Major Nidal Hasan for the murder
of 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas, in November 2009 has brought
attention to the
death penalty in the United
States Military.
There are currently six inmates on the military death row, which
is located in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. In the last two years,
four men have been removed from the military death row after
their sentences were reduced to life. The Uniform Code of
Military Justice allows the death penalty for 15 offenses, but
all current inmates were convicted of premeditated murder or
felony murder. Unlike state executions, members of the military
cannot be executed unless the President personally confirms the
death sentence. A military jury in a capital case must be
unanimous in both its verdict and the sentence. The last
military execution took place 50 years ago, on April 13, 1961.
U.S. Army Private John A. Bennett was hanged after being
convicted of rape and attempted murder. /
Read more
GEORGIA
Georgia Videotapes Man's Execution
Greg Bluestein, The Associated Press, NY Lawyer
07-22-11 -- The video
camera that recorded the execution of a Georgia death row
inmate did more than give attorneys an account of the man's
reaction to a new lethal injection drug. Death penalty
experts say it could also lead to a flurry of new legal
moves seeking more public access to secretive death
chambers.
. . . Thursday's
execution of Andrew Grant DeYoung for the 1993 murders of
his parents and sister was believed to be the first in the
U.S. in almost two decades recorded on video. It came at the
urging of defense attorneys who want to document the effects
of the sedative pentobarbital.
. . . The Georgia
Attorney General's office warned the move could set a
troubling precedent and lead to the "potential for
sensationalism and abuse," and the state worried that it
could encourage a rash of similar filings. The execution was
pushed back a day to buy prosecutors more time to block the
taping, but a second legal challenge was also rejected.
|
Astrology.com
is a Victims-of-Law Associate |
New Resources:
Prison Magazine, The Angolite, Examines the Death Penalty
in 2010
Death Penalty Information Center
07-20-11 -- A recent edition of
The Angolite, the nation's largest prison news magazine,
contains an article detailing national death penalty trends and
developments. The piece highlights the emergence of several
prominent conservatives who have voiced concerns with the
current death penalty system, including Montana State Senator
Roy Brown and conservative activist Richard Viguerie. The
article is authored by John Corley and provides an in-depth look
at the ongoing controversy about lethal injection procedures
around the country, the high costs of maintaining the death
penalty system, and the risks of wrongful executions. The
Angolite is an award-winning bi-monthly prison news magazine
produced by inmates at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at
Angola. /
Read more
OREGON
Fired Haugen lawyers lose
appeal
Oregon Supreme Court denies try
for reinstatement
Written by Alan Gustafson , Statesman Journal
07-19-11 --
Two attorneys fired last week by death row inmate Gary Haugen
lost their bid to stay on the case Monday.
. . . The Oregon Supreme
Court denied a petition filed by attorneys Andy Simrin and Keith
Goody, who had asked the court to vacate a Marion County judge's
order dismissing them as Haugen's lawyers.
. . . Also Monday, the
Supreme Court dismissed an "emergency" motion filed the same day
by Simrin and Goody. They had asked the court to halt any
further Marion County Circuit Court proceedings in the Haugen
case until the petition was settled.
. . . The Supreme Court
threw out the motion after denying the petition, deeming it
"moot."
Texas
Victims:
Victim of Hate Crime After 9/11 Seeks Clemency for His Condemned
Attacker
Death Penalty Information Center
07-19-11 -- In 2001, Mark Stroman
shot several people in Texas whom he believed were Arabs in
response to the terrorist attacks of September 11. Stroman
killed at least two men and wounded Rais Bhuiyan, who is from
Bangladesh and was working at a Dallas gas station. Stroman
received the death penalty for the murders and is scheduled to
be executed on July 20. Bhuiyan, who lost the use of one eye as
a result of the shooting, has spent the last few months seeking
clemency for Stroman. In a recent interview with the New York
Times, Bhuiyan said, "I requested a meeting with Mr. Stroman.
I’m eagerly awaiting to see him in person and exchange ideas. I
would talk about love and compassion. We all make mistakes. He’s
another human being, like me. Hate the sin, not the sinner.
It’s very important that I meet him to tell him I feel for him
and I strongly believe he should get a second chance. That I
never hated the U.S. He could educate a lot of people. Thinking
about what is going to happen makes me very emotional. I can’t
sleep. Once I go to bed I feel there is another person that I
know who is in his bed thinking about what is going to happen to
him — that he is going to be tied to a bed and killed. It makes
me very emotional and very sad and makes me want to do more."
Stroman has been moved by Bhuiyan's actions and agrees, "The
hate has to stop." Read full-text of interview below. /
Read more
CALIFORNIA
Death penalty report: pay lawyers more
Debra J. Saunders, San Francisco Chronicle (blog)
07-18-11 -- I
reported in
Sunday's column, a recent
Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review study has
energized the debate against the death penalty as it puts a
price tag on the cost of ajudicating capital cases. The
report estimated that the death penalty cost California
taxpayers $184 million in 2009.
. . . What most
stories on the report do not tell you is that the authors
report that federal courtrs have granted new hearings or
penalty trial sin seven of ten cases, the author blame
inadequate funding for the system's dysfunction. Really.
. . .
By improper funding,
the authors mean not paying defense and appellate attorneys
enough money. The California Supreme Court pays $145 per
hour -- or $23,200 per month assuming a 40-hour week.
Federal courts inmate attorneys $178 per hour. When courts
appoint private counsel, the cost is between $200,000 and
$300,000.
California
New Voices: Author of California's Expanded Death Penalty
Law Now Supports Repeal
Death Penalty Information Center
07-18-11 --
Donald Heller served as both a California and federal prosecutor
and was the author of the state ballot measure that greatly
expanded the list of murders eligible for capital punishment.
After the trial of one defendant, Heller volunteered to "throw
the switch," a comment that earned him the name "Mad Dog." But
his views on capital punishment have changed sharply over the
years. A recent interview in the Los Angeles Times explored how
Heller came to have his greatest regrets for his promotion of
the death penalty. He recently testified in California in
support of a bill that would lead to ending capital punishment.
Heller said he first changed his mind about the death penalty
after the execution of Tommy Thompson, who was convicted through
what Heller believed to be "a clear abuse of the death penalty
law." He realized that the initiative he created "can and may
have resulted in the death of an innocent person." Heller
debunks many arguments in support of the death penalty,
including that it is needed to deter crimes. He said,
"Statistically, in a number of states where there is no death
penalty, state crime has dropped. I have found from my years as
a lawyer in the criminal process that it doesn't deter anyone.
When someone kills, they're thinking of satisfying whatever
[made them] decide to kill. They never think about the ultimate
punishment." He concluded, "My view is that as a civilized
society, we've reached the point where capital punishment should
be completely abolished."
|
SAVE AT PETCARE RX
A
Victims-of-Law Associate |
OREGON
Dismissed attorneys fight back in death penalty case
Condemned inmate says they
broke vow to drop motions
Written by Alan Gustafson, Statesman Journal
07-16-11 -- Hours
after two attorneys for condemned killer Gary Haugen were
dismissed from the case by a Marion County judge on
Thursday, they filed a petition asking the Oregon Supreme
Court to rescind the judge's order.
. . . Haugen's fired
attorneys, Andy Simrin and Keith Goody, are asking the high
court to require Jamese Rhoades, the presiding judge of
Marion County Circuit Court, to vacate the order she issued
removing them as Haugen's co-counsels — or "to show cause
why she should not be required to do so."
. . . Haugen on
Friday blasted the action of his ousted attorneys, accusing
them of breaking a courtroom vow to refrain from filing any
new motions or petitions in the case.
. . . In an interview
with the Statesman Journal, Haugen said that Simrin and
Goody should be held in contempt of court for "blatantly
lying" to Rhoades.
California
Studies: New Report Sees Demise of California's Death
Penalty
Death Penalty Information Center
07-15-11 --
A new report on the
state's death penalty system published by the ACLU of Northern
California catalogs numerous intractable problems and waning
public support which may lead to the end of capital punishment
in the state. According to the report, "California's Death
Penalty is Dead: Anatomy of a Failure," the death penalty in
California is being slowly abandoned as prosecutors, legislators
and taxpayers are increasingly turning to life in prison without
parole as an alternative punishment. Only three death sentences
were imposed in the state between January - June 2011, a
significant decline compared to the same period last year when
there were 13. This marks the lowest number of new death
sentences within a six-month period since the death penalty was
reinstated in 1978. The report also highlights that voters in
the 2010 election opted for officials who supported replacing
the death penalty over those who aggressively campaigned in
favor for the death penalty. A 2011 poll revealed that 63% of
likely California voters supported commuting all existing death
sentences to life without parole, thereby saving the state
hundreds of millions of dollars. The commutation proposal
received support from respondents across political party lines
and from all regions of the state. Among the problems
highlighted in the report are the enormous costs of the death
penalty, the long delay in assigning lawyers for death penalty
appeals, and the absence of any meaningful return for all the
resources spent.
Read full text of the report here. /
Read more
Texas
Controversial Texas Case Settles with Plea Bargain
Death Penalty Information Center
07-14-11 --
A Texas capital case that precipitated a rare judicial review of
the constitutionality of the state's death penalty recently
ended on July 6 with an unexpected plea deal. At the end of six
weeks of jury selection, the prosecution accepted defendant John
Edward Green Jr.'s agreement to plead guilty to a lesser murder
charge in exchange for 40 years in prison. The case was delayed
in coming to trial when Judge Kevin Fine (pictured) agreed to
conduct a hearing on whether Texas's death penalty law posed too
great a risk of executing the innocent. The hearing was begun
in December 2010, although the prosecution refused to take an
active part in the proceedings. The Texas Court of Criminal
Appeals halted the hearing after 2 days of testimony, holding
that the constitutional issue was not ripe for consideration and
that the trial court was not the proper forum for deciding that
issue. The family of the two victims who were robbed and shot
(one of whom died) in 2008 supported the plea agreement. A
statement issued by Harris County District Attorney Pat Lykos's
office cited concern for the victims and families when accepting
the plea deal: "The victim's husband and sister (who is also a
victim in this case) related that they wanted finality and
certainty of sentence. They expressed grave concerns regarding
the pretrial proceedings and previous rulings in this case." /
Read more
VIRGINIA
Va. judge throws out drug dealer’s death sentence in slaying
By Josh White, Washington Post
07-12-11 --
A federal judge has thrown out the capital murder conviction
and death sentence of Justin Michael Wolfe and lambasted the
veteran Prince William County prosecutors who alleged that
the drug dealer orchestrated the slaying of his marijuana
supplier more than a decade ago. . . . U.S. District Judge
Raymond A. Jackson, in Norfolk, ruled that prosecutors
withheld or ignored crucial evidence and potential testimony
that could have helped Wolfe’s defense. . . . Wolfe, 30, has
spent more than nine years on death row after he was
convicted of hiring another member of his drug ring to kill
the 21-year-old son of a Secret Service agent.
OHIO
Federal Judge Halts Ohio Execution Because of "Haphazard" Lethal
Injection Process
Death Penalty Information Center
07-11-11 --
On July 8 U.S. District Court Judge Gregory Frost stayed the
upcoming July 19 execution of Ohio inmate Kenneth Smith because
of the state's inconsistent application of its lethal injection
process. Judge Frost called the state's practice "haphazard,"
and said, "Ohio pays lip service to standards it then often
ignores without valid reasons, sometimes with no physical
ramifications and sometimes with what have been described as
messy if not botched executions." Smith's attorneys argued that
Ohio does not follow its own execution procedures, straying from
the required number of execution team members and failing to
document the mixing of drugs. According to the warden of the
Southern Ohio Correctional Facility, executions in January and
May involved only one medical team member, rather than the
required two. Frost did not rule on the constitutionality of
Ohio's death penalty statute, but held that Smith would likely
prevail on a claim of unequal protection under the Fourteenth
Amendment. He concluded, "The perplexing if not often shocking
departures from the core components of the execution process
that are set forth in the written protocol not only offend the
Constitution based on irrationality but also disturb fundamental
rights that the law bestows on every individual under the
Constitution, regardless of the depraved nature of his or her
crimes." /
Read more
ALABAMA
New EJI Report Finds Arbitrary, Biased, and Unreliable Death
Sentencing When Alabama Judges Override Jury Verdicts of
Life
Equal Justice Initiative
07-11-11 --
Allowing elected trial judges in Alabama to override jury
verdicts of life in capital cases and impose the death
penalty has resulted in some of the most arbitrary and
unreliable death sentencing in the United States according
to a new study by EJI.
A new report released today by EJI reveals that -
unlike in any other state - elected Alabama judges
overwhelmingly use their virtually unrestricted override
power to impose death in cases where death-qualified Alabama
juries have returned verdicts for life imprisonment without
parole. . . . Of the 34 states with the death penalty,
Alabama is the only jurisdiction where judges routinely
override jury verdicts of life to impose capital punishment.
Since 1976, Alabama judges have overridden jury verdicts 107
times. Although judges have authority to override life or
death verdicts, in 92% of overrides elected judges have
overruled jury verdicts of life to impose the death penalty.
########
 PDF:
New EJI Report on Judge Override
Discussing Alabama's unique
and arbitrary practice of permitting elected trial judges to
override jury life verdicts and impose death sentences.
New Resources:
DPIC Podcast Covers Legal Process
Death Penalty Information Center
07-08-11 -- Have you ever wondered
about how a death penalty trial is conducted or why the appeals
take many years? The latest edition of the Death Penalty
Information Center's series of podcasts, DPIC on the Issues, may
be helpful in answering those questions. This podcast addresses
questions about the legal process in capital cases, including
jury selection, sentencing, and appeals. In addition to covering
the basic steps in a death penalty case, the podcast discusses
issues such as the adequacy of representation and the length of
time on death row. Click here to listen to this latest
podcast.
Generally, this series of 14 podcasts offers brief, informative
discussions of key death penalty issues. Other recent
episodes
include discussions on Women and the Death Penalty and Mental
Illness. You can subscribe through
iTunes to receive
automatic updates when new episodes are posted and receive
access to all previous episodes. Other audio and video
resources, along with all of DPIC's podcasts, can be found on
our
Multimedia
page. /
Read more
TEXAS
Texas ignores U.S.
protests
Killer of San Antonio teen
executed here Thursday
By Brandon Scott, Staff Reporter The Huntsville Item
07-08-11 --
Despite warnings from the U.S. government, Texas put to
death Mexican national Humberto Leal on Thursday for the
1994 abduction, rape and murder of 16-year-old Adria Saveda
of San Antonio. . . . Leal, an illegal alien who moved to
the U.S. as a young child, was denied legal assistance
through the Mexican consulate, an issue that incited
challenges to his execution and a flurry of requests for a
delay. . . . The Obama administration had asked the Supreme
Court for a stay, expressing concern for Americans accused
of crimes while traveling outside the country, according to
the Associated Press.
FEDERAL COURTS
Ikuta Blasts 9th Circuit Colleagues for Another Shaky Habeas
Ruling
Ginny LaRoe, Legal Pad A Recorder Blog
07-07-11 --
Ninth Circuit Judge Sandra Ikuta is speaking the Supreme
Court's language.
Her colleagues on a panel
today tossed the death sentence of an Arizona killer after
finding the trial judge should have recused. Ikuta wrote a
detailed, 20-page dissent, blasting her colleagues for
granting habeas relief, which she says defies Supreme Court
precedent, ignores justices' repeated message to the circuit
about its handling of habeas cases and will likely lead to
more frivolous claims of judicial bias. . . . In
Hurles v. Ryan, Senior Judge Dorothy Nelson
and Judge Harry Pregerson ordered new sentencing of Richard
Hurles, who was convicted of stabbing to death a librarian
in an attempted sexual assault in 1992. The two Carter
appointees took issue with the trial judge for imposing the
ultimate penalty after being involved in an interlocutory
appeal in the case. The appeal was over a defense request
for a second lawyer, since it was a capital case. . . . In a
pleading filed on behalf of the judge during that phase of
the case, the trial judge commented on the "overwhelming
evidence" of guilt, and called the case "very simple and
straightforward," Nelson wrote for the majority.
Pharmaceutical Company
Restricts Access to Drug Used in U.S. Executions
Death Penalty Information Center
07-06-11 -- A pharmaceutical
company that manufactures pentobarbital (distributed under the
brand name Nembutal) has announced that it will significantly
restrict its distribution system to prevent the drug's use in
lethal injections in the United States. Lundbeck Inc. announced
in a statement that it “adamantly opposes the distressing misuse
of our product in capital punishment.” Lundbeck will review
orders before providing clearance for shipping pentobarbital and
will deny orders from prisons located in states currently
carrying out executions. Purchasers must also provide a written
agreement that they will not redistribute the drug. Lundbeck's
Chief Executive Ulf Wiinberg added, "After much consideration,
we have determined that a restricted distribution system is the
most meaningful means through which we can restrict the misuse
of Nembutal. While the company has never sold the product
directly to prisons and therefore can’t make guarantees, we are
confident that our new distribution program will play a
substantial role in restricting prisons’ access to Nembutal for
misuse as part of lethal injection." Almost all the states with
the death penalty are currently using or intended to use
pentobarbital in their executions. This decision by Lundbeck
may require a major change in the execution protocols of states
and the federal government. /
Read more
TEXAS
Lawyers protest Gov.
Perry for not halting execution of Mexico-born murderer
By Neil Munro, Daily Caller
07-05-11 --
An international alliance of legal professionals and
Democrats are putting Texas Gov. Rick Perry in the hot seat
for the state’s refusal to halt the execution of a
Mexico-born murderer. . . . “If you commit the most heinous
of crimes in Texas, you can expect to face the ultimate
penalty under our laws, as in this case, where [murderer
Humberto] Leal was convicted of raping and bludgeoning a
16-year-old girl to death,” Perry’s press secretary
Katherine Cesinger told TheDC. . . . “Other than a 30-day
reprieve, the governor would have to receive a favorable
recommendation from the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles
to grant clemency in any case,” she said, adding that “the
governor has not yet made a final decision on this case,
which is still pending before the courts.”
2011 Death Penalty Update
Death Penalty Information Center
07-01-11
--
Between January and the end of
June 2011, there were 25 executions in 9 states. During the
same time period last year, there were 29 executions. Of the
executions this year, 8 were carried out using the drug sodium
thiopental, while 17 involved a new drug, pentobarbital. Earlier
in 2011, Hospira Inc., the sole U.S. manufacturer of sodium
thiopental, announced that it would no longer manufacture the
drug, forcing states to search for foreign sources or
alternative drugs for their lethal injections. Alabama,
Arizona, Mississippi, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, and South Carolina
have used pentobarbital instead of sodium thiopental in their
executions in 2011. Ohio is the only one of those 7 states to
use pentobarbital as the sole drug in its lethal-injection
process. In the first half of 2011, 18 clemencies have been
granted, commuting the defendant's death sentence to life
without parole. Fifteen of the commutations were in Illinois,
where Governor Pat Quinn signed a bill repealing the state's
death penalty. The repeal goes into effect today, Juy 1.
Seventy-six percent (76%) of the cases resulting in executions
so far this year involved the murder of at least 1 white victim,
even though generally whites are victims of murder less than 50%
of the time. /
Read more
June
2011
New Resources:
Most Recent DEATH ROW USA Report Now Available
Death Penalty Information Center
06-30-11 -- The latest edition of
the NAACP Legal Defense Fund's "Death
Row USA" shows
that the number of people on death row in the United States is
continuing to slowly decline, falling to 3,242 as of October 1,
2010. In 2000, there were 3,682 inmates on death row.
Nationally, the racial composition of those on death row is 44%
white, 42% black, and 12% Latino/Latina. California continues to
have the largest death row population (714), followed by Florida
(394) and Texas (322). Pennsylvania (220) and Alabama (204)
complete the list of the states with the five largest death rows
in the country. California and Pennsylvania have not carried
out an executiion in over five years. Death Row USA is
published quarterly by the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational
Fund. The report contains the latest death row population
figures, execution statistics, and an overview of recent legal
developments related to capital punishment. /
Read more
BOOKS:
"The Ultimate Sanction" by Robert Bohm
Death Penalty Information Center
06-29-11 --
Professor Robert M. Bohm has
published a new book on capital punishment, The Ultimate
Sanction: Understanding the Death Penalty Through Its Many
Voices and Many Sides. The book looks at the issue of capital
punishment through interviews with people affected by the system
in different ways. "We must," Bohm says, "begin to understand
the reach of capital punishment beyond just the victim and the
perpetrator." To that end, Prof. Bohm includes perspectives from
investigators, prosecutors, prison wardens, victims' and
offenders' families, judges, and attorneys, among others. The
book uses these interviews to explore issues of deterrence,
retribution, and fairness, while taking a unique look at how the
death penalty affects those who participate in the system. In
conclusion, Bohm suggests that capital punishment's collateral
damage is another reason for reconsidering the wisdom of this
ultimate sanction. /
Read more
FLORIDA
Fla. says US judge erred in
death sentence ruling
By
Curt Anderson, AP Legal Affairs Writer, MiamiHerald.com
06-28-11 --
A federal judge who
declared Florida's method of imposing the death penalty
unconstitutional made several legal
and factual errors that should force a reversal, the state
attorney general's office said in a new court filing. . . . The
decision last week by U.S. District Judge Jose E. Martinez could
impact all Florida death cases and must be changed, Assistant
Attorney General Leslie Campbell said in Monday's filing. The
state wants Martinez to overturn his own opinion so that the
sentencing system is preserved and also to deny a death row
inmate a chance at a life sentence. . . . "Because this ruling
represents manifest errors of both fact and law, the state
respectfully requests that this court alter or amend its
judgment," Campbell wrote. . . . As of Tuesday, Martinez had
issued no response but could rule at any time.
INTERNATIONAL
New Voices: Journalist Who Was Arrested Abroad Emphasizes
Importance of Consular Access
Death Penalty Information Center
06-28-11 --
Journalist Euna Lee, who was
imprisoned in North Korea along with her colleague, Laura Ling,
recently wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post on the
importance of consular access for individuals arrested outside
their home countries. Lee was reporting for Current TV when she
and Ling were arrested, interrogated, put on trial, and
sentenced to 12 years hard labor. Only when the Swedish
ambassador, who represented U.S. interests in North Korea,
reminded Korean officials of their responsibility to uphold the
Vienna Convention on Consular Relations was Lee able to
communicate with the U.S. government. As an
execution of a foreign national approaches in Texas,
Congress is currently considering legislation that would ensure
judicial review of death penalty cases in which foreign
nationals in the U.S. were denied access to their consulates.
According to Lee, "This legislation is not only a matter of
honoring our obligations to such inmates. There are still many
American journalists, aid workers, missionaries, members of the
military and tourists detained in foreign countries. For all of
them, and for their fearful families at home, there is nothing
more important than upholding the reciprocal right to consular
protection." /
Read more
INTERNATIONAL
New Resources: International Death Penalty Documentary
Death Penalty Information Center
06-27-11 --
The International Academic
Network for the Abolition of Capital Punishment has recently
released "Still Killing," a documentary filmed during the
International Colloquium on the Abolition or Moratoria of the
Death Penalty (held at the Centre for Political and
Constitutional Studies, Madrid, Spain) and the Fourth World
Congress Against the Death Penalty (in Geneva). The film
includes testimony and opinions of professors, researchers, and
other experts on the death penalty. The film is intended to be a
teaching and training resource, and is accompanied by a
discussion guide and two additional DVDs that contain interviews
that were the basis of the documentary. The film was directed
by Adan Nieto, Manuel Maroto and Marta Munoz. /
Read more
GEORGIA
Attorney asks chief justice,
DOC to investigate execution problems
By
Rhonda Cook, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
06-24-11 --
An attorney for a man whose execution appeared to have been
botched has asked Georgia’s chief justice to stop any more
lethal injections until the Department of Corrections
investigates what went wrong Thursday night. . . . Attorney
Brian Kammer also wrote Corrections Commissioner Brian Owens on
Friday asking for “an immediate independent investigation into
what appear to have been serious problems attending the
execution.” . . . Roy Blankenship was put to death Thursday
night for the murder of 78-year-old Sarah Mims Bowen in Savannah
33 years ago. In that execution, Georgia used a new sedative,
pentobarbital, as the first of three drugs. . . . According to
witnesses, Blankenship grimaced, jerked, lunged from
side-to-side, gasped and appeared to yell out during the three
minutes immediately after the first drug was administered.
Witnesses said his eyes remained open until the end, as had been
the case with the two previous executions.
TEXAS
Texas Makes Progress on Improving Criminal Justice System
Death Penalty Information Center
06-24-11 --
Recent legislation passed in
Texas indicates bipartisan support for criminal justice reform
in the state. Legislators recently passed an
eyewitness-identification bill intended to cut down on the
number of victims and witnesses who make mistakes in in-person
and photographic line-ups. This new law will require police
agencies to adopt procedures and use techniques that help lessen
the number of false confessions. Another bill passed recently
will make it easier for convicted persons to have DNA materials
tested if the testing was not done before the trial or if
updated testing techniques might reveal information that is more
accurate than previous results. Finally, the legislature also
passed a bill that would allow compensation for the wrongfully
accused even if orders of release do not specifically include
the terms "actual innocence." The bill allows affidavits by a
district attorney in the crime's jurisdiction or a special
prosecutor who officially investigated the case to provide
verification of innocence. /
Read more
FLORIDA
Federal Judge Finds Florida's Death Penalty Unconstitutional
Death Penalty Information Center
06-23-11 --
On June 20, U.S. District Judge
Jose E. Martinez declared Florida's death penalty
unconstitutional because jurors are not required to make
findings beyond a reasonable doubt on the aggravating factors
that can increase a guilty defendant's sentence from life to
death. The ruling mandates that defendants have a Sixth
Amendment right to have all essential elements of proof in
criminal cases found by a jury rather than by a judge. Legal
experts say the ruling could have an important impact on other
death penalty cases in the state and may lead to stays of
execution. In his ruling, Judge Martinez said that Florida's
sentencing system violates the U.S. Supreme Court's holding in
Ring v. Arizona (2002), which allowed judges to make the final
sentencing choice between death and life but requires that
jurors first determine whether a defendant is eligible for the
death penalty. The ruling, which is subject to appeal, came in
the case of Paul Evans, who may now get a new sentencing
hearing. His murder conviction still stands. /
Read more
DPIC Releases New Report as 35th Anniversary of Reinstatement of
the Death Penalty Approaches
Death Penalty Information Center
06-22-11 -- The
Death Penalty Information Center has released a new report, "Struck
by Lightning: The Continuing Arbitrariness of the Death Penalty
Thirty-Five Years After Its Reinstatement in 1976." The
report shows that despite the changes to sentencing schemes
approved by the U.S. Supreme Court on July 2, 1976, race,
geography, money and other factors continue to make the
implementation of the death penalty arbitrary and unfair. A
majority of the nine Justices who served on the Supreme Court in
1976 when the death penalty was approved eventually concluded
the experiment had failed. The report concludes, "Thirty-five
years of experience have taught the futility of trying to fix
this system. Many of those who favored the death penalty in the
abstract have come to view its practice very differently. They
have reached the conclusion that if society’s ultimate
punishment cannot be applied fairly, it should not be applied at
all." /
Read more
GEORGIA
Sister Helen Prejean Appeals to U.S. Drug Company on Behalf of
Georgia Death Row Inmate
Death Penalty Information Center
06-21-11 --
Noted author and human rights
activist, Sister Helen Prejean, has released a letter sent to
George S. Barrett, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of
Cardinal Health in Dublin, Ohio, asking him to secure the return
of drugs that may be used to execute Andrew De Young in Georgia
and "to take every step possible to make your actual practices
comply with your stated business and ethical codes, including
demanding the immediate return of the drugs and refunding the
purchase price of $27,000 to The Georgia Department of
Corrections." See
Sr. Helen's letter and
Press Release. /
Read more
CALIFORNIA
Costs: New Study Reveals California Has Spent $4 Billion
on the Death Penalty
Death Penalty Information Center
06-20-11 --
A new study of California's
death penalty found that taxpayers have spent more than $4
billion on capital punishment since it was reinstated in 1978,
or $308 million for each of the 13 executions carried out since
then. The study, conducted by U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Arthur
L. Alarcon and Loyola Law School Professor Paula M. Mitchell
estimated that capital trials, enhanced security on death row
and legal representation for capital defendants add $184 million
to California's budget annually. California has the largest
death row in the country and has not had an execution since 2006
due to legal challenges to its lethal injection protocol. The
report's authors concluded that unless profound (and more
costly) reforms are made, the capital punishment system will
continue to exist mostly in theory while exacting an untenable
cost. Judge Alarcon and Professor Mitchell forecast the cost of
maintaining the death penalty will increase to $9 billion by
2030, when the state's death row will likely grow to well over
1,000 inmates. Michael Millman, Executive Director of the
California Appellate Project, said more than 300 inmates on
death row are awaiting to be appointed attorneys for their state
appeals and federal habeas corpus petitions. Millman said there
are fewer than 100 attorneys in the state who are qualified to
handle capital cases because the work is dispiriting and
demanding, and the compensation inadequate. Read more of the
report's findings below. /
Read more
TEXAS
Editorials: Texas Inmate With IQ of 62 Faces Imminent
Execution
Death Penalty Information Center
06-17-11 --
A recent editorial in the
Houston Chronicle highlights the case of Texas death-row inmate
Milton Mathis, whose IQ of 62 places him well below the
threshold for intellectual disability (formerly called "mental
retardation"). Mr. Mathis faces execution on June 21, despite
the 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Atkins v. Virginia, which
banned the execution of inmates with intellectual disabilities.
The Chronicle noted, "If put to death, Milton Mathis would have
one of the lowest — if not the lowest - undisputed IQ scores of
any Texas inmate sentenced to capital punishment since that
ruling took effect." Mathis' lawyers raised this issue in both
his state and federal appeals, but the state court rejected the
claim, and the federal court denied a stay, not realizing that
doing so prevented further litigation in state court. The
federal judge later realized her error, but at that point, she
lacked jurisdiction to change the ruling. Andrea Keilen,
executive director of the Texas Defender Service, said, "What is
really troubling is that in this case process has trumped
substance. The evidence of mental retardation is compelling,
overwhelming, and, because the state courts heard it, the
federal courts have not allowed the evidence to be introduced."
The Chronicle concluded: "In essence, barring federal
intervention or the governor's clemency, Texas will unlawfully
and unjustly execute a mentally retarded individual because of
legal technicalities and the state's failure to weigh Mathis'
clinical condition." Read full editorial below. /
Read more
INTERNATIONAL
Legislation Introduced to Help Enforce Treaty Protecting Those
Arrested Outside Their Own Country
Death Penalty Information Center
06-16-11 --
On June 14, Senator Patrick
Leahy (D.-Vt.) introduced the Consular Notification Compliance
Act. This bill would establish enforcement mechanisms for U.S.
compliance with the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, a
key treaty that provides the right to consult with your
consulate for citizens detained outside their home country. The
U.S. has signed and ratified this treaty, but has not always
abided by its terms. Among other provisions, the act will give
jurisdiction to federal courts to review cases of foreign
nationals currently on death row in the U.S. who did not receive
consular access as required under the treaty. In 2004, the
International Court of Justice ruled that the U.S. must review
the death sentences and convictions of 50 Mexican nationals who
had not been properly notified of their right to consular
access. The U.S. Supreme Court, however, held that Congress must
pass legislation on how the treaty will be enforced before
hearings could be required. The proposed legislation would
allow the U.S. to be in line with the ICJ ruling. Senator Leahy
said, "Compliance with our consular notification obligations is
not a question of partisan interest. Given the long history of
bipartisan support for the VCCR, there should be unanimous
support for this legislation to uphold our treaty obligations. A
failure to act places Americans at risk." /
Read more
PENNSYLVANIA
Representation: Sub-Standard Compensation for Death
Penalty Attorneys Challenged in Philadelphia
Death Penalty Information Center
06-15-11 --
The Atlantic Center for Capital
Representation recently petitioned the Pennsylvania Supreme
Court to ensure that lawyers appointed in death penalty cases in
Philadelphia have adequate resources to defend their clients.
The petition, filed on behalf of three individuals charged with
first-degree murder and facing the death penalty, argued that
Philadelphia’s current compensation system for court-appointed
capital defense lawyers is so inadequate that it violates the
defendants' constitutional rights to effective counsel.
Philadelphia uses a flat fee system in death penalty cases that
is the lowest among Pennsylvania’s 67 counties. A lawyer
receives $2,000 for trial preparation. After the first day of
trial, the lawyer then receives a daily fee of $200 for less
than three hours or $400 for more than three hours. JoAnne
Epps, Dean of Temple University’s law school, noted, “Our
commitment to justice requires that capital cases, the most
serious in our criminal justice system, be conducted with
fairness and adequate resources - on both sides." /
Read more
New Resources: The State of Criminal Justice 2011
Death Penalty Information Center
06-10-11 --
The American Bar Association
recently published The State of Criminal Justice 2011, an annual
report that examines major issues, trends and significant
changes in America's criminal justice system. The publication
serves as a valuable resource for academics, students, and
policy-makes. The chapter devoted to capital punishment was
written by Ronald Tabak, special counsel and pro bono
coordinator at the law firm of Skadden Arps in New York. Tabak
explores legislative changes in the states, the declining use of
the death penalty, important Supreme Court decisions, and other
issues such as the adequacy of representation in capital cases.
In concluding, he writes, " Ultimately, our society must decide
whether to continue with a system that has been found in study
after study to be far more expensive than the actual alternative
- in which life without parole is the most serious punishment.
This question has become substantially more important given the
severe economic downturn in 2008-2011. In view of the lack of
persuasive evidence of societal benefits from capital
punishment, this is one ineffectual, wasteful government program
whose elimination deserves serious consideration." /
Read more
EXECUTION DRUG
Sole Producer of U.S. Execution Drug Moves to Block Use, Calling
It Unsafe
Death Penalty Information Center
06-10-11 --
Lundbeck Inc., a Danish
pharmaceutical company that is the sole manufacturer of
injectable pentobarbital used in the U.S., recently announced
that it will impose tougher conditions on distributors in an
effort to prevent the drug's use in executions. Lundbeck's Chief
Executive, Ulf Wiinberg, said his company will be switching to
the use of specialist wholesalers and imposing “end user
clauses” designed to stop pentobarbital from being sold for use
in executions. Wiinberg will also be writing to state officials
warning that it is not safe to use the drug in untested ways,
including in lethal injection protocols. Wiinberg said, "We are
willing to try to stop Nembutal’s (pentobarbital) misuse even if
we can’t guarantee that it will necessarily work. Obviously we
would like to do the right thing.” Early this year, departments
of corrections in several states switched to using pentobarbital
as part of a 3-drup protocol after another drug became
unavailable. About a dozen inmates have been executed in the
U.S. using this new drug in 2011, including three in Ohio, which
uses a single lethal-dose of pentobarbital in its executions.
Oklahoma, Texas, South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, and
Arizona have used pentobarbital as the first drug in a
three-drug protocol this year. /
Read more
INTERNATIONAL
European Union High Representative Calls for Clemency for Troy
Davis
Death Penalty Information Center
06-09-11 --
A new declaration issued by
Catherine Ashton, the European Union's High Representative for
Common Foreign and Security Policy, expressed deep concerns
about the possible execution of Troy Anthony Davis, a death row
inmate in Georgia. Evidence that emerged after his trial has
thrown doubt about his conviction. The High Representative,
writing on behalf of the EU, stated, "The EU has repeatedly
intervened on behalf of Mr. Davis and notes that serious and
compelling doubts regarding his culpability continue to persist.
The EU therefore calls for a commutation of his death sentence.”
/
Read more
OHIO
Clemency: Ohio Governor Commutes Death Sentence Because
of Doubts About Defendant's Role
Death Penalty Information Center
06-08-11 --
On June 8, Ohio Governor John
Kasich granted clemency to Shawn Hawkins, commuting his death
sentence to life without parole because of doubts about his role
in a double murder. Hawkins was scheduled for execution on June
14. In May, the Ohio Parole Board unanimously recommended to
spare Hawkins’ life, citing conflicting statements by the sole
eyewitness and possible involvement of other individuals who had
not been fully investigated. Republicans Ken Blackwell, a former
Ohio Secretary of State and 2006 gubernatorial candidate, former
Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro, and state Sen. Bill Seitz all
wrote letters to Gov. John Kasich or to the Parole Board on
behalf of Hawkins. Sen. Seitz stated, "[T]here is no reason to
end Mr. Hawkins' life on something so utterly flimsy as
mishandled and inconclusive fingerprints and the testimony of a
witness with every motive to lie. . . ." Hawkins is the first
death row inmate to receive clemency from Governor Kasich since
he took office in January, and the seventh to be spared since
Ohio resumed executions in 1999. /
Read more
TEXAS
New Voices: Military and Diplomatic Leaders Urge Reprieve
for Foreign National Facing Texas Execution
Death Penalty Information Center
06-07-11 --
On June 7, a clemency petition
was filed with the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles requesting
a halt to the July-7 execution of Humberto Leal, a Mexican
citizen who was not advised of his consular rights upon arrest
for a murder in San Antonio in 1994. The petition was
accompanied by letters from former U.S. diplomats, retired
military leaders, former prosecutors and judges, and assocations
of Americans living abroad calling for a stay of execution until
Congress can pass legislation to guarantee proper notification
in such cases. The U.S. is a party to the Vienna Convention on
Consular Relations that requires officials to inform foreign
nationals of their right to contact their consulate when
arrested. The treaty is designed to protect both U.S. citizens
abroad and citizens of other countries in the U.S. Among the
signers of the letter from retired military officers were Rear
Admiral Don Guter, USN, Rear Admiral John D. Hutson, USN, and
Brigadier General James P. Cullen, USA. They wrote:
"International consular notification and access obligations are
essential to ensuring humane, non-discriminatory treatment for
both non-citizens in U.S. custody and U.S. citizens in the
custody of foreign governments. As retired military leaders, we
understand that the preservation of consular access protections
is especially important for U.S. military personnel, who when
serving our country overseas are at greater risk of being
arrested by a foreign government." /
Read more
NEW YORK
Expensive Federal Death Penalty Case Ends with Life Without
Parole
Death Penalty Information Center
06-07-11 --
On June 1, a unanimous jury in a
federal death penalty prosecution in New York voted to impose a
life sentence on Vincent Basciano, an organized-crime leader who
had earlier been convicted of murder, racketeering, and
conspiracy. The prosecutors’ lead witness against Basciano was
Joseph Massino, a former crime boss who agreed to cooperate with
the government in order to escape a death sentence for his own
crimes. The federal government sought the death penalty for
Basciano, who was already serving a sentence of life without
parole, despite a request from the trial judge who asked the
Department of Justice to reconsider seeking the death penalty
because of its high costs and the likelihood that Basciano would
spend the rest of his life in prison regardless of the outcome.
At the time of the judge's request, the case had already cost
taxpayers $3 million, and the ultimate bill was estimated to be
as high as $10 million. After a short deliberation, the jury
opted for life without parole because they did not believe the
prosecutors’ arguments that Basciano posed a future threat and
because other crime figures convicted of worse crimes did not
get the death penalty. /
Read more
BOOKS:
"Make Me Believe: A Crime Novel Based on Real Events"
Death Penalty Information Center
06-03-11 --
A new novel by Dax-Devlon Ross,
Make Me Believe: A Crime Novel Based on Real Events, follows the
discoveries and dangerous encounters of a fictional author
investigating the case of Toronto Patterson, the last juvenile
defendant executed in Texas before the U.S. Supreme Court struck
down this practice in 2005. Employing actual interviews with
Patterson, court documents, news articles and courtroom
testimony, Ross's book blends fact and fiction to confront some
of the problems of capital punishment in Texas while providing a
fascinating story. Dax-Devlon Ross is a lawyer and writer of
nonfiction, fiction and poetry. / (D. Ross, "Make
Me Believe: A Crime Novel Based on Real Events," Outside
the Box Publishing, 2011). /
Read more
UNITED
STATES SUPREME COURT
Supreme Court Allows
Execution of Texas Inmate to Proceed
By
Mark Hansen, ABA Journal
06-03-11 --
The U.S. Supreme Court has lifted a stay of execution for a
Texas death row inmate who has twice come close to being
executed in the past five months. . . . Cleve Foster, a
47-year-old former Army recruiter, was sentenced to death in
2004 for the 2002 murder of a 28-year-old woman he met in a bar.
. . . The Supreme Court had stayed the execution while it
considered whether Foster, a Persian Gulf veteran, had received
adequate counsel during his trial and appeal, according to a
New York Times
report. Foster's lawyers had also challenged the legality of his
execution based on the state's use of pentobarbital, which is
also used to euthanize animals, in its lethal injections. . . .
The court's ruling frees the state to set a new execution date
for Foster.
TEXAS
Texas Woman May be Spared Death Penalty Because of Prosecutorial
Misconduct
Death Penalty Information Center
06-02-11 --
Chelsea Richardson (pictured),
the first woman in Tarrant County, Texas, to be sentenced to
death, may soon be serving a life sentence instead. Six years
after her conviction, Tarrant County District Attorney Joe
Shannon agreed with Richardson’s appellate attorney that the
prosecutor at her trial withheld evidence that could have
affected the jury's sentence. This development would mark the
second time in three years that the outcome of a death penalty
case was changed due to misconduct by former prosecutor Mike
Parrish. D.A. Shannon said, "This office will not be a party to
the infliction of death as a punishment . . .
when there is even an appearance of impropriety on the part of a
prosecutor who formerly worked in this office. If the death
penalty is to be used, it must be obtained legally, fairly and
honestly and without the hint of a possible injustice." In
Richardson’s case, Parrish withheld a psychologist's notes from
the defense team. Richardson was sentenced to death for being
the mastermind behind the murders of her boyfriend’s parents.
Her co-conspirators both received life sentences. The
psychologist’s notes could have convinced jurors that one of the
co-defendants was most responsible for the crime. /
Read more
Nevada
Costs:
Nevada Senate Approves Bill to
Study Death Penalty Costs
Death Penalty Information Center
06-01-11 --
On May 28, the Nevada Senate passed a bill authorizing an audit
of the cost of the state's death penalty. By a vote of 11-10,
the Senate called for the legislative auditor to compare the
costs of prosecution and appeals in capital cases to non-death
penalty cases, examining the cost of defense lawyers, juries,
psychiatric evaluations, appellate and post-conviction
proceedings. The auditor would also examine the cost of an
execution, including the costs of facilities and staff. The
report would be due Jan. 31, 2013. Nevada has not had an
execution since April 2006, and has 77 inmates on death row. The
bill originally called for a moratorium on executions, but
prison officials said they did not presently have the drugs to
carry out an execution anyhow. The bill now goes back to the
Assembly. /
Read more
May 2011
BOOKS:
"Clarence Darrow: Attorney
for the Damned"
Death Penalty Information Center
05-31-11 --
A
new biography of Clarence Darrow by John A. Farrell chronicles
the life of this famous American lawyer, known for his eloquence
in defending unpopular clients and in securing reprieves for
those condemned to death. He won life sentences for Nathan
Leopold and Richard Loeb, whose crimes of kidnapping and murder
had garnered national attention. He often spoke publicly about
his opposition to capital punishment. Darrow had many famous
clients during his career, including union leader Eugene Debs in
the Pullman strike case, and John Scopes in the famous "Monkey
Trial" regarding the teaching of evolution, where he argued
against Willam Jennings Bryan. /
Read more
Executions
Update on Lethal Injection
Issue
Death Penalty Information Center
05-26-11 --
In a clear national trend, seven states (Alabama, Arizona,
Mississippi, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, and South Carolina) have
used pentobarbital instead of sodium thiopental in their
executions in 2011. The most recent such execution was that of
Donald Beaty in Arizona on May 25, following a temporary stay as
the state made a sudden switch to the new drug. Ohio is the
only one of the seven states to use pentobarbital as the sole
drug in its lethal-injection process. At least five states
(Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and South Carolina) that
acquired sodium thiopental through an overseas source have had
the drug seized by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. In
addition, Arizona was instructed by the DEA not to use its
foreign sodium thiopental just prior to the May 25 execution.
Arkansas and California also have supplies of sodium thiopental
originally obtained from a supplier in Great Britain. In
Nebraska, questions about its supply of sodium
thiopental--obtained from a company in India--has postponed the
execution of Carey Dean Moore. South Dakota's sodium thiopental
was also reportedly obtained from India. Other states like
Georgia, Louisiana, and Virginia have indicated they intend to
switch to pentobarbital in future executions. /
Read more
Arizona
Lethal Injection: Justice
Dept. Orders Arizona Not to Use Imported Drug, Staying Execution
Death Penalty Information Center
05-25-11 --
The Arizona Supreme Court stayed the execution of Donald Beaty
that was scheduled for May 25 after the state Department of
Corrections tried to make last-minute changes to the execution
protocol. On May 24 the U.S. Department of Justice told Arizona
not to use its supply of sodium thiopental because it had been
obtained illegally from a company in Great Britain. Arizona's
Attorney General filed notice with the Arizona Supreme Court
stating that, to "avoid questions about the legality" of the
drug, pentobarbital would be used in its place. The Court
issued the stay in order to give Beaty time to review the
changes to the execution procedure and scheduled a hearing for
May 25. In 2010, Arizona purchased sodium thiopental, the
anesthetic used in lethal injections, from Dream Pharma in
England. The drug was used in the executions of Jeffrey
Landrigan and Eric King, despite concerns about its legality.
After the Drug Enforcement Administration seized imported
supplies of the drug from five other states, lawyers for Mr.
Beaty contacted the Department of Justice asking why Arizona's
supply had not also been seized. Six other states have already
used pentobarbital in executions. Beaty's lawyer, Dale Baich,
said he had repeatedly inquired about the legality of Arizona's
drug: "I sent three letters to the DOJ and made calls to the DEA
that were not returned," said Baich. "The question of whether
Arizona legally imported the drug has now been answered."
UPDATE: The Arizona Supreme Court lifted the temporary stay of
execution, allowing it to go forward on the scheduled day,
barring a reprieve from a federal court. /
Read more
Connecticut
New Voices:
Mother of Murder Victim Urges Connecticut Legislators to Repeal
Death Penalty
Death Penalty Information Center
05-24-11 --
Victoria Coward, whose son Tyler was killed when he
was 18, recently petitioned Connecticut legislators to repeal
the death penalty. Speaking of her son’s killer, Coward said,
“In the beginning I was so mad, I did want him dead. Then I had
to think about it. You don’t want anyone killing your son. Just
get him off the street so he doesn’t do that to anybody else.
Killing Jose [her son's murderer] isn’t going to help me... What
would killing him [accomplish]? My son is still gone...” (Her
son's killer was spared the death penalty at trial.) Coward
suggested putting the money spent on prosecuting death penalty
cases toward resources that would help murder victims’
survivors. Coward, along with other murder victims’ family
members urged legislators to replace the death penalty with life
in prison without parole. She had to wait until 1 a.m. to
testify before the Judiciary Committee considering the bill.
The repeal bill, however, was put on hold and likely will not be
acted on this legislative session. /
Read more
Pennsylvania
Editorials:
Philadelphia Inquirer -- "Juries Know Better"
Death Penalty Information Center
05-23-11 --
A recent editorial in the Philadelphia Inquirer concludes the
public is ready to scrap the death penalty in Pennsylvania, even
if the legislature is not. According to the editorial, juries
opted for the death penalty in just 3% of first-degree murder
cases over the past four years: “Pennsylvania juries clearly
are more comfortable with the alternative sentence of life
without parole, which assures that first-degree murder convicts
will waste away behind bars.” The Inquirer cites several
different reasons for what they called a "sea change" in
attitudes toward capital punishment: “[M]oral qualms about
government-sanctioned executions come into play for many jurors.
There are also the widely documented instances of wrongful death
sentences later being overturned, and data that suggest the
penalty falls unfairly on poor and minority defendants who
cannot afford to mount an effective defense.” The editorial
concludes that replacing the death penalty with
life-without-parole sentences is the best choice: "New Jersey
abolished capital punishment in 2007; now Pennsylvania should
follow that example."/
Read more
STUDIES:
Jurors May Be Allowing
Intellectually Disabled Defendants to be Executed
Death Penalty Information Center
05-20-11 --
Although the U.S. Supreme Court has determined that the
intellectually disabiled (mentally retarded) are barred from the
death penalty, the decision of whether a defendant meets this
disability standard is not made by mental health experts but by
jurors and judges. A recent study published in Law & Psychology
Review found that jurors expect a much lower level of
intellectual functioning than mental health experts to arrive at
a finding of disability. Moreover, jurors are persuaded away
from a disability finding by statements that the defendant knew
his actions were wrong--even though such knowledge should not
disqualify someone from being intellectually disabled. The study
concluded that "jury pool members were less likely than
experienced mental health workers to see severe impairments in
functioning as evidence" of an intellectual disability. The
implication of these findings is that fact finders are likely to
fail to identify defendants with more moderate intellectual
disabilities, even when impairments clearly meet diagnostic
criteria used by mental heath professionals.
Read full study.
/
Read more
CALIFORNIA
New Voices:
Current and Former California Law Enforcement Officials Question
Future of Death Penalty
Death Penalty Information Center
05-19-11 --
Current and former law enforcement officials in California
recently discussed their views on the future of the death
penalty during a conference in San Francisco. Jeanne Woodford
(pictured left), former Warden of San Quentin prison, said that
the time has come to end executions in the United States: "I
have had the opportunity to view this issue from every point of
view. I absolutely am passionate about the position that it's
time to end the death penalty in the United States." She
recommended life in prison without possibility of parole as an
alternative to the death penalty, saying that it "is a real
sentence," but one that "gives inmates opportunity to change, to
work, to give back to state, and to make restitution to the
victims' families." George Gascon (pictured right), San
Francisco's District Attorney, said the death penalty "is an
imperfect tool." He cited the possibility of wrongful
convictions, the high costs of executions, and the lack of
closure for victims' families. /
Read more
BOOKS:
Former Wall St. Lawyer Now Focuses on Death Row Inmates
Death Penalty Information Center
05-18-11 --
Dale
Recinella formerly worked as an attorney on large financial
deals, including the building of a National Football League
stadium. He also supported the death penalty. But he now
focuses on the needs of death row inmates and other prisoners in
Florida. His new book, entitled “Now
I Walk on Death Row,”
tells of his career transition and the reversal in his views on
capital punishment. Although he attributes his changes to his
Catholic religious faith, he also came to see the practical
problems with the death penalty: "All the studies show that life
in prison without the possibility of parole is much cheaper than
getting to an execution. The difference is who the money goes
to. With life in prison, the money goes to corrections officers.
With the death penalty, the money goes to lawyers on both sides.
Correction officers' uniforms are much cheaper than Brooks
Brother suits," he said. As a volunteer chaplain, Recinella
ministers on death row three days a week and gives religious
education instruction at Union Correctional Institution in
Raiford, Florida.
Pennsylvania
Arbitrariness:
Pennsylvania's Death Penalty Mostly Means Life
Death Penalty Information Center
05-17-11 --
A recent Philadelphia Inquirer study revealed that the death
penalty is almost never handed down for homicides
in Pennsylvania, and that executions are even more unlikely.
From a compilation of 1,975 homicide cases dating from 2007 to
Feb. 3, 2011 provided by the Administrative Office of
Pennsylvania Courts, only 8 resulted in a death sentence.
Almost all cases ended with a sentence of life without parole,
with guilty pleas, acquittals or dismissal of charges. Of the
almost 2,000 cases from 56 counties, 639 were judged to be 1st
degree murders, eligible for the death penalty; 231 of those
ended with life sentences. Pennsylvania has not carried out an
execution since 1999, and has executed 3 people since the death
penalty was reinstated in 1978. All three waived their appeals.
Those on death row spend 23 hours a day in solitary confinement
in special units at 4 state prisons, some for as long as 27
years. Over half of the 222 cases in which the death sentence
was overturned were found to have ineffective representation.
/
Read more
PENNSYLVANIA
Castille reignites dispute over Pennsylvania death-penalty
appeals
By
Nathan Gorenstein, Philadelphia Inquirer Staff Writer
05-16-11 --
After reading the appeal from prison inmate Mark Spotz,
incarcerated on four murder convictions, an angry Chief Justice
Ronald D. Castille unleashed perhaps the most scathing language
ever from the Pennsylvania State Supreme Court. . . . His target
was not the killer; it was the highly specialized Capital Habeas
Unit, 35 mostly federally funded defense lawyers who handle
death-case appeals and whom Castille accused of legal
"sabotage." . . . Spotz's cases have been in court for more than
a decade. He was convicted in 1996 of four murders in four
counties over three days. In three of the four trials, he was
sentenced to death. Castille had before him a 100-page brief
filed by four habeas unit lawyers and crammed with 70 claims. It
appealed just one of Spotz's convictions. . . . So no matter the
outcome, Spotz would remain in jail on his other death
sentences.
MISSISSIPPI
State ready to execute 2nd man in 2 weeks
Execution planned Tuesday for
killer of 79-year-old woman
Written by Jimmie E. Gates, Clarion Ledger
05-15-11 --
By the end of this month, Mississippi could rival Texas and Ohio
with the most executions carried out in the first five months of
this year. . . . Mississippi is the only state with three
executions scheduled this month. . . . And Jan Schaeffer,
spokeswoman for the Mississippi attorney general's office, said
the state could have more later this year. . . . The first of
the three planned executions occurred last Tuesday, when Benny
Joe Stevens, 52, was put to death for murdering four people -
his ex-wife, her husband, her 10-year-old son and the son's
11-year-old friend - in 1998 in Marion County.
Sole Provider of New Drug for U.S. Executions Faces Ethical
Dilemma
Death Penalty Information Center
05-13-11 --
Lundbeck Inc., a Danish pharmaceutical company that is the sole
manufacturer of pentobarbital for sale in the U.S., is facing an
ethical dilemma regarding the use of its drug in executions.
Pentobarbital is increasingly being used in the U.S. in place of
sodium thiopental for lethal injections. Pentobarbital was most
recently used in executions in Texas, South Carolina, and
Mississippi. Andrew Schroll, a spokesman for Lundbeck, said that
the company has prided itself on making products that improve
people’s lives. Denmark and the entire European Union, as well
as Lundbeck, are officially opposed to the death penalty and
disagree with how this product is being used. Schroll said,
“This is a misuse of our product. We are in an ethical dilemma
where we are opposed to the use of our medication for capital
punishment while at the same time we want to make sure that
patients who benefit from our medication get access to it."
Lundbeck has sent letters to prisons in 11 states demanding that
they stop using pentobarbital in their lethal injection
protocols. No prison has responded, and even more states are
intending to use the drug, including Virginia, which recently
announced their switch. /
Read more
CALIFORNIA
New Voices: Former San Quentin Warden Now Dedicated to
Ending Death Penalty
Death Penalty Information Center
05-12-11 --
Jeanne Woodford the former director of the California Department
of Corrections and Rehabilitation and Warden of San Quentin
during 4 executions, recently became the Executive Director of
Death Penalty Focus, one of the largest nonprofit
advocacy organizations in the nation dedicated to repealing
capital punishment. During her years in corrections, Woodford
came to the conclusion that the death penalty was wasteful,
discriminatory and failed to make the public safer. She
recently spoke about her conflicts in presiding over
executions: "I never was in favor of the death penalty, but my
experience at San Quentin allowed me to see it from all points
of view. I had a duty to carry out, and I tried to do it with
professionalism. The death penalty serves no one. It doesn't
serve the victims. It doesn't serve prevention. It's truly all
about retribution." Woodford added, “There comes a time when you
have to ask if a penalty that is so permanent can be available
in such an imperfect system. The only guarantee against
executing the innocent is to do away with the death penalty.” /
Read more
NEW
RESOURCES:
Childhood Abuse May Have Lasting Behavioral Effects Similar to
Trauma from War
Death Penalty Information Center
05-11-11 --
Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, professor of psychiatry at Boston
University School of Medicine, recently discussed the impact of
violence on children, comparing its effects to problems faced by
soldiers returning from war. He noted, “For every soldier
returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with symptoms of depression
or PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder], there are around 10
children in the United States who are traumatized by exposure to
family violence, sexual abuse, neglect and assault, with
consequences comparable to those of adult exposure to war-zone
violence.” Many abused children, if not properly cared for, will
exhibit behavioral and psychological problems. Dr. Bessel
expressed concern that funding from such treatment might be
withdrawn: "Untreated, traumatized children become failing
adults who populate our jails and overwhelm our human services
agencies. Cutting the development of effective treatments will
produce many years of increasing costs and unquantifiable human
misery." /
Read more
|
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Throwing Darts at the Phone Book Hoping to Find a
Lawyer!
A
Victims-of-Law Associate |
LOUISIANA
Confederate Flag Outside Louisiana Courthouse Evokes Claims of
Bias
Death Penalty Information Center
05-10-11 --
A black defendant facing execution in Louisiana for the killing
of a white firefighter is challenging the fairness of his trial
because a Confederate flag was flying outside the Caddo Parish
courthouse in Shreveport, Louisiana, during the proceedings.
Felton Dorsey’s legal team recently argued before the Louisiana
Supreme Court that the presence of the flag had an impact on
jury selection and on Dorsey’s conviction. Carl Staples, a
prospective black juror, was struck from the case by prosecutors
after he complained about the Confederate flag. Staples told the
court that the flag "is a symbol of one of the most…heinous
crimes ever committed.” He explained, "When I was screened for
the jury, it welled up inside of me and I expressed my
feelings." The flag has flown in front of the courthouse since
1951. Dorsey has maintained his innocence and also argued
prosecutors used unreliable accomplice testimony and improperly
removed most of the prospective black jurors from the case. He
was convicted by a jury that consisted of 11 white individuals
and one African American. /
Read more
TEXAS
Second Death Penalty Fight
Begins in Banks Case
by
Brandi Grissom, Texas Tribune
05-10-11 --
Delma Banks Jr. sat attentively in his yellow jumpsuit in the
courtroom inside the Bi-State Justice Building on Monday as
lawyers and experts debated how to make his second face-off with
the death penalty a fairer fight than his first. . . . Thirty
years after Banks was first sent to death row, his hair is gray
and his face is rounder than when he first sat before a jury as
a 21-year-old. Across the courtroom sat prosecutor James
Elliott, his long-time antagonist, now white-haired after three
decades of fighting to keep Banks on death row. At 52, Banks is
facing the same Bowie County district's attorney office that
sent him to death row in 1980 for the shooting death of
16-year-old Richard Whitehead. The same office that the U.S.
Supreme Court ruled in 2004 committed misconduct when it tried
Banks, suppressing evidence and intentionally hiding its
mistakes. Banks’ sentence was overturned, and now he and
Elliott, one of the original prosecutors, are once again in the
same courtroom fighting for their own versions of justice.
OHIO
New Voices: Conservatives in Ohio Petition Parole Board
to Spare Man's Life
Death Penalty Information Center
05-09-11 --
A number of prominent
conservatives in Ohio are lending their voices in support of
clemency for Shawn Hawkins (pictured), who is facing execution
on June 14. Republicans Ken Blackwell, a former Secretary of
State and 2006 gubernatorial candidate, former Attorney General
Jim Petro, and state Sen. Bill Seitz have all written letters to
Gov. John Kasich or to the Parole Board on behalf of Hawkins.
Blackwell wrote, "I have been a public advocate for the death
penalty and remain so today. Furthermore, in the 30-plus years
of my public life, I have only written two letters requesting
clemency for an individual. I have reviewed the facts and
circumstances of this case with a number of sources. Shawn
Hawkins does not deserve to die. . . I urge you to spare him
from the death penalty." Sen. Seitz added, "[T]here is no reason
to end Mr. Hawkins' life on something so utterly flimsy as
mishandled and inconclusive fingerprints and the testimony of a
witness with every motive to lie. . ." The sentence of life
without the possibility of parole was not an option in 1989 when
Hawkins was sentenced. The chief witness against Hawkins, Henry
Brown, was also charged with murder and robbery as a
co-conspirator in the same crime, but was given immunity in
exchange for testimony against Hawkins. Brown changed his
statement at least five times and failed two lie-detector tests.
/
Read more
NEW
RESOURCES:
DPIC Podcast Addresses Women and the Death Penalt
Death Penalty Information Center
05-06-11 --
The latest edition of the Death Penalty Information Center's
series of podcasts, DPIC on the Issues, is now available. This
podcast addresses Women and the Death Penalty, including a short
history of women executed in America, the possibility of gender
bias, and differences between women and men in support of the
death penalty. Generally, this series of podcasts offers brief,
informative discussions of key death penalty issues. Other
recent
episodes include discussions on Mental Illness and
Lethal Injection. Click here to listen to DPIC's latest
podcast. You can also subscribe through
iTunes to receive automatic updates when new episodes
are posted and receive access to all previous episodes. Other
audio and video resources, along with all of DPIC's podcasts,
can be found on our
Multimedia page. /
Read more
CALIFORNIA
New Voices:
California Distict Attorney Expresses Serious Misgivings about
State's Death Penalty
Death Penalty Information Center
05-05-11 --
George Gascon, San Francisco's District Attorney and a former
chief of police, recently discussed his concerns about
California's death penalty. He wrote, "Despite saying that I
wouldn't rule out the death penalty as district attorney, I want
to make clear that I have serious misgivings concerning the
potential for wrongful convictions and the disproportionate
impact of the application of the death penalty on racial
minorities. Moreover, victims' families are subjected to an
emotional roller coaster as they wait decades for justice and
closure. I am also concerned about the increasing financial
impact that death penalty prosecutions have on our already
overburdened criminal justice system." Gascon particularly
pointed to the problem of mistake: "Given the irreversibility of
the death penalty, the possibility of a wrongful conviction can
never be overstated." Read his full op-ed below. /
Read more
CALIFORNIA
California backs off on plan
to resume executions this year
San Quentin State Prison's new
warden wants to recruit a new execution team, prompting the
corrections department to say more time will be needed before a
federal judge can review revised lethal injection procedures.
By
Carol J. Williams, Los Angeles Times
05-04-11 --
California officials have backed off a drive to resume
executions this year, asking a federal judge to delay until at
least January his review of revised lethal injection procedures.
. . . The delay means that the state will have gone at least six
years without executing any condemned prisoners, who now number
713. . . . The California Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation requested more time because San Quentin State
Prison's new warden, Michael Martel, wants to recruit a new
execution team to replace the one that was assembled and trained
last year, according to court documents. . . . U.S. District
Judge Jeremy Fogel expressed frustration that the state has
taken so long to fix lethal injection procedures, which he
concluded might have subjected inmates to intense pain in
violation of the Constitution's prohibition of cruel and unusual
punishment. He made that ruling in December 2006 after putting
executions on hold 10 months earlier.
TEXAS
The New Yorker Looks at the
Decline in Texas Death Sentences
Death Penalty Information Center
05-03-11 --
In the May 9 issue of The New Yorker, Jeffrey Toobin examines
the drop in death sentences in Texas and focuses particularly on
the mitigation work being done by the Gulf Region Advocacy
Center (GRACE) in Houston, headed by Danalynn Recer. Toobin
cites a number of possible reasons for the drop in death
sentences in Texas, including "the increasing use of mitigation,
a strategy that aims to tell the defendant’s life story." The
article provides a number of examples where Recer's organization
presented evidence from a defendant's background, such as
childhood abuse or brain damage, and convinced a jury to choose
a life sentence over the death penalty, even for the murder of a
police officer. Recer summed up her work, "The idea was to
improve the way capital trials were done in Texas, to start an
office that would bring the best practices from other places and
put them to work here....It is possible to persuade a jury to
value someone's life." /
Read more
ALABAMA
Editorials:
Birmingham News Calls for Moratorium on Alabama's Death Penalty
Death Penalty Information Center
05-02-11 --
A recent editorial in the Birmingham News called on Alabama
lawmakers to pass legislation that would require a three-year
moratorium on imposing death sentences and carrying out
executions, giving the state time to address flaws in the death
penalty system. The editorial outlined five reasons why
legislators with various positions should be united in such an
effort. The paper stated: . . . - Lawmakers who are pro-life
should be concerned Alabama is among the nation's most gung-ho
and careless states in putting people to death. . . . -
Lawmakers who are fiscally conservative should be concerned that
studies in other states have shown it's much less expensive to
lock up killers for life than to put them to death. A newspaper
report found Florida could save a whopping $51 million a year by
sentencing killers to life without parole rather than death.. .
. - Lawmakers who are troubled by racial disparities should be
concerned the color of a defendant's or victim's skin plays a
role in who gets executed. /
Read more
|
SAVE AT AMERICAN
GREETINGS
A
Victims-of-Law Associate |
April
2011
NEVADA
Growing Death Penalty
Caseload for One Nevada County Causing Cost Concerns
Death Penalty Information Center
04-29-11 --
Clark County, Nevada, has more pending death penalty cases per
capita than any other urban county in the country. According to
a review by Nevada Attorneys for Criminal Justice (NACJ), Clark
County (Las Vegas) currently has 80 trials in which prosecutors
are seeking the death penalty. By comparison, Maricopa County
in Arizona has the most pending death cases (130), but it has
twice the population of Clark County. Los Angeles County,
California, has 33 pending death penalty cases, with 5 times
Clark's population. Recently, the cost of the death penalty has
become a concern for state legislators. Assemblyman Tick
Segerblom is promoting a legislative study on the costs of
capital cases in Nevada. He said, "At this point it's a
financial issue. David Roger is over budget, and yet he has 80
death penalty cases pending. Washoe County only has one. Why is
he wasting our money pursuing the death penalty when there is no
money and it's virtually impossible to actually put someone to
death?" Other studies estimate that death penalty trials cost $1
million more than trials in which the prosecutors seek life
without parole. "The cost of killing killers is killing us,"
said Paola Armeni, president of NACJ. /
Read more
NEW
RESOURCES:
Most Recent Death Row USA
Report Now Available
Death Penalty Information Center
04-28-11 --
The latest edition of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund's "Death
Row USA" shows
that the number of people on the death row in the United States
is continuing to slowly decline, falling to 3,260 as of April 1,
2010. In 2000, there were 3,682 inmates on death row.
Nationally, the racial composition of those on death row is 44%
white, 41% black, and 12% Latino/Latina. California continues to
have the largest death row population (702), followed by Florida
(398) and Texas (333). Pennsylvania (222) and Alabama (204)
complete the list of the states with the five largest death rows
in the country. Of those jurisdictions with more than 10 inmates
on death row, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, and Texas have the
largest percentage of minorities on death row--each has 69%.
PENNSYLVANIA
U.S. Court of Appeals Again
Reverses Mumia Abu-Jamal's Death Sentence
Death Penalty Information Center
04-27-11 --
On April 26, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
overturned the death sentence of Mumia Abu-Jamal, a Pennsylvania
inmate who was convicted of killing a Philadelphia police
officer 30 years ago in 1981. In 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court
vacated a previous grant of sentencing relief handed down by the
same court in order to allow consideration of a recently decided
Supreme Court case with related facts (Smith v. Spisak). Both
cases involved the question of whether the jury was incorrectly
instructed on evaluating mitigating factors in determining the
proper sentence. The Court of Appeals considered the Spisak
ruling, but found the jury instructions to be sufficiently
different from those in Abu-Jamal's case. Judge Anthony Scirica,
writing for the Third Circuit panel, held that the jury
instructions at Abu-Jamal's trial in 1982 violated Mills v.
Maryland, which said that findings on mitigating factors do not
have to be unanimous. Judge Scirica wrote, "We conclude the
verdict form and jury instructions in this case likewise created
a substantial probability the jury believed it was precluded
from finding a mitigating circumstance that had not been
unanimously agreed upon." /
Read more
D.A. to appeal court ruling
for Abu-Jamal resentencing
By
Michael Hinkelman, Philadelphia Daily News
04-27-11 --
After speaking with the widow of slain police officer Daniel
Faulkner, District Attorney Seth Williams said he would appeal a
ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals here yesterday awarding
convicted cop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal a new sentencing hearing. .
. . Williams will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the
appeals court's decision and reinstate Abu-Jamal's death
sentence. The D.A. said Maureen Faulkner was "devastated" by the
ruling. . . . Abu-Jamal, 57, was convicted in 1982 of
first-degree murder in Faulkner's slaying and was sentenced to
death. . . . Yesterday's ruling was the result of a U.S. Supreme
Court decision last year that ordered the appeals court to
review its 2008 ruling that ordered a new sentencing hearing for
the former Black Panther. Both yesterday and in 2008, the
appeals court ruled that Abu-Jamal's murder conviction should
stand but called for a new sentencing hearing because
death-penalty jury instructions were misleading.
STATE
INFORMATION PAGES
New Resources:
DPIC State Information Pages
Death Penalty Information Center
04-26-11 --
DPIC is pleased to announce the launch of its latest resource,
State Information Pages,
providing historical and current information on the death
penalty for each state. This resource is a work-in-progress, but
we are happy to present the first 15 state pages. Our original
state-by-state database
is still the best place to look for frequently-updated
information such as execution totals and murder rates. The new
pages are designed as a source of information on each state's
unique history related to the death penalty, including famous
capital cases, past legislative actions, and other interesting
facts. Each state page includes a picture representing a unique
quality of the state. The pages also provide links to relevant
websites, such as state legislatures, groups doing death penalty
work, and Departments of Corrections. Much of the information
for these pages has been provided by individuals and
organizations working on the death penalty in each state and we
welcome further input. Thanks to those who helped make this new
resource possible. /
Read more
STATES
INFORMATION
New Voices:
Law Enforcement Officials Say
Death Penalty Does Not Make Them Safer
Death Penalty Information Center
04-25-11 --
A recent article by Terrence P. Dwyer, retired New York State
Police Investigator, and George F. Kain, a police commissioner
in Ridgefield, Connecticut, dismissed the notion that the death
penalty is needed to protect law enforcement officers. Dwyer and
Kain wrote that a majority of police chiefs believe that the
death penalty does not deter violent crime and rank the death
penalty last in a list of effective tools for fighting crime.
"In states like New York, which abolished its death penalty in
2004, or North Carolina, where there has been a de facto
moratorium since 2006, the numbers indicate no statistical
increase in police officer homicides after the death penalty was
repealed or rendered moot through moratorium," the authors
wrote. They also encouraged lawmakers to weigh the substantial
costs of the death penalty in their decision-making. They
stated, "The Connecticut death penalty costs $4 million
annually, according to a 2009 estimate by the General Assembly's
non-partisan Office of Fiscal Analysis. While capital cases in
Connecticut account for just .06 % of cases in the Public
Defender's office, the cost to defend these cases was nearly
$3.5 million, over 7 % of the office's entire budget." /
Read more
CALIFORNIA
Federal judge overturns
31-year-old Santa Clara County death sentence
By
Howard Mintz San Jose Mercury News
04-25-11 --
Three decades after being sentenced to death for a San Jose
liquor store murder, Marvin Pete Walker Jr. may have gotten his
ticket off death row and perhaps out of San Quentin altogether.
. . . In a recent ruling, an Oakland federal judge set aside
Walker's 1980 murder conviction and death sentence, concluding
that he had been improperly shackled in front of the jury
throughout his trial, tainting the verdict and violating legal
precedent barring the shackling of defendants without
exceptional circumstances. The ruling means that one of San
Quentin's longest-serving death row inmates could be spared
execution or even freed.
NORTH
CAROLINA
Studies:
New Report Cites Multiple
Problems with North Carolina's Death Penalty
Death Penalty Information Center
04-22-11 --
According to a comprehensive review of studies on the death
penalty by Matthew Robinson, Professor of Government and Justice
Studies at Appalachian State University, the death penalty in
North Carolina is expensive, racially biased and ineffective.
Prof. Robinson analyzed data from more than 20 death penalty
studies and found them to be remarkably consistent in their
conclusions. He said, "In the past six years, three states have
abolished the death penalty: Illinois, New Mexico and New
Jersey. They did it for the same reason. They found racial
bias, they found it to be costly, they found it to be
ineffective and a threat to innocent people." According to
Robinson's review, use of the death penalty in North Carolina
has been in decline since 2000. The state has not had an
execution since 2006. He found no evidence that the death
penalty deters crime, noting that the state's murder rate has
declined since executions stopped in 2006. He also found
evidence of racial bias in the state's death penalty system.
Nearly 80% of death sentences imposed in North Carolina have
been in cases where the victim was white, far higher than the
percentage of whites who are generally victims of murder. /
Read more
TEXAS
Studies:
Texas Forensic Science Panel
Calls for Changes but Says Nothing About Possible Wrongful
Execution
Death Penalty Information Center
04-21-11 --
On April 15, the Texas
Forensic Science Commission recommended more education and
training for fire investigators following its review of the
controversial case of Cameron Todd Willingham (pictured), who
was executed in 2004 for setting the fire that killed his three
daughters. The Commission made 16 recommendations for
investigators, lawyers and lawmakers. It did not, however,
decide whether arson investigators in Willingham’s case were
negligent or guilty of professional misconduct, and was not
empowered to decide whether Willingham was likely innocent of
the crime. The panel recommended establishing a code of ethics
for investigators and procedures for involving the state fire
marshal's office in fatal home fires. Another recommendation
urged the fire marshal to adhere to standards established by the
National Fire Protection Association and to become a model for
local fire investigators in Texas. Willingham maintained his
innocence until his execution, claiming that the fire could have
been accidentally started by his two-year-old daughter who died
in the fire. Since the original 1991 investigation, several
arson experts have reviewed the evidence in the case and
concluded that the fire was of undetermined cause or accidental,
but likely not arson. /
Read more
IN MEMORIAM: Marie
Deans, A Life of Commitment to Justice and Founder of Murder
Victims' Families for Reconciliation
Death Penalty Information Center
04-20-11 --
On April 15, 2011, Marie McFadden Deans died in Charlottesville,
Virginia. For three decades, Deans sought justice for death row
inmates who had no other recourse and who had been poorly
represented. Professor Todd Peppers of Roanoke College wrote in
an op-ed about her life that she brought "basic conditions of
decency to the men who inhabited Virginia’s death row,...
refin[ed] the use of mitigation evidence in death penalty
trials, [and] struggl[ed] to exonerate factually innocent men."
Deans's commitment to repealing the death penalty was sparked
after the murder of her mother-in-law, Penny Deans, by an
escaped convict. Marie founded Murder Victims’ Families for
Reconciliation, an organization, designed to give those who
opposed the death penalty “a safe place from which they could
speak out.” She was a self-taught mitigation expert, and,
largely because of her efforts, only two of the 200 men that she
helped defend during their sentencing hearings were ultimately
given the death penalty. Perhaps her greatest triumph was the
exoneration of Virginia death row inmate Earl Washington, Jr., a
man with intellectual disabilities, whose false confession was
the product of police coercion and manipulation. Washington was
awarded almost $2 million dollars in damages "for the
imprisonment that resulted from the fabrication of evidence
against him and would become one of the compelling stories cited
in the steady rise of death row exonerations across the
country." /
Read more
STATES
INFORMATION
States Engage in "Swap Club"
to Obtain Lethal Injection Drugs
Death Penalty Information Center
04-19-11 --
In what was described in the New York Times as a "legally
quesionable swap club," states searching for a scarce execution
drug have gone to great lengths to obtain sodium thiopental for
carrying out their death sentences. In Arkansas, a deputy
director of the Department of Corrections revealed that states
often shared their supply of sodium thiopental with each other.
Wendy Kelly, who has personally traveled to obtain drugs from
other states, said, “I went wherever they had them. As best as
I’m aware, the agreement my director had with other directors,
any time there was an exchange, was that there would be a
payback when needed.” Arkansas gave the drug to Mississippi,
Oklahoma and Tennessee free of charge, and obtained the drug
from Texas. Last September, Arizona ordered a shipment of
lethal injection drugs from overseas and worked closely with
U.S. Customs and the Food and Drug Administration to prevent the
shipment from being delayed at the border. The shipments were
labeled as being for veterinary use, perhaps to avoid tighter
scrutiny. /
Read more
INTERNATIONAL
New Resources:
New Database for International Death Penalty
Death Penalty Information Center
04-18-11 --
Northwestern University School of Law, in conjunction with the
World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, has compiled a new
resource on the use of the death penalty in every country around
the world. This searchable database,
www.deathpenaltyworldwide.org,
contains information on each country’s death penalty status,
methods of execution, number of executions, and crimes
punishable by the death penalty. The database also includes
demographic information on each country, relevant treaties
signed, and contacts for more information. All of the materials
are carefully referenced. The database allows searches by
geographical regions and is part of Death Penalty Worldwide's
website, which features a blog and other resources. /
Read more
TEXAS
Psychologist’s Reprimand
Gives Hope to Counsel for Death Row Inmates
By
Molly McDonough, ABA Journal
04-15-11 --
In a closely watched case, lawyers for death row inmates who
were cleared for trial by a Texas psychologist reprimanded for
his methods are hopeful their clients will avoid lethal
injection. . . . The Texas State Board of Examiners of
Psychologists has reprimanded Dr. George Denkowski, whose
intellectual competency testing methods have been criticized as
unscientific, the
New York Times
reports. . . . Denkowski, who examined 14 inmates who are now on
Texas’ Death Row and two others who were subsequently executed,
agreed on Thursday never to perform his intellectual disability
evaluations again. He also agreed to pay a $5,500 fine in
exchange for the board dismissing complaints about him.
PENNSYLVANIA
Inquirer Editorial: Can't
call it justice
Philadelphia Inquirer
04-14-11 --
Maybe the recession will turn out to be a lifesaver for inmates
facing the death penalty in Pennsylvania. . . . With the fiscal
crisis gripping Harrisburg - and the expected spillover effect
on Philadelphia's budget - the vastly expensive
capital-punishment apparatus makes no sense from a
dollars-and-cents perspective. That's to say nothing of the fact
that executions are barbaric and have resulted in innocent
people's being put to death. . . . On the ledger side of things,
there's the initial cost of prosecuting capital cases - which
require two-part trials and drain substantial public resources.
Then there's the cost of housing hundreds of inmates on death
row for years while seemingly endless and costly legal
challenges occur.
FEDERAL
DEATH PENALTY
COSTS:
Federal Government Spending Millions Pursuing Death Penalty for
Inmate with Life Sentence
Death Penalty Information Center
04-14-11 --
An expensive federal death penalty trial under way in New York
illustrates many of the concerns about such prosecutions. New
York is a state that no longer has its own death penalty.
Nevertheless, the federal government is seeking a death sentence
for Vincent Basciano, who is already serving life without
parole. Because the death penalty is being sought, the case has
already costs millions of dollars and the final bill will likely
be $10 million or more. Moreover, the chief witness against
Basciano is another mob figure, Joseph Massino, himself guilty
of at least seven murders but who escaped the death penalty
because of his cooperation with the government. Jim Dwyer,
columnist for the New York Times, pointed out, "Before one
syllable was heard from the first witness, the judge had
approved payments for Mr. Basciano’s defense approaching $4
million; it is likely that similar costs could be attributed to
the team of prosecutors. Now that testimony has begun, his
publicly paid defense lawyers, plus investigators, were in court
on Tuesday; so were four assistant United States attorneys,
along with two F.B.I. agents. In addition to the legal costs,
there are administrative expenses in running a trial: 1,000
potential jurors were screened for the case; federal marshals
are protecting the turncoat mob boss under tight security; and
the jurors hearing the case are anonymous and are being provided
with protection and escorts to their homes." In 2010, the judge
overseeing Basciano’s trial asked U.S. Attorney General Eric
Holder to reconsider seeking the death penalty, given the costs
and the fact that the defendant would never be released. /
Read more
CONNECTICUT
Key Connecticut Committee
Approves Death Penalty Repeal Bill
Death Penalty Information Center
04-13-11 --
On April 12, the Connecticut legislature's Judiciary Committee
approved (26-17) a bill to repeal the death penalty for future
crimes and replace the sentence with life without parole.
Supporters of the bill said it would avoid the risk of wrongful
executions and save taxpayers the costs of lengthy trials and
appeals. Both supporters and opponents of capital punishment
agreed that the state’s current system is not working. Sen. Eric
Coleman said the state’s justice system “is not infallible.” He
also noted that the state spends $3.4 million per year enforcing
the death penalty. Since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the
death penalty in 1976, there has only been one execution in
Connecticut, an inmate who waived his appeals and hastened his
execution. The bill now heads to the House of Representatives.
In March, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn signed a bill repealing the
death penalty in his state. Several other states have considered
bills to repeal the death penalty during their 2011 legislative
session, including Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Ohio,
Pennsylvania, and Texas. /
Read more
BOOKS:
"Queer (In)Justice: The
Criminalization of LGBT People in the United States"
Death Penalty Information Center
04-12-11 --
A new book, “Queer (In)Justice”
by Joey Mogul, Andrea Ritchie, and Kay Whitlock, explores the
experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in
America’s criminal justice system, and particularly their
interaction with the death penalty system. The authors assert
that prosecutors have used defendants' sexual orientation or
gender-nonconforming appearance to obtain capital convictions:
“In capital cases a prosecutor must successfully undertake what
should be a morally difficult, ethically complex task of
convincing a jury or judge to kill another human being. To
succeed, the prosecution must demonize, dehumanize and ‘other’
the defendant . . . the process of dehumanization required to
obtain a death sentence is easier when the defendant is of a
different race, class, sexual orientation and/or gender identity
than the jurors or judge.” The authors also underscore the risk
of juror bias, “Queer people . . . are also tried before juries
comprised primarily of heterosexual, gender-conforming people,
whose members often have beliefs that LGBT people are deviant
and immoral... [P]rosecutors’ use of queer criminal archetypes
alone or in combination with others rooted in race and class
often has deadly consequences.” /
Read more
STUDIES:
Victims' Families React
Negatively to Serving as Basis for Death Penalty
Death Penalty Information Center
04-08-11 --
A recent study by Professors Thomas Mowen and Ryan Schroeder of
the University of Louisville found that public support for the
death penalty has shifted away from traditional justifications
(such as its purported deterrent effect, its imagined
cost-saving value, and its safeguard of innocent lives), and has
been replaced by rationales of retribution and closure on behalf
of victims’ families. According to the study, which was
published in Western Criminology Review, “with this change in
justification, emotional catharsis for the victims' family
members has become the goal of the capital punishment system.
This has resulted in the onus of capital punishment being placed
on the victim’s family.” The study found that this change of
justifications for the death penalty has produced a backlash
against it. In the two decades following the rise of
retribution and closure for victims as primary justification for
the death penalty, there has been a significant increase in
opposition to executions from families of victims.
The
report stated, “The growing covictim opposition to the execution
of the offenders in their individual cases highlights the
resistance of victims’ families to accepting the responsibility
for the state-sanctioned death of the offenders, specifically,
and to the notion that the court can provide closure, more
generally.” /
Read more
LETHAL
INJECTIONS:
Latest Foreign Supplier of
Drugs for U.S. Executions Refuses to Continue
Death Penalty Information Center
04-07-11 --
When the sole U.S. supplier of a drug used by all death penalty
states announced it was halting production earlier this year,
many states turned to sources overseas. In particular, Nebraska
obtained a large quantity of the drug--sodium thiopental--from a
company in Mumbai, India. Now that company has announced it
will no longer supply the drug for use in lethal injections. In
a statement released to the media, Kayem Pharmaceutical Pvt.
Ltd. said, "In view of the sensitivity involved with sale of our
thiopental sodium to various jails/prisons in USA and as alleged
to be used for the purpose of lethal injection, we voluntary
declare that we as Indian Pharma Dealer who cherish the Ethos of
Hinduism (A believer even in non-livings as the creation of God)
refrain ourselves in selling this drug where the purpose is
purely for Lethal Injection and its misuse." Earlier this year,
the sole U.S. manufacturer of the same drug, Hospira Inc.,
similarly announced that it wanted no part in supplying drugs
for executions. Nebraska death row inmate Carey Moore is
challenging the legality of the state’s purchase of the drug.
According to a motion filed with the Nebraska Supreme Court,
there is no evidence that Kayem Pharmaceutical is registered
with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) or is authorized
to deliver drugs to the U.S. There is also evidence that
Nebraska received a generic form of the drug, contrary to the
state's execution protocol. /
Read more
UNITED
STATES SUPREME COURT
Supreme Court Reinstates
Death Penalty in Calif. Case, Says Psychiatric Evidence
Introduced Too Late
By
Debra Cassens Weiss, ABA Journal
04-04-11 --
The U.S. Supreme Court has reinstated the death sentence for a
man convicted in a Los Angeles double murder, despite evidence
that his trial lawyer had failed to introduce evidence of his
psychological problems. . . . Justice Clarence Thomas wrote the
opinion
(PDF) reinstating the death sentence for Scott Lynn Pinholster,
convicted of killing two men who interrupted him while robbing a
drug dealer. The decision in Cullen v. Pinholster
overturns a ruling granting habeas relief by the San
Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. . . .
According to Thomas, the Antiterrorism and Effective Death
Penalty Act bars federal courts from considering new evidence
that was not presented to state courts considering an inmate's
claim on the merits. The new evidence in Pinholster's case
included the opinions of new psychiatric experts who concluded
the inmate suffers from partial epilepsy, brain injury and
organic personality syndrome.
NORTH
CAROLINA
STUDIES: North Carolina's
Death Penalty is Error-Prone and Rarely Applied
Death Penalty Information Center
04-04-11 --
A new study from North Carolina shows that the state’s death
penalty is error-prone and rarely implemented. A study of the
death penalty from 1977 to 2009 found that two out of three
death sentences were overturned on appeal, an error rate of 67%.
The study also found that only 20% of death sentences resulted
in an execution. The review of the state's death penalty was
made by Matthew Robinson, a professor of Government & Justice
Studies at Appalachian State University. He made a series of
conclusions based on his research: /
Read more
TEXAS
New Report--Animals Put to
Death with Greater Care Than Humans in Texas
Death Penalty Information Center
04-04-11 --
As Texas prepares to execute Cleve Foster on April 5, a new
report released by the ACLU of Texas and Northwestern
University's Center for International Human Rights reveals that
procedures for euthanizing animals in the state are more
carefully regulated than the protocol for executing death row
inmates. In March, Texas announced that it will continue to use
a risky three-drug protocol for executions, and will replace the
critical first drug, which is in short supply, with a new drug,
pentobarbital--all without an opportunity for public review.
According to the ACLU’s report, "Texas’ lax attitude regarding
the taking of human life contrasts sharply with its enactment of
detailed regulations to ensure that animals suffer no pain when
they are euthanized. Animal euthanasia laws provide strict
certification requirements for euthanasia technicians and
regulate acceptable methods of intravenous euthanasia down to
the correct dosage per kilogram of an animal’s body weight. By
contrast, the Texas legislature has failed to enact any
legislation to ensure that the individuals responsible for
extinguishing human life are properly trained and qualified, and
that the drugs they administer are both effective and humane.” /
Read more
March
2011
OHIO
New Voices:
Former Prison Director Urges Clemency for Condemned Ohio Inmate
Death Penalty Information Center
03-31-11 --
The former Director of Ohio Prisons, Terry Collins, recently
urged Gov. John Kasich to spare the life of Clarence Carter, who
is scheduled to be executed on April 12 for the murder of
another inmate. Carter killed the inmate during a jailhouse
fight in 1988. Collins, who had 30 years of experience working
with prisoners, discussed whether this crime merited the death
penalty, "It is much more likely that this was an inmate fight
that got tragically out of hand. Inmate-on-inmate violence in
lockups is often pursued to establish oneself as fearsome and to
deter others from threatening or attacking the inmate." He also
said there is no evidence that Carter planned to kill Allen
during the fight. Collins witnessed 33 executions during this
tenure, which included being head of the Department of
Rehabilitation and Correction. /
Read more
TEXAS
New Voices:
Prominent Texans Support Death Penalty Moratorium Legislation
Death Penalty Information Center
03-30-11 --
The Texas Criminal Jurisprudence Committee of the House of
Representatives heard testimony on March 29 regarding HB 1641, a
bill that would put a hold on executions while the death penalty
was being studied. Charles Terrell, former Chairman of the
state's Department of Criminal Justice, supported the moratorium
in a statement to the committee, expressing concerns about:
"fairness to those convicted on the limited testimony of
witnesses, racial fairness in some areas of our state, the
absence of DNA testing where it was possible to do so, and my
belief that a sentence of life without the possibility of parole
is far worse than a death sentence for young offenders." Former
Texas Gov. Mark White (pictured) also wrote a statement to the
Committee in favor of the bill, stating that "there are more
safeguards beyond careful gubernatorial review that the State of
Texas should put in place to decrease the likelihood of
executing an innocent individual and to increase fundamental
fairness in our capital punishment system." White also wrote
that "regardless of our views on the death penalty itself, we
all have profound concerns that the administration of capital
punishment is deeply flawed and believe that all persons facing
the death penalty are entitled to the fundamental rights
guaranteed by the Constitution." /
Read more
INTERNATIONAL:
Amnesty International Report
Finds Global Trend Away from Death Penalty
Death Penalty Information Center
03-29-11 --
A new report issued by
Amnesty International,
Death Sentences and
Executions 2010,
shows a global trend away from the use of the death penalty.
According to the report, only four countries in the G20
(representing the world's major economies) carried out
executions in 2010 (China, Japan, Saudi Arabia and the U.S.), 36
of the 53 African Union member states are abolitionist in law or
in practice, and only 21 of the 192 UN member states carried out
executions in 2010. The report stated, "At the end of 2010 the
global trend towards abolition of the death penalty could not
have been clearer. While in the mid-1990s 40 countries on
average were known to carry out executions each year, during the
first years of this century executions were reported in 30
countries on average. Most recently, 25 countries reportedly
executed prisoners in 2008 while 19 countries – the lowest
number ever recorded by Amnesty International – did so in
2009.... The number of countries that are abolitionist in law or
practice has substantially increased over the past decade,
rising from 108 in 2001 to 139 in recent years." /
Read more
CALIFORNIA
New Voices:
Former Los Angeles D.A. States "California's Death Penalty
Doesn't Serve Justice"
03-28-11 --
Gil Garcetti, the former district attorney of Los Angeles who
pursued numerous death sentences, recently said California's
death penalty is dysfunctional and the resources spent on it
should be diverted to more pressing needs. In an op-ed in the
Los Angeles Times, Garcetti said the death penalty causes
ongoing torment to family members and friends of murder
victims: "The living victims of a particular crime might think
that a death verdict provides closure, but for most, there was
no such closure." Garcetti said state funds spent on
implementing the death penalty can be better used elsewhere:
"California's death penalty does not and cannot function the way
its supporters want it to. It is also an incredibly costly
penalty, and the money would be far better spent keeping kids in
school, keeping teachers and counselors in their schools and
giving the juvenile justice system the resources it needs.
Spending our tax dollars on actually preventing crimes, instead
of pursuing death sentences after they've already been
committed, will assure us we will have fewer victims . . . ." /
Read more
CONNECTICUT
Connecticut Weighs
Legislation to Repeal Death Penalty
Death Penalty Information Center
03-25-11 --
Earlier in March, hearings were held in Connecticut before the
House Judiciary Committee on a bill to replace the death penalty
for future crimes with a sentence of life without parole. Many
religious leaders, scholars, former death row inmates, and
families of murder victims families testified in favor of the
bill. Catholic Bishop Peter Rosazza, retired auxiliary bishop of
the Archdiocese of Hartford, said, "The death penalty diminishes
us all. We cannot teach respect for life by taking a life."
Another witness, Barry Scheck of the Innocence Project, pointed
to needs that could be met from the money now spent on the death
penalty: “[I]t is a costly endeavor to sentence a person to
death, given the lengthy appeals process. . . .You spend more
money on the death penalty, you take away money from public
safety. … We could solve more rape cases, we could solve more
robberies … if we had more money to put into that instead of the
death penalty.” /
Read more
BOOKS:
The Death Penalty from an
International Perspective
Death Penalty Information Center
03-24-11 --
A recent book by Sanaz
Alasti, "Cruel and Unusual Punishment: Comparative Perspective
in International Conventions, the United States and Iran,"
explores the question of what constitutes cruel and unusual
punishment on an international level. The book reviews current
practices in both Iran and the United States, focusing on the
death penalty and the harshness of such practices as corporal
punishment, long terms of imprisonment, and inflexibile laws
mandating punishment. Punishments are particularly examined in
light of the universal declaration of human rights. Sanaz Alasti
is a Fellow at Harvard law school, and has written numerous
books and articles on various aspects of comparative criminal
justice and penology. /
Read more
WASHINGTON
Costs:
One Death Penalty Case Could Drain County's Budget in Washington
Death Penalty Information Center
03-23-11 --
As Yakima County, Washington, faces the possibility of its first
death penalty trial since 1989, the danger that the high cost of
a capital case could drain the county's budget is a deep
concern. Harold Delia, Yakima County court administrative
consultant questioned the wisdom of seeking the death penalty
against a defendant recently charged with murder, “You really
have to wonder whether this really makes sense when you look at
the cost-benefit analysis," he said. "In Yakima County, we have
no reserves left. If we overspend on a death penalty case, money
has to come from somewhere." Taxpayers may spend up to $1
million on the trial proceedings alone. In Yakima County, the
2005 slayings of a 21-year-old man and his 3-year-old daughter
cost more than $2 million in defense costs alone, much of it
incurred before the trial began, even though the death penalty
ended up being no more than a threat in the case. A study
commissioned by the Washington State Bar Association in 2006
estimated that a death penalty case can cost an additional
$800,000 when considering additional costs to the prosecution
and defense at the trial and the cost of appeals. /
Read more
UNITED
STATES SUPREME COURT
Supreme Court to Hear Case of
Man Facing Execution Because of Mailroom Mixup
Death Penalty Information Center
03-22-11 --
On March 21, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear an appeal
from death-row inmate Cory Maples who is facing execution
because of a missed filing deadline in his state appeal. Copies
of an Alabama court ruling in his case were sent to the New York
law firm handling his appeals pro bono but were returned
unopened to the court because the attorneys representing Maples
had left the firm. Maples himself was not informed of the
Alabama ruling or the fact that his attorneys had left. By the
time the mailroom mix-up was discovered, Maples’s time to appeal
had expired. Gregory Garre, Maples' new attorney, is arguing
that Maples should not be penalized for missing the deadline
because Maples was blameless, the government’s actions were a
contributing factor, and his lawyers had effectively stopped
representing him. The state maintains that Maples should be
denied a hearing because his case is no different from
“countless attorneys [who] have missed filing deadlines over the
years.” A third attorney, who was acting as local counsel in
Alabama but who played no part in Maples' actual representation,
did receive the Alabama ruling but ignored it. The case is
Maples v. Thomas, No. 10-63. /
Read more
ARIZONA
Trial Prosecutor Now Opposes
Death Sentence as Arizona Execution Approaches
Death Penalty Information Center
03-21-11 --
Daniel Cook is scheduled for execution on April 5 in Arizona,
despite the fact that the lead prosecutor at his 1988 capital
trial has said that he would not have sought the death penalty
if he had known more about Cook's traumatic background and
mental illness. At trial, Cook waived his right to counsel and
represented himself after learning his appointed lawyer was
suffering from bipolar disorder and was drinking heavily. The
judge denied Cook’s petition for a mental heath expert, and Cook
presented no mitigating evidence. Since his trial, it has been
revealed that Cook was subjected to severe and repeated abuse as
a young child by his family. He has also been diagnosed as
suffering from organic brain damage and post-traumatic stress
disorder. In a statement signed in 2010, Eric Larsen, the lead
prosecutor in Cook’s trial and now in private practice, revealed
that he would not have sought the death penalty if he had known
that Cook had suffered abuse that “mirrored the circumstances
surrounding the crime.” The prosecutor also noted that the
appointed lawyer was “at the low end of the competency scale for
the handling of the defense of a standard felony” and “appeared
neither capable nor willing to put forth the effort necessary to
represent a defendant charged with a capital offense.” /
Read more
ILLINOIS
New Voices:
Some Prosecutors and Judges
Welcome End of Death Penalty
Death Penalty Information Center
03-18-11 --
Following the repeal of the death penalty in Illinois, some
state prosecutors and judges have pointed to potential benefits
to the criminal justice system. Kane County State’s Attorney Joe
McMahon recently said that abolishing the death penalty meant
that murder trials in the county could come to a conclusion more
quicly. McMahon said, “To the extent that we can bring these
cases to resolution sooner, and help the families of the victims
get some measure of closure and allow the healing process to
begin sooner, [it] will be helpful.” Judge Keith Brown, chief
judge of the 16th Judicial Circuit, said that the lack of the
death penalty will ease some of the burden of allocating
additional resources to murder trials. Judge Brown noted that,
“prosecuting murders should become less time consuming and less
expensive, as the county and the state will no longer need to
pay additional attorney’s fees for defendants, pay to bring in
additional juries or pay staff and court costs for extended
trials.” /
Read more
ILLINOIS
Coerced Confessions, Justice
And The Death Penalty
Posted by Elijah Sweete, The Moderate Voice
03-18-11 --
On Wednesday former Chicago Police Lieutenant John Burge was
sentenced to four and a half years in federal prison for his
role in coercing confessions and lying about his involvement.
Yesterday, the day after Burge’s sentencing, one of the men he
had forced to confess was freed from an Illinois state
penitentiary after 22 years of incarceration. . . . Eric Caine
and co-defendant Aaron Patterson were convicted in 1989 in the
stabbing deaths of a Chicago couple. The convictions were based
solely on the confessions of the men. There was no DNA,
fingerprints or any other evidence linking them to the crime.
Patterson was sentenced to death, Caine to life in prison. Caine
avoided the death penalty by one vote on his jury. . . . During
his interrogation, Caine reports that he was told he would be
better off confessing than to face what would happen if he did
not. He was beaten by police severely enough to rupture an
eardrum and was threatened with a gun before breaking down and
telling Burge and his “Midnight Squad” what they wanted to hear.
TEXAS
Lethal Injection:
Texas Switches to New Drug as Next Execution Approaches
Death Penalty Information Center
03-17-11 --
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) announced on
March 16 that it will switch to pentobarbital as part of its
three-drug lethal injection protocol for the upcoming execution
of Cleve Foster on April 5. The short notice has drawn concerns
from Foster's defense attorneys and lethal injection experts.
Maurie Levin, a professor at the University of Texas who
represents Foster, said, “Prison officials are not medical
professionals. They cannot be trusted to change a medical
procedure in the dark of night without public scrutiny,
especially when there is such a minimal track record on the use
of pentobarbital in lethal injections." Prof. Deborah Denno of
Fordham Law School, one of the nation’s leading experts on the
lethal injection, said that the “Texas decision was not about
making executions more humane but was meant to make the process
more feasible.” She also pointed to the fact that the problems
with the earlier methods of lethal injection arose because one
state blindly followed another, without careful review: "This
lemming-effect has created a decades-long pattern of lethal
injection botches in which department of corrections try to
remain one step ahead of lawsuits." /
Read more
GEORGIA
Lethal Injection:
Federal Agency Seizes Georgia Execution Drug
Death Penalty Information Center
03-16-11 --
The federal Drug Enforcement Administration has seized Georgia's
foreign supply of sodium thiopental, saying it will hold the
drug while it investigates whether the Department of Corrections
imported the drug legally. In February, attorneys representing
Georgia death row inmate Andrew DeYoung sent a letter to
Attorney General Eric Holder alleging that Georgia had violated
the federal Controlled Substances Act "by failing to register as
an importer of the controlled substance" sodium thiopental.
Georgia reportedly obtained its supply of sodium thiopental from
a small pharmaceutical company, Dream Pharma, in Great Britain.
Five other states also acquired a supply of the drug in England.
/
Read more
ILLINOIS
New Voices:
"The Conservative Argument to
Abolish the Death Penalty"
Death Penalty Information Center
03-15-11 --
In a recent op-ed in the Chicago Tribune following Illinois's
abolition of the death penalty, author and attorney Scott Turow
(pictured) outlined three major conservative reasons for
opposing capital punishment: it is a failed government program,
it is a waste of money, and it doesn't fit with the idea of
limited government. Turow served on former Governor George
Ryan's Commission on Capital Punishment, which found numerous
problems with the state's death penalty. In highlighting the
failures of the system, Turow said, "For conservatives who
believe government is too large, too inefficient and too
unwieldy to deliver health care, or even the mail for that
matter, it should come as no surprise that government efforts to
justly select those worthy of death has been a moral disaster."
On the issue of costs, he addressed the high cost of death
penalty trials and appeals and the lack of deterrent effect,
saying, "if the death penalty clearly served a practical purpose
like saving lives, these increased costs might be worth it. But
in Illinois we have experienced a steady decline in our murder
rate since Gov. Ryan first declared the moratorium on
executions." Turow closed by noting that some of our European
allies abolished the death penalty as a reaction to the horrors
of World War II. "The conservative-libertarian view that says
that the powers of government must be strictly limited supports
drawing a clear line prohibiting a democratic government from
ever lawfully killing any of the citizens from whom it draws
power. That way a regime that vanished its political enemies or
executed despised minorities would mark itself, whatever the
legal rigamorole, as an outlaw." /
Read more
NORTH
CAROLINA
N.C. Supreme Court to hear
arguments about death-penalty protocol
By
Winston-Salem Journal Staff
03-13-11 --
An administrative law judge was right to order North Carolina's
statewide elected officials to revise the protocol for the
execution of prisoners on death row, according to attorneys who
are preparing to make that case to the state Supreme Court on
Monday. . . . The state's top court is scheduled to hear oral
arguments in a case involving five death-row inmates that has
partly contributed to an unofficial moratorium on capital
punishment in North Carolina. A ruling in those inmates' favor
wouldn't overturn the death penalty or immediately force revised
protocols for carrying it out but would send the case to a lower
court for review. . . . The case essentially centers on whether
Administrative Law Judge Fred Morrison had sufficient
jurisdiction to order the Council of State, which consists of
North Carolina's 10 statewide elected officials, to revise the
protocol governing the death penalty.
OHIO
Lethal Injection:
Ohio Carries Out First Pentobarbital-Only Execution
Death Penalty Information Center
03-11-11 --
On March 10, the execution of Johnnie Baston (pictured) in Ohio
marked the first time any state carried out a death sentence
with a single dose of the barbituate pentobarbital. The use of
pentobarbital, more commonly employed in euthanizing animals,
raised concerns among some death penalty experts. Fordham
University law professor Deborah Denno warned, "Ohio is gambling
blindly in its rush to execute. There is no reason why Ohio
cannot take the time to devise a constitutionally acceptable
execution procedure in the way so many experts have
recommended." H. Lundbeck, the U.S. distributor of
pentobarbital, condemned the use of the drug in executions in a
statement: "It's against everything we stand for. We invent and
develop medicine with the aim of alleviating people's burden.
This is the direct opposite of that." /
Read more
ILLINOIS
Editorials:
Illinois Death Penalty Repeal Called a "Victory for Justice"
Death Penalty Information Center
03-10-11 --
An editorial in the Chicago Sun-Times applauded Illinois
Governor Pat Quinn for signing the bill abolishing the death
penalty. The editors wrote, "We’ve learned that the system makes
too many mistakes to entrust it with the ultimate power of
capital punishment. We’ve learned that legal safeguards can be
pushed aside when emotions are high after a heinous crime. We’ve
learned that political ambition sometimes blinds those in power
to the weaknesses of a case. We’ve learned that evidence can
disappear or be misrepresented, that witnesses seeking special
deals may lie, that juries may be swayed by emotion instead of
facts." For Gov. Quinn, the flaws in the system that can lead
to a wrongful execution played the most powerful role in his
decision. In a statement delivered immediately after the
signing, he said, “I have concluded that our system of imposing
the death penalty is inherently flawed. The evidence presented
to me by former prosecutors and judges with decades of
experience in the criminal justice system has convinced me that
it is impossible to devise a system that is consistent, that is
free of discrimination on the basis of race, geography or
economic circumstance, and that always gets it right.” He
continued, “Since our experience has shown that there is no way
to design a perfect death penalty system, free from the numerous
flaws that can lead to wrongful convictions or discriminatory
treatment, I have concluded that the proper course of action is
to abolish it. With our broken system, we cannot ensure justice
is achieved in every case.” /
Read more
GEORGIA
Judge orders DNA tests for
inmate facing death
Associated Press, Atlanta Journal Constitution
03-09-11--
A Georgia judge has ordered three DNA tests to be performed in
the case of a death row inmate facing execution for the 1978
slaying of an elderly woman in Savannah. . . . Chatham County
Superior Court Judge Michael Karpf on Monday ordered the DNA of
convicted killer Roy Blankenship to be compared with samples
from a fingernail scraping, a pubic hair and body fluid
recovered from the body of 78-year-old Sarah Mims Bowen.
ILLINOIS
Illinois Governor Signs Bill
Ending Death Penalty, Marking the Fewest States with Capital
Punishment Since 1978
Death Penalty Information Center
03-09-11 --
On March 9, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed into law a repeal
of the death penalty, replacing it with a sentence of life
without parole. The governor also commuted the death sentences
of the 15 people on the state's death row to life without
parole. The ban on capital punishment comes after an
eleven-year moratorium on executions declared by former
Republican Gov. George Ryan and makes Illinois the 16th state to
end the death penalty. It also marks the lowest number of states
with the death penalty in more than thirty years. The Illinois
repeal is an indication of a growing national trend toward
alternatives to the death penalty, and an increased focus on
murder victims' families and the prevention of crime. In light
of the current economic difficulties, the public has
increasingly recognized that resources used for the death
penalty could be diverted to higher budgetary priorities, such
as law enforcement and victims’ services. Many murder victims’
families were among the strongest supporters of the Illinois
repeal, and the high costs of the death penalty were influential
in its passage. The law requires that state funds used for the
death penalty be transferred to a fund for murder victims’
services and law enforcement. /
Read more
UNITED
STATES SUPREME COURT
DNA Evidence Bid Backed in
U.S. Supreme Court Ruling
By
Greg Stohr, Bloomberg
03-07-11 --
The U.S. Supreme Court
buttressed the ability of some convicted murderers to get access
to DNA evidence, ruling in favor of a Texas death row inmate who
says new testing of crime-scene material might exonerate him. .
. . The justices, voting 6-3, today said Henry W. Skinner,
convicted of the 1993 murders of his girlfriend and her two
adult sons, can press ahead with a lawsuit that seeks access to
evidence in his case. The justices had halted Skinner’s
execution while they considered his appeal. . . . The
decision
opens a new legal avenue for some convicted murderers, saying
they can use a federal law to seek DNA testing that might prove
their innocence. . . . The ruling doesn’t necessarily mean
Skinner will get access to the DNA evidence. Writing for the
majority, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said a lower court should
consider other arguments by Texas officials in the case. . . .
Justices Clarence Thomas, Anthony Kennedy and Samuel Alito
dissented. /
Skinner v. Switzer
pdf
FOREIGN
NATIONALS
New Voices:
Former Bush Official Urges Basic Review of Death Sentences Given
Foreign Nationals to Protect Americans Abroad
Death Penalty Information Center
03-04-11 --
A former State Department official in the Bush administration is
urging Congress to help the U.S. comply with a ruling from the
International Court of Justice (ICJ) regarding the Vienna
Convention on Consular Relations as a way of protecting U.S.
citizens traveling abroad. John Bellinger, who argued before
the ICJ, said in an op-ed in the Washington Post that "a key
provision [of the Vienna Convention] requires parties to the
treaty to promptly inform, upon arrest, nationals of other
parties to the treaty that they have a right to meet with a
consular official." But the U.S. failed to give such notice to
foreign nationals in the U.S. who faced the death penalty. In
2004, the ICJ at the Hague held that the U.S. was required to
review the convictions and sentences of 51 Mexicans on death row
in the U.S. whose rights under the treaty were not respected. A
year later, then-President George W. Bush ordered Texas courts
to carry out this review for those on its death row. Texas
challenged Bush’s order, and the U.S. Supreme Court agreed with
Texas, saying the president does not have the power to order
state courts to review criminal convictions. The op-ed noted
that the Vienna Convention is a two-way street and that U.S.
compliance with its provisions is essential to ensure that
Americans detained abroad receive the same treatment. Bellinger
wrote, “U.S. compliance with the Vienna Convention is vital.
[U.S.] lawmakers cannot expect other countries to comply with
their treaty obligations to us unless the United States observes
its treaty obligations to them.” Read full editorial below. /
Read more
LETHAL
INJECTION:
New Execution Drug Raises Its Own Concerns
Death Penalty Information Center
03-03-11 --
Some states are turning to the widely available-drug
pentobarbital for use in their lethal injections, instead of
sodium thiopental, which is in short supply in the U.S. But
some medical professionals have noted that, although the new
drug shares many similarities with sodium thiopental,
pentobarbital has rarely been used in humans. Dr. David Varlotta,
who sits on the board of the American Society of
Anesthesiologists, said that he has not used pentobarbital since
1986. Dr. Varlotta said, “If departments of corrections are
moving toward pentobarbital, they're moving away from the
expertise of anesthesiologists.” Recently, a spokesperson for
Lundbeck Inc., the sole U.S. manufacturer of pentobarbital, said
that using the drug for executions is not what the company
intended and "goes against everything we're in business to do.”
Lundbeck is based in Denmark, a country that strongly opposes
the death penalty. Last year, Oklahoma adopted pentobarbital as
a part of its three-drug protocol, replacing sodium thiopental.
Earlier this year, Ohio announced that it would use
pentobarbital alone in its one-drug protocol. Among death
penalty states, only South Carolina has said it is not looking
at alternatives to sodium thiopental. /
Read more
ILLINOIS
Editorials: Chicago Tribune Urges Governor to Sign Death
Penalty Repeal Bill
Death Penalty Information Center
03-02-11 --
A recent editorial in the Chicago Tribune urged Gov. Pat Quinn
to sign the bill to end the death penalty in Illinois. The
paper noted that former Gov. Bill Richardson signed a similar
bill in New Mexico, despite previously saying he supported the
death penalty when he came into office. Richardson said that
his mind was changed after studying the issue and seeing “too
many mistakes” and evidence that the punishment was applied
disproportionately to minorities. The Illinois bill would
divert state funds used for capital punishment to a fund for
murder victims’ services and law enforcement. The editorial
stated: "Illinois [has] sent at least 20 innocent men to death
row . . . .Taxpayers have spent more than $122 million in 10
years to send 15 new prisoners to death row, but the moratorium
remains in place because the system can't be trusted." Gov.
Quinn has until March 18 to take action on the bill. Read full
editorial below. /
Read more
STUDIES:
The Effect of Victim Impact Evidence in Capital Trials
Death Penalty Information Center
03-01-11 --
A study recently published in the journal Criminology meaured
the effects of victim impact evidence (VIE) on the likelihood of
the jury returning a death sentence. The study was conducted by
Professors Raymond Paternoster and Jerome Deise of the
University of Maryland. It involved 135 participants who
watched a video recording of an actual capital trial.
Seventy-three participants watched the full video, while the
remaining 62 participants watched a version with the victim
impact evidence (typically, statements about the value of the
victim and the effect his or her death has had on the rest of
the family) edited out. Among those who viewed the victim impact
evidence, 62.5% said they would impose a death sentence on the
offender, while only 17.5% of those who did not view this
evidence would have done the same. Among those who did not view
victim impact evidence, 44.4% said they would impose a sentence
of life without parole and another 38.1% would have voted for a
straight life sentence. The study concluded that, "those who
viewed victim impact testimony perceived significantly more harm
and suffering inflicted on the victim’s family, a greater
emotional loss inflicted on the family by the murder, and were
significantly less likely to think that the victim’s family was
coping well with the murder… those who viewed VIE and those who
actually imposed a death sentence were significantly more likely
to think that a sentence of death would help the victim’s family
find closure or help them recover from their loss.” /
Read more
February 2011
STUDIES:
Gender Bias in Death Sentencing
Death Penalty Information Center
02-28-11 --
A recent study by Professor Steven Shatz of the University of
San Francisco Law School and Naomi Shatz of the New York Civil
Liberties Union suggests that gender bias continues to exist in
the application of the death penalty, and that this bias has
roots in the historic notion of chivalry. In a review of 1,300
murder cases in California between 2003 and 2005, the authors
found gender disparities with respect to both defendants and
victims in the underlying crime. The study revealed that the
influence of gender-based values was particularly pronounced in
certain crimes: gang murders (few death sentences), rape murders
(many death sentences), and domestic violence murders (few death
sentences). The authors concluded: "The present study confirms
what earlier studies have shown: that the death penalty is
imposed on women relatively infrequently and that it is
disproportionately imposed for the killing of women. Thus, the
death penalty in California appears to be applied in accordance
with stereotypes about women’s innate abilities, their roles in
society, and their capacity for violence. Far from being gender
neutral, the California death penalty seems to allow prejudices
and stereotypes about violence and gender, chivalric values, to
determine who lives and who dies." /
Read more
UNITED
STATES SUPREME COURT
High Court Allows Dying Man’s
Shooter ID; Scalia Hits Majority’s ‘Active Imagination’
By
Debra Cassens Weiss, ABA Journal
02-28-11 --
Justice Antonin Scalia argued in dissent today that the Supreme
Court has left its confrontation clause jurisprudence “in a
shambles” by creating an expansive exception that allows
admission of pretrial statements by victims of violent crimes. .
. . Scalia is known for
a series of opinions
on the rights of defendants to confront witnesses at trial that
are based on his originalist view of the Constitution. Today,
Scalia and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg dissented in
Michigan v. Bryant,
a decision allowing admission of statements by a dying man who
told Detroit police that a man named “Rick” had shot him.
Ginsburg wrote separately. . . . Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote
the majority
opinion
(PDF), which held the statements were admissible because their
primary purpose was to aid the police in an emergency.
Therefore, the statements were not testimonial and their
admission at trial did not violate the confrontation clause, she
concluded. Justice Elena Kagan did not participate in the case.
GEORGIA
Georgia Accused of Illegal Actions in Securing Execution Drugs
Death Penalty Information Center
02-25-11 --
Attorneys representing Andrew DeYoung, a death row inmate in
Georgia, have accused the Georgia Department of Corrections (GDC)
of violating federal law by unlawfully importing an execution
drug from a small pharmaceutical distributor in London,
England--Dream Pharma Ltd. The allegations are outlined in a
letter delivered to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder on Feb. 24
and describe an attempt by the corrections agency to circumvent
the law to secure sodium thiopental from foreign sources in the
face of a national shortage of the drug. Records show that the
GDC is not registered with the Drug Enforcement Administration
as an importer and did not file a declaration when it imported
drugs from the distributor in July 2010. John Bentivoglio, a
partner with Skadden, Arps in Washington, D.C., and former U.S.
Associate Deputy Attorney General, wrote to Holder, calling for
an investigation: “The GDC’s actions call into question the
legality and integrity of the process the department uses to
administer lethal injections. . . . Given these potential
violations of federal law and the implications they raise with
respect to pending executions in Georgia, I respectfully urge
you to direct appropriate agencies within your department to
conduct a prompt and thorough investigation of these issues.” /
Read more
KENTUCKY
Lawyer seeks to stop Ky. from
using execution drug
By
Brett Barrouquere, Associated Press, San Francisco Chronicle
02-24-11 --
Kentucky appears to have violated a judge's order stopping all
executions and preventing the state from taking any action to
carry out a lethal injection by purchasing a key drug used in
the process, an attorney for several death row inmates said
Thursday. . . . Public defender David Barron wants to bar the
state from ever using the 18 grams of sodium thiopental the
state acquired this month. . . . Despite a national shortage of
sodium thiopental, Kentucky bought enough of the fast-acting
narcotic from a Georgia company to carry out three lethal
injections. The packaging indicated the drug was made by Sandoz
International GmbH, a European generics company, Kentucky
Justice and Public Safety Cabinet spokeswoman Jennifer Brislin
said. The packaging had an expiration date of May 2014.
TENNESSEE: LEGAL REPRESENTATION
Tennessee Inmate Faces Execution Because of Lawyer's Failures
Death Penalty Information Center
02-24-11 --
A forthcoming article in
the ABA Journal reveals the tragic admissions of failure by a
well-known defense lawyer that led to a death sentence and
potential execution of Abu-Ali Abdur'Rahman (pictured) in
Tennessee. Lionel Barrett, who represented Abdur'Rahman in
1987, now takes full responsibility for his lack of attention to
critical details and for having his client end up on death row.
Looking back on the case 24 years later, Barrett said, "It was
the perfect storm. Everything I could have done wrong, I did …
Abu-Ali is on death row because of me. I failed him." Barrett
was widely recognized as one of the best criminal defense
attorneys in Tennessee, but he was overworked and burned out,
and his financial troubles compelled him to accept more cases
than he could handle. A series of interoffice memos regarding
Abdur'Rahman's case reveals that Barrett was not adequately
prepared to try the case. He failed to file important motions
that would have granted him more time and resources to prepare
for the case, and by the time proceedings began, Barrett had not
talked to a single eyewitness, conducted any of his own
investigations or explored evidence of his client's mental
illness. He also never ordered testing on key pieces of
evidence, including a coat owned by the defendant that allegedly
had blood stains from the victims. It later turned out that the
stains were paint from Abdur'Rahman's work, and Barrett
unknowingly allowed this critical piece of exculpatory evidence
to become the most convincing evidence of guilt.
MULTIMEDIA:
New Film Explores Risk of Wrongful Convictions in Capital Cases
Death Penalty Information Center
02-23-11 --
Slick, a new short dramatic film directed and produced by
Michael Frediani, follows the story of a fictional Texas death
row inmate on the night of his execution. Garrett Lee Taylor,
the film's protagonist, faces execution for murder, despite
strong claims of innocence. The film is comprised of a series
of flashbacks revealing events on the night of the crime. The
flashbacks show how evidence seemed to place Taylor at the scene
of the crime and led investigators to wrongfully conclude he was
guilty of murder. The flashbacks also reveal the real killer.
"Slick" shows the fallibility of investigations and human
judgment, as well as the complicated nature of capital cases. /
Read more
MENTAL
ILLNESS:
Death Sentences Vacated for Two with Severe Mental Illness
Death Penalty Information Center
02-22-11 --
One death row inmate from Oregon and another from North Carolina
recently had their death sentences removed because of concerns
about their mental competency. In Oregon, Robert James
Acremant’s sentence was reduced to life without the possibility
of parole. Since 2003, prison psychiatrists have diagnosed him
as mentally ill, and Acremant said he hears voices and has a
transmitter in his head that allows others to control him. He
still has a death sentence from a case in California. Isaac
Stroud in North Carolina was removed from death row after a
judge ruled his mental condition kept him from assisting with
his own defense. With consent from the victim's family, District
Attorney Tracey Cline agreed to a life sentence for a 1995
murder conviction and an additional 30-year sentence for
kidnapping. Cline said, "It was apparent that he did suffer from
a mental health condition. The [victim’s] family, after so much
time, basically just wanted to be sure that Mr. Stroud was not
released from prison during his lifetime.” Stroud's attorney,
Marilyn Ozer, said, "Everyone looks at the system differently
than they did 20 years ago, so it makes sense to go back and
look at these cases." Stroud was not eligible for a sentence of
life without parole at the time of his conviction. /
Read more
STATES:
Thirteen States Seek Help from Justice Department for Lethal
Injection Drug
Death Penalty Information Center
02-21-11 --
In January, attorneys general from 13 states wrote a letter to
Attorney General Eric Holder asking for assistance from the U.S.
Department of Justice related to the recent shortage of sodium
thiopental for lethal injections in the U.S. The state
officials, including those in Alabama, Florida, and Tennessee,
asked for help in "identifying an appropriate source for sodium
thiopental or making supplies held by the Federal Government
available to the States." Earlier this year, the sole U.S.
manufacturer announced that it would no longer produce sodium
thiopental because of objections from Italy where the drug was
produced. Great Britain has also taken action to prevent further
exportation of this drug from suppliers (see picture) there to
U.S. states for use in lethal injections. The U.S. Food and
Drug Administration had previously allowed (without testing)
shipments of the drug from overseas to be forwarded to states
such as Arizona and California. /
Read more
(Picture of Dream Pharma in
London, foreign source for recent lethal injections performed in
U.S.)
NEW
RESOURCES:
Criminal Justice Coalition Releases "Smart on Crime" Report
Death Penalty Information Center
02-18-11 --
A diverse coalition of the nation’s leading criminal justice
reform organizations recently released
Smart on Crime: Recommendations for the Administration and
Congress. This analysis of the criminal justice system
and the accompanying set of recommendations for change is one of
the most comprehensive reports ever published addressing the
problems in this field. The Coalition of over 40 organizations
is coordinated by the Constitution Project and includes such
groups as the American Bar Association, the Innocence Project,
NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the Heritage Foundation, and Prison
Fellowship, though not every organization supported every
chapter of the report. With respect to the death penalty, the
report made a series of recommendations: See below:
Read more
TEXAS
Texas Faith Leaders Appeal to Governor for Clemency in Pending
Execution
Death Penalty Information Center
02-17-11 --
On February 16, over 90 prominent religious leaders from Texas
called on the Board of Pardons and Paroles and Governor Rick
Perry to grant clemency to Timothy Adams (pictured). Adams is an
army veteran with no criminal history prior to the day he killed
his son while planning his own suicide in 2002. Leaders from
nine denominations announced their support for clemency, saying
"We join the victim’s family in asking that you spare Mr. Adams
from death. You have an extraordinary opportunity to show mercy
to a family that has already suffered greatly and to uphold the
sacredness of human life." From the beginning, Adams accepted
responsibility for what his crime, and pleaded guilty in court.
During his eight years on death row, he has been a model
prisoner. Earlier this month, Adams's family (and hence the
family of the victim) petitioned the board to spare his life.
Three jurors have also come forward in support of clemency,
stating that information regarding Adams's upbringing, deep
devotion to religion, and mental state – which was not presented
during the trial – would have led them to sentence Adams to life
in prison instead of the death penalty. UPDATE: The Board of
Pardons and Paroles declined to recommend clemency for Adams.
See full text of letter below. /
Read more
NATIONWIDE
Anesthesiologists Raise Concerns About New Drug for Lethal
Injections
Death Penalty Information Center
02-16-11 --
A nationwide shortage of sodium thiopental, a key drug used in
executions around the country, has forced states to consider
alternative drugs for their lethal injections. Tennessee, where
86 inmates are facing execution and sodium thiopental is in
short supply, is considering using pentobarbital instead.
Oklahoma has already executed three inmates using the new drug
as part of a 3-drug protocol. The use of pentobarbital, however,
has drawn concerns from some anesthesiologists who said the drug
has not been used to put patients to sleep and has not been
tested for executions. Dr. David Varlotta, who is on the board
of directors of the American Society of Anesthesiologists, noted
that there are significant differences between the two drugs,
and said pentobarbital "is not used in a clinical setting for
clinical anesthesia." Dr. David Waisel, an anesthesiologist and
Harvard Medical School professor, said, "Sodium thiopental has
been used millions of times, for 90% of operations, for 30
years. Pentobarbital has almost never been used for induction of
anesthesia. If you look at the literature, there's one report
from the '40s, maybe 2. We're experimenting, and we're taking a
huge risk here just for the big desire to make sure we're
killing people." /
Read more
MONTANA
Montana Senate Votes to Repeal the Death Penalty
Death Penalty Information Center
02-15-11 --
On February 14, the Montana state Senate passed a bill that
would repeal the death penalty and replace it with a sentence of
life without parole. In a 26-24 vote, all of the Senate's
Democrats and four Republicans supported ending capital
punishment, marking the second straight legislative session for
such a vote. Senator David Wanzenried, who introduced the bill,
said that the death penalty is not a fair punishment, does not
bring closure for victims, or serve as a deterrent to murder. He
said the "current system can't be made fair and it can't be made
infallible." Other concerns cited by supporters of the repeal
bill were the high risks of wrongful convictions, the
punishment's disproportional use against racial minorities and
the poor, and the financial costs of implementing the
punishment. Republican Senator Ryan Zinke said, "Whether you are
or not with the moral issue, there is a practical issue of
spending money." The bill faces one more procedural Senate vote
and will then be passed on to the House. /
Read more
CONNECTICUT NEW VOICES:
Families of Victims Call for End to Death Penalty in Connecticut
Death Penalty Information Center
02-14-11 --
On February 9, more than two dozen families of murder victims
came to the Connecticut Capitol complex to urge lawmakers to
repeal the death penalty because of its negative impact on
families of murder victims. Seventy-six family members of murder
victims signed a letter urging lawmakers to end the death
penalty. Gail Canzano, whose brother-in-law was murdered in
1999, said, "The death penalty ensnares people in the criminal
justice system where mandatory appeals, constitutional
challenges and never-ending media attention result in notoriety
for the murderer and years of suffering and uncertainty for the
families left behind." Others cited the death penalty's
financial and emotional costs as a significant reason for
repeal. The letter to Connecticut lawmakers read, "The death
penalty is a false promise that goes unfulfilled. And as the
state hangs on to this broken system, it wastes millions of
dollars that could go toward much-needed victims' services."
The state legislature is considering a repeal bill, and a
judiciary committee hearing will be held in mid-March. /
Read more
OHIO NEW
VOICES:
Victim's Family Asks Ohio Board to Spare Inmate's Life
Death Penalty Information Center
02-11-11 --
The family of a man who was killed in Ohio recently petitioned
the parole board to commute the death sentence of the defendant
in the murder. Peter Mah, son of Chong Hoon Mah, who was killed
by Johnnie Baston (pictured) during a robbery in 1994, told the
Ohio Parole Board, "I was opposed to Mr. Baston receiving a
death sentence at the time of his trial… [and] my family and I
are opposed to Mr. Baston being executed." During the trial, the
family had filed affidavits saying that they preferred to see
Baston spend his entire life in prison, but that sentencing
option was not available at the time. The Board makes a
recommendation regarding clemency to the governor, who makes the
final decision. Baston's attorneys have compared his case to
that of Jeffrey Hill of Ohio, whose death sentence was commuted
to life without parole by former Governor Ted Strickland. In
Hill's case, the parole board cited the wishes of the victim's
family opposing execution. Baston's attorneys have also
presented evidence that he was abused as a child by his birth
family. /
Read more
MARYLAND
Editorials: Baltimore Sun--Death Penalty "Inherently
Inhumane"
Death Penalty Information Center
02-10-11 --
A recent editorial in the Baltimore Sun urged Gov. Martin
O'Malley to work toward repealing the death penalty in Maryland.
The paper suggested that changes in the composition of the state
Senate might make the General Assembly more receptive to ending
capital punishment. There have also been concerns raised about
lethal injections on the the state and national level. But it
was the fundamental unfairness and high costs of the death
penalty that underscored the paper's position: "Countless
studies have shown that the death penalty is no more effective
in deterring crime than a sentence of life without parole; that
it is so inherently discriminatory that it can never be fairly
or consistently applied; and that the risk of executing an
innocent person can never be eliminated, even with the stringent
requirements Maryland has put in place. Moreover, the lengthy
appeals it inspires deprive victims' families of closure and
cost the state millions of dollars that could be better used for
other purposes. As an instrument of justice, it is a moral
abomination that can never be rendered humane except by ending
it altogether."
NEW
VOICES:
Former Prosecutors, Judges and U.S. Attorneys Urge Illinois
Governor to Sign Death Penalty Repeal
Death Penalty Information Center
02-09-11 --
A group of over 60 former state and federal prosecutors, judges,
and other law enforcement officials recently wrote to Governor
Pat Quinn of Illinois urging him to sign the bill passed by the
General Assembly to repeal the death penalty. The law would also
transfer state funds used for the death penalty to a fund for
murder victims' services and law enforcement work. The group
cited the death penalty's ineffectiveness in deterring violent
crime and its high cost of implementation as the primary reasons
for ending the death penalty. The letter stated, " Throughout
Illinois, law enforcement officials are struggling to find
needed dollars for police, forensic investigations, and
aggressive prosecution of a wide range of criminal activity. The
vast sums that would be spent on the death penalty in the years
ahead are sorely needed for other, more effective law
enforcement purposes." The letter also cautioned against
retaining the death penalty in order to obtain guilty pleas in
exchange for life sentences, saying that "using the death
penalty as an instrument of coercion has led to false pleas and
erroneous convictions." And merely limiting the death penalty,
the group said, " would not solve the underlying flaws that
inevitably occur when the authorities are under pressure to win
convictions in high-profile cases." See below for list of
signatories. /
Read more
STUDIES:
Misunderstandings by Jurors Undermines Constitutionality of
Death Penalty
Death Penalty Information Center
02-08-11 --
A new study by William Bowers and others published in the
Criminal Law Bulletin revealed that most jurors in death penalty
cases lack sufficient understanding of their duties, rendering
the process unconstitutional by Supreme Court standards. The
study showed that capital jurors often mistakenly believe that a
death sentence is required by law, and fail to take primary
responsibility for the defendant's punishment. The study
suggested that jurors tend to believe death should be the
punishment for heinous crimes and that death is needed as a
deterrent and required by law. When the U.S. Supreme Court
reinstated the death penalty in Gregg v. Geogia, it stated that
improved jury instructions and court procedures would reduce the
arbitrariness in capital sentencing. The report's findings
suggest that after many years of experimentation these remedies
have failed: "It appears that jurors cannot be successfully
directed in making such an ominous decision by guidelines and
procedures devised to insure a reasoned moral judgment free of
arbitrariness. Being outraged by heinous killings and ambivalent
about ordering someone killed, are 'normal' human reactions." /
Read more
CALIFORNIA
Judge to tour newly built
death chamber
By
Scott Smith, Stockton Record Staff Writer
02-07-11 --
A federal judge shepherding California's contentious battle over
lethal-injection executions will leave the courtroom behind
Tuesday to visit San Quentin State Prison's newly built death
chamber. . . . U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel, who has
overseen the case launched by Stockton's Michael Angelo Morales,
wants to inspect the chamber that state officials finished
building two years ago in reaction to his criticism. . . . In
2006, Fogel said California's lethal-injection procedure was so
flawed that inmates risked an unconstitutionally painful death.
Among Fogel's findings: executioners were poorly trained, worked
in a dimly lit chamber and kept sloppy records. . . . More
recently, Fogel has said he is eager to rule on the case and
send it off for appellate review. His handling of the volatile
issue has drawn mixed reviews. . . . "I think he has dragged it
on way too long," said Kent Scheidegger, legal director of the
Sacramento-based Criminal Justice Legal Foundation and a
death-penalty advocate. "It should have been wrapped up in short
order."
NORTH
CAROLINA
Death Row Attorneys: Racial
Justice Act Constitutional
Stephanie Carroll Carson, Public News Service
02-07-11 --
Attorneys are defending the constitutionality of the Racial
Justice Act (RJA) in a Forsyth County superior court today.
Prosecutors are challenging the law, which allows death row
inmates to claim that race was a factor in their sentencing and,
if it was, to have their sentence converted to life in prison
without parole. . . . Advocates for the RJA, such as Ken Rose,
attorney for the Center for Death Penalty Litigation, say the
law serves a valid purpose. . . . "It's clear that the General
Assembly has the power, and indeed the responsibility, to make
sure that the death penalty is administered in a fair way."
TEXAS
Victim's Family and Jurors Urge Clemency for Texas Death Row
Inmate
Death Penalty Information Center
02-07-11 --
On February 7, attorneys for Tim Adams filed a petition for
clemency urging the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to
recommend sparing Adams' life and to ask Governor Rick Perry to
commute his death sentence to life in prison without parole.
Adams, an army veteran with no criminal history, killed his son
while planning his own suicide in 2002. He pleaded guilty and
has taken responsibility for his actions. Family members and
three jurors from Adams' trial have also voiced strong support
for his clemency. Columbus Adams, Adams' father and grandfather
of the victim, said, "Our family lost one child. We don’t
deserve to lose another. After my grandson’s death, we lived
through pain worse than anyone could imagine. Nothing good will
come from executing my son Tim and causing us more anguish."
Additionally, Rebecca Hayes, Ngoc Duong, and Kathryn Starling,
who served as jurors in Adams' trial, have said they were not
presented with information about the defendant's character and
religious background that would have influenced their sentencing
decision. In an affidavit, Hayes said, "Those deliberations were
the most emotional experience of my life, and I have carried the
guilt around for years knowing that I sentenced Adams, a man who
had done wrong but who was otherwise a good, religious, and
hard-working person to death." /
Read more
Lawsuit Challenges FDA's
Inaction on Lethal Injection Drugs in Many States
Death Penalty Information Center
02-03-11 --
On February 2, the national law firm of Sidley Austin LLP filed
a suit against the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in federal
court on behalf of six death row inmates from Arizona,
California, and Tennessee. The suit seeks to compel the FDA to
bar the importation or use of unapproved sodium thiopental, a
drug used by most states in lethal injections, but no longer
available in the U.S. The plaintiff's brief states that,
following a nationwide shortage of sodium thiopental in 2010,
the FDA illegally allowed prison officials to obtain the lethal
injection drug from sources outside of the U.S., while refusing
to investigate the safety and purity of the imported drugs. The
inmates are represented by Bradford A. Berenson, a former
associate counsel to President George W. Bush and a partner at
Sidley. In a statement released by the law firm, Berenson said,
"The law requires FDA to ensure that only safe, effective drugs
are brought into the United States. When the agency allowed
states to import unapproved sodium thiopental, it abdicated its
responsibilities and violated federal law." Berenson, a
supporter of the death penalty, also said that the lawsuit is
"not about halting executions but rather about ensuring that
illegal drugs are not used in carrying out otherwise lawful
sentences."
Read full press release from
Sidley Austin LLP
and
read Complaint filed against
FDA. /
Read more
NEW
RESOURCES:
DPIC Introduces App for
iPhone and iPad
Death Penalty Information Center
02-02-11 --
The Death Penalty Information Center is proud to present a new
mobile application for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. This
FREE application provides access to the most frequently used
resources on DPIC's main website, including our Fact Sheet on
the Death Penalty, our Execution Database, and the most recent
death penalty news from around the country. Click
here
to download the mobile application through iTunes. Users may
also download the mobile application directly from the App Store
on their mobile device by searching for "DPIC" or "Death Penalty
Information Center." You may also visit our
Multimedia
page for other resources, including our general Web app for
mobile devices and our audio podcast series,
DPIC on the Issues.
. . . (DPIC, posted Feb. 2, 2011). /
Read more
EDITORIALS:
National Papers Raise
Concerns About Lethal Injection
Death Penalty Information Center
02-01-11 --
Recent editorials in the New York Times and Los Angeles Times
called into question the current use of lethal injection in
executions, in light of the decision by the sole U.S.
manufacturer of a key drug used by almost all states to stop its
production. Hospira Inc. was the only U.S. producer of sodium
thiopental, the main anesthetic used in lethal injections, but
the company said international concerns about the death penalty
prompted its halt. The shortage of the drug caused some states
to seek it overseas. The New York Times cited a litany of
problems with the batches of the drug used in recent executions
in Arizona and Georgia. "Even with judicial blessing, the
conduct of executions in this country is a shambles. In Arizona
and Georgia, the sodium thiopental used in executions has
possibly been ineffective and almost certainly been illegal. It
came from Dream Pharma, an unlicensed British supplier, run from
a driving school. The batches carried a date of 2006. They were
likely made by a company in Austria that went out of business.
The drug is said to be effective for only a year. As a
foreign-made drug without approval by the Food and Drug
Administration, it is prohibited by federal statute." In a
similar editorial, the Los Angeles Times noted, "If this were
just a supply problem, it might be comparatively easy to solve.
But lethal injection, considered the most 'humane' way to
execute criminals, comes with a host of other ethical,
regulatory and legal challenges. Medical associations refuse to
condone physician participation in executions, increasing the
danger of botched procedures. The Food and Drug Administration
wants nothing to do with lethal-injection drugs, refusing to
verify the effectiveness of imports but allowing states to
purchase them. Thus there is no way of knowing whether the drugs
are producing the 'painless' death they promise, or a torturous
death forbidden by the Constitution." Read the full editorials
below. /
Read more
MISSOURI
Missouri Supreme Court
refuses to block execution of convicted murderer
The
Associated Press, Kansas City Star
02-01-11 --
The Missouri Supreme Court has denied a request to block an
execution scheduled for next week. . . . Martin Link is to be
executed Feb. 9 for the 1991 death of an 11-year-old St. Louis
girl. . . . Link’s attorneys had requested the stay, arguing the
initial lawyers were ineffective and did not thoroughly examine
reasons he should not be executed. In court documents, they
contended a thorough investigation would have shown that Link
was abused as a child and had post-traumatic stress disorder
from the abuse.
|
Lillian Vernon
A
Victims-of-Law Associate |
January 2011
NEW
VOICES:
Manufacturer of Drug Used in
Executions Says "This goes against everything we're in business
to do"
Death Penalty Information Center
01-31-11 --
Lundbeck Inc., a company based in Denmark and the sole U.S.
manufacturer of pentobarbital, a new drug selected by Ohio and
Oklahoma for their lethal injection protocols, has requested
that states not use the drug to execute inmates. The company
recently announced that their drug was never intended to be used
in executions. A spokeswoman for the company said, "This goes
against everything we're in business to do. We like to develop
and make available therapies that improve people's lives. That's
the focus of our business." Some medical experts have also
raised concerns about the use of pentobarbital in executions,
particularly as part of a 3-drug process. Harvard medical
professor David Waisel said, "The use of pentobarbital as an
agent to induce anesthesia has no clinical history and is
non-standard. Because of these significant unknowns, and a lack
of clinical history related to using pentobarbital to induce
anesthesia, using pentobarbital as part of a 3-drug lethal
injection protocol puts the inmate at an undue risk of
suffering." Oklahoma became the first state to use pentobarbital
as a part of its three-drug injection protocol, replacing sodium
thiopental as the first drug. Ohio, which was the first state to
switch to a one-drug protocol, has recently announced its
intention to use pentobarbital alone for its executions. A form
of pentobarbital has also been used by veterinarians to
euthanize pets. /
Read more
NEW
VOICES:
Former Ohio Corrections Chief
Calls for End of Death Penalty
Death Penalty Information Center
01-28-11 --
Terry Collins, former director of the Ohio Department of
Rehabilitation and Correction, recently urged the state to
replace capital punishment with life in prison without parole.
In an op-ed in the Columbus Dispatch, Collins said he personally
observed the execution of 33 men from 2001 to 2010, and
questioned whether it was the right thing to do all 33 times:
“Had all the reviews and appeals got this case right? Did the
process make certain, absolutely, there was no mistake or error?
I wondered that because I had previously walked people out of
prison who were found not guilty after years of incarceration.
What if we got it wrong for those we executed?” Collins also
addresses the high costs of the death penalty, both fiscally and
those borne by victims’ families. He said, “An increasing number
of families ask the state not to pursue the death penalty so
that they are not faced with the painful task of attending
appeals hearings, and so they can achieve closure. Life
imprisonment without parole offers justice that is swift,
certain, effectively severe and perhaps more sensitive to the
needs of healing victims' families.” Collins also noted that
death sentences have drastically reduced since life without the
possibility of parole became an option in Ohio, adding “Many in
our society have deemed this alternative to be a reasonable
measure and a way to keep Ohio communities safe, something every
member of the law-enforcement community values. We can have
confidence knowing that when necessary, we can safely
incarcerate offenders for life.” Read full op-ed below. /
Read more
Update on Lethal Injection as
Sole U.S. Manufacturer of Key Drug Ceases Production
Death Penalty Information Center
01-27-11 --
On January 21, Hospira Inc., the sole U.S. manufacturer of
sodium thiopental, announced that it will no longer produce an
anesthetic commonly used in lethal injections around the United
States. Hospira, which had planned to produce the drug in its
plant in Italy, made the decision to end production of the
anesthetic after Italian officials demanded that the company
make sure it will not be used for executions. Nebraska, a state
that has not had an execution since 1997, obtained a supply of
sodium thiopental from India that expires in 2012. In 2010, a
shortage of sodium thiopental from Hospira led states like
Arizona and California to seek international suppliers, and
states like Oklahoma to seek alternative anesthetics. Oklahoma
switched to pentobarbital, a drug used in euthanizing animals,
for its three-drug protocol. Earlier this week, Ohio announced
its intent to switch to a lethal dose of pentobarbital for its
one-drug protocol. Click here for
State-by-State Lethal
Injection
information. For general information on the lethal injection,
click
here.
/
Read more
STUDIES:
In Louisiana, Odds of a Death
Sentence 97% Higher If Victim is White
Death Penalty Information Center
01-26-11 --
A recent study conducted by Professors Glenn Pierce and Michael
Radelet published in the Lousiana Law Review showed that the
odds of a death sentence in parts of Louisiana were 2.6 times
higher for those charged with killing a white victim than for
those charged with killing a black victim. The study examined
191 homicides in East Baton Rouge Parish between 1990 and 2008
involving a charge of first-degree murder. Even after
considering other variables such as the number of aggravating
circumstances, the number of concurrent felonies and the number
of homicide victims, the odds of a death sentence were 97%
higher for those whose victim was white than for those whose
victim was black. The authors of the study suggested that one
reason why the victim’s race was an important factor was because
“prosecutors’ offices, jurors, judges, investigating police
officers, and others involved in constructing a death penalty
case are (consciously or unconsciously) not as outraged or
energized, on average, when a black is murdered as when a white
is murdered.” The authors said “death penalty cases are
expensive, and choices need to be made on how often the death
penalty can be sought and in which cases”and that “the social
status of the victim and the family of the victim, including his
or her race, increases [a case's] importance.” /
Read more
NEW
VOICES:
Retired Federal Judge Urges
Illinois Governor to Sign Repeal Bill
Death Penalty Information Center
01-25-11 --
Retired Federal Judge H. Lee Sarokin recently wrote in the
Huffington Post urging Illinois Governor Pat Quinn to sign a
bill that would repeal the death penalty. He wrote, "I am
certain we could all list persons who committed outrageous and
despicable crimes that we would want executed. Many of us want
revenge, retribution and the ultimate punishment in those cases,
but, nonetheless, I am opposed to the death penalty." Judge
Sarokin highlighted deterrence, costs, racial discrimination,
the risk of wrongful executions and personal moral views as
among the most significant reasons for his opposition. He
believes that, “deterrence plays no part whatsoever. Persons
contemplating murder do not sit around the kitchen table and say
I won't commit this murder if I face the death penalty, but I
will do it if the penalty is life without parole. I do not
believe persons contemplating or committing murder plan to get
caught or weigh the consequences.” Reall full article below. /
Read more
GEORGIA
Judge declines to give
Hammond stay of execution
By
Bill Rankin, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
01-24-11 --
A Fulton County judge on Monday declined to issue a stay of
execution for condemned killer Emmanuel Hammond, who is
scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection Tuesday at 7
p.m. . . . Superior Court Judge Michael Johnson denied a request
by Hammond's lawyers to for a two-week reprieve to allow them to
review records provided Friday by the state Department of
Corrections about the drugs to be used for Hammond's execution.
. . . Hammond's lawyer, Brian Mendelsohn, testified Monday that
records he reviewed over the weekend show that the first of
three drugs to be used in the execution, the anaesthetic sodium
pentothal, may have been obtained from a disreputable source and
could be counterfeit or inferior. Mendelsohn said the state had
obtained the drug from Dream Pharma, a company that operates out
of the back of the Elgone Driving Academy, a driving school, in
London.
REPRESENTATION:
Alabama Inmate--Failed by His
Attorney--Is Executed Despite Jury's Vote for Life
Death Penalty Information Center
01-21-11 --
Leroy White (pictured) was executed in Alabama on January 13
despite the fact that his trial jury, the prosecution, and
members of the victim's family had sought a different sentence.
Shortly before his execution, he received a stay from the U.S.
Supreme Court to consider his final motion. However, nearly
three hours later the stay was lifted and he was executed for
the 1988 murder of his estranged wife, Ruby White. During the
time that the stay was in place, White sat alone and was not
allowed to confer with his attorney. At the time of his trial,
the jury recommended a life sentence, but Alabama is one of the
few states in the country that allow the judge to override the
jury and White was sentenced to death. The victim’s family and
White’s daughter had asked for his life to be spared, and at one
point the prosecution had offered a plea bargain. One of
White's earlier attorneys, G. James Benoit, admitted that he
allowed his client to miss a critical appeal deadline,
shortening the appeals process and expediting his execution.
Benoit, who took over White’s case after another member of his
firm was suspended, practiced transactional tax and corporate
law, and had never been in a courtroom. He no longer practices
law today. Bryan Stevenson, director of Equal Justice
Initiative, took up White’s case last summer when the state
asked the Alabama Supreme Court to set a date for his execution.
White was surprised to hear that his execution date was
approaching because he assumed he was still in the appeals
process. In the week before his execution, Stevenson petitioned
both the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and the
U.S. Supreme Court to delay White’s execution because of the
missed appeal by his former attorney and his failure to inform
White. According to Stevenson, “"The death penalty is not just
about do people deserve to die for the crimes they are accused
of, the death penalty is also about do we deserve to kill. If
we don't provide fair trials, fair review procedures, when we
have executions that are unnecessarily cruel and distressing, or
if we have a death penalty that is arbitrary or political or
discriminatory, then we are all implicated." /
Read more
ARBITRARINESS:
Contract Killer Spared the Death Penalty Despite Seven Murders
Death Penalty Information Center
01-20-11 --
Although the death penalty is often described as being reserved
for the "worst of the worst" offenders, in practice defendants
responsible for many murders are often spared while those who
committed arguably lesser offenses are executed. Oscar Veal
was a contract killer for a large drug ring and murder-for-hire
operation. He was convicted of seven counts of murder and eight
counts of racketeering conspiracy. However, in exchange for
testimony about a drug organization in Washington, D.C., federal
prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty against Veal.
According to the prosecutors, “[Veal] willingly and purposely
killed seven men, motivated by both greed and the desire to
please the other members of this violent gang,” but called his
cooperation "extraordinary by any measure," and recommended a
sentence of 25 years in prison. Veal's attorney cited other
examples in which sentences were reduced in exchange for
valuable information. Phillip "Crazy Phil" Leonetti, a member
of the Philadelphia mob served just 5 years despite a criminal
record that included 10 murders, after cooperating with
officials. Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano, a well-known
criminal who cooperated with the government, was sentenced to
only 5 years despite his involvement in 19 murders and other
crimes. /
Read more
NEW
VOICES
Senator Durbin of Illinois Changes Stance on Death Penalty
Death Penalty Information Center
01-19-11 --
U. S. Senator Dick Durbin
of Illinois recently announced at a breakfast honoring Martin
Luther King, Jr., that he has changed his life-long opinion on
the death penalty and now favors its abolition. Sen. Durbin, who
is the second-ranking member of the U.S. Senate as the assistant
majority leader, said that his reflections over many years
brought about an evolution in his thinking about capital
punishment, particularly with respect to its unfairness and the
risk of executing the innocent. He noted, "There are many
people who commit heinous crimes, and I’d be the first to stand
up with emotion and say they should lose their lives. But when I
look at the unfairness of it, the fact that the poor and people
of color are most often the victims when it comes to the death
penalty, and how many cases we've gotten wrong now that we have
DNA evidence to back us up, I mean, it just tells me life
imprisonment is penalty enough." In early January, the Illinois
General Assembly presented Governor Pat Quinn with a bill to end
the death penalty in Illinois.
Read more
NEW
VOICES
Illinois Police Chief Calls for End to State's Death Penalty
Death Penalty Information Center
01-18-11 --
Police Chief Charles A. Gruber of St. Charles, Illinois, a
40-year veteran of law enforcement, recently stated that "the
death penalty does nothing to keep us safe," and should be
abolished. Chief Gruber served as president of both the
Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police and of the
International Association of Chiefs of Police. He worked with
national organizations for over a decade to devise reforms to
make the death penalty effective and fair but now now believes
Illinois will always leave open the possibility of executing an
innocent person and will subject murder victims’ families to
excruciatingly long proceedings. In an op-ed in the Chicago
Tribune, he wrote, “I am grateful that SB 3539 not only gets rid
of a system that has proven itself too flawed to fix, but that
also puts the savings from the death penalty where they are
desperately needed: law enforcement training. The best thing we
can do to ensure the safety of our communities and men and women
in uniform is to see that law enforcement have the resources and
training they need to do their job well.” Read full op-ed
below.
Read more
PENNSYLVANIA
Outgoing Pennsylvania Governor Urges State Legislators to Review
Death Penalty
Death Penalty Information Center
01-17-11 --
On January 14, in one of his final acts as governor,
Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell wrote a letter to the
state General Assembly urging legislators to consider replacing
the death penalty with a sentence of life without parole if it
cannot be made more effective than it has been. Gov. Rendell
wrote that the death penalty in Pennsylvania is not a reality:
“As a former District Attorney and as a death penalty supporter,
I believe the death penalty can be a deterrent – but only when
it is carried out relatively expeditiously. However, a 15-, 20-,
or 25-year lapse between imposition of a death sentence and the
actual execution is no deterrent… To criminals on the street,
our death penalty is simply not a reality.” The governor said
the current system was frustrating to both police and victims'
families. He said if the process could not be streamlined,
while still protecting defendants' needs for a thorough appeal,
it might be time to consider abolition: “If you conclude that
there is no avenue to achieve this [careful streamlining], then
I ask you to examine the merits of continuing to have the death
penalty on the books – as opposed to the certainty of a life
sentence without any chance of parole, pardon or commutation.”
Read full text of Governor's statement below.
Read more
UNITED
STATES SUPREME COURT
U.S. Supreme Court Halts Execution After Texas Inmate's Last
Meal
Death Penalty Information Center
01-14-11 --On
January 11, Desert Storm veteran Cleve Foster of Texas received
a stay of execution just moments before his lethal injection.
Foster had already finished his last meal when the United States
Supreme Court halted the execution. Foster was sentenced to
death for a 2002 shooting, but has always maintained that his
friend was responsible for the murder. The friend also received
the death penalty for the crime but died of cancer before he was
executed. In a recent appeal, Foster’s defense claimed his
conviction should be overturned because his trial lawyers failed
to hire a blood-spatter expert whose testimony could have
resulted in a different verdict. Supporters of Foster say that
the co-defendant had signed a confession in which he admitted to
shooting and killing the victim. Foster's current attorneys also
claim that he received inadequate defense on appeal and hence
has never had an adequate review of his innocence claim. The
U.S. Supreme Court did not specify a reason for granting the
stay. UPDATE: The Supreme Court declined to review Foster's
case.
Read more
NEW
VOICES
"Police Officials Argue Death Penalty Doesn't Make Us Safer"
Death Penalty Information Center
01-13-11 --Four
law enforcement officials from various countries who came
together in Washington, D.C., in 2010 for a groundbreaking
international dialogue on the death penalty recently published
an op-ed in the San Jose Mercury News regarding their
discussion. From their experience, they discounted the argument
that the death penalty deters potential offenders. According to
the op-ed, “The deterrence argument … goes against our
experience investigating serious crimes: the majority of
offenders do not think through the consequences of their
actions. In fact, they do not think they will ever be caught.”
Other areas of agreement addressed the cost of the death
penalty, the risk of executing an innocent defendant, and the
punishment’s impact on murder victims’ families. The law
enforcement officials recommended replacing the death penalty
with more cost-effective alternatives: “All of the money that
states spend on the death penalty could be used to hire more
police officers, train them better, solve cold cases, and
prevent crimes from occurring in the first place. We should
spend our limited resources on programs that work.” The op-ed
was written by: James Abbott, police chief of West Orange, N.J.,
who served on the state's Death Penalty Study Commission;
António Cluny, senior attorney general and public prosecutor in
Portugal; Bob Denmark, a 30-year veteran of the British police
force and a former detective superintendent of Lancashire
Constabulary, England; and Ronald Hampton, executive director of
the National Black Police Association International Leadership
Institute and a 23-year veteran of the D.C. Metropolitan Police
Department. Read more for the full op-ed and a video of the
panel discussion.
Read more
CLEMENCY
Governors in Missouri and Tennessee Grant Clemency to Inmates
Facing Imminent Execution
Death Penalty Information Center
01-12-11 --On
consecutive days, Governor Jay Nixon of Missouri and Governor
Phil Bredesen of Tennessee granted clemencies to death row
inmates facing imminent execution in their respective states. In
Missouri, Gov. Nixon commuted the death sentence of Richard
Clay, who was scheduled for execution on January 12. In
Tennessee, Gov. Bredesen granted clemency to Edward Jerome
Harbison, thus averting his execution on February 15. Both
inmates now face life in prison without parole. Clay and his
supporters maintained that he was innocent of a 1994
murder-for-hire murder. In a statement released by the
governor's office, Nixon said that Clay's "involvement in this
crime is clear," but chose to exercise his executive authority
after “having looked at this matter in its entirety and after
significant thought and counsel.” In Tennessee, Harbison was
charged with a murder that occurred in 1983. He initially
confessed to the crime but later claimed he was coerced after
authorities threatened to arrest his girlfriend and put her
children into foster care. Of the commutation, Gov. Bredesen
said, "It's obviously a heinous crime, but when I compare it to
others I don't think it rose to the level of a death penalty
crime." Gov. Nixon was elected in 2008, having served as
Attorney General while Clay was being prosecuted. Gov. Bredesen
is leaving office.
Read more
ILLINOIS
Illinois Legislature Votes To Repeal The Death Penalty
Death Penalty Information Center
01-11-11 --
On January 11, the Illinois Senate, by a vote of 32-25, joined
the House in voting to repeal the state’s death penalty and
re-allocate funds in the Capital Litigation Trust Fund to a fund
for murder victims’ services and law enforcement. If signed into
law, Illinois would become the 16th state to stop capital
punishment and would mark the fewest states with the death
penalty since 1978. Since 1976, Illinois has carried out 12
executions. In the same period, 20 inmates have been exonerated
from the state’s death row, the second highest number in the
United States. The state has not had an execution since 1999,
and since then, use of the death penalty has declined sharply.
In the 1990s, the state averaged over 10 death sentences a year.
In 2009 and 2010, the state imposed only one death sentence each
year. The bill must be signed by Governor Pat Quinn in order to
become law.
Read more
COLORADO
Colorado Governor Grants
Unconditional Pardon Based on Innocence to Inmate Who Was
Executed
Death Penalty Information Center
01-10-11 --
On January 7, Colorado Governor Bill Ritter granted a full and
unconditional posthumous pardon to Joe Arridy, who had been
convicted and executed as an accomplice to a murder that
occurred in 1936. The pardon came 72 years after Arridy’s
execution and is the first such pardon in Colorado history. A
press release from the governor's office stated, "[A]n
overwhelming body of evidence indicates the 23-year-old Arridy
was innocent, including false and coerced confessions, the
likelihood that Arridy was not in Pueblo at the time of the
killing, and an admission of guilt by someone else." The
governor also pointed to Arridy's intellectual disabilities. He
had an IQ of 46 and functioned like a toddler. The governor
said, “Granting a posthumous pardon is an extraordinary remedy.
But the tragic conviction of Mr. Arridy and his subsequent
execution on Jan. 6, 1939, merit such relief based on the great
likelihood that Mr. Arridy was, in fact, innocent of the crime
for which he was executed, and his severe mental disability at
the time of his trial and execution. Pardoning Mr. Arridy cannot
undo this tragic event in Colorado history. It is in the
interests of justice and simple decency, however, to restore his
good name.”
Read more
STATES
States Scrambled to Find
Lethal Injection Drugs Overseas
Death Penalty Information Center
01-07-11 --
Recent revelations about
the source of drugs used in lethal injections in the U.S. reveal
the extent to which some states have gone in their pursuit of
the deadly chemicals. According to the British Broadcasting
Corporation, Arizona obtained its three lethal injection drugs
from Dream Pharma, Ltd., a small pharmaceutical company in west
London located in the back of a driving school. Clive Stafford
Smith, director of Reprieve, a British organization offering
legal support to death row inmates in the U.S., remarked, "The
whole issue here is bizarre. How can we have a driving
instructor with a pharmaceutical company in the back cupboard
basically selling drugs to an American corrections institution
to kill people? And it's bizarre that the law allows it." The
owner of Dream Pharma claimed he had no idea the drugs he sold
to Arizona would be used for lethal injections. Arizona used
its foreign drugs to execute Jeffrey Landrigan on October 26,
2010, and also supplied a quantity to California, which was
scrambling to carry out its own executions. Courts in
California stayed all executions to allow for a more careful
review of the process.
Read more
ILLINOIS
Illinois House Votes to
Repeal Death Penalty
Death Penalty Information Center
01-07-11 --
By a vote of 60-54 on January 6, the Illinois House approved
SB3539, a bill to repeal the death penalty and use the money
saved to assist victims' families and improve law enforcement.
The action came eleven years after a moratorium on executions
was put in place by then Governor George Ryan. The repeal bill
will now move to the Senate for a vote as early as next week.
In January 2000, Ryan ordered the moratorium following
revelations that more than a dozen innocent people had been
sentenced to death in the state. In 2003, Ryan commuted the
death sentences of 167 inmates to life before leaving office.
Illinois State Representative Elaine Nekritz, who voted for the
repeal, commented, “I believe the history of the death penalty
in Illinois demonstrates that we are not in a position to get it
right 100 percent of the time.” If the bill is approved in the
senate, it will go to Governor Pat Quinn for his possible
signature.
Read more
Almost Half of U.S.
Jurisdictions Have Had No Executions in 10 Years
Death Penalty Information Center
01-05-11 --
Although the United States is considered a death penalty
country, executions are rare or non-existent in much of the
nation. Twenty-six of 53 jurisdictions in the U.S. (50 states,
the District of Columbia, the Federal Government, and the
Military) either do not have the death penalty or have not
carried out an execution in at least 10 years. Most of those
have not carried out an execution since the death penalty was
reinstated in 1976. Only 12 states carried out an execution in
2010, and only 7 states carried out more than 1, mostly in the
South. The table below lists the jurisdictions where executions
have been absent:
Read more
Almost Half of U.S.
Jurisdictions Have Had No Executions in 10 Years
Death Penalty Information Center
01-05-11 --
Although the United States is considered a death penalty
country, executions are rare or non-existent in much of the
nation. Twenty-six of 53 jurisdictions in the U.S. (50 states,
the District of Columbia, the Federal Government, and the
Military) either do not have the death penalty or have not
carried out an execution in at least 10 years. Most of those
have not carried out an execution since the death penalty was
reinstated in 1976. Only 12 states carried out an execution in
2010, and only 7 states carried out more than 1, mostly in the
South.
Click for tables listing the jurisdictions.
NEW
VOICES:
Murder Victims’ Families Need
Services More Than the Death Penalty
Death Penalty Information Center
01-04-11 --
In a recent article in the Peoria Journal Star, Jennifer Bishop
Jenkins and Kathleen Bishop Becker, both of whom had family
members murdered, called on Illinois's state legislature to end
the death penalty as a better way of helping victims. Becker
and Jenkins wrote, “When our family members were murdered,
issues like crime prevention, victims' rights, and the death
penalty stopped being merely hypothetical… it's because we
prioritize victims and public safety that we support replacing
the Illinois death penalty with life without parole sentences
for convicted murderers.” Jenkins was a member of the Illinois
Capital Punishment Reform Study Commission, which met over 80
times and held public hearings around the state. After a decade
of study, Jenkins concluded that the system cannot be fixed. She
and Becker wrote, “We note that Illinois has tried harder than
any other state to make it work. But it can't work, and enough
is enough… We still find innocent men on Death Row in our state.
We still spend millions of dollars to keep this broken system
limping along.” They also addressed how the death penalty harms
victims’ families: “In capital cases, family members are forced
to endure years of trials and appeals that last at least twice
as long as in non-capital cases, not to mention a long string of
possible reversals because the system didn't get it right. The
offender becomes a household name and the victim is forgotten.
We are frequently denied legal finality. The state ends up
spending millions, which are then not available to help victims
or family members.” In December, the Illinois House Judiciary
Committee passed SB 3539, a bill to repeal the death penalty and
use the money saved for services to victims’ families. The bill
is likely to return for a vote in early January 2011. The
authors concluded, “We assure you, families like ours need these
services much more desperately than we could ever need the death
penalty.”
Editorials:
Major Papers Around the Country
Tracked DPIC's Year End Report
Death Penalty Information Center
01-03-11 --
The information and analysis in DPIC's recent 2010
Year-End Report
were reported in hundreds of media outlets around the country.
Among the papers writing editorials on the trends cited in the
report were the New York Times, the Washington Post, and
Colorado's Aurora Sentinel. The Times' editorial, "Still Cruel,
Less Usual," noted, “A report released this month by the Death
Penalty Information Center counted 46 executions in 2010. That
is nearly 12 percent fewer than a year ago, and down sharply
from the 85 executions of 2000. . . . The center suggested a
number of reasons for the decline, including that prosecutors
and the public are grappling with the wrenching problem of
innocence. The irreversible punishment of death requires a
foolproof justice system, but growing numbers of DNA
exonerations in recent years suggest that it is far from that.”
The Post's editorial, "46 Executions Too Many," also cited the
costs of capital cases as a significant concern: "Litigating a
capital case is expensive - on average $3 million, according to
the [D]eath [P]enalty [Information] [C]enter - and exceeds the
costs of imprisoning an inmate for decades." The Sentinel's
editorial, "Time to Rid Colorado of Death Penatly," cited some
of the same statistics and trends and urged the state
legislature to end capital punishment: "Colorado state lawmakers
will almost certainly ponder a bill next year that would end the
death penalty here. Fellow legislators should give that measure
serious consideration, perhaps asking voters whether to end the
practice and allow the state to join the rest of the civilized
world."
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