Rick Halperin
2018-08-24 13:33:46 UTC
August 24
PENNSYLVANIA:
DA again seeks death penalty against convicted cop killer granted new
sentencing hearing
A man sentenced to death for killing a police officer in Cumberland County more
than 2 decades ago will get a new sentence. And the district attorney just
announced he's again seeking the death penalty.
District Attorney Skip Ebert said he believes all the requirements are there to
get a 2nd death sentence against Seifullah Abdul-Salaam.
Abdul-Salaam was convicted of fatally shooting New Cumberland police officer
Willis Cole during a robbery at a coin shop in August 1994.
Abdul-Salaam has been appealing his sentence since his conviction, and a
federal court ruled he can get a new sentencing hearing.
Ebert said he's been in consultation with Cole's family. And along with the
original evidence, Ebert decided to pursue the death penalty again, even though
an execution hasn't been carried out in Pennsylvania in nearly 20 years.
"The position on the death penalty is something that the Legislature has to
address," Ebert said. "If they abolish it, that's fine. Right now, the law that
I was sworn to uphold says there shall be the possibility of the death penalty
in situations such as this."
Abdul-Salaam had wanted to present evidence of his violent upbringing at his
original sentencing hearing, but his attorney at the time didn't do that. That
evidence may be presented at the new hearing.
(source: WGAL news)
FLORIDA:
Florida's diehard pursuit of the death penalty is a blot on the Sunshine State
Florida's approach to the death penalty is deepening its outlier status on this
human rights issue and has now added an extra layer of arbitrariness to its
already discriminatory and error-prone capital justice system, Amnesty
International said in a new report released today.
"While several US states have embraced abolition in recent years, Florida
remains a diehard proponent of the death penalty and one of a handful of states
that account for the bulk of executions in the USA," said Erika Guevara Rosas,
Americas Director at Amnesty International.
"Despite its capital sentencing law being found unconstitutional 2 years ago,
Florida still has the 2nd largest death row in the country. Its response to
that ruling has been to dig in and defend the indefensible, including the
execution of people with mental and intellectual disabilities."
Florida shows few signs of joining the USA's 19 states that have already
abolished the death penalty or the others that are rethinking it. It is ranked
4th in the number of executions carried out in the USA since 1976, when the US
Supreme Court approved new capital laws.
Darkness visible in the Sunshine State: The death penalty in Florida examines
how many death row inmates have been denied the chance of a review of their
death sentences by the state's response to the Hurst v. Florida ruling in 2016,
in which the US Supreme Court overturned the state's capital sentencing statute
because it gave juries only an advisory role in death sentencing.
Instead of responding with a serious reassessment of capital justice, the state
legislature quickly moved to revise the statute to allow death sentencing to
resume. Florida's Supreme Court has since made the Hurst ruling apply only to a
limited group of existing cases, meaning about half of the nearly 400 people
then on death row would not even be entitled to new sentencing hearings.
As one of Florida's Justices predicted when objecting to the decision to grant
only limited retroactivity, the fate of those on death row would depend on
"little more than a roll of the dice". 4 people deemed to fall on the wrong
side of the retroactivity cut-off have already been put to death, while scores
more await execution.
The report provides case examples of the sort of arbitrariness being wrought
upon death row, showing how some individuals are getting relief and others not,
often simply due to timing.
Matthew Marshall is on death row for murder committed in 1988 when he was 24
years old. The jury voted unanimously for life imprisonment but the judge
overruled their decision, sentencing Marshall to death. Even though such
overrides are now prohibited in Florida following the Hurst ruling, he has been
deemed ineligible for retroactive relief.
Even before the Hurst ruling, 2 US Supreme Court Justices had argued that the
death penalty in the USA has fallen into disrepair because of arbitrariness and
error, and was not being reserved for the "worst of the worst" crimes and
offenders, as required under US constitutional law. The situation in Florida
illustrates all their concerns.
The report focuses on three categories of death row prisoners: individuals with
serious mental disability, those assessed with actual or borderline
intellectual disability, and young adults deemed as having mental maturity
lower than 18-year-olds and backgrounds of severe deprivation and abuse.
By being sentenced to death, these defendants are being branded as the "worst
of the worst" - offenders whose "extreme culpability makes them the most
deserving of execution". The cases examined in the report question the
assumption that the use of the death penalty in the Sunshine State is in line
with this constitutional restriction.
The featured cases include that of Tony Watts, who was sentenced to death in
Florida in 1989 and has spent almost 1/2 of the years since then in a prison
psychiatric hospital because of his severe mental disability. The state
continues to defend his death sentence rather than commute it.
The report also highlights how race influences use of the death penalty in
Florida. 20 of the state's 96 executions since 1976 were of black defendants
convicted of killing white victims, but no white person has been executed for
killing solely a black person in Florida. Despite this imbalance, it remains
almost impossible for the those under sentence of death to mount a successful
claim of systemic racial discrimination.
"The USA must stop resorting to the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading
punishment, and join the 142 countries that are abolitionist in law or practice
today," said Erika Guevara Rosas.
"2 wrongs don't make a right. The death penalty is no way to impart justice.
Florida and all other states where the death penalty is still in use must
impose immediate moratoriums on executions until they can end this cruel
practice once and for all."
Amnesty International opposes the death penalty unconditionally. The
organization calls on Florida's governor and his cabinet to stop signing death
warrants and commute the death sentences of all those on death row as first
critical steps towards abolition.
Prosecutors in Florida should stop pursuing this punishment when faced with
capital murder cases and, at a minimum, the authorities should ensure that all
judges and juries are made fully aware of the mitigating evidence surrounding
mental and intellectual disabilities, emotional and psychological immaturity,
or backgrounds of abuse and deprivation of all defendants and death row
prisoners.
(source: Amnesty International)
TENNESSEE:
Tennessee death row inmates raise using firing squad in new execution legal
challenge----The federal lawsuit, filed Tuesday, says the state tortured Billy
Ray Irick to death when he was injected with toxic chemicals and argues using
the same drugs in another execution would violate constitutional bans on cruel
and unusual punishment.
In a new legal challenge to Tennessee's execution process, death row offenders
say using a firing squad would be more humane than the state's current lethal
injection method.
The federal lawsuit, filed Tuesday, says the state tortured Billy Ray Irick to
death when he was injected with toxic chemicals and argues using the same drugs
in another execution would violate constitutional bans on cruel and unusual
punishment.
Their argument is a familiar one, which other courts have rejected, but the
inmates go one step further in outlining a macabre and required component of
such lawsuits.
They suggest several other methods, including a firing squad, are preferable
and are constitutional ways to die compared to the state's 3-drug execution
protocol.
A firing squad can be "implemented because the Big Buck Shooting Range is
located on the grounds of Riverbend Maximum (Security) Institution and can
easily accommodate the equipment required for an execution..." the lawsuit
states, referencing the Nashville prison that houses Tennessee's death row and
execution chamber.
"Execution by this manner and method would damage the heart and cause a near
immediate drop in blood pressure, including blood pressure in the brain. This
will cause a loss of consciousness rapidly followed by death."
Why the inmates filed the lawsuit
It's still highly unlikely Tennessee would actually use a firing squad, given
the electric chair is the currently legal alternative to lethal injection. The
chances the inmates win this lawsuit are also low, considering many of their
arguments mirror failed legal maneuvers deployed by Irick.
The lawsuit is brought by attorneys representing death row offenders David Earl
Miller, Nicholas Todd Sutton and Stephen Michael West. Miller - who's spent the
most time on death row among its 60 current occupants - is scheduled to be
executed Dec. 6. Edmund Zagorski, scheduled to die Oct. 11, is not part of this
lawsuit.
Dana C. Hansen Chavis, a federal public defender representing Miller, Sutton
and West in the lawsuit, declined to comment Thursday. Other legal challenges
to lethal injections in Tennessee are still pending.
Irick and 32 other death row offenders sued the state in early 2018, arguing
its lethal injection violates the Constitution. After a 2-week trial in July,
Davidson County Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle rejected the inmates' arguments.
The Tennessee Supreme Court and U.S. Supreme Court also declined to intervene
in Irick's case.
On Aug. 9, Irick was executed by lethal injection inside the prison. He was
convicted in 1986 on charges of raping and murdering Paula Dyer, a 7-year-old
Knox County girl.
An execution team injected Irick with midazolam, vecuronium bromide and
potassium chloride. Midazolam is supposed to render the inmate unconscious and
unable to feel pain, but expert testimony at a trial leading up to Irick's
death showed the drug frequently does not prevent pain.
That would mean the 2nd and 3rd drugs, intended to stop the lungs and heart,
would cause pain similar to drowning and being burned alive, advocates and
experts say.
Irick snored, his chest heaved, and at times coughed during the roughly
21-minute execution. Attorneys in the lawsuit say this is clear evidence he was
tortured to death.
The lawsuit notes several states have stopped using midazolam. Irick and Miller
are both overweight and have similar body types, as to other death row
offenders, the lawsuit states, arguing this means the offenders would likely
suffer the same torture as Irick.
What are the other proposed execution alternatives?
In the lawsuit, attorneys also argue the legal requirement that they propose
alternative execution methods is unconstitutional. They say it violates
inmates' 8th and 14th amendments as "it inflicts serious psychological harm and
is itself a type of cruel and unusual punishment."
If they must present alternatives, the lawsuit states the four would
"significantly reduce a substantial risk of severe pain" compared to the
current protocol.
3 of the 4 proposed alternatives involve medications. They are:
Pentobarbital: Other states, including Texas, use the drug. Although Tennessee
prison officials have said they can't obtain it, attorneys here argue they
haven't tried hard enough.
Removing the vecuronium bromide: Simply removing the 2nd drug from the current
3-drug method would reduce the chance the offender is tortured, according to
the lawsuit. Attorneys tried to raise this argument late in Irick's legal
proceedings as well.
Orally administering the drugs: This proposal suggests there are medications
that could be administered orally instead of through an injection. It does not
explain how this would cause less pain than injecting the drugs.
If none of those 3 are accepted, inmates ask the state to use a firing squad.
Why firing squads are unlikely in Tennessee
Only Mississippi, Oklahoma and Utah formally authorize the use of a firing
squad, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Utah officials
executed an inmate by firing squad in 2010, the most recent usage in the United
States.
Tennessee, like most other states that allow the death penalty, uses lethal
injection as the primary means of execution. If the state certifies it can't
find lethal injection drugs, or if a court determines lethal injection is
unconstitutional, then Tennessee will use the electric chair.
If a court determines the electric chair is unconstitutional, then the state is
allowed to carry out executions via "any constitutional method." In theory,
that could mean a firing squad, but that would require several significant
court rulings.
In 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court denied an Alabama offender's request to die
using a firing squad instead of lethal injection. However, Justices Sonia
Sotomayor and Stephen Breyer dissented with the majority of the court.
"Even if a prisoner can prove that the state plans to kill him in an
intolerably cruel manner, and even if he can prove that there is a feasible
alternative, all a state has to do to execute him through an unconstitutional
method is to pass a statute declining to authorize any alternative method,"
Sotomayor wrote in her dissent, as reported by USA TODAY. "This cannot be
right."
The inmates in the lawsuit outline a proposed protocol for a firing squad. They
cite a version of the Procedure for Military Executions, created by the U.S.
Army in 1959.
The procedure requires 8 marksmen using rifles. At least 1 rifle, but no more
than 3, would be loaded with blanks. The marksmen would grab the rifles at
random, in order to lessen the chances the executioners know who actually
fatally shoots the condemned.
A target would be placed over the offender's heart, a hood over the inmate's
head. The marksmen would stand 15 paces away from the inmate. After the inmate
is allowed to make a final statement, an officer would give the order to fire.
As noted in the lawsuit, the protocol also includes a back-up plan if the
offender doesn't immediately die. Called in the protocol a "coup de grace," or
"blow of mercy," an officer would take a handgun, hold the muzzle 1 foot above
the offender's ear and pull the trigger.
(source: WBIR news)
*****************
Lawsuit Suggests Firing Squad As Death Penalty Option
A lawsuit filed by an attorney representing 4 Tennessee death row inmates
suggests that death by firing squad is a better option to minimize harm to
prisoners scheduled to die.
The federal lawsuit, filed by death row inmates David Earl Miller, Nicholas
Todd Sutton, Stephen Michael West, and Larry McKay, is the latest attempt to
stop the state from using its 3-drug lethal injection protocol to kill death
row inmates. They argue the drugs used make it possible for inmates to feel
intense pain while being put to death, while that pain is masked by a paralytic
in 1 of the drugs.
Among 4 alternatives proposed by the inmates' attorney, the lawsuit says the
firing squad is an option that could potentially be available to carry out
death sentences, even though it is currently banned in Tennessee and nearly
every other state.
The lawsuit says the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld death by firing squad as
constitutional.
In making the case for a firing squad alternative, the lawsuit cites a
nearly-60-year-old document: a 1959 Department of the Army manual detailing the
procedure for military executions, specifically the provisions for a firing
squad in a section entitled "Executions By Musketry."
The 1959 military protocol called for 8 rifles -- with as many as 3 loaded with
blanks -- to be shot at the condemned prisoner's heart.
According to the protocol, following the rifle shots, "if necessary," the head
of the execution team would administer a "coup de grace" -- a pistol shot
"holding the muzzle just above the ear and 1 foot from the head."
Nashville attorney David Raybin, who helped craft Tennessee's death penalty
law, says the lawsuit is an attempt to convince a federal judge to halt lethal
injections in Tennessee, while the inmates also await rulings from state
appellate courts -- an effort Raybin calls "a stretch," but one that the
inmates may have to make to avoid death by lethal injection.
"These defendants are running out of legal options here, and this is an
interesting way of presenting these issues," Raybin said.
While the state legislature would have to approve the firing squad method in
Tennessee for it to be used, it would not necessarily have to follow the
protocol the military used in the 1950s.
(source: newschannel5.com)
ARKANSAS----new execution date (not serious)
Officials set execution date
Scotty Ray Gardner is tentatively scheduled to be put to death later this year.
However, his execution date, currently set for Nov. 21, 2018, may likely
change.
In Arkansas, death-penalty cases are automatically appealed.
A direct appeal is an automatic appeal given to those who are sentenced to
death. The appeal will go before the Arkansas Supreme Court, who will be asked
whether to uphold a death sentence that 12 Faulkner County jurors said Gardner
deserved.
Gardner was convicted of capital murder Tuesday in Faulkner County Circuit
Court after the jury deliberated for 12 minutes.
The jury reached its guilty verdict after listening to testimony from the
state's chief medical examiner, who said Susan "Heather" Stubbs suffered in her
final moments.
Kokes took to the stand and explained in great detail the pains associated with
death by strangulation.
Following a series of gruesome photos, he described how Gardner killed Heather
Stubbs, noting the curling iron cord used to kill the 41-year-old woman was
wrapped around her neck twice. Kokes also told jurors the cord used to kill
Stubbs was wound so tightly around her neck, that after removing the cord from
about her neck, there was extensive indention where the cord was. He also added
that after removing the cord, Arkansas State Crime Lab staff learned the cord
was fixated in a 4 1/2 inch diameter around Stubbs' neck.
"The cord showed a diameter of 4 1/2 inches around Stubbs' neck," he said
Tuesday morning. "It was [wound] tightly around the neck, it wasn't loose at
all."
On Wednesday, the jury heard how Stubbs' 2016 strangulation death affected the
41-year-old's family.
Those who took to the stand said Stubbs' death continues affecting her family
on a daily basis.
Gardner showed little interest in the testimony against him, and asked his
attorneys not to fight on his behalf.
Because he was sentenced to death, Gardner will be housed in the Arkansas
Department of Corrections Varner Unit, which sits adjacent to the Cummins Unit
in Lincoln County. In Arkansas, which carries out death penalties via lethal
injection, death injections are performed at the Cummins Unit.
(source: Log Cabin Democrat)
OKLAHOMA:
Interesting views on execution method from Oklahoma's death row
The death penalty remains a source of controversy across the United States,
with opponents arguing it is inhumane and proponents saying it's merited, and
worthwhile, for the most heinous killers. Opinions expressed by some of those
awaiting the ultimate punishment in Oklahoma provide an interesting
perspective.
The Oklahoman's Justin Wingerter wrote to Oklahoma's 47 death row inmates to
ask their opinion of the state's decision to use nitrogen gas in the death
chamber. The decision to switch from drug injection was announced in March by
the attorney general's office and the Department of Corrections, following
problems with previous executions and increasing difficulty obtaining the
necessary drugs.
Oklahoma will be the 1st state to use nitrogen gas, which ensures that legal
challenges await. And, the decision to change was criticized by anti-death
penalty groups that said the state shouldn't be looking for innovative ways to
kill people. That sentiment was shared by 1 of the 7 death row inmates who
answered Wingerter.
"How many ways can you think of where people said, 'Here is a better way?'"
wrote Anthony Sanchez, 39, who's on death row for the 1996 killing of a college
student. Sanchez cited crucifixion, the guillotine, hanging, firing squad,
electrocution, lethal injection and, now, gas.
"These people that are sitting in a room, coming up with a better way to kill a
human, are no better than the thugs plotting to kill other thugs," Sanchez
said. That sentiment was echoed by Emmanuel Littlejohn, on death row for a 1992
robbery in which a convenience store owner was shot and killed.
Donald Grant, 42, said he considers nitrogen gas to be cruel and unusual
punishment. However, another death row inmate, Wade Lay, 57, wrote that
nitrogen gas "would only be 3 or 4 minutes of suffering. I have suffered untold
torments from this prison."
The amount of suffering inflicted in the death chamber has been the subject of
numerous legal fights through the years. At least 1 Oklahoma death row inmate
thinks that's ridiculous.
Ronson Bush, 41, awaiting execution for killing a friend in 2008, said it
"sickens" him that "these inmates didn't give their victims a pain-free death
so how dare they" complain about their manner of death. Acknowledging it would
never happen, Bush even suggested the method of execution "should be the exact
way you killed your victim."
Wendell Grissom, 49, convicted in the 2005 murder of a woman in Watonga, said
nitrogen gas is more humane than lethal injection, but will keep him from
donating his organs. To be able to do that, he said, "I honestly would prefer
the firing squad. ... It would be a good way for me to try to make amends to
the society of Oklahoma's citizens for the wrong I've done."
Donnie Harris, 35, who was convicted of killing his girlfriend in 2012, wrote
that when someone maliciously takes another's life, "it's only fair that in one
way or another, that person has to forfeit his or her own life."
He would get no argument from many in Oklahoma, where support for the death
penalty remains strong even as it wanes elsewhere.
(source: Editorial Board, The Oklahoman)
UTAH/MISSOURI:
Utah professor files Supreme Court brief, supporting victims' rights in death
penalty case
A Utah law professor filed a brief to the Supreme Court in support of victims'
rights in a death penalty case Thursday.
Dr. Paul Cassell from the University of Utah's S.J. Quinney College of Law, and
Allyson Ho from Gibson, Dunn & Cruntcher LLP - a law firm in Washington, D.C. -
filed a new amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court, outlining the harmful
effects for victims' families that occur during delays in death penalty cases.
The filing was made in the case of Bucklew v. Precythe, which is currently
pending before the high court.
Cassell and Ho argued in the brief that family members suffer unfairly when
delays in death penalty cases prevent executions from being carried out. This
includes the previously-stated case with the family of Michael Sanders, who was
killed by Russell Bucklew in 1996, and have waited for years to see the
execution come into fruition.
"Abundant academic literature thus confirms what common sense and experience
make plain. A victim's experience with the criminal justice system -
particularly when the process is long-delayed, convoluted, and seemingly
never-ending - compounds the initial effects of violent crime," Cassell and Ho
wrote in the brief.
The brief also states a victim's experience with the criminal justice system
often means "the difference between a healing experience and one that
exacerbates the initial trauma."
Cassell and the attorneys became a voice in the case for the Sanders family.
Bucklew killed Sanders after he arrived at a trailer where Sanders was spending
time with Bucklew's ex-girlfriend Stephanie Ray. Angry that Ray had moved on
and was dating Sanders, Bucklew shot Sanders dead and tried to shoot a child
escaping the scene. Bucklew then handcuffed Ray, pulled her into a car and
raped her. When police arrived, Bucklew wounded an officer during a gun fight.
He was arrested but later escaped from jail, then attacked the rape victim's
mother with a hammer before he was recaptured. The case drew attention 1st in
Missouri, where it happened, before it went national.
Multiple appeals and delays prolonged Bucklew's execution. In March, the
Supreme Court stayed Bucklew's execution after Bucklew's attorney argued that
he could choke on his own blood during lethal injection if it were used as the
execution method. How executions are carried out when inmates have medical
conditions is one of the issues the Supreme Court will consider.
(source: KUTV news)
ARIZONA:
Prosecutors Want Death Penalty for Ex-Phoenix Cop Accused of Killing Daughter
Maricopa County prosecutors will seek the death penalty Friday morning for a
former Phoenix cop and his Australian wife in the abuse and death of his
7-year-old daughter, according to court filings.
Germayne and Lisa Cunningham return to Superior Court to hear potentially fresh
evidence that prosecutors say justifies their execution. Prosecutors also will
argue the couple should be jailed for the 1st time, 8 months after a grand jury
indicted them on 10 counts of child abuse and 1 of murder of his daughter,
Sanaa.
Prosecutors cited state criminal codes, which state that anyone charged with a
capital case is ineligible for bail.
The last time the Cunninghams appeared before a judge for a detention hearing,
Germayne was late and Lisa missed it altogether.
Ultimately, the judge ordered both free on bond, as long as they wore ankle
monitors, didn't discuss the case with each other, or contact their children.
Germayne, 39, and Lisa, 43, stand accused of horrific crimes. Both have pleaded
not guilty to all counts.
Prosecutors alleged in court the couple bound Sanaa with plastic police ties,
left her to sleep outside, locked her in a laundry room, garage, or patio,
often wearing diapers or a makeshift straitjacket.
They forced Sanaa to rake rocks or pick up dog feces with her bare hands,
prosecutors alleged, adding that when she got a cut on her foot that turned
septic, they treated it with Neosporin and gauze and never sought medical help.
They did seek medical help, court and autopsy records show, for Sanaa's
numerous, serious and, for her age, rare, mental health conditions. Those
included schizophrenia, pica, mood disorders, and conditions that led her to
urinate and defecate uncontrollably.
The autopsy took 5 pages to describe her "complicated medical history."
It noted at least 60 scars on Sanaa's body, plus more than 100 cuts and
bruises. She had multiple ulcers and abscesses on her nose, hands, legs and
feet and died of septic shock. Pathologists could not conclude if the festering
wounds, or inadequate treatment of them, directly caused Sanaa's early death.
The autopsy states the manner of death was "undetermined" and how the injuries
occurred "unknown."
The Cunninghams told investigators that everything they did was to protect
Sanaa from herself and her siblings. They and court records say Sanaa would
bite, scratch, and hit herself. She ate the hair of her dolls.
Overwhelmed, the Cunninghams confined Sanaa because they didn't know what else
to do, they told authorities.
Initially, Goodyear police detectives who went to the house sided with their
former colleague. No charges were filed. The Goodyear Police Department was set
to release to Phoenix New Times 2,500 pages of police reports from the
investigation of Sanaa's death, but were barred by a court order.
Arizona Department of Child Safety records from three separate investigations
were similarly blocked.
State child welfare agents since put their 2 youngest children in a foster
home, while prosecutors alleged in court motions filed this week that Lisa
Cunningham violated the conditions of her release. Prosecutors said she texted
her 16-year-old son repeatedly and arranged to pick up her 21-year-old daughter
from her grandparents' house without their knowledge and move her into the
Cunninghams' house. The older children are Lisa's from a former marriage. Sanaa
is Germayne's daughter from a previous marriage. The 2 youngest are the
Cunninghams' children together.
When pretrial services officers visited the Cunninghams' home, they were
convinced the daughter, Cierra, was living there, prosecutors said in their
motion.
They added that Cierra and the boy witnessed Sanaa's abuse and that the son
"made disclosures regarding the abuse he witnessed."
In March, the Cunninghams moved to a new house, 3 miles from where the boy
lives.
Prosecutors alleged the Cunninghams not only violated their release conditions,
but also were trying to interfere with witnesses.
"This is a clear attempt to keep a material witness under her control,"
prosecutors argued about Cierra's relocation.
About efforts to contact Lisa's son, they stated in court records, "These are
obvious attempts to access a witness to the crimes with which the defendant is
charged."
Defense lawyers argued that all of the state's claims are bogus.
The Cunninghams first contacted the son in January, and prosecutors never
mentioned it until this week, they said. Nothing in the release order barred
them from moving near the grandparents' house, and state welfare agents had no
say over 21-year-old child. The order to prevent the Cunninghams seeing their
children didn't apply to Cierra because she was not Germayne Cunningham's
daughter, and not a child, they argued.
"There is no evidence that assisting an adult child from leaving her
grandparents' home (even if that were true) amounts to controlling that
witness," defense lawyers argued.
Nor, they said, was there any evidence the Cunninghams talked about the case.
The filed an email written Tuesday by a county probation officer confirming
they'd lived up to the terms of their release.
Lisa Cunningham's attorney filed a sarcastic motion to ask the court not to
reject prosecutors' efforts to jail her.
"The state appears to be arguing that Lisa cannot live with her husband,
despite the court's clear order to the contrary," defense lawyer Eric Kessler
wrote.
He went on to describe the Maricopa County Attorney's Office pleadings as laden
with "purple prose," with unfounded accusations such as the one saying she
"secreted" her daughter away. He added that no 1st-year law school student
would make the arguments to confine his client, adding, "what lawyer would put
neck on the line for the contents of this petition?"
(source: Sean Holstege; Phoenix New Times)
CALIFORNIA:
Ventura County DA looking into Golden State Killer suspect's life for death
penalty talks
As the potential for a death penalty case moves forward for the Golden State
Killer suspect, the Ventura County District Attorney's Office is tasked with
compiling the details of his life.
The background check on Joseph James DeAngelo, 72, of Citrus Heights, is
expected to range from his education, mental and emotional health, and
work-related skills to familial and social relationships, according to District
Attorney Greg Totten.
"We're looking to learn everything we can learn about Mr. DeAngelo," Totten
said.
DeAngelo was arrested April 24 outside his home in Sacramento County on
suspicion of being one of California's most notorious serial killers in the
1970s and '80s.
Ultimately, genealogical DNA from an ancestry website was used to identify
DeAngelo as the suspect more than 40 years after several murders, kidnappings,
rapes, burglaries and robberies were committed in 6 counties across the state,
according to an amended complaint filed Tuesday in Sacramento County Superior
Court.
The former police officer, who was in court Thursday has not yet entered a plea
to the 26 felony charges stemming from offenses in Contra Costa, Orange,
Sacramento, Santa Barbara, Tulare and Ventura counties.
The top prosecutors in each of those counties announced Tuesday that DeAngelo
was to be tried in connection with the crimes at the same time in Sacramento
County Superior Court.
Of the 13 murder charges, 12 include a variety of special circumstances spelled
out in the state penal code that make DeAngelo eligible for the death penalty,
should prosecutors decide to seek it. Those special circumstances include
allegations of multiple murders, murders committed during the commission of
burglaries, robberies and rapes.
Other work on the case has been divided up, Totten said.
His office has been tasked with combing through DeAngelo's life. That
information would be used when considering the death penalty.
"It's a very solemn process and it's a very rigorous process because it's a
significant decision," Totten said of the work to be done when considering
capital punishment.
As the case moves forward under the recently revealed prosecution plan, Totten
said the district attorneys will begin to familiarize themselves with alleged
offenses that happened outside their jurisdiction.
In death penalty cases, the law maps out certain factors to be weighed. They
include the circumstances of the crime, the presence or absence of prior
criminal conduct, any prior felony convictions, whether the crime was committed
when under the influence of extreme mental or emotional disturbance and whether
the defendant was under extreme duress, Totten said.
It's too early for the district attorneys to sit down and discuss whether to
seek death. However, when those discussions do happen, the defendant's
attorneys are invited to make their own arguments and presentations, Totten
said.
It's unclear when a decision will be made or when discussions would start.
Totten said he did not want to speak for the other district attorneys, but in
Ventura County it typically happens after some sort of probable cause hearing
like a preliminary examination.
(source: Ventura County Star)
USA:
Trump Tells Sessions He Favors Death Penalty for Fentanyl Dealers
President Donald Trump told Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Thursday that
illegal dealers of the opioid fentanyl should be sentenced to death when
convicted, according to 3 administration officials familiar with the matter.
Sessions met Trump at the White House to discuss overhauling prison sentences,
hours after Trump again ripped into the attorney general in an interview with
Fox News. The meeting was cordial and the 2 men agreed to delay a push for any
criminal justice reforms until after midterm congressional elections, one of
the people said.
Several other administration officials were in the meeting, including Kellyanne
Conway, who is overseeing the White House's opioid response, and senior adviser
Jared Kushner.
It's not the 1st time Trump has mused about sentencing drug dealers to death.
Politico reported in March that the proposal would be included in a plan
expected from the White House to combat the opioids crisis.
Trump wants the death penalty for cases in which fentanyl dealers caused
someone's death because of drugs they sold, one of the administration officials
said.
Constitutional Question
Under a law signed by President Bill Clinton, people who deal large quantities
of drugs or make large amounts of money from the trade can already be sentenced
to death. But prosecutors have never sought the penalty out of concern it would
be found to be unconstitutional, Politico reported.
Fentanyl is one of the world's most dangerous and most profitable narcotics, so
powerful that it's been studied as a chemical weapon, Bloomberg Businessweek
reported in May. It kills more people than any other opioid, including heroin,
because it's so easy to overdose.
The drug or its analogs killed an estimated 29,000 Americans in 2017, according
to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Republican Senator Mike Lee of Utah, a supporter of the criminal justice
overhaul who met with Kushner Thursday on the issue, said in an interview that
the fentanyl death penalty provision would not be added to the criminal justice
overhaul, because it would jeopardize passage.
Lee added that if the president wants that provision it would have to be done
separately.
Lee said he sees a breakthrough on moving forward with a compromise backed by
the president after the midterm elections. A senior administration official
said Trump wants to reach a deal on overhaul but hasn't yet committed to
specifics.
"We're confident we can get the votes," Lee said.
'A Careful Balance'
The revised package drops some key provisions in the Senate Judiciary bill
providing retroactivity to prisoners in the system today. In a concession to
conservatives, the only provision that would be retroactive in the compromise
bill is giving judges discretion to apply lower mandatory minimums for people
convicted of crack cocaine crimes before a law co-authored by Sessions, then a
senator from Alabama, was enacted.
Other provisions limiting mandatory minimum sentences for certain crimes such
as drug dealing would only affect future cases, Lee said.
"We still feel like this preserves a careful balance," Lee said, and thinks it
"will get an overwhelming majority of Republicans and an overwhelming majority
of Democrats."
He predicted they could get 70 to 90 votes for the package.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky has agreed to do a formal
whip count after the midterms, one of the administration officials said.
(source: Bloomberg News)
****************************
Pope's decision to make death penalty 'inadmissible' may face opposition from
conservative Roman Catholics
A new ruling by Pope Francis published Thursday saying that the death penalty
is "inadmissible" in all circumstances, and that the church must try to abolish
it, may generate opposition by conservative Roman Catholics in the U.S. and
other countries.
The Vatican announced Francis had updated the catechism of the Catholic Church
- which represents official Catholic teaching - to exclude the death penalty, a
move that reflects Francis' focus on mercy. Before the pope's update, the
church accepted capital punishment under some circumstances, a position
supported by many of its more than 1 billion members worldwide.
"Recourse to the death penalty on the part of legitimate authority, following a
fair trial, was long considered an appropriate response to the gravity of
certain crimes and an acceptable, albeit extreme, means of safeguarding the
common good," the updated section of the catechism says.
It then adds that the church now views the death penalty as "inadmissible
because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person," and
that it will work for its "abolition worldwide."
Francis has opposed capital punishment for years and his predecessors, Benedict
XVI and John Paul II, also argued against it. But Francis decided to leave no
room for doubt in the catechism during a meeting this year with Cardinal Luis
Ladaria, the head of the church's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
The change reflects the "clearer awareness of the church for the respect due to
every human life," Ladaria said in an open letter Thursday. The church wanted
to energize the campaign against the death penalty, he wrote.
If the death penalty were once justified to keep the public safe from
criminals, jails were now more secure and "the rehabilitation and social
reintegration of the criminal was now a higher priority," Ladaria wrote.
Father Tom Reese, a Jesuit priest and Vatican expert, said the change is
expected to see some opposition from conservative Catholics in the United
States.
"The loophole has until now been a reason not to speak up, but the next time
there is a horrendous criminal due to be executed, perhaps for a school
shooting, bishops will have a duty to say this shouldn't be done," he said.
A conservative Catholic blog, Rorate Caeli, tweeted Thursday that Francis was
"In open violation of the authority recognized to him," and that "no Catholic
has any obligation of obedience to abuse of authority."
Father James Martin, a Jesuit priest and author, said the change might "fuel
discontent" among U.S. conservative Catholics who are critical of Francis for
his emphasis on mercy before rigid doctrine.
"Some people who said any disagreement with the catechism was dissent when
Benedict and John Paul were popes seem to feel free to disagree with this now,"
he said in an interview.
The change was welcomed by Mario Marazziti, the head of the campaign against
the death penalty run by Rome-based Sant'Egidio, which is recognized by the
church as a public lay association with tens of thousands of members worldwide.
"Now that the refusal of the death penalty is absolute, conservative Catholics
who are pro-life and pro-death penalty will have to start questioning that and
decide if they want to respect the pope's authority or be disobedient
Catholics," he said in a phone interview.
"People like the late Supreme Court judge Antonin Scalia said the death penalty
was consistent with Catholicism. Now that becomes impossible," he said.
Marazziti said he expects more Catholics to increasingly oppose capital
punishment.
"The death penalty only exists to please public opinion since it doesn't cut
crime, and I believe public opinion will shift," he said.
"Other Christian denominations believe in retributive justice, taking a
fundamentalist approach to the biblical statement about an "eye for an eye,"
but Pope Francis believes there is nothing that cannot be forgiven," Marazziti
said.
The death penalty has long divided U.S. Catholics even though church leaders
have frequently spoken out against it. A Pew survey this year found that 53% of
American Catholics supported capital punishment and that 43% were against it.
Still, a vocal minority of conservative Catholic priests has argued for putting
criminals to death.
Father C. John McCloskey III is an Opus Dei priest known for helping a number
of Republican politicians, including then-Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback and Newt
Gingrich, convert to Catholicism.
"It is a great grace to know the time of one's death, as it gives us the
opportunity to get right with the Lord who will judge us at our death,"
McCloskey wrote in a 2015 article. "Perhaps many people have been saved in this
way by the death penalty. Who knows what would have happened if they had been
allowed to linger in this life, one day possibly killing other people?"
Several U.S. bishops expressed their support of the pope's decision via
Twitter.
Bishop Felipe J. Estevez of St. Augustine, Fla., described the news as one of
"hope and consolation" for prisoners on death row.
"Today, our Catholic ministers officially console them with hope for when the
day draws near when they no longer will be awaiting for the punishment of
death," Estevez tweeted.
Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of Brooklyn, N.Y., said in a statement on Facebook
that Francis "has made even clearer the Church's consistent life ethic."
"While it has become popular for people to accept capital punishment as a just
consequence for heinous crimes, the death penalty is an act of revenge,"
DiMarzo wrote. "Taking someone's life, regardless of the reason, is an
attack.... Capital punishment destroys the sanctity of life and diminishes us
as a society."
One of the nation's most prominent activists against the death penalty, Sister
Helen Prejean, tweeted that she was "overjoyed" and "deeply grateful" to the
pope. Prejean, a nun in the Sisters of St. Joseph of Medaille in New Orleans,
called it a "great day for human rights."
(source: Los Angeles Times)
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PENNSYLVANIA:
DA again seeks death penalty against convicted cop killer granted new
sentencing hearing
A man sentenced to death for killing a police officer in Cumberland County more
than 2 decades ago will get a new sentence. And the district attorney just
announced he's again seeking the death penalty.
District Attorney Skip Ebert said he believes all the requirements are there to
get a 2nd death sentence against Seifullah Abdul-Salaam.
Abdul-Salaam was convicted of fatally shooting New Cumberland police officer
Willis Cole during a robbery at a coin shop in August 1994.
Abdul-Salaam has been appealing his sentence since his conviction, and a
federal court ruled he can get a new sentencing hearing.
Ebert said he's been in consultation with Cole's family. And along with the
original evidence, Ebert decided to pursue the death penalty again, even though
an execution hasn't been carried out in Pennsylvania in nearly 20 years.
"The position on the death penalty is something that the Legislature has to
address," Ebert said. "If they abolish it, that's fine. Right now, the law that
I was sworn to uphold says there shall be the possibility of the death penalty
in situations such as this."
Abdul-Salaam had wanted to present evidence of his violent upbringing at his
original sentencing hearing, but his attorney at the time didn't do that. That
evidence may be presented at the new hearing.
(source: WGAL news)
FLORIDA:
Florida's diehard pursuit of the death penalty is a blot on the Sunshine State
Florida's approach to the death penalty is deepening its outlier status on this
human rights issue and has now added an extra layer of arbitrariness to its
already discriminatory and error-prone capital justice system, Amnesty
International said in a new report released today.
"While several US states have embraced abolition in recent years, Florida
remains a diehard proponent of the death penalty and one of a handful of states
that account for the bulk of executions in the USA," said Erika Guevara Rosas,
Americas Director at Amnesty International.
"Despite its capital sentencing law being found unconstitutional 2 years ago,
Florida still has the 2nd largest death row in the country. Its response to
that ruling has been to dig in and defend the indefensible, including the
execution of people with mental and intellectual disabilities."
Florida shows few signs of joining the USA's 19 states that have already
abolished the death penalty or the others that are rethinking it. It is ranked
4th in the number of executions carried out in the USA since 1976, when the US
Supreme Court approved new capital laws.
Darkness visible in the Sunshine State: The death penalty in Florida examines
how many death row inmates have been denied the chance of a review of their
death sentences by the state's response to the Hurst v. Florida ruling in 2016,
in which the US Supreme Court overturned the state's capital sentencing statute
because it gave juries only an advisory role in death sentencing.
Instead of responding with a serious reassessment of capital justice, the state
legislature quickly moved to revise the statute to allow death sentencing to
resume. Florida's Supreme Court has since made the Hurst ruling apply only to a
limited group of existing cases, meaning about half of the nearly 400 people
then on death row would not even be entitled to new sentencing hearings.
As one of Florida's Justices predicted when objecting to the decision to grant
only limited retroactivity, the fate of those on death row would depend on
"little more than a roll of the dice". 4 people deemed to fall on the wrong
side of the retroactivity cut-off have already been put to death, while scores
more await execution.
The report provides case examples of the sort of arbitrariness being wrought
upon death row, showing how some individuals are getting relief and others not,
often simply due to timing.
Matthew Marshall is on death row for murder committed in 1988 when he was 24
years old. The jury voted unanimously for life imprisonment but the judge
overruled their decision, sentencing Marshall to death. Even though such
overrides are now prohibited in Florida following the Hurst ruling, he has been
deemed ineligible for retroactive relief.
Even before the Hurst ruling, 2 US Supreme Court Justices had argued that the
death penalty in the USA has fallen into disrepair because of arbitrariness and
error, and was not being reserved for the "worst of the worst" crimes and
offenders, as required under US constitutional law. The situation in Florida
illustrates all their concerns.
The report focuses on three categories of death row prisoners: individuals with
serious mental disability, those assessed with actual or borderline
intellectual disability, and young adults deemed as having mental maturity
lower than 18-year-olds and backgrounds of severe deprivation and abuse.
By being sentenced to death, these defendants are being branded as the "worst
of the worst" - offenders whose "extreme culpability makes them the most
deserving of execution". The cases examined in the report question the
assumption that the use of the death penalty in the Sunshine State is in line
with this constitutional restriction.
The featured cases include that of Tony Watts, who was sentenced to death in
Florida in 1989 and has spent almost 1/2 of the years since then in a prison
psychiatric hospital because of his severe mental disability. The state
continues to defend his death sentence rather than commute it.
The report also highlights how race influences use of the death penalty in
Florida. 20 of the state's 96 executions since 1976 were of black defendants
convicted of killing white victims, but no white person has been executed for
killing solely a black person in Florida. Despite this imbalance, it remains
almost impossible for the those under sentence of death to mount a successful
claim of systemic racial discrimination.
"The USA must stop resorting to the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading
punishment, and join the 142 countries that are abolitionist in law or practice
today," said Erika Guevara Rosas.
"2 wrongs don't make a right. The death penalty is no way to impart justice.
Florida and all other states where the death penalty is still in use must
impose immediate moratoriums on executions until they can end this cruel
practice once and for all."
Amnesty International opposes the death penalty unconditionally. The
organization calls on Florida's governor and his cabinet to stop signing death
warrants and commute the death sentences of all those on death row as first
critical steps towards abolition.
Prosecutors in Florida should stop pursuing this punishment when faced with
capital murder cases and, at a minimum, the authorities should ensure that all
judges and juries are made fully aware of the mitigating evidence surrounding
mental and intellectual disabilities, emotional and psychological immaturity,
or backgrounds of abuse and deprivation of all defendants and death row
prisoners.
(source: Amnesty International)
TENNESSEE:
Tennessee death row inmates raise using firing squad in new execution legal
challenge----The federal lawsuit, filed Tuesday, says the state tortured Billy
Ray Irick to death when he was injected with toxic chemicals and argues using
the same drugs in another execution would violate constitutional bans on cruel
and unusual punishment.
In a new legal challenge to Tennessee's execution process, death row offenders
say using a firing squad would be more humane than the state's current lethal
injection method.
The federal lawsuit, filed Tuesday, says the state tortured Billy Ray Irick to
death when he was injected with toxic chemicals and argues using the same drugs
in another execution would violate constitutional bans on cruel and unusual
punishment.
Their argument is a familiar one, which other courts have rejected, but the
inmates go one step further in outlining a macabre and required component of
such lawsuits.
They suggest several other methods, including a firing squad, are preferable
and are constitutional ways to die compared to the state's 3-drug execution
protocol.
A firing squad can be "implemented because the Big Buck Shooting Range is
located on the grounds of Riverbend Maximum (Security) Institution and can
easily accommodate the equipment required for an execution..." the lawsuit
states, referencing the Nashville prison that houses Tennessee's death row and
execution chamber.
"Execution by this manner and method would damage the heart and cause a near
immediate drop in blood pressure, including blood pressure in the brain. This
will cause a loss of consciousness rapidly followed by death."
Why the inmates filed the lawsuit
It's still highly unlikely Tennessee would actually use a firing squad, given
the electric chair is the currently legal alternative to lethal injection. The
chances the inmates win this lawsuit are also low, considering many of their
arguments mirror failed legal maneuvers deployed by Irick.
The lawsuit is brought by attorneys representing death row offenders David Earl
Miller, Nicholas Todd Sutton and Stephen Michael West. Miller - who's spent the
most time on death row among its 60 current occupants - is scheduled to be
executed Dec. 6. Edmund Zagorski, scheduled to die Oct. 11, is not part of this
lawsuit.
Dana C. Hansen Chavis, a federal public defender representing Miller, Sutton
and West in the lawsuit, declined to comment Thursday. Other legal challenges
to lethal injections in Tennessee are still pending.
Irick and 32 other death row offenders sued the state in early 2018, arguing
its lethal injection violates the Constitution. After a 2-week trial in July,
Davidson County Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle rejected the inmates' arguments.
The Tennessee Supreme Court and U.S. Supreme Court also declined to intervene
in Irick's case.
On Aug. 9, Irick was executed by lethal injection inside the prison. He was
convicted in 1986 on charges of raping and murdering Paula Dyer, a 7-year-old
Knox County girl.
An execution team injected Irick with midazolam, vecuronium bromide and
potassium chloride. Midazolam is supposed to render the inmate unconscious and
unable to feel pain, but expert testimony at a trial leading up to Irick's
death showed the drug frequently does not prevent pain.
That would mean the 2nd and 3rd drugs, intended to stop the lungs and heart,
would cause pain similar to drowning and being burned alive, advocates and
experts say.
Irick snored, his chest heaved, and at times coughed during the roughly
21-minute execution. Attorneys in the lawsuit say this is clear evidence he was
tortured to death.
The lawsuit notes several states have stopped using midazolam. Irick and Miller
are both overweight and have similar body types, as to other death row
offenders, the lawsuit states, arguing this means the offenders would likely
suffer the same torture as Irick.
What are the other proposed execution alternatives?
In the lawsuit, attorneys also argue the legal requirement that they propose
alternative execution methods is unconstitutional. They say it violates
inmates' 8th and 14th amendments as "it inflicts serious psychological harm and
is itself a type of cruel and unusual punishment."
If they must present alternatives, the lawsuit states the four would
"significantly reduce a substantial risk of severe pain" compared to the
current protocol.
3 of the 4 proposed alternatives involve medications. They are:
Pentobarbital: Other states, including Texas, use the drug. Although Tennessee
prison officials have said they can't obtain it, attorneys here argue they
haven't tried hard enough.
Removing the vecuronium bromide: Simply removing the 2nd drug from the current
3-drug method would reduce the chance the offender is tortured, according to
the lawsuit. Attorneys tried to raise this argument late in Irick's legal
proceedings as well.
Orally administering the drugs: This proposal suggests there are medications
that could be administered orally instead of through an injection. It does not
explain how this would cause less pain than injecting the drugs.
If none of those 3 are accepted, inmates ask the state to use a firing squad.
Why firing squads are unlikely in Tennessee
Only Mississippi, Oklahoma and Utah formally authorize the use of a firing
squad, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Utah officials
executed an inmate by firing squad in 2010, the most recent usage in the United
States.
Tennessee, like most other states that allow the death penalty, uses lethal
injection as the primary means of execution. If the state certifies it can't
find lethal injection drugs, or if a court determines lethal injection is
unconstitutional, then Tennessee will use the electric chair.
If a court determines the electric chair is unconstitutional, then the state is
allowed to carry out executions via "any constitutional method." In theory,
that could mean a firing squad, but that would require several significant
court rulings.
In 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court denied an Alabama offender's request to die
using a firing squad instead of lethal injection. However, Justices Sonia
Sotomayor and Stephen Breyer dissented with the majority of the court.
"Even if a prisoner can prove that the state plans to kill him in an
intolerably cruel manner, and even if he can prove that there is a feasible
alternative, all a state has to do to execute him through an unconstitutional
method is to pass a statute declining to authorize any alternative method,"
Sotomayor wrote in her dissent, as reported by USA TODAY. "This cannot be
right."
The inmates in the lawsuit outline a proposed protocol for a firing squad. They
cite a version of the Procedure for Military Executions, created by the U.S.
Army in 1959.
The procedure requires 8 marksmen using rifles. At least 1 rifle, but no more
than 3, would be loaded with blanks. The marksmen would grab the rifles at
random, in order to lessen the chances the executioners know who actually
fatally shoots the condemned.
A target would be placed over the offender's heart, a hood over the inmate's
head. The marksmen would stand 15 paces away from the inmate. After the inmate
is allowed to make a final statement, an officer would give the order to fire.
As noted in the lawsuit, the protocol also includes a back-up plan if the
offender doesn't immediately die. Called in the protocol a "coup de grace," or
"blow of mercy," an officer would take a handgun, hold the muzzle 1 foot above
the offender's ear and pull the trigger.
(source: WBIR news)
*****************
Lawsuit Suggests Firing Squad As Death Penalty Option
A lawsuit filed by an attorney representing 4 Tennessee death row inmates
suggests that death by firing squad is a better option to minimize harm to
prisoners scheduled to die.
The federal lawsuit, filed by death row inmates David Earl Miller, Nicholas
Todd Sutton, Stephen Michael West, and Larry McKay, is the latest attempt to
stop the state from using its 3-drug lethal injection protocol to kill death
row inmates. They argue the drugs used make it possible for inmates to feel
intense pain while being put to death, while that pain is masked by a paralytic
in 1 of the drugs.
Among 4 alternatives proposed by the inmates' attorney, the lawsuit says the
firing squad is an option that could potentially be available to carry out
death sentences, even though it is currently banned in Tennessee and nearly
every other state.
The lawsuit says the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld death by firing squad as
constitutional.
In making the case for a firing squad alternative, the lawsuit cites a
nearly-60-year-old document: a 1959 Department of the Army manual detailing the
procedure for military executions, specifically the provisions for a firing
squad in a section entitled "Executions By Musketry."
The 1959 military protocol called for 8 rifles -- with as many as 3 loaded with
blanks -- to be shot at the condemned prisoner's heart.
According to the protocol, following the rifle shots, "if necessary," the head
of the execution team would administer a "coup de grace" -- a pistol shot
"holding the muzzle just above the ear and 1 foot from the head."
Nashville attorney David Raybin, who helped craft Tennessee's death penalty
law, says the lawsuit is an attempt to convince a federal judge to halt lethal
injections in Tennessee, while the inmates also await rulings from state
appellate courts -- an effort Raybin calls "a stretch," but one that the
inmates may have to make to avoid death by lethal injection.
"These defendants are running out of legal options here, and this is an
interesting way of presenting these issues," Raybin said.
While the state legislature would have to approve the firing squad method in
Tennessee for it to be used, it would not necessarily have to follow the
protocol the military used in the 1950s.
(source: newschannel5.com)
ARKANSAS----new execution date (not serious)
Officials set execution date
Scotty Ray Gardner is tentatively scheduled to be put to death later this year.
However, his execution date, currently set for Nov. 21, 2018, may likely
change.
In Arkansas, death-penalty cases are automatically appealed.
A direct appeal is an automatic appeal given to those who are sentenced to
death. The appeal will go before the Arkansas Supreme Court, who will be asked
whether to uphold a death sentence that 12 Faulkner County jurors said Gardner
deserved.
Gardner was convicted of capital murder Tuesday in Faulkner County Circuit
Court after the jury deliberated for 12 minutes.
The jury reached its guilty verdict after listening to testimony from the
state's chief medical examiner, who said Susan "Heather" Stubbs suffered in her
final moments.
Kokes took to the stand and explained in great detail the pains associated with
death by strangulation.
Following a series of gruesome photos, he described how Gardner killed Heather
Stubbs, noting the curling iron cord used to kill the 41-year-old woman was
wrapped around her neck twice. Kokes also told jurors the cord used to kill
Stubbs was wound so tightly around her neck, that after removing the cord from
about her neck, there was extensive indention where the cord was. He also added
that after removing the cord, Arkansas State Crime Lab staff learned the cord
was fixated in a 4 1/2 inch diameter around Stubbs' neck.
"The cord showed a diameter of 4 1/2 inches around Stubbs' neck," he said
Tuesday morning. "It was [wound] tightly around the neck, it wasn't loose at
all."
On Wednesday, the jury heard how Stubbs' 2016 strangulation death affected the
41-year-old's family.
Those who took to the stand said Stubbs' death continues affecting her family
on a daily basis.
Gardner showed little interest in the testimony against him, and asked his
attorneys not to fight on his behalf.
Because he was sentenced to death, Gardner will be housed in the Arkansas
Department of Corrections Varner Unit, which sits adjacent to the Cummins Unit
in Lincoln County. In Arkansas, which carries out death penalties via lethal
injection, death injections are performed at the Cummins Unit.
(source: Log Cabin Democrat)
OKLAHOMA:
Interesting views on execution method from Oklahoma's death row
The death penalty remains a source of controversy across the United States,
with opponents arguing it is inhumane and proponents saying it's merited, and
worthwhile, for the most heinous killers. Opinions expressed by some of those
awaiting the ultimate punishment in Oklahoma provide an interesting
perspective.
The Oklahoman's Justin Wingerter wrote to Oklahoma's 47 death row inmates to
ask their opinion of the state's decision to use nitrogen gas in the death
chamber. The decision to switch from drug injection was announced in March by
the attorney general's office and the Department of Corrections, following
problems with previous executions and increasing difficulty obtaining the
necessary drugs.
Oklahoma will be the 1st state to use nitrogen gas, which ensures that legal
challenges await. And, the decision to change was criticized by anti-death
penalty groups that said the state shouldn't be looking for innovative ways to
kill people. That sentiment was shared by 1 of the 7 death row inmates who
answered Wingerter.
"How many ways can you think of where people said, 'Here is a better way?'"
wrote Anthony Sanchez, 39, who's on death row for the 1996 killing of a college
student. Sanchez cited crucifixion, the guillotine, hanging, firing squad,
electrocution, lethal injection and, now, gas.
"These people that are sitting in a room, coming up with a better way to kill a
human, are no better than the thugs plotting to kill other thugs," Sanchez
said. That sentiment was echoed by Emmanuel Littlejohn, on death row for a 1992
robbery in which a convenience store owner was shot and killed.
Donald Grant, 42, said he considers nitrogen gas to be cruel and unusual
punishment. However, another death row inmate, Wade Lay, 57, wrote that
nitrogen gas "would only be 3 or 4 minutes of suffering. I have suffered untold
torments from this prison."
The amount of suffering inflicted in the death chamber has been the subject of
numerous legal fights through the years. At least 1 Oklahoma death row inmate
thinks that's ridiculous.
Ronson Bush, 41, awaiting execution for killing a friend in 2008, said it
"sickens" him that "these inmates didn't give their victims a pain-free death
so how dare they" complain about their manner of death. Acknowledging it would
never happen, Bush even suggested the method of execution "should be the exact
way you killed your victim."
Wendell Grissom, 49, convicted in the 2005 murder of a woman in Watonga, said
nitrogen gas is more humane than lethal injection, but will keep him from
donating his organs. To be able to do that, he said, "I honestly would prefer
the firing squad. ... It would be a good way for me to try to make amends to
the society of Oklahoma's citizens for the wrong I've done."
Donnie Harris, 35, who was convicted of killing his girlfriend in 2012, wrote
that when someone maliciously takes another's life, "it's only fair that in one
way or another, that person has to forfeit his or her own life."
He would get no argument from many in Oklahoma, where support for the death
penalty remains strong even as it wanes elsewhere.
(source: Editorial Board, The Oklahoman)
UTAH/MISSOURI:
Utah professor files Supreme Court brief, supporting victims' rights in death
penalty case
A Utah law professor filed a brief to the Supreme Court in support of victims'
rights in a death penalty case Thursday.
Dr. Paul Cassell from the University of Utah's S.J. Quinney College of Law, and
Allyson Ho from Gibson, Dunn & Cruntcher LLP - a law firm in Washington, D.C. -
filed a new amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court, outlining the harmful
effects for victims' families that occur during delays in death penalty cases.
The filing was made in the case of Bucklew v. Precythe, which is currently
pending before the high court.
Cassell and Ho argued in the brief that family members suffer unfairly when
delays in death penalty cases prevent executions from being carried out. This
includes the previously-stated case with the family of Michael Sanders, who was
killed by Russell Bucklew in 1996, and have waited for years to see the
execution come into fruition.
"Abundant academic literature thus confirms what common sense and experience
make plain. A victim's experience with the criminal justice system -
particularly when the process is long-delayed, convoluted, and seemingly
never-ending - compounds the initial effects of violent crime," Cassell and Ho
wrote in the brief.
The brief also states a victim's experience with the criminal justice system
often means "the difference between a healing experience and one that
exacerbates the initial trauma."
Cassell and the attorneys became a voice in the case for the Sanders family.
Bucklew killed Sanders after he arrived at a trailer where Sanders was spending
time with Bucklew's ex-girlfriend Stephanie Ray. Angry that Ray had moved on
and was dating Sanders, Bucklew shot Sanders dead and tried to shoot a child
escaping the scene. Bucklew then handcuffed Ray, pulled her into a car and
raped her. When police arrived, Bucklew wounded an officer during a gun fight.
He was arrested but later escaped from jail, then attacked the rape victim's
mother with a hammer before he was recaptured. The case drew attention 1st in
Missouri, where it happened, before it went national.
Multiple appeals and delays prolonged Bucklew's execution. In March, the
Supreme Court stayed Bucklew's execution after Bucklew's attorney argued that
he could choke on his own blood during lethal injection if it were used as the
execution method. How executions are carried out when inmates have medical
conditions is one of the issues the Supreme Court will consider.
(source: KUTV news)
ARIZONA:
Prosecutors Want Death Penalty for Ex-Phoenix Cop Accused of Killing Daughter
Maricopa County prosecutors will seek the death penalty Friday morning for a
former Phoenix cop and his Australian wife in the abuse and death of his
7-year-old daughter, according to court filings.
Germayne and Lisa Cunningham return to Superior Court to hear potentially fresh
evidence that prosecutors say justifies their execution. Prosecutors also will
argue the couple should be jailed for the 1st time, 8 months after a grand jury
indicted them on 10 counts of child abuse and 1 of murder of his daughter,
Sanaa.
Prosecutors cited state criminal codes, which state that anyone charged with a
capital case is ineligible for bail.
The last time the Cunninghams appeared before a judge for a detention hearing,
Germayne was late and Lisa missed it altogether.
Ultimately, the judge ordered both free on bond, as long as they wore ankle
monitors, didn't discuss the case with each other, or contact their children.
Germayne, 39, and Lisa, 43, stand accused of horrific crimes. Both have pleaded
not guilty to all counts.
Prosecutors alleged in court the couple bound Sanaa with plastic police ties,
left her to sleep outside, locked her in a laundry room, garage, or patio,
often wearing diapers or a makeshift straitjacket.
They forced Sanaa to rake rocks or pick up dog feces with her bare hands,
prosecutors alleged, adding that when she got a cut on her foot that turned
septic, they treated it with Neosporin and gauze and never sought medical help.
They did seek medical help, court and autopsy records show, for Sanaa's
numerous, serious and, for her age, rare, mental health conditions. Those
included schizophrenia, pica, mood disorders, and conditions that led her to
urinate and defecate uncontrollably.
The autopsy took 5 pages to describe her "complicated medical history."
It noted at least 60 scars on Sanaa's body, plus more than 100 cuts and
bruises. She had multiple ulcers and abscesses on her nose, hands, legs and
feet and died of septic shock. Pathologists could not conclude if the festering
wounds, or inadequate treatment of them, directly caused Sanaa's early death.
The autopsy states the manner of death was "undetermined" and how the injuries
occurred "unknown."
The Cunninghams told investigators that everything they did was to protect
Sanaa from herself and her siblings. They and court records say Sanaa would
bite, scratch, and hit herself. She ate the hair of her dolls.
Overwhelmed, the Cunninghams confined Sanaa because they didn't know what else
to do, they told authorities.
Initially, Goodyear police detectives who went to the house sided with their
former colleague. No charges were filed. The Goodyear Police Department was set
to release to Phoenix New Times 2,500 pages of police reports from the
investigation of Sanaa's death, but were barred by a court order.
Arizona Department of Child Safety records from three separate investigations
were similarly blocked.
State child welfare agents since put their 2 youngest children in a foster
home, while prosecutors alleged in court motions filed this week that Lisa
Cunningham violated the conditions of her release. Prosecutors said she texted
her 16-year-old son repeatedly and arranged to pick up her 21-year-old daughter
from her grandparents' house without their knowledge and move her into the
Cunninghams' house. The older children are Lisa's from a former marriage. Sanaa
is Germayne's daughter from a previous marriage. The 2 youngest are the
Cunninghams' children together.
When pretrial services officers visited the Cunninghams' home, they were
convinced the daughter, Cierra, was living there, prosecutors said in their
motion.
They added that Cierra and the boy witnessed Sanaa's abuse and that the son
"made disclosures regarding the abuse he witnessed."
In March, the Cunninghams moved to a new house, 3 miles from where the boy
lives.
Prosecutors alleged the Cunninghams not only violated their release conditions,
but also were trying to interfere with witnesses.
"This is a clear attempt to keep a material witness under her control,"
prosecutors argued about Cierra's relocation.
About efforts to contact Lisa's son, they stated in court records, "These are
obvious attempts to access a witness to the crimes with which the defendant is
charged."
Defense lawyers argued that all of the state's claims are bogus.
The Cunninghams first contacted the son in January, and prosecutors never
mentioned it until this week, they said. Nothing in the release order barred
them from moving near the grandparents' house, and state welfare agents had no
say over 21-year-old child. The order to prevent the Cunninghams seeing their
children didn't apply to Cierra because she was not Germayne Cunningham's
daughter, and not a child, they argued.
"There is no evidence that assisting an adult child from leaving her
grandparents' home (even if that were true) amounts to controlling that
witness," defense lawyers argued.
Nor, they said, was there any evidence the Cunninghams talked about the case.
The filed an email written Tuesday by a county probation officer confirming
they'd lived up to the terms of their release.
Lisa Cunningham's attorney filed a sarcastic motion to ask the court not to
reject prosecutors' efforts to jail her.
"The state appears to be arguing that Lisa cannot live with her husband,
despite the court's clear order to the contrary," defense lawyer Eric Kessler
wrote.
He went on to describe the Maricopa County Attorney's Office pleadings as laden
with "purple prose," with unfounded accusations such as the one saying she
"secreted" her daughter away. He added that no 1st-year law school student
would make the arguments to confine his client, adding, "what lawyer would put
neck on the line for the contents of this petition?"
(source: Sean Holstege; Phoenix New Times)
CALIFORNIA:
Ventura County DA looking into Golden State Killer suspect's life for death
penalty talks
As the potential for a death penalty case moves forward for the Golden State
Killer suspect, the Ventura County District Attorney's Office is tasked with
compiling the details of his life.
The background check on Joseph James DeAngelo, 72, of Citrus Heights, is
expected to range from his education, mental and emotional health, and
work-related skills to familial and social relationships, according to District
Attorney Greg Totten.
"We're looking to learn everything we can learn about Mr. DeAngelo," Totten
said.
DeAngelo was arrested April 24 outside his home in Sacramento County on
suspicion of being one of California's most notorious serial killers in the
1970s and '80s.
Ultimately, genealogical DNA from an ancestry website was used to identify
DeAngelo as the suspect more than 40 years after several murders, kidnappings,
rapes, burglaries and robberies were committed in 6 counties across the state,
according to an amended complaint filed Tuesday in Sacramento County Superior
Court.
The former police officer, who was in court Thursday has not yet entered a plea
to the 26 felony charges stemming from offenses in Contra Costa, Orange,
Sacramento, Santa Barbara, Tulare and Ventura counties.
The top prosecutors in each of those counties announced Tuesday that DeAngelo
was to be tried in connection with the crimes at the same time in Sacramento
County Superior Court.
Of the 13 murder charges, 12 include a variety of special circumstances spelled
out in the state penal code that make DeAngelo eligible for the death penalty,
should prosecutors decide to seek it. Those special circumstances include
allegations of multiple murders, murders committed during the commission of
burglaries, robberies and rapes.
Other work on the case has been divided up, Totten said.
His office has been tasked with combing through DeAngelo's life. That
information would be used when considering the death penalty.
"It's a very solemn process and it's a very rigorous process because it's a
significant decision," Totten said of the work to be done when considering
capital punishment.
As the case moves forward under the recently revealed prosecution plan, Totten
said the district attorneys will begin to familiarize themselves with alleged
offenses that happened outside their jurisdiction.
In death penalty cases, the law maps out certain factors to be weighed. They
include the circumstances of the crime, the presence or absence of prior
criminal conduct, any prior felony convictions, whether the crime was committed
when under the influence of extreme mental or emotional disturbance and whether
the defendant was under extreme duress, Totten said.
It's too early for the district attorneys to sit down and discuss whether to
seek death. However, when those discussions do happen, the defendant's
attorneys are invited to make their own arguments and presentations, Totten
said.
It's unclear when a decision will be made or when discussions would start.
Totten said he did not want to speak for the other district attorneys, but in
Ventura County it typically happens after some sort of probable cause hearing
like a preliminary examination.
(source: Ventura County Star)
USA:
Trump Tells Sessions He Favors Death Penalty for Fentanyl Dealers
President Donald Trump told Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Thursday that
illegal dealers of the opioid fentanyl should be sentenced to death when
convicted, according to 3 administration officials familiar with the matter.
Sessions met Trump at the White House to discuss overhauling prison sentences,
hours after Trump again ripped into the attorney general in an interview with
Fox News. The meeting was cordial and the 2 men agreed to delay a push for any
criminal justice reforms until after midterm congressional elections, one of
the people said.
Several other administration officials were in the meeting, including Kellyanne
Conway, who is overseeing the White House's opioid response, and senior adviser
Jared Kushner.
It's not the 1st time Trump has mused about sentencing drug dealers to death.
Politico reported in March that the proposal would be included in a plan
expected from the White House to combat the opioids crisis.
Trump wants the death penalty for cases in which fentanyl dealers caused
someone's death because of drugs they sold, one of the administration officials
said.
Constitutional Question
Under a law signed by President Bill Clinton, people who deal large quantities
of drugs or make large amounts of money from the trade can already be sentenced
to death. But prosecutors have never sought the penalty out of concern it would
be found to be unconstitutional, Politico reported.
Fentanyl is one of the world's most dangerous and most profitable narcotics, so
powerful that it's been studied as a chemical weapon, Bloomberg Businessweek
reported in May. It kills more people than any other opioid, including heroin,
because it's so easy to overdose.
The drug or its analogs killed an estimated 29,000 Americans in 2017, according
to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Republican Senator Mike Lee of Utah, a supporter of the criminal justice
overhaul who met with Kushner Thursday on the issue, said in an interview that
the fentanyl death penalty provision would not be added to the criminal justice
overhaul, because it would jeopardize passage.
Lee added that if the president wants that provision it would have to be done
separately.
Lee said he sees a breakthrough on moving forward with a compromise backed by
the president after the midterm elections. A senior administration official
said Trump wants to reach a deal on overhaul but hasn't yet committed to
specifics.
"We're confident we can get the votes," Lee said.
'A Careful Balance'
The revised package drops some key provisions in the Senate Judiciary bill
providing retroactivity to prisoners in the system today. In a concession to
conservatives, the only provision that would be retroactive in the compromise
bill is giving judges discretion to apply lower mandatory minimums for people
convicted of crack cocaine crimes before a law co-authored by Sessions, then a
senator from Alabama, was enacted.
Other provisions limiting mandatory minimum sentences for certain crimes such
as drug dealing would only affect future cases, Lee said.
"We still feel like this preserves a careful balance," Lee said, and thinks it
"will get an overwhelming majority of Republicans and an overwhelming majority
of Democrats."
He predicted they could get 70 to 90 votes for the package.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky has agreed to do a formal
whip count after the midterms, one of the administration officials said.
(source: Bloomberg News)
****************************
Pope's decision to make death penalty 'inadmissible' may face opposition from
conservative Roman Catholics
A new ruling by Pope Francis published Thursday saying that the death penalty
is "inadmissible" in all circumstances, and that the church must try to abolish
it, may generate opposition by conservative Roman Catholics in the U.S. and
other countries.
The Vatican announced Francis had updated the catechism of the Catholic Church
- which represents official Catholic teaching - to exclude the death penalty, a
move that reflects Francis' focus on mercy. Before the pope's update, the
church accepted capital punishment under some circumstances, a position
supported by many of its more than 1 billion members worldwide.
"Recourse to the death penalty on the part of legitimate authority, following a
fair trial, was long considered an appropriate response to the gravity of
certain crimes and an acceptable, albeit extreme, means of safeguarding the
common good," the updated section of the catechism says.
It then adds that the church now views the death penalty as "inadmissible
because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person," and
that it will work for its "abolition worldwide."
Francis has opposed capital punishment for years and his predecessors, Benedict
XVI and John Paul II, also argued against it. But Francis decided to leave no
room for doubt in the catechism during a meeting this year with Cardinal Luis
Ladaria, the head of the church's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
The change reflects the "clearer awareness of the church for the respect due to
every human life," Ladaria said in an open letter Thursday. The church wanted
to energize the campaign against the death penalty, he wrote.
If the death penalty were once justified to keep the public safe from
criminals, jails were now more secure and "the rehabilitation and social
reintegration of the criminal was now a higher priority," Ladaria wrote.
Father Tom Reese, a Jesuit priest and Vatican expert, said the change is
expected to see some opposition from conservative Catholics in the United
States.
"The loophole has until now been a reason not to speak up, but the next time
there is a horrendous criminal due to be executed, perhaps for a school
shooting, bishops will have a duty to say this shouldn't be done," he said.
A conservative Catholic blog, Rorate Caeli, tweeted Thursday that Francis was
"In open violation of the authority recognized to him," and that "no Catholic
has any obligation of obedience to abuse of authority."
Father James Martin, a Jesuit priest and author, said the change might "fuel
discontent" among U.S. conservative Catholics who are critical of Francis for
his emphasis on mercy before rigid doctrine.
"Some people who said any disagreement with the catechism was dissent when
Benedict and John Paul were popes seem to feel free to disagree with this now,"
he said in an interview.
The change was welcomed by Mario Marazziti, the head of the campaign against
the death penalty run by Rome-based Sant'Egidio, which is recognized by the
church as a public lay association with tens of thousands of members worldwide.
"Now that the refusal of the death penalty is absolute, conservative Catholics
who are pro-life and pro-death penalty will have to start questioning that and
decide if they want to respect the pope's authority or be disobedient
Catholics," he said in a phone interview.
"People like the late Supreme Court judge Antonin Scalia said the death penalty
was consistent with Catholicism. Now that becomes impossible," he said.
Marazziti said he expects more Catholics to increasingly oppose capital
punishment.
"The death penalty only exists to please public opinion since it doesn't cut
crime, and I believe public opinion will shift," he said.
"Other Christian denominations believe in retributive justice, taking a
fundamentalist approach to the biblical statement about an "eye for an eye,"
but Pope Francis believes there is nothing that cannot be forgiven," Marazziti
said.
The death penalty has long divided U.S. Catholics even though church leaders
have frequently spoken out against it. A Pew survey this year found that 53% of
American Catholics supported capital punishment and that 43% were against it.
Still, a vocal minority of conservative Catholic priests has argued for putting
criminals to death.
Father C. John McCloskey III is an Opus Dei priest known for helping a number
of Republican politicians, including then-Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback and Newt
Gingrich, convert to Catholicism.
"It is a great grace to know the time of one's death, as it gives us the
opportunity to get right with the Lord who will judge us at our death,"
McCloskey wrote in a 2015 article. "Perhaps many people have been saved in this
way by the death penalty. Who knows what would have happened if they had been
allowed to linger in this life, one day possibly killing other people?"
Several U.S. bishops expressed their support of the pope's decision via
Twitter.
Bishop Felipe J. Estevez of St. Augustine, Fla., described the news as one of
"hope and consolation" for prisoners on death row.
"Today, our Catholic ministers officially console them with hope for when the
day draws near when they no longer will be awaiting for the punishment of
death," Estevez tweeted.
Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of Brooklyn, N.Y., said in a statement on Facebook
that Francis "has made even clearer the Church's consistent life ethic."
"While it has become popular for people to accept capital punishment as a just
consequence for heinous crimes, the death penalty is an act of revenge,"
DiMarzo wrote. "Taking someone's life, regardless of the reason, is an
attack.... Capital punishment destroys the sanctity of life and diminishes us
as a society."
One of the nation's most prominent activists against the death penalty, Sister
Helen Prejean, tweeted that she was "overjoyed" and "deeply grateful" to the
pope. Prejean, a nun in the Sisters of St. Joseph of Medaille in New Orleans,
called it a "great day for human rights."
(source: Los Angeles Times)
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