Rick Halperin
2018-07-20 14:40:46 UTC
July 20
OKLAHOMA:
Oklahoma Could Execute Potentially Innocent Prisoners With Nitrogen Gas
Oklahoma has a notorious reputation for its frequent use of the death penalty
and for the excruciating and drawn-out deaths that numerous executions have
resulted in there, leading to a suspension of the practice since October 2015.
Oklahoma was the 1st jurisdiction in the world to adopt lethal injection as a
form of execution. The United States Supreme Court ruled the death penalty, as
it was implemented at the time in 1972, was unconstitutional, though left the
death penalty open to new legislation to allow it to continue. In the wake of
the ruling, Oklahoma and other states began legislative processes to reinstate
the death penalty, which passed overwhelmingly in the Oklahoma state
legislature in 1976.
Republican State Rep. Bill Wiseman voted in favor of re-enacting the death
penalty at the time due to political pressure, though he staunchly opposed it
as a form of capital punishment. Wiseman helped develop a bill in 1977 to
establish lethal injection in hopes of making the death penalty "more humane"
than electrocution. In interviews preceding his death in 2007, Wiseman
expressed profound regret for the bill, which wound up facilitating the death
penalty in the state rather than mitigating its impact.
Since 1976, Oklahoma has had the third-highest number of executed prisoners at
112 individuals, and the highest rate of state executions in the country.
Meanwhile, 10 prisoners on Oklahoma's death row have been exonerated of all
charges against them.
The state's death penalty system has come under scrutiny in the past several
years, not only for its frequent use, but for a flawed system that led to the
horrific lethal injections of Clayton Lockett and Charles Warner that caused
the prisoners to endure a heart attack and excruciating pain for 43 and 18
minutes before death, respectively, in 2015. The issues pushed the state of
Oklahoma to issue a moratorium on its executions in October 2015 until the
issues were fixed. An April 2017 report published by the Oklahoma Death Penalty
Review Commission recommended the moratorium continue and noted "[m]any of the
findings of the Commission's year-long investigation were disturbing and led
Commission members to question whether the death penalty can be administered in
a way that ensures no innocent person is put to death."
In March 2018, the state of Oklahoma announced nitrogen gas will be used to
execute prisoners once the death penalty moratorium is lifted after months of
failing to obtain lethal injection drugs. The moratorium still continues to
this day as prevailing issues with the death penalty remain.
"Our Office and the Oklahoma Department of Corrections notified the Governor's
office that Corrections was unable to obtain drugs and the state would be
moving forward with a protocol or Nitrogen Hypoxia," said Terri Watkins,
director of communications for the Oklahoma attorney general, in an email to
Truthout. "The Oklahoma Department of Corrections is in charge of writing the
protocol for executions. That process is underway, but you will need to check
with them on the status." The Oklahoma Department of Corrections declined to
comment.
Prisoners Scheduled to Die Could Be Innocent
Several prisoners on death row in Oklahoma have produced substantive cases in
favor of their innocence. Richard Glossip was being prepped for execution days
before the moratorium on executions was implemented, but the state of Oklahoma
could not obtain the lethal injection drugs to carry out killing him before the
moratorium went into effect.
Over the past several years, attorneys representing Glossip have worked to
collect evidence to prove his innocence. "From a procedural standpoint,
everything is at a standstill," said Don Knight, an attorney representing
Glossip, in an interview with Truthout. "Once the Oklahoma Department of
Corrections develops a protocol, then they have to give notice and at that
point in time all the prisoners on death row represented by the federal
[public] defender's office will challenge the constitutionality of this
nitrogen gas protocol, so I think it will take this matter quite a while until
they begin to execute again."
Glossip was convicted and sentenced to death in 1997 for allegedly hiring
19-year-old Justin Sneed to murder Barry Van Treese, Glossip's boss and owner
of the motel he managed at the time. The entire case relies on Sneed's
testimony. In exchange for his testimony, Sneed was spared the death penalty
and sentenced to life in prison. He is currently serving his sentence in a
medium security prison.
"The best evidence the state has against Richard Glossip is the testimony from
Justin Sneed," attorney Knight told Truthout. "This is a guy you would never
trust in anything, but his testimony is what put Glossip on death row. It's a
travesty."
Among the issues with Sneed's testimony is how it changed over time, and in
2017, Glossip's attorneys found a witness, Justin Tapley, who shared a cell
with Sneed and explained that Sneed bragged about setting Glossip up. Another
former fellow prisoner with Sneed, Michael Scott, gave sworn testimony that
Sneed discussed the murder in detail and affirmed he acted alone in the crime.
A 3rd witness, another former cellmate of Sneed, Roger Lee Ramsey, told
attorneys that Sneed told him about the murder plot, which involved a woman,
but made no mention of Glossip.
Medical examiner Chai Choi also testified in Glossip's trial that Van Treese
slowly bled to death over an 8-hour period, signaling to jurors that Glossip
could have saved Van Treese. This testimony was in direct contradiction to the
autopsy report, which concluded Van Treese died within minutes of the attack.
Another prisoner, Julius Jones, was convicted and sentenced to death in 1999
under similar circumstances. The then-19-year-old freshman at University of
Oklahoma was convicted of murdering 45-year-old insurance executive Paul Scott
Howell. Jones's co-defendant in the case, Chris Jordan, testified against him
in exchange for a 30-years-to-life sentence, which was subsequently reduced to
15 years. Jordan was released from prison in 2014, and his testimony was the
basis for convicting Jones.
Attorneys for Jones have argued racism played a significant role in his
conviction. In 2017, during interviews with jurors from Jones's trial, 1 juror
told Jones's attorneys, "During the trial I was the juror who went to the judge
with the comment from another juror about how it was a waste of time and 'they
should just take the n***** out and shoot him behind the jail' although that
juror was never removed and nothing further came from it." A study published in
2017 found "the probability of a death sentence for a nonwhite defendant
charged with killing a white victim (5.8%) was more than triple the probability
of a death sentence for a white defendant charged with killing a non-white
victim (1.8%)."
"Julius has always maintained his innocence,' said Dale Baich, assistant
federal public defender currently representing Jones. "What we've learned is
the police relied on confidential informants and allowed tunnel vision to set
in during their investigation."
The only eye witness to the crime, the victim's sister, described the assailant
as a Black man wearing a dark stocking cap, with a half-inch of hair sticking
out and a red bandana across his face. Jones's attorneys noted his hair was
nearly clean shaven at the time, and the description fits Jordan.
Jones has exhausted his appeals and his attorneys are currently pushing for
clemency proceedings and the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals to consider new
evidence based on the jurors' testimony in regard to racial bias of at least
one juror. Jones's attorneys are also in the process to find out if the red
banana worn by the assailant in evidence can be tested for DNA.
"The race issue is really significant," added Baich. "The study documents
systemic racism and we have identified racist statements made by at least 1
juror who voted to sentence Julius Jones to death. He was an academic scholar
in high school, a star athlete with no history of violent crimes. It sure seems
to me like he was set up to take the fall in this case."
Public Still Favors Death Penalty
A significant hurdle for attorneys representing death row prisoners and death
penalty abolitionists in Oklahoma is public opinion in the state still
overwhelmingly supports the death penalty. In 2016, voters in Oklahoma approved
an amendment to protect the death penalty in the state with 66.36 % of voters
in favor.
"We moved the needle from being viewed as an issue that would be overwhelmingly
approved by at least 75 % of Oklahoma's voters to it only being approved by
66.36 % of the voters," Connie Johnson, who served as chair of the Oklahoma
Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty during the vote, told Truthout. "We lost
that race, but we moved the needle, literally and figuratively. The fact that
it was expected to pass by 75 % but only got 66.36 % is indicative of what a
little education can do."
She cited a variety of factors in favor of abolishing the death penalty, from
the number of prisoners on death row who have been exonerated, the high
economic costs of enacting the death penalty, and the discrimination the death
penalty is based on. "If you live in an urban area, you're more likely to get
the death penalty than if you live in a rural area. If you're poor, you're more
likely to get the death penalty," she said. "Then for me, ultimately, as a
family member of a murder victim, the reality that the death penalty takes away
the opportunity of forgiveness. As a Christian, that was the only way that I
was able to overcome my brother's murder ... by forgiving the guy."
(source: truthout.org)
*******************
Death row inmate's legal team hopes DNA testing on key piece of evidence will
exonerate him before execution
Time moves slowly for 37-year-old Julius Jones as he sits and waits on death
row in Oklahoma.
Each day for the past 19 years, Jones moves closer to being executed for a
murder many believe he did not commit. Now, a key piece of evidence that was
never tested before could give Jones a shot at freedom.
"We think Julius was wrongfully convicted, and that Oklahoma is at risk of
executing an innocent man," Jones' attorney Amanda Bass told "Nightline."
Jones was 19 years old when he was arrested and at the time, prison seemed like
an unlikely place to find him.
"It was just an ordinary night," Jones said. "I really didn't have any idea how
my life could change."
He was a champion high school basketball player, beloved by his teachers and a
star student.
"We were the only 2 African-American males to graduate in the top 10 % of our
class," said Jones??? friend Jimmy Lawson. "Julius attended the University of
Oklahoma on an academic scholarship as well, which was big time."
Jones' case is the focus of a new ABC docu-series called "The Last Defense,"
from Oscar-winning actress turned executive producer Viola Davis. "The Last
Defense" finale airs on Tuesday, July 24 at 10 p.m. on ABC.
Jones now has a new legal team composed of Bass and Dale Baich.
His story begins on a summer night in 1999 when gunshots rang out in a quiet
neighborhood in Edmond, Oklahoma, a wealthy suburb of Oklahoma City. Paul
Howell, 45, had been shot and killed during a carjacking of his GMC suburban.
Jones' attorneys said 2 shell casings were found at the scene and the victim's
sister, Megan Tobey, was the only eyewitness.
"Megan Tobey described the shooter as a young, black man wearing a red bandana,
a white shirt and a stocking cap or a skullcap. She was not able to identify
the shooter's face because it was covered," Bass said.
2 days after the shooting, Jones' attorneys said police found Howell's car
parked at a grocery store on the southside of Oklahoma City. The store was just
a few blocks away from a chop shop where police learned Ladell King had offered
to sell a suburban.
"He told police that on the night of the crime, a guy named Chris Jordan comes
to his apartment," Baich told "Nightline". "A few minutes later, according to
Ladell King, Julius Jones drives up."
King was well known to local police, according to retired Edmond Police Det.
Dennis Dill, who said King "was involved in car thefts all around the metro
area. He had been doing that for years."
Jordan and Jones were high school acquaintances. Jordan was a suspected gang
member and Jones, by then a college student, had recently been in some trouble
of his own.
"My 1st year at school, being young, just wanting to have money. I got into
shoplifting," Jones said. "I stole pagers, I stole things that I could sell."
"Wrong is wrong. I shouldn't have done it, and I'm not trying to hide it from
anybody that I've broken the law. I have. But, just because I broke the law
does not make me a murderer," said Jones. During King's interrogation, he told
detectives that the 2 young men asked him to help them sell a stolen suburban.
"I'm just a middle man relaying a message. From this guy to that guy," King
told police.
But, King said, he told them that the attention around the Howell case made it
too risky to sell the car for parts. When he went home later, King said he told
detectives he turned on the local news and saw a story about the killing that
included a photo of Howell's suburban. "That [car] is what Julius got out of,"
King told police.
"I seen Julius driving a gold Suburban," King said during interrogation. "I
remember something about him. He had a red bandana around his neck. He had a
stocking cap on."
King also accused Jordan of being the driver.
Jordan was arrested and charged with felony murder, claiming he and Jones were
out looking for suburbans to steal, but said it was Jones who pulled the
trigger when they carjacked Howell. Jones has long maintained he never killed
Howell.
"These people set me up to take the fall because they knew somebody was going
to fry for this," Jones said.
"Both Ladell King and Christopher Jordan were directing the police's attention
to the home of Julius Jones' parents as a place that would have incriminating
items of evidence," Amanda Bass said. "Chris Jordan was in the back of a police
vehicle talking to detectives who were telling people inside the home where to
potentially look."
Inside Jones' parents' home, police found a gun wrapped in a red bandana tucked
inside an upstairs crawl space.
Jones' attorneys said the evidence police found could have been planted by
Jordan the night after the murder.
"Chris Jordan... [told police during interrogation] that the next day [after
the killing], he had spent the night at Julius' parents' home," said Bass.
The night that Jordan stayed over, Jones said Jordan had told him he was locked
out of his grandmother's house and needed a place to crash. He had never spent
the night before that, Jones said.
"Julius slept on the downstairs couch, meanwhile Chris slept in the upstairs
bedroom," Bass said. That bedroom is where police found the gun and the
bandana.
Jordan denied this during trial.
Investigators built a case against Jones using statements from King and Jordan,
as well as the gun and bandana being found inside his home. Jones was arrested
and charged with capital murder.
Shortly after Jones' arrest, the late prosecutor Bob Macy held a press
conference announcing he would be seeking the death penalty.
"The prosecutor in this case, Macy, had been responsible for sending 54 people
to death row. Well half of those convictions were overturned later," said
Vanessa Potkin, one of the Executive Producers of The Last Defense and an
attorney with The Innocence Project. "And 3 of the people that Macy sent to
death row were later exonerated."
"Unfortunately in our criminal justice system," she continued, "the 1st person
to be interrogated and to talk to the police who tells the police the story can
be the one who gets the deal."
At trial, Jones' defense team was inexperienced and overwhelmed. First, the
victim's sister said the killer's hair stuck out an inch from underneath the
stocking cap and Jones' hair was closely cut.
"We actually have a photo of him the week before and then immediately after
arrest is that his hair was incredibly short," attorney and Executive Producer
Aida Leisenring told "Nightline."
"Unfortunately his defense team never submitted a photograph of a week prior of
Julius Jones."
Jordan, meanwhile, wore his hair in cornrows that stuck out at the sides, Bass
said.
Jones' lawyers also point out that the jury was not made aware that Ladell King
was facing felony charges in an unrelated case until after his damaging
testimony against Jones.
"Ladell King was facing a minimum of 20 years on a check fraud matter because
he had three strikes," Leisenring said. "He was required to serve at least 20
years and in fact, it was dismissed entirely... So they had every motive and
incentive to lie and the jury didn't get to hear all of that evidence."
Jones' legal team is convinced that there is no objective reliable evidence
that points to Jones being the murderer, Leisenring said.
Jordan was sentenced to 30 years to life for being Jones' accomplice. He served
15 years and was released from prison in 2014. Jones was convicted of
1st-degree murder and sentenced to death.
In a startling twist, producers on "The Last Defense" recently tracked down one
of the original jurors on the case, who told them a disturbing story about
racial bias in the deliberation room.
"I was a juror on the case," this juror explains during 1 episode. "And this
thing has weighed on me for a long time. What happened was, several of us from
the jury were getting on an elevator. This was well before deliberations. And
one of the jurors said, 'Well, they should just take that n----- out back,
shoot him and bury him under the jail. It didn't matter what happened, this was
a black man that was on trial for murder. He did it.'"
This juror said she told the judge about the racial comments the following day,
but nothing happened. Recently, an appeals court judge rejected the claim.
Since his conviction, Jones' legal team has filed several motions for appeals.
In October 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review his appeal, as well
as the appeal for 2 other Oklahoma death row inmates, which made Jones eligible
for execution when Oklahoma resumes state killings later this year, according
to the Oklahoma City-based newspaper, The City Sentinel.
Julius Jones' only hope of exoneration now is the argument from his legal team
that the red bandana, found inside his house, was never tested for DNA.
"The district attorney agreed to DNA testing," Bass said. "They agreed to test
the red bandana and we are hoping there's something there that can identify who
the real shooter was."
If the results come back and show a DNA profile for Jordan, then it should
exonerate Jones, Leisenring said.
"Justice would be an exoneration but you can't get those 20 years back," she
said. "So justice is bittersweet."
"What happened to Mr. Howell and his family is terrible. It's very tragic,"
Jones said. "But justice has not been served. Because the person who took his
life is walking the streets. I want a new trial, I want a chance to show a jury
why I'm innocent."
(source: ABC News)
UTAH:
Attorney contract issues push back hearing for Ogden death penalty case
A couple accused of killing their 3-year-old child appeared in court Thursday
for the 1st time since prosecutors filed their intent to seek the death penalty
against them.
Miller Costello, 26, and Brenda Emile, 23, appeared in court but didn't say
much, as most of the chatter was between attorneys.
Defense attorneys asked to continue the hearing so they could sort out the
issue of contracts with the state. One attorney stated that the typical
contracts for public defenders do not extend into capital cases unless the
state approves a new agreement.
Judge Michael DiReda agreed and continued the hearing to another date.
DiReda also suggested that prosecutors move quickly toward securing a
mitigation expert that will meticulously comb through the case.
No trial dates were set during the Thursday morning hearing, but the court will
discuss scheduling when they meet for their next hearing on Aug. 13 in Ogden.
On July 6, 2017, police responded to a 911 call about a 3-year-old who was
unconscious and not breathing.
The 2 were arrested and charged with aggravated murder just days after the
severely malnourished child was found with injuries to her head, chest, wrists,
legs and a "piece missing" from her nose, according to an Ogden Police
detective.
Her injuries ranged from brain hemorrhages to cigarette burns, according to the
medical examiner.
(source: Standard-Examiner)
NEVADA:
Nevada's path forward unclear after twice-delayed execution
Nevada twice has come close to carrying out its 1st execution in 12 years. And
twice it failed.
Condemned killer Scott Raymond Dozier says he wants to die, but the state has
no clear path forward after courts blocked it from using a never-tried
combination of drugs that it created after struggling to get lethal injection
supplies.
The delays are raising questions about whether Nevada can overcome legal
hurdles to execute its first inmate since 2006 and whether the political will
exists to find a way to carry out capital punishment at all.
States, including Nevada, have increasingly run up against pharmaceutical
companies who don't want their products used in executions, with states like
Texas, Georgia and Virginia changing laws to shield information about the drugs
they use and others coming up with backup methods such as gas chambers and
firing squads.
In an election year, few Nevada politicians are talking about possible changes
to keep the death penalty viable while the state faces a court battle that's
expected to be lengthy.
"It will be quite a while before Scott Dozier is going to face an execution
day," said Deborah Denno, an expert in capital punishment law at Fordham
University in New York.
Hours before Dozier was to die July 11, a judge blocked use of the sedative
midazolam until at least September after drugmaker Alvogen sued. The state was
expected to appeal the postponement to the Nevada Supreme Court.
Nevada's 3-drug plan would follow the sedative with fentanyl, the potent
synthetic opioid that's fueling overdose deaths nationwide, and a muscle
paralytic called cisatracurium. Neither has been used in an execution, and
critics have raised concerns Dozier could be conscious, unable to move and
suffocating.
Dozier, a 47-year-old twice-convicted murderer who insists he doesn't care if
his death is painful, had his execution previously delayed in November.
If the courts block it again, Nevada could try to get drugs from a
made-to-order compounding pharmacy. Texas and Georgia both use such pharmacies
and have passed laws shielding the facilities' identities.
Nevada could try to obtain a compounded drug from Texas, like Virginia did in
2015 before passing a law allowing prisons to use a secret compounding
pharmacy.
But the made-to-order drugs can be expensive, and "Nevada may not want to make
that kind of investment," Denno said.
Dr. Jonathan Groner, a lethal injection expert and surgeon who teaches at Ohio
State University, said there is no shortage of drugs that can kill people, "but
each has problems and will cause endless litigation."
"My guess is that most of the 79 death row inmates in Nevada will die of old
age and not at the state's hands," Groner said.
Nevada law calls for capital punishment by lethal injection, so state officials
would have to approve changes - and perhaps build new facilities - to switch to
a different method.
It might consider joining Alabama, Mississippi, Ohio, and Oklahoma in a
yet-to-be-employed method using nitrogen gas, Denno said. It asphyxiates a
person in an airtight chamber through a lack of oxygen.
Nevada's new death chamber is not airtight, prisons spokeswoman Brooke Santina
said.
There also are firing squads, the method Utah decided in 2015 to use as a
backup if lethal injection drugs can't be found.
Nevada lawmakers and Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval have not called for changes
to ensure executions can be carried out. Sandoval is term-limited, and his
spokeswoman, Mary-Sarah Kinner, said he believes any change should come from
the Legislature and next governor, who will be elected in 4 months.
Key candidates who could influence executions spoke in generalities or not at
all about the future of the death penalty.
State Attorney General Adam Laxalt, a Republican running for governor who
supports capital punishment, declined to comment. Democratic gubernatorial
candidate Steve Sisolak supports the death penalty "in extreme cases" and has
not called for laws to be changed.
The top 2 contenders for attorney general, Republican Wes Duncan and Democrat
Aaron Ford, support the death penalty.
Duncan said he couldn't comment on Dozier's case because he may handle it if
elected. He said he would be open to "alternate constitutional means of
execution, including different drug cocktails."
Democratic state lawmaker James Ohrenschall has called in the past for ending
the death penalty as "costly, unfair and ineffective." He said he hasn't
decided if he will try again when the Legislature meets next year.
Michael Green, a history professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said
the death penalty is a question the state faces about links between its past
and future.
"Is the death penalty a remnant of our 'Old West' past? Or is it something that
a more modern Nevada should keep or get rid of?" Green said.
Kent Scheidegger at the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, a California-based
pro-death penalty group, blamed the Dozier delays on a public pressure campaign
to starve states of the ability to enforce a punishment that many Americans
favor for the worst murderers.
Dozier's case "exposes Nevada's death penalty as a costly exercise in
futility," said Scott Coffee, a deputy public defender in Las Vegas who has
lobbied the Legislature for years to get rid of the death penalty.
"Even when someone is begging to be executed," Coffee said, "we don't really
have means to carry it out."
(source: Associated Press)
USA:
Bay Area U.S. Attorney considers rare death penalty charges against Louisiana
man
The U.S. Attorney's office is considering whether to seek the death penalty
against an alleged marijuana trafficker accused of at least 2 murder
conspiracies.
Marcus Etienne, of Louisiana, currently faces murder conspiracy charges along
with his ex-wife, Elizabeth Gobert, and 2 others, Craig Marshall and Mario
Robinson. But Northern California District Acting U.S. Attorney Alex Tse has
indicated in court records his office may soon bring additional charges and
seek the death penalty.
Abraham Simmons, a spokesman for the Northern California U.S. Attorney's
Office, said prosecutors are still considering weather to pursue a death
sentence. A final decision must be made by Aug. 10, according to court records.
Etienne, who federal prosecutors claim goes by the nickname "Hitler," allegedly
directed a marijuana trafficking ring that moved multi-pound shipments of
Mendocino County cannabis to Louisiana. A center point of the ring was a
daycare center in Louisiana, but the couple also made trips to California,
prosecutors allege.
In March 2016, Etienne allegedly directed others, including Marshall and
Robinson, to kill a man named Trince Thibodeaux for failing to pay for all of
the marijuana Etienne advanced him. Federal prosecutors allege Marshall and
Robinson were present when Thibodeaux was gunned down in Oakland, but cannot
say who the shooter was, according to court records.
Then, in early 2017 - after Etienne and Gobert were arrested on federal charges
of trafficking more than 200 pounds of marijuana across state lines -
prosecutors allege the pair conspired to kill Robinson and discussed the plot
in phone calls.
In August 2017, months after Etienne and Gobert were first charged with
marijuana trafficking, they were hit with a superseding federal indictment,
along with Marshall and Robinson. The charges included racketeering and murder
in connection with continuing a criminal enterprise.
Federal death sentences are rare, and a federal execution has not happened
since 2003, when Louis Jones Jr., a onetime respected Gulf War veteran, was
executed for murdering 19-year-old Pvt. Tracie Joy McBride. 2 years before
that, Oklahoma City bomber Timothy J. McVeigh and Juan Garza - convicted of
murdering 3 people as part of a marijuana trafficking ring - became the 1st 2
federal executions in nearly 40 years.
Currently, 63 people sit on federal death row, according to the Death Penalty
Information Center, a nonprofit that stores data on the death penalty. The only
2 from California are co-defendants Iouri Mikhel and Jurijus Kadamovas,
convicted in 2007 of killing 5 people in a kidnapping-for-ransom plot.
Most recently, a federal jury in Utah sentenced 2 members of an Aryan prison
gang to death in federal court last month, for orchestrating a murder inside
prison.
(source: Mercury News)
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OKLAHOMA:
Oklahoma Could Execute Potentially Innocent Prisoners With Nitrogen Gas
Oklahoma has a notorious reputation for its frequent use of the death penalty
and for the excruciating and drawn-out deaths that numerous executions have
resulted in there, leading to a suspension of the practice since October 2015.
Oklahoma was the 1st jurisdiction in the world to adopt lethal injection as a
form of execution. The United States Supreme Court ruled the death penalty, as
it was implemented at the time in 1972, was unconstitutional, though left the
death penalty open to new legislation to allow it to continue. In the wake of
the ruling, Oklahoma and other states began legislative processes to reinstate
the death penalty, which passed overwhelmingly in the Oklahoma state
legislature in 1976.
Republican State Rep. Bill Wiseman voted in favor of re-enacting the death
penalty at the time due to political pressure, though he staunchly opposed it
as a form of capital punishment. Wiseman helped develop a bill in 1977 to
establish lethal injection in hopes of making the death penalty "more humane"
than electrocution. In interviews preceding his death in 2007, Wiseman
expressed profound regret for the bill, which wound up facilitating the death
penalty in the state rather than mitigating its impact.
Since 1976, Oklahoma has had the third-highest number of executed prisoners at
112 individuals, and the highest rate of state executions in the country.
Meanwhile, 10 prisoners on Oklahoma's death row have been exonerated of all
charges against them.
The state's death penalty system has come under scrutiny in the past several
years, not only for its frequent use, but for a flawed system that led to the
horrific lethal injections of Clayton Lockett and Charles Warner that caused
the prisoners to endure a heart attack and excruciating pain for 43 and 18
minutes before death, respectively, in 2015. The issues pushed the state of
Oklahoma to issue a moratorium on its executions in October 2015 until the
issues were fixed. An April 2017 report published by the Oklahoma Death Penalty
Review Commission recommended the moratorium continue and noted "[m]any of the
findings of the Commission's year-long investigation were disturbing and led
Commission members to question whether the death penalty can be administered in
a way that ensures no innocent person is put to death."
In March 2018, the state of Oklahoma announced nitrogen gas will be used to
execute prisoners once the death penalty moratorium is lifted after months of
failing to obtain lethal injection drugs. The moratorium still continues to
this day as prevailing issues with the death penalty remain.
"Our Office and the Oklahoma Department of Corrections notified the Governor's
office that Corrections was unable to obtain drugs and the state would be
moving forward with a protocol or Nitrogen Hypoxia," said Terri Watkins,
director of communications for the Oklahoma attorney general, in an email to
Truthout. "The Oklahoma Department of Corrections is in charge of writing the
protocol for executions. That process is underway, but you will need to check
with them on the status." The Oklahoma Department of Corrections declined to
comment.
Prisoners Scheduled to Die Could Be Innocent
Several prisoners on death row in Oklahoma have produced substantive cases in
favor of their innocence. Richard Glossip was being prepped for execution days
before the moratorium on executions was implemented, but the state of Oklahoma
could not obtain the lethal injection drugs to carry out killing him before the
moratorium went into effect.
Over the past several years, attorneys representing Glossip have worked to
collect evidence to prove his innocence. "From a procedural standpoint,
everything is at a standstill," said Don Knight, an attorney representing
Glossip, in an interview with Truthout. "Once the Oklahoma Department of
Corrections develops a protocol, then they have to give notice and at that
point in time all the prisoners on death row represented by the federal
[public] defender's office will challenge the constitutionality of this
nitrogen gas protocol, so I think it will take this matter quite a while until
they begin to execute again."
Glossip was convicted and sentenced to death in 1997 for allegedly hiring
19-year-old Justin Sneed to murder Barry Van Treese, Glossip's boss and owner
of the motel he managed at the time. The entire case relies on Sneed's
testimony. In exchange for his testimony, Sneed was spared the death penalty
and sentenced to life in prison. He is currently serving his sentence in a
medium security prison.
"The best evidence the state has against Richard Glossip is the testimony from
Justin Sneed," attorney Knight told Truthout. "This is a guy you would never
trust in anything, but his testimony is what put Glossip on death row. It's a
travesty."
Among the issues with Sneed's testimony is how it changed over time, and in
2017, Glossip's attorneys found a witness, Justin Tapley, who shared a cell
with Sneed and explained that Sneed bragged about setting Glossip up. Another
former fellow prisoner with Sneed, Michael Scott, gave sworn testimony that
Sneed discussed the murder in detail and affirmed he acted alone in the crime.
A 3rd witness, another former cellmate of Sneed, Roger Lee Ramsey, told
attorneys that Sneed told him about the murder plot, which involved a woman,
but made no mention of Glossip.
Medical examiner Chai Choi also testified in Glossip's trial that Van Treese
slowly bled to death over an 8-hour period, signaling to jurors that Glossip
could have saved Van Treese. This testimony was in direct contradiction to the
autopsy report, which concluded Van Treese died within minutes of the attack.
Another prisoner, Julius Jones, was convicted and sentenced to death in 1999
under similar circumstances. The then-19-year-old freshman at University of
Oklahoma was convicted of murdering 45-year-old insurance executive Paul Scott
Howell. Jones's co-defendant in the case, Chris Jordan, testified against him
in exchange for a 30-years-to-life sentence, which was subsequently reduced to
15 years. Jordan was released from prison in 2014, and his testimony was the
basis for convicting Jones.
Attorneys for Jones have argued racism played a significant role in his
conviction. In 2017, during interviews with jurors from Jones's trial, 1 juror
told Jones's attorneys, "During the trial I was the juror who went to the judge
with the comment from another juror about how it was a waste of time and 'they
should just take the n***** out and shoot him behind the jail' although that
juror was never removed and nothing further came from it." A study published in
2017 found "the probability of a death sentence for a nonwhite defendant
charged with killing a white victim (5.8%) was more than triple the probability
of a death sentence for a white defendant charged with killing a non-white
victim (1.8%)."
"Julius has always maintained his innocence,' said Dale Baich, assistant
federal public defender currently representing Jones. "What we've learned is
the police relied on confidential informants and allowed tunnel vision to set
in during their investigation."
The only eye witness to the crime, the victim's sister, described the assailant
as a Black man wearing a dark stocking cap, with a half-inch of hair sticking
out and a red bandana across his face. Jones's attorneys noted his hair was
nearly clean shaven at the time, and the description fits Jordan.
Jones has exhausted his appeals and his attorneys are currently pushing for
clemency proceedings and the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals to consider new
evidence based on the jurors' testimony in regard to racial bias of at least
one juror. Jones's attorneys are also in the process to find out if the red
banana worn by the assailant in evidence can be tested for DNA.
"The race issue is really significant," added Baich. "The study documents
systemic racism and we have identified racist statements made by at least 1
juror who voted to sentence Julius Jones to death. He was an academic scholar
in high school, a star athlete with no history of violent crimes. It sure seems
to me like he was set up to take the fall in this case."
Public Still Favors Death Penalty
A significant hurdle for attorneys representing death row prisoners and death
penalty abolitionists in Oklahoma is public opinion in the state still
overwhelmingly supports the death penalty. In 2016, voters in Oklahoma approved
an amendment to protect the death penalty in the state with 66.36 % of voters
in favor.
"We moved the needle from being viewed as an issue that would be overwhelmingly
approved by at least 75 % of Oklahoma's voters to it only being approved by
66.36 % of the voters," Connie Johnson, who served as chair of the Oklahoma
Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty during the vote, told Truthout. "We lost
that race, but we moved the needle, literally and figuratively. The fact that
it was expected to pass by 75 % but only got 66.36 % is indicative of what a
little education can do."
She cited a variety of factors in favor of abolishing the death penalty, from
the number of prisoners on death row who have been exonerated, the high
economic costs of enacting the death penalty, and the discrimination the death
penalty is based on. "If you live in an urban area, you're more likely to get
the death penalty than if you live in a rural area. If you're poor, you're more
likely to get the death penalty," she said. "Then for me, ultimately, as a
family member of a murder victim, the reality that the death penalty takes away
the opportunity of forgiveness. As a Christian, that was the only way that I
was able to overcome my brother's murder ... by forgiving the guy."
(source: truthout.org)
*******************
Death row inmate's legal team hopes DNA testing on key piece of evidence will
exonerate him before execution
Time moves slowly for 37-year-old Julius Jones as he sits and waits on death
row in Oklahoma.
Each day for the past 19 years, Jones moves closer to being executed for a
murder many believe he did not commit. Now, a key piece of evidence that was
never tested before could give Jones a shot at freedom.
"We think Julius was wrongfully convicted, and that Oklahoma is at risk of
executing an innocent man," Jones' attorney Amanda Bass told "Nightline."
Jones was 19 years old when he was arrested and at the time, prison seemed like
an unlikely place to find him.
"It was just an ordinary night," Jones said. "I really didn't have any idea how
my life could change."
He was a champion high school basketball player, beloved by his teachers and a
star student.
"We were the only 2 African-American males to graduate in the top 10 % of our
class," said Jones??? friend Jimmy Lawson. "Julius attended the University of
Oklahoma on an academic scholarship as well, which was big time."
Jones' case is the focus of a new ABC docu-series called "The Last Defense,"
from Oscar-winning actress turned executive producer Viola Davis. "The Last
Defense" finale airs on Tuesday, July 24 at 10 p.m. on ABC.
Jones now has a new legal team composed of Bass and Dale Baich.
His story begins on a summer night in 1999 when gunshots rang out in a quiet
neighborhood in Edmond, Oklahoma, a wealthy suburb of Oklahoma City. Paul
Howell, 45, had been shot and killed during a carjacking of his GMC suburban.
Jones' attorneys said 2 shell casings were found at the scene and the victim's
sister, Megan Tobey, was the only eyewitness.
"Megan Tobey described the shooter as a young, black man wearing a red bandana,
a white shirt and a stocking cap or a skullcap. She was not able to identify
the shooter's face because it was covered," Bass said.
2 days after the shooting, Jones' attorneys said police found Howell's car
parked at a grocery store on the southside of Oklahoma City. The store was just
a few blocks away from a chop shop where police learned Ladell King had offered
to sell a suburban.
"He told police that on the night of the crime, a guy named Chris Jordan comes
to his apartment," Baich told "Nightline". "A few minutes later, according to
Ladell King, Julius Jones drives up."
King was well known to local police, according to retired Edmond Police Det.
Dennis Dill, who said King "was involved in car thefts all around the metro
area. He had been doing that for years."
Jordan and Jones were high school acquaintances. Jordan was a suspected gang
member and Jones, by then a college student, had recently been in some trouble
of his own.
"My 1st year at school, being young, just wanting to have money. I got into
shoplifting," Jones said. "I stole pagers, I stole things that I could sell."
"Wrong is wrong. I shouldn't have done it, and I'm not trying to hide it from
anybody that I've broken the law. I have. But, just because I broke the law
does not make me a murderer," said Jones. During King's interrogation, he told
detectives that the 2 young men asked him to help them sell a stolen suburban.
"I'm just a middle man relaying a message. From this guy to that guy," King
told police.
But, King said, he told them that the attention around the Howell case made it
too risky to sell the car for parts. When he went home later, King said he told
detectives he turned on the local news and saw a story about the killing that
included a photo of Howell's suburban. "That [car] is what Julius got out of,"
King told police.
"I seen Julius driving a gold Suburban," King said during interrogation. "I
remember something about him. He had a red bandana around his neck. He had a
stocking cap on."
King also accused Jordan of being the driver.
Jordan was arrested and charged with felony murder, claiming he and Jones were
out looking for suburbans to steal, but said it was Jones who pulled the
trigger when they carjacked Howell. Jones has long maintained he never killed
Howell.
"These people set me up to take the fall because they knew somebody was going
to fry for this," Jones said.
"Both Ladell King and Christopher Jordan were directing the police's attention
to the home of Julius Jones' parents as a place that would have incriminating
items of evidence," Amanda Bass said. "Chris Jordan was in the back of a police
vehicle talking to detectives who were telling people inside the home where to
potentially look."
Inside Jones' parents' home, police found a gun wrapped in a red bandana tucked
inside an upstairs crawl space.
Jones' attorneys said the evidence police found could have been planted by
Jordan the night after the murder.
"Chris Jordan... [told police during interrogation] that the next day [after
the killing], he had spent the night at Julius' parents' home," said Bass.
The night that Jordan stayed over, Jones said Jordan had told him he was locked
out of his grandmother's house and needed a place to crash. He had never spent
the night before that, Jones said.
"Julius slept on the downstairs couch, meanwhile Chris slept in the upstairs
bedroom," Bass said. That bedroom is where police found the gun and the
bandana.
Jordan denied this during trial.
Investigators built a case against Jones using statements from King and Jordan,
as well as the gun and bandana being found inside his home. Jones was arrested
and charged with capital murder.
Shortly after Jones' arrest, the late prosecutor Bob Macy held a press
conference announcing he would be seeking the death penalty.
"The prosecutor in this case, Macy, had been responsible for sending 54 people
to death row. Well half of those convictions were overturned later," said
Vanessa Potkin, one of the Executive Producers of The Last Defense and an
attorney with The Innocence Project. "And 3 of the people that Macy sent to
death row were later exonerated."
"Unfortunately in our criminal justice system," she continued, "the 1st person
to be interrogated and to talk to the police who tells the police the story can
be the one who gets the deal."
At trial, Jones' defense team was inexperienced and overwhelmed. First, the
victim's sister said the killer's hair stuck out an inch from underneath the
stocking cap and Jones' hair was closely cut.
"We actually have a photo of him the week before and then immediately after
arrest is that his hair was incredibly short," attorney and Executive Producer
Aida Leisenring told "Nightline."
"Unfortunately his defense team never submitted a photograph of a week prior of
Julius Jones."
Jordan, meanwhile, wore his hair in cornrows that stuck out at the sides, Bass
said.
Jones' lawyers also point out that the jury was not made aware that Ladell King
was facing felony charges in an unrelated case until after his damaging
testimony against Jones.
"Ladell King was facing a minimum of 20 years on a check fraud matter because
he had three strikes," Leisenring said. "He was required to serve at least 20
years and in fact, it was dismissed entirely... So they had every motive and
incentive to lie and the jury didn't get to hear all of that evidence."
Jones' legal team is convinced that there is no objective reliable evidence
that points to Jones being the murderer, Leisenring said.
Jordan was sentenced to 30 years to life for being Jones' accomplice. He served
15 years and was released from prison in 2014. Jones was convicted of
1st-degree murder and sentenced to death.
In a startling twist, producers on "The Last Defense" recently tracked down one
of the original jurors on the case, who told them a disturbing story about
racial bias in the deliberation room.
"I was a juror on the case," this juror explains during 1 episode. "And this
thing has weighed on me for a long time. What happened was, several of us from
the jury were getting on an elevator. This was well before deliberations. And
one of the jurors said, 'Well, they should just take that n----- out back,
shoot him and bury him under the jail. It didn't matter what happened, this was
a black man that was on trial for murder. He did it.'"
This juror said she told the judge about the racial comments the following day,
but nothing happened. Recently, an appeals court judge rejected the claim.
Since his conviction, Jones' legal team has filed several motions for appeals.
In October 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review his appeal, as well
as the appeal for 2 other Oklahoma death row inmates, which made Jones eligible
for execution when Oklahoma resumes state killings later this year, according
to the Oklahoma City-based newspaper, The City Sentinel.
Julius Jones' only hope of exoneration now is the argument from his legal team
that the red bandana, found inside his house, was never tested for DNA.
"The district attorney agreed to DNA testing," Bass said. "They agreed to test
the red bandana and we are hoping there's something there that can identify who
the real shooter was."
If the results come back and show a DNA profile for Jordan, then it should
exonerate Jones, Leisenring said.
"Justice would be an exoneration but you can't get those 20 years back," she
said. "So justice is bittersweet."
"What happened to Mr. Howell and his family is terrible. It's very tragic,"
Jones said. "But justice has not been served. Because the person who took his
life is walking the streets. I want a new trial, I want a chance to show a jury
why I'm innocent."
(source: ABC News)
UTAH:
Attorney contract issues push back hearing for Ogden death penalty case
A couple accused of killing their 3-year-old child appeared in court Thursday
for the 1st time since prosecutors filed their intent to seek the death penalty
against them.
Miller Costello, 26, and Brenda Emile, 23, appeared in court but didn't say
much, as most of the chatter was between attorneys.
Defense attorneys asked to continue the hearing so they could sort out the
issue of contracts with the state. One attorney stated that the typical
contracts for public defenders do not extend into capital cases unless the
state approves a new agreement.
Judge Michael DiReda agreed and continued the hearing to another date.
DiReda also suggested that prosecutors move quickly toward securing a
mitigation expert that will meticulously comb through the case.
No trial dates were set during the Thursday morning hearing, but the court will
discuss scheduling when they meet for their next hearing on Aug. 13 in Ogden.
On July 6, 2017, police responded to a 911 call about a 3-year-old who was
unconscious and not breathing.
The 2 were arrested and charged with aggravated murder just days after the
severely malnourished child was found with injuries to her head, chest, wrists,
legs and a "piece missing" from her nose, according to an Ogden Police
detective.
Her injuries ranged from brain hemorrhages to cigarette burns, according to the
medical examiner.
(source: Standard-Examiner)
NEVADA:
Nevada's path forward unclear after twice-delayed execution
Nevada twice has come close to carrying out its 1st execution in 12 years. And
twice it failed.
Condemned killer Scott Raymond Dozier says he wants to die, but the state has
no clear path forward after courts blocked it from using a never-tried
combination of drugs that it created after struggling to get lethal injection
supplies.
The delays are raising questions about whether Nevada can overcome legal
hurdles to execute its first inmate since 2006 and whether the political will
exists to find a way to carry out capital punishment at all.
States, including Nevada, have increasingly run up against pharmaceutical
companies who don't want their products used in executions, with states like
Texas, Georgia and Virginia changing laws to shield information about the drugs
they use and others coming up with backup methods such as gas chambers and
firing squads.
In an election year, few Nevada politicians are talking about possible changes
to keep the death penalty viable while the state faces a court battle that's
expected to be lengthy.
"It will be quite a while before Scott Dozier is going to face an execution
day," said Deborah Denno, an expert in capital punishment law at Fordham
University in New York.
Hours before Dozier was to die July 11, a judge blocked use of the sedative
midazolam until at least September after drugmaker Alvogen sued. The state was
expected to appeal the postponement to the Nevada Supreme Court.
Nevada's 3-drug plan would follow the sedative with fentanyl, the potent
synthetic opioid that's fueling overdose deaths nationwide, and a muscle
paralytic called cisatracurium. Neither has been used in an execution, and
critics have raised concerns Dozier could be conscious, unable to move and
suffocating.
Dozier, a 47-year-old twice-convicted murderer who insists he doesn't care if
his death is painful, had his execution previously delayed in November.
If the courts block it again, Nevada could try to get drugs from a
made-to-order compounding pharmacy. Texas and Georgia both use such pharmacies
and have passed laws shielding the facilities' identities.
Nevada could try to obtain a compounded drug from Texas, like Virginia did in
2015 before passing a law allowing prisons to use a secret compounding
pharmacy.
But the made-to-order drugs can be expensive, and "Nevada may not want to make
that kind of investment," Denno said.
Dr. Jonathan Groner, a lethal injection expert and surgeon who teaches at Ohio
State University, said there is no shortage of drugs that can kill people, "but
each has problems and will cause endless litigation."
"My guess is that most of the 79 death row inmates in Nevada will die of old
age and not at the state's hands," Groner said.
Nevada law calls for capital punishment by lethal injection, so state officials
would have to approve changes - and perhaps build new facilities - to switch to
a different method.
It might consider joining Alabama, Mississippi, Ohio, and Oklahoma in a
yet-to-be-employed method using nitrogen gas, Denno said. It asphyxiates a
person in an airtight chamber through a lack of oxygen.
Nevada's new death chamber is not airtight, prisons spokeswoman Brooke Santina
said.
There also are firing squads, the method Utah decided in 2015 to use as a
backup if lethal injection drugs can't be found.
Nevada lawmakers and Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval have not called for changes
to ensure executions can be carried out. Sandoval is term-limited, and his
spokeswoman, Mary-Sarah Kinner, said he believes any change should come from
the Legislature and next governor, who will be elected in 4 months.
Key candidates who could influence executions spoke in generalities or not at
all about the future of the death penalty.
State Attorney General Adam Laxalt, a Republican running for governor who
supports capital punishment, declined to comment. Democratic gubernatorial
candidate Steve Sisolak supports the death penalty "in extreme cases" and has
not called for laws to be changed.
The top 2 contenders for attorney general, Republican Wes Duncan and Democrat
Aaron Ford, support the death penalty.
Duncan said he couldn't comment on Dozier's case because he may handle it if
elected. He said he would be open to "alternate constitutional means of
execution, including different drug cocktails."
Democratic state lawmaker James Ohrenschall has called in the past for ending
the death penalty as "costly, unfair and ineffective." He said he hasn't
decided if he will try again when the Legislature meets next year.
Michael Green, a history professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said
the death penalty is a question the state faces about links between its past
and future.
"Is the death penalty a remnant of our 'Old West' past? Or is it something that
a more modern Nevada should keep or get rid of?" Green said.
Kent Scheidegger at the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, a California-based
pro-death penalty group, blamed the Dozier delays on a public pressure campaign
to starve states of the ability to enforce a punishment that many Americans
favor for the worst murderers.
Dozier's case "exposes Nevada's death penalty as a costly exercise in
futility," said Scott Coffee, a deputy public defender in Las Vegas who has
lobbied the Legislature for years to get rid of the death penalty.
"Even when someone is begging to be executed," Coffee said, "we don't really
have means to carry it out."
(source: Associated Press)
USA:
Bay Area U.S. Attorney considers rare death penalty charges against Louisiana
man
The U.S. Attorney's office is considering whether to seek the death penalty
against an alleged marijuana trafficker accused of at least 2 murder
conspiracies.
Marcus Etienne, of Louisiana, currently faces murder conspiracy charges along
with his ex-wife, Elizabeth Gobert, and 2 others, Craig Marshall and Mario
Robinson. But Northern California District Acting U.S. Attorney Alex Tse has
indicated in court records his office may soon bring additional charges and
seek the death penalty.
Abraham Simmons, a spokesman for the Northern California U.S. Attorney's
Office, said prosecutors are still considering weather to pursue a death
sentence. A final decision must be made by Aug. 10, according to court records.
Etienne, who federal prosecutors claim goes by the nickname "Hitler," allegedly
directed a marijuana trafficking ring that moved multi-pound shipments of
Mendocino County cannabis to Louisiana. A center point of the ring was a
daycare center in Louisiana, but the couple also made trips to California,
prosecutors allege.
In March 2016, Etienne allegedly directed others, including Marshall and
Robinson, to kill a man named Trince Thibodeaux for failing to pay for all of
the marijuana Etienne advanced him. Federal prosecutors allege Marshall and
Robinson were present when Thibodeaux was gunned down in Oakland, but cannot
say who the shooter was, according to court records.
Then, in early 2017 - after Etienne and Gobert were arrested on federal charges
of trafficking more than 200 pounds of marijuana across state lines -
prosecutors allege the pair conspired to kill Robinson and discussed the plot
in phone calls.
In August 2017, months after Etienne and Gobert were first charged with
marijuana trafficking, they were hit with a superseding federal indictment,
along with Marshall and Robinson. The charges included racketeering and murder
in connection with continuing a criminal enterprise.
Federal death sentences are rare, and a federal execution has not happened
since 2003, when Louis Jones Jr., a onetime respected Gulf War veteran, was
executed for murdering 19-year-old Pvt. Tracie Joy McBride. 2 years before
that, Oklahoma City bomber Timothy J. McVeigh and Juan Garza - convicted of
murdering 3 people as part of a marijuana trafficking ring - became the 1st 2
federal executions in nearly 40 years.
Currently, 63 people sit on federal death row, according to the Death Penalty
Information Center, a nonprofit that stores data on the death penalty. The only
2 from California are co-defendants Iouri Mikhel and Jurijus Kadamovas,
convicted in 2007 of killing 5 people in a kidnapping-for-ransom plot.
Most recently, a federal jury in Utah sentenced 2 members of an Aryan prison
gang to death in federal court last month, for orchestrating a murder inside
prison.
(source: Mercury News)
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