Sept. 16
KENTUCKY:
On Death Row, a Battle Over the Fatal Cocktail
Edward L. Harper, the last man to be executed in this state, took 12
minutes to die. Observers on that spring evening in 1999 said he looked
tranquil as an executioner pumped a series of 3 chemicals into him - a
barbiturate to make him unconscious, then a paralyzing agent, and then a
chemical used in road salt, to stop his heart.
The next morning, a state medical examiner performed an autopsy. She
noted, among many other things, that Mr. Harper's heart weighed 420 grams
and that he was wearing a cloth scapular when he died. It said, "Whosoever
has this shall not suffer eternal fire."
The examiner's report also determined the levels of the lethal-injection
chemicals in Mr. Harper's blood, drawn from 3 places in his corpse.
Now, as 2 other Kentucky inmates face execution, their lawyers say those
numbers prove that Mr. Harper was tortured to death. They say that the
drug meant to make him unconscious did not work, meaning the other 2 drugs
subjected him to suffocation and searing pain while he was wide awake but
unable to move or speak. In a suit filed in Circuit Court here in August,
they have asked a judge to halt their clients' executions as cruel and
unusual punishment.
Opponents of the death penalty have filed challenges to the three-chemical
combination used in Kentucky and about 30 other states in recent years.
But those cases were based on speculation about the drugs' effects, and
judges have dismissed many of them on procedural grounds or because
medical experts assured them that the 1st drug was certain to produce
unconsciousness and perhaps be lethal itself.
The information in the Harper autopsy and in similar data from 2 other
states radically changes the debate over the humanity of the standard
lethal injection chemicals, lawyers for the inmates here say. What had
before been only a theoretical concern, they contend, turns out to be
provable fact.
David Smith, an assistant attorney general, declined to comment on the
suit. The state has not yet filed a response in court.
There is no serious dispute that the 1st drug, if administered properly,
should be adequate to render inmates unconscious for hours.
"If we have a working I.V. and the right drugs are given in the right
order, I can absolutely guarantee that there is no suffering," said Dr.
Mark Dershwitz, a professor of anesthesiology at the University of
Massachusetts and an expert in the effects of drugs. "The recipe itself is
medically absolutely sound."
But doctors are forbidden to participate in executions in Kentucky and
many other states, and prison personnel are generally untrained in
preparing and injecting drugs.
In an affidavit supporting the Kentucky inmates, Dr. Mark J. S. Heath, an
anesthesiologist who teaches at Columbia University, wrote that there were
countless ways for prison personnel to fail to deliver the first drug
properly. Among them, Dr. Heath wrote, are mistakes in mixing the drug,
which is stored as a powder; problems with intravenous tubes; and the
possibility that "the drug may be diluted or diverted by personnel
intending to use it for purposes of substance abuse."
Earlier challenges have focused on the second drug in the typical
sequence, pancuronium bromide. It paralyzes the skeletal muscles but does
not affect the brain or nerves. A person injected only with it remains
conscious but cannot move or speak as he suffocates.
19 states prohibit the chemical in the euthanasia of animals.
"They couldn't kill my dog Hunter this way in Kentucky," said Ted Shouse,
a lawyer for the 2 inmates, Ralph Baze and Thomas C. Bowling. Mr. Baze
killed a sheriff and a deputy in 1992. Mr. Bowling killed a couple and
hurt their infant son in 1990.
Some judges have said they are troubled by the use of pancuronium bromide,
which makes the inmate appear serene but could in theory mask intense
pain. Last year, a Tennessee judge wrote that the chemical "serves no
legitimate purpose" in executions and is used only to make them "more
palatable and acceptable to society" by masking the sounds and seizures
that often accompany even painless death.
But the judge, Ellen Hobbs Lyle of Chancery Court in Nashville, said
objections to the chemical were "hypothetical and metaphysical," because
the 1st drug, a short-acting barbiturate called sodium thiopental, makes
inmates unconscious while the paralyzing agent does its work. An autopsy
conducted on Robert G. Coe, executed in Tennessee in 2000, the judge
wrote, proved that the 5 grams of sodium thiopental he received 1st had
rendered him unconscious and probably killed him before the other
chemicals did their work.
But the level of sodium thiopental found in Mr. Harper's body tells a
different story, lawyers for the Kentucky inmates say. Using standards
submitted by a prosecution expert in other cases, lawyers for the death
row inmates here say there is a 67 % to 100 % chance that Mr. Harper was
conscious while he suffocated and felt the pain caused by the 3rd drug,
potassium chloride, which stopped his heart. The varying numbers are based
on the 3 different blood samples.
Dr. Dershwitz, the prosecution expert who developed the standards that the
Kentucky inmates now rely on, said the levels of barbiturate found in Mr.
Harper's body, which varied from 3 to 6.5 milligrams per liter, were
potentially troubling.
"The blood level should be a lot higher than seven," Dr. Dershwitz said.
That is the level, he said, at which about 50 % of people are conscious
and 50 % are unconscious.
He said he needed more information about how the autopsies were conducted.
"The level of 6.5 for heart blood may or may not have been obtained and
processed in a state-of-the-art way," he said. "Until we know, that number
is just uninterpretable."
Executions in 2 other states have also raised concerns. Autopsies were
conducted by state medical examiners after 23 executions in South Carolina
and 11 in North Carolina. Under Dr. Dershwitz's standards, the Kentucky
inmates' lawyers say, there was a 50 % or greater chance that 8 of the
condemned men were conscious throughout their executions. In 1 of those
cases, the likelihood was 90 %. In 4, it was 100 %.
Dr. Dershwitz noted that the drug is typically put into 500 milligram
syringes, with four needed for the required 2 grams.
"One of the possibilities is that instead of injecting 4 of these syringes
they injected 1," he said. Some legal experts say the debate over lethal
injections misses a crucial point - that some punishment is meant to be
painful.
"Is there something short of torture - a painful death - that can be
acceptable morally and constitutional?" asked Robert Blecker, a professor
at New York Law School. "My answer is yes. Where the condemned has
intentionally inflicted pain, the condemned deserves a quick but painful
death."
Whatever the reason for the low barbiturate levels in Mr. Harper's blood,
opponents of the death penalty say the 3-chemical combination is
needlessly complicated and risky.
Veterinarians, by contrast, typically euthanize animals with a single
large dose of a longer-acting barbiturate called sodium pentobarbital.
Susan Balliet, who also represents Mr. Baze and Mr. Bowling, along with a
third lawyer, David M. Barron, refused to say whether the veterinary
method was more humane.
"It's not our job to try to figure out how to kill our clients," Ms.
Balliet said. "If they come up with something that is not cruel and
unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment, we will settle this
lawsuit."
(source: New York Times)
CALIFORNIA:
Concrete in Peterson's driveway didn't match anchor, expert testifies
A piece of Scott Peterson's story to police was put into question this
morning when an expert witness testified that concrete taken from the
defendant's driveway after his wife disappeared didn't match the concrete
found in the anchor he made for his boat.
Peterson told police he made a single anchor for his newly purchased boat
and used the remainder of an 80-pound bag for repairs on his driveway at
his Modesto home. Prosecutors maintain the extra cement was used to pin
his pregnant wife's body to the bottom of San Francisco Bay.
The body of Laci Peterson and the couple's unborn son washed up on the
Richmond shoreline four months after she disappeared just before Christmas
2002. Despite repeated searches of the bay, authorities have never found
the anchors they were looking for.
Peterson, a 31-year-old former fertilizer salesman who is charged with the
double murder, is being tried in Redwood City. He could face the death
penalty if convicted.
Robert O'Neill, a licensed geologist and expert in construction materials,
said the sample police took from Peterson's driveway contained large
coarse articles not found in the anchor taken from his boat.
"This is a different mix than what we found in the other mixes (collected
by police in the course of their investigation) and not consistent with
what you would find at Home Depot or Lowes," O'Neill told prosecutor David
Harris.
The composition found in the anchor did match traces of concrete mix
police found in Peterson's business warehouse storage unit, the bottom of
his fishing boat and in his home, O'Neill said.
O'Neill examined a plastic pitcher taken from the warehouse that police
originally believed Peterson used to craft the anchors. The concrete
expert said he ruled out the pitcher in Jan. 2004, more than a year after
Laci Peterson disappeared.
Later, a detective from the Modesto Police Department sent O'Neill a
plastic bucket from Home Depot that O'Neill deemed to be a perfect match
as a mold for Peterson' boat anchor.
Defense attorney Mark Geragos said it's not surprising that the Modesto
police located the perfect match for the anchor. After all, his client
told them that's what he used to make the anchor five days after his wife
disappeared.
But, Geragos said, Modesto police operated under the assumption for more
than a year that it was the pitcher and not a bucket that had molded the
anchor.
******************************
THE PETERSON TRIAL/Experts testify of finding little forensic evidence/
Numerous objects were tested for blood
Forensic experts scrutinized everything from Scott Peterson's door knob to
his sponge mop. They scoured the bowels of his vacuum cleaner so closely
they even noted a live flea was inside.
But for all their tests, they came up with little forensic evidence
besides some concrete residue and 4 droplets of Peterson's blood on a
comforter, a Redwood City jury was told Tuesday.
Defense attorney Mark Geragos had told the jury during his opening
statement that prosecutors had "zip, nada" in the way of physical
evidence, boasting that tests of the boat prosecutors say Peterson used to
dispose of his wife's body yielded "not one scintilla of evidence."
Tuesday, Geragos used his cross-examination of state Department of Justice
criminalist Pin Kyo to try to hammer that point home, quizzing Kyo about
her mostly fruitless tests for forensic evidence against Peterson, who is
accused of murdering his wife, Laci, and their unborn child.
Under cross examination, Kyo testified that tennis shoes, work boots, a
knife, 2 pairs of jeans, T-shirts, the ceiling in his wife's SUV, a large
tool box and sundry other items tested negative for any blood or human
tissue.
Geragos also tried to minimize the forensic evidence that Kyo did find,
which included a few drops of blood which another criminalist -- William
Hudlow -- later testified was identified through DNA testing as belonging
to Scott Peterson.
Some of that blood was found on the door of Peterson's truck, while four
spots were barely visible on the couple's comforter cover. Kyo said during
cross examination that the spots on the comforter were only 5 millimeters
across, and that she could not tell how old they were.
What's more, Geragos suggested, Kyo exaggerated when she testified Monday
that she had found chunks of concrete in the cover of Peterson's boat.
Peterson told police he made a concrete anchor for his newly purchased
boat and used the rest of the 80-pound bag of cement for repairs to his
driveway. But prosecutors think Peterson made concrete anchors and used
them to pin his wife's body to the floor of San Francisco Bay.
The amount of concrete Kyo said she found in the cover seemed to bolster
the prosecution's theory. On Monday, prosecutor Dave Harris showed jurors
an enlarged photograph that appeared to depict the chunks the forensic
expert referred to.
But Geragos used some courtroom theatrics to suggest that the concrete
didn't measure up either.
Standing in front of the jury box, Geragos opened a small, folded bindle
containing what appeared to be nothing more than granules of cement. "I
don't want to sneeze," he joked as he gingerly showed it to jurors.
Several jurors stood up and leaned forward to get a closer look.
"When you look at it in real life, it really doesn't look like chunks,"
said Geragos.
Then Geragos pulled out a small cylinder-shaped cement anchor Peterson
claims he made for his boat.
"Now that's a chunk of concrete," he said, before asking her whether the
cement residue she analyzed might have crumbled off that anchor instead.
Laci Peterson was eight months pregnant when she disappeared on Dec. 24,
2002. Her body and that of the couple's unborn son washed up on the
Richmond shoreline four months later and police arrested Peterson in their
killings. He could face the death penalty if convicted.
Earlier, Harris questioned Kyo in an attempt to discount another Geragos
theme: that investigators ignored evidence that could have implicated
someone other than Peterson in Laci Peterson's death.
Kyo said she tested plastic twine that had been found around the unborn
baby's neck. Harris then asked her about what appeared to be a bow tying
it together.
"The way it's tied is very loose," Kyo said, bolstering the prosecution's
theory that the body was entangled in the twine after it was expelled from
Laci's decaying torso, and not strangled after a live birth as the defense
has suggested.
Earlier in the trial, Geragos suggested that a plastic bag and duct tape
found near the bodies of the Modesto woman and the couple's baby may have
been used to dispose of their bodies.
Kyo examined clothing and duct tape found on Laci Peterson's remains and
compared them to the other debris. She said that although the clothing had
a distinct smell of decomposing flesh, the bag that washed up nearby did
not.
The duct tape found on Laci's body had a different thread count and was
covered with barnacles, unlike the other duct tape found on the shore, Kyo
said.
Judge Alfred Delucchi had abruptly halted the trial Aug. 5 so that the bag
and duct tape could be tested for fingerprints, DNA, or other trace
evidence. At that time, Geragos had argued that it was new evidence that
could be exculpatory for his client.
Day 54
Could Geragos skip a defense?
Some legal analysts speculated outside the courtroom Tuesday that Mark
Geragos might not put on any defense case at all. The prosecution is
expected to rest its case by the end of the month.
Janey Peterson, Scott Peterson's sister-in-law, commented briefly on those
rumors during a court recess.
"The fact that people are even discussing that indicates how poor the
prosecution's case is," she said. "It just points out there is no
evidence."
Prosecutor asks too many questions
Defense attorney Pat Harris was caught on tape by a television crew
chatting with Mark Geragos about the morning's events in the courtroom.
After complimenting his co-counsel, Pat Harris -- who seemed to be aware
he was being filmed -- took a swipe at prosecutors' performance.
"(Dave) Harris has an ability to ask four questions when he could ask
one," he chuckled. "It's just an amazing ability."
No Peterson fingerprints found
Galen Nickey, a fingerprint analyst from the state Department of Justice,
testified briefly Tuesday that he examined a piece of duct tape found on
Laci Peterson's body for fingerprints, but found none.
(source for both: San Francisco Chronicle)
NEW YORK:
DA won't seek death penalty in Middletown murder case
1st-degree murder charges against 2 Bronx men for killing a Middletown man
last month may be eligible as a death penalty case, but Orange County
District Attorney Frank Phillips announced yesterday that he would not
pursue capital punishment.
Juan Alcantara, 23, and William Breiten, 20, are charged with 1st- and
2nd-degree murder for allegedly killing Rolland Jackson, 24, in his home.
Phillips said he will not pursue the death penalty because of a court
decision. "Recent rulings by the New York State Court of appeals have
killed the death penalty and the failure of the legislature to take any
remedial action means that since the Court of Appeals decision was handed
down early this summer finding the jury sentencing provisions to be
unconstitutional, we have no death penalty," he said.
Alcantara will also face charges in the Bronx for allegedly killing
another man, Juan Recio, 18, who was an accomplice in the Middletown
homicide.
Alcantara and Breiten were arraigned in Orange County Court yesterday.
(source: Mid-Hudson News)
USA:
Friends-----
I forward the following note to the list......please contact Anna directly
if you can be of help!
Thanks!
***********************************************************
My name is Anna Jillhed and I'm working for a Swedish documentary show
called "45 minutes". Right now we are working on a documentary about the
Death Row.
What we would like to do is to make an interview with a guy who's waiting
on the death row and we would also like to talk to prison employees who
have participated in executions.
Do you know if there are any prisons who are less restrictive regarding
letting media inside the doors?
We think this subject is really important. In Sweden the opinion about
death
penalty has changed the last years, as a result of more frightful crimes.
Here follows short information about our documentarieshow, 45 minutes:
"45 minutes" is one of Sweden's most popular television shows and it airs
on TV3- which is one of the main channels here in Sweden. Last year our
popular host, Renee Nyberg, made 17 successful documentaries. And we are
now producing 12 more episodes of "45 minutes."
The first documentary that we are producing now is about Missing People.
The variation of subjects on "45 minutes" has been everything from
exclusive
access; to one of the richest women in the world: Suzanne Saperstein (who
is
Swedish living in CA) to a serial-killer's daughter in England: Anne Marie
West.
If you have any suggestions or advices, please contact me.
Thank you in advance for your consideration!
Best regards,
Anna Jillhed
Kajak Television
Phone: + 46 8 50 30 77 83,
+46 736 63 02 76
Email: [email protected]
Magasin 1, Frihamnen
Box 27034, 102 51 Stockholm SWEDEN
