Jan. 15
CALIFORNIA:
The Ritual of Executions
[Editor's Note: Donald Beardslee's execution, scheduled for Jan. 19 by
lethal injection, will resemble a ritual sacrifice with predictable,
longstanding roles for all the actors. The only player missing, the writer
says, is reason]
As the execution of Donald Beardslee looms in California, I've been
wondering what argument for or against the death penalty hasn't already
been made thousands of times before.
It's true that some circumstances have changed. For example, we have a new
governor who takes a more nuanced view on matters of criminal justice than
his predecessor. Also, polls show that the public may be gradually losing
the taste for capital punishment.
But the honest, though depressing, answer to my question is: nothing has
really changed. The death penalty in America is little more than a ritual
sacrifice in which various participants -- including me, the crusading
abolitionist -- assume their predictable roles.
Beardslee's execution, if it goes forward, will be the 11th since
California resumed capital punishment, so all the factions know the
routine.
Those organized for the death penalty will do what is expected of them.
The District Attorney will describe the condemned as a poster child for
capital punishment, and count the number of judges who have reviewed the
death sentence and upheld it. He (or she) will talk about "finality," and
urge that "justice requires nothing less than death."
The Internet will be filled with casual calls for the condemned's death by
the general public. On a website titled, "Pro-Death Penalty.com," some
rail at the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, as in this recent posting: "They
would pardon someone if there was fly poop on the trial transcript."
Others make their point as simply as, "A needle is waiting for him at San
Quentin."
Still others urge us to "Think of the victim." That is the "generic"
victim, because except in extraordinarily high-profile cases, most people
cannot tell you the name of the victim that they're asking us to "think
of." (How many know the names Paula Geddling and Stacey Benjamin? They
were Mr. Beardslee's victims.)
The family of the victim will have their few minutes of fame (and soon be
forgotten). They will talk about the "closure" that proponents of the
death penalty falsely promise, and about how long they've waited for this
moment.
Those organized against the death penalty will do what is expected of
them. They'll send out "Action Alerts" calling on their constituents to
write Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to urge him to grant the condemned
clemency. They'll cite the reasons why this defendant's life should be
spared. ("Mr. Beardslee's actions were controlled by severe brain damage
that has impaired his functioning since birth," the anti-death penalty
organization Death Penalty Focus stresses in its "Urgent Action Alert.")
Churches will call on their parishioners to oppose the execution based on
Jesus' teachings. The organization California People of Faith Working
Against the Death Penalty urges its members to write the governor to
oppose Beardslee's execution. Their model letter begins: "I have great
sympathy for the victims of violence, and admiration for those who rise
above humanity's basest instinct for revenge to respond to violence with
wisdom and compassion."
And then, assuming all efforts to stop the execution fail, they will all
gather outside the gates of San Quentin for the ritual that takes place in
the dead of night. All the factions know the drill: where to stand, what
to sing, where to set up the speaker's platform, where the cameras will
be. Everyone has his or her role to play.
The media have their turn to do what they do. On the evening news, the
same question will be answered by proponents, opponents, family members of
the victim, family members of the condemned. The question is: "How do you
feel...?"
And then, if the collective homicide is carried out (at one minute past
midnight), the various factions will react predictably: the proponents
will cheer; the opponents will lower their heads and cry; the media will
pack up its klieg lights and cameras; and we will all go back to our more
mundane lives until the next ritual killing is scheduled, when we can once
again fill our expected roles.
I have been writing against the death penalty for nearly 50 years
(beginning with a letter to the editor when I was in the seventh grade).
The truly depressing thing about that is that nothing I write today is
different from anything I wrote then. The death penalty is still morally
flawed, racially biased, reserved for the poor (but grossly expensive to
carry out) and subject to human error. We still stand alone among
first-world nations to retain this legacy of a less civilized past. And,
in a practical sense, the death penalty is utterly unnecessary in the era
of Life Without Parole.
And yet, after these years of words and more words, nothing seems to
change. Rationality does not persuade. The ritual sacrifices will proceed.
As I make my way to my expected spot to mark the last hours of Mr.
Beardslee's life, to play my part as one of "the people" in whose name
this killing is taking place, I will be thinking of the poem "Killers,"
written more than 80 years ago by the great American poet Carl Sandburg
about an upcoming execution in Chicago: "There are 5 million people in the
state, 5 million killers for whom I kill/I am the killer who kills today
for 5 million killers who wish a killing."
(source: Commentary, Pacific News Service contributor Michael Kroll works
with incarcerated juveniles who write for The Beat Within, a PNS project.
He is the founding director of the Death Penalty Information Center in
Washington, D.C.
********************************
Power Over Life and Death ----The power to save a life
The governor, under California law, has the power to perform an act of
mercy by commuting a sentence of death to life in prison without
possibility of parole. We urge him to exercise this power by granting
clemency to Donald Beardslee, who is scheduled to be killed by the state
of California at 12:01 a.m. on Jan. 19.
We base our appeal not only on specific points of law, but on our broader
belief in the dignity of all human life. The violent crimes for which
Beardslee has been convicted are atrocious. They are undoubtedly the
source of excruciating pain for the victims' family and friends. But the
answer to this pain is not more violence.
In the U.S. Catholic Bishops' 1994 statement, "Confronting a Culture of
Violence," the signers observed that, "Increasingly, our society looks to
violent measures to deal with some our most difficult social problems,
[including] crime. But violence is not the solution; it is the most clear
sign of our failures."
Similarly, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church said in 1959,
"the use of the death penalty tends to brutalize the society that condones
it. " Likewise, the United Methodist Church places value on restorative
justice rather than that of retribution; the Episcopal Church has stated
its opposition to the death penalty since 1957.
We cannot teach that killing is wrong by killing; nor can we stop it.
There are many studies showing that crime is not deterred by capital
punishment, thus executions are more about revenge than resolution. We
object not only to what the death penalty does to the offender, but what
it does to us: It undermines our respect for life.
The governor has before him the petition for clemency submitted on behalf
of Beardslee. We urge him to read it carefully. It contains not only the
tragic circumstances of two people who lost their lives, but also the
tragic story of how Beardslee's fate became intertwined with theirs.
The governor will learn that the jury in Beardslee's case was unaware of
the extent to which his actions were controlled by lifelong brain damage,
a condition compounded by two additional head injuries -- one in a car
crash in 1961, and a second caused when a falling tree struck him in the
head in 1968. The jury that sentenced him to death never saw the reports,
nor heard conclusions drawn by the various physicians who examined
Beardslee, that speak to his mental illness and brain dysfunction. The
governor will learn that although the jury requested information from the
trial court about the punishments imposed on Beardslee's co-defendants,
the court refused to provide information showing that the 3 co-defendants
who initiated and directed the crimes were either not charged,
successfully plea bargained for a lesser sentence, or received a life
sentence.
Beardslee's role in the crimes, compared to those of the co-participants
and considering his limited mental function, does not warrant the ultimate
punishment. But barring the governor's clemency, the injustice of these
disparities will result in the state taking Beardslee's life.
The governor will learn that Beardslee, far from seeking to avoid
detection, confessed his involvement completely and walked the
investigating officers through every step of the crime. After turning in
the other participants, Beardslee also testified against them -- obviously
with no benefit to himself.
Finally, the governor will learn that the jury's decision to sentence
Beardslee to death was based upon the mistaken belief that he would pose a
danger to other inmates and guards if sentenced to life without
possibility of parole. Since his incarceration, Beardslee has been a model
inmate. Comments by California Department of Corrections staff describe
his cooperative, helpful nature, extremely positive attitude, hard work
and dedication toward self-improvement. In his time at San Quentin Prison,
Beardslee has maintained an exemplary record without a single rules
violation in more than 20 years of incarceration.
Throughout history, great leaders have been remembered as much for their
compassion as their conquests. Abraham Lincoln is honored for his
sorrowful wisdom and deep sensitivity as much as his fortitude in the time
of our nation's greatest peril. John F. Kennedy fought the Cold War not
only with military might, but also with the Peace Corps. Ronald Reagan,
considered by many to have put the final nail in the coffin of Soviet
Communism, is also remembered as the last California governor to grant
clemency in a death penalty case -- in 1967 to Calvin Thomas, who suffered
from brain damage similar to Beardslee's.
We recognize that one of the governor's primary responsibilities is to
protect the citizens of California from violent crime. Commuting
Beardslee's sentence to life without possibility of parole is not a sign
of weakness, but a strong and unmistakable statement that our society
chooses to protect itself without stooping to the crime for which
Beardslee was convicted -- premeditated murder. We urge him to exercise
his right of granting clemency to save Beardslee's life. The right to take
his life remains with God.
Bishop Richard J. Garcia, Bishop Jerry A. Lamb, Bishop Beverly J. Shamana,
Bishop David G. Mullen, Rev. David Thompson
(source: Opinion, The Rev. Richard J. Garcia is the Roman Catholic
Auxiliary Bishop for the Diocese of Sacramento; Bishop Jerry A. Lamb is
the Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Northern California; Bishop Beverly
J. Shamana is the Bishop of the San Francisco Area of the United Methodist
Church; Bishop David G. Mullen is the Bishop of the Sierra Pacific Synod
of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, and The Rev. David Thompson
is the pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Sacramento----San
Francisco Chronicle)
*************************
Killer's family, foes make pleas at hearing ----Beardslee's life hangs in
balance, as panel considers clemency
Relatives of Donald Beardslee and of 1 of the 2 women he killed in 1981
made emotional appeals Friday to a state board advising Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger on whether he should spare the life of the 61-year-old
prisoner, who is scheduled to be executed at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday.
Meanwhile, a federal appeals court expressed qualms about the state's
procedures for lethal injections but refused to stay Beardslee's
execution. His lawyers had argued that the three-chemical sequence, if
administered improperly, could leave Beardslee dying in agony and unable
to cry out because one of the drugs causes paralysis.
Beardslee, of Redwood City, was convicted of murdering 23-year-old Patty
Geddling and 19-year-old Stacey Benjamin in April 1981, when he was on
parole from a 1969 murder conviction in Missouri. Prosecutors said the two
women had been killed over drug debts they supposedly owed to friends of a
woman who was staying with Beardslee. That woman and another defendant
were given sentences of up to life in prison.
The six-member state Board of Prison Terms met in Sacramento Friday to
consider Beardslee's plea for clemency and a life sentence. The board will
submit a confidential recommendation to Schwarzenegger.
The hearing focused on a defense claim that new medical evidence showed
Beardslee had suffered from lifelong brain damage, compounded by two
crushing head injuries, that had left him unable to think clearly or act
independently under pressure. Beardslee's younger brother and sister said
the diagnosis explained the behavior they had seen since childhood but
never understood.
"His entire life, he has been a scapegoat or a patsy," Richard Beardslee
said. "This man, when placed in a threatening situation, could not make a
rational judgment." He supports the death penalty, he said, but his
brother's execution "serves no purpose."
"People took advantage of him," Beardslee's sister, Carol Miller, said in
tearful testimony. "My brother was also a victim and used (by other
participants in the killings) because of his limited mental capabilities."
But Benjamin's godmother, Doris Anderson, told the board that Beardslee
"showed (his victims) no mercy." Benjamin's brother, Tom Amundsen, scoffed
at the claim of brain damage.
"You're not fooling me," Amundsen said, looking at Beardslee's attorneys,
relatives and psychologist. Addressing the board, he said, "It's time to
say goodbye to Mr. Beardslee. That's what I want. It's what my family
wants. It closes a page, a dark chapter in my family's history."
The board also heard from the psychologist who diagnosed Beardslee, Dr.
Ruben Gur, director of the Brain Behavior Laboratory at the University of
Pennsylvania. He said he had found a severe malfunction of the right side
of Beardslee's brain, which controls the processing of information,
expression of emotions and self-awareness.
As a consequence, "in confusing situations he would look for a guide," Gur
said. During the events that culminated in the 1981 murders, he said,
Beardslee "looked for a leader and, from that point on, did what the
leader expected him to."
Deputy District Attorney Martin Murray of San Mateo County countered that
Beardslee was an "intelligent, capable, high-level-functioning individual"
who had worked for years as a machinist, completed some college courses
and had an above-average IQ.
"It simply defies logic that this so-called brain damage could have gone
undetected during nearly 3 decades in prison," Murray said.
The six board members, 2 appointed by Schwarzenegger and four by former
Gov. Gray Davis, said little during the hearing. Schwarzenegger, in an
interview Friday with The Chronicle's editorial board, said he was
reviewing the case exhaustively and approaching it with an open mind.
"I'm not locked into anything," the governor said. He said he was aware of
"how so many people in this world are against capital punishment."
Schwarzenegger, who supports the death penalty, denied clemency last
February for Kevin Cooper, whose execution for 4 Southern California
murders was later blocked by a federal appeals court to allow further
scientific tests of evidence in his case.
In Friday's legal ruling, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said
"extremely troubling questions" had been raised by a defense expert's
assertions that the state's lethal injection procedures were flawed and
that as many as four California prisoners might have remained conscious
during their executions.
The 3-judge panel also said the state had offered little justification for
its use of the paralyzing chemical after an initial dose of the sedative
sodium pentothal.
But the court said a state witness with more expertise than the defense
consultant had testified that there was virtually no chance an inmate
would be conscious after the sodium pentothal injection. The court also
observed that every execution method has risks and that the U.S. Supreme
Court had instructed judges to presume that state executioners would act
carefully.
An attorney for Beardslee said he would appeal.
(source: San Francisco Chronicle)
*************************************
Killer Makes Bid to Avoid Execution - Lawyers for Donald Beardslee ask the
governor to grant clemency.
She was only 4 years old when Donald Beardslee fired a sawed-off shotgun
point blank into her mother's head.
"I have only a couple of very vague memories of her," Renee Geddling, now
28, said in a statement read Friday before the state Board of Prison
Terms. "Donald Beardslee does not deserve to live."
Beardslee, 61, is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection Wednesday
at San Quentin Prison for the grisly 1981 slayings of Patty Geddling, 23,
and Stacey Benjamin, 19, during a drug dispute in Redwood City. It would
be the first execution in California in more than 3 years and the 11th
since capital punishment was reinstated following a moratorium in 1977.
Earlier Friday, a three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of
Appeals in San Francisco rejected the latest appeal from Beardslee's
attorneys, who had argued that lethal injection would violate his 8th
Amendment right not to be subject to cruel and unusual punishment.
The Board of Prison Terms clemency hearing Friday was a formal plea by
defense attorneys and Beardslee family members asking Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger for mercy in the case. It is the 2nd capital case to come
before Schwarzenegger since he became governor in November 2003.
Schwarzenegger rejected clemency for convicted killer Kevin Cooper, who
was sentenced to death for the 1983 hacking deaths of four Chino Hills
residents, including 2 children. However, the 9th Circuit blocked Cooper's
execution at the last minute, sending it back to lower courts to consider
new DNA evidence.
In general, Schwarzenegger has proved much more lenient in prison and
parole issues than his predecessor, Gray Davis. Since taking office,
Schwarzenegger has granted three pardons and has become the 1st governor
since Jerry Brown to commute a prison term.
The governor's legal affairs secretary, Peter Siggins, said this week that
Schwarzenegger would review the Beardslee case and the prison board
recommendation this weekend before making his decision on clemency early
next week, probably Tuesday.
The last governor to grant clemency in a capital case was Ronald Reagan in
1967.
"I urge you to follow former governor and President Reagan's example in
this case," said defense attorney Michael Laurence, a San Francisco
capital punishment specialist.
Laurence argued that Beardslee's life should be spared because jurors who
considered his case did not have access to scientific evidence about the
effects of brain damage that Beardslee suffered as a child and young man.
A former juror, Robert Martinez, has said he might not have agreed to the
death penalty if he had had more information about Beardslee's purported
brain damage.
Laurence also presented testimony that Beardslee has been a model prisoner
for 21 years on San Quentin's death row.
Daniel Vasquez, warden of San Quentin from 1983 to 1993, issued a "strong
and unreserved appeal for clemency" in a statement read at the hearing.
Vasquez is a private consultant and expert witness in court cases.
Joining those calling for mercy were Beardslee's brother and sister. Both
siblings depicted their brother as a weak-willed man and "easy mark."
Richard Beardslee, a retired police officer, said his brother spent "his
entire life as a scapegoat or patsy." He blamed the killings on Frank
Rutherford, one of several people at Donald Beardslee's Redwood City
apartment when the plot to kill the 2 women was hatched.
Appearing in favor of the execution were San Mateo prosecutors and members
of the victims' families not only in this case but also from an earlier
murder conviction Beardslee received in Missouri, for which he served 11
years of an 18-year sentence. All three of Beardslee's victims were women.
San Mateo County Assistant Dist. Atty. Martin Murray described in detail
how Beardslee drove the 1st of the victims, Geddling, to a remote coastal
area of the county and shot her twice with a shotgun. Hours later,
Beardslee and Rutherford drove Stacey Benjamin to an isolated spot in Lake
County, where Beardslee slit her throat with a knife. The 2 men pulled
down the teenager's pants to make the crime look like rape.
"He is a murderer. He murdered my baby sister. He butchered her," said
Benjamin's stepbrother, Tom Amundson. "Now is the time to say goodbye to
Mr. Beardslee and close the pages on a dark chapter in our family
history."
Those arguing for the death penalty pointed to the Dec. 27, 1969, killing
of a 52-year-old woman in St. Louis, Beardslee's hometown, as one of the
most compelling reasons his life should not be spared.
After meeting Laura Griffin in a bar, Beardslee slit Griffin's throat and
left her nude body in a bathtub, where it was discovered by her
son-in-law. The son-in-law later committed suicide.
In a letter read during the clemency hearing, Griffin's daughter, Sandra
Curry, said she believed "the memories of what he saw contributed to his
depression and subsequent death."
"I'm now 62 years old," Curry wrote, "10 years older than my mother when
Mr. Beardslee decided her life was worthless."
The Beardslee case has not garnered the attention the Cooper case did last
year when actors Sean Penn and Mike Farrell, civil rights leader Jesse
Jackson and boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter joined international leaders in
calling for a stay of execution.
On Friday, Cardinal Roger M. Mahony of the Los Angeles Archdiocese urged
the governor to grant clemency to Beardslee.
(source: Los Angeles Times)
**********************
Appeals court dismisses Beardslee's lethal injection challenge
A federal appeals court on Friday rejected condemned inmate Donald
Beardslee's challenge that the lethal injection he is scheduled to receive
Jan. 19 is cruel and unusual, and a violation of speech.
A 3-judge panel of the San Francisco-based appeals court said Beardslee,
convicted of killing 2 Northern California women in 1981, never proved
that he would suffer from severe or unconstitutionally tortuous pain by an
execution procedure that is done in 26 of the 36 states that use lethal
injection.
The panel, in upholding a lower court's decision, also dismissed the
allegation that the combination of a sedative and a paralyzing agent would
mask whether he is experiencing excruciating pain while prohibiting him
from crying out -- a violation of Beardslee's speech.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the state will provide him with
enough sedatives that he will not feel the paralyzing agent course through
his blood, and that enough sedatives -- sodium pentothal -- are given to
kill him before 2 more drugs are administered. Beardslee maintained that a
mistake in the sedation process would mean he would appear unconscious but
internally he would succumb to excruciating pain once the paralyzing and
death drugs were administered.
The American Civil Liberties Union, meanwhile, argued that the combination
of drugs would also prevent the two dozen public witnesses to the
execution from seeing him contort or hear his agony, a violation of those
witnesses' First Amendment rights. The court rejected that claim on purely
procedural grounds, ruling it -- filed just days ago -- was too late.
However, the court left open the possibility that it might reconsider the
ACLU's claim if the ACLU makes the challenge first in the lower courts.
The ACLU was not immediately prepared to comment on its strategy.
Beardslee's lawyers claimed the only reason California injected him with a
paralyzing agent -- pancuronium bromide -- was to mask the tortuous pain
he might feel.
"His objections to the use of pancuronium bromide become irrelevant upon
the proper administration of sodium pentothal," the 9th U.S. Circuit Court
of Appeals said. The appeals court declared as speculative Beardslee's
claim that prison officials might not properly tranquilize him and render
him conscious during the procedure.
Beardslee's appellate attorney, Steven Lubliner, said he planned to ask
the appeals court to reconsider the case with 11 judges in a bid to block
his looming execution at San Quentin State Prison.
Beardslee, now 61, was convicted of killing Paula Geddling and Stacey
Benjamin in 1981 to get even for a soured drug deal.
The crime began when Frank Rutherford, who is serving a life sentence in
connection to the murders, shot Geddling in the shoulder when she came to
Beardslee's apartment in Redwood City. The defendants lured the 2 women
there to seek revenge for being stiffed out of drugs.
Beardslee and Rutherford took the wounded Geddling to a roadside along
Highway 1 in San Mateo County, where she was shot several times. Benjamin
was strangled and her throat was slit the same day in a secluded area in
Lake County.
The jury convicted Beardslee of performing the acts that proved fatal to
both victims, and he confessed to the crimes.
The U.S. Supreme Court has never directly addressed whether death
sentences carried out by lethal injection are cruel and unusual punishment
or violate the First Amendment. The justices have upheld executions in
general despite the pain they might cause inmates, but have left unsettled
the issue of whether alleged pain in lethal injections is
unconstitutionally excessive and can be avoided.
A clemency hearing for Beardslee was scheduled for Friday morning in
Sacramento.
Beardslee has nearly exhausted his appeals, some of which included his
trial lawyer was ineffective and was reading magazines during trial. His
new lawyers have also asked the Supreme Court to block his execution on
grounds jurors unfairly rendered a death verdict.
The case decided Friday is Beardslee v. Woodford, 05-15042. The case
before the Supreme Court is Beardslee v. Brown, 04-8146.
*************************
Beardslee takes clemency plea to governor as appeals court tosses
challenge
As a federal appeals court rejected another effort to spare the life of
condemned killer Donald Beardslee on Friday, his lawyer and family asked
the governor for clemency while prosecutors and his victim's kin called
for his execution.
5 days before his scheduled death by lethal injection, both sides made
emotional pleas to the Board of Prison Terms, which could be Beardslee's
last chance to survive a 21-year-old death sentence for murdering 2
Northern California women.
Beardslee's plea is based on a recent evaluation that found his brain was
damaged from birth and from a series of accidents early in his life,
including an injury suffered when he was absent without leave from the Air
Force in 1965.
"Don doesn't fit in this bizarre puzzle," Beardslee's sister, Carol
Miller, said as she choked back tears. "I do not believe that justice
would be served by his execution with the knowledge of new details and
understanding of how my brother was also a victim and used because of his
limited mental capabilities."
Prosecutors dismissed the notion that Beardslee was a passive accomplice
in the murders or that he was afflicted by brain damage. San Mateo County
Assistant District Attorney Martin Murray said Beardslee had normal
intelligence, held decent jobs in manufacturing and was a president of a
chapter of a national public speaking club.
Beardslee, now 61, was convicted of killing Paula Geddling and Stacey
Benjamin after an attempt to get even for a soured drug deal went awry. At
the time, he was on parole for murdering a Missouri woman.
The California crime began in 1981 when Frank Rutherford shot Geddling in
the shoulder when she came to Beardslee's apartment in Redwood City. The
defendants lured the 2 women there to seek revenge for being stiffed out
of drugs.
Prosecutors said Beardslee decided to kill the two women so he wouldn't
have to go back to jail in Missouri if authorities found out about the
shooting.
Beardslee and another man told Geddling they were taking her to the
hospital, but drove her to the coast where they fatally blasted her
several times with a shotgun. Rutherford, who died in prison two years ago
while serving a life sentence for the murders, and Beardslee later drove
Benjamin several hours north to a secluded area in Lake County where they
choked her. Beardslee then slit her throat.
Beardslee confessed to the crimes.
Benjamin's half-brother, Tom Amundsen, of Washington state, said not a day
goes by that he doesn't think of his sister and what he could have done to
stop the crime if he was there.
Amundsen paced back and forth at the lectern and scoffed at the notion
that Beardslee was beset with mental problems. Turning toward Beardslee's
lawyer in the audience, he said, "He's not mentally ill. Good job though."
"What he is is a murderer who murdered my baby sister," Amundsen said. "He
butchered her."
The board was to make a recommendation to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger by
the end of the day on whether his sentence should be commuted to life in
prison without parole. The governor was expected to decide what to do by
Tuesday, his office said.
The hearing before the Board of Prison Terms came as the 9th U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals rejected a challenge that the lethal injection he is
scheduled to receive Wednesday is cruel and unusual, and a violation of
speech.
A 3-judge panel of the San Francisco-based appeals court said Beardslee
never proved that he would suffer from severe or unconstitutionally
torturous pain by an execution procedure that is done in 26 of the 36
states that use lethal injection.
The panel, in upholding a lower court's decision, also dismissed the
allegation that the combination of a sedative and a paralyzing agent would
mask whether he is experiencing excruciating pain while prohibiting him
from crying out - a violation of Beardslee's speech.
The American Civil Liberties Union, meanwhile, argued that the combination
of drugs would also prevent the two dozen public witnesses to the
execution from seeing him contort or hear his agony, a violation of those
witnesses' First Amendment rights. The court rejected that claim on purely
procedural grounds, ruling it was too late.
However, the court left open the possibility that it might reconsider the
ACLU's claim if the ACLU makes the challenge first in the lower courts.
The ACLU said it would not immediately continue with the case.
Beardslee's appellate attorney, Steven Lubliner, said he planned to ask
the appeals court to reconsider the case with 11 judges in a bid to block
his looming execution at San Quentin State Prison.
Beardslee has nearly exhausted his appeals, some of which included his
trial lawyer was ineffective and was reading magazines during trial. His
new lawyers have also asked the Supreme Court to block his execution on
grounds jurors unfairly rendered a death verdict.
The case decided Friday is Beardslee v. Woodford, 05-15042. The case
before the Supreme Court is Beardslee v. Brown, 04-8146.
(source for both: Associated Press)
************************
Board hears testimony in Beardslee clemency issue
Hearing anguished cries for mercy or vengeance, a state parole board on
Friday considered whether condemned Peninsula killer Donald Beardslee
deserves to be executed after the stroke of midnight Wednesday.
In a half-day public session here, the Board of Prison Terms listened to
the tearful testimony of family members of Beardslee's victims who've
waited more than 2 decades for his death sentence to be carried out. And
they heard equally passionate, heart-wrenching pleas from Beardslee's
brother and sister, both of whom urged the board to help spare his life.
After considering the arguments from both sides, the 6-member board is
expected this weekend to forward a secret recommendation to Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger. The governor is then expected to decide the clemency issue
next Monday or Tuesday, on the eve of Beardslee's scheduled execution for
killing 2 women in 1981.
If the 61-year-old Beardslee is put to death, he would be the 11th man
executed since California restored capital punishment in 1978 and the
first from San Mateo County. Beardslee received the death sentence for his
role in the 1981 slayings of Patty Geddling, 23, and Stacey Benjamin, 19,
killed in a setup over drugs and money.
Beardslee was on parole for the 1969 murder of a Missouri woman, Laura
Griffin, when he killed Geddling and Benjamin, a major reason prosecutors
say they sought the death penalty. Frank Rutherford and Ricarda Soria also
were convicted, and two other men were implicated.
Tom Amundson, Benjamin's brother and a former Marine, appeared frustrated
by the arguments from Beardslee's supporters. He described in vivid detail
the way his sister was murdered. Beardslee slit Benjamin's throat while
another man strangled her, and her body was dumped in a remote spot in
Lake County.
"Try to look at pictures of my sister's body," Amundson told the board
members. "Now it's time to say goodbye to Mr. Beardslee. That's what I
want, that's what my family wants."
Added Ivan Geddling, Patty Geddling's son, "I just want the board to
recognize this man preyed upon women."
But Beardslee's supporters urged the board to recommend clemency, citing
disputed evidence of brain damage, his spotless record as a prison inmate
and the fact other defendants involved in the murders did not receive a
death sentence. In particular, Beardslee's lawyers have argued that
Rutherford, who died 2 years ago serving a life term, was the ringleader
most responsible for the deaths.
Trembling and wiping away tears, Beardslee's brother, Richard, a retired
Southern California police officer, called his brother "a patsy," not the
instigator. Richard Beardslee, recounting once being "left for dead" after
being shot four times in the line of duty, said he supported the death
penalty, but insisted it would not be appropriate for his brother.
He was joined by their sister, Carol Miller, who told the board her
brother is not the remorseless figure portrayed by prosecutors.
"In the case of Donald Beardslee, execution serves no purpose," Richard
Beardslee said.
Clemency appears to be Beardslee's only chance of avoiding execution. A
federal appeals court on Friday rejected one of his final legal claims, a
challenge to the state's method of using lethal injection. His lawyers
have a separate, last-ditch challenge to his death sentence now pending in
the U.S. Supreme Court.
Schwarzenegger rejected the only other death row clemency petition he has
considered in the case of Kevin Cooper, whose execution was postponed last
year by an appeals court. However, the governor has been far more
receptive to paroling convicted murderers than his predecessor, Gray
Davis.
With 640 inmates on death row, there hasn't been an execution in
California in 3 years.
(source: Mercury News)
***********************
Options running out for condemned man facing Wednesday execution
Donald Beardslee faces execution Jan. 19 for the murders of 2 Northern
California women in 1981. His appeals are nearly exhausted. Here is a
briefing of remaining challenges:
- A 3-judge panel of the Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
dismissed his challenge Friday that the lethal injection he is scheduled
to receive is cruel and unusual, and violates his First Amendment right of
speech. His attorney, Steven Lubliner, said he planned to ask the court to
promptly rehear the case with 11 judges. He claims a sedative he will be
given might mask his pain when a paralyzing agent is administered -
prohibiting him from crying out in pain - in violation of his right of
speech.
- The same appeals court has rejected, and declined to rehear, Beardslee's
claim that jurors, when rendering a death verdict, were prejudiced into
voting that way. The appeals court ruled that jurors wrongly considered
that the murders were carried out to kill the women from being witnesses
in court against Beardslee and another co-defendant. But the court ruled
that the error didn't prejudice the unanimous jury's conclusion. That
challenge is pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.
- Beardslee asked Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday for clemency - a
commutation of his death sentence to life without parole. Beardslee, 61,
claims the right hemisphere of his brain was inoperative when he committed
the murders. The governor's decision is pending.
- The American Civil Liberties Union, in seeking to halt the execution,
claims there will be a violation of the right of speech for those
witnessing the execution, which include media representatives, government
officials and family members of the 2 victims. The group alleges that the
paralyzing agent administered to Beardslee would prevent the witnesses
from seeing him contort or hear his agony. The 9th Circuit, while noting
the claim "may have merit," rejected it Friday on procedural grounds. But
it suggested the claim could be argued in federal court. The ACLU said it
would not immediately continue with the case, but left open the
possibility that it might renew the challenge later.
(source: Associated Press)
