March 1 NEW HAMPSHIRE: NH responds to the ruling barring execution of young killers Reaction in New Hampshire to the Supreme Court's death penalty ruling ranged from celebration to deep disapproval. "That's an extraordinary ruling," said Claire Ebel, executive director of the New Hampshire Civil Liberties Union. "It gives me a sense of hope that perhaps we're not as uncivilized as we sometimes appear to be." "There's nothing cruel or unusual about it," Rep. Richard "Stretch" Kennedy, R-Contoocook, said of the death penalty for juveniles. Kennedy said there are some criminals who are so barbaric that it is dangerous to keep them around, regardless of whether they are 17 or 18. "It's not unusual; executions have been going on for years. It's not cruel; an intravenous injection is the most peaceful death you can ever have," Kennedy said. Execution can be by injection or hanging. The state's last execution, in 1939, was of a man who molested and killed a 10-year-old. A bill to raise New Hampshire's minimum age for the death penalty from 17 to 18 vetoed last year by Gov. Craig Benson and back this year for consideration by lawmakers - was rendered moot by yesterday's court ruling, but one of its sponsors says he hopes it will pass anyway. "At the very least we should pass it symbolically and as housekeeping," Rep. Jim Splaine, D-Portsmouth, said. "It gives us a chance again to revisit the bigger issue of the death penalty and consider what we might want to do with that in the future." Bill sponsor Rep. Steve Vallaincourt, R-Manchester, said he wasn't surprised at the Supreme Court decision. "This sends a message that we won't be doing this kind of thing," Vallaincourt said. Supporters of House Bill 147 argued that 17-year-olds can't vote, enlist in the military, buy cigarettes or buy alcohol, but can be put to death. Opponents countered that 17-year-olds are old enough to be treated as adults. House Speaker Doug Scammon, R-Stratham, said he had not yet read the court's decision, but feels that the death penalty overall is warranted in some cases, especially if a killing is premeditated or carried out during an armed robbery. But he noted: "I don't think we should be executing 17-year-olds." David Welch, R-Kingston, is chairman of the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee. He said he has no problem with the high court's decision or House Bill 147. Welch said he would oppose any death penalty if the state had none and wanted to impose one, "but the restricted death penalty we have has not been abused and I am comfortable with it." The Legislature voted to repeal New Hampshire's death penalty entirely in 2000, but then-Gov. Jeanne Shaheen vetoed it. An override attempt failed by 34 votes in the House. Another attempt in 2001 to repeal the law failed by eight votes. New Hampshire has no one on death row. The law applies to those who murder A police officer, judge or similar official acting in the line of duty or killed in retaliation. During a kidnapping. By hiring another to commit murder. While serving a life prison term without parole. During a rape. During certain drug crimes. The last person charged with capital murder was Gordon Perry, who was accused of killing an Epsom police officer in 1997. Perry was 22 at the time. The case never went to trial because a 1st-degree murder plea was negotiated. (source: Union Leader) KENTUCKY: U.S. Supreme Court's death penalty decision met with mixed reactions Death penalty opponents in Kentucky praised the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling Tuesday that declared it unconstitutional for states to execute juvenile offenders, while prosecutors said they were disappointed. Kentucky was one of 19 states that still allowed the execution of juveniles who committed murder before reaching age 18. In a 5-4 decision, the high court ruled that such executions violate the Eighth Amendment, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. Kentucky does not currently have any death row inmates who were age 18 or younger at the time of their offense. However, Fayette County Commonwealth's Attorney Ray Larson said he believes there are some instances in which aggravating circumstances should warrant the death penalty for some juvenile offenders. Larson said there are cases pending in Lexington to which the court's ruling could apply. Now he intends to seek life sentences without parole against the accused offenders in each of the cases, Larson said. "The Supreme Court has once again slammed the door of the justice system in the face of the victims. And I know that they're getting tired of it," Larson said. "It's no wonder they have little or no confidence in the criminal justice system." The Rev. Patrick Delahanty, head of the Kentucky Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, hailed the Supreme Court ruling Tuesday. "It's a great decision because it's another step in the direction of repeal of the death penalty in Kentucky for all people," "It's exciting that we are slowly evolving as a nation in seeing that the use of this penalty is inappropriate." With Tuesday's decision, the nation's high court reversed its 1989 decision involving former Kentucky death row inmate Kevin Stanford. That ruling said states could execute juveniles older than 15. Stanford was 17 when he raped and killed gas station attendant Baerbel Poore in Louisville in 1981. As he left office in 2003, former Gov. Paul Patton commuted Stanford's death sentence to life imprisonment. Patton was governor for Kentucky's 2 executions since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976. Both inmates were adult offenders. In a telephone interview, Patton lauded the court's latest decision. He commuted Stanford's death sentence because juveniles "have a lack of maturity" and should be held to a different standard than adults, Patton said. "While there's no way to tell when an individual becomes truly responsible, as a matter of law, we've decided it's at 18," Patton said. "I certainly understand that immature people can do grievous things, and they ought to receive some consideration for that." State Rep. Robin Webb, D-Grayson, withdrew proposed legislation that would have banned the death penalty for juvenile offenders in Kentucky. Sen. Gerald Neal, D-Louisville, withdrew a similar bill pending in the Senate. "I was elated," Webb, who has filed similar bills in the past, said in a phone interview. "We are separated now from the handful of countries that still execute children." Beth Wilson, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky, said without the court's ruling, Kentucky's political climate would probably have not allowed for such legislation to pass soon. "As a society, people are becoming more and more uncomfortable with the barbaric practice of executing people," Wilson said. "I think we would eventually get there, but I'm glad the Supreme Court has done this so we don't have to wait for public opinion to catch up." Kentucky Attorney General Greg Stumbo said he was disappointed by the court's decision. Still, prosecutors would have to accept it, Stumbo said. "I personally believe that the punishment ought to be consistent with the hideous nature of the crime," Stumbo said. "But it's the law of the land." (source: Associated Press) PENNSYLVANIA: Fair trial / A death row inmate may get what he deserves In April 1996, Ernest Simmons was just 4 days away from being executed for the brutal murder of an 80-year-old Johnstown woman before he was granted a temporary stay. Last week, after noting widespread misconduct by the original prosecutors, a federal judge ordered a new trial. Among the irregularities in Simmons' 1993 trial was that prosecutors did not disclose that star witness Margaret Cobaugh, who claimed that Simmons had admitted the murder while raping her, could not initially identify him in a lineup. The prosecution also never revealed that hair samples found on Ms. Cobaugh did not match Simmons and that prosecutors helped her avoid a prison term for an illegal gun purchase. In 2003, she told a reporter from the Innocence Institute at Point Park University that she fingered Simmons only after a detective told her that he was certainly guilty but they "didn't have a witness." The institute is a partnership between the university and the Post-Gazette that probes allegations of wrongful convictions while helping student journalists learn investigative reporting. In his 52-page opinion ordering a new trial, U.S. District Judge Sean J. McLaughlin called the original verdict "fundamentally unworthy of confidence" and said that "although we cannot say with certainty that the jury would have reached a different conclusion on its verdict, Simmons has demonstrated a reasonable probability that it would have done so." Rather than apologize for the egregious misconduct by the prosecutors in the original trial, Cambria County District Attorney David Tulowitzki has vowed to appeal Judge McLaughlin's ruling, ultimately to the U.S. Supreme Court. The appeals may take years, during which time Simmons will continue to sit behind bars. Although many aspects of the death penalty are controversial, the belief that innocent people should not be executed is not. 118 people have been released from death row since 973 because of DNA or other exculpatory evidence. In Pennsylvania, death row inmate Nicholas James Yarris was released after DNA evidence exonerated him in 2003. After 13 Illinois death row inmates were exonerated, Gov. George Ryan commuted the death sentences of 156 inmates rather than risk getting the blood of an innocent person on his hands. [my note----Ryan commuted 167 inmates] Ernest Simmons may be innocent, or maybe not. But, like any other American, he deserves a fair trial. He didn't get that in 1993, and if Cambria County prosecutors have their way he won't get one for some time, if at all. That only begs the question: If they are so certain of Simmons' guilt, what aspect of a new trial are they afraid of? Certainly not getting blood on their hands. (source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) **************************** Judge stays execution of Pittsburgh killer A federal judge has stayed the execution of a Pittsburgh man for the 1994 shooting deaths of his ex-girlfriend and 2 children. Gerald Watkins, 35, an inmate at Greene state prison, was scheduled to receive a lethal injection on March 29 under a death warrant signed last month by Gov. Ed Rendell. Watkins faces 3 death sentences for the murders of Beth Ann Anderson, their infant daughter and her 9-year-old son in Pittsburgh. The stay was issued Monday by U.S. District Judge David Stewart Cercone. (source: Associated Press) ******************************************* Pennsylvania Child Advocates Pleased With U.S. Supreme Court's Decision to End Juvenile Death Penalty Contact: Tyler Prell or Crystal Streuber, 202-518-8047, both for the Juvenile Law Center Juvenile Law Center, which filed amicus briefs along with 49 other child advocacy organizations calling on the U.S. Supreme Court to ban the juvenile death penalty, today applauded the Court for upholding a lower court's finding that the juvenile death penalty is unconstitutional. Marsha Levick, Esq., Legal Director at Juvenile Law Center, commented on the impact of the decision. "Today the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed what many states, the scientific community and virtually all other countries believe: the execution of juvenile offenders is cruel and unusual punishment and cannot be tolerated in civilized society. Children are distinctly different from adults in culpability, judgment and blame-worthiness, facts that make them ineligible for the death penalty. Christopher Simmons was 17 when he committed murder, an age at which adolescents' brains are not fully developed and teens may not understand the full consequences of their actions. We exclude minors from society in both significant and trivial ways. They cannot vote, enlist in the military, sit on juries or even get tattoos. The Court has now brought their eligibility for the death penalty in line with those exclusions. We are very pleased the Court has not only confirmed what we believe and science has proven -- that executing juveniles is wrong -- but also that the Court has now ended the isolation of the U.S. from most of the rest of the world in imposing and carrying out such executions." The Missouri Supreme Court last year ruled that the Constitution forbids the execution of Christopher Simmons, who was 17 at the time of his offense. This ruling will impact 72 juvenile offenders currently on death row in the United States. (source: U.S. Newswire (Founded in 1975, Juvenile Law Center (JLC) is a public interest law firm and one of the oldest organizations in the US dedicated to protecting and advancing children's rights. JLC works to ensure that children are treated fairly by public systems intended to help them, and that they receive the full measure of the services they deserve. Website: http://www.jlc.org ) INDIANA----impending execution Death row inmate says he has changed since killing family of four A man facing execution later this month said in a death row interview he has changed since he murdered an Evansville couple and their two children 25 years ago and does not want to be remembered as a "raving maniac." "I would like people to know I'm rational. I'm not a raving maniac," Donald Ray Wallace told Indianapolis television station WTHR in an interview broadcast Tuesday. "I'm not hostile, that I'm not whatever you think a murderer is supposed to be." Wallace, 47, was scheduled to be executed March 10 at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City. In 1982, Wallace was convicted of the Jan. 14, 1980 murders of Theresa and Patrick Gilligan and their children Lisa, 5, and Gregory, 4. Authorities said Wallace - who had been released from prison just two months earlier - bound the victims and shot them to death after they surprised him while he burglarized their home. Wallace claimed for years that an accomplice had committed the murders, but later admitted in letters to Theresa Gilligan's sister and again in the WTHR interview that he killed the family. Wallace said he had not intended to kill anyone and described the murders as "a moment of utter madness." "It was panic, because my original intention was not to kill anyone, it was to get the situation under control, and Patrick attacked, which I can't blame him for. I would, too, if I were in his position. Once the shooting started, all hell broke loose." He said he could not explain why he murdered the children. "It was almost like watching a movie or something, like I became completely disconnected from everything that was going on," he said. Wallace offered an apology to Theresa Gilligan's sister Diana Harrington. "I wish I could take it back, but I can't. I can't change the past," he said. Wallace exhausted his appeals late last year and signed a waiver giving up his right to seek clemency. He filed a lawsuit Friday to stop the Indiana Department of Correction from performing a post-execution autopsy on his body, saying he objects on "moral, religious and practical" grounds. (source: Associated Press) *********************** About the federal death penalty The death penalty has had a long, turbulent history in the courts. The Supreme Court first ruled it unconstitutional in 1972 in the case of Furman vs. Georgia. The court found the statute was being applied arbitrarily both at the state and federal level and could be considered "cruel and unusual" punishment. (The federal government executed 34 people between 1927 and 1963.) In 1976, however, the Supreme Court reversed itself in Gregg vs. Georgia, reinstating the death penalty. That ruling gave the federal government the right to sentence prisoners to die, although the death penalty was not re-enacted officially until 1988. 60 additional capital offenses were added as part of the 1994 omnibus crime bill, including murder for hire, fatal drive-by shootings and murder of certain government officials. That law also stated that in federal sentencing, the manner of execution would be determined by the state in which the sentence is handed down. Colorado allows for lethal injection. If a state does not allow the death penalty, the judge may designate another state to perform the execution. The federal Bureau of Prisons recently finished construction on a death row in Terre Haute, Ind. The facility includes a federal execution chamber to administer lethal injection. It is at this location that Timothy McVeigh is scheduled to die. (source: Gary Tribune) *********************** 'Stop the machine of death' -- Former Illinois Gov. Ryan says death penalty reform is needed. CAPITAL PUNISHMENT DEBATE Former Illinois Gov. George Ryan, who drew national attention for his 2003 blanket commutation of the sentences of the state's 167 death row inmates, brought his anti-death penalty message to South Bend on Monday. He said he's striving to "stop the machine of death" across the country. In a lunchtime chat with Saint Mary's College students and an evening address at the University of Notre Dame, Ryan detailed how appalling breakdowns in the state's judicial process ultimately motivated him to issue the historic decision and why he believes the nation's broken system is beyond repair. "My efforts to reform the death penalty in Illinois, both then and now, and here in Indiana and in Michigan and in other states around, is an attempt to sweep away a curtain of ignorance and denial," Ryan said. In a post-lunch interview with The Tribune, Ryan declined to answer questions regarding the federal indictment he faces on racketeering, fraud and conspiracy charges. The indictment alleges Ryan engaged in a pattern of corruption that included awarding lucrative government contracts and using state resources for personal gain and to benefit members of his family, friends and campaign organization. "I've got no comment at all on that," he said. But to skeptics who theorize he emptied Illinois death row, commuting all sentences to life in prison while pardoning 4 others, to deflect attention from the burgeoning scandal and improve his legacy, he said his decree did just the opposite. "It gave my critics more of an opportunity to say that's why I did it," Ryan said. As for the commutations and his earlier decision to place a state moratorium on executions, Ryan, a Republican, said Illinois' system was so busted it left him with no other choice. "The problem is, the system doesn't work," he said. In the days leading up to his January 2003 decision, shortly before he left office, Ryan said he agonized over the decision -- often bouncing back and forth -- while reviewing case files and meeting with everyone from prosecutors and the police to victims' families. "After a lot of discussions and personal reflection, there was no doubt in my mind that the system was arbitrary, capricious, unjust and racist and was unfair to the poor," Ryan said. "There was no just and fair way to say, 'You're guilty and you're innocent,' so I decided to commute all the sentences." "... I didn't want to look over my shoulder for the rest of my life and read one day in the South Bend Tribune that so and so was executed and to find out that he was really innocent." >From 1977 to 2002, 13 of Illinois' 25 death row inmates were exonerated, a glaring statistic that Ryan cited in the interview and during his talk as the main example of why the system represented a miscarriage of justice. "If an airplane had 25 flights and 13 crashed and 12 made it, we'd ground that plane in a heartbeat," he said. "So I grounded the system in Illinois." Ryan, a former pharmacist from the eastern Illinois city of Kankakee, was a supporter of the death penalty throughout his political career, but said he always thought about the concept in the abstract. But when he became governor in 1999, he was afforded an up-close opportunity to view the process and began to rethink his position after reports of wrongful convictions began to surface. He rejects assertions that a death sentence is more cost-effective than life in prison, an effective method of retribution or a source of closure for victims' families. Ryan declined to stay one execution before he issued the moratorium, an act he called the "toughest thing I ever did." His blanket commutation earned him a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize. 2 protesters greeted Ryan as he arrived at the DeBartolo Center for the Performing Arts, and he spoke with them before entering the theater. No other demonstrators were present and he was greeted by applause from the student-speckled audience. The talk was part of a series of events at Saint Mary's and Notre Dame focusing on the death penalty. Michigan does not have the death penalty. Indiana and Illinois -- although the moratorium remains in place -- are 2 of 38 states where the death penalty is legal. Ryan wants to change that. "We in the U.S.," Ryan said, "should join the rest of the world in rejecting capital punishment as a deterrent to crime." (source: South Bend Tribune) NEW MEXICO: Ultimate sanction varies by county jurisdiction New Mexico has executed one person in the past 45 years, and Bernalillo County is not likely to add to that anytime soon - even without the repeal of the death penalty. District Attorney Kari Brandenburg said she could not recall any coming trials in which the death penalty is being pursued. Murder trials for Jeffrey Galindo and Royce Chinana are scheduled next month, but neither is facing the death penalty. That's despite the argument their case could fit the criteria necessary to seek the death penalty. Both men are accused of killing Moriarty teen Chris Hanson and terrorizing his friends in a Northeast Heights park in 2003. Brandenburg said she did not know why the death penalty was not being sought in the case. In Sandoval County, Zacharia Craig is awaiting trial for the 2001 death of State Police Officer Lloyd Aragon of Grants. District Attorney Lemuel Martinez said if Craig is found guilty, the state would pursue the death penalty. In Santa Fe County, District Attorney Henry Valdez said he is pursuing the death penalty in 2 cases and considering it in three others, including the case of Karen Smallwood, who is accused of killing a young mother last year. The last person executed in New Mexico was Terry Clark in 2001 for the 1986 rape and murder of 9-year-old Artesia girl Dena Lynn Gore. Clark was the 1st to die in New Mexico by lethal injection; 19 men have been executed by hanging, seven on the electric chair and one in the gas chamber. Only 2 inmates are on New Mexico's death row: Robert Fry of Farmington, convicted in 2000 of the bludgeoning death of a Shiprock woman; and Timothy Allen of Bloomfield, convicted in 1995 of killing and raping a 17-year-old girl. Neither is expected to be executed for many years. Their death sentences would not be affected by the bill to repeal the death penalty, which was passed by the state House on Monday and now heads to the Senate. (source: The Albuquerque Tribune)
