August 23 USA: An Irrevocable Error 60 years ago, the state of Georgia executed a woman named Lena Baker. Last week the state Board of Pardons and Paroles announced that it would posthumously pardon her. Officials said the execution was a "grievous error" in a case that cried out for mercy. The sentiment is noble, clearly meaningful to her surviving family, which pushed for it. And it is always important for anyone wielding the tremendous power of government to be prepared to stare error in the face. But the nature of the death penalty makes it impossible even to begin to right the wrong that took place in this case. The error was grievous and irrevocable. Ms. Baker, an African American woman of 44, was put to death in 1945 for killing her employer, a white man named E.B. Knight. At her trial, she contended that he held her as a kind of sex slave and she shot him in self-defense as he was attacking her with a crowbar. At most, this is manslaughter. But in the segregated South, an all-white, all-male jury convicted her of capital murder in a 1-day trial, and she was executed in Georgia's electric chair less than a year later. It is tempting to believe that these tragedies don't happen anymore, that the death penalty now is more protective of innocent life. Indeed, trial standards are undoubtedly higher; southern states are no longer organized governmental conspiracies against the rights of African Americans; and capital appeals today ensure layers of review totally absent then. Yet injustice is a resilient pestilence that -- like drug-resistant bacteria -- has myriad ways of defeating the best human attempts to eliminate it. And Americans who believe the death penalty is foolproof are simply kidding themselves. DNA testing has caused many people to be freed from death row, illustrating the fallibility of even modern trials. And recently prosecutors in St. Louis reopened the case of a man executed by the state of Missouri back in 1995 -- no longer being convinced that the state had killed the right person. As long as the death penalty persists, cases like Ms. Baker's -- where recompense is impossible -- are inevitable. (source: Editorial, Washington Post) OHIO: State fires 2 guards over handling of inmate suicide A convicted killer on Ohio's death row who committed suicide in May likely was dead more than three hours before his body was found, indicating a breakdown in the system for checking on inmates, according to a report on the suicide released Monday. The state said it fired 2 prison guards over the handling of the May 7 suicide of Martin Koliser, sentenced to die for killing a Youngstown police officer in 2003. Koliser used a nylon belt that he tied around the frame of his bunk bed to hang himself. Under prison procedures, a guard should have checked on Koliser twice an hour. Instead, the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction said a check was made about 1:30 a.m. and again about 5:30 a.m., when the body was found, according to the report released at the request of The Associated Press. The prison system believes the suicide happened between 1:30 a.m. and 2 a.m., contradicting the coroner's report, which concluded Koliser died at 5:30 a.m. The report found numerous other problems with the handling of the suicide at Mansfield Correctional Institution, including inadequate documentation of guards' activities at night, broken first aid kits and a failure to regularly carry out drills to prevent and respond to suicides. The report follows February's unsuccessful escape attempt from death row in which 2 inmates built a ladder from sheets and rolled-up newspapers and magazines. In that incident, prison officials blamed "gross deficiencies in supervision" and reprimanded several administrators, including the warden. Collectively, the two problems look bad coming so close together, prison system spokeswoman Andrea Dean acknowledged Monday. "But we've addressed both incidents. People have been disciplined as a result of both incidents," she said. "We're confident that changes are being made and that people are being held accountable and they're going to carry out their job duties in an appropriate manner." The prison based its conclusions on interviews with inmates, guards and a videotape taken when Koliser's body was found that shows muscle stiffening that occurs hours after death already set in, Dean said. The state said it fired guards James Clark and Jeffrey Whitaker and disciplined unit Capt. John Cantrell. Messages seeking comment were left for the three, and a request was made for responses the guards submitted in the course of being disciplined. Whitaker was fired for failing to do his rounds, while Clark was fired for falsifying a logbook to make it appear that Whitaker had done the rounds as required. Cantrell was reprimanded for delaying the investigation by calling for a full review team instead of entering Koliser's cell immediately with another guard. Koliser told a fellow inmate he was going to commit suicide over the state's decision to move death row to the Ohio State Penitentiary in Youngstown, fearing for his life since he killed a Youngstown police officer, according to the report. That inmate, Grady Brinkley of Lucas County, said Whitaker made checks at 10:15 p.m., 1:30 a.m. and 5:20 a.m. Several other inmates made similar statements. Brinkley "stated this was normal routine and they know they are supposed to make two rounds per hour but they don't," the report said. Brinkley was sentenced to death in 2002 for killing his 18-year-old ex-girlfriend. Koliser had been on death row since November 2003 for killing Youngstown patrolman Michael Hartzell, 26, in April 2003 as the officer investigated a shooting. Koliser's father, Martin Koliser Sr., declined to comment Monday. The Richland County coroner listed the official time of Koliser's death as 5:30 a.m., based on a temperature reading of Koliser's body at 8:20 a.m. The temperature was 97.6 degrees; regular body temperature is about 98.6 degrees. Coroner Stewart Ryckman said Monday he's sticking with his report, saying he has experienced investigators who are familiar with corpses and confirming the time of death. "I see no reason to change it at this point," Ryckman said. He did say it's possible Koliser died slightly earlier than 5:30 a.m. He also has requested a copy of the prison videotape of the scene. Koliser was one of five inmates who have committed suicide this year, following a record 11 inmate suicides last year. The guards' union will fight to reinstate the officers, said Peter Wray, spokesman for the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association. The union believes the report should have highlighted that the estimates of time of death differ. The union also wants to increase the number of guards doing rounds, especially at night on death row. ON THE NET----Department of Rehabilitation and Correction: http://www.drc.state.oh.us/ (source: Associated Press)
