Nov. 3 USA: Number in prison or on supervision nearly 7 million -- 30% increase since 1995 results from tougher rules on sentencing Nearly 7 million adults were in U.S. prisons or on probation or parole at the end of last year, 30 percent more than in 1995, the Justice Department said Wednesday. That was about one in every 31 adults under correctional supervision at the end of 2004, compared with about 1 in 36 adults in 1995 and about 1 adult in every 88 in 1980, said Allan Beck, who oversaw the preparation of the department's annual report on probation and parole populations. Beck attributed the overall rise in the number of people under correctional supervision to sentencing reforms of the 1990s. The nation's incarcerated population has been growing for more than 30 years, with a sharp rise in the last decade. He said crime rates have fallen in recent years, which helps account for slower growth among people on probation - those allowed to live in the community with some restrictions rather than being incarcerated. The number of people on probation in 2004 grew by 6,343 to about 4.2 million. Nearly 50 % of all probationers at the end of last year were convicted of a felony. 26 % were on probation for a drug law violation, and 15 % for driving while intoxicated, said the annual Justice Department report. Whites made up 56 % of the probation population and only 34 % of the prison population, according to Wednesday's report and another Justice Department report released last month. "White people - for whatever reason - seem to have more access to community supervision than African-Americans and Hispanics," said Jason Ziedenberg, executive director of the Justice Policy Institute, which promotes alternatives to incarceration. He called probation a cheaper and more effective form of rehabilitation. Blacks, he noted, made up 30 % of probationers and 41 % of prisoners at the end of 2004. Hispanics made up 12 % of the probation population and 19 % of the prison population. The adult parole population grew by 20,230, or 2.7 %, during the year, more than twice the average annual increase of 1.3 % since 1995, the report said. The total number of parolees at the end of 2004 was 765,355. Beck said a late 1990s spike in prison populations is now showing up in the number of parolees, as the number of prisoners released rises. About 187,000, or 39 % of discharged parolees, went back to prison or jail in 2005. The total number of people incarcerated in the United States grew 1.9 % in 2004 to 2,267,787 people. (source: Associated Press) DELAWARE----impending execution Strict procedures will be followed Brian Steckel's execution -- scheduled for early Friday morning -- will follow strict procedures established either by law or by policy. The machinery will start in motion when Thomas L. Carroll, the warden at the Delaware Correctional Center near Smyrna, orders Steckel moved from the state's death row to a special holding cell in the death house, a small building built on the prison's grounds in 2000. Carroll alone decides when Steckel will be moved to the death house. For security reasons, corrections spokeswoman Beth Welch said, that information is not released in advance. When Carroll issues the order, hand-picked corrections officers will go to Steckel's cell on death row. He then will be manacled and led to the holding cell in the death house. Carroll will decide if Steckel can have visitors, how many he can have, when they can see him and how long they will be permitted to stay. Information about his visitors is kept secret for security reasons, Welch said. Sometime tonight, Steckel will eat his last meal. The state will make every effort to accommodate his wishes. At some point, usually at about 11 p.m., opponents and proponents of the death penalty may gather in specially designated areas outside the prison. Demonstrators will not be allowed to enter the prison grounds and police and corrections officers will be on hand. Either late tonight or early Friday morning, Carroll will issue the order for the guards outside Steckel's cell to escort him to a gurney anchored to the floor of the execution chamber. Steckel will be placed on the gurney on his back and strapped to it so securely that he can only turn his head slightly from side to side. An intravenous tube will be inserted into Steckel's arm. By law, this will be done between 12:01 a.m. and 3 a.m. Friday, Welch said. Carroll and one of his deputy wardens will be in the chamber with Steckel. A member of the clergy also may be there if Steckel requests, Welch said. Meanwhile, the official witnesses to the execution will have arrived at the center and been briefed on what to expect. If members of Steckel's and Long's families choose to attend, they also will have arrived and been briefed. Once inside the death house, they will take places behind a large glass window. If past practice is followed, the official witnesses will be positioned between members of the 2 families to keep them separated. A curtain will be across the window until it is time for the execution. Witnesses will not see Steckel arrive or see guards strapping him down. When the curtain is opened, they will see him lying face up, strapped to the gurney. Carroll or his deputy will be standing near a telephone ready to answer it and halt the execution if there is a last-second reprieve. If there is no reprieve, Carroll will ask Steckel if he has a last statement to make. If he chooses to make one, Steckel will be allowed a short time to do so. That done, the executioner will follow a procedure established in 1992 when Delaware put serial killer Steven Pennell to death. Under the procedure, sodium thiopental, pancuronium bromide and potassium chloride are injected into the intravenous tubing by the executioner, who is stationed in a room separated from the condemned man. The executioner will be someone who has volunteered for the job. The name, age, and gender of the executioner are confidential and will not be released, Welch said. A medical doctor will enter the execution chamber and make the official pronouncement that Steckel is dead. Afterward, official witnesses and representatives of each family can make statements to the media, but they are not required to do so. At about the same time, an announcement of Steckel's death will be made to those gathered outside the prison. Steckel's body will be removed from the execution chamber and taken to the medical examiner's office before it is released for burial. The cost to taxpayers of the lethal drugs, overtime and any work that had to be done to the execution chamber, Welch said, will be about $20,000. ************************************** Death penalty opponents plan protests Delaware Citizens Opposed to the Death Penalty and Because Love Allows Compassion will be holding rallies and services today protesting Brian D. Steckels scheduled execution. >From 1 to 1:45 p.m., there will be an interfaith service at St. Josephs Catholic Church, 1012 N. French St., Wilmington. >From 3 to 4 p.m., there will be a rally in front of Legislative Hall in Dover. >From 8 to 9 p.m., there will be an interfaith service at the Thomas More Oratory, 45 Lovett Ave., Newark. >From 10:15 p.m. to 12:25 a.m., there will be a candlelight vigil. Participants will gather at the Smyrna Rest Area between 10:15 and 11 p.m. They then will drive to the demonstration area at the Delaware Correctional Center near Smyrna. **** Del. execution spotlights the death penalty Unless the U.S. Supreme Court or Gov. Ruth Ann Minner intervenes, Brian D. Steckel will be put to death early Friday morning for raping and killing Sandra Lee Long, becoming the 14th person executed in Delaware since 1992. While Long's family support Steckel's execution, such a statistic fuels death penalty opponents' claims that the state is too quick to hand down the ultimate punishment. "We are the Texas of the mid-Atlantic states," said Sally Milbury-Steen of Delaware Pacem in Terris. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, a nonprofit advocacy group in Washington, Steckel's execution will keep Delaware at the top of national statistics. Delaware ranks second in the nation, behind Oklahoma and ahead of Texas, in the number of executions in proportion to state population. State Prosecutor Steven Wood said the statistic is a quirk "that is solely a function of Delaware's small size." Although the state ranks 15th for total executions among all states since 1976, Wood said that's because only 38 states have the death penalty and many, such as California, rarely use it. "Statistics prove that in Delaware, most first-degree murder cases are not capital cases and most capital cases do not result in death sentences," he said. Law changed in 1991 Anti-death penalty advocates have sharply criticized the way Delaware has handled capital cases since a 1991 change in the law that makes it easier for prosecutors to obtain a death sentence. The law shifted the final responsibility for imposing the death penalty from a jury to the judge, and it marked the beginning of a dramatic increase in executions. Under the change, the jury's vote became a "recommendation," allowing a Delaware judge to impose a death sentence even when the jury was not unanimous in its vote for death. That's what happened in Steckel's case, where a jury voted 11-1 that Steckel should be executed. Superior Court Judge William C. Carpenter Jr. then cited the overwhelming, though not unanimous, recommendation when he imposed the death penalty. The jury unanimously convicted Steckel of rape and murder in the death of Long, who was 29, as well as the arson of her apartment. While Steckel's attorneys have filed papers with the U.S. Supreme Court arguing the state's death penalty system is unconstitutional, the Delaware Supreme Court has ruled the claim was filed too late. Justices refused to delay his execution so that the U.S. Supreme Court could hear his case, maintaining it was unlikely at least 4 of the highest court's justices -- the minimum number necessary -- would agree to take Steckel's case. As of Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court had not ruled on a request to delay Steckel's execution. Jury votes spared killers The death penalty system in Delaware from 1977 until 1991 had never been used in New Castle County and "a number of extremely horrific murders occurred that did not result in the imposition of the death penalty," Wood said. For example, juries could not reach a unanimous recommendation in the cases of escaped convict Ernest "Boo" Parson, who beat 2 elderly shopkeepers to death in 1986; the 1st multiple-murder case against serial killer Steven Pennell; and the 1990 murder of 2 Brooks Armored Car guards by a group of Philadelphia men. The law was changed after the Brooks murders because of public outrage. A second case against Pennell, under the new law, resulted in a death sentence. He was executed in 1992. At last week's Board of Pardons hearing, where attorneys for Steckel unsuccessfully argued for leniency, the Steckel family talked about moral problems with the death penalty. They said it amounts to premeditated, state-sanctioned homicide. "Murder plus murder equals murder," said Vicki Steckel, Brian Steckel's sister-in-law. "What you are doing is wrong." The Steckel family did not make any excuses for his crimes and repeatedly acknowledged the anger and grief faced by the family of Steckel's victim. But they said the death penalty results in 2 grieving families instead of one. Steckel's mother, Marlene Edwards, said she still loves her son. And his brother, Robert, said Brian is not a heartless monster. "To me, he's my little brother," he said. On his retirement from the Superior Court bench earlier this year, Judge Richard Gebelein said one of the hardest things he ever had to do on the bench was impose the death penalty. He said he recognized the need for appropriate punishment and the demands of a victim's family but he said it troubled him that innocent people -- the family of the convicted killer -- suffer though they have done nothing wrong. Children affected Steckel has a 12-year-old daughter, who had to leave the Board of Pardons hearing in tears, and a 7-year-old niece. "And last Friday night after the pardon board, that child cried herself to sleep, asking why, with so many people sitting in jail, do they have to kill my uncle?" Vicki Steckel said. That's one of the significant problems with the death penalty, said Len Sosnov, a professor at Widener University School of Law. "It is basically a crapshoot that depends on so many arbitrary factors, not only what state, but what county you are in and what the local prosecutor feels about it," he said. While the Steckels spoke of the pain about to be visited on their family at last week's Board of Pardons hearing, the family of Sandra Lee Long talked about their pain. Long's mother, Virginia Thomas, and Long's sister, Jeanne Thomas, made clear that the only punishment they would accept is execution. Virginia Thomas told the Board of Pardons that Long's killing shattered her family. She said depression caused by the loss of her daughter contributed to the deaths of Long's father in 1997 and Long's brother this year. She said they struggled each day, "waiting for Brian to get the death penalty." She herself grapples with anger, loss and emptiness. "I'm pleading with the Board of Pardons to give us some peace and closure. I don't need any more letters or to see any more articles in the newspaper. I want to be able to go on living knowing justice has been served." Jeanne Thomas said when Sandra was murdered, "the life went out of my family. All this pain has to end." She said the real question is not whether Brian Steckel should get the death penalty. "By any means, he should," she said. "The real question is, what are we waiting for?" (source: The News Journal) ************************ A Mother's Love In an Eyewitness News exclusive, the mother of convicted killer Brian Steckel talks only to CBS 3 on the eve of her son's execution in Delaware. It is a side of death row you rarely hear. CBS 3 Investigative Reporter Jim Osman shows how one mother's love endures the most horrendous of crimes. Brian Steckel looked like any other kid. "I love him with my whole heart," said his mother Marlene Edwards. Posing with his mother for a Christmas photo, who then could never have guessed the last pictures she'd have of her son before he is put to death. "I just can't deal with what they're going to do to him," Edwards said tearfully. It is what her condemned son did to earn a spot on Delaware's death row that may be the ultimate test of a mother's love. In 1994, Steckel brutally raped 29-year-old Sandra Lee Long, killed her, and then set her Northern Delaware apartment on fire. The murdered woman's mother spoke at a recent pardon hearing that determined the outcome Thursday night's execution. "Sandra was a very giving loving, caring beautiful woman. She didn't deserve what he did to her," stated Long's mother. "I think on Mother's day how that mother feels. On holidays, on Sandra Long's birthday," described Edwards. "I will live with that for the rest of my life, knowing my son took a life." Steckel gave his mother plenty of grief as a teenager doing drugs and being in and out of trouble. When he stole from her, she had Steckel arrested, but Edwards tough love didn't work. Yet, through it all, she remained a devoted mother. She's written approximately 5000 letters to her son in the last 11-years. Including, one of the last letters she'll ever get to send which said, "I'm your mother and I need you to know I dedicated my life to you the day you were born. "He's my son and any other mother would say the same thing," said Edwards. Even his mother would agree, Brian Steckel's actions 11-years ago devastated 2 families. Not only the family of a woman who was brutally murdered, but Steckel's own as his mother struggles to keep her children and her family together. "They're not dealing with it either. I try to talk to each one of them at night, but it's a living nightmare," stated Edwards. Brian Steckel says he is ready to die and it is highly likely he will. The chances of a last minute delay are slim. The governor of Delaware, Ruth Ann Miner, is a death penalty supporter and the U.S. Supreme Court only steps in for the most extreme cases. Stekels death would be the 14th execution in Delaware since 1992. (source: CBS 3 News) ****************** Brother Pays Last Visit To Death Row Inmate The brother of a condemned killer facing execution tomorrow in Delaware says 36-year-old Brian Steckel is remorseful and accepts his punishment. Steckels brother, Robert, and other relatives from Allentown, Pennsylvania, visited Steckel yesterday. Robert Steckel says his brother asked him to take care of their mother. Steckel has asked that the family not witness the execution, so they plan to wait outside the prison. Steckel was sentenced to death in 1997 for the 1994 killing of 29-year-old Sandra Lee Long in Prices Corner, Delaware. Prosecutors say he choked and raped Long and sodomized her with a screwdriver before setting fire to her room. She died of burns and smoke inhalation. (source: The Associated Press) WYOMING: Judge excludes acts of violence Reports of past domestic violence in the relationship of Andrew John Yellowbear and the mother of his daughter will likely be kept out of his trial for 1st-degree murder in the child's death, according to a ruling this week. Judge David Park expressed concern that permitting testimony about the allegations could have an undue influence on jurors. He allowed, however, that Yellowbear's attorneys might open the door to such testimony in their questioning of Macalia Blackburn, who has pleaded guilty to being an accessory to 2nd-degree murder in the death of Marcella Hope Yellowbear. The 22-month-old died in July 2004 in Riverton. She reportedly suffered in the weeks leading to her death from extensive abuse that left her with a fractured skull and various burns, bruises and other injuries. Blackburn initially said she was responsible for the girl's death, and she and Yellowbear both faced charges of 1st-degree murder. She then pleaded guilty to a reduced charge in June, and she is expected to testify in Yellowbear's trial. Although Yellowbear was charged in Fremont County, his trial has been moved to Hot Springs County and placed before Judge Park of Wyoming's 7th Judicial District. Tuesday's hearing took place in Casper. Prosecutors in the Fremont County Attorney's office have reported their theory that Blackburn's changing account of the child's death and her inability to prevent it can be explained by her involvement in an abusive relationship. They are seeking the death penalty in Yellowbear's case. Yellowbear, speaking by telephone on Wednesday from jail in Fremont County, said he was pleased with Park's ruling. Tim Gist, a deputy prosecutor in Fremont County, said following Tuesday's hearing only that the decision was "not unexpected." He argued earlier that reference to reports of abuse in the relationship would be important to counter the possible argument from Yellowbear's attorneys that Blackburn altered her account of what happened in an attempt to "save her own skin." Terry Rogers, who is representing Yellowbear with Diane Lozano, presented arguments against allowing testimony on the reported acts of domestic abuse, suggesting the allegations were part of an attempt to make jurors think his client is a "bad guy." "We strongly believe (Blackburn) fabricated some of these complaints," Rogers said. Rogers spoke of the "minefield" he and Lozano will face when they question Blackburn. Some questions could allow her to make reference to allegations of abuse she suffered at Yellowbear's hands. Park also denied on Tuesday a motion from Yellowbear's attorneys to delay the trial, which is scheduled to begin in Thermopolis in January. Defense attorneys have filed numerous motions in recent weeks, including an effort to have the case moved out of Hot Springs County. (source: Casper Star-Tribune) ILLINOIS: Death penalty sought for Zion father charged with killing 2 girls If Jerry B. Hobbs III is convicted of murdering his daughter and another young girl he may be sentenced to death. In a brief court hearing Wednesday, Lake County prosecutor Jeffrey Pavletic said: "The people are seeking the death penalty in this case." Hobbs, a 35-year-old Zion resident, standing handcuffed and shackled between the ankles, showed no reaction. He is charged with viciously stabbing to death his 8-year-old daughter, Laura Hobbs, and her 9-year-old friend, Krystal Tobias, on Mother's Day in a Zion park. Lake County Public Defender David Brodsky made no comment in court, although he made a statement outside the courtroom opposing the death penalty "election" and professing Hobbs' innocence. This is the 1st time since 1996 that Lake County prosecutors have pursued the death penalty. (source: Chicago Sun-Times) ********************** Prosecutors seek death penalty for father accused of killing girls In Waukegan, prosecutors say they'll seek the death penalty against a father accused in the Mother's Day stabbing deaths of his young daughter and her best friend. Jerry Hobbs the Third is charged with killing his 8-year-old daughter Laura and 9-year-old Krystal Tobias at a park near their homes in Zion. Lake County State's Attorney Michael Waller said at a court hearing yesterday that his office will seek the death penalty for the 1st time since 1996. Waller says police videotaped Hobbs confessing to beating and stabbing the girls in a rage. But Hobbs' lawyer issued a statement saying -- quote -- "that Jerry Hobbs is unquestionably innocent of the murders." Hobbs recently had completed a 2-year-prison sentence in Texas for aggravated assault. (source: Associated Press)
