Jan. 27 INDIANA----stay lifted; impending execution Stay lifted, execution to proceed The U.S. Supreme Court lifted a stay of execution for an Indiana inmate just minutes before he was scheduled to be put to death for the 1981 slayings of a Howard County couple. The justices voted 6-3 to overturn a federal appeals court decision Thursday night that granted Marvin Bieghler a chance to challenge the legality of lethal injection even though the Supreme Court had rejected a similar appeal just hours earlier. The decision meant that Bieghler's execution could proceed, said Staci Schneider, a spokeswoman for the state attorney general's office. It was not immediately clear when the execution of Bieghler, 58, would be carried out at the Indiana State Prison. Gov. Mitch Daniels on Thursday had turned down a clemency request. Bieghler, like Florida inmate Clarence Hill, challenged lethal injection as unconstitutional. Hill contends the 3 chemicals used in Florida's method of execution -- the same as those used in Indiana -- cause pain, making his execution cruel and unusual punishment. The Supreme Court said Wednesday it would hear arguments in Hill's case, with the justices to decide whether a federal appeals court was wrong to prevent Hill from challenging the lethal injection method. Bieghler's case differed from Hill's because he was allowed to contest the Indiana execution method and lost. The Supreme Court has never found a specific form of execution to be cruel and unusual, and the Florida case does not give the court that opportunity. The justices could, however, spell out what options are available to inmates with last-minute challenges to the way they will be put to death. Bieghler's attorney, Brent Westerfeld, told justices in a motion Thursday that a "grave injustice may arise" if Bieghler was executed while Hill's case is pending because there is a chance that Hill will win the right to pursue his claim against lethal injection and eventually win. The state attorney general's office argued that Bieghler's appeal was a delay tactic and that Indiana's chemical injection method of execution, used since 1996, was constitutional. The state argued that the Constitution does not guarantee a pain-free execution. "Indeed, electrocution is a constitutionally permissible form of execution which is undoubtedly more painful than lethal injection," the brief said. Justice John Paul Stevens, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer voted to grant the stay, court spokesman Ed Turner said. About 25 people protested Thursday night against the death penalty outside the prison. On Monday, the Indiana Parole Board voted unanimously against recommending clemency for Bieghler, and Daniels issued a brief statement Thursday saying he had reviewed Bieghler's petition and rejected it. Bieghler, an admitted drug dealer, was convicted in the deaths of Tommy Miller, 20, and Kimberly Jane Miller, 19, whose bodies were found Dec. 11, 1981, in their mobile home near the Howard County town of Russiaville, about 10 miles west of Kokomo. Tommy Miller had been shot 6 times and his wife, who was 4 weeks pregnant, was shot 3 times. Bieghler, 58, told the parole board last week that he did not kill the couple and wanted Daniels to commute his death sentence to time served. Bieghler would be the 6th Indiana inmate to be executed since Daniels took office just over a year ago. He commuted the death sentence of another inmate to life in prison last year. ********************* Indiana death row actions 5 Indiana death row inmates have been executed since Gov. Mitch Daniels took office in January 2005, with another scheduled for early Friday. Last year's 5 executions were the most since the state re-instituted the death penalty in 1977. Daniels blocked the execution of another condemned inmate: Executed: - Donald Ray Wallace, March 10, 2005, for the 1980 slayings of Patrick and Theresa Gilligan of Evansville and their 2 children. - Bill J. Benefiel, April 21, 2005, for the 1987 torture-slaying of 18-year-old Dolores Wells of Terre Haute. - Gregory Scott Johnson, May 25, 2005, for the 1985 beating death of 82-year-old Ruby Hutslar of Anderson during a burglary of her home. Johnson had sought a reprieve from Daniels in order to donate his liver to his sister. - Kevin A. Conner, July 27, 2005, for the 1988 murders of 3 Indianapolis men following an argument. - Alan L. Matheney, Sept. 28, 2005, for killing his ex-wife, Lisa Bianco, outside her Mishawaka home in 1989 while he was free from prison on an 8-hour pass. Scheduled: - Marvin E. Bieghler, Jan. 27, 2006, execution scheduled, for the 1981 shooting deaths of Tommy Miller and his pregnant wife, Kimberly Jane Miller, at their Russiaville home. Daniels has denied clemency request. Commuted to life in prison: - Arthur P. Baird II, convicted for 1985 murders of his wife, who was 7 months pregnant, and his parents in Montgomery County, granted clemency by Daniels on Aug. 29, 2005. (source for both: Associated Press) OKLAHOMA----bill to expand state death penalty Senator Gumm: Death Penalty Should be Option for Repeat Child Molesters Senator Jay Paul Gumm says repeat child molesters should face the death penalty or life without parole, and he has written legislation to ensure they do just that. "Those who repeatedly prey on our children in this unspeakable manner should face the most severe penalties allowed under our justice system," said Gumm, a Democrat from Durant who is a Senate assistant majority leader. Senate Bill 1747 would make repeat child molesters subject to the death penalty or life without parole. That, Gumm said, would let the justice system better protect children from those sex offenders who never will be rehabilitated. "There are too many stories of child molesters who are set free only to shatter the life of another innocent child," he said. "The case of Jessica Lunsford in Florida is only one example, and I want to make certain her story is never repeated in Oklahoma." The 9-year-old Florida girl was kidnapped and murdered last year by a convicted sex offender. That tragedy led to the passage of "Jessicas Law" in Florida and a number of other states, including Oklahoma. That law requires lifetime global positioning system monitoring of repeat sex offenders. Gumms bill expands on the new Oklahoma law making the most heinous repeat offenders subject to the death penalty. "If there was ever a crime that was worthy of punishment by death or life without parole, it is certainly this most horrible crime that is committed against an innocent, defenseless child," said Gumm, himself a new father. "As a parent and lawmaker, I want the strongest laws possible on the books to protect Oklahomas children." Recently, Gumm added a link to the National Sex Offender Registry to his website, located on the Internet at www.gumm.us. With a few clicks on a computer, parents can learn whether sex offenders live in their neighborhoods and communities. "I am committed to making Oklahoma the safest state possible for our children," he said. "We in the Legislature should leave no stone unturned in our efforts to protect the most innocent and precious among us, our children." Lawmakers will consider the measure when the 2006 session begins on Feb. 6. (source: KTEN News) CALIFORNIA: STATE HIGH COURT UPHOLDS LOS ANGELES DEATH PENALTY The California Supreme Court, in a ruling issued in San Francisco, today upheld a death penalty for a Los Angeles County man who murdered 3 people during a drug deal in 1988. Eric Hinton, 36, was 18 when he shot 3 men in a Best Western motel room in Monterey Park on the night of May 24, 1988. 2 of the victims, Landis Barnes and Albert Brown, died in the motel room. The 3rd, Tenoa Stevenson, was wounded but staggered out of the room and was chased by Hinton and an associate, Steve Hicks, in a vehicle. Stevenson was fatally shot in a nearby used car lot. According to testimony by another member of the group who hid during the shooting, the victims had planned to buy 4 kilos of cocaine from Hinton and Hicks and brought $52,000 to the motel room. Testing of 4 wrapped packages that Hinton carried into the motel room in a shopping bag later showed that they contained flour. Hinton, who testified in his own defense, admitted being in the motel room but alleged that Hicks was the shooter. The high court unanimously rejected a series of appeal claims in which Hinton argued his 1993 trial in Los Angeles Superior Court was unfair. All death penalty cases in California are automatically appealed from the trial court level directly to the state Supreme Court. Today's ruling by the high court was the 1st step in the appeal process. Hinton can now pursue further appeals through habeas corpus petitions in the state Supreme Court and the federal court system. Including Hinton, there are currently 645 inmates on death row in California, with cases in various stages of appeal. (source: Bay City News) **************** Former Clinton prosecutor to represent California death row inmate Conservative scholar and former federal judge Kenneth Starr, the special prosecutor in the impeachment proceedings against President Bill Clinton, is representing California death row inmate Michael Morales in his bid for clemency. Starr will file the clemency petition Friday with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, arguing that Morales should be spared for the 1981 murder of Terri Winchell, a 17-year-old Lodi girl. Morales is scheduled to be executed on Feb. 21. In a statement released by the American Civil Liberties Union, Starr said he agreed to represent Morales in his clemency case because the inmate has taken responsibility for the murder, expressed remorse and tried to atone for his crime while on death row. Starr also plans to argue in the petition that Morales' trial was tainted by an unreliable jailhouse informant. Starr is currently dean of the Pepperdine University law school. In addition to the clemency petition, Morales has filed a last-ditch appeal in federal court in San Jose, arguing that California's method of using lethal injection amounts to cruel and unusual punishment. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed earlier this week to review a related issue in a case out of Florida, raising the prospect that Morales' execution date could be postponed. U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel heard arguments in Morales' case today. (source: Mercury News)
