Jan. 28 INDIANA: Indiana Inmate Executed Amid Federal Court Drama After 2 decades on Indiana's death row, Marvin Bieghler was executed after a late night of appeals, a stay and a reversal. By the end, Bieghler seemed to have had enough. "Let's get it over with," was the 58-year-old man's final comment before he was executed early Friday for the 1981 murders of a Howard County couple. Less than 90 minutes earlier, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a lower federal court order allowing him a new appeal. Late Thursday, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago granted Bieghler a chance to challenge the legality of lethal injection. The Supreme Court rejected a similar appeal from Bieghler just hours earlier, and the Indiana attorney general's office turned to the justices again after the appellate order. "Each time something came out, you was wondering, 'Is it going to be another 25 years?' It was just a strange situation," said John Wright, the brother of a woman Bieghler was executed for killing. Wright was not at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City for the execution but received hourly updates from the attorney general's office, he said. Bieghler was convicted for the slayings of Tommy Miller, 20, and his pregnant wife, Kimberly Jane Miller, 19, whose bodies were found in their mobile home near Russiaville, about 10 miles west of Kokomo. The Supreme Court announced its 6-3 decision to reverse the stay less than a half-hour before Bieghler was scheduled to die. Justices John Paul Stevens, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer voted to grant the stay. The reversal delayed the execution schedule by 30 minutes, and Bieghler was pronounced dead at 2:17 a.m. EST. Gov. Mitch Daniels had turned down a clemency request Thursday. Experts say lawyers commonly work up to the last minute to keep their clients from being executed but are seldom successful. "I don't recall any cases where there aren't last-minute efforts being made," said Norm Lefstein, a professor at the Indiana University School of Law in Indianapolis. But Richard Dieter, executive director of the anti-capital punishment Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, estimated the Supreme Court might receive 60 death row appeals each year and agree to hear 5. "Everything isn't completely mechanistic in the death penalty," Dieter said. "There's still that out -- that maybe there's something here, and once you execute somebody, there's no going back." 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 stay in Hill's case came after he already had been strapped to a gurney to be executed with sodium pentothal, pancurium bromide and potassium chloride. 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 high 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. 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 case differed from Hill's because he was allowed to contest the Indiana execution method and lost. The Indiana attorney general's office argued that Bieghler's appeal was a delay tactic and that the Constitution does not guarantee a pain-free execution. Dieter said the high court appeared to be more concerned with the details of the lethal injection procedure than with the method itself. "It's not every lethal injection that they're going to stop ... Obviously, that's clear from last night," he said Friday, referring to Bieghler's death. Tommy Miller's mother, Priscilla Hodges of Kokomo, said she hopes Bieghler made peace with God before he died and she hopes he is with God. But she still thinks he deserved to die. "I believe in the death penalty and, yes, I believe Marvin deserved to die," said Hodges, who traveled to Michigan City but did not witness the execution. "Because I believe he killed my children." (source: Associated Press) ILLINOIS: Prosecutors to seek death penalty against Dupo man Prosecutors in St. Clair County say they intend to seek capital punishment for a Dupo man accused of last October's shotgun slayings of four people, including an infant. St. Clair County State's Attorney Robert Haida said yesterday he will seek the death penalty for 19-year-old Jason Smith. Smith is charged with four counts of 1st-degree murder in the deaths of 19-year-old Nicole Willyard, her 9-week-old son, Jason Smith, and her friends 19-year-old Mary Cawvey and 23-year-old Brandon Lovell. Haida said this is the 1st time his office has sought the death penalty in a new case since former Gov. George Ryan commuted the death sentences of the state's 167 death row inmates to life in prison in 2002. (source: Associated Press) **************** Death penalty will be sought for man accused of 4 slayings -- Haida: 'Defendant's conduct despicable' Prosecutors intend to seek the death penalty for a Dupo man accused of the October shotgun slayings of 4 people, including an infant. St. Clair County State's Attorney Robert Haida said Friday he will seek the death penalty for Jason D. Smith, 29, who is charged with 4 counts of 1st-degree murder in the deaths of Nicole Willyard, 19, her 9-week-old son Jason Smith, and her friends Mary Cawvey, 19, and Brandon Lovell, 23. "We will use all resources available to us in bringing the defendant to justice," Haida said Friday. "The defendant's conduct was outrageous and despicable, and is deserving of the ultimate punishment." Haida said this is the first time his office has sought the death penalty in a new case since former Gov. George Ryan commuted the death sentences of the state's 167 death row inmates to life in prison in 2002. Rhonda Lovell, Brandon Lovell's mother, said she supports Haida's decision. "I do believe that the good Lord will punish him," Lovell said. "It's very devastating for the families, and we just hope he will be punished to the fullest extent of the law." The killings marked the 3rd multiple murder in Belleville in a year when a record 12 people were slain in the city. Belleville Police found the victims in Cawvey's basement apartment at 212 N. 44th St. after neighbors reported hearing gunshots about 8:20 p.m. Oct. 5. The baby was shot in the head, both Willyard and Cawvey were shot in the head and chest, and Lovell was shot in the head, chest and back with a 12-gauge shotgun. Police said Smith first smashed, then shot through a ground-level window and climbed into the apartment. He fired at Willyard, who sat in the living room watching television with her son in a car seat at her feet. Willyard had been staying with Cawvey for several weeks. About 6 hours after the bodies were found, police arrested Smith in Red Bud, where they found him hiding in the garage at a former girlfriend's house. Smith's 2-year relationship with Nicole Willyard ended shortly before the killings amid his doubts that he had fathered her baby. Smith's criminal record includes arrests for battery, disorderly conduct, trespass, criminal damage, public drunkenness and obstructing an officer. 8 years ago, a 25-year-old Dupo woman filed an order of protection against Smith. The woman said he never punched her, but would hold his hand against her throat, pinning her to the wall and cursing her. (source: Belleville News-Democrat) MISSOURI: Precious Doe defense looks to block death penalty In Kansas City, prosecutors waited too long to seek the death penalty against the man accused of killing the little girl known for years only as Precious Doe, a public defender said during a hearing yesterday, and should be prohibited from doing so now. Prosecutors countered that the option is theirs at any time - and if defense attorneys dont like it, they can always ask for a continuance. Harrell L. Johnson, 26, of Muskogee, Okla., is charged with 1st-degree murder in the 2001 death of his stepdaughter, 3-year-old Erica Green. His wife, Michelle Johnson, 30, is charged with 2nd-degree murder. Jackson County prosecutor Mike Sanders announced in December that he planned to seek the death penalty against Harrell Johnson. In yesterdays hearing, Johnsons public defender, Bill Raymond, repeated the defenses point that another judge - who has since recused himself from the case - set repeated deadlines, the last one in October, for prosecutors to decide whether to pursue the death penalty. "You cant allow this constant flip-flopping," Raymond told Circuit Judge J.D. Williamson Jr. The prosecutions actions hurt Johnsons defense, Raymond said, and caused him unnecessary mental anguish. Assistant Prosecutor Tim Dollar, however, said the previous judges deadlines were procedural points and did not carry the force of court orders. "The prosecution can file a charge at any time, and can amend that charge at any time," Dollar said. Williamson said he would rule on the defense motion by Feb. 15. (source: Columbia Daily Tribune) KENTUCKY: Campbell man to face death penalty if convicted in 3 killings In Newport, a man indicted on murder charges in the slayings of 3 people will face the death penalty if convicted, prosecutors said. Campbell County Commonwealth's Attorney Jack Porter said Thursday that he will try to make Michael Richardson Sr. the first man from Campbell County put on death row since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. A grand jury charged Richardson, of Newport, with 3 counts of intentional murder in the December deaths of his wife, Joyce, 45; daughter Sunshine, 18; and her boyfriend, 16-year-old Phillip Leslie. Richardson will be arraigned Feb. 7. (source: Associated Press)
