Dec. 1 IOWA: GOP proposes death penalty law----A bill in the next Legislature might not get far, but the issue could be fueled by 2006 elections. Republican lawmakers Wednesday made good on their promise to call for reinstating the death penalty in Iowa, proposing a law that would apply to people convicted of kidnapping, raping and killing children. The issue has been fueled in part by high-profile slayings of children in Iowa this year. But legislative approval appears unlikely, with the Democratic leader in the evenly split Senate vowing to block debate. Nonetheless, the issue's political potential could be significant, with control of the governor's office and a narrowly divided Legislature on the line in next year's election. "Is it a political issue? Yes. I don't deny that you don't go into the fall elections and talk about it," said Sen. Jeff Angelo, a Creston Republican. "But when people call this purely political grandstanding, it minimizes the fact that there are legislators who wholeheartedly believe that this is an option a jury should have." The issue also spotlights Gov. Tom Vilsack's opposition to the death penalty at a time when he is weighing a campaign for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. Sen. Larry McKibben of Marshalltown said Republicans would introduce on the 1st day of the 2006 legislative session next month a bill that would make the death penalty applicable in cases of abduction, rape and murder of anyone younger than 18. Senate Democratic Leader Mike Gronstal of Council Bluffs said Republicans lack the votes to pass the bill and that its only purpose is to provide campaign fodder. Gronstal, who opposes the death penalty, said the same thing last spring, when the issue returned after a decade to the Legislature in the wake of a 10-year-old Cedar Rapids girl's rape and slaying. "Senator McKibben knows that there aren't 25 Senate Republicans who would vote for it, so there's not a lot of point to debating it," Gronstal said. Iowa, which hasn't had a capital punishment law for 40 years, is one of 12 states that don't have the death penalty. The issue had been dormant here for 10 years before last spring. In 1995, the GOP-controlled Iowa House passed a bill applying the death penalty to murders of children, police officers and prison guards, among other provisions. Then-Gov. Terry Branstad, a Republican, supported the bill, but it failed in the Senate. Democrats, who controlled the Senate that year, faced withering attacks in the 1996 campaign and lost the majority. A Des Moines Register Iowa Poll in April showed two-thirds of Iowans supported reinstating the death penalty. The survey was on the heels of the rape and killing of Jetseta Gage in March. But if Jetseta's slaying rekindled the emotionally charged issue, the killing of Floyd County 5-year-old Evelyn Miller in July guaranteed its place at the center of Iowa's political discourse in 2006. "I think by the Senate Democrats not allowing us to have this debate and that discussion, they've de facto given us a death penalty and it's a death penalty for minor children," McKibben said. Capital punishment also has found its way into the Democratic gubernatorial primary campaign. Secretary of State Chet Culver surprised some party activists when he said in May he supports capital punishment for terrorists and people convicted of killing police and children. But the looming legislative confrontation also puts the spotlight on Vilsack, who opposes reinstating the death penalty and voted against it in 1995 as a state senator from Mount Pleasant. The Democrat has said capital punishment is unnecessary in Iowa because those convicted of 1st-degree murder face life in prison without parole. But Vilsack's opposition isn't likely to hurt his standing among Democratic primary and caucus activists, University of Iowa political science professor Peverill Squire said. "He's probably left enough nuance where he has some wiggle room," Squire said. (source: Des Moines Register) SOUTH CAROLINA----impending execution Grim milestone sparks death penalty protest----Several critics rally at State House as nation's 1,000th execution since '77 to take place Friday With the country's 1,000th execution since 1977 looming in North Carolina, more than a dozen people gathered outside the S.C. State House on Wednesday to beg for an end to the death penalty. Kenneth Lee Boyd, 57, is scheduled to die at 2 a.m. Friday in North Carolina for killing his estranged wife and her father. In South Carolina, Shawn Paul Humphries, 34, is scheduled to die at 6 p.m. Friday for the 1994 slaying of Dickie Smith, who ran a Fountain Inn store. His death would mark the 1,001st execution since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty. The morning protest came 1 day after Virginia Gov. Mark Warner granted clemency to an inmate in line to be the 1,000th person executed. Those who spoke at the protest were part of the Voices of Experience tour sponsored by the Center for Capital Litigation. They visited Charleston and Charlotte on Tuesday and headed to Greenville on Wednesday afternoon. One protester was hairstylist SueZann Bosler of Miami, who worked more than 10 years to get her father's killer off death row. Bosler and her father, Bill Bosler, pastor of the Church of the Brethren, were attacked in 1986 at their Miami parsonage. She watched James Bernard Campbell stab her father to death before he stabbed her 6 times. Campbell is serving 4 consecutive life terms. "It took me 5 years to forgive him," Bosler said. She said Campbell deserves to be punished, but a death sentence is inappropriate. "Why kill people who kill people to show us that killing people is wrong?" she said. Teresa Norris, director of the Center of Capital Litigation, is representing Humphries and plans to witness his execution. Humphries has a stay of execution application pending in the U.S. Supreme Court and a clemency application pending in Gov. Mark Sanfords office. One of Humphries' final requests is to watch "The Wizard of Oz" before he dies. Norris said she hopes that wont be for a long time. "I hope it will bring more attention (to the death penalty). Whether it does or not remains to be seen." ***************** People champion for death row inmate A family member and people against the death penalty pleaded Wednesday for clemency for an Upstate man who is scheduled to be executed Friday for killing a store clerk on New Year's Day 1994. The protest of Shawn Humphries' execution on the Statehouse steps just outside Gov. Mark Sanford's office came one day after Virginia Gov. Mark Warner granted clemency to an inmate who had been scheduled to be the 1,000th person executed in the U.S. since capital punishment was reinstated. An inmate in North Carolina is scheduled to die at 2 a.m. Friday, and Humphries' execution is scheduled 16 hours later. Sanford spokesman Joel Sawyer said a decision on Humphries' clemency request would be made no later than Friday morning. But "based upon the fact that this case has already been through an exhaustive legal process, the governor's legal team is not inclined to recommend that the governor grant clemency," Sawyer said. The Rev. Brenda Kneece of the S.C. Christian Action Council said Humphries' death sentence is not fair punishment. "Only as we extend [mercy] to others can we claim to be walking with God," she said. Humphries' aunt, Terri Piotrowski, said her nephew's "death has no meaning, and I sure don't think this is justice." Piotrowski, who previously supported the death penalty, said she changed her mind after becoming a Christian. "Oh Jesus, I want to make a difference," she said, tears streaming down her face. Abe Bonowitz of Citizens United Against the Death Penalty said Piotrowski's grief is evidence that capital punishment only creates more victims. Humphries, now 34, was convicted of murder in 1994 for the shooting death of store clerk Mendal Alton "Dickie" Smith. Prosecutors said Humphries and a friend decided to rob the store after drinking beer all day. Surveillance tape at his trial showed Humphries going into the store and flashing a gun at Smith. When Smith reached under the counter, the tape showed Humphries fire a shot and run away. Smith was struck once in the head. The friend, Edward Gerald Blackwell, stayed in the store and told police what happened, according to testimony. He is serving a life sentence for his own murder conviction. Humphries is "very sorry, very remorseful, for what he did, but at the same time, is sort of mindboggled. Nobody ... has been executed for basically an attempted robbery that went bad," said Teresa Norris of the Capital Center for Litigation, who has requested the U.S. Supreme Court stop the execution. Several others touched by capital cases also spoke Wednesday. SueZann Bosler of Florida said she devoted more than 10 years of her life to gain clemency for the man sentenced to death for killing her father, the Rev. Billy Bosler, in 1986. James Bernard Campbell, who also stabbed SueZann Bosler several times, is now serving life without parole. A former jury forewoman in New Orleans said her "hands were on a wrongful conviction" when she helped sentence Daniel Bright III to death in 1996. Norman fought to overturn the sentence, and Bright was exonerated in 2004. Then there was the story of a former death row inmate in California. Shujaa Graham said he sat on California's death row for 6 years before his sentence was overturned. As part of a speaking tour around the state, Bosler, Norman and Graham were scheduled to travel to Greenville later Wednesday (source for both: Associated Press) ****************** HUMPHRIES' CASE HISTORY - On Jan. 1, 1994, Shawn Paul Humphries and a friend entered the Max-Saver convenience store in Fountain Inn. - The store's owner, 43-year-old Dickie Smith, was working that morning. When Humphries pulled out a gun, Smith reached under the counter. Humphries shot Smith in the head, killing him. - Humphries was convicted of murder, attempted robbery, possession of a firearm during the commission of a violent crime and criminal conspiracy by a Greenville County jury in 1994. - Humphries, a 34-year-old inmate at Lieber Correctional Institution in Ridgeville, is scheduled to be executed at 6 p.m. Friday. (source: The State) MISSISSIPPI: U.S. Supreme Court asked to block Mississippi execution The U.S. Supreme Court was asked Wednesday to block the scheduled Dec. 14 execution of Mississippi death row inmate John B. Nixon Sr. Nixon was convicted in a 1985 murder-for-hire case. "We think it's quite clear the Supreme Court has handed down decisions that affect the case and that the 5th Circuit should be directed to consider that (Nixon) case," David Schenck, one of the attorneys handling Nixon's appeal, said in a late Wednesday telephone interview from Dallas. The Mississippi Supreme Court, acting on a motion filed by state Attorney General Jim Hood, had set the execution date on Monday. Nixon's lawyers want the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider its decision not to hear the inmate's appeal. "We anticipate further appeals being filed by the defendant but it appears this hit man has run his course," Hood had said after the execution date was set. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had earlier denied Nixon's claims that his attorney didn't do a good job and that his Rankin County jury shouldn't have been told about a previous rape conviction. A federal judge in Jackson had twice denied those claims. The one-time Utica auto mechanic was convicted of capital murder in the Jan. 2, 1985, killing of Virginia Tucker, 45, in her Brandon home. The victim's husband, Thomas, was wounded and identified Nixon as the attacker. Tucker's ex-husband, Elester Joseph Ponthieux of Raymond, is serving a life sentence for hiring Nixon. 2 of Nixon's sons and a friend also were convicted in the killing. (source: Associated Press) FLORIDA: PRESS RELEASE from FLORIDIANS FOR ALTERNATIVES TO THE DEATH PENALTY (FADP) 1 December 2005 CONTACT: Abe Bonowitz: 800-973-6548 FLORIDIANS PROTEST 1000TH EXECUTION Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty and local groups in Daytona, Gainesville, Jacksonville and Ocala will stage protests against tomorrows (2am in North Carolina) anticipated 1000th execution in the United States since the resumption of executions in 1977. Details and contact information for local events are at http://www.1000executions.org/events.php#FL FADP director Abe Bonowitz and FADP leader SueZann Bosler (http://www.fadp.org/flm_bios.html#sue) will be among protesters outside the prison at Raleigh tonight. Contact Bonowitz at 561-371-5204. "We remember the victims, Julie Curry Boyd and Thomas Dillard Curry," said Bosler, "But not with more killing." More information about the 1000th execution is at www.1000executions.org and www.deathpenaltyinfo.org (source: FADP) VIRGINIA: A questionable commutation In between trips to New Hampshire, outgoing Virginia Gov. Mark Warner took time from his busy schedule to order clemency for convicted murderer Robin Lovitt, who was scheduled to be executed last night for the 1998 murder of pool-hall manager Clayton Dicks in Arlington. In announcing that he would commute the death sentence of Lovitt, who was convicted of stabbing Mr. Dicks to death with a pair of scissors, Mr. Warner claimed that clemency was necessary "to reaffirm confidence in our justice system." Unfortunately, his move is likely to do the opposite: to encourage cynicism that he is politicizing Virginia's criminal justice system in order to advance his own political fortunes. The Lovitt commutation is the first since Mr. Warner took office in January 2002; 11 prisoners have been executed during his term. In explaining his decision to commute Lovitt's sentence to life without parole, Mr. Warner cited the premature destruction of DNA evidence in the case by a court clerk in Arlington four years ago. A look at the evidence in the case, including Lovitt's extensive criminal history, leads us to the conclusion that the trial court had a reasonable basis for finding Lovitt guilty and sentencing him to death for a heinous crime. Mr. Dicks, 45, was stabbed to death with scissors Nov. 18, 1998, at the Arlington pool hall where he worked as night manager. Lovitt admits to stealing the pool hall's cash register, containing $200, but claims that someone else killed Mr. Dicks while he was in the bathroom. Lovitt protests that the loss of the DNA evidence denied him the opportunity to run new tests which would exonerate him. But the prosecution counters that the DNA evidence played a minimal role in the case. Relatives of the victim called for the governor to go forward with the execution. Why did Mr. Warner now decide to spare Lovitt? The Lovitt execution would have been the 1,000th in the nation since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976. As Mr. Warner campaigns for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008, he will have to convince primary voters who skew way to the left that he's someone they can count on. Commuting Lovitt's sentence is one way for the governor to ingratiate himself with that constituency. (source: Editorial, Washington Times)
