Feb. 10
PENNSYLVANIA:
Accused cop killer could face death penalty
Nearly 2 months after state police Cpl. Joseph R. Pokorny Jr. was fatally
shot while making a traffic stop along the Parkway West in Carnegie, his
accused killer has learned he could be put to death if convicted.
Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. notified the
county court on Thursday that he is seeking the death penalty in the
homicide case against Leslie D. Mollett, 31, of the Knoxville section of
Pittsburgh. No trial date has been set, and Mollett remains held without
bond in the county jail.
Mollett's attorney, James Ecker, said it was Zappala's prerogative to seek
the death penalty.
Zappala argued the Dec. 12 shooting occurred while Pokorny was on duty as
a public servant, which is one of the conditions that can be used in
meeting the requirements of aggravated circumstances for seeking the death
penalty.
Pokorny, 45, of Moon Township, was shot in the chest and head during a
struggle with someone he pulled over for speeding around 2 a.m. Dec. 12
near the Extended Stay America hotel. The Center Township native was alone
in his vehicle at the time of the incident.
State police from the Moon barracks, where Pokorny had served for about
five of his 22 years in the department, were able to trace the vehicle
Pokorny had pulled over and, after speaking with 1 other Pittsburgh men
who were in the car at the time, charged Mollett with criminal homicide,
disarming a police officer, theft, resisting arrest, fleeing police and
illegal firearms possession.
Jabbar James, 28, and Phil Peterson, 29, who were passengers in the car,
told police that Pokorny was trying to handcuff Mollett when the struggle
began and they ran off, later hearing 3 or 4 shots.
Authorities said Mollett was able to wrest Pokorny's revolver from him and
use it to shoot the trooper. Pokorny's firearm has not been found, but
another handgun linked to Mollett was found near Pokorny.
(source: Allegheny County Times)
CALIFORNIA:
Lethal injection ruling expected----Judge says it's time to look at
legality of the state's method.
With execution by lethal injection under attack in courts across the
country, a federal judge said Thursday that he'll rule next week on
halting California's next scheduled execution - and potentially closing
the state's death chamber for the forseeable future.
U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel said this may be the ideal time to
decide, once and for all, whether the state's 3-drug lethal injection
protocol has been subjecting inmates to torturous and unconstitutional
pain, as defense lawyers contend. Pending before Fogel is the case of
Michael Angelo Morales, who has a Feb. 21 date in the death chamber at San
Quentin. He was convicted of raping and murdering 17-year-old Terri
Winchell in a Lodi vineyard in January 1981.
During a hearing in Fogel's San Jose courtroom, the judge acknowledged
California's interest in carrying out the execution.
But he also said that "people's confidence might be assisted by having
some sort of evidentiary hearing ... to get a decision to say this
protocol is fine or it is not."
Fogel noted a current "window of opportunity" to examine all the evidence
without "disrupting the flow of capital cases." He cited information from
California's attorney general that only one other execution - that of Los
Angeles killer Mitchell Carlton Sims - is on the horizon.
Defense and prosecution lawyers agreed in court that a 90-day stay in
Morales' case would provide enough time for a full-blown court review,
although appeals would prolong the debate.
Fogel cited evidence of movement that may indicate several California
inmates were conscious during administration of the final drug, potassium
chloride, which is believed to produce searing pain unless a recipient is
properly sedated.
The main question, he said, "is whether the inmates are actually getting
what they're supposed to be getting" - that is, the full dose of the
sedative administered at the start of the procedure.
Lethal injection has been the preferred execution method in California
since 1993. The other method permitted by state law is lethal gas, which
has been held by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to be
unconstitutionally cruel.
Defense and prosecution experts have interpreted the evidence on lethal
injection differently.
Fogel - who refused to block two previous executions by injection - said
he must determine which side is favored by the balance of information
available at this stage.
Without saying how he was leaning, he repeatedly mentioned a recent
decision by the 8th Circuit to block a lethal injection execution in
Missouri.
The U.S. Supreme Court, which plans to decide a lethal injection case from
Florida this spring, refused last week to upset the 8th Circuit's Missouri
decision.
In other recent cases, though, the high court has permitted executions to
go forward, creating an atmosphere of uncertainty in the 37 states with
lethal injection laws.
(source: Sacramento Bee)
********************
Stay of execution possible -- Judge considers hearing on issue of lethal
injections
Federal courts may need to put a temporary freeze on executions in
California to consider whether the state's method of carrying out lethal
injections poses an unconstitutional risk of agonizing death for a
condemned inmate, a federal judge said Thursday.
U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel said at a hearing in San Jose that he was
considering staying the scheduled Feb. 21 execution of condemned murderer
Michael Morales so he can hear testimony and take evidence on whether the
way California executes people constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.
Recent observations by witnesses and officials at San Quentin State
Prison's death chamber raise the possibility that the injection of 3
deadly chemicals is not as pain-free in reality as it is in theory, Fogel
told lawyers for the state and Morales.
"There are some anomalies in the way those executions proceeded that need
an explanation," Fogel said.
He cited witness accounts, newly obtained by Morales' lawyers, that at
least 3 executed inmates -- Stanley Tookie Williams, Darrell Rich and
Stephen Anderson -- appeared to be breathing for longer than a minute
after receiving a powerful sedative, the 1st of the 3 drugs. At the most
recent execution, Jan. 13, Clarence Ray Allen was given a 2nd dose of a
heart-stopping chemical before he was pronounced dead.
"At some point, people's confidence in the integrity of this process might
be assisted by some sort of evidentiary proceeding," with testimony from
experts and eyewitnesses, Fogel said.
He said he plans to rule by Tuesday on whether he will hold such a hearing
in Morales' case, which would require a stay of execution.
Fogel noted that no judge has heard evidence on how California has carried
out lethal injections since the state switched its execution method from
cyanide gas in 1996. The state made the change after another federal judge
found that the San Quentin gas chamber might be subjecting inmates to a
slow and painful death.
Morales, 46, was convicted of raping and murdering 17-year-old Terri
Winchell near Lodi in 1981. His lawyers have asked Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger for clemency, claiming the death sentence resulted from a
jailhouse informant's false testimony.
If Morales convinced the courts that the current method of lethal
injection is unconstitutional, his death sentence would not be overturned.
Instead, the state would be required to change the way it administers the
injections, by changing the chemicals or the equipment or by improving
staff training.
The 3 drugs used by California and most other death-penalty states are
sodium pentothal, which renders the inmate unconscious; pancuronium
bromide, which paralyzes the muscles; and potassium chloride, which stops
the heart. In a lawsuit seeking a stay, Morales argues that flaws in the
administration of sodium pentothal create a risk that the inmate will
remain conscious and in excruciating pain, but unable to cry out because
of the pancuronium bromide.
Fogel has rejected similar lawsuits by 2 other prisoners, citing the
findings of the state's expert witness that the prescribed dose of sodium
pentothal was strong enough to cause unconsciousness and death in all but
a small fraction of cases. But the judge said Thursday that observations
of inmates apparently breathing or heaving their chests raised questions
about whether the process was working as designed.
Senior Assistant Attorney General Dane Gillette, the state's lawyer, said
those concerns were unfounded and that there was no reliable evidence that
any inmate has remained conscious during an execution.
(source: San Francisco Chronicle)
******************
Death sentence may be delayed----JUDGE OPEN TO HEARING LETHAL-INJECTION
DEBATE
A San Jose federal judge on Thursday suggested he may be willing to
postpone California's next scheduled execution later this month so he can
hold a full-blown evidentiary hearing to consider a constitutional
challenge to the state's lethal-injection procedure.
U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel did not rule on convicted killer Michael
Morales' bid to delay his Feb. 21 execution date, but said he would issue
a decision by Tuesday on whether his legal challenge to lethal injection
deserves more thorough consideration. Morales' lawyers argue the state's
lethal-injection method amounts to cruel and unusual punishment.
Noting that similar challenges have been filed on the eve of other recent
executions, Fogel indicated the time may be ripe to address the central
issues.
"It seems to me that people's confidence in the integrity of this process
may be assisted by some sort of evidentiary proceeding," Fogel said.
"There is a window of opportunity here."
If Fogel holds a hearing to consider expert testimony and other evidence
related to the constitutionality of lethal injection, it could be no more
than a temporary reprieve for Morales. The judge said he believed he could
hold such a hearing within 60 to 90 days, so if Morales loses, he could
face another execution date later this year.
Assistant Attorney General Dane Gillette, who opposes any delay, said the
state would appeal a stay.
Morales was sentenced to die for the 1981 rape and murder of a 17-year-old
Lodi girl. He is one of many death row inmates around the nation who argue
that the progression of drugs used in executions masks pain and suffering
that would violate the ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
Most legal experts doubt the U.S. Supreme Court will eventually ban the
use of lethal injection, but it could be a year or more before the issue
is resolved in the lower courts.
Morales' lawyers hope to use medical and eyewitness evidence from other
California executions to prove problems in the process, one of the reasons
the judge is considering the need for testimony and more detailed
information. State prosecutors and death penalty supporters say there is
no evidence inmates suffer in lethal injection executions.
Meanwhile, Morales' lawyers on Thursday asked Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
to hold a hearing to consider his request for clemency. Morales has
backing from the judge who sentenced him to die, as well as 6 jurors at
his 1983 trial.
San Joaquin County prosecutors oppose clemency, saying Morales' crime was
particularly brutal.
(source: Mercury News)
