Feb. 27 SOUTH DAKOTA: Death penalty may be delayed----Test, hearing prerequisites South Dakota's 1st execution in nearly six decades is set to take place by the end of summer. A few scenarios, though, could delay Elijah Page's death, despite his request to end appeals and face lethal injection. Page pleaded guilty to brutally murdering a Spearfish man in March 2000. The Supreme Court in January rejected the latest appeal of his sentence. An execution is scheduled for the final week of August, but lawyers in the case expressed doubt about whether the sentence will be carried out then. "Just because the date has been set doesn't mean it's been etched in stone," said Mike Butler of Sioux Falls, a lawyer for Page. An execution will not take place without first holding a hearing about Page's decision to end appeals, Butler said. The courts need to determine if Page was competent, informed and acting on his own will. "I believe that will cause a delay," said John Fitzgerald, state's attorney for Lawrence County. Page is still entitled to an entire round of appeals that could last several more years. If a psychiatric evaluation indicated Page is mentally unfit to decide his fate, his lawyers could resume challenging his sentence. Even if it doesn't, the time it takes to conduct the testing and hold a hearing to review results might affect the execution date, Fitzgerald said. However, if Page is competent, he will have the most control over his legal fate. "Anytime when someone who is given the death penalty says that they want to drop their appeals and be executed, it may well come to pass," Fitzgerald said. That's ultimately what happened in the case of Oklahoma federal building bomber Timothy McVeigh, who, like Page, also requested to end his appeals before they were exhausted. "I was tremendously disappointed," said Robert Nigh Jr., a Tulsa, Okla., lawyer who represented McVeigh from 1995 to 2001. "He had a valid argument, and there was at least some indication that the Supreme Court might hear us." Nigh said lawyers have an ethical obligation to protect the legal rights of clients. So if there is any question about competency, they have an obligation to pursue a psychiatric evaluation, he said. Without any reason to think McVeigh was ill or incompetent, there was nothing Nigh could do when his client in December 2000 requested to die. A May 16, 2001, execution date appeared set in stone until the FBI revealed it had not disclosed thousands of pages of documents to the defense during trial. McVeigh agreed with his lawyers to reconsider. Attorney General John Ashcroft voluntarily delayed the execution to June 11, creating time for McVeigh's lawyers to file a new appeal. When the district and regional circuit court denied the request, McVeigh again called off the process. "We could have gone to the Supreme Court, but Tim didn't want to," Nigh said. Butler described similar thoughts about his obligation to Page's case. "Mr. Page has, I believe, some very compelling legal grounds to have his death sentence set aside," Butler said. "It may put me at odds with my client, but I'm not going to push him off a cliff because he asked me to do it." Page announced his decision to end appeals in a letter sent last month to media, lawyers and officials. Lawyers for the state and Page have said the note does not prevent him from changing his mind. Meanwhile, outside of the court system, death penalty opponents in South Dakota say they plan to lobby against Page's death. "We are going to work very hard to try to stop this execution," said Karl Kroger of the Interfaith Task Force Against the Death Penalty. The group will hold a meeting in March to discuss tactics and organize its annual Good Friday demonstration at the South Dakota Penitentiary. Kroger said plans will probably include asking the governor or Legislature to suspend use of the death penalty in South Dakota. "I think the abortion ban will affect the conversation," Kroger said. "If people are truly as passionate about the value of life before it's born, certainly we should care about life after birth. Hopefully, people would be more consistently pro-life." The governor's office could not be reached for comment on Friday. (source: Arugs Leader) MISSISSIPPI----new death sentence Hinds County Death Penalty A Hinds County man has been sentenced to death for the 1994 rape and murder of his girlfriends 5 year old daughter. Eric Moffett, 31, is the 1st person to be sentence to death in Hinds County in eight years. An April 26th execution date has been set. The child's mother cried hysterically on the stand during the penalty phase of the trial. (source: WTOK News)
