Feb. 18
VIRGINIA:
Death penalty is 'all over the map'----A death sentence last week shows
how the decision is full of variables, experts say.
8 months pregnant, Tammy Lynn Baker died from the blast of a pipe bomb
rigged outside her Louisa apartment by a boyfriend who didn't want to pay
child support. The killer was sentenced to life in prison.
Hiding in a closet after his parents were shot to death at their Tazewell
County home, 14-year-old Bobby Hopewell suffered the same fate. The killer
was sentenced to life in prison.
Serving time in a maximum-security prison in Lee County, Robert Sandoval
was strangled by his cellmate after the two criminals bickered over one
eating the other's breakfast. But this time, the killer was sentenced to
death.
A jury's decision last week to condemn Carlos Caro for the prison killing
of Sandoval marked the 1st time federal prosecutors in the Western
District of Virginia obtained a death sentence since Congress reinstated
capital punishment for some federal crimes nearly 2 decades ago.
But as illustrated by their earlier attempts -- the cases of Baker,
Hopewell and several others in the district all ended with life sentences
-- the formula for death is full of variables.
"This shows just how arbitrary the death penalty is," said Elisabeth
Semel, director of the Death Penalty Clinic at the University of
California-Berkeley's law school.
Each trial has nuances that only the judge or jury can fully appreciate,
Semel stressed. Yet when the killing of an inmate is punished more harshly
than that of a pregnant woman or a family of 3, "these are the kinds of
differences that people find very difficult to understand."
While most capital cases are tried in state courts, Congress has given
federal prosecutors more and more latitude over the years to seek death
sentences.
At least in theory, the U.S. government takes a more uniform approach to
capital punishment than state courts, where the difference between life
and death can depend on the zeal of a particular prosecutor, the
philosophical bent of a locality's jury pool or simply whether the crime
was committed in one of the 37 states that allow the ultimate penalty.
Every potential federal death penalty case must pass through a central
gatekeeper.
Long before the defendant goes to trial, federal prosecutors present a
detailed summary of the case to a Department of Justice review committee.
The panel forwards a recommendation to the U.S. attorney general, who
makes the final call.
In the Western District of Virginia -- the Roanoke-based federal
jurisdiction that stretches from Winchester to Lynchburg to the most
western tip of the state -- prosecutors have received authorization from
the attorney general to pursue the death sentence in 8 cases involving 13
defendants, according to the Federal Death Penalty Resource Counsel
Project.
Only five reached the point where a jury was asked to impose a death
sentence. In addition to the cases of Baker and Hopewell, federal juries
also decided to spare the lives of a man convicted of killing two college
students in Harrisonburg and two drug dealers who shot and stabbed a rival
to death in Charlottesville.
In Caro's case, it took the jury just 2 hours to settle on a death
sentence Tuesday after hearing evidence for three weeks in U.S. District
Court in Abingdon.
U.S. Attorney John Brownlee said the individual facts of each case make it
difficult to draw comparisons.
"My overall perspective is that I trust juries," he said. "Those are the
people we bring our cases to. So I am reluctant to ever go back and
question their judgment in any case."
As for the argument that death sentences are handed down in an arbitrary
way, Brownlee said: "Jurors are not asked to evaluate these things in the
whole. They are asked to evaluate these things in the context of a certain
set of facts that are presented to them."
One thing that made Caro's case different from the others was his past
record of violence -- and the risk he continued to pose inside the federal
prison system.
After receiving a long prison sentence in 2001 for drug dealing, Caro
joined a gang, participated in a brutal fight on a prison yard and stabbed
a rival 29 times at the Lee County prison. Despite being placed under
tighter security after each offense, Caro wound up killing his cellmate on
Dec. 17, 2003.
Brownlee said that with a life sentence, "he would be emboldened to
continue to kill."
And unlike some of the other federal cases that resulted in life
sentences, the evidence of Caro's guilt was overwhelming. Not only was a
hardened criminal found locked in the same cell with a dead man, but Caro
made a full confession. He said he strangled Sandoval with a wet bath
towel because the inmate disrespected him during an argument that started
when Caro ate his breakfast.
Caro showed no remorse and even taunted guards immediately after the
killing by asking when he would get a new cell, the jury was told.
"This case was something like shooting fish in a barrel," said David
Bruck, director of the Virginia Capital Case Clearinghouse, a resource for
death penalty defense attorneys affiliated with the law school of
Washington and Lee University.
And while Sandoval was arguably the least innocent of victims in the five
death cases considered by Western Virginia juries, "it seems to me that
when you have a prison killing by someone who is already serving a life
sentence, the government has an argument that really resonates with the
jury when they say, 'Look, we tried that and it didn't work,' " said
Roanoke defense attorney Chris Kowalczuk.
2 years ago, Kowalczuk represented a man sentenced to life in federal
prison for killing two James Madison University students. He agreed that
when the debate shifts from an individual case inside the courtroom to the
broader court of public opinion, the disparities are hard to reconcile.
"That's part of what's wrong with the death penalty," he said. "It's so
all over the map."
(source: Roanoke Times)
SOUTH DAKOTA:
South Dakota Lawmakers Discuss Death Penalty Bill
A group of South Dakota lawmakers were in Elk Point on Saturday to listen
to the people they represent. One of the hot topics.... the death penalty.
As part of what's called the Legislative Cracker-barrel, state lawmakers
from the Elk Point area were invited to answer questions about what's
going on at the state level.
A bill that allows the prison warden and state corrections secretary to
choose the drugs that will be used for lethal injection is on its way to
Governor Rounds.
Senator Ken Albers says he supports the death penalty, with a lot of
caution.
Sen. Ken Albers, (R) SD Senate, says "I believe the death penalty is
appropriate in the worst kinds of cases. And I think we've got statutory
law that provides very well to see that it's only done in those kinds of
cases."
Representatives Joel Dykstra and Maggie Gillespie say South Dakota hasn't
had an execution since 1947. And they say choosing the right mix of lethal
drugs and getting it right is critical.
Rep. Joel Dykstra, (R) SD House, says "We don't rush to death...to
implement the death penalty but if we're going to have the death penalty
for those cases we should be using the standard that's established as the
best practices in the country."
Rep. Maggie Gillespie, (D) SD House, says "Nationally there were some
problems with the drugs and chemicals being used and so we had to modify
our system and uh try to put it in line with what's happening on a
national level."
(source: KTIV News)
ILLINOIS:
Murder suspect's hearing continued
Thursday's status hearing in Jo Daviess County Circuit Court for Bruce
Burt, of Waterloo, Iowa, was continued to March 15 after attorneys for
both sides agreed that additional time was needed to gather and review
evidence.
Burt, 57, faces multiple murder charges in connection with the fatal
attack on 13-year-old Donnisha Hill, also of Waterloo. Police believe Hill
was slain in rural Hanover where her body was found on Oct. 28.
Court documents allege that Burt was hired by David Damm, 59, also of
Waterloo, to kill the girl. They also allege that on Oct. 27, Burt
obtained a hammer and knife with intent to murder her.
Damm also faces a number of charges, including 4 counts of 1st-degree
murder, in connection with Hill's death.
Jo Daviess County State's Attorney Terry Kurt said there are still a few
more interviews that need to be conducted in Waterloo and four interviews
that need to be transcribed before the case can move forward.
Damm's status hearing, held last month, was continued to Tuesday, Feb. 27,
to allow more time to review the volumes of evidence, as well.
If convicted of the murder charges, both Burt and Damm could face the
death penalty.
(source: Galena Gazette)
FLORIDA:
Lethal injection under increasing scrutiny across country----No executions
in Florida while method reviewed
Angel Nieves Diaz craned his neck to see the clock as a blend of lethal
chemicals dripped into the intravenous tube snaking into his left arm.
He asked, "What's happening?"
It depends on who is telling the story.
Diaz grimaced as if in pain, his Adam's apple bobbing furiously, his
wide-open mouth gasping for air "like a fish out of water," said the
convicted killer's attorney, who sat 6 feet away.
Or, as the Florida State Prison warden tells it, the 55-year-old Diaz fell
into a deep sleep, snoring and showing no signs of distress.
Compared with the gallows, firing squad and electric chair, lethal
injection has been billed as a more humane, almost antiseptic, way to
kill. Of the 38 states that have the death penalty, Nebraska continues to
use only the electric chair while 36 other states have turned to lethal
injection. Florida offers a choice of injection or electrocution.
But use of the deadly chemical concoction that sedates a person before
paralyzing the lungs and causing a fatal heart attack is under increasing
criticism across the country.
Executions are now on hold in Florida, California and seven other states
as judges and legislators, along with death penalty advocates and
opponents, grapple with the issues of how much pain an inmate feels while
dying, whether lethal injections constitute cruel and unusual punishment
and if a better way can be found to use chemicals for capital punishment.
Fueling the debate is an article in a British medical journal, The Lancet,
written by 2 University of Miami doctors, that suggests condemned
prisoners canexperienceacute pain with the method now in use.
Normally, it takes 15 minutes to execute an inmate by lethal injection.
Diaz, who was sent to death row for the 1979 slaying of a Miami topless
bar manager, required 2 doses of poison and took 34 minutes to die. An
autopsy after the Dec. 13 execution revealed 2-foot-long chemical burns on
his arm because the toxins from an improperly inserted needle flowed into
his flesh, not his veins.
"Lethal injection was all about sensibility, all about appearances. We
thought we were executing people in a kinder, more humane manner," said
David Elliott, communications director of the Washington-based National
Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. "Now we know there is no kind,
nice and humane way to execute someone."
But Michael Rushford, president of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation,
a Sacramento-based group that supports the death penalty, said the current
combination of drugs leads to a humane death if administered properly.
"Even anesthesiologists who are against the death penalty say if you use
the chemicals in the correct sequence and the painkiller is introduced
first, there is no question the murderer will feel no pain," he said.
"Obviously, if you miss the guy's vein, you've got a problem."
A few states are considering changing the injection to use only a heavy
dose of barbiturates, a procedure that will end in death but perhaps take
twice as long as the current chemical mix. Rushford promotes the
alternative of carbon monoxide poisoning as quick and painless.
"We'd all be so lucky to go that way," he said.
In December, outgoing Gov. Jeb Bush placed a moratorium on Florida
executions until a commission could study what went wrong with Angel Diaz
and issue a final report, due March 1.
"The amount of time it took isn't the issue. The question is whether he
was in pain. Did he suffer?" said state Sen. Victor Crist, R-Tampa, a
member of the commission. "We have to ensure justice is met, but that it
is met in the most humane way possible."
At the moment, Florida law sets stricter limits on the drugs used to
euthanize animals than for executions, an irony not lost on the U.S.
Supreme Court when considering a challenge to the state's death penalty.
It's up to the Florida Department of Corrections to establish the
procedure for administering the lethal injection, but Justice John Paul
Stevens queried why the process wasn't spelled out in state statute as it
is for animals.
"There must have been a legislative feeling that unless that procedure
were followed, there's a risk of undue pain to the dogs and cats," Stevens
said. "Why isn't there a similar basis for believing that if you don't
follow a similar procedure that such a risk might be present for human
beings?"
Illinois and New Jersey are now reconsidering the viability of the death
penalty. But executing those who kill remains popular nationally. A Gallup
poll last year revealed that 71 % of Americans view the death penalty as
morally acceptable. In Florida, where support of the death penalty has
virtually been a prerequisite for a candidate to win statewide office,
polls consistently show 60 % or more of voters approve state-sanctioned
death.
"I have never seen a survey in Florida that didn't show the death penalty
to be fairly popular," said Jim Kane, a Fort Lauderdale pollster. "The
screw-ups with lethal injection have some mitigating effects, but I don't
think it's major."
Oklahoma was the 1st state to adopt lethal injection as a method of
execution in 1977. The 3-chemical cocktail was concocted by Dr. Jay
Chapman, the state's medical examiner, who last year told The New York
Times that he would now recommend only an overdose of barbiturates. He has
also criticized the lack of training of those who administer the
injection. Physicians are prohibited by the American Medical Association
from taking part in executions.
The only requirement for an executioner in Florida is that he or she be 18
years of age and "fully capable" of performing the job's functions. The
pay is $150 per execution. Dr. David Lubarsky, chairman of the
anesthesiology department at the University of Miami, co-authored the
Lancet study on lethal injection that concluded the procedure is not
painless.
The study of 49 autopsies found many instances where there wasn't enough
sedative in the inmate's system to prevent awareness and pain.
"It comes up all the time that these people are worse than animals ... but
that doesn't mean we should lower ourselves to their level," said
Lubarsky. Angel Diaz, he said, likely felt he was suffocating because
"none of the drugs went into his bloodstream. It was like being buried
alive by drugs."
(source: Sun-Sentinel)
CALIFORNIA:
Crime or punishment----Voters want criminals locked up, but many don't
want to pay for more prisons. Politicians are faced with a difficult
choice.
SACRAMENTO lawmakers are in a trap. U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton
will decide in little more than 3 months whether to set a population cap
on the state's vastly overcrowded prison system, potentially forcing the
early release of thousands of convicted criminals. To keep the court at
bay, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has asked the Legislature to approve
billions in new prison construction money, and to consider revising
sentencing and parole laws to put fewer criminals behind bars.
The trap is this: California voters want criminals locked up, as they
demonstrated again last year when they overwhelmingly passed an initiative
that toughened sentences for sex offenders. So they're generally against
loosening the sentencing laws. But at the same time, they also oppose
spending any more of the state's tax money to build more prisons,
according to polls.
So what are legislators to do? The enormity of the prison system's ills
makes inaction no longer viable. Prison facilities are packed to twice
their intended capacity, California has the country's highest recidivism
rate, and the $8-billion corrections budget is already the 3rd-largest
spending category. Failure to take action will probably mean a takeover of
the prison system by the courts.
Crime has long been the most dangerous third rail in California politics.
The 1993 abduction and murder of 12-year-old Polly Klaas by a repeat felon
triggered a wave of public fear and anger. The following year, the "three
strikes" law, mandating a 25-years-to-life sentence for a 3rd felony
conviction, overwhelming passed.
Lately, there have been some small indications that attitudes might be
changing, and that voters might be willing to rethink their views. Crime
statewide is down so perhaps the sentencing reform won't seem quite so
scary and support for more prison spending is growing, though it remains
a distinctly minority view.
A survey last month by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of
California survey found that just 34% of the public support more prison
funding, with nearly two-thirds opposing it. And even if the state
received unexpected revenue, 57% of likely voters would still oppose
spending the money on prison construction. But the survey also indicated a
shift in attitudes. Respondents were asked whether state funding on
prisons should be increased, remain the same or be cut. Roughly one-third
of likely voters fell into each category. That's a significant change
from, say, January 2005, when the survey found that just 13% of voters
supported an increase in prison spending and nearly half favored a cut in
the prison budget.
Less encouraging for politicians is the fact that the survey data indicate
that the key swing-voter groups in California are most opposed to new
prison spending. Independent voters, a rising category, are more likely to
oppose the idea than either Democrats or Republicans.
And while opposition to more money for prisons crossed nearly every
demographic category, the most negative findings were from middle- and
upper-income households and from those in the San Francisco Bay Area. By
contrast, the issue was nearly divided in Los Angeles, as it was among
Latinos and lower-income households.
Lawmakers appear frozen by a cynical political calculation. They could
step onto the third rail by approving a plan that would boost prison
spending and reconsider criminal sentences for nonviolent criminals. Or
they could allow the crisis to escalate by doing nothing, and then try to
blame a federal judge for it.
"Some have suggested to me, 'Just let the governor do it,' " state Sen.
Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles) said at a recent news conference. "Sit back
and wait. Others have said, 'Just let the courts do it.' I reject both of
those approaches."
In December, Romero joined Schwarzenegger to announce an $11-billion plan
to expand the bed capacity of the corrections system by building more
prisons and to create a commission that would consider new sentencing
laws.
*
BUT THE TIME and political capital the governor wants to spend on
universal healthcare, new public works projects and political reform,
among other initiatives, may leave little to invest in fixing the
corrections system. And the same goes for the Legislature, which last year
rejected Schwarzenegger's $9-billion proposal to build more prisons.
The solution to the political crisis will take a public education campaign
to remind voters that overhauling the state's criminal justice system by
building more prisons and redoing sentencing and parole laws is a
tough-on-crime position. The new money is not being spent to coddle
criminals. Also, to reject an overhaul is to put public safety at greater
risk.
The growing public support for more funding of prisons suggests that
voters are increasingly aware of the financial cost of the tough-on-crime
policies they support.
National polls also indicate that voters recognize that a lack of
rehabilitation programs will make crime worse. More than 60% of
respondents in a Zogby poll last year said it was "very important" that
inmates released from prison have access to job training, mental health
services, mentoring and family assistance.
The last year in Sacramento was widely described as one of the most
productive in years because Schwarzenegger and the Legislature set aside
political differences to achieve bipartisan compromises on several major
issues. So far this year, the political mood in the Capitol seems to be
more conducive to compromise than stalemate.
The prison crisis is a crucial test for government. If it's not addressed
and dangerous criminals are released, politicians will deserve the outrage
from a public that was just starting to think things had gotten better.
(source: Opinion, Los Angeles Times----David Lesher is the California
program director at the New America Foundation)
********************
Refreshing point of view
How refreshing to read letters once in a rare while from others who have
their head on straight. David Yates ("Expand executions," Feb. 2) is one
of them. I am so sick of the media liberal bias and the bleeding hearts
who have no regard for the victim but plenty for murderers on death row
who remain there for years on end.
I, for one, object to feeding and housing dirtbags like Charles Manson and
the rest of them. We need to clean house on death row and rapidly. Rewrite
our laws to ham-string the lawyers who keep this from happening.
At the moment, the courts are too busy to find some "painless" way of
ending the lives of these murdering misfits - and they don't mind taking
forever to do it. Meanwhile, the prisoner is watching TV in an
air-conditioned cell - his date to die by the penal system could very well
never happen.
Elizabeth Poehler, Vallejo
(source: Letter to the Editor, Vallejo Times Herald)
************************ A fight for life
Rudolph Roybal began his turbulent life in a concrete-block home in a
west-side Santa Fe neighborhood, where he started sniffing paint and
drinking alcohol at the age of 9.
More than 40 years later, having graduated from the drug and property
crimes he committed while growing up on the streets of Santa Fe, Roybal is
on California's death row.
A judge sentenced Roybal to die after a jury found him guilty of
first-degree murder and burglary. Prosecutors said a drunken Roybal broke
into the Oceanside, Calif., home of 65-year-old Yvonne "Bonnie" Weden on
June 10, 1989, stabbed her 13 times, slit her throat from ear to ear and
then looted the house of money and jewelry.
Roybal, now 51, has been awaiting execution in San Quentin since 1992
while appeals crawl through the courts in California, where the average
time between sentencing and execution is 14 years.
Roybal's case has been through a half dozen attorneys, some of whom are
accused of bungling appeals and losing essential paperwork. But his lawyer
said he believes his client has a good chance of having his death sentence
overturned once a new round of appeals is filed.
John Lanahan, the California lawyer who took on Roybal's case in 2004,
said he and a colleague found a number of issues to raise with a
California Supreme Court judge by September, when a new appeal for Roybal
will be filed. If the sentence is overturned, Roybal could get a new
trial.
"I don't think this is bravado, nor is it delusional," Lanahan said. "I
think there is a significant chance we could actually prevail."
Although Lanahan did not want to discuss the appeal issues in detail, he
said he thought police should be able to produce a piece of evidence that
went missing back in the early 1990s. A doorjamb from the victim's home
could be smudged with a fingerprint that does not belong to Roybal, the
victim or her husband, the attorney said. It was lost at the time of the
trial, but Lanahan believes police have the doorjamb.
The evidence on the doorjamb "might be exonerating" because it could prove
someone else was involved, Lanahan said.
Roybal was arrested in New Mexico in 1989 after investigators found a box
of Weden's jewelry in the backyard of his mother's home on West Alameda
Street. However, he claimed his innocence throughout the trial and at his
sentencing. In a letter to the court, he wrote, "I know that I have
faults, but I am no killer and will fight till the day I die to prove my
innocence."
Roybal's half brother, Ralph "Mousie" Roybal, was also convicted of
killing an elderly woman. He served three years in a New Mexico prison for
the 1987 scissor-stabbing death of 75-year-old Marjorie Allen on East De
Vargas Street. Ralph Roybal was paroled in 1990, but his ex-wife said he
is back in jail for violating his probation. Ralph Roybal declined to
speak to a reporter.
Rudolph Roybal was depicted at his 1992 trial as an alcoholic and drug
addict. A psychiatrist said Roybal, who was poorly educated as a child,
had brain dysfunction and had been profoundly chemically dependent since
he was 9, according to California Supreme Court records.
Defense attorneys tried to argue that Rudolph Roybal's early life was so
horrific, he should be spared the death penalty. They brought up
"mitigating circumstances," including his alcoholic mother who once left
him on the kitchen floor after he fell from his high chair, breaking some
of his front teeth.
His mother, Stella Orozco-Roybal, was married when she became pregnant
with Rudolph Roybal by a man who was not her husband. She offered to give
the newborn up for adoption if her husband stayed, but he divorced her.
She was known to call Rudolph Roybal "Mojo" or "Mojado," which means
wetback in Spanish, records from the California Supreme Court say.
Orozco-Roybal died in 2005 at age 82. In 1998, she told a New Mexican
reporter that she had always tried to be a good mother to her children.
"All that stuff was said by one of the lawyers who didn't like Rudolph,"
she said at the time. "I've always loved Rudolph. I've always shown him
love."
Orozco-Roybal dropped out of school when she was in the third grade, never
learning to read or write.
Unable to pay for an attorney, Rudolph Roybal has had a series of public
defenders and volunteer lawyers who did not properly handle his case,
Lanahan said. Elizabeth Barranco, an attorney assigned to Rudolph Roybal's
appeals, missed deadlines and failed to show up for court so many times
that her co-counsel hired a private investigator to track her down. When
Barranco was evicted from her home, numerous records from Roybal's case
were destroyed by rain, according to Lanahan.
Barranco was kicked off the case and later suspended from the state bar,
according to the State Bar of California's Web site. According to the
California Daily Law Journal, she let a child custody issue interfere with
her work for 14 clients.
Another California attorney gave up Rudolph Roybal's case after the
lawyer's home was destroyed in a fire in 2001.
When Lanahan and his co-counsel, Elizabeth Missakian, took the case, he
said, the records were in a deplorable state. "The case was just such an
absolute catastrophe," Lanahan said. "Everybody knew about that case, but
nobody would take it."
The possibility of missing evidence has lingered, too. In 1998, an appeal
that raised the issue of the missing doorjamb was denied by the California
Supreme Court. The justices said investigators never determined whether
the doorjamb had a fingerprint left by Rudolph Roybal or by someone else,
and it did not deprive him of a proper defense.
The 1998 appeal raised issues about the quality of evidence in the case.
When Rudolph Roybal's case was investigated, DNA evidence was not as
sophisticated as it is today. Investigators were only able to identify the
type of blood found at the crime scene, but it was determined Roybal and
Weden had a blood type so similar that it was indistinguishable.
Prosecutors argued a sock and a knife found at Orozco-Roybal's house in
Santa Fe could have had Weden's blood on them.
Defense attorneys also argued Rudolph Roybal's right to a speedy trial was
violated because 2 years elapsed after the crime before he was charged
with Weden's murder.
Meanwhile, executions in California have been halted, said Stefanie
Faucher, program director for Death Penalty Focus, an advocacy group. A
California Supreme Court judge ruled in December that the way lethal
injection was administered in California violates the U.S. Constitution's
prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. The judge ordered
lawmakers to find a better, more fail-safe way to carry out lethal
injection.
It is unclear how long it will take to come up with a way to revise the
procedure, Faucher said. The issue will not affect Rudolph Roybal until
all of his appeals are exhausted, which could still take years.
"Until this situation is resolved, it's my understanding that there will
be no executions," she said. "But it doesn't have any effect on the
general moving through the courts of cases."
There are more than 600 inmates on California's death row.
Rudolph Roybal, who in letters to The New Mexican said he missed Santa Fe
and its fiestas, is doing well, Lanahan said. Roybal likes to read
National Geographic magazine and is visited weekly by an anti-death
penalty activist and his wife. The former New Mexican is optimistic his
sentence will be overturned, Lanahan said.
"He's quite an exceptional human being," Lanahan said. "He's very unusual
for a person who would be on death row. He doesn't fit the mold."
(source: The New Mexican)
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----VA., S. DAK., ILL., FLA., CALIF.
Rick Halperin Sun, 18 Feb 2007 15:14:53 -0600 (Central Standard Time)
