[Deathpenalty] death penalty news-----TEXAS, ARK., ALA.

[Rick Halperin]

Nov. 4


TEXAS:

Most judge complaints unwarranted


Every year, as many as 100 complaints are filed against federal judges in
the 5th Circuit, which includes Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi.

Its true, as the federal judiciary contends, that the vast majority of
those complaints are unwarranted, a review by The Daily News of publicly
available information about eight years worth of complaints shows.

But a few might indicate a bias in favor of misbehaving judges, something
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer referred to as "Guild
Favoritism."

Much of what the judiciary does is shrouded in secrecy  especially when it
comes to the discipline of judges. As a separate branch of government, its
exempt from the federal Freedom of Information Act. So the courts are
basically free to reveal as much  or as little  as they like about their
business.

Not much information about complaints against judges in the 5th Circuit is
public except the orders that are issued when complaints are closed. Even
in those orders, the names of those who complained, the judges they
complained about and any other information that might identify them is
blacked out.

And few in the public have ever glimpsed what information is available.
When The Daily News journeyed last week to the 5th Circuits home base in
New Orleans, court personnel said it was only the third time anyone had
ever done so.

Self Representation

Almost all complaints filed against federal judges end up being dismissed.

Some are utterly frivolous.

In a sad case from 1999, a Texas death-row inmate had been denied a habeas
corpus hearing because he had been deemed mentally incompetent. He
complained that all the federal judges in Texas had arranged to have other
inmates escape and kill the person he was convicted of murdering.

Others are more comical.

In August, Chief Judge Edith Jones dismissed a complaint filed by somebody
who was mad that a judge didnt remove him or herself from a case. The
person had sued every judge in the 5th Circuit and had already agreed at a
hearing that it was OK if the judge handled the case.

That complaint was filed by a person representing him or herself.

Most of the complaints filed in the 5th Circuit since 1999 were filed by
people without lawyers. And a high proportion of them were in state or
federal prison.

For example, a rough count of the past 2 years' records showed that at
least 114 complaints were filed. Of those, 55 were filed by inmates.

Improper Appeal

The vast majority of complaints disputed rulings a judge had made.

For example, Jones last year issued an order dismissing a complaint by a
lawyer. She said a judge's dismissal of her sexual-harassment lawsuit
damaged her reputation and ruined her marriage.

Jones ruled, in essence, that if the lawyer didn't like a ruling, she
could file an appeal.

"Judicial misconduct proceedings are not a substitute for the normal
appellate review process, nor may they be used to obtain reversal of a
decision or a new trial," is the boilerplate language in many of the
dismissal orders.

Many complaints seem to be filed because, unlike appeals, there's no fee
for filing them, said Joe St. Aman, senior appellate conference attorney
for the 5th Circuit.

And even though many of the complaints might seem laughable, St. Aman said
they're often filed by people who feel overwhelmed by a complicated system
and can't afford a lawyer to help them navigate it.

Policing Themselves

As the complaints are described in the dismissals, it wasn't even a close
call in throwing out the great majority of them.

But a few of the orders might indicate a bias in favor of a fellow judge:

 Jones last year threw out a complaint filed by a Texas lawyer.

The lawyer said the judge was so overbearing during a trial that one day,
the judge threatened to have his clients husband thrown out of the court
just for rolling his eyes. Then on another day, the date of Johnny Cashs
death, the judge "entered the courtroom dancing and singing to Johnny Cash
tunes."

The lawyer might have seen the behavior as bullying. But to Jones, it was
understandable.

In the 1st instance, the judge was keeping order in his court. The 2nd
"appeared to be a lighthearted tribute to a popular performer who died
that day."

 In May, Jones ruled, in essence, that it was OK for a judge to attend a
college-football game as the guest of an attorney who was practicing
before the judge and for the judge to travel out of state to attend the
attorney's daughter's wedding.

 In 1999, a complaint was filed against a judge who didnt excuse himself
from hearing a lawsuit against a company on whose board of directors he
used to sit. The 5th Circuit ruled that since the judge left the board 2
years before the activity alleged in the lawsuit, he didn't have a
conflict.

 2 complaints bemoaned how long it took judges to settle cases.

One, dismissed in 1999, said it took 6 years for a judge to make a
decision in an employment-discrimination case. The 5th Circuit called the
delay inexcusable, but it dismissed the complaint after "appropriate
corrective action." The other, dismissed in 2004, complained of a delay of
almost four years in disposing of a similar case. The 5th Circuit again
called the delay "inexcusable," but it said the delay did not amount to
misconduct.

+++

Complaints Of Note

There is much interest in the orders dismissing hundreds of complaints
against judges within the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Some arise from ancient wrongs. Others were filed by those who are eager
to sue for whatever reason. Still others might indicate real problems
among the federal judiciary.

A sampling:

 In 2002, Chief Judge Carolyn Dineen King dismissed a complaint filed by a
federal prisoner who was awaiting trial.

The prisoner complained that the judge fell asleep during a hearing. King
wrote that was an issue the prisoner could raise on appeal.

 In 2005, King dismissed a complaint by a state prosecutor who said a
federal judge voluntarily appeared at trial as a character witness. The
judges' canons of ethics say judges shouldn't do that. Even so, King ruled
simply, "The matter has now been brought to the judge's attention; this
should be sufficient for the future.

 In 2006, a complaint was dismissed that stemmed from an income-tax case.
A man who had apparently not paid his taxes complained that a judge got
exasperated with him at the end of a hearing when he demanded that the
government show him a law that required him to pay taxes.

 Last year, the 5th Circuit dismissed a complaint that a judge hadnt acted
on a case that was filed in 2004. The judge had instructed the court clerk
not to take any cases from the man, a frequent filer, until he paid a $150
filing fee he already owed the court.

 In 2003, a complaint was dismissed that was filed by a man who said he
was a victim of slavery. He had filed a lawsuit demanding that the federal
government pay to resettle him in Africa. When the judge dismissed the
suit, the man complained that the dismissal was proof of racial prejudice.

(source: Galveston Daily News)

*****************

Texas slammed the door on a death-row appeal


All the evidence in Michael Richard's criminal case says he was a
cold-hearted murderer. He killed a young woman without any hint of
compassion. He may have been short of the mental capacity to understand
the enormity of his crime. But even if society would not allow him that
mitigating factor, he deserved more justice than he received in his final
hours on earth. More to the point, Texans deserved a better brand of
justice to represent them at a crucial moment of decision.

Richard was executed on the evening of Sept. 25, minutes after Sharon
Keller, chief justice of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, refused to
keep the court's doors open for another half hour after the normal 5 p.m.
closing time so that his attorneys could file an appeal. Keller's refusal
was reprehensible. Now, with the U.S. Supreme Court again staying another
execution, this one in Mississippi on Tuesday, the closing of the doors of
justice for Richard seems all the more abhorrent.

Executions in the United States are effectively on hold until the nation's
high court rules on the constitutionality of lethal injections. In Texas,
the nation's leader in executions, Nueces County District Attorney Carlos
Valdez and prosecutors in Harris County say they will ask for no more
execution dates to be set until the high court rules, perhaps sometime
next year. The challenge, on the grounds of the constitutional ban on
cruel and unusual punishment, came from Kentucky; the high court announced
it would take the case on Sept. 25, the same day as Richard's scheduled
execution.

2 points have emerged amidst the outrage over the refusal of Keller to
keep the doors of justice open. The first is that the Court of Criminal
Appeals is an antiquated government office. The attorneys for Richard were
scrambling to make 10 paper copies of their appeal, each 100 pages long,
which, by court rules, had to be delivered to the court clerk. No
electronic filing is permitted. Now members of the Texas bar are
petitioning the court to adopt more modern procedures. A court of justice
that deals with life-and-death cases absolutely must accept electronic
filings, as does the U.S. Supreme Court.

The 2nd point is that the execution of Richard underscores the arbitrary
nature of the application of the death penalty. Even defenders of capital
punishment -- and this page has supported the death penalty for decades --
have a hard time explaining why one defendant with incompetent legal
representation, in a county with different jurors, before a different
judge, faced with prosecutors who get plea bargains with accomplices,
should die over another defendant accused of an equally cruel crime gets a
better luck of the draw. If Keller had kept the doors open, Richard would
have had a chance at a stay of execution. But she shut the doors and
Richard was executed. This is not justice; it's a roulette wheel.

It's not hard to see why Richard's attorneys believe the entire system
failed him. Not only did Keller pay more attention to the closing hours
than the law, they believe the state attorney general could have acted as
well as the governor's office. But neither did.

The best justice system should honor the rule of law and due process
without regard to the vagaries of the defendant's situation. There may be
no perfect justice on this earth, but the pursuit of it should be the most
vigorous particularly in the worst of crimes. Belief in the rule of law
should demand its dispassionate meting out. Do the condemned want to use
any legal hand hold to delay the day of their execution? Of course. But
the respect for the rule of law should demand that judges keep their minds
open to its possible imperfection, not out of any regard to the defendant,
but out of regard for the law and the Constitution.

(source: Editorial, Corpus Christi Caller-Times)






ARKANSAS:

DNA could clear 'Satanic' triple murder teenagers----After 15 years, the
verdict in case that shocked America is denounced as a travesty of justice


The horrific crime shocked a nation. 3 young boys, cub scouts, were tied
up, murdered and their naked bodies dumped in a drainage ditch.

As a Deep South community bayed for justice, attention focused on a group
of misfit teenagers, heavy metal fans accused of killing the children in a
Satanic ritual. The case became a sensation at a time when a 'Satanic
panic' over cults was gripping 1990s America. All three were found guilty.
Jason Baldwin, then 16, and Jessie Misskelley, 17, got life sentences.
Damien Echols, 18, was put on death row, where he remains.

Now evidence, including DNA samples, has emerged to suggest the real
killers are still at large and that 3 innocent men have been behind bars
for almost 15 years. 'No reasonable juror would convict... knowing what we
know today,' said defence lawyer Dennis Riordan.

The facts were simple enough. The victims - Christopher Byers, Steve
Branch and James Moore - were last seen riding their bikes on 5 May, 1993.
Their bodies, tied with shoelaces, were discovered a day later near the
Arkansas town of West Memphis, close to the Mississippi river. They were
only a few miles from home. Police were shocked by the terrible knife
wounds and signs of torture and concluded that some sort of cult ritual
had occurred. Attention quickly focused on the town misfits. Under
pressure, Misskelley confessed to the killings and all three were found
guilty.

Now lawyers for Echols have lodged new evidence seeking to prove his
innocence. The case against the West Memphis Three appears to have been
more about rushed police work and hyped-up paranoia over non-existent
Satanism than evidence. The suspects were just unfortunate to be social
outcasts and to like rock music.

First there was Misskelley's confession. Despite coaching by
investigators, Misskelley - who was mentally retarded and had a drug
problem - described the murders incorrectly. He described sexual abuse
that forensics proved had not happened. He said the murders were in the
morning, when the victims were in school, and that they were tied with
ropes, not shoelaces. Much of his confession seemed to be suggested by
police interrogators.

The prosecution's assertion that a Satanic ritual had taken place has also
now been discredited. The key expert witness on cults, Dale Griffis, had
claimed in court that the marks on the bodies were clearly Satanic.
However, it was later proved that Griffis had got his 'PhD in cult
studies' from a fake Californian university that was later closed for
being a 'diploma mill'. 'Apart from being a travesty of justice, this is
not a Satanic murder. There is no ritual,' said John Douglas, a veteran of
the FBI who is working with the defence team.

The wounds that police claimed were ritually inflicted, including sexual
mutilation, have also been shown to have been caused by wild animals,
probably stray dogs, clawing at the bodies after death. 'To sell that to a
jury was unconscionable. They are scratch marks from some kind of animal,'
said Dr Richard Souviron, a forensics expert in bite marks.

Defence lawyers have tested two hairs found at the scene. One was found
entangled in one of the ligatures tying up one of the boys. It has been
matched with DNA samples from Terry Hobbs, a stepfather of one of the
victims. Another hair, found on a tree stump, has been linked by DNA
sampling to David Jacoby, a friend of Hobbs who was with him on the day of
the murder and provided him with an alibi. No DNA evidence of any kind has
been found at the scene to match any of the West Memphis Three. Douglas,
who pioneered the profiling of serial killers at the FBI, also believes
they do not match the psychological profile of whoever carried out the
crime. He said the way the boys were killed, and their bikes, clothes and
bodies hidden, suggested a sophisticated adult who knew the victims.

Sympathy for the Three is growing across America. Marilyn Manson and Eddie
Vedder of the band Pearl Jam have joined the campaign to overturn the
verdicts. A film is also being made about the case. Called Devil's Knot,
it is being co-produced by Clark Peterson, who made Monster, starring
Charlize Theron. 'This is one of the great crime stories of modern
history, and the new evidence makes it all the more compelling,' Peterson
said.

But for the moment the fate of the West Memphis Three still lies with the
Arkansas attorney-general's office. It was last week examining the
evidence and appeared in no rush to make a judgment. 'This process will
likely take months, and possibly years,' said a spokesman.

(sourcce: The (UK) Observer)






ALABAMA:

Capital punishment a hot-button issue


Our state has approved new procedures for execution. Isn't it true the
United States is one of very few so-called civilized countries that still
carries out the death penalty?

Has anyone ever done a study to learn how much the death penalty costs
Alabama per year? I would guess the numbers would be mind-boggling when
one considers all the costs involved. We could take this money and build a
modern, escape-proof prison in which to incarcerate those who have been
convicted to life in prison without parole. <>P> Will this happen? I don't
see this as a possibility so long as we have politicians running for the
offices of attorney general, judges, governor, etc., and using the death
penalty as a hot-button issue. It's too bad all the religious people in
Alabama can't see beyond the political hot buttons and vote for people who
demonstrate some Christianity.

Carl L. Hess ---- Ozark

**

What would Jesus do?:


What would Jesus do? One thing we know is he was against the death
penalty. He, in fact, personally stopped an execution.

Why, then, are so many citizens of Alabama, the majority of whom profess
to be Christians, so adamantly in favor of the death penalty? The most
common answer is that it is for the victims (the families of the victims,
actually, since murder victims are beyond remedy).

Are we to believe, then, that the good Christians of Alabama are to
receive solace from the killing of someone else's son, father or husband?
What would Jesus do? As the victim of an unjust execution (one may call it
murder) himself, did he cry out for vengeance? No, he didn't.

Capital punishment, just as much as murder, is a symptom of a violent
society. As the violence between the Palestinians and Israelis so vividly
illustrates, the culture of vengeance only feeds on itself and creates
ever more violence. This cycle must be broken, and it may as well be the
followers of the "Prince of Peace" to lead the way.

Aulton Craig Smith -- Birmingham

(source: Letters to the Editor, Birmingham News)