May 25
OHIO: Ohio Execution Delay Prompts Criticism----Death Penalty Opponents in Ohio Call Delayed Execution Intolerable, Call for Moratorium Death penalty opponents called on the state to halt executions after prison staff struggled to find suitable veins on a condemned man's arm to deliver the lethal chemicals. The execution team stuck Christopher Newton at least 10 times with needles Thursday to insert the shunts where the chemicals are injected. He died at 11:53 a.m., nearly two hours after the scheduled start of his execution at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility. The process typically take about 20 minutes. "What is clear from today's botched execution is that the state doesn't know how to execute people without torturing them to death," American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio attorney Carrie Davis said Thursday. "Having one botched execution is too many; that Ohio has now had 2 botched executions in as many years is intolerable." Officials said the delay was due to Newton's size he weighed 265 pounds. In May 2006, the execution of Joseph Lewis Clark was delayed about 90 minutes because the team could not find a suitable vein. He was a longtime intravenous drug user. A group of Ohio inmates is suing over the state's injection method, saying it is unconstitutionally cruel, and Thursday's delay helps show that the state is unable to smoothly complete executions, said Greg Meyers, chief counsel for the Public Defender's Office. "There will be a day in trial that they will have to answer up as to what caused this two-hour delay," he said. "That's a lot of time messing around trying to get a needle in a vein." But Newton, who had had insisted on the death penalty as punishment and made no attempt to appeal, chatted and laughed with prison staff throughout the delay. It took so long that the staff paused to allow Newton a bathroom break. Gov. Ted Strickland, a Democrat who took office in January, said every precaution was taken to make sure Newton was treated respectfully and was not in pain. He said he understood why death penalty opponents wanted a moratorium, but "I think what happened today is not any supporting justification for that." Ohio Execution Delay Prompts Criticism Death Penalty Opponents in Ohio Call Delayed Execution Intolerable, Call for Moratorium He was put to death for beating and choking cellmate Jason Brewer, 27, in 2001 after they argued during a chess game. He had slammed Brewer's head onto the floor, stomped his throat and cut a piece from his orange prison suit to strangle him. Problems with injection executions have caused delays in other states, including one in Florida last December that prompted Gov. Jeb Bush to suspend executions as a commission examines its procedures. In a statement read by a lawyer after his death, Newton, 37, apologized to Brewer's family and his own. But the only thing Newton said in the death chamber was: "Yes, boy, I could sure go for some beef stew and a chicken bone. That's it." A decision was made not to intervene when the execution was delayed because Newton wanted to die and "our job ... (is) to represent our clients," Meyers said. (source: Associated Press) *************************** Toledo Attorney Angry Over Botched Executions Toledo attorney Alan Konop says Thursday's execution of Christopher Newton is an unfortunate repeat of what happened this time last year to his client, Joe Clark. Konop wants Governor Strickland to halt all executions until the Bureau of Prisons figures out how to stop this from happening again. (See attached story about Newton's execution.) Toledo native Joe Clark was convicted of the 1984 murder of David Manning at a gas station on Airport Highway. Last May, he was executed. But it took almost 90 minutes, because they couldn't find the right veins in his arms. "He actually got up and said, 'Stop it, you're not doing it right,' " Konop said. Family members told Konop what Clark went through on the gurney. But should anyone, especially the victim's family, be expected to feel sympathy for this convicted killer? A man who was also sentenced to life in prison for killing another clerk the night before? "I don't think there's any civilized society that feels that a person who's been sentenced to death should be tortured to death," Konop argues. The brother of murder victim David Manning told News 11 he firmly believes in the death penalty, but actually agrees with Konop. Mike Manning said: "I believe in the constitutionality of the death penalty. In other words, you should not have to suffer because of the state." Next month, Konop says he will file a civil lawsuit against the State of Ohio for "cruel and unusual punishment" in how Clark was put to death. "We hope that if the state sees that they can be liable for damages, that they will take a new and fresh look at how they carry out executions," Konop said. (source: WTOL) **************************** Execution in Ohio lasts nearly 2 hours----Inmate seems unfazed when lethal injection is prolonged by problems with his veins Christopher Newton was seemingly single-minded in his drive toward death. He said he left a clue during a break-in so he would be sent to prison. He insisted that prosecutors pursue the death penalty after he killed his cellmate, and he pursued no appeals. He finally hit a snag Thursday: the longest delay since the state resumed executions in 1999, a delay so long he got a bathroom break. The execution team stuck him at least 10 times with needles to get in place the shunts into which the deadly chemicals were injected. It gave death-penalty opponents fodder to argue that lethal injection is unconstitutionally cruel, but it didn't seem to faze Newton. He chatted and laughed with state prison workers in his holding cell as they struggled to find veins in his arm. When he eventually was moved from the holding cell and strapped to a table in the death chamber, he made this short statement: "Yes, boy, I could sure go for some beef stew and a chicken bone. That's it." Newton, 37, condemned for killing a cellmate after arguing over a chess game, died at 11:53 a.m., nearly 2 hours after the scheduled start of his execution. Executions typically last about 20 minutes. He weighed 265 at his physical Wednesday. The head of the public defender's death penalty division, Joe Wilhelm, said Newton told him it was hard for blood to be taken from his veins because of his weight. The public defender's office said the decision was made not to intervene when the execution was delayed. "You have to remember that Newton wanted to die. Our job isn't to oppose the death penalty, it's to represent our clients," said Greg Meyer, chief counsel for the Ohio public defender's office. In May 2006, the execution of another Ohio inmate, Joseph Lewis Clark, was delayed more than an hour because the team could not find a suitable vein; a prison official said at the time that Clark's history of drug use may have been a factor. That case has been cited as an example of problems with lethal injection. (source: Associated Press ************************* Newton bizarre to the very end Death row inmate Christopher Newton continued his bizarre behavior to the very end. Newton, 37, was executed Thursday at Southern Ohio Correctional Facility for the 2001 murder of Jason Brewer, his cellmate at Mansfield Correctional Institution. Newton was known for smiling and laughing at inappropriate times during court appearances. In a March interview with the News Journal, he attributed such behavior to nervousness. As he lay strapped to a bed, minutes from receiving a lethal injection of 3 drugs, Newton gave his final statement. "Boy, I could sure go for some beef stew and a chicken bone," he said, smiling. "That's it." But Newton seemed to repent in a written statement read by his attorney after his execution. Robert Lowe, a public defender, read the following statement during a news conference: "To all those I've hurt in the past, please forgive me. I hope this (execution) gives everyone closure. To the Brewer family, I'm sorry I caused you so much pain and suffering. If I could take it back, I would. To my family, I love you and I'm sorry." Delayed execution Newton's death was delayed more than 90 minutes - the longest since Ohio reinstated executions in 1999 - because medical personnel had difficulty inserting shunts in his arms. Newton, dressed in dark blue pants with a red stripe down each leg and a white, V-neck pullover shirt, weighed 265 pounds. "We are telling the (execution) team to take their time," said Andrea Dean, spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, in a note to the media. "His size is causing a problem." Newton's execution was scheduled for 10 a.m. EMTs began searching for his veins at 10:03 as 4 members of the media, prison officials and chosen witnesses observed. No one from the victim's family attended the execution, instead giving their seats to Richland County Prosecutor James Mayer Jr. and Assistant Prosecutors Bambi Couch-Page and Kirsten Pscholka-Gartner. Likewise, no members of Newton's family witnessed the execution. His witnesses were Lowe, the Rev. Dan Newman and childhood friend, Bill Kimberlin. Witnesses waited in a small, cramped room, initially watching on a closed-circuit TV as the execution team prepped Newton in an adjacent room. A black hearse waited outside the building. As EMTs tried to find his veins, Newton smiled and talked with them, often laughing. He grew solemn at one point before talking and laughing again. Personnel rubbed Newton's arms and felt for veins, even rolling up his right pant leg to look. Newton raised his right arm and examined it at one point. Newton was allowed to leave the table to go to the bathroom at 11:05. ODRC Director Terry Collins said officials never considered calling off the execution. "That (trip to bathroom) kind of gave them a break," he said. "We had not talked about did we need to stop and take a break. "They were getting veins, but when they attempted to flush the veins and start the flow, they (veins) were collapsing. They did an excellent job in a difficult situation." Lowe said he did not ask for a halt to the proceedings. "The prison was being very kind and keeping me informed of what was going on," he said. When Newton returned at 11:22, medical personnel finally had the IV hooked up. He was led into the execution chamber, a stark room with only a bed and a digital clock on a yellow-brick wall, at 11:33. A large window separated Newton from the witnesses. Prison officials hooked 3 straps around Newton's legs and one around his chest, then administered the lethal injection. At 11:37, Newton was still laughing, his belly jiggling. He became peaceful 2 minutes later and closed his eyes. Newton's stomach heaved and his neck twitched at 11:41. He made snoring sounds at 11:44. The 2 attendants who watched over Newton pulled a curtain over the window at 11:51. He was pronounced dead at 11:53, the 26th inmate executed since Ohio reinstated the death penalty. Newton was the 8th volunteer to die. Mayer and his assistants did not address the media. Only Lowe met with the press. Road to Lucasville Newton arrived at Southern Ohio Correctional at 9:40 a.m. Wednesday. "He seems to be in a comfort zone. He seems to be at peace with his fate," said Larry Greene, warden's assistant. "He says he doesn't want to spend the rest of his life incarcerated." "He had that for breakfast this morning," Dean said. Newton visited with his sister, three of his brothers, a cousin and a niece for 3 hours. They were allowed to have physical contact. Newton went to sleep at 12:09 and asked for a 5 o'clock wake-up call. "He wrote a lot last night and listened to the radio a little bit," Dean said. Of Newton's family, only his sister visited with him again Thursday morning as the sun rose over haze-covered hills that give southern Ohio an Appalachian feel. Dean described it as a "very emotional meeting." Newton also conferred with Lowe and his spiritual adviser before the execution team, 12 to 15 prison volunteers, prepared him for what was next. "He's resigned to this. They haven't had to do a lot of talking to keep him calm," Dean said. "He was ministering to them, trying to get them ready." Newton's family could not afford a funeral. He will be cremated, his ashes turned over to his spiritual adviser. Newton was born in Huron in Erie County. Since 1992, he spent all but a month-and-a-half in prison. He had previous convictions for burglary, having weapons under disability and receiving stolen property in Ashland County; attempted aggravated burglary in Sandusky County; and attempted escape in Cuyahoga County. He was briefly paroled in 1999. In November, Richland County Common Pleas Judge James Henson ruled Newton was competent to waive any further rights to appeal his death sentence. Newton's crime was savage. He stomped on Brewer's head, throat and chest after strangling him and laughed and yelled while paramedics tried to revive him. Newton drank Brewer's blood and spread it on his face as part of what he called a Satanic ritual. Newton said he sat down several times while killing Brewer, even stopping to eat a pear. In his March interview with the News Journal, Newton said he didn't think of the murder very often, that he "gave that up to God a long time ago." Newton said he believed God forgave him and would grant him entry to heaven. (source : Mansfield News Journal) ********************** Newton tells joke in final moments Chris Newton's final statement before he died at 11:53 a.m. today was: "Yes, um boy I could sure go for some beef stew and a chicken bone. That's it." The statement was an inside joke for the other death row inmates, according to the warden. Newton, formerly of Huron, was a convicted killer. He was scheduled to die at 10 a.m., but staff had a hard time finding a second vein for the lethal injection. Wire reports indicate his obesity may have played a role. The media who witnessed the death were visibly shaken. (source: Sandusky Register) ******************************** Court reverses death penalty decision Police may question a suspect who previously declined to talk without a lawyer if investigators learn through a third party that the suspect is willing, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday in a split decision. The full 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a decision by a three-judge panel that had thrown out the conviction of Ohio death row inmate Robert Van Hook, who was convicted of the 1985 murder of a man he met in a gay bar. Van Hook never denied strangling and repeatedly stabbing David Self in Selfs apartment in Cincinnati, but claimed temporary insanity brought on by Selfs sexual advances. He was convicted by a 3-judge panel in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court, and the conviction was upheld by a federal district court. The appeal focused on whether a 3rd party other than a lawyer in this case Van Hooks mother may act as a go-between for police and a suspect. Records showed that, after Van Hook was arrested, police read him his rights and stopped questioning him when he implied that he should have an attorney present. Van Hook then talked to his mother, who led police to believe that her son was willing to cooperate. Van Hook was read his rights again, the court noted, and then "gave a full and graphic confession." "The Constitution protects a suspect from official coercion it does not protect a suspect from himself or his mother," Judge David McKeague wrote in the majority opinion. The 8-7 ruling again showed the polarization of the Cincinnati-based court which hears appeals from Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky and Tennessee on the death penalty and prisoners' rights. Two judges wrote separate, dissenting opinions in addition to joining in the main dissent, in which Judge R. Guy Cole Jr. wrote that "the majority's endorsement of third-party initiations impermissibly heightens the risk of constitutional error, and that such an error has occurred in this case." In his separate dissent, Senior Judge Gilbert Merritt expressed his belief that only a suspect or his lawyer can reinitiate interrogation. "After the accused has requested counsel, the police should not be able to importune him through relatives, friends, fellow inmates, prison guards or the press to subject himself to further interrogation," Merritt wrote. The ruling did not address other issues that the full court sent back to the three-judge panel to review. Michelle Gatchell, a spokeswoman for Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann, said prosecutors were happy with the ruling. Keith Yeazel, Van Hook's lawyer, said he was reviewing the ruling and had not decided whether to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. ***************************** The politics of life and death----An inmate's fate often hinges on luck of the draw Paul Gregory House pinned his hopes for survival on the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati 5 years ago when he challenged his death sentence for rape and murder. He won. 2 years later, House's case returned to the 6th Circuit for what amounted to a new hearing on the same issues. The only change was the addition of 4 conservative judges to the court. He lost. Same evidence. Same arguments. Different outcome. House learned the hard way that a federal death-penalty appeal can be a game of chance. If the judges assigned to a case were appointed by Democratic presidents, odds are good they will overturn a death sentence because of new evidence or mistakes made during the trial. If the judges were appointed by Republicans, the chances are slim. That's especially true at the 6th Circuit, the powerful and deeply divided court that decides death penalty appeals from Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee. An Enquirer analysis of the court's death-penalty decisions since 2000 shows that 6th Circuit judges consistently voted along partisan lines, just as they did in House's case: Judges appointed by Republican presidents voted to deny inmate appeals 85 % of the time. Judges appointed by Democrats voted to grant at least some portion of those appeals 75 % of the time. Republican appointees dissented from majority opinions 25 times, always arguing against the inmate. Democratic appointees dissented 29 times, all but once arguing for the inmate. "That is very stark," said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, D.C., a nonprofit group that has been critical of capital punishment. "It makes blind justice look like part of the political system." The voting records are significant because 6th Circuit judges do most of their work as members of randomly selected 3-judge panels. 16 judges are eligible today to sit on those panels - 14 active judges and 2 semi-retired senior judges. 9 of those judges are Republican appointees; 7 are Democratic appointees. That means life-and-death decisions often hinge on the luck of the draw: A panel with a liberal majority gives the inmate a far greater chance of avoiding execution than one with a conservative majority. "It's a roll of the dice," said Nathaniel Jones, a retired 6th Circuit judge appointed by President Carter. "When I look at a lineup of a panel in this kind of case, you can almost go to the bank on what the result is going to be." While it's a given that liberal and conservative judges often view the death penalty differently, some lawyers say the split exposed by House's case is now so dramatic it raises fundamental questions about the fairness of the system. Death-penalty opponents say it's another example of the arbitrary application of capital punishment. Supporters say it shows how a handful of judges can toss out reasonable sentences and jury verdicts. "It would be a wonderful utopia if all judges ruled the same way based on the same set of facts," said Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters. "But they don't." DECISIONS 'LIKE A LOTTERY' The result, some say, is a system that rewards inmates who are lucky in their panel selection and punishes those who are not. The panel decisions are important because, unlike House, most inmates do not get a full-court review and even fewer make it to the Supreme Court. Usually, the panel gets the last word. That's what happened last year when two Ohio inmates sought to delay their executions so they could join an appeal challenging lethal injection as cruel and unusual punishment. Jerome Henderson won his case in a 2-1 vote, but Jeffrey Lundgren went before a different panel and lost 2-1. Lundgren was executed. "It looks very much like a lottery," said Arthur Hellman, a University of Pittsburgh law professor who has studied federal appeals courts. "Literally, if someone lives or dies depends on the panel they get." Few know that better than House, a Tennessee inmate who claims DNA evidence clears him of a 1985 rape and murder. House lost in a 2-1 vote when a panel considered his case, but he was granted a review by the full 6th Circuit in 2002. House won that vote 6-5 - the court had fewer members then - but lost 8-7 2 years later when the case returned for another hearing. The final vote pitted Republican appointees against Democratic appointees. The majority rejected House's claim of "actual innocence," even though DNA tests showed that semen found on the victim's clothing came from her husband, not House. "The case against House remains strong," Judge Alan Norris, a Reagan appointee, wrote for the majority. The dissenters were just as adamant. "The new evidence so completely turns the case around that ... House should be immediately released," Judge Gilbert Merritt, a Carter appointee, wrote in his dissent. The court's conflicting decisions and the DNA evidence in the case prompted the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene - a rarity in capital cases. The justices ruled in House's favor, and he now is awaiting a new trial. JUDGES DIFFER SHARPLY The Enquirer analysis found that the differences among the 21 judges who cast votes since 2000 are significant and, in some cases, extreme. Appointees of President George H. W. Bush posted the most lopsided track record, voting 50-4 against granting inmate appeals. President George W. Bush's appointees voted 34-5 against granting appeals. By contrast, President Carter's appointees voted 31-4 in favor of inmate appeals. Clinton and Reagan appointees were more moderate. Clinton's voted 75-32 in favor, while Reagan's voted 39-13 against. Several lawyers and court watchers say the stark differences are the product of a judicial nominating process that puts the focus on hot-button issues, such as the death penalty and abortion. They say judges who are not reliably liberal or conservative on those issues have a tough time securing a nomination. "The most important factor is the president who appoints the federal judges," Deters said. "That's why, when there is a Supreme Court nominee, there is blood in the streets of Washington." 10 of the 16 judges who currently hear the 6th Circuit's death penalty appeals vote the same way at least 80 % of the time. At one end of the spectrum are conservatives such as Alice Batchelder, Eugene Siler, Deborah Cook, Jeffrey Sutton, John Rogers and Danny Boggs. Together, they voted 92-9 against inmate appeals. On the other side are liberals such as Gilbert Merritt, Eric Clay, Karen Nelson Moore and Boyce Martin. Their combined votes totaled 65-9 in favor of inmate appeals. The only judges who did not vote one way or the other 60 % of the time or more are Ronald Lee Gilman and Martha Craig Daughtrey. The 2 Clinton appointees voted for inmate appeals about half the time. "Our circuit is so divided politically," said Jennifer Kinsley, a Cincinnati lawyer who has argued before the court in several death penalty cases. "People tend to stick to their side of the fence." Because the stakes are so high in capital cases, the sharp differences and close panel votes sometimes lead to tension on the court. Judges have traded verbal jabs in their published opinions and have, occasionally, accused colleagues of manipulating rules to give their side an advantage. Boggs, appointed by President Reagan, once famously complained that the court's liberals would delay an execution "based on a hot dog menu." Liberal judges have complained that conservatives sometimes act as "a cabal." "People have different opinions about what's important," said Martin, a Carter appointee who has spoken out against capital punishment. "One of the major issues that divide our court is the death penalty." NO ABSOLUTE RULES In many ways, the judges are no different than the rest of a society divided by the culture wars. "It is, at the end of the day, a political issue and a social issue," said Richard Chesley, an attorney who has argued before the court. "They can't separate their own pathos, their own political views. "While justice is supposed to be blind, it's not." Unlike the rest of society, however, judges must make their decisions within the framework of the law. They can't simply say, "I favor or oppose the death penalty, so I'm voting this way." Within that framework, there is plenty of room for subjectivity. Liberal judges tend to give more weight to problems such as poor work by defense lawyers, misconduct by prosecutors and errors by judges. They also are more likely to conclude those problems are prejudicial, or serious enough to invalidate a death sentence. Conservatives focus more on procedural issues, such as whether the appeal is properly filed. They also are more deferential to the original jury verdict and sentence, even when mistakes are made during the trial. "People think that the business of deciding constitutional cases is somehow governed by absolute rules, where you lay the Constitution down beside the case and you see the answer," said Merritt. "Nothing in life works that way," he said. "It's more like having a complicated medical problem and you go get several opinions." In a 2005 case, for example, judges Boggs and Cook rejected an appeal because the claims were either without merit or were "procedurally defaulted." Martin, who dissented, declared that those same claims were so serious they raised fundamental questions about the fairness of the death penalty. "Only one conclusion is possible," Martin wrote. "The death penalty in this country is arbitrary, biased, and so fundamentally flawed at its very core that it is beyond repair." 'THIS IS A FARCE' That kind of split decision fuels the debate over the role the appeals court should play in capital cases. The inmates' lawyers say the court is right to closely review capital convictions and, when necessary, to throw out sentences. "If we're going to take somebody's life away, they are entitled to the full due process the Constitution allows them," said Mark VanderLaan, a Cincinnati lawyer who has argued capital cases in the 6th Circuit. "These cases are deserving of additional scrutiny." Prosecutors, however, say it's unfair to the victims' families and to society for the 6th Circuit to overturn as many sentences as it does. About 40 % of all cases reviewed by The Enquirer - 35 out of 85 - ended with a decision at least partially favorable to the inmate. "I'm getting tired of having to explain to victims' loved ones the reasons behind some of these moronic decisions," Deters said. "They look to the judicial system to bring justice to them, and this is a farce." Usually, the inmates who win remain in prison for years or decades, but there are exceptions. Mark Piepmeier, an assistant prosecutor in Hamilton County, was stunned 2 years ago when he encountered Derrick Jamison walking down Central Parkway. He had helped send Jamison to death row almost 20 years earlier, but the 6th Circuit ruled he didn't get a fair trial. "He wasn't threatening. He just said, 'Hey, Mark, how you doing?' " said Piepmeier, who told Jamison to keep his distance. "I think he truly thought, 'Let's let bygones be bygones.' " Even when the inmates are executed, the appeals process can be difficult for victims' families. Sharon Tewksbury endured an ugly court fight before seeing John Byrd executed in 2002 for stabbing to death her husband, Monte, in 1983. A panel voted 2-1 against Byrd in 2000, but Judge Jones dissented and then voted with several other judges to delay the execution. The case led to public feuding among judges - inspiring Boggs' "hot dog menu" comments - and still riles those on both sides. "It was a circus," Tewksbury said. "They are sworn to uphold the laws and leave behind their personal agendas, and often that does not happen." NO VIABLE ALTERNATIVE Few 6th Circuit judges would discuss the court. Those who did say they think their colleagues are serious about giving both sides a fair shake. They just have different views on the law and, in particular, the death penalty. "Judges are a reflection of the culture," said Merritt, a Carter appointee. "I personally like every one of them, but they are different people." Conservatives and liberals agree on that point, but many worry about fairness when similar cases end differently because of the makeup of the panel. "When you have the courts ... making such divergent rulings on similar facts and circumstances, it really throws off-kilter the administration of justice," said Tom Fitton, president of the conservative group Judicial Watch. Judges and lawyers see no viable alternative to the random selection of panels, which they say at least gives each side a chance to get sympathetic judges. They say the panel system protects liberals and conservatives because it prevents a court majority from imposing its will in every case. The panels ensure both sides will have a voice. As House learned in his three trips to the 6th Circuit, no system can guarantee consistency in the court's decisions. That's up to the judges. "I don't think anything can be done about it," Kinsley said. "You have to hope for fairness in the end." ---- The appeal process The trial and conviction is just the beginning of a death-row inmate's journey through the criminal-justice system, which can take years and sometimes decades. Here's how the appeal process works: STATE APPEALS 1. State appeals court. Involves two separate appeals. One is a "direct appeal," which raises issues that arose during the trial. The other is the "post-conviction" appeal, which focuses on new evidence, DNA tests, biased jurors or other issues not raised during the trial. The direct appeal comes first in most states, but in Ohio the 2 appeals proceed at the same time. 2. State Supreme Court. Reviews state appeals court decisions for both the direct and the post-conviction appeal. 3. U.S. Supreme Court. Inmates may ask the court to consider any federal issues they raised in state appeals. The court rarely agrees to hear the appeals. FEDERAL APPEALS 1. U.S. District Court. This federal court hears inmates' habeas corpus claims, which argue that they are being held in prison illegally because of constitutional flaws in their sentences or convictions. These cases typically involve claims such as shoddy work by defense lawyers or prosecutorial misconduct. 2. U.S. Court of Appeals. The federal appeals court reviews the district court's decision on the habeas corpus claims. It can uphold or reverse the lower court's decision, making this court the most important stop for inmates. The appeals court usually gets the last word because the U.S. Supreme Court rarely overturns its decisions. 3. U.S. Supreme Court. The final stop for death-penalty appeals. The court can - but rarely does - reverse lower-court rulings in capital cases. Division in the court Judges on the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals often draw different conclusions from the same evidence and arguments. Some examples of the division on the court: Jeffrey Lundgren and Jerome Henderson: Lundgren, a cult leader convicted of killing five followers in northern Ohio in 1989, and Henderson, convicted of killing a Cincinnati woman in 1985, were both scheduled for execution last year. They sought to stay their executions so they could join another inmate in challenging lethal injection as cruel and unusual punishment. Both turned to the 6th Circuit, but only Henderson won. In Lundgren's case, a panel voted 2-1 to reject the stay, allowing Lundgren's execution. In Henderson's case, a panel voted 2-1 to postpone the execution. Judge Alan Norris, a Reagan appointee, joined Judge Eric Clay, a Clinton appointee, in voting for the stay. A lower-court judge lashed out at the seeming contradictions. "Such a lack of clarity is most troubling because when our system of law includes unexplained decision-making, it loses the legitimacy that must guide the state-sanctioned taking of any human life," wrote U.S. District Judge Gregory Frost. John Byrd: Byrd's case split the court along liberal and conservative lines. A panel of the court voted 2-1 to reject Byrd's claim that he wasn't the man who stabbed to death Monte Tewksbury during a Cincinnati robbery in 1983. Two conservative judges, Alice Batchelder and Richard Suhrheinrich, found Byrd's claims lacked merit and the court should not interfere with the execution. "Our task ... is not to question the wisdom or propriety of capital punishment," the judges said. "Our sole responsibility is to ensure that petitioner's conviction and death sentence comport with the requirements of our Constitution." But Judge Nathaniel Jones, a Carter appointee, said prosecutors broke the rules during Byrd's trial and his lawyers performed poorly. He said those problems justified throwing out Byrd's death sentence. "A grievous breakdown has occurred," Jones wrote in his dissent. Subsequent attempts to delay the execution led to dissension on the court. Byrd was executed in 2002. Eugene Gall Jr.: Judge Jones raised concerns in Gall's case similar to those he unsuccessfully argued in Byrd's case. But this time he had an ally on the panel in Judge Boyce Martin, also a Carter appointee. The panel voted 2-1 to throw out Gall's conviction in Boone County, Ky., for raping and murdering 12-year-old Lisa Jansen in 1978. The judges did not dispute his guilt, but they found that Gall was insane and that mistakes at his trial violated his constitutional rights. "Gall's trial, conviction and appeal contravened fundamental constitutional tenets," Jones wrote. Judge Ralph Guy Jr., a Reagan appointee, scolded his colleagues for essentially declaring Gall insane, a decision he said went beyond the 6th Circuit's authority. "The only fundamental miscarriage of justice," Guy wrote, "is the court's conclusion that despite the jury's verdict to the contrary, Gall must be found not guilty by reason of insanity." Gall was not tried again in Kentucky but now is serving 65 years in Ohio for a previous, unrelated rape and robbery. James Earl Slaughter: A jury convicted Slaughter of stabbing to death Esther Stewart during a robbery of her Louisville consignment store in 1983. He asked the 6th Circuit to throw out his death sentence on grounds his lawyer did such a poor job investigating the case he didn't know his client's real name was Jeffrey Leonard. He reviewed no records, talked to few family members and didn't realize his client was brain-damaged. A panel ruled 2-1 against him. Alice Batchelder and Danny Boggs, among the court's most conservative judges, agreed the lawyer's performance was "deficient" but found it did not affect the outcome of his trial. Judge R. Guy Cole Jr., a Clinton appointee, accused his colleagues of turning "a blind eye to the breadth and depth" of the evidence. Slaughter asked for a full-court review but was denied when the judges deadlocked 7-7. "We are uneasy about executing anyone sentenced to die by a jury who knows nearly nothing about that person. But we have allowed it," Cole wrote in the dissent. (source for both: Cincinnati Enquirer) **************** Ohio struggles to execute obese inmate An Ohio inmate was executed by lethal injection Thursday after a 2-hour delay because medical officials had trouble finding a suitable vein. Christopher Newton, sentenced to death for killing a fellow inmate, was grossly obese, the Springfield (Ohio) New-Sun said. Joe Wilhelm, the head of the Public Defender's death penalty division, said Newton weighed almost 300 pounds. The newspaper said Newton knew killing cellmate Jason Brewer, 27, was a capital crime and refused to cooperate with investigators unless they sought the death penalty. (source: UPI) ***************************** Search for Vein Delays Execution of Ohio Inmate by 90 Minutes An overweight inmate was executed by injection on Thursday after a delay of about 90 minutes while prison medical workers struggled to find suitable veins in his arms. The inmate, Christopher Newton, died at 11:53 a.m.; his execution was scheduled to start at 10. It was the longest delay since the state resumed executions in 1999. It took 90 minutes to insert the shunts where the needles are inserted. Mr. Newton, 37, who was sentenced to death in the 2001 beating and choking death of a cellmate, Jason Brewer, continued to talk and smile even when strapped to the execution table at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility. 53 minutes into the process, a prisons spokeswoman passed a note to reporters: "We have told the team to take their time. His size is creating a problem." Mr. Newton was 6 feet tall and weighed 265 pounds. Terry Collins, the state prisons director, said the delay was a result of more forgiving timetables he allowed his execution team after problems last year with the execution of Joseph Clark. Mr. Clark, a longtime intravenous drug user, died 90 minutes after his scheduled execution time because prison staff members had trouble finding a vein in his arm. Executions typically take about 20 minutes. A group of Ohio inmates is suing over the states injection method, saying it is unconstitutionally cruel. Problems with injections have caused delays in other states, including one in Florida that prompted Gov. Jeb Bush to suspend all executions in the state as a commission examines its lethal injection process. The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio called on the state to stop executions because of complications with Thursdays execution. A public defender, Robert Lowe, said he had concerns about the delay, but declined to elaborate. Mr. Lowe said several trips he made in and out of the viewing chamber were simply to confer with prison officials and were not related to any effort to stop the procedure. Mr. Newton refused to cooperate with officials investigating Mr. Brewers death unless they sought the death penalty against him, court documents said. In an interview with reporters last month, Mr. Newton said he had killed Mr. Brewer, 27, because he repeatedly gave up when they were playing chess. (source: Associated Press) MISSOURI: Bill offers protection to executioners----The measure would shield the identities of those who carry out capital sentences. It's unclear whether Missouri newspapers will be able to publish any more stories about Alan Doerhoff after Aug. 28. That's because lawmakers passed a bill that would prohibit disclosing the identity of anyone who is a current or former member of the team that carries out executions for the state. Doerhoff is the surgeon who supervised lethal injections for more than a decade before a federal judge last year ordered the state to start using an anesthesiologist. The judge put a halt to executions in Missouri after Doerhoff testified that he is dyslexic and sometimes confuses numbers and names of drugs. Doerhoff is also the doctor the St. Louis Post-Dispatch named in stories that said he had been sued 20 times for malpractice, was reprimanded by the state's board of healing arts and whose staff privileges were revoked at 2 hospitals. The Department of Corrections and some lawmakers didnt like what the Post-Dispatch did. "We want the best physicians, the most capable physicians, so that this is the most humane" means of execution possible, said Rep. Danie Moore, a Fulton Republican who sponsored the legislation. "Offering anonymity to the physician will allow the department to procure the finest and the best." Brian Hauswirth, a spokesman for the Department of Corrections, said the agency was concerned about retaliation against members of the execution team or their families. "We've executed 66 people since 1989, and some of them have been gang members," Hauswirth said. Department officials have said, though, that they are unaware of any threats against Doerhoff or other members of the execution team. House Bill 820, if signed into law, would allow anyone on the execution team whose identity was revealed to sue those who made the disclosure. It would take effect Aug. 28. Jean Maneke, an attorney for the Missouri Press Association, said the bill would trample on First Amendment rights. "I don't think you can pass a law that says the media cannot publish information as long as it's truthful information," Maneke said. Lawmakers could have simply declared that the names of those on the execution team were not public record without attaching civil penalties, she said. Critics of the bill say that judges, prosecutors and police face threats all the time but that their names are still public because they are government employees accountable to taxpayers. In its original House form, the bill would have made it a Class A misdemeanor to disclose an execution team members name, punishable by up to a year in jail and a fine up to $1,000. But the Senate took out the criminal penalties and established the right to sue. Some of the 37 other states with the death penalty also shield the identities of executioners. But if the Missouri measure becomes law, the state may be the only one to attach a specific penalty to revealing the names, said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center. The Missouri Catholic Conference, which has long opposed the death penalty, also is against the bill. "If we're going to have the death penalty, we think it's very important there be accountability in the process," said Larry Weber, the group's executive director. "There has been absolutely no accountability from the Department of Corrections. "Their response is to propose legislation cloaking the whole process in secrecy. It's ridiculous the legislature even considered this legislation this year." A federal judge put executions in Missouri on hold after death row inmate Michael Taylor filed a lawsuit challenging the lethal injection process as cruel and unusual punishment. Taylor was sentenced to death for the 1989 rape and murder of a teenage girl in Kansas City. The state has 48 inmates on death row. Gov. Matt Blunt has not decided whether he will sign the bill, spokeswoman Jessica Robinson said. "The governor supports the concept, but it's still in the bill review process," she said. The way the bill is worded, Maneke said, it appears that if the law took effect, news organizations could no longer report that Doerhoff worked on the execution team. Doerhoff would be covered as a "former member of an execution team" under the law, she said. Asked about this interpretation, Moore said: "I don't know. I'm not sure." Hauswirth also had no answer. (source: Kansas City Star) TENNESSEE: New execution date set for Holton A September execution date has been set for Daryl Keith Holton, the Shelbyville man accused of killing his 4 children in 1997. Holton is now scheduled to die Sept. 12, the Tennessee Supreme Court ruled Wednesday. The court initially set Holton's execution for Feb. 28 in a January ruling. Gov. Phil Bredesen delayed the execution Feb. 1, ordering a review of the state's execution methods and the development of new protocols and written procedures. After those procedures were sent to Bredesen, the state filed a motion May 4 for a new execution date. Holton's attorneys said May 10 he didn't oppose the rescheduling. Holton was to have been electrocuted in September 2006, asking for the electric chair rather than Tennessee's usual method of chemical injection. Death row inmates may choose between the 2 if their crime was committed before 1999. That hasn't changed under the new protocols. The Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay after Holton filed an appeal disagreeing with the state's position that he had given up all his appeals. Holton's lawyers and relatives had been attempting to have a court rule he was mentally incompetent to decide to stop appealing his sentence. He had been insisting on execution for several years before the abrupt change of mind, claiming he was severely depressed when committing the murders. His lawyers say he has been mentally ill for years and may have post-traumatic stress disorder from serving in Iraq during the Gulf War in 1991. Holton killed his 3 young sons and their half-sister execution-style with an assault rifle at a Shelbyville auto repair shop over Thanksgiving weekend 1997. Philip R. Workman, convicted in the 1981 shooting death of a Memphis police officer, became the 1st death row inmate executed under the revised procedures on May 9. (source: Shelbyville Times-Gazette) USA: Behind the Curtain - How Modern Day Executioners Botch Their Job "It's a strange thing to be present and watch someone who is perfectly healthy die," said Jim Willet, former warden of the Huntsville Unit, the prison where Texas' death row population goes to die. "I probably thought about it every time I did it, that you're walking with someone who's fixing to die in the next room," said Willet. Willet, now director of the Huntsville Prison Museum, was warden of the Unit for three years, from 1998-2001. As warden, it was his job to direct the executions. During his tenure, he directed 89. "The very 1st one I ever dealt with, they tried and tried and couldn't find a vein," said Willet. That was the execution of Joseph Cannon, April 23, 1998. It took two tries. After technicians inserted the needle and opened the curtain, revealing Cannon to the witnesses who watch from the next room, a vein in his arm collapsed and the needle popped out. The curtain was closed so technicians could find another vein and reinsert the needle. There were 2 or 3 executions where vein access was a real problem, according to Willet. Like the execution of Claude Jones on December 7, 2000. "We probably messed with that guy, the medical team, for 20, 25 minutes," said Willet. And the guys who do that, they're not doctors. They weren't during Willet's tenure at least. No one was. Not the people who tied the restraints, not people who inserted the IV, not the executioner. "The only place a doctor comes in he comes in and does all the things a doctor does to pronounce death," said Willet. Willet got to see something that few of us ever will. Today, all executions are shielded from public view and conducted only in front of a state mandated number of witnesses. So far this year, 15 people were executed in the United States. All but one was killed using the lethal injection. And the lethal injection is supposed to be painless. The lethal injection is supposed to be painless. That's why it was developed, and is now used in 37 of the 38 death penalty states. It borrows medical skills, equipment, and drugs, in order to kill. What witnesses generally see is an inmate lying sedately on a table, already strapped down, with IVs in place. It's quick, bloodless, sanitized. That's the point of the procedure. But, before the curtain that veils witnesses from the death chamber opens, technicians sometimes struggle for up to an hour to insert the IVs into an inmate's veins so that the lethal drugs can flow. The serenity of the lethal injection, that just going to sleep, is due to a paralytic drug that is administered as part of the lethal injection process. This drug that saves witnesses from having to view involuntary spasms as the inmate dies, and saves the public from having to hear about them, prevents the inmate from crying out if the painkiller wears off before their heart stops. Although we no longer conduct executions as a display for the public's amusement, the secrecy that has enveloped the implementation of the lethal injection conceals from public view the problems that the lethal injection was supposed to solve- the inhumanity carrying out the death penalty. "They butchered me back there." On June 8, 2000, Bennie Demps was executed by lethal injection by the state of Florida. Technicians struggled for 33 minutes to insert 2 IVs into Demp's veins. When the curtain opened, Demps was already strapped down, with needles inserted. During his final statement he said, "They butchered me back there. I was in a lot of pain. They cut me in the groin, they cut me in the leg This is not an execution, this is murder," according to the Miami Herald. Demps said the medical examiner would find a wound on his leg that technicians sutured back up. "I was bleeding profusely," Demps said. When Demps was killed, the lethal injection was new to Florida. Florida had switched from electrocution to the lethal injection only months before. "This being a fairly new procedure at the time, I did not have any expectations," said George Schafer, Demps' lawyer, who witnessed the execution. What was it like to watch Demps being executed? "Well, it was a horrible experience and I had nightmares about it," Schafer said, "and it was terrible because afterwards I had to tell his wife what had happened." Demps' wife, who chose not to witness the execution, was distraught by the news. "Oh, she was very upset. It was just awful," Schafer said. During his final statement, Demps asked his lawyer to investigate what happened during the execution, according to Schafer. Schafer honored his client's last wish. Schafer made a formal request to the state attorney, Rod Smith, for a full investigation into the execution. On behalf of the state of Florida, Smith declined. Schafer said he was, "not surprised, but very disturbed." There have been at least 35 botched executions in 13 states, according to information compiled by Michael Radelet, a professor at the University of Colorado who studies the death penalty, and Deborah Denno, a lawyer and professor at Fordham University who is an expert in death penalty law. Of those botched executions, 14 were in Texas, which does the most executions each year. Illinois, Missouri, Ohio, and Oklahoma each had 3 botched executions, Arkansas had 2, while Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Nevada, South Carolina, and Virginia each had 1 botched execution. "Everyone assumed that when the method of execution changed from electrocution to lethal injection that it would be more humane, and that assumption needs to be reexamined," Schafer said. That assumption is being reexamined in many death penalty states around the country. On June 12, 2006, the Supreme Court handed down a ruling in Hill v. McDonough that made it easier for inmates around the country to question the constitutionality of the lethal injection process in civil rights lawsuits. In 2006, inmates in Arkansas, California, Delaware, Florida, Maryland, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas were granted stays of execution as a result of challenges to the lethal injection process. Most cases argued that the drugs used in the lethal injection would result in an excessively painful execution, and technicians who implement the lethal injection are inadequately trained. Although many of those inmates were denied a full hearing on the lethal injection, and some have since been executed, full hearings on the lethal injection are being conducted in Maryland, Missouri, and Oklahoma. A full hearing on the lethal injection procedure was conducted in California, leading a judge to order the state to change its lethal injection procedure. Formal moratoriums on the death penalty are in place in Illinois and New Jersey. All executions are currently on hold in Florida, Maryland, South Dakota, and Tennessee, due to issues with the lethal injection procedure. Lethal injection protocols vary from state to state, but generally the condemned is strapped to a gurney. 2 needles are then inserted into usable veins. The needles are connected to long tubes that run through a hole into another room, where one or more executioners release the lethal drugs. After a signal from the warden, the curtain is raised and the inmate is exposed to the witnesses who watch from another room. After the inmate makes his final statement, the lethal drugs are injected. The 1st drug is a fast acting barbiturate that ideally renders the inmate unconscious. The 2nd drug paralyzes the inmate and stops the lungs. The third drug, the killing drug, stops the heart. A lot of the current controversy surrounding the lethal injection has come from doctors who have testified in court that if the fast acting barbiturate wears off before the inmate dies, then he will feel the pain of suffocation during the execution but be unable to cry out because of the paralytic drug. This paralytic drug is central to the controversy that currently surrounds the lethal injection. But why states are bothering to fight for the drug is a good question. The paralytic drug serves no medical purpose. It doesn't kill the inmate and it doesn't speed up the process. If the barbiturate wears off before the inmate dies, then he will feel an intense burning sensation in his veins as the paralytic drugs flows through his system. Veterinarians don't even use it for euthanasia unless involuntary movements on the part of the animal could harm the handler. "It's not used to sanitize the process, it's used when there's a danger," said Michael San Filippo, Media Relations Assistant for the American Veterinary Medical Association. The drug's only real purpose is to make the lethal injection easier to watch. Without the paralytic drug, the lethal injection wouldn't have the same serenity. Inmates wouldn't appear to just go to sleep; their bodies would spasm as they die. Apparently, death penalty states are willing to fight in court to maintain the serenity of the lethal injection. The most reliable information on how the lethal injection is carried out in the United States has come out of court cases over the past few years. Some states have been forced to reveal their lethal injection protocol. A lethal injection protocol is a written document that contains the steps that are followed leading up to and during the lethal injection, the qualifications of the team who inserts the IV, as well as drugs used, who prepares them, and in what amounts. Such information is vital. The humanity of the lethal injection depends on the qualifications of those who carry it out. It is difficult at best to determine what the qualifications of the people who administer and monitor IV lines. Many lethal injection protocols are partially or completely private. According to a report by Deborah Denno, a lawyer at Fordham University, of the 13 states with botched executions, 3 consider their protocol partially private: Indiana, Missouri, and Ohio. Three states with botched executions consider their entire protocols confidential: Nevada, South Carolina, and Virginia. The other 7 states consider their protocols public information: Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Oklahoma, and Texas. However, the various Corrections departments sometimes remain unwilling to reveal the qualifications of those who carry out the lethal injection because the identity of executioners is always confidential. Oklahoma, for example, has a public protocol. However, the public information officer would not reveal qualifications the lethal injection protocol mandates that the IV team have. "Number one, I don't know, and number 2, I'm not allowed to say," said Jerry Massie, Public Information Officer. Massie affirmed that there was a doctor on hand to pronounce death. Has the doctor ever participated in the executions, beyond pronouncing death? "No, not that I'm aware of," said Massie. Indiana has a partially private protocol. The Chief of Staff for the Indiana Department of Corrections, Randy Koester, said, "We don't talk about anything that involves who does what or when." What qualifications does the protocol require the IV team to possess? "I'm not going to discuss what the protocols require, that's confidential," he said. South Carolina has a completely private protocol. In an email, the South Carolina Department of Corrections replied, "SCDC does not comment on execution procedures." Virginia also chose not to comment. Slightly more information is available from Florida and Ohio. According to the lethal injection protocol for Florida, the executioners should be, "fully capable of performing the designated functions to carry out the execution." The execution team consists of people who have "the training and qualifications, and possess the necessary licensure or certification, required to perform the responsibilities or duties specified." In other words, Florida's protocol says that members of the execution team are qualified to do their job because they are able to do their job. In Ohio, according to a memo from Terry Colins, the director of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections, "the persons who insert the needles are trained medical professionals who are legally qualified to start intravenous lines in patients." However, the medical professionals are not doctors. "No physician participates in the insertion of the needles, the delivery of the medication, or in any way other than the pronouncement of death," Collins said, in the memo. According to the memo, medical professionals are responsible for starting the IV lines. However, we don't know what sort of medical professionals they are, or what training they have. Is there a Doctor in the Room? "Clearly this whole lethal injection procedure is borrowed from the medical profession," said Richard Dieter, Director of the Death Penalty Information Center, an anti-death penalty group. "Now you have prison guards and non medical personnel performing medical procedures," he said. To conduct the lethal injection without an unnecessary amount of pain, a doctor would needs to oversee the procedure. "They'd have to be willing to step in if necessary and intervene," said Dieter, "I don't think that doctors are willing to do that." Some doctors agree that the humanity of the lethal injection depends on doctor participation, and they're speaking out. It isn't possible for people who are not trained medical professionals to implement the lethal injection without risking excessive pain on the part of the inmate, according to Dr. Jonathan Groner, a professor of surgery at Ohio State University who has studied lethal injections. "No, I don't think that's possible," he said. "It is very difficult to train a non-medical person because of the steps that are involved," said Groner. Carrying out the lethal injection painlessly involves more than just injecting a few chemicals into a person's veins. "Those drugs at those doses are never given without fairly extensive monitoring," said Groner. The monitoring that is conducted in hospitals is not done during the lethal injection process. In most cases, the lethal drugs are injected remotely, from another room, where executioners cannot easily monitor the IV lines. When the lethal drugs are injected from another room, the IV setup consists of extended tubing that is assembled by hand prior to the execution, according to the testimony of Dr. Mark Heath, assistant professor of Clinical Anesthesiology at Columbia University. "Any of these connections may loosen and leak. In clinical practice, it is important to maintain visual surveillance of the full extent of IV tubing so that such leaks may be immediately detected.hindered opportunity for visual surveillance, interferes with detection of any leak that may occur and is not acceptable," said Dr. Heath, in testimony for an Arkansas lethal injection case. IV lines leaked throughout the 1998 execution of Tyrone X. Gilliam in Maryland. In an affidavit, Gilliam's lawyer, Jerome H. Nickerson, Jr., said, "I noted fluid continuously drip from this line onto the floor of the execution chamber. By the time Mr. Gilliam was pronounced dead a puddle of liquid had formed on the floor of (the) lethal injection chamber immediately below where the IV line was located. This puddle had a circumference of five to 7 inches across." According to Nickerson's affidavit, after the execution a media witness questioned a Department of Corrections official about the fluid seen dripping onto the floor. The official replied that dripping fluid was normal. Unfortunately for Gilliam, it's not. Vein access has been the most consistent problem in botched executions. Not everyone has good veins, particularly the death row population. Some are morbidly obese. Others have a history of drug abuse. If an inmate has diabetes, or just has small veins, inserting the IV is much more difficult. "It sort of always gets back to, you always need a trained medical professional sometimes," Dr. Groner said. "We use the imagery of healing to justify killing, and that's really what the lethal injection does. The problem is, you need doctors. That's where the lethal injection is running into trouble right now," said Groner. When It Don't Work On May 2, 2006, Joseph L. Clark was executed by the state of Ohio using the lethal injection, the sole method available in that state. After the curtain opened, with the IV already in place, Clark raised his head and body and said, "It don't work. It don't work," five times, according to an article in the Canton Repository by Paul Kostyu. The curtain was closed, and witnesses heard, "moaning, crying out and guttural noises," according to the Columbus Dispatch. The curtain did not reopen for another 30 minutes. It took the state an hour and a half to kill Joseph Clark. "When it proceeds smoothly, placement of the IV should, in my experience, take on the order of two minutes or less," said Dr. Heath, in a deposition for a California lethal injection challenge. Clark's execution did not proceed smoothly. "It took quite a while for it to be set up to begin with," said Kostyu, who witnessed the execution. Technicians struggled to find 2 veins to insert the IVs into Clark's arms. After 30 minutes they gave up, settling for one vein. "Then the veins in the arm had collapsed, so they had to start all over again," said Kostyu. That's when the curtain was closed again. Technicians struggled for another 30 minutes to find another vein. "It was horribly mangled, they tortured the man," said Jeffery Gamso, Legal Director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Ohio. As a result of the execution, the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections reviewed its lethal injection protocol. According to a memo from the Director of Corrections to the Governor of Ohio, the 1st change Corrections recommended was relieving the staff of any pressure to do their job quickly. The 2nd recommendation is that, "the condemned prisoner should be thoroughly evaluated on the day of arrival at the institution, which should include a hands-on evaluation to the extent possible, and a review of the medical file as has occurred previously," according to the memo. So, in order to prevent another execution that takes an hour to insert the IVs, Ohio will relieve their staff of any pressure to insert the IVs in a timely manner. They will also review the inmate's medical file prior to the execution, like they've always done, and do a hands-on evaluation of the inmate before the execution, if they can. Big changes for Ohio. And it was lawyers who suggested those changes, not doctors. The Director of Corrections got their lawyers together, along with the Assistant Director of Corrections, and a warden, to review their lethal injection protocol. "They didn't actually bring in a doctor, they basically had a bunch of lawyers get together," said Gamso. The changes amount to, "we're going to be more careful," Gamso said. The review also didn't take into account an autopsy report of Clark's body, because Ohio didn't bother to do one. Clark's family had to order an autopsy. "They did not do an autopsy at the time. Their report did not take into account the autopsy," said Alan Konop, attorney for Clark's family. Although Clark's execution was one of the longest lethal injections, it is not unique. "In fact, there are lots of botched executions and there always have been," said Gamso, "We're gonna keep botching them, and it's gonna keep happening" The response from death penalty states has been mostly disappointing. The Department of Corrections in any given death penalty state has only revealed information about the lethal injection while kicking and screaming. The experience of a Florida lawyer, D. Todd Doss, epitomizes this unwillingness to disclose how the lethal injection is conducted. Doss filed a lethal injection challenge in Florida on behalf of a client. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to obtain a copy of Florida's lethal injection protocol until after his client was put to death. About the lethal injection process, Doss, said, "Every time it's been exposed to the light, it's been blackening. With these guys here in Florida, they consistently refuse to turn things over. We have very little. Hopefully that will change." The same can be said for any of the lethal injection states. Every time the lethal injection process has been exposed to the light, it's been blackening. We know very little. Hopefully that will change. But, wait. Why should that change? We're talking about murderers- men and women who have committed despicable acts that are deplored by society. Who cares what pain they suffer? They didn't care about the pain they caused their victims, why should we care about the pain they feel before their own death? It's a good question. Murderers don't care about the pain they cause their victims. Why should be care if we cause a murderer pain? Here's a final question from Todd Doss: "Do we want to use the ethical stance of a murderer as a society?" It's a good question. (source: Jessica Ablamsky, New Colege News) LOUISIANA: Death penalty sought for dad----He's accused in fatal shooting of wife, son St. Tammany Parish District Attorney Walter Reed said Thursday that his office will seek the death penalty for a Pearl River man charged with murdering his estranged wife and the couple's 5-year-old son on April 18. Reed announced his decision just minutes after a state grand jury indicted James C. Magee, 29, on two counts of 1st-degree murder in the shotgun slaying of Adrienne Magee, 28, and the couple's son, Ashton Magee. The panel also indicted Magee on two counts of attempted first-degree murder of the couple's 2 daughters, Ashleigh Magee, 8, who was shot in the shoulder, and Aleisha Magee, 7. Reed said that once the grand jury returned the first-degree murder indictments, it was up to him to decide whether his office would seek the death penalty for Magee. "I can say with great honesty, it was a very easy decision for me," Reed said, noting the "most brutal" manner in which the slayings occurred -- especially in the case of 5-year-old Ashton, who was shot in back as he tried to flee. "To see a father kill a 5-year-old little child in that manner, I've never seen that before," Reed said. He said that the slayings were so gruesome, some sheriff's deputies who worked the incident are receiving counseling. Magee is accused of opening fire on his family after ramming Adrienne Magee's car off the road in Tall Timbers subdivision north of Mandeville, where she and their 3 children were staying. The shooting occurred the day after Magee was served with a restraining order obtained by his estranged wife. "I think he was trying to kill all four of his family members," Reed said. The 10 people on the grand jury who reviewed the case Thursday morning deliberated only a few minutes before returning the indictments before state Judge William "Rusty" Knight in Covington. The surviving girls, who are in the care of family members, did not have to appear before the panel. But Reed said they probably will be called to testify when the case goes to trial. First Assistant District Attorney Houston "Hammy" Gascon said the case could go to trial in 14 to 18 months. Magee, who authorities say has confessed to the killings, remains in the parish jail in Covington without bail and is isolated from other prisoners, Reed said. Kevin McNary, one of Magee's court-appointed defense attorneys, hinted Thursday that they will seek a change of venue. "The public officials and the media seem intent on making sure we can't get a fair trial in St. Tammany Parish," McNary said, declining to comment further. The last 2 death sentences handed down by St. Tammany juries were given to Jesse Montejo of Slidell, who was convicted in 2005 for the murder and robbery of Louis Ferrari; and to Jesse Hoffman of New Orleans, who was convicted in 1998 for kidnapping, raping and fatally shooting Mary "Molly" Elliott. Both Montejo and Hoffman remain on death row awaiting the outcome of appeals. If Magee is convicted and sentenced to death by lethal injection, it probably would be 10 to 14 years before the execution is carried out, Reed said. (source: Times-Picayune)
