May 29 TEXAS: Bill would ban inmates from selling murderabilia Harriet Semander found out on a Febuary morning in 1982 that her 20-year-old daughter, Elena, was not only dead, but had been strangled, hog-tied and thrown into a Dumpster. She was the fifth of 13 women to meet an early death at the hands of Coral Eugene Watts. In late 2004, after 22 years of battling old Texas laws that could have led to Watts' release, the Semander family celebrated upon learning he would spend his life in prison. They could now begin the healing process. But, in 2006, Harriet Semander Googled Watts' name to find out if he was part of a new trend - murderabilia or the industry of selling online the items of convicted murderers. She discovered a letter written by Watts up for auction on an internet site. "It opens up a wound," she said. "Just when I think I have erased Coral Watts' face from my mind and I can think of my daughter without seeing his face too, here we go again." At the Harris County courthouse this morning, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, will announce new legislation that aims to cripple the murderabilia industry and protect victims' rights. The federal bill is part of a longtime campaign by Andy Kahan, director of the Mayor's Crime Victims Office to curtail the sale of such murderabilia. While Kahan was successful in 2001 of convincing eBay of stopping the sale of murderabilia on its site, other online dealers started appearing. This bill would target those Web sites. "The filing and subsequent passing of this historical legislation should ultimately eradicate this insidious, despicable industry that has preyed on innocent victims for far too long," Kahan said. The legislation, if made a federal law, would prohibit anyone in state or federal prison to mail or deliver any property, object, or article with intent that it be sold. "What will eventually happen, if you remove the profit - the incentive for criminals - the industry will begin to die out," Kahan said. The practice of selling murderabilia has been around for ages, "it's no one knew about it," Kahan said. The items for sale have included everything from foot scrapings to artwork. Although Kahan some convinced states to enact laws against murderabilia, such legislation was limited because of First Amendment constraints. A month ago, Kahan met with Cornyn to ask for his support in pushing a federal law. The legislation being introduced today must still go through a list of hearings to educate Congress, and then be voted on by the Senate and House of Representatives. However, Cornyn is confident it will not meet any obstacles. "This is the kind of thing that, when people hear this, it will shock their consciences," he said. As part of his daily work, Kahan tracks those Web sites that sell and auction murderabilia. The top price he's seen paid for an items is $10,000. And the most listed convicted murderer is Charles Manson. (source: Houston Chronicle) NEW JERSEY: A Barbaric Relic It is amazing what legislators will resort to when they want to avoid taking a stand on a controversial matter, even when they know it is the right thing to do. Exhibit A this month is the maneuvering the state Senate's top Democratic leaders engaged in to dodge a roll call vote on a bill to end New Jerseys death penalty. The Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this month cleared the measure for consideration by the full Senate, perhaps before the summer recess. But some Democratic leaders were alarmed that a vote to eliminate capital punishment might be construed as being soft on crime, so they surprised almost everyone by assigning the measure to the Senates budget committee. And the budget committee, as one senator said, is where bills go to die." The momentum to repeal capital punishment stems from a 13-member legislative committees courageous recommendation last winter that New Jersey become the 1st state to abolish the death penalty since states began re-enacting it in the mid-1970s. The panel, which proposed replacing execution with life imprisonment without parole, included 2 prosecutors, a police chief, members of the clergy, and a man whose daughter was murdered in 2000. Only one member, a former state senator who wrote the states death penalty law, dissented. As the committee said at the time, capital punishment is inconsistent with evolving standards of decency." It is also a barbaric relic of an earlier day and, it should be noted, a poor deterrent to crime, and it deserves no role in a civilized society. By retaining a death penalty, a state places itself in the company of nations such as North Korea, Iran and China that are notorious for their inhumane treatment. With the use of DNA in recent years, it has become increasingly clear that capital punishment poses too great a risk of irreversible error. In its report, the legislative committee said that ending the death penalty, which has not been enforced in New Jersey since 1963, would actually save money since the state would no longer have to go through expensive and drawn out litigation and appeals. It was that suggestion of a budgetary impact that gave Democratic leaders the excuse they were looking for to pass off and sidetrack the bill. In the interest of simple forthrightness and a little courage we urge New Jersey's lawmakers to reconsider this dodge and allow the bill to be voted on by the full Senate. (source: Opinion, New York Times) VIRGINIA: Jury Selection Begins In Fairfax Death Penalty Trial Jury selection began Tuesday in Fairfax in the death penalty trial of a man charged with the 1988 murder of 2 George Washington University students. 41-year-old Alfredo Prieto had been on death row in California's San Quentin prison when DNA evidence linked him to the murders of GW students Rachael Raver and Warren Fulton. The 2 students were allegedly abducted from an alley outside a D.C. bar and taken to Reston, where Raver was raped and both were murdered. The trial is expected to last up to 7 weeks. If convicted, Prieto's lawyers will argue that he is mentally retarded and therefore ineligible to be executed. If Prieto receives a death sentence, it is far more likely for an execution to be carried out in Virginia than it would have been in California. DNA evidence also links Prieto to the 1988 rape and murder of a woman in Arlington County. (source: ABC News) CALIFORNIA: Justices uphold Night Stalker convictions, death sentence The Supreme Court refused to review the convictions and death sentence Tuesday for serial killer Richard Ramirez, the so-called Night Stalker who killed 13 people in California in the 1980s. The justices declined without comment to act on Ramirez's appeal. His killing spree terrorized the Los Angeles area in 1984 and 1985. Satanic symbols were left at murder scenes and some victims were forced by the killer to "swear to Satan." Ramirez, convicted in 1989, is not likely to be executed any time soon. He still has another round of federal appeals to pursue and the state's death penalty has been on hold for the past 15 months on order of a federal judge. The state recently proposed completing a new execution chamber and requiring more oversight of prison officials in an effort to persuade the judge to allow executions to resume. U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel said the state's lethal injection procedures were cruel and unusual punishment, and asked whether the 3-drug formula used was the best option. More than 650 people are awaiting execution in California, home to the nation's largest death row. The case is Ramirez v. California, 06-9529. (source: Associated Press) ***************************** Let the prisoners decide The California Department of Corrections has agreed to spend $19 million over this year and next to improve conditions in our state's prisons. Unfortunately, these improvements will only affect those prisoners suspected of having suicidal tendencies. That's right, instead of giving those hard-earned tax dollars to prison guards, a thankless job, or setting it aside to fund any one of a hundred different projects in the corrections system, our beloved state is throwing it away on criminals suffering from depression. I am certainly no advocate for suicide; I place an exceptionally high value on human life. I am against the death penalty, war and any situation where people are put in a position to be killed. That being said, I cannot see the logic in preventing prisoner suicide. There are over 172,000 inmates currently residing in California correctional facilities, nearly double the intended capacity. Yet every year, the state, and indeed the country, spends millions upon millions of dollars on suicide counselors and psychotherapists in an effort to dissuade prisoners from losing faith. According to a recent AP article, the majority of suicides occur when prisoners are placed in segregation cells, usually to prevent or put a halt to the violence that takes place between prisoners sharing the same cell. And it is here that the $19 million is being spent. New light fixtures and vent covers are being installed to cut down on hangings. Prisoners suspected of being suicidal are placed in quilted, smock-like uniforms that do not tear, making it more difficult to hang or cut themselves. All of this, of course, adds to the already inflated corrections budget, over $5 billion as of 2004. But the solution seems so simple: let them do as they please. If a convicted criminal suddenly feels that life just isn't worth living anymore, why not let him or her shuffle off this mortal coil? >From a moral standpoint, the idea of doing nothing to aid depressive prisoners may seem a bit unethical. But the prison world is not, and should not be treated like the rest of society. Most of those incarcerated deserve their punishment, most notably the restriction of rights otherwise guaranteed to free citizens. When someone on the outside is suffering from depression or is at risk of being suicidal, it is society's job to respond. But if that person happens to find themselves in a questionable mental state behind bars, guess what? Too bad. The one thing every person should be free to do, regardless of their current living arrangements, is choose what to do to themselves. Some prisoners choose to spend their time exercising, improving their bodies. Prisoner suicide should be looked at no differently. If the Department of Corrections really wants to make drastic changes to lower suicide rates, leave them in the cells with their bunkmates. If they feel the violence is too intense, move them to the segregation cells and risk the prisoners taking their own lives. This is the kind of situation where you simply can't have your cake and eat it too. It is seems utterly hypocritical that an institution that executes the worst offenders devotes so much towards preventing prisoners from carrying out that very task. (source: Johnathan Kroncke, The Daily Titan) ARIZONA: Execution is slaughter of innocents Regarding the Sunday Viewpoints column on May 20, "Remembering victims key to death penalty": Steve Twist claims that, through "general deterrence," the death penalty is an effective punishment for preventing others from murdering. But if capital punishment were a deterrent, executions would be open to the public, and the procedures used by the Arizona Department of Corrections would not be shrouded in secrecy. Mr. Twist also argues that by ignoring the ostensible deterrent value of executions, we are promoting "the slaughter of more innocents." Yet 124 individuals have been exonerated through DNA evidence. Since this evidence is available in only about 10 % of cases, it is likely that we are executing innocent people. In reality, by opposing the death penalty, we are helping prevent the slaughter of innocents. (source: Dennis Seavers, Chandler----The writer is president of Coalition of Arizonans to Abolish the Death Penalty; Opinion, The Arizona Republic)
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, N.J., VA., CALIF., ARIZ.
Rick Halperin Tue, 29 May 2007 15:25:16 -0500 (Central Daylight Time)
