[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----W. VA., N.C.

[Rick Halperin]

May 29


WEST VIRGINIA----new federal death sentence

Jury recommends death penalty for Mingo County pair


A federal jury has sentenced 2 Mingo County residents found guilty of the
2005 murder of a federal drug informant to death.

George M. "Porgy" Lecco, 57, of Red Jacket, and Valerie Suzette Friend,
44, of North Matewan now face execution by lethal injection after the jury
voted unanimously to impose the death penalty for their roles in the
murder of Carla Gail Collins.

Prosecutors said Lecco asked Friend to kill Collins, who was providing
information to a federal drug task force, to protect a cocaine ring run
out of his Red Jacket pizzeria. Investigators found Collins' body in a
shallow grave, not far from the burned-out remains of an abandoned trailer
where she was shot and beat to death on April 16, 2005.

Friend and Lecco were found guilty of all charges related to Collins'
murder on May 11. Although West Virginia is one of 12 states that does not
have capital punishment, federal prosecutors indicted Friend and Lecco
with federal murder charges which can carry the death penalty.

The jury deliberated for about 3 days. The verdict was read about noon
today.

(source: The Charleston Gazette)

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

Jury recommends death penalty in Mingo murder case


A federal jury recommended the death penalty Tuesday for 2 Mingo County
residents convicted of murdering a drug informant.

Jurors received the case last week, but took a break over the Memorial Day
holiday. After returning to the federal courthouse in Charleston on Monday
morning, jurors issued their verdicts against George Lecco and Valerie
Friend shortly after noon.

Prosecutors allege Friend shot and beat the 33-year-old Carla Collins to
death on orders from Lecco.

Lecco was accused of targeting the single mother to protect a cocaine ring
he ran out of a drive-thru pizza parlor.

(source: Associated Press)






NORTH CAROLINA:

N.C.'s death penalty lingers in legal limbo----Legislators, doctors await
court's decision


Poll | Should N.C. reinstate death penalty?
http://forums.charlotte.com/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=kr-cltissues&tid=2844&vote=2&submit=Vote

As North Carolina edges toward a full year with no executions, top state
leaders aren't in a hurry to make changes that would reinstate the death
penalty.

5 executions have been put on hold since a state judge in Wake County
heard their cases earlier this year, as part of a national controversy
over the role of doctors in executions.

Now, Democrats controlling the N.C. legislature say they are waiting for
the court's decision before making any moves. Republican-backed
legislation, which would allow doctors to participate without fear of
discipline from the N.C. Medical Board, hadn't had a hearing in either the
House or Senate by the time a key deadline for moving forward this year
passed last week.

"We're waiting to hear what the court says," said Senate Majority Leader
Tony Rand, D-Fayetteville. "We're not sure that the law we have is not
right."

Republicans are questioning whether the inaction is part of a hidden
agenda.

"The only conclusion that someone could draw is that the leadership wants
a moratorium on the death penalty but doesn't want to vote on it," said
Senate Minority Leader Phil Berger, an Eden Republican.

Gov. Mike Easley, a 2-term Democrat, is backing the Democratic
leadership's position.

The state judge issued a de facto moratorium in January after the medical
board declared that doctors couldn't participate in executions without
violating medical ethics.

The most recent execution was on Aug. 18, when Samuel Flippen was executed
for a murder in Forsyth County.

National debate

Similar debates about the role of doctors in executions have taken place
across the country, in states such as Georgia, Maryland and Missouri.Not
all states have required a doctor to participate in executions, and some
have banned doctors from doing so.

The American Medical Association opposes doctors' participation. It makes
a few exceptions, such as relieving suffering as an inmate awaits
execution and certifying death after someone else has declared the inmate
dead.

The medical board, which regulates doctors, declared in January that
participation is "a departure from the ethics of the medical profession"
and that "any physician who engages in any verbal or physical activity ...
may be subject to disciplinary action."

Richard Dieter, executive director of the Washington-based Death Penalty
Information Center, said doctors are now more vocal on the subject because
of an increased focus on the mechanics of lethal injection.

"If it were the electric chair, I don't know that doctors would be much
involved in this debate. Clearly, this is a medical procedure," Dieter
said. "The drugs were used in the operating room prior to them being used
in executions."

The medical board's action created a potential conflict with the execution
protocol of the N.C. Department of Corrections, which reads in part: "The
doctor shall monitor the essential body functions of the condemned inmate
and shall notify the warden immediately upon his or her determination that
the inmate shows signs of undue pain or suffering."

The Department of Corrections has filed suit against the medical board,
arguing that the board is keeping prison officials from carrying out
lawful punishments.

The lawsuit argues that monitoring an execution is not a medical procedure
and asks a judge to bar the medical board from disciplining doctors.

Inmates have used the dispute to seek stays in their executions, and Judge
Donald Stephens of Wake Superior Court began halting executions in
January. 5 are on hold, including those of Archie Lee Billings, for a
murder in Caldwell County, and of James Adolph Campbell, for a murder in
Rowan County.

There is no timetable for when the legal matters will be resolved, and
more could be held up because the appeals process is moving forward for
the rest of North Carolina's death row, said Keith Acree, spokesman for
the Department of Corrections.

Political question

The de facto moratorium could create a political dilemma for Democrats,
who control both chambers of the N.C. General Assembly.

They could line up behind Republican legislation that would strip the
medical board and similar agencies of their power to discipline doctors,
nurses and pharmacists who participate in executions.

That's the resolution the Department of Corrections seeks in its lawsuit,
but a vote in the legislature could anger the most liberal of the
Democrats' base.

Legislative leaders could wait for the courts to rule. That risks angering
moderates and conservatives, who are more likely to support the death
penalty.

In a statewide poll last month by the nonpartisan Elon University Poll, 58
% of respondents said they support the death penalty for people found
guilty of 1st-degree murder. Only 32 % overall said they oppose it, but
Democrats were split almost evenly and Republicans supported the death
penalty by more than 4-to-1.

Support was weaker when respondents were asked the most appropriate
punishment. Just under 50 % volunteered the death penalty as an answer
while 41 percent said life without parole.

Sen. Martin Nesbitt, D-Asheville, chairs a committee where the
Republican-backed legislation is sitting. He said he hesitates to
challenge the authority of the medical board when there's little apparent
cost to waiting.

"Nobody's going anywhere," he said. "Everybody's locked up."

Death Row in N.C.

1984----Year when N.C. restarted executions

43----Executions since then

5----Executions on hold

166----Men and women now on death row

4----Death-row inmates from Mecklenburg

[source: N.C. Department of Corrections]

(source: Charlotte Observer)