Aug. 22 FLORIDA: Florida Supreme Court lets defense inspect death chamber Lawyers for a death row inmate are allowed a behind-the-scenes look at a mock execution, the Florida Supreme Court ordered on Monday. The court rejected Attorney General Bill McCollum's attempt to thwart a ruling by an Ocala judge granting the walk-through and inspection of the execution chamber by lawyers for convicted killer Ian Daco Lightbourne. In a brief order, the Supreme Court ruled that Lightbourne's lawyers should be allowed to accompany corrections officials as they perform a practice execution, which occurs at least every other week, according to Department of Corrections records. Corrections officials testified earlier this month that the mock executions are held weekly when a death warrant has been signed, as is currently the case. Gov. Charlie Crist ordered a Nov. 15 execution for convicted pedophile and murderer Mark Schwab, the 1st since predecessor Jeb Bush halted executions in the aftermath of the botched execution of Angel Diaz. Diaz required a 2nd dose of Florida's lethal drug cocktail and took more than 30 minutes to die. Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Nunnelley argued that Ocala Judge Carven Angel overstepped his authority by ordering the executive branch to allow the walk-through and that the exercise would expose the identities of the execution team, who by law are kept secret. Angel temporarily stopped the unscheduled execution of Lightbourne because, he ruled, the state's execution procedures, revised since Diaz's prolonged death, are still inadequate. Lightbourne's attorneys are challenging whether Florida's lethal injection is unconstitutional. The Lightbourne trial resumes next week, raising questions about when and if the granted walkthrough will actually take place, said Neal Dupree, one of Lightbourne's attorneys. The mock executions take place on Wednesdays, but the convict's lawyers were not invited to participate in today's scheduled exercise, and would be unable to do so next week because of the trial. The Supreme Court also ruled that Lightbourne's attorneys can only attend a walk-through if one is scheduled by Sept. 10. (source: Palm Beach Post) ALABAMA----impending execution Attorneys ask U.S. Supreme Court to block Alabama execution On the eve of Luther Jerome Williams' scheduled execution, his attorneys sought an order Wednesday from the U.S. Supreme Court to block it and give him time to pursue a constitutional challenge of Alabama's use of lethal injection. The high court appeal follows a 2-1 ruling Tuesday by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals not to delay the Birmingham man's execution for a 1988 murder on an interstate in Tuscaloosa County. State's attorneys contend Williams has exhausted his appeals and the execution should proceed without delay. It's unclear when the Supreme Court will decide whether to grant a stay of execution. In a response filed Wednesday afternoon, Assistant Attorney General Clay Crenshaw asked the high court to deny a stay, citing prior court rulings that favored the state in this and similar "imminent execution" cases. Williams, 47, is scheduled to die at 6 p.m. Thursday at Holman prison in Atmore. He was sentenced to death for the robbery and shooting death of John Robert Kirk on Jan. 23, 1988. Kirk of Gordo was led into the woods and shot in the head and robbed when he stopped his truck along Interstate 59 while driving home from work in Helena. In the Supreme Court appeal, Williams' attorneys said the inmate filed suit to challenge the constitutionality of Alabama's lethal injection protocols 5 months ago. State's attorneys claim he waited too late to raise the issue. Williams contends the execution procedures lack the "medically necessary safeguards to ensure that he will remain fully anaesthetized throughout the execution." As a result of that, he claims in his Supreme Court action that he will suffer "excruciating pain" during the injection, which would violate his constitutional protection against cruel and unusual punishment. State's attorneys defend the execution procedure, pointing out that two emergency medical technicians are present to prepare the inmate for the injection. The state's attorneys say the procedure does not create "a significant and unnecessary risk" that an inmate will suffer pain. Crenshaw said Williams never filed any evidence to support his claims on lethal injection. U.S. District Judge Mark Fuller in Montgomery earlier dismissed Williams' claim and the Atlanta-based 11th Circuit agreed with the dismissal. The 11th Circuit's majority decision said Williams didn't sue until five years after Alabama began using lethal injection. "Both the State and the victim's family have a strong interest in the timely enforcement of Williams' death sentence," Judge Joel Dubina wrote in the majority decision. In dissent, Judge Rosemary Barkett said Williams filed his suit 16 days after the attorney general sought an execution date and that should be considered filing promptly. She said Williams' claim about the state's death penalty procedures should be heard in court. "A civilized and just society would surely want to assure itself that it does not administer executions in a manner that is needlessly painful and unconstitutionally torturous, especially when the solution to provide sufficient anesthetic to safeguard against painful death would appear so simple and easy to accommodate," she wrote. In the U.S. Supreme Court appeal, Williams' attorneys said the 11th Circuit "appears to have erected an absolute bar against any method-of-execution claim that is brought `less than a year' before execution, regardless of whether an execution date has even been set at the time suit is commenced." *********************************** Alabama inmate due to die Thursday loses federal appeal A death row inmate trying to halt his scheduled execution Thursday lost a critical decision in a federal appeals court Tuesday. In a 2-1 ruling, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court decision that said Luther Jerome Williams waited too late to file a lawsuit challenging Alabama's lethal injection procedures. The 11th Circuit said Williams' real goal is to delay his execution for "many months, if not years." Williams, 47, of Birmingham, is scheduled to die at 6 p.m. Thursday at Holman Prison in Atmore. He was sentenced to death for the robbery and shooting dealt of John Robert Kirk on Jan. 23, 1988, in Tuscaloosa County. Kirk was killed when he stopped his truck along Interstate 59 while driving home from work. After Attorney General Troy King asked the state Supreme Court to set an execution date for Williams, he filed a suit in April contending Alabama's lethal injection procedures don't adequately sedate inmates and cause them to suffer pain that is unconstitutionally cruel. Upholding U.S. District Judge Mark Fuller's decision to dismiss Williams' suit as tardy, the 11th Circuit's majority decision said Williams didn't sue until 5 years after Alabama began using lethal injection. "Both the State and the victim's family have a strong interest in the timely enforcement of Williams' death sentence," Judge Joel Dubina wrote in the majority decision. In dissent, Judge Rosemary Barkett said Williams filed his suit 16 days after the attorney general sought an execution date and that should be considered filing promptly. She said Williams' claim about Alabama's death penalty procedures should be heard in court. "A civilized and just society would surely want to assure itself that it does not administer executions in a manner that is needlessly painful and unconstitutionally torturous, especially when the solution - to provide sufficient anesthetic to safeguard against painful death - would appear so simple and easy to accommodate," she wrote. An attorney for Williams wrote Gov. Bob Riley on Monday, asking him to delay Williams' execution until after a federal judge holds a trial in October on 2 other inmates' claims that Alabama's lethal injection procedures constitute cruel and unusual punishment. Riley's communications director, Jeff Emerson, said the governor and his legal staff were reviewing the letter Tuesday, but no decision had been announced. Riley turned down a similar request from death row inmate Darrell Grayson before he was executed July 26 at Holman Prison in Atmore. (source for both: Associated Press) ************************ Execution set in veteran's killing ---- Williams to die Thursday after court rejects lethal injection appeal Luther Jerome Williams, who has spent 17 years on Alabama's death row for the 1988 execution-style killing of a World War II veteran, will be executed on Thursday. Williams, of Birmingham, was convicted of the Jan. 23, 1988, killing of John Kirk of Pickens County. Kirk had a problem with his truck and was stopped at the side of Interstate 20/59 in eastern Tuscaloosa County when Williams and 2 other men robbed him. Williams forced Kirk to kneel in the nearby woods and shot him in the back of the head, according to court documents. Kirk, who worked for Plantation Pipe Co. in Helena, was a veteran of the World War II landing at Omaha Beach, according to a report in The Tuscaloosa News. Williams, 47, is scheduled to die by lethal injection at Holman prison near Atmore at 6 p.m. Thursday. The 2 men who were with Williams pleaded guilty to lesser charges. Trosky Eric Gregory, now 43, is incarcerated at Staton Correctional Facility in Elmore. Albert Carmichael Jr., now 45, was paroled in 2004. The U.S. Supreme Court in March declined to stop Williams' execution. He had one 11th hour court appeal still pending, claiming that lethal injection is cruel and unusual punishment, but that was rejected Tuesday by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta. The court in its ruling upheld a lower court decision that said Williams waited too late to file a lawsuit challenging Alabama's lethal injection procedures. The 11th Circuit said Williams' real goal is to delay his execution for "many months, if not years." Williams raised that claim in a suit filed April 10 and dismissed by a federal judge on July 30. Several other Alabama death row inmates have appealed on the same grounds, none successfully. Williams also unsuccessfully appealed to state courts, arguing that his trial lawyer didn't thoroughly review information about the time Williams spent in a mental health facility. That appeal also failed. An attorney for Williams wrote Gov. Bob Riley on Monday, asking him to delay Williams' execution until after a federal judge holds a trial in October on 2 other inmates' claims that Alabama's lethal injection procedures constitute cruel and unusual punishment. Riley's communications director, Jeff Emerson, said the governor and his legal staff were reviewing the letter Tuesday, but no decision had been announced. Riley turned down a similar request from death row inmate Darrell Grayson before he was executed July 26 at Holman Prison in Atmore. (source: The Birmingham News) ******************************** State Supreme Court keeps Thompson off Tipton case It appears that Morgan County Circuit Judge Glenn Thompson will not preside over a new trial for Daniel Wade Moore in the Karen Tipton murder case. That's the latest in the 8-year-old capital murder case, which has been in and out of state appellate courts for almost 5 years. It is the 2nd time the Alabama Supreme Court has declined to reverse a lower court. In May, the state Court of Criminal Appeals granted Assistant Attorney General Don Valeska's request to remove Thompson from the case. The ruling stated Valeska had shown that it would be an appearance of impropriety for Thompson to remain in the case. Moore's attorney Sherman Powell Jr. asked the Supreme Court to order the lower court to set aside its ruling and allow Thompson to remain in the case. The Supreme Court denied Powell's petition in July, but later in the month scheduled it for re-hearing. On Tuesday, the high court released another ruling denying Powell's petition. Like the 1st ruling, Tuesday's simply stated the petition was denied. The court did not give a reason. All 5 justices concurred. Assistant Attorney General Will Dill, who helped prosecute Moore in 2002, said the state is ready for trial. "We're looking forward to the trial and getting justice for Karen Tipton and her family," Dill said. Powell is ready, too. "We're anxious to move forward and try to get everything lined up for a new trial," he said. The appellate court ruling that the Supreme Court upheld stated, "After considering the long and tortured history in the case as well as the clear animosity between the judge and the prosecutor, we believe that it would be difficult, if not impossible, for Judge Thompson to divorce himself from the previous proceedings in the case." The ruling was on Valeska's appeal of Thompson's denial of a prosecution petition filed in Morgan County Circuit Court asking him to step down. Valeska stated in his petition that the state could not get a fair trial because Thompson had shown bias and made negative comments about state evidence. Thompson said in an answer to Valeskas petition that he had not made such comments. After a 2-week trial in November 2002, a jury convicted Moore of capital murder and recommended life without parole for his punishment. Thompson sentenced him to death, but later set aside the conviction and sentence to grant Moore a new trial. Then, in 2005, Thompson granted a defense motion to dismiss the charges and free Moore. Valeska filed a petition with the appellate court and after about four days of freedom Moore went back to jail. Double jeopardy Thompson said he freed Moore because a second trial would put him in double jeopardy and he could not get a fair trial. The judge stated that Valeska withheld evidence, including a 245-page FBI report, and accused the prosecutor of misconduct. After the court reversed Thompson, prosecution and defense petitions kept bombarding the appellate court. Morgan County presiding Judge Steve Haddock said weeks ago that he will try the case if the ruling stands to remove Thompson. The case has not been set for trial. Powell said the judge will have to hold hearings on numerous motions pending in the case. The case drew national attention, with "48 Hours Investigates" airing a segment on it on CBS. Powell said someone with the program called his office Tuesday and said they will attend hearings in the case. Police developed Moore as a suspect after learning he told his uncle he was in Tiptons home when a friend killed her March 12, 1999. He recanted the statement and said he made it up because he feared going to jail again. He had been in jail for theft. Moore, 33, remains in the county jail. (source: The Decatur Daily) PENNSYLVANIA: Allentown killer's execution not imminent----Stay of execution remains in effect for Raymond Solano despite recently signed death warrant. The death warrant Gov. Ed Rendell signed against murderer Raymond "Boom Boom" Solano, a former Allentown gang member, carries no bearing for the time being, the state department of corrections said. Solano, convicted of 1st-degree murder for the June 3, 2001 shooting death of a rival gang member, was granted a stay of execution by a U.S. district judge last month that supersedes the warrant Rendell signed on Friday, DOC spokeswoman Susan McNaughton said. "Sometimes we do see this happen," she said before referring questions about why the warrant was signed to the governor's office. Rendell spokesman Chuck Ardo said the governor had no choice but to issue the death warrant for Solano because the U.S. Supreme Court in May denied an appeal of the death sentence. "In capitol a case, the governor is required by law to issue the execution warrant within 90 days" after the appeal is denied, Ardo said. But the stay of execution was granted in July after a judge heard a separate appeal to the federal court claiming that Lehigh County violated Solano's state and federal rights by not instructing jurors on what constitutes a 3rd-degree murder, court records say. 3rd-degree murder carries a much more lenient penalty than 1st-degree murder. U.S. District Judge Legrome D. Davis heard the appeal and ordered the execution be stayed until the matter is resolved. The order did not give a specific timeframe. Solano was scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Oct. 11. "We realize the court granted the stay of execution," Ardo said. "As long as it's still in effect (on Oct. 11), we'll be honoring it." Solano, 22 at the time of the shooting, put more than 50 people at grave risk when he fired nearly 20 gunshots during the daytime at the crowded Union Street Park in Allentown, prosecutors said. 5 of the shots struck 20-year-old Armando Rodriguez, killing him. No one else was hit. Court records say Solano belonged to the Hanover Acres Production Gang, named after the public housing development in Allentown; Rodriguez was in the rival Cumberland Street Gang, named after the South Allentown street. Solano is incarcerated at the State Correctional Institution at Greene. Efforts to reach Solano's attorney, Angela S. Elleman, were unsuccessful. She did not immediately return a message left at her Philadelphia office on Tuesday evening. (source: The Express Times) < OKLAHOMA: Brutal killer is executed at OSP Exactly 53 years to the day from the day Debbie Stevens was born, the man convicted of killing her died himself. But Frank Duane Welch wasn't executed for killing Stevens on May 6, 1987. He didn't get the death penalty. Instead, the 46-year-old inmate was executed for killing a different woman, Talley Cooper, almost three months before. When Tracy Cooper left his Norman home to go to work on the morning of Feb. 25, 1987, he left his wife, Talley, and their 8-month-old son behind. Talley was planning to go house hunting, looking for a new, larger home that she and her husband could own, rather than rent. After all, they not only had young Travis to think of, but there was also the new son she'd been carrying in her womb for the past three months. The 28-year-old woman had made arrangements to drop Travis off at a friend's while she and another friend went to look at houses. She never made it to the babysitter's. At about 1 p.m., Tracy returned home to find the front door locked and the family dogs in the garage. Since the Coopers seldom locked their doors, Tracy had to climb a fence and go through the garage to get in the house, where he heard Travis crying in a bedroom. And where he found his wife dead on the living room floor, strangled by a leather strap wrapped tightly around her neck, according to court documents. She'd been sexually violated. About 2 1/2 months later, Stacie Stromberg, then an 11-year-old girl, was waiting for her mother to pick her up from school. When her mother didnt show up, Stacie caught a ride to her Tuttle home with another woman and found the bound and raped body of her 32-year-old mother, Debbie Stevens. "I will never be able to get the image of finding my mother dead out of my mind," Stromberg wrote in a letter to the Oklahoma Pardon & Parole Board; one of many letters asking the board to deny clemency for Welch. The board did on Aug. 1. The 2 murders remained unsolved for almost 10 years, despite the dogged determination of police. But in 1996, Welchs DNA was matched to semen found on Stevens' body and, several months later, to semen recovered at the scene of the Cooper murder. Welch didn't spend the intervening years as a free man, however. In 1988 he was convicted of forging checks, embezzlement and other crimes and sentenced to the Department of Corrections. 3 months after he was released in 1994, he attacked a woman named Paige Hora in the parking lot of a Tulsa Wal-Mart. She survived, with a cut on her neck and another on her hand, to testify against Welch, who was sentenced to life in prison for the attack, as well as additional 45-year sentences for kidnapping and possession of a stolen vehicle. And he was in prison at Oklahoma State Penitentiary when DNA evidence linked him to the Cooper and Stevens murders. He never left alive. Welch was pronounced dead at 6:21 p.m. Tuesday, about 8 minutes after a lethal mixture of drugs began flowing into his system. In the minutes leading up to his death, Welch told members of his family that he loved them and told his victims' family members that what had happened to the dead women was his fault and his alone. "There's nothing that can change the horrible thing I done, he said while strapped to a gurney in the state's execution chamber. "There's nothing I can say that can change that. I'm truly, truly sorry for all the hurt and pain I caused y'all. "I take full responsibility for what I done. There's no excuse for it. There never was." He closed his eyes and never reopened them. He didn't see his sisters sobbing or when one of his brothers began complaining of chest pains and difficulty breathing before sagging in his chair. Medical personnel helped the man with the "Fred" belt buckle to the floor, gave him a nitroglycerine tablet and kept a careful watch on him as a lethal mixture of drugs flowed into his brother's veins a few feet away. He refused further medical treatment and left under his own power, according to prison officials. The incident seemed to make a mockery of what should have been a solemn occasion, according to victims' family members. Hora and 20 others witnessed the execution. "My family and I will move on," said Jeb Anderson, Coopers brother. "We will focus on keeping alive the good memories of Talley and burying the bad. Her legacy lives on through the many lives she touched and her son Travis, who has such a big heart and sharp mind." "None of this will ever bring my mom back," Travis Cooper said, adding that he's learned about his mother through family members. "I want to remember the good things about my mother." The families of Hora and the 2 murder victims have come together over the years, something that they said has helped them all to heal. Welch was the 3rd inmate executed in Oklahoma this year. (source: McAlester News-Capital)
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----FLA., ALA., PENN., OKLA.
Rick Halperin Wed, 22 Aug 2007 17:32:58 -0500 (Central Daylight Time)
