May 12 USA: Your DNA could finger criminal kin----Report: Expanding DNA searches to relatives could solve crimes Searching DNA records has become a common practice in criminal investigations. Researchers now suggest this could be taken a step further by looking for close DNA matches that might lead police to a criminal through a relative. They note that 46 % of jail inmates have at least one relative who also has been in prison. But the idea also raises questions of privacy and other ethical and legal concerns. Researchers led by Frederick R. Bieber of Harvard Medical School estimate that in a case in which there is a 10 % chance of finding a criminal through a DNA search, expanding the search to suspects' near relatives could raise the chances to 14 %. That could represent an increase of thousands of identifications in the United States, where there have been 30,000 identifications through DNA searches, the researchers said in a paper in Thursday's online edition of the journal Science. They cite the case of a murder in Britain in which the search of that country's DNA database found a 14-year-old boy was a near match to DNA collected as evidence. That led police to the boy's uncle, who confessed to the crime. In a similar North Carolina case, a search of the state's offender DNA database led to a near but not perfect match. When police followed up, the brother of the individual located through DNA confessed, the researchers reported. Concerns over privacy But while there is potential for catching more criminals, the researchers stressed the need to address ethical issues. The use of familial searching effectively would place a new category of people under lifetime surveillance, they noted. "Kinship analysis, as with any investigative technique, may lead to the investigation of the innocent," co-author David Lazer of Harvard University said in a statement. "But it would also provide decisive leads in cases that would otherwise go unsolved." Moses Schanfield, a professor of forensic science at George Washington University, said familial searching is a potentially useful tool, but added that he would expect only a small increase in the number of "hits," referring to finding people in a database. It "will only be fully effective if every one in jail or charged with a felony has a DNA sample on file, so that your ascertainment is nearly complete. Until then it will be useful in a limited number of cases," said Schanfield, who was not a co-author of the paper. In addition, he added, it raises privacy issues for relatives that are not involved in crime, but would be identified. DNA is a 2-edge sword, Bieber said in a telephone interview. In addition to finding more criminals, it also has exonerated more than 200 people since 1989, he said. The question is, how far into the family tree should law enforcement be going, he said, adding that the question goes beyond science and into social and public policy. "We are often in a balancing act between wanting safety but also not wanting an overly intrusive surveillance," Bieber said. He also noted that conviction rates vary by race and social class and familial DNA testing would be likely to increase those disparities by putting the families of people already in the criminal database under study. Many agencies may already use this method whether they know it or not, he added, since in the case of any near match of DNA, it is only logical to consider a close relative. "Some would consider this a normal investigative technique and consider it unconscionable not to use it to find a violent offender," he added. The paper was co-written by Bieber, Lazer and Charles H. Brenner of the University of California, Berkeley. (source: Associated Press) ********************** Alanis Morissette to play death row survivor Singer Alanis Morissette is to take to the London stage in a new theatre production. The award-winning Canadian rocker is set to star as Sunny Jacobs in a production of 'The Exonerated' - about six people sent to death row for crimes they didn't commit. She said: 'I feel very aligned with my character and uplifted by her courage and faith. 'Her ability to remain in a place of love is a guiding force for me.' Morissette - who famously shared a lesbian kiss with Sarah Jessica Parker in 'Sex and the City' - has previously performed in 'The Vagina Monologues' and played God in the Hollywood film 'Dogma'. The 31-year-old will share the stage with 'Pirates of the Caribbean' actor Mackenzie Crook. She will appear at Hammersmith's Riverside Studios from May 23-28. Morissette is not the first overseas star to tread the boards in the UK capital. Christian Slater, Kim Cattrall and David Schwimmer have all appeared in theatre productions in the last 12 months. (source: BANG Media Internationa) OREGON: Justices rule against man on Oregon's Death Row The Oregon Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the aggravated murder conviction and death sentence of a man who shot to death a Gold Beach acquaintance in 2001. Gregory Allen Bowen, 52, was convicted by a Curry County jury in 2003 of murdering Donald Christiansen. The jury unanimously voted to give him the death penalty. Bowen, a violent ex-con with convictions for manslaughter and accessory to murder after the fact, raised more than 2 dozen issues on appeal. He said the judge should not have made him wear a stun belt during the trial and should not have allowed photographs of a woman he viciously beat before killing Christiansen because it prejudiced the jury against him. He also argued that the judge should not have restricted his forensic expert's testimony and allowed the jury to hear too much about his criminal past. Writing for the seven-member court, Chief Justice Paul J. De Muniz addressed a handful of Bowen's claims, rejecting all but a few technical ones that do not alter his residency on Oregon's death row. Bowen is one of 31 men on death row in Oregon. Since voters reinstated capital punishment in 1984, the state has executed two men, Douglas Franklin Wright in 1996 and Harry Charles Moore in 1997. Both had abandoned their appeals. Although the Supreme Court upheld Bowen's death sentence, he has several avenues of appeal and is probably years away from execution even if they all fail. (source; The Oregonian) TENNESSEE: Death sentence for Alley in limbo----Court to review judge's reprieve Next week's execution of a Memphis-area man convicted of raping and killing a young Marine 21 years ago is on hold so that he can pursue his claim that the state's lethal injection protocol is unconstitutional. But attorneys for the state have asked a federal appeals court to step in and permit the execution of Sedley Alley, 50, to go ahead early Wednesday as planned. Meanwhile, Gov. Phil Bredesen has scheduled a Monday clemency hearing to consider whether Alley should get a temporary stay until a federal appeals court can decide whether DNA testing in Alley's behalf should be permitted on evidence from the crime scene. This back-and-forth legal jockeying is typical in the days before a scheduled execution. The hearing, before the Tennessee Board of Probation and Parole, will be limited to the matter of DNA testing. The hearing before 7 board members will be at 10 a.m. at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville's Cockrill Bend. At the meeting's conclusion, the board will make a nonbinding recommendation to the governor, board spokesman Jack Elder said. The right to DNA testing is the subject of one of Alley's three appeals of his death sentence. The state argues it does not have to turn over evidence for testing. Thursday's stay of execution came six days before Alley was scheduled to die by lethal injection at the Nashville prison. The execution was stayed by U.S. District Judge Aleta Trauger in Nashville, who also issued a preliminary injunction to stop the state from using its lethal injection protocol. Alley's execution would be the second in Tennessee since 1960. Robert Glen Coe was put to death in 2000 for the rape and murder of an 8-year-old girl. "It's been a roller-coaster ride these last two years," said April McIntyre, 30, Alley's daughter who lives in Louisville, Ky. "I'm happy to hear he got a stay. My hopes are up. I hope it stays that way," McIntyre said. The victim's parents, who spokesmen said are not granting interviews, have in the past criticized the long delays between death sentences and execution. "Suzanne would have given a million dollars if she could have had 20 minutes of appeal," said her father, John Collins, in a film called "The Other Side of Death Row." The short film was assembled by the state Department of Correction and You Have the Power, a victims rights group, and includes interviews with relatives of victims of death row inmates. "She would have settled for 20 minutes, and we're giving her brutal killer 20 years at government expense of keeping him warm in the winter, cool in the summer, getting his three meals a day. That's justice? Where is the focus? Shouldn't it be more on the victim and less on the brutal murderer?" John Collins said. Alley was convicted in 1987 of 1st-degree murder in the abduction, rape and killing of Suzanne Collins, 19, a Marine lance corporal stationed in Millington, near Memphis. State attorneys, in their motion to vacate the stay, described Alley's arguments as "transparently manipulative delaying tactics." Alley has known since 2000 that his execution would be carried out by lethal injection, "Yet (he) waited for two and a half years thereafter, until April 11, 2006, just 36 days prior to his rescheduled execution date, to file his action challenging the lethal injection protocol," said the state's motion filed with the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The state also said the district court "abused its discretion" by allowing a procedural question - which may not affect the end result - to hold up the execution. Trauger granted the stay to allow time for the U.S. Supreme Court to rule on a Florida case that would open the door for Alley to make his lethal-injection claim in her court. That decision is expected before June 30. Alley's attorneys say the three-drug protocol could result in a painful, torturous death. They say the first drug in the state's process, an anesthetic, might not sufficiently render the inmate unconscious; the 2nd drug is banned in Tennessee to euthanize pets; and the 3rd drug might not accomplish its purpose of stopping the heart. The Department of Correction does not plan to change its protocol, spokeswoman Dorinda Carter said. Alley's attorneys expect to file their reply to the 6th Circuit today. Appeals on the matter could reach as high as the U.S. Supreme Court, said Kelley Henry, an assistant federal public defender representing Alley. (source: The Tennessean) OHIO: Double murderer avoids death penalty A jury recommended life in prison for the man convicted of carrying out a brutal double murder inside a deli. Sean Rembert could have gotten the death penalty for the murders of Rebecca Cordoves and store clerk Jorge Santiago. They were shot at Tony's Deli on Scranton road, just 2 weeks before Christmas 2004. 5 other suspects were involved with the shooting, but prosecutors labeled Rembert as the gunman. The group got away with 1600 dollars in that robbery. (source: WKYC TV News) ********************** Botched execution leads to Ohio review A condemned inmate asked prison officials to find another way to execute him as they struggled to administer a lethal injection after an intravenous line failed, prison records show. "Can you just give me something by mouth to end this?" convicted killer Joseph Clark asked during the 90-minute delay, according to accounts written by members of the execution team and obtained by The Associated Press. The May 2 execution was plagued with problems from the beginning, when team members struggled for several minutes to find a vein. After inserting a shunt in Clark's arm, the vein collapsed, leading Clark to push himself up and say, "It don't work." The team then attached a shunt to Clark's other arm but apparently tried to administer the lethal drugs through the first shunt by mistake, the reports said. A team member noticed the error when Clark continued to move his left foot, said prisons spokeswoman Andrea Dean. Clark, 57, was executed after officials switched the drugs to the proper line. The execution happened amid a growing debate about lethal injection, with many death row inmates claiming their deaths could constitute cruel and unusual punishment, either because of the drugs or because the procedure is not handled by specially trained medical personnel. The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction is reviewing the execution but does not believe its procedures were flawed. "The vein simply collapsed - that wasn't a flaw in the process," Dean said. Attorney Alan Konop, who represents Clark's family, said something is "drastically wrong" with the prison's procedures. "We hope that this leads to an honest evaluation and discussion of these problems," he said. The reports of the execution team do not include the prison employees' names. The team appeared to anticipate problems from the start, with one member describing that Clark's veins "were not going to be easy to find." Clark was condemned for killing David Manning to get money for drugs. He also was sentenced to life in prison for killing a store clerk the day before Manning's death as part of a series of robberies. ON THE NET -- Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction: http://www.drc.state.oh.us/ (source: Associated Press) ********************* Lethal injection, recent Ohio execution discussed on 'Editors' The controversy about lethal injection - including whether trained medical personnel, such as doctors, should be involved and if the process is a humane way to kill a condemned inmate - is the topic on The Editors this week. "My contention has always been that lethal injection is a medical charade, meaning it's designed to simulate a medical procedure but it falls far short," Dr. Jonathan Groner, an associate professor of surgery at Ohio State University, said during a taping of the television program. Dr. Groner said Joseph Lewis Clark was "clearly being tortured to death" when it took Ohio nearly 90 minutes to execute him May 2 for the fatal shooting of David Manning during a robbery of a gas station in 1984. Toledo attorney Richard Kerger, who has represented death row inmates and witnessed a client's electric chair execution in Alabama, said the Clark case indicates "we have clear and undisputed evidence [execution] is cruel and unusual." Clark, 57, was the 21st man to be executed in Ohio and the first from Lucas County after Ohio resumed use of the death penalty in 1999. He was declared dead 86 minutes after the official start of his execution, a process that typically takes about 10 minutes. Prison personnel worked for 25 minutes to find a usable vein; Clark's veins were scarred after years of intravenous drug use. After the process began, Clark five times said, "It don't work." The execution team, a few of whom have some medical technician training, closed a curtain between Clark and the witnesses. When it reopened, Clark appeared to have fallen asleep. He then was killed by injection, which involves three drugs - the first to sedate, the second to stop breathing, and the third to stop the heart. According to state prison records obtained by the Associated Press, Clark asked prison staff to find another way to kill him. "Can you just give me something by mouth to end this?" Clark asked members of the execution team as they struggled to find a way to insert the intravenous line. After finally attaching a shunt to Clark's right arm, the execution team apparently tried to administer the lethal drugs through the original IV line by mistake, according to written accounts of the execution. A member of the execution team said he realized a problem "upon noticing the wrong reaction by inmate Clark again," the member's statement said. "I notice I had picked up the wrong line. Once I switched to proper IV line execution was completed successfully." Dr. Groner and Mr. Kerger also discuss other forms of execution, such as the guillotine and the firing squad. The Editors will be broadcast at 9 tonight on WGTE-TV, Channel 30, and at 12:30 p.m. Sunday on WBGU, Channel 27. (source: Toledo Blade)
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----USA, ORE., TENN., OHIO
Rick Halperin Fri, 12 May 2006 17:37:43 -0500 (Central Daylight Time)
