Jan. 30 TEXAS----new execution date Derrick Johnson has received an execution date for April 30; it should be considered serious. (sources: Texas Department of Criminal Justice & Rick Halperin) MISSISSIPPI: Maben man faces death penalty in murders In Starkville, prosecutors say they will seek the death penalty in the case against a Maben man charged with killing his wife and another woman. Leon Moses McBride is charged with 2 counts of capital murder, one count of aggravated assault and one count of burglary. McBride pleaded not guilty to the charges this week. Circuit Judge Jim Kitchens ordered a mental evaluation for McBride. McBride is charged in the June 15, 2008, slayings of his wife, Erica Denise McBride, and Stephanie Nicole Bedford. Erica McBride was found in a wooded area near a mobile home about 15 miles west of Starkville. Bedford was found in a bedroom of the trailer. Police say a man was wounded during the shooting. Officers arrested McBride at his Maben home. (source: Jackson Clarion-Ledger) NEW HAMPSHIRE: Death penalty debate heats up----New bill would allow firing squads A new bill in the N.H. House, which expands the states death penalty and includes firing squad as a method of execution, won't pass but will help provide balance to the states death penalty debate, its sponsor says. Under the bill, introduced by Rep. Delmar D.J. Burridge, D-Keene, anyone convicted of murder with a gun during a felony such as a robbery or sexual assault would be eligible for the death penalty, and face death by firing squad instead of lethal injection. The bill is before the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee, which must recommend it before it can go to a vote on the House floor. A vote on the recommendation probably wont happen until sometime next month. The bill has arrived in the aftermath of the Michael Addison trial, New Hampshires first death penalty conviction since 1939. The 28-year-old was convicted and sentenced for the October 2006 shooting of Manchester police officer Michael C. Briggs. New Hampshires death penalty law applies only to those convicted of murdering judges and law enforcement officials, murder for hire, murder connected to certain drug offenses and murder during a rape. Burridge believes the threat of being executed by a firing squad would act as a deterrent for would-be criminals. "Maybe they just might pause, maybe they just might wait a minute," he said. "And it's one of those situations where the punishment matches the crime." But Burridge also said he doesn't expect the bill to pass. The point of introducing it is to provide balance in the state's death penalty discussion, he said, especially since three other bills either suspending the death penalty or abolishing it altogether have also recently been introduced in the N.H. House. One of those bills may become popular, Burridge said, "and I want folks to say, 'hold a minute, there's another side.'" At a hearing last week before the House committee, Burridge said the N.H. Trial Lawyer's Association, the Council of Churches and the Diocese of Manchester all spoke against the bill. "I'm glad they came to testify," Burridge said. "Killing is wrong, its horrible, its terrible and I don't disagree with them." "But people who commit these crimes don't share these values. I think the one thing they do have is fear." Knowing that the ultimate result of certain murders could be death by firing squad, Burridge said, would deter murderers from acting in the first place. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, a nonprofit information and research organization based in Washington D.C., inmates who die by firing squad are bound to a chair with leather straps a black hood placed over their head, a target on their heart, and sandbags stacked behind the chair to absorb the inmate's blood. In an enclosure 20 feet away, five peace officers stand with .30-caliber rifles loaded with single rounds. One of the shooters is given a blank round to prevent secondary trauma when an officer feels personally responsible for the execution. Only three states have firing squads as potential methods of execution. Oklahoma allows use of a firing squad if lethal injection and electrocution are ever ruled unconstitutional. In Idaho, firing squads are used when lethal injection is found "impractical." In Utah the last state to actually use a firing squad, in 1996 it can be used only if lethal injection is found unconstitutional. Inmates who chose execution by firing squad in Utah before May 2004, however, can still die by that method. Prior to 2004, Utah's death row inmates were given their choice of execution: either lethal injection or firing squad. Utahs legislators ended this practice in 2004, because it exposed the state to embarrassment, said Richard C. Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center. When inmates chose firing squad for their execution, it resulted in hefty media coverage and lots of discussion as to why Utah even allowed the method, Dieter said. The state had people volunteering to be 1 of the 5 members of the firing squad, he said, and traveling to Utah to try to watch the execution. Some death row inmates also tried to leverage the public interest into a legal argument to help them appeal their case, Dieter said. It turned into the "exact opposite of what (Utah) was trying to convey, which is that this is a serious crime and you are going to pay for it," he said. Burridge said he is not concerned about this happening with his bill. "I don't have control over the media," he said. While Dieter said it is not uncommon for state lawmakers to introduce bills expanding the death penalty, executions have actually decreased nationwide, dropping 12 percent from 2007 to 2008. That's partially because of "the economic side of this whole thing," Dieter said. Death penalty trials cost states millions of dollars, since the trials are very lengthy, consisting of multiple appeals and the use of many experts, Dieter said. And though the claim that it deters criminals is often used to support the death penalty, Dieter said theres actually been little conclusive evidence to prove that claim. The death penalty isn't used regularly or swiftly, Dieter said, and it's hard to measure what effect it has on the entire country, he said, since it is used primarily in a few states 95 percent of the executions in 2008 occurred in the South. The vote on Burridge's bill may be delayed until hearings on the other death penalty bills are held, Burridge said, which won't happen until Feb. 10. (source: The Keene Sentinel) TENNESSEE----impending execution 1985 Murderer Set To Be Executed----Steve Henley Convicted Of Killing Jackson County Couple After more than 2 decades on death row, Steve Henley is scheduled to be put to death in one week. Henley is serving 2 death sentences for the 1985 murders of Jackson County farmers Fred and Edna Stafford. Despite the convictions and years in prison, he continues to plead his innocence. "I've never murdered anybody," said Henley. However, Fred Stafford's brother, Ray, said he's certain Henley shot and killed his brother and sister-in-law and burned their home near Gainesboro, Tenn. Ray Stafford said Henley has been on death row long enough, and it's time for him to be executed. "I think it needs to go on. It's been 23 years," said Ray Stafford. During an interview Wednesday with Channel 4, Henley tried to compress 23 years of time on death row, court proceedings and appeals into 1 hour. He said he barely knew Terry Flatt, the man who was with him on the day the Staffords were killed. Henley claims the couple was killed as he and Flatt looked to support their drug habit. Flatt served five years in prison and released. "I lost nearly all of my 30s, all my 40s and nearly half my 50s for a crime I didn't commit. I'm an innocent man," said Henley. Henley can only hope the governor will stay his execution, but Fred Stafford's brother said he hopes that won't happen. Currently, Henley spends much of his day on death row contemplating his future and listening to Oprah Winfrey for guidance. Paul Davidson, Henley's attorney, said he is busy filing appeals involving everything from inadequate legal representation during the trial to concerns that prosecutors cut a deal with Flatt. There have been 4 executions in Tennessee in the past 9 years. The most recent executions performed by the state occurred in 2007 when the state put to death both Daryl Holton and Phillip Workman. (source: MSNBC News) _______________________________________________ DeathPenalty mailing list DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty Search the Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/deathpenalty@lists.washlaw.edu/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A free service of WashLaw http://washlaw.edu (785)670.1088 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
