Feb. 16 TEXAS: Texas lawmaker moves to impeach appeals judge A Texas lawmaker is trying to impeach a judge on the state's highest criminal appeals court for what he calls "neglect of duty" in a death penalty case. Rep. Lon Burnam filed a resolution Monday seeking to start the process against Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Sharon Keller. Keller refused to keep the court offices open after 5 p.m. on Sept. 25, 2007, when attorneys for Michael Richard said computer problems were delaying their efforts to file late appeals of his death sentence. Richard was executed that night by lethal injection for the rape and murder of a Houston-area woman. (source: A ssociated Press) ***************** Texas is Number 1 Exporting State for 7th Consecutive Year The U.S. Department of Commerce has named Texas the top exporting state in the nation for the seventh year in a row based on 2008 export data. Texas exports increased more than 14 % over the last year, totaling $192.14 billion, approximately $23.92 billion more than 2007. "Maintaining our rank as the nation's top exporting state is proof positive that Texas has sound policies in place to cushion it from the effects of an economic downturn," said Gov. Perry. "By maintaining low taxes and reasonable and predictable regulations, business in Texas can continue to flourish, ensuring our ongoing position as a top exporting state and competitor in the global marketplace." Texas' top export recipients in 2008 were Mexico, Canada, China, the Netherlands and Brazil which respectively imported $62.08 billion, $19.2 billion, $8.4 billion, $7.06 billion and $5.96 billion in Texas- manufactured goods and services. Texas' top exporting industries in 2008 were chemicals, computers and electronics, machinery, petroleum and coal, and transportation equipment which posted increased exports of 9.5 %, 5.1 %, 9.3 %, 72 % and 2.74 %, respectively. For more information regarding 2008 export data, please visit: http://governor.state.tx.us/ecodev/business_resources/international_business_and_recruitment/ (source: Office of the Governor, Press Release) MARYLAND: O'Malley asks churches to help end death penalty----Governor to testify on issue before Senate panel later this week Gov. Martin O'Malley said today his effort to get the votes to repeal capital punishment in Maryland "is not done," and he asked the religious community to help by petitioning lawmakers facing a difficult decision. "I need your help. I really and truly do on this death penalty legislation," O'Malley told about 300 people attending the African Methodist Episcopal Church Legislative Day. "It is not done." The governor also urged repeal supporters not to take any votes for granted on the issue. "I need your help writing letters. I need your help persuading. I need your help even talking to delegates and senators that you may think are probably already with us," O'Malley said. "You never really know." 2009 General Assembly session Photos O'Malley is scheduled to testify before the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee on Wednesday, where his bill to replace capital punishment with life in prison without the possibility of parole is scheduled to have a hearing. A similar bill failed on a 5-5 vote in 2007 on a committee where the swing vote still appears to be elusive. Last year, when the committee again appeared to be short of the votes to move the bill to the full Senate, lawmakers decided to create a commission to study capital punishment. O'Malley is hopeful the commission's recommendation to repeal the death penalty will help move the proposal forward. "We have a real shot this year," O'Malley said. The governor pointed out that Maryland just had the 2nd biggest reduction in homicides since 1985 -- and that capital punishment had nothing to do with the drop in murders, because the state currently has a de facto moratorium on the death penalty. The governor attributes the decline in murders to better cooperation between law enforcement agencies and early intervention in the lives of young people who are at risk to themselves and others. "These are the things that save lives and they cost money, and the death penalty diverts money from the very things that we know save lives," O'Malley said. In December, the Maryland Commission on Capital Punishment recommended on a 13-9 vote to repeal the state's death penalty law, citing racial and jurisdictional disparities in how it is used. The report also cited a study by the Urban Institute that found it cost $1.1 million to prosecute a case in which the death penalty is possible but not sought, while it cost $1.8 million to pursue a case that unsuccessfully sought capital punishment. A case that resulted in a death penalty typically cost $3 million, according to the study. A minority report signed by eight of the commission's 23 members argued that the law should be kept on the books because Maryland rarely and carefully uses capital punishment. If O'Malley's bill were to clear the Senate committee, it's unclear what would happen in the full Senate, which is presided over by Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller, who supports capital punishment. Executions are on hold in Maryland because of a ruling in late 2006 by the state's highest court. The Court of Appeals found that the state's lethal injection protocols weren't properly approved by a legislative committee. Executions can't resume until a new protocol is created for the committee to approve. Maryland has 5 men on death row. 5 inmates have been executed since Maryland reinstated the death penalty in 1978. Wesley Baker, who was put to death in December 2005, was the last person to be executed in Maryland. (source: Associated Press) KANSAS: Penalty Phase To Begin For Justin Thurber The penalty phase requires lawyers from both sides to show factors defined by the state's death penalty statute that would give the jury cause to either spare Justin Thurber and give him life in prison without parole or sentence him to death. "This is, in a sense, a trial of its own, but it's not actually," said Warner Eisenbise, a Wichita attorney. With the bulk of Thurber's capital murder trial coming to an end last week, the sentencing phase is now set to get underway. <>P> That phase means the defense will present mitigating factors; reasons why Thurber's life should be spared. "If he did not have the capacity to understand the criminality of this act. If that is used, the defense would have to corroborate that with expert testimony," said Eisenbise. Those reasons are specified, but not limited, in the state's death penalty law. Likewise, prosecutors will present aggravating factors; reasons why Thurber should be sentenced to death. "The prosecution is limited in the use of aggravating circumstances," said Eisenbise. One reason prosecutors will likely focus on, is the the manner in which Sanderholm died. Eisenbise said prosecutors could argue her death falls under the statue's reason of an especially heinous, atrocious or cruel manner. "This victim suffered while she was still alive, the fear of dying, the knowledge that she was going to die," said Eisenbise. The process could take most of the week and the jury must be unanimous if it opts for the death penalty. As for Jodi's family, speaking right after the verdict, they said knowing Thurber won't hurt anyone again has given them some peace. "The least he'll get is life without parole and he can't get out and hurt anybody else," said Jennifer Sanderholm, Jodi's sister. The penalty phase is expected to begin Monday at 9 a.m. (source: KAKE News) ************* Death penalty law fair, Six says The Legislature is considering whether to suspend the death penalty in order to save money. But as to the merits of the state's death penalty law, Attorney General Steve Six thinks that it is responsible and reasonable. He told The Eagle editorial board that the selection of the cases is fair and that, unlike other states, Kansas has well-trained capital defense attorneys. "It's a system that seems to work well." Is Six, who was appointed by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius to replace disgraced Attorney General Paul Morrison, running for the position in 2010? Six said it is a "terrific job" that he would love to continue doing, but that decision is still "down the road." (source: Wichita Eagle) UTAH: Off with their heads----Shurtleff offers travesty of justice The state and federal constitutions provide for a separation of powers among the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government. The 3 have separate and distinct functions and they "check and balance" one another. It's a good system that has worked pretty well for more than 200 years. But Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff believes he has a better idea. Shurtleff -- of the executive branch -- wants to give the Legislature -- the legislative branch -- power to dictate to Utah courts -- the judicial branch -- how they should do their jobs, in a wrongheaded and unconstitutional power grab he's disguising as a way to expedite executions. Senate Joint Resolution 14 is a constitutional amendment that would tie the hands of judges in all appeals, but, most egregiously, death-penalty appeals. It states that "a person may challenge the legality of the conviction or sentence only in the manner and to the extent provided by statute." That would, in effect, take life-or-death legal decisions out of the jurisdiction of the courts, where the Constitution assigned them, and put them in the hands of lawmakers, most of whom know little about criminal law and nothing about the merits of any individual case. The proposal is outrageous, and Shurtleff knows it. He also knows, or should know, that defendants in capital murder cases in Utah already face a system stacked against them. Most of them have to rely on the state for their defense, and Utah public defenders qualified to handle death-penalty cases are underpaid and overworked. If Shurtleff's amendment were to pass, these defendants likely would have little chance to have their convictions reviewed based on an inadequate defense. So if a public defender fails to present all possible arguments, or simply can't devote the necessary time to a particular case, the court would face barriers to correcting the error. The goal of our justice system is not to get a person from the courtroom to the execution chamber as quickly as possible, as Shurtleff says, but to provide justice. And that means giving all defendants ample chance for a fair appeal, as well as a chance for their attorneys to ferret out mistakes that sometimes require a do-over, a delay in carrying out a sentence or even the setting aside of a conviction. And that's the job of judges, not legislators. There's no doubt our system for challenging verdicts in capital cases is agonizingly slow. That may be, in part, because the death penalty is inherently immoral, discriminatory and fallible. The best answer would be to abolish it. Short of that, let's not corrupt the system further by getting the legislative branch involved. (source: Editorial, Salt Lake Tribune) MISSOURI: Death penalty foes spread message Missouri's death penalty deserves to be halted pending a review of its procedures and costs, several speakers said at a Sunday afternoon forum. An 8-city speaking tour dubbed Road Trip for Justice made its 1st stop at Missouri Western State University. The program was sponsored locally by the university's Newman Club and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Missourians to Abolish the Death Penalty, Amnesty International and social justice organization the A.J. Muste Memorial Institute are the lead sponsors. Three speakers shared their death-penalty experiences with an audience that included university law students. Each said they could not support the death penalty under any circumstance. "We want to encourage people to think about this important issue," said Colleen Cunningham, MADPs chairperson. "We need to have this conversation. It affects people in profound ways." The 1st speaker, Dennis Fritz, said in April he will observe a decade of freedom after being falsely accused of an Oklahoma murder. "I knew I was telling the honest-to-God truth," he said of investigators' use of a polygraph test in his case. He said the 12 years he spent on death row were horrific. "That was a heavy, heavy weight right there," Mr. Fritz said. "It was a total living nightmare out of hell." The results of DNA tests exonerated him and a co-defendant. Author John Grisham wrote of the experience in his book "The Innocent Man." "I actually believe there are innocent people on death row today," Mr. Fritz said. Linda Taylor spoke of her involvement in the case of her son, Michael, who was sentenced to death in 1991 for a Jackson County murder. Now Mr. Taylor and other death-row inmates such as John Middleton, of Spickard are challenging Missouris means of lethal injection. Mr. Middleton was convicted of 2 counts of 1st-degree murder for the deaths of a Grundy County couple and Iowa man in 1995. "It's mind-boggling why we kill people who kill people to show that killing people is wrong," Mrs. Taylor said. Bess Klassen-Landis said she has found it possible to forgive her mother's still-unknown rapist-killer. "We need to find peace in our own souls," she said. "All you're doing is building up hate," she said of the death penalty. Organizers asked audience members to support a call for the Missouri General Assembly to enact a death penalty moratorium. Ms. Cunningham said Missouri has never had a comprehensive study of its death penalty system. The groups plan to lobby for the law Wednesday in Jefferson City. An informational meeting that could lead to the organization of a local death penalty group is set for 5:30 p.m. Feb. 23 in Room 205 of Wilson Hall at Western. Call Renee Boman at (314) 583-0231 for more information. (source: St. Joseph News-Press) **************** Anti-Death Penalty Event Held at Drury The "Road Trip for Justice" made a stop in Springfield Monday night at Drury University. The event, sponsored by Missourians to Abolish the Death Penalty, featured speakers including murder victim's family members, men wrongfully convicted as well as wives and mothers of men currently on death row, each with their own reasons to abolish the death penalty. Joe Amrine was convicted of a crime he did not commit and spent 17 years on death row before being exonerated 6 years ago. He says, "I don't think it's fair. I think the worst part about it is the fact that killing, executing people only creates new victims." "We think it's just a vengeance thing. It doesn't help solve crime. It doesn't help prevent crime and it does nothing except extend the cycle of violence that occurs in this country," adds Mike Schilling, Missourians to Abolish the Death Penalty. In April of last year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty by way of lethal injection is constitutional and not cruel and unusual punishment. Since then Missouri has resumed death by lethal injection. (source: OzarksFirst) OHIO: Death penalty possible in Liberty homicide It is possible a West Chester Twp. man charged in the stabbing death of a 53-year-old Liberty Twp. man could face the death penalty, according to Butler County Prosecutor Robin Piper. Gregory C. Osie, 47, was arrested and charged with aggravated murder and aggravated robbery just hours after the discovery of David L. Williams' body Saturday afternoon in the living room of his Yankee Road home. Williams was stabbed approximately 10 times and his throat was cut twice, Butler County Coroner Dr. Richard Burkhardt said Monday, Feb. 16. Following an autopsy Monday morning, Burkhardt said Williams' cause of death is extanguination or "he bled to death." Piper said the charges indicate a case in which a grand jury could consider the death penalty. While he doesn't know enough about the facts surrounding the crime to say the case will carry a death penalty specification, Piper said "it sounds like it may be." Osie remains housed in the Butler County Jail without bond. An arraignment date had not yet been set Monday afternoon. Detectives said they believe the motive for the homicide stemmed from "some bad blood" between Williams and a female business partner. Osie, a friend of that business partner, came to Williams' residence to "even the score," according to Butler County Sheriff's Office Lt. Mike Craft. Detectives declined to identify the business in question. (source: Oxford Press) _______________________________________________ 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 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
