April 10
IDAHO:
4 death row inmates sue over Idaho's newest lethal injection procedures
4 inmates on Idaho's death row are suing the state, contending Idaho's new
execution procedures give too much power to prison officials, create a risk of
severe pain and would allow unqualified workers to carry out medical
procedures. The lawsuit, filed in Boise's U.S. District Court late last week,
asks a judge to stop all executions until the problems are fixed.
The lawsuit against the Idaho Department of Correction's Director Brent Reinke,
Operations Division Chief Kevin Kempf and other department officials comes as
the men prepare for the possibility of an execution sometime in late spring or
early summer. Richard Leavitt, convicted of the brutal 1984 stabbing death of
Danette Jean Elg in Blackfoot, is waiting to see if the U.S. Supreme Court will
consider his case. If the high court refuses, Leavitt could be the next inmate
to enter the lethal injection chamber at the Idaho Maximum Security
Institution.
Leavitt is joined in the lawsuit by fellow condemned inmates Thomas Creech,
James Hairston and Gene Stuart. All four men are represented by the Federal
Public Defender's office.
In the 37-page lawsuit, the inmates take issue with Idaho's newest version of
the execution policy, adopted by the department earlier this year.
The new policy allows the state to use either a 3-drug mixture for lethal
injections, or to opt to use just one drug. It also changed the name of the
team that administers the lethal injection from "injection team" to "medical
team" and limited the legal ramifications for health professionals involved
with executions.
It also can be changed at any time, under the sole discretion of one of two
IDOC officials, without any notice to death row inmates or their attorneys. If
unforeseen developments occur during an execution, Director Brent Reinke or
Idaho Maximum Security Institution Warden Randy Blades can determine how to
respond without any constraints on their discretion.
That gives too much power to the IDOC officials, the inmates contend, and
violates the inmates' right to due process.
"Executing any plaintiff without notice of the procedures to be used denies
each plaintiff the right to a reasonable opportunity to review and to be heard,
in violation of the right to due process," attorney Oliver Loewy wrote on
behalf of inmates in the lawsuit.
The lawsuit also takes issue with the way Idaho officials might obtain the
drugs used in lethal injection execution, with the inmates contending that the
drugs would likely be illegally obtained or adulterated in some way.
The new protocol doesn't require that members of the medical team have current
professional experience inserting or maintaining IVs on a regular basis, the
inmates claim, nor does it require that they have any experience or training in
preparing chemicals for injection.
That creates the possibility of error, and extreme pain for the condemned, the
inmates claim.
The state has not yet filed a response to the lawsuit.
(source: Associated Press)
CONNECTICUT:
House to take up death penalty repeal bill
The Connecticut House of Representatives will be voting on the high-profile
death penalty repeal bill Wednesday, a week after the bill passed in the
state's Senate.
Doug Whiting, spokesman for House Speaker Rep. Christopher Donovan of Meriden,
told the Associated Press Tuesday that the House will take up the bill
mid-afternoon Wednesday.
The proposed bill would abolish the death penalty for all future cases, but
would not directly affect the sentences of current 11 inmates on Connecticut's
death row.
The state Senate approved a repeal bill after nearly 11 hours of debate last
week.
If passed in the House, the bill would go to Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy,
who has said he would sign it into law.
(source: Associated Press)
*********************
Exonerated man weighs in on death penalty
The Connecticut House of Representatives will debate abolishing the death
penalty Wednesday; 43-year-old Kenneth Ireland and stories like his are the
biggest reasons that Connecticut's Death Penalty Statute is on the verge of
being abolished.
Ireland served 21 years behind bars for the murder and rape of a young mother
in Wallingford in 1986. He was released from a 50 year prison sentence in 2009
when DNA evidence concluded he could not have committed the crime.
He was 16 when the crime was committed and his youthful age is probably the
only reason he did not end up on death row.
"That's my thought, I mean, I don't know for sure, but they could have charged
me any way they wanted to I guess," Ireland said, "but, yeah...I'm pretty sure
that they could have charged me felony murder and 1st-degree sexual assault."
"As an adult," asked News 8's Mark Davis.
"Absolutely as an adult," Ireland replied. "I could absolutely been charged as
an adult with a capitol felony crime and I could have been sitting on death
row."
"So, Ken, is that why you're sort of coming out and publicly opposing the death
penalty," Davis questioned.
"That's not the reason I'm coming out, that's a small factor," Ireland said.
"The reason I'm coming out is I truly believe in my heart that capitol
punishment is antiquated. It's an old system that I don't believe it does us,
as a nation, any good."
However, Ireland's release from prison in 2009 was one of a string of big
mistakes made by the Criminal Justice System.
Earlier that same year, Miguel Roman was released when DNA evidence concluded
he could not have committed the murder for which he had served 20 years in
prison.
And in 2006, James Tillman was cleared of rape charges after spending 18 years
in prison.
"I think we can do better as a nation, there's no easy answers, obviously, I
mean, they're horrific crimes, they're just terrible, horrific crimes and that
has to be something," said Ireland, "but I don't believe taking another life is
the answer."
Ireland's case and these others have all been cited by lawmakers who have
recently changed their mind about Connecticut's death penalty.
The vote in the House will likely come sometime Wednesday night. Repeal is
expected to be approved and it will go to Governor Malloy who has pledged to
sign it.
(source: WTNH)
OKLAHOMA:
Tulsa residents want death penalty in shootings
Within hours of shootings that terrified Tulsa's north side and left 3 people
dead, leaders of the predominantly black community declared the spree a hate
crime and warned of a possible vigilante response.
Quick arrests relieved many residents and ended talk of more violence, but
community leaders still want the case treated as a hate crime. "We have to send
a message," one said Tuesday.
But with a first conviction under Oklahoma's hate crimes law carrying only up
to a year in jail, some questioned whether it was worth the effort. The family
of one victim and some residents said they'd rather see prosecutors focus on
getting the death penalty.
"I think they should go for murder. As many people's lives they involved by
what they did in this thing, they should go for murder," said Deatrah Fields,
whose aunt Dannaer Fields was killed. She added, "They can go ahead and seek
the death penalty, too."
Jake England, 19, and Alvin Watts, 33, have been held on suspicion of
1st-degree murder and other charges since their arrest Sunday. They are
expected to be formally charged during a Monday court appearance.
While police have not described the shootings as racially motivated, they have
said one motive may have been revenge for the fatal shooting of England's
father by a black man. A day before the shootings, England apparently wrote a
Facebook post saying Thursday was the second anniversary of his father's death,
using a racial slur and lamenting that "it's hard not to go off."
Community leaders point to those comments and the fact that all the shooting
victims were black in calling for a hate crime prosecution.
"(England's) Facebook post was a help to us in helping us understand that this
was a hate crime. ... If it is something other than that, you would have to
explain that to me," said the Rev. Warren Blakney Sr., president of the Tulsa
NAACP. "When you went to commit the crimes, you didn't go to south Tulsa and
say, 'I'm going to shoot some black folks I see.' You went to the heart where
you know most black folk live and you went on a shooting spree."
While police have described the two suspects as white, a family friend said
England was Cherokee Indian. Watts' brothers have denied accusations that he's
a racist, and one said their family includes a mix of races.
Tulsa County District Attorney Tim Harris has said if the evidence supports a
hate-crime charge, he will file it, and a lawmaker who represents the area
where the shootings happened urged him to do so.
"My constituents often feel like the possibility of a hate crime is sort of
swept under the rug because we don't want to talk about it," said state Rep.
Jabar Shumate. "We have to send a message."
Oklahoma's hate crime law applies in cases where a defendant targets a victim
specifically because of that person's race, religion, ancestry, natural origin
or disability. The weak penalties, however, have resulted in it usually only
being used in cases involving low-level misdemeanors where prosecutors want a
longer sentence.
"The fact of the matter is our hate-crime statute in Oklahoma isn't very useful
on high-end violent felonies," said Scott Rowland, first assistant district
attorney in Oklahoma County.
He said he's pursued hate crime charges in simple assault cases motivated by
racial bias, but prosecutors could risk muddying the waters by adding a hate
crime charge to a murder case.
"It might very well make it more complicated needlessly," Rowland said.
A conviction under the federal hate crimes statute can carry up to life in
prison without parole, but U.S. Attorney Thomas Scott Woodward said it's likely
that federal charges would be pursued only if justice wasn't served in the
state courts.
Oklahoma law enforcement agencies reported an average of 51 hate crimes per
year from 2008 to 2010, according to the most recent data from the Oklahoma
State Bureau of Investigation. The most common hate crime during those years
was anti-black vandalism committed by white offenders.
A hate-related killing has not been reported in Oklahoma since 2009, when there
was one. Oklahoma City police say a group of black men approached 43-year-old
Roberta Kay Hill, a white woman, and shouted racial slurs before one man fired
several shots, killing her.
In north Tulsa, some residents say more important than proving the elements of
a hate crime is ensuring that the shooters in the latest case are punished to
the fullest extent of the law.
"What everyone is after is justice," said Ralph Eady, 51, who owns a men's
clothing shop near where one victim's body was discovered. "They don't care if
it's a hate crime, a race crime, white-on-black crime — they want justice. They
want the death penalty."
(source: CBS News)
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