July 27
NORTH CAROLINA:
NC Senate to take up execution protocol changes
As botched executions across the country have turned the public focus toward
methods used to kill death-row inmates, the state Senate is poised to take up a
bill that would hide the supplier, manufacturer and dosage of lethal drugs used
for capital punishment in North Carolina.
The bill, titled "Restoring Proper Justice Act," is scheduled for a vote by the
full Senate Monday night. The proposed legislation, which was introduced in the
state House of Representatives by Rep. Leo Daughtry, a Republican from
Smithfield, also repeals the law requiring physicians to monitor lethal
injections.
Instead, under the wording approved on Thursday by a Senate judiciary
committee, medical professionals, such as physician assistants, nurse
practitioners, registered nurses, paramedics or emergency medical technicians
could stand in if a doctor refused.
Daughtry, who was at the committee meeting to introduce the proposal already
approved by the House, said several times the lawmakers were not there for "an
argument about the death penalty." "We already have the death penalty,"
Daughtry said. "The roadblocks in front of the death penalty have stopped us
from using the punishment."
Though North Carolina is 1 of 31 states with the death penalty, there has not
been an execution since 2006. A series of lawsuits filed in the state courts
has created a de facto moratorium on executions for the past 9 years. And some
wonder whether more legal challenges will follow the proposed changes to the
execution protocol.
"It's not going to speed up executions," said Ballard Everett, a Republican
consultant with Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty who voiced his
opposition at the committee meeting. "Lawsuits are inevitable with this piece
of legislation.
"So we're encouraging the legislature to really debate the bigger question - so
if we're not going to use the death penalty, why not go ahead and replace it
with life in prison without parole and save the state $11 million dollars this
year?"
The debate last week, though, was about how much information the public should
possess about North Carolina's execution protocol. Botched executions in
Oklahoma, Ohio and Arizona in 2014 have prompted some states to hide that
information from public view and oversight. Other states have called for more
openness.
The North Carolina bill would exempt the execution procedure from any oversight
by the state's Rules Review Commission and leave the decision about whether to
make the protocol public up to the secretary of the state Department of Public
Safety, a non-elected post.
Sen. Angela Bryant, a Democrat and lawyer from Rocky Mount, introduced several
proposed amendments in an attempt to remove the cloak of secrecy from the way
the state carries out its harshest punishment. "This is not a time to remove
public input and awareness of what you're doing in government," Bryant said.
There are 148 people on North Carolina's death row, 1 of whom has been there
since 1985.
In 2013, the public safety secretary changed North Carolina's execution
protocol from using a three-drug cocktail to a single-drug lethal injection.
The change came at a time when many European-based drug manufacturers had
banned U.S. prisons from using their drugs in executions. The protocol change
also came shortly before an important court hearing for a lawsuit filed by N.C.
death row inmates in 2007, challenging the lethal injection as "cruel and
unusual punishment" and therefore a constitutional violation. That lawsuit is
pending.
Bryant failed to persuade the Senate judicial committee to provide the public
with information about the manufacturer of the lethal drugs to be used in
executions. "It's a volatile issue," Daughtry said. "If you tell them where the
drug comes from, there'll be 300 people outside the [manufacturer's] building.
That is not something we want to occur."
Bryant responded: "Abortion is a controversial thing, but we don't try to hide
where the clinics are. There could be 300 people out there, and you'd stand on
your head for their rights."
David Weiss, a staff attorney for the Durham-based Center for Death Penalty
Litigation, argued during the public comment period for more openness for what
he described as "one of the most important, one of the most serious functions
that our state government undertakes."
"The process should be done openly, transparently so the people of North
Carolina have input," Weiss said. "This really removes transparency from the
execution process."
(source: News & Observer)
TENNESSEE:
Tenn. lethal injection trial continues with dueling experts
The Tennessee Supreme Court says the death penalty is constitutional, so there
must be a constitutional way to carry it out. But attorneys for 33 death row
inmates say lethal injection isn't one of them.
In a trial that began July 7, they are trying to prove lethal injection carries
an unacceptably high risk of extreme suffering and can cause a lingering death.
The 2nd claim is a novel one. It is based on the theory that an overdose of
sedatives can put inmates into a death-like coma without truly killing them for
hours.
Attorneys for the state disagree. Davidson County Acting Chief Medical Examiner
Dr. Feng Li is an expert witness in the case. He says lethal injection should
leave a prisoner unconscious within seconds and dead within minutes.
(source: Associated Press)
*******************
Readers sound off on the death penalty
Editor's note: Readers universally wrote in to support of ending the death
penalty after the publication of the Tennessee Voices column written by Rev.
Judy Cummings and state Rep. Harold M. Love. If you agree with their views or
have an opposing view, please send your letters to the editor to
lett...@tennessean.com . Letters should not exceed 250 words and should include
your full name and contact information for verification purposes.
No sacrificing innocent blood
Re: "It's time for Tennessee to reconsider the death penalty," by Judy Cummings
and Harold M. Love, July 20.
As was pointed out in yesterday's op-ed, saving public money is a responsible
reason to do away with capital punishment.
But really, isn't the fact that we might be killing innocent people reason
enough?
In fact, isn't that what the death penalty aims to prevent?
Linda Crossan----Franklin 37064
****
Capital punishment cruel
In light of the recent information in The Tennessean, the death penalty makes
absolutely no sense, is expensive to taxpayers and may result in the death of
innocent individuals.
Additionally, it is possibly in conflict with cruel and unusual punishment
legislation.
Let us just stop!
James Dickson----Nashville 37215
****
It's time for Tennessee to reconsider the death penalty
Closure denied to victims
My brother Thomas was murdered 6 years ago this month in Nashville.
Thanks to the outstanding work of the Metro Nashville Police Department and the
District Attorney's Office, Thomas' killer was arrested in 2011 and sentenced
to life in prison in 2013.
It was a long 4 years for my family, but now it is over.
We have legal finality.
A different reality awaits a victim's family in a capital case.
It averages 22 years in Tennessee from sentencing to execution.
As a family member of a murder victim, I believe that we need to ensure swift
and sure justice for a victim's family.
Instead, the death penalty prolongs the pain and stretches a family's suffering
over decades.
It diverts resources that could be used for counseling, financial assistance
and on-going support for a victim's family.
Life in prison in Tennessee means a murderer won't even be eligible for parole
until he has served 51 years.
We also have life without the possibility of parole.
With alternatives like that, it is time we stop the prolonged suffering that a
murder victim's family endures in a capital case.
The death penalty is a wasteful, inefficient and unjust government program.
It is time to follow the lead of other states like Nebraska and end the failed
policy we call the death penalty.
Davis Turner----Nashville 37215
****
Tennessee can do better
As I read the opinion piece written by Harold Love and Judy Cummings, I found
myself wondering why Tennessee continues to maintain the death penalty.
For one thing, the death penalty system put victims' families through decades
of litigation at an exorbitant cost, but keeping a system that risks executing
someone who is innocent is almost too much for me to fathom.
Come on Tennesseans, we can do better.
Fran Rajotte----Nashville 37221
****
Wasteful spending
I just read with much interest the op-ed by Representative Love and Reverend
Cummings and thought their points were well taken.
How much longer can we support a death penalty system that is so broken and so
costly?
As our schools, roads, medical systems are in need of money we spend endless
amount on death penalty cases when that money could be used elsewhere.
That's to say nothing of keeping innocent people locked up for years.
Makes one wonder how many more innocent people are there because they are poor
and don't have the resources to explore their case.
Let's make changes. Now.
Margaret Turner----Nashville 37205
(source: Letters to the Editor, The Tennessean)
LOUISIANA:
Man accused in 2013 abduction, stabbing death of 6-year-old to appear in court
A man accused of killing a 6-year-old girl in 2013 and dumping her body in a
garbage bin will appear in court Monday morning.
Matthew Flugence, 21, is accused in the abduction and stabbing death of
Ahlittia North. North went missing on July 13, 2013. Following a frantic 3-day
search, investigators found the 6-year-old's body in a trash bin near her
family's Harvey apartment.
Jefferson Parish prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Flugence, who
authorities say allegedly sexually abused the child before stabbing her behind
a row of apartments on Destrehan Avenue in Harvey. Flugence pleaded not guilty,
saying that the 6-year-old seduced him, our partners at Nola.com/The Times
Picayune report.
Flugence had family ties with the North. His uncle was her stepfather,
according to investigators.
A status hearing will take place on Monday.
(source: WVUE news)
NEBRASKA:
Deadline for death penalty petition comes in 1 month----Leaders on both sides
of debate say campaigns going well
Supporters of the death penalty have about a month left to collect enough
signatures to get on the ballot.
Leaders on both sides of the debate said their campaigns are going well.
Supporters of the death penalty said they won't release how many people have
signed the petition, but said they are pleased with their progress.
Supporters have until the end of August to gather signatures. The signatures of
5 percent of voters will put the measure on the ballot, while 10 percent of
voters will suspend the death penalty ban from becoming law.
"The fact of the matter is we do have dangerous criminals, and the death
penalty is an important tool to protect law enforcement. Think about our
corrections officers who go into our prisons every day and deal with these
dangerous people," said Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts.
Death penalty opponents are also getting their message out.
"If we can buy these illegal drugs, that's going to be $55,000 which the FDA
says you're not going to be able to buy them, so there's no way to carry out
the death penalty in Nebraska. There never will be, so why bother putting it
back on the books," said Mark Welsch of Nebraskans for Peace.
(source: KETV news)
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