April 14
ILLINOIS:
Quality of Mercy Project created to spur conversation about death penalty,
criminal justice
A production of the play "Dead Man Walking" will premiere at Evanston's Piven
Theatre Workshop this weekend. The play is part of the new Quality of Mercy
Project, which seeks to explore issues such as the death penalty and racial
injustice through a series of arts programming.
For the Piven Theatre Workshop's executive director Leslie Brown, art can serve
as a launchpad to delve into larger issues.
That's why the Evanston-based theater company started the Quality of Mercy
Project: to explore issues such as the death penalty, mass incarceration and
racial injustice through a series of programs from live performances to panel
discussions.
Brown said the project, launched in March, was created to pair with the play
"Dead Man Walking," which will premiere April 16 at Piven, 927 Noyes St. The
project will run until May 15.
She said "Dead Man Walking," created by actor Tim Robbins, is based on the book
that tells the true story of Sister Helen Prejean, a nun who was the spiritual
adviser to a death row inmate and later became an anti-death penalty activist.
Brown said Prejean's story was first adapted into a film and then a play, which
has been performed at schools as an educational tool.
"When we're talking about the death penalty and our criminal justice system, it
lends itself to having discussions on a wider level," she said. "Today, even in
Evanston, these are issues that are really very, very close to home and things
that our community is really interested in."
The project, which is a collaboration among six main organizations, features
about 15 events, including a film screening, panels with experts in the
criminal justice system and an ongoing exhibit at the Evanston Art Center,
Brown said. After certain performances during the play's run, Piven will hold
discussions with members from its partner organizations, she added.
Brown said it was crucial Piven partner with organizations based in different
fields, such as the Chicago Innocence Center, the Evanston Art Center and
Literature for All of Us, an organization that uses group discussions to help
young people learn how to read and write.
"I don't think any one discipline can thoroughly explore the community's
experience, so we felt it was important to include ... visual art, written
work, through poetry, and through play and also theater," Brown said. "(We) try
to reflect and represent the community in which we operate (and have) diversity
of thought and opinion, and diversity of art as well."
Some events will highlight the role of racial inequity in the criminal justice
system, Brown said, such as "The Black Male Experience in Evanston," a panel
being held April 23, and a reading of a play inspired by the Black Lives Matter
movement May 8.
"(Race) affects us in our daily lives, in an immediate sense," Brown said.
"There???s violence in our community and these issues are extremely important
to our community, so I guess the question is, why wouldn't we want to discuss
these issues?"
Pamela Cytrynbaum (Medill '88), the executive director of the Chicago Innocence
Center, a nonprofit investigative journalism organization, is an alumna of
Piven and will speak at 2 events. Cytrynbaum said she hopes people who attend
the programming will learn about criminal justice and how they can help enact
change.
As a young reporter, Cytrynbaum said she saw firsthand how she could make a
difference. She covered a case in which an innocent man was sentenced to death,
and it was because of her reporting and evidence gathering that the man was
exonerated.
"My reporting was the only thing between him and the death penalty," Cytrynbaum
said. "I learned, very early, that you can stand in the way of an injustice by
telling the truth and journalists have the power to do that."
Lauri Feldman, whose documentary "The Innocent" will be shown at the Evanston
Public Library on April 19, said her film deals with themes like compassion and
forgiveness that are also present in "Dead Man Walking." Although her film is
about people who were wrongfully convicted and later exonerated, Feldman said
she didn't set out to take a certain stance about the death penalty and wants
the stories and experiences of the exonerees to speak for themselves.
Instead of pushing an agenda, Brown said the events are intended to allow
attendees to form their own conclusions about the issues explored in the
project.
"What we wanted to do was open up the possibility for discussion," Brown said.
"We want it to be open for their voice to be heard and their experiences to be
heard."
(source: Daily Northwestern)
OKLAHOMA:
Johnathen Thacker testifes against brother in murder trial----Victim's mother
believes both brothers are guilty
A brother of a murder suspect took the stand in a Leflore County courtroom
Wednesday, to testify against the suspect, Elvis Thacker, who is on trial for
the sexual assault and death of 22-year-old Briana Ault.
Led into the courtroom in handcuffs and in an orange jail uniform, Johnathen
Thacker told jurors that he tried to stop his brother from committing the
crimes.
The victim's mother, however, believes both men played a role in her daughter's
death.
"I have never thought it was just one of the guys," said Bethany Ault-Pyle. "I
believe it was both of them."
If convicted, Elvis Thacker could be sentenced to death.
In April 2014, Johnathen Thacker agreed to plead guilty for his role in the
murder in exchange for a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of
parole.
In order to avoid the death penalty, part of the plea deal was that he must
testify against his brother.
In court on Wednesday, Johnathen Thacker told jurors about the overnight hours
of Sept. 12, 2010.
Prosecutors asked what happened to the victim.
Johnathen Thacker replied that he was not expecting to see Ault arrive to pick
up the 2 brothers.
In court, friends of Ault testified that she received a text message from an
ex-boyfriend asking her for a ride to Texas Road, in Fort Smith, in exchange
for $50 and a tank of gas.
Friends testified that Ault left the group she was having drinks with at a club
in downtown Fort Smith, and told her friends she would be right back.
But she never returned.
Johnathen Thacker testified that he did not know what was going to happen when
he got in the back seat of Ault's car. He testified that his brother made Ault
pull over at the end of Texas Road and that Elvis pulled out a straight-blade
razor from his pocket.
Johnathen Thacker told jurors that his brother said they were going to rob Ault
because she recently had won $1,600 from a casino.
Elvis Thacker, however, made commands for Ault to perform sex acts on him,
Johnathen Thacker said.
Johnathen Thacker testified that he told his brother to stop, but that his
brother threatened him with the razor.
He testified that Elvis Thacker made Ault get out of her car and walk into the
woods to a nearby pond, where he sexually assaulted her at the edge of the
pond, and then made her perform a sex act on him.
The younger brother testified that Elvis Thacker made Ault get in the pond and
drink the water to wash away evidence of sexual assault.
According to Johnathen Thacker, that's when Elvis tried to drown Ault.
Johnathen Thacker testified that he pushed his brother off of the victim, but
that Elvis Thacker started swinging the razor at him.
Johnathen Thacker testified that he went back to the car, and minutes later,
his brother returned alone.
He testified that his brother told him he had cut the victim's throat.
Police found the victim's body, nude, floating in the pond just across the
state line in Pocola, Oklahoma, on Sept. 13, 2010.
"I think Elvis (Thacker) did the most part of it," Ault-Pyle said. "He'll get
what he needs, the truth will be there."
Ault-Pyle said after learning of the gruesome details about her daughter's
murder, she believes Elvis Thacker deserves the death penalty.
In court, Johnathen Thacker testified that he knows he will spend the rest of
his life in prison, and that he too, could face the death penalty if he does
not tell the truth.
But upon cross-examination, defense attorneys questioned if Johnathen Thacker
was telling the truth, or saying what prosecutors wanted to hear.
The cross-examination will continue Thursday morning.
Prosecutors said they could rest their case by the end of the week, or early
next week.
(source: KHBS news)
**********
State prisons face desperate times, DOC chief says----Overcrowding, lack of
programs, botched executions create dilemma that might not be reversible
Oklahoma's prisons are ugly, ancient, overcrowded and in total disrepair,
according to Department of Corrections Interim Director Joe Allbaugh.
But that's only a part of the problem facing DOC, he said during a public forum
hosted by Oklahoma Watch Tuesday night at Kamp's 1910 Cafe in downtown Oklahoma
City.
The state prison population is 122 % of capacity and the DOC's budget is
typically funded at 75 % of its total request to the Oklahoma Legislature. In
addition, programs designed to help prisoners are being slashed because of
Oklahoma's $1.3 billion revenue failure, which in reality, has hurt every state
agency, Allbaugh admitted.
"We have facilities that need to be closed," the interim director said, noting
that Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester is more than 100 years old. "We
have facilities that are in pretty good shape and we have some that need
attention. The prison population is growing and there is no place to put
people. We have 60,000 people in our system and 1/2 are incarcerated in public
or private prisons."
Allbaugh told the Kamp Cafe crowd only 7 of the state's 17 prisons were
intentionally built as prisons. Others were former boys homes, girls home,
gymnasiums or mental health facilities.
He specifically mentioned William S. Key Correctional Center in Fort Supply, a
minimum-security prison, which in January was finally equipped with a perimeter
fence.
"That would be important for a prison," said Allbaugh, who headed the Federal
Emergency Management Agency at the time of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist
attacks. He stayed at the agency until 2003 when the Homeland Security agency
was formed, a decision Allbaugh opposed.
Allbaugh, a Blackwell native, also worked on George W. Bush's gubernatorial and
presidential campaigns and served as Gov. Bush's chief of staff until 1999.
Re-entry and educational programs have been cut system-wide because of the
excess number of prisoners, a problem that can only be corrected through
vigorous criminal justice reform, he said. The space typically used for
programs has been turned into bunkbeds for prisoners.
"The criminal justice code in Oklahoma is the engineer of the train that's
brought us to this point," Allbaugh said, noting the
lock-them-up-and-throw-away-the-key mentality doesn't apply anymore in modern
era corrections work.
The Department of Corrections also is saddled with a lack of guards or
correctional officers, which number about 1,800. The disparity between the
numbers of guards who oversee the 30,000 prison inmates left Allbaugh shaking
his head.
"It's only through the grace of God that the prison population and gangs let
our guards go home every night," he said.
The safety scenario, plus the fact that most DOC employees haven't had a pay
raise in 11 years, complicates daily operations and morale.
"I'm sitting side by side with you at work and you got a pay raise and I
didn't. How do you think that works?" Allbaugh asked the crowd.
Since being named interim director in January, Allbaugh has tried to bring some
new ideas to the corrections department. One thought is to lease buildings from
closed private prisons in Watonga and Sayre and move inmates to those
facilities from current state-run prisons that Allbaugh would prefer to shut
down due to high operating costs.
"We would operate them (Sayre and Watonga) with our own protocols and
procedures," he said.
The Watonga private prison closed in 2012 and the Sayre facility closed at the
end of December 2015.
"Taxpayers have a dog in this fight and we need to spend money wisely," he
said, of closing the more inefficient, outdated prisons. "I'm callin' 'em like
I see 'em." If Allbaugh didn't already have enough problems on his plate,
medical costs for an aging prison population is skyrocketing, and so is the
amount needed to transport inmates from prison to prison or from various county
jails to one of the state or private prisons. The only dialysis unit for DOC is
located at the Lexington prison, which creates a backlog for older prisoners,
and some vehicles in the DOC fleet have more than a million miles.
Those are 2 examples of the ancillary issues Allbaugh faces with an overcrowded
prison population that nets 1,200 to 1,600 new inmates every year.
Allbaugh quickly discovered after his hiring the agency???s high-tech software
intended to track each inmate's credits and history wasn't high-tech at all.
The software was purchased 20 years ago, but was already 10 years old when it
was bought.
As a result, DOC officials are forced to "use the system as when we were a
territory," Allbaugh said, holding up a 2-inch thick file of 1 inmate. "We have
to rely on paper files because the software doesn't work. Their credits, their
life history is right here."
Executions
During a question and answer session, Allbaugh was asked about resuming
executions in Oklahoma and if he thought the multi-county grand jury might
indict prison officials associated with a botched execution and an indefinite
stay of at least 2 others.
Allbaugh had no comment on the grand jury, but said he believes the department
is ready to resume executions at OSP in McAlester. Allbaugh, a death penalty
proponent, said he's "totally confident" kinks in the execution process has
been eliminated. He also said it's likely executions would likely resume in
early fall.
Oklahoma's execution protocol came under heavy scrutiny in September when
prison officials discovered they did not have the lawful drugs to execute
convicted killer Richard Glossip, whose life already had been spared on a
previous occasion when an appeals court ruled in his favor. A spokesman for
Gov. Mary Fallin said in September the DOC purchased potassium acetate instead
of potassium chloride, which was approved earlier in 2015 by the U.S. Supreme
Court as 2 of the 3 drugs used in Oklahoma's executions.
The spokesman claimed at the time the drugs are similar and the stay was
granted "out of an abundance of caution." However, Oklahoma Attorney General
Scott Pruitt later requested Fallin grant an indefinite stay of execution until
the entire ordeal could be settled. The multi-county grand jury later began
investigating the drug mix-up. After the mix-up occurred, then-DOC Director
Robert Patton and OPS Warden Anita Trammell retired. Patton and Trammell both
testified before the grand jury before leaving the DOC.
The resignation of Fallin's legal counsel, Steve Mullins, soon followed.
Mullins testified before the grand jury. At this point, government officials
have not directly linked the resignations or Trammell's retirement to the DOC
drug investigation.
Pruitt and attorneys for the death row inmates agreed executions would not
resume until 150 days after the grand jury issues its report.
(source: reddirtreport.com)
UTAH:
Death Penalty Debate Emerging In Utah's Right
A surprising new conversation is occurring within the circles of the political
Right in Utah: the abolition of the death penalty.
Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty was founded in order to give
those on the Right space to advocate the end of capital punishment. Marc Hyden,
the organization???s national advocacy coordinator, said that the death penalty
egregiously violates conservative and libertarian principles.
"I believe that a policy, to be considered conservative, be at least pro-life,
fiscally responsible, and representative of a limited government. The death
penalty inherently risks innocent life. So, we know it's not pro-life to risk
innocent life. Then we find that the death penalty costs millions more dollars
than life without parole," Hyden said. "But in the end, you have to ask
yourself, is this really representative of a limited government? Is there
anything limited about giving an error-prone state the power to kill its
citizens?"
An effort to end the death penalty in Utah this past legislative session passed
the state Senate but failed to get a vote in the House. Hyden said that
reactions from fellow conservatives and libertarians to a push for abolition
have been positive.
"It's been great. I've been to CPAC 4 years in a row. We've been to Young
Americans for Liberty conferences. I've been to local GOP meetings and I've
spoken at Tea Parties," he said. "I find everywhere that there has been a
longstanding hunger to have this discussion from the political Right's
perspective, but they've never had an organization or a forum to have that
discussion."
Hyden will present his views at the state Young Americans for Liberty
convention on Saturday in Salt Lake City.
(source: upr.org)
IDAHO:
US Supreme Court won't hear case of Beaumont boy's killer
The U.S. Supreme Court has denied a petition to hear an appeal from a man
sentenced to death for kidnapping, torturing and killing a young northern Idaho
boy after killing several members of his family.
Joseph Edward Duncan III faces the death penalty for the 2005 murder of
9-year-old Dylan Groene. He also faces several life sentences for the murder of
3 family members and the kidnapping of his then-8-year-old sister.
The high court's action in late February lets stand a judge's 2013 finding that
Duncan was competent when he waived his right to appeal after representing
himself at his sentencing hearing.
That finding was also affirmed in March 2015 by a federal appellate court. The
court said a lower court had correctly found Duncan competent and said it was
too late to change his mind.
Duncan was also convicted of the April 1999 killing and sexual assault of
Anthony Martinez of Beaumont. Martinez, then 10, was lured from the alley
behind his home by Duncan. His body was found in the Indio Hills several days
later.
Local prosecutors extradited Duncan to Riverside County but declined to move
forward with a death penalty trial after discussion with Martinez' family. He
agreed to plead guilty to Martinez' murder and was sentenced to life in prison
in that case.
(source: KESQ news)
USA:
Death Penalty Fast Facts
Here's a look at the death penalty in the United States.
Facts: As of April 2016, Capital punishment is legal in 31 U.S. states.
New Mexico and Nebraska abolished the death penalty in 2009 and 2015,
respectively. The repeal was not retroactive, however. Inmates on death row in
those states may still be executed.
Pennsylvania imposed a moratorium on executions in 2015.
Maryland abolished the death penalty in 2013. A year later, former governor,
Martin O'Malley commuted the death sentences of four prisoners awaiting
execution.
When Connecticut governor, Dannel Malloy signed a bill repealing capital
punishment in 2012, the state had 11 prisoners on death row. A state Supreme
Court ruling on August 13, 2015 abolished capital punishment for all in
Connecticut. The 11 men will instead serve life sentences without parole.
As of January 1, 2016, there were 2,943 inmates awaiting execution.
Since 1976, when the death penalty was reinstated by the U.S. Supreme Court,
1,434 people have been executed (as of April 13, 2016).
Since 1973, there have been 156 death row exonerations. 26 of them are from the
state of Florida.
Federal Government:
The U.S. government and U.S. military have 62 people awaiting execution. (as of
March 24, 2016)
The U.S. government has executed 3 people since 1976.
Females: There are 57 women on death row in the United States.
16 women have been executed since the reinstatement of the death penalty in
1976.
Juveniles: 22 individuals were executed between 1985 and 2003 for crimes
committed as juveniles.
March 1, 2005 - Roper v. Simmons. The Supreme Court rules that the execution of
juvenile offenders is unconstitutional.
Clemency: 280 clemencies have been granted in the United States since 1976.
For federal death row inmates, the president alone has the power to grant a
pardon.
Timeline:
1834 - Pennsylvania becomes the first state to move executions into
correctional facilities, ending public executions.
1838 - Discretionary death penalty statutes are enacted in Tennessee.
1846 - Michigan becomes the 1st state to abolish the death penalty for all
crimes except treason.
1890 - William Kemmler becomes the 1st person executed by electrocution.
1907-1917 - 9 states abolish the death penalty for all crimes or strictly limit
it. By 1920, 5 of those states had reinstated it.
1924 - The use of cyanide gas is introduced as an execution method.
1930s - Executions reach the highest levels in American history, averaging 167
per year.
June 29, 1972 - Furman v. Georgia. The Supreme Court effectively voids 40 death
penalty statutes and suspends the death penalty.
1976 - Gregg v. Georgia. The death penalty is reinstated.
January 17, 1977 - A 10-year moratorium on executions ends with the execution
of Gary Gilmore by firing squad in Utah.
1977 - Oklahoma becomes the 1st state to adopt lethal injection as a means of
execution.
December 7, 1982 - Charles Brooks becomes the 1st person executed by lethal
injection.
1984 - Velma Barfield of North Carolina becomes the 1st woman executed since
reinstatement of the death penalty.
1986 - Ford v. Wainwright. Execution of insane persons is banned.
1987 - McCleskey v. Kemp. Racial disparities are not recognized as a
constitutional violation of "equal protection of the law" unless intentional
racial discrimination against the defendant can be shown.
1988 - Thompson v. Oklahoma. Executions of offenders age 15 and younger at the
time of their crimes are declared unconstitutional.
1989 - Stanford v. Kentucky, and Wilkins v. Missouri. The Eighth Amendment does
not prohibit the death penalty for crimes committed at age 16 or17.
1994 - President Bill Clinton signs the Violent Crime Control and Law
Enforcement Act that expands the federal death penalty.
1996 - The last execution by hanging takes place in Delaware, with the death of
Billy Bailey.
January 31, 2000 - A moratorium on executions is declared by Illinois Governor
George Ryan. Since 1976, Illinois is the 1st state to block executions.
2002 - Atkins v. Virginia. The Supreme Court rules that the execution of
mentally retarded defendants violates the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and
unusual punishment.
January 2003 - Before leaving office, Governor George Ryan grants clemency to
all of the remaining 167 inmates on Illinois's death row, due to the flawed
process that led to the death sentences.
June 2004 - New York's death penalty law is declared unconstitutional by the
state's high court.
March 1, 2005 - Roper v. Simmons. The Supreme Court rules that the execution of
juvenile killers is unconstitutional. The 5-4 decision tosses out the death
sentence of a Missouri man who was 17-years-old when he murdered a St. Louis
area woman in 1993.
December 2, 2005 - The execution of Kenneth Lee Boyd in North Carolina marks
the 1,000th time the death penalty has been carried out since it was reinstated
by the Supreme Court in 1976. Boyd, 57, is executed for the 1988 murders of his
wife, Julie Curry Boyd, and father-in-law, Thomas Dillard Curry.
June 12, 2006 - The Supreme Court rules that death row inmates can challenge
the use of lethal injection as a method of execution.
December 15, 2006 - Florida Governor Jeb Bush suspends the death penalty after
the execution of prisoner Angel Diaz. Diaz had to be given 2 injections, and it
took more than 30 minutes for him to die.
December 15, 2006 - Judge Jeremy Fogel of the U.S. District Court in San Jose
rules that lethal injection in California violates the constitutional
prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment.
December 17, 2007 - Governor Jon Corzine signs legislation banning the death
penalty in New Jersey. The death sentences of 6 men are commuted to life terms.
September 2007 - The U.S. Supreme Court takes up the case of Baze and Bowling
v. Rees, in which 2 Kentucky death row inmates challenged Kentucky's use of a
3-drug mixture for death by lethal injection.
December 31, 2007 - Due to the de facto moratorium on executions, pending the
Supreme Court's ruling, only 42 people in the U.S. are executed in 2007. It is
the lowest total in more than 10 years.
April 14, 2008 - In a 7-2 ruling, the Supreme Court upholds Kentucky's use of
lethal injection. Between September 2007, when the Court took on the case, and
April 2008 no one was executed in the U.S.
March 18, 2009 - Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico signs legislation
repealing the death penalty in his state. His actions will not affect 2
prisoners currently on death row, Robert Fry, who killed a woman in 2000, and
Tim Allen, who killed a 17-year-old girl in 1994.
November 13, 2009 - Ohio becomes the 1st state to switch to a method of lethal
injection using a single drug, rather than the 3-drug method used by other
states.
2010 - Execution by firing squad is used for the last time in Utah, with the
death of Ronnie Lee Gardner.
March 9, 2011 - Illinois Governor Pat Quinn announces that he has signed
legislation eliminating the death penalty in his state, more than 10 years
after the state halted executions.
March 16, 2011 - The Drug Enforcement Agency seizes Georgia's supply of
thiopental, over questions of where the state obtained the drug. U.S.
manufacturer Hospira stopped producing the drug in 2009. The countries that
still produce the drug do not allow it to be exported to the U.S. for use in
lethal injections.
May 20, 2011 - The Georgia Department of Corrections announces that
pentobarbital will be substituted for sodium thiopental in the three-drug
lethal injection process.
July 2011 - Lundbeck Inc., the company that makes pentobarbital (brand name
Nembutal), the drug used in lethal injections, announces it will restrict the
use of its product from prisons carrying out capital punishment. "After much
consideration, we have determined that a restricted distribution system is the
most meaningful means through which we can restrict the misuse of Nembutal.
While the company has never sold the product directly to prisons and therefore
can't make guarantees, we are confident that our new distribution program will
play a substantial role in restricting prisons' access to Nembutal for misuse
as part of lethal injection." Lundbeck also states that it "adamantly opposes
the distressing misuse of our product in capital punishment."
July 7, 2011 - Humberto Leal Garcia, Jr., a Mexican national, is executed by
lethal injection, in Texas for the 1994 kidnap, rape and murder of Adra Sauceda
in San Antonio. Despite pleas from the U.S. State Department and the White
House, Texas Governor Rick Perry does not grant clemency and the U.S. Supreme
Court does not intervene.
November 22, 2011 - Governor John Kitzhaber of Oregon grants a reprieve to Gary
Haugen, who was scheduled to be executed December 6. Kitzhaber, a licensed
physician, also puts a moratorium on all state executions for the remainder of
his term in office.
April 25, 2012 - Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy signs S.B. 280, An Act
Revising the Penalty for Capital Felonies, into law. The law goes into effect
immediately and replaces the death penalty with life without the possibility of
parole. The law is not retroactive to those already on death row.
June 22, 2012 - The Arkansas Supreme Court strikes down the state's execution
law, calling the form of lethal injection the state uses unconstitutional.
August 7, 2012 - The Supreme Court allows the execution of Marvin Wilson, 54, a
Texas inmate with low IQ.
November 6, 2012 - A measure to repeal the death penalty in California fails.
May 2, 2013 - Maryland's governor signs a bill repealing the death penalty. The
legislation goes into effect October 1.
June 26, 2013 - Texas executes its 500th prisoner since 1982, Kimberly
McCarthy, for the 1997 murder of Dorothy Booth. McCarthy is the 1st female
executed in the U.S. since 2010.
November 20, 2013 - Missouri executes white supremacist serial killer Joseph
Paul Franklin for the 1977 murder of Gerald Gordon. He was blamed for 22
killings between 1977 and 1980.
January 16, 2014 - Ohio executes inmate Dennis McGuire with a new combination
of drugs, due to the unavailability of drugs such as pentobarbital. The state
used a combination of the drugs midazolam, a sedative, and the painkiller
hydromorphone, according to the state corrections department. According to
witness Alan Johnson of the Columbus Dispatch, the whole execution process took
24 minutes, and McGuire appeared to be gasping for air for 10 to 13 minutes.
February 11, 2014 - Washington Governor Jay Inslee announces that he is issuing
a moratorium on death penalty cases during his term in office.
May 22, 2014 - Tennessee becomes the 1st state to make death by electric chair
mandatory when lethal injection drugs are unavailable.
May 28, 2014 - A judge in Ohio issues an order temporarily suspending
executions in the state so that authorities can further study new lethal
injection protocols.
July 23, 2014 - Arizona uses a new combination of drugs for the lethal
injection to execute convicted murderer Joseph Woods. After he was injected it
took him nearly 2 hours to die. Witness accounts differ as to whether he was
gasping for air or snoring as he died.
September 4, 2014 - The Oklahoma Department of Public Safety issues a report on
the controversial April execution of inmate Clayton Lockett. Complications with
the placement of an IV into Lockett played a significant role in problems with
his execution, according to the report. An autopsy confirmed that Lockett died
from the execution drugs and not from a heart attack, but many consider it
botched nonetheless because it took 43 minutes for him to die.
November 19, 2014 - A Utah legislative committee votes 9-2 to endorse a bill
that will allow the execution of condemned prisoners by firing squad if drugs
needed for lethal injection are not available. The bill is scheduled to be
heard by full Utah Legislature convening in January 2015.
December 22, 2014 - A U.S. district court judge in Oklahoma rules that future
scheduled executions may proceed after he denies a preliminary injunction
request filed by 21 Oklahoma death row inmates stemming from the problematic
execution of Clayton Lockett on April 29.
December 22, 2014 - Arizona's state-commissioned review board decides that the
execution of Joseph Woods was "handled appropriately," but that it will be
changing the combination they use in future executions from a 2-drug formula to
a 3-drug formula, or a single-drug injection if the State can obtain it
(pentobarbital).
December 31, 2014 - Outgoing Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley takes the
state's last 4 inmates off death row, commuting their sentences to life in
prison without parole in one of his final acts in office.
January 8, 2015 - Ohio announces that it is reincorporating thiopental sodium,
a drug which it used in executions from 1999-2011, into its execution policy.
The state is also dropping the 2-drug regimen of midazolam and hydromorphone.
January 23, 2015 - The Supreme Court agrees to hear a case concerning the
lethal injection protocol in Oklahoma. The inmates claim that the state
protocol violates the Constitution's prohibition on cruel and unusual
punishment.
January 30, 2015 - Ohio state's Department of Rehabilitation and Correction
announces it will delay the executions of 7 death row inmates while searching
for an adequate supply of drugs that complies with its new execution protocol.
February 13, 2015 - Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf halts all executions in his
state, citing the state's "error prone" justice system and "inherent biases"
among his reasons for the moratorium. The moratorium will be in place until a
task force examining capital punishment in Pennsylvania issues its final
report.
February 18, 2015 - Philadelphia District Attorney R. Seth Williams announces
he has filed a petition to block Gov. Wolf halting executions. Williams says
the moratorium is an "unconstitutional takeover of powers."
March 23, 2015 - Utah Governor Gary Herbert signs legislation making the firing
squad an authorized method of death if the drugs required for lethal injection
are unavailable.
May 20, 2015 - The Nebraska legislature passes a bill to repeal the state's
death penalty and replace it with life without parole. The measure, which
passed on a 32-15 vote, faces a promised veto from Gov. Pete Ricketts. State
Sen. Ernie Chambers, the bill's sponsor and a member of the New Alliance Party,
says he's confident supporters can muster the 30 votes necessary to override a
veto.
June 29, 2015 - The Supreme Court rules, in a 5-4 decision, that the usage of
the sedative, midazolam in lethal injections is not a violation of the
constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Midazolam is one of three
drugs that are combined to carry out the death penalty in Oklahoma. After the
long, messy execution of Clayton Lockett on April 29, 2014 at the Oklahoma
State Penitentiary, public safety officials conducted a review to determine
whether midazolam is potent enough on its own to prevent severe pain when the
deadly drugs are administered. They ultimately concluded that the sedative is
safe and effective, even though the drug is not approved by the FDA as a
general anesthetic for surgery.
October 19, 2015 - Ohio delays executions until 2017, citing difficulties
getting the necessary drugs.
(source: CNN)
_______________________________________________
A service courtesy of Washburn University School of Law www.washburnlaw.edu
DeathPenalty mailing list
DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu
http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty
Unsubscribe: http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/options/deathpenalty
