April 16
TEXAS:
Texas prisons leader Brad Livingston will retire this year
Brad Livingston, Texas Department of Criminal Justice's executive director for
more than a decade, announced Friday that he will retire in August.
Livingston joined the agency in 1997 as deputy director of the financial
services division, becoming chief financial officer in 2001 and executive
director in 2005.
"While this role has its challenges, I had the opportunity to work with some of
the most talented criminal justice staff in the nation. These are the unsung
heroes who perform demanding, often dangerous, and always critical functions
for the state of Texas." Livingston said. "I will always be grateful for the
opportunity to lead such a remarkable agency."
In recent years, Livingston has overseen a significant reduction in both the
prison population overall and in the agency's use of solitary confinement to
house inmates. The number of inmates statewide dropped from 156,000 to 147,000,
and for the 1st time in state history, lawmakers decided to close three prison
units. After scrutiny from the media and lawmakers, the TDCJ also reduced its
use of solitary confinement, called administrative segregation, by some 50 % in
recent years.
Marc Levin, director of the Texas Public Policy Foundation's Center for
Effective Justice & Right on Crime, described Livingston as the "consummate
professional administrator."
"He did a very professional job and demonstrated a lot of integrity," Levin
said.
During Livingston's tenure, the agency also implemented a new system-wide risk
assessment to help community supervision, prison, re-entry, and parole staff
improve case management services for individual offenders. And entry level
correctional officer salaries have increased by 57 % since 2004.
"There's hardly an area within the TDCJ that has not been affected by his
leadership," said Texas Board of Criminal Justice Chairman Dale Wainwright. "He
never backed away from a challenge but addressed them head on."
But the agency has also faced criticism and legal challenges during
Livingston's time. It has been sued over sweltering heat in its
un-air-conditioned units, many of which are decrepit. The department also
continues to struggle to maintain its workforce numbers amid a booming economy
that attracts workers to higher-paying jobs.
Under Livingston, the agency has also cultivated a reputation for secrecy among
defense lawyers and the media when it comes to administration of the death
penalty. TDCJ successfully lobbied lawmakers to make secret all information
about the source of drugs used in Texas executions. The issue gathered national
attention when Texas and other states ran out of drugs they had long used to
conduct executions and were forced to turn to alternative sources, including
products created at compounding pharmacies that are loosely regulated. TDCJ
officials argued releasing information about the source of those drugs would
put the drug makers in jeopardy and leave the state without a way to carry out
death sentences.
More than 190 inmates have been executed since Livingston took over leadership
of the agency.
State Sen. John Whitmire, chairman of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee
said that while Livingston has often been the brunt of his "passion" for
criminal justice reform, he enjoyed working with the agency leader. He called
Livingston a steady hand.
Whitmire said he hopes that Gov. Greg Abbott and the TDCJ board will choose a
reform-minded successor to Livingston who will continue the agency's movement
to increase rehabilitation and treatment for offenders.
"I want to be tough and smarter" on crime, Whitmire said.
(source: Dallas Morning News)
PENNSYLVANIA:
Commissioners approve mitigation services for homicide suspect
The Schuylkill County commissioners approved an agreement Wednesday for
mitigation services in the death penalty case against Shavinskin N. Thomas, who
is 1 of 2 men accused of killing a Pottsville man in August 2015.
The agreement is with Juandalynn Taylor, of the Taylor Advocacy Group, which is
based in San Antonio, Texas, with an office in Ardmore.
As an independent mitigation specialist, Taylor will be a member of the
criminal defense team that provides supportive research and a documented
history of the defendant to the defense counsel. A mitigation defense is
required for capital punishment cases.
Pottsville police allege that Thomas and Joshua M. Lukach entered John Brock's
home at 14 S. 12th St., Pottsville, and fatally stabbed him with a knife and
box-cutter knife and took his debit card. Prosecutors are seeking the death
penalty for each man.
Thomas is represented by Assistant Public Defender Andrea L. Thompson, which is
why the commissioners' approval was needed for the agreement. Lukach is
represented by Jeffrey J. Markosky, Mahanoy City, and Julie A. Werdt,
Orwigsburg.
The agreement with Taylor is for $100 an hour and $50 an hour for travel.
(source: Standard Speaker)
VIRGINIA:
Lawmaker seeks ruling on death penalty proposal
The state delegate who sponsored legislation to allow Virginia to continue to
carry out the death penalty has asked Attorney General Mark Herring to weigh in
on the legality of Gov. Terry McAuliffe's recommendation to let the state
compound its own lethal drugs through contracts with unidentified pharmacies.
Del. Jackson Miller, R-Manassas, sent a letter to Herring on Friday asking if
any state or federal law would prevent pharmacies or outsourcing facilities
from selling drugs to the state or stop the Department of Corrections from
using the drugs in executions.
Miller, whose original bill would have allowed the state to use the electric
chair as a fallback option in case of a shortage of lethal drugs, asked Herring
to provide an opinion by April 20, when the General Assembly will reconvene to
take up the governor's vetoes and amendments to legislation passed earlier this
year.
"There are significant legal questions, even within the McAuliffe
administration, about the governor's amendment," Miller said in a news release.
The Washington Post reported this week that Caroline Juran, executive director
of the Virginia Board of Pharmacy, raised concerns in a 2014 email that
pharmacies that choose to make execution drugs could run afoul of laws meant to
limit controlled substances to medicinal purposes.
The request could put Herring in a tough spot on an issue that has scrambled
partisan affiliation in the past.
If Herring OKs the proposal, he could face blowback from liberals who oppose
the death penalty. Finding it legally suspect would undercut the governor. Not
issuing an opinion would allow Herring's critics to accuse him of equivocating
on a difficult topic.
"Given the pressing nature of the request and the gravity of the issue, the
office will work expeditiously to provide objective, accurate answers to the
legal questions Delegate Miller has asked, and it will then be for the General
Assembly to decide the policy issues at hand," said Herring spokesman Michael
Kelly.
McAuliffe's amendments to House Bill 815 contains language exempting the
compounding of lethal injection drugs from state medical regulations.
The governor's changes also allow the identities of any pharmacies involved in
the process to be kept secret, a provision McAuliffe said was necessary to
convince contractors to partner with the state.
Executions throughout the country have been called into question because of a
shortage of lethal injection drugs heightened by public pressure from those who
oppose the death penalty.
Several other states have passed execution secrecy laws, prompting legal
challenges from condemned prisoners who argue they have a right to know who
supplied the drugs.
The pending decision on the death penalty could impact the upcoming execution
of Ricky Javon Gray, who was sentenced to death for his role in the murders of
Richmond's Harvey family on New Year's Day in 2006. Gray was scheduled to
receive the death penalty on March 16, but his execution has been delayed as he
continues to appeal his case.
McAuliffe has said that if the legislature rejects his amendments, he'll veto
the measure to have the state make broader use of the electric chair. That
outcome, the governor has said, would effectively halt the death penalty in
Virginia.
Faith leaders have encouraged McAuliffe to veto the electric chair bill, and
activists are planning to rally Monday at the state Capitol in opposition to
the proposed secrecy amendment.
(source: roanoke.com)
***************
Hot potato for Herring: Can Virginia buy execution drugs from secret labs?
A prominent Republican lawmaker on Friday asked Virginia Attorney General Mark
Herring to weigh in on the legality of Gov. Terry McAuliffe's plan to hire
pharmacies to secretly supply the state with increasingly scarce lethal
injection drugs.
The move by Del. Jackson H. Miller (R-Manassas) puts Herring (D), who is
running for reelection in 2017, in a difficult spot on a tough issue.
Herring, a former state senator, has become a hero to liberals and a lightning
rod for conservatives for actions he has taken as attorney general to advance
gay marriage, abortion rights and immigration.
But he has supported the death penalty in the past, including in 2009, when he
voted for a bill to allow certain accomplices, not just the actual
"triggerman," to be charged with capital murder. That vote put Herring to the
right of his conservative Republican predecessor in the attorney general's
office, Ken Cuccinelli II, who opposed the bill as a senator.
Continued support for the death penalty could cost Herring the support of some
liberals, particularly at a moment when perceived mistreatment of minorities by
law-enforcement officers has become a rallying cry for Democrats. Yet Herring
might be reluctant to undercut a plan advanced by McAuliffe, a fellow Democrat.
"It is imperative that Attorney General Herring reply to this request before
the General Assembly session on April 20," Miller said in a written statement
Friday. "Undoubtedly the governor's office has already consulted with the
attorney general on this issue, so he should be able to quickly provide similar
counsel to the General Assembly."
Herring's spokesman, Michael Kelly, said that the attorney general would work
"expeditiously" to answer the legal questions raised by Miller "and it will
then be for the General Assembly to decide the policy issues at hand. We trust
that this request comes from a sincere desire to understand the legal framework
surrounding one of the most serious powers of the state."
Kelly noted that "Attorney General Herring believes that capital punishment
should be an option for the most heinous offenders."
As a general rule, the attorney general's office does not discuss legal advice
provided to the governor, lawmakers or others.
McAuliffe's spokesman, Brian Coy, declined to comment on Miller's request. But
Thursday, Coy and other administration officials said that there is no legal
problem with the plan, which a handful of other states have already
implemented.
"Precedent is overwhelmingly on the side of the administration," Coy said then.
Miller asked Herring for a legal opinion just days after McAuliffe drastically
amended one of his bills, which had been intended to let the state rely on the
electric chair when it could not obtain lethal-injection drugs.
McAuliffe's amendment would scrap that approach and instead allow the state to
specially order the drugs from compounding pharmacies. Their identities would
be kept secret in order to shield them from the sort of public pressure that
has driven American pharmaceutical companies to prohibit the use of their drugs
for executions and led Europe to ban exports of the substances to the United
States.
The administration proposed a bill to the same effect last year, but the
measure was ultimately defeated by conservative and liberal skeptics of
government secrecy.
Miller supported the 2015 bill and signaled a willingness to accept McAuliffe's
amendment after the governor announced it Monday. On Friday, Miller said he was
still inclined to do so when the General Assembly reconvenes for its veto
session next week.
But he also said he wanted to hear from Herring on the legality of the pharmacy
scheme - particularly because the state's pharmacy chief privately raised
questions about whether such a plan would violate state and federal law in
emails sent in 2014. The Washington Post reported the emails Thursday.
"There are significant legal questions, even within the McAuliffe
administration, about the governor's amendment," Miller said in a written
statement.
Miller asked Herring if state or federal laws that would prohibit Virginia from
acquiring lethal-injection drugs from a compounding pharmacy or a similar
operation known as an "outsourcing facility" prohibit the pharmacy from
providing it or prevent the state from using the drugs for an execution.
In internal emails from 2014 obtained by The Post, Caroline D. Juran, executive
director of the Virginia Board of Pharmacy, voiced concern that the plan might
run afoul of state and federal laws that pertain to the handling of controlled
substances and the practice of pharmacy and medicine.
She said that the plan might violate laws requiring that drugs only be
dispensed with a valid prescription and only for medicinal or therapeutic
purposes. She also questioned whether the secrecy provisions could prevent
authorities from investigating a pharmacy in the event of a botched execution.
McAuliffe's plan seeks to get around those issues by exempting pharmacies that
compound the lethal-injection drugs from normal state oversight. A 2012
Richmond Circuit Court ruling supported that approach, finding that "execution
by lethal injection by the Commonwealth of Virginia is not the regulated
practice of medicine, pharmacy or anesthesiology."
Some anti-death-penalty activists contend that the plan does nothing to address
violations of federal law. But administration officials said this week that
they were on solid ground.
(source: Washingtton Post)
NORTH CAROLINA:
Antwan Anthony lawyers want new trial; claim jurors may have heard improper
comments from sheriff employee
Attorneys for a man sentenced to death last week are asking for a new trial
after they say at least 1 juror overheard improper comments from a law
enforcement official.
Antwan Anthony was given the death penalty on April 5th after jurors
deliberated over a 3 day period. He was earlier convicted of killing 3
employees at the Hustle Mart back in 2012.
In a motion filed late Thursday afternoon, the man's attorneys say the juror
reported she and other members of the jury overheard "a Greenville Public
Information Officer" loudly "running her mouth about what should happen to the
defendant in this case."
Assistant District Attorney Clark Everett told Anthony's attorneys the person
was actually the public information officer for the Pitt County Sheriff's
Office.
An affidavit from defense attorney Terry Alford says the public information
officer was speaking to bailiffs who were with the jurors at the time outside
the courthouse. The juror said she and other members agreed that it was
improper for the official to be saying such things with them nearby.
The defense attorneys say the jury was exposed to "improper and prejudicial
influence," which violated Anthony's constitutional rights.
In addition to a new trial and/or a new sentencing hearing, Anthony's attorneys
are also asking that all courthouse surveillance videos--both inside and
outside--be preserved, they be given sufficient time to investigate what
happened, and the trial judge order an evidentiary hearing.
Pitt County District Attorney Kimberly Robb won't comment on the motion being
filed, while calls to Sheriff Neil Elks have not yet been returned.
(source: WITN news)
**************
Motion: Jurors heard 'improper comments' from sheriff's employee
Lawyers for a man sentenced to death last week for the killings of 3
convenience store workers have filed a motion for a new trial on grounds that
jurors overheard a sheriff???s office employee commenting on the case and what
should happen to the defendant.
The motion said a public information officer for the Pitt County Sheriff's
Office at some point during the trial reportedly was talking loudly to bailiffs
within earshot of jurors and was "running her mouth about what should happen to
the defendant in this case."
Antwan Andre Anthony, 33, was sentenced to death April 5 after a jury
unanimously recommended the death penalty. The same jury found Anthony guilty
March 21 of 3 counts of 1st-degree murder and robbery with a dangerous weapon
for shooting and killing Mokbel "Sam" Mohamed Almujanahi, 16; Nabil Nasser
Saeed Al'mogannahi, 26; and Gaber Alawi, 24, at the Hustle Mart-3 near
Farmville in April 2012.
His attorneys, Philip Lane and Terry Alford, filed a motion late Thursday
afternoon on his behalf, moving for a new trial and/or new sentencing hearing
on grounds that the jury was exposed to an improper and prejudicial influence.
The motion says Anthony's right to an impartial jury was violated.
According to the motion, Alford was contacted on Monday by Assistant District
Attorney Clark Everett, one of the prosecutors in the case. Everett had been
contacted by Cherry Stokes, a Greenville attorney, with information he received
from a juror in the trial.
The juror asked Stokes to contact the Pitt County District Attorney's Office
about the "unprofessional conduct of a 'Greenville Public Information
Officer,'" the motion says. That officer, according to the juror, moved near
the area jurors were standing outside the courthouse during a break. The motion
does not indicate on what date the comments reportedly were made.
Everett told Alford that the public information officer works for the Pitt
County Sheriff's Office, not Greenville, according to the motion. Everett
provided Alford with the employee's name, but Alford said in an affidavit
attached to the motion that he prefers not to state her name until further
investigation can be done.
"This officer was speaking in a very loud voice to the bailiffs who were with
the jurors," Alford said in his affidavit. "This officer was giving facts about
the case and what ought to happen to the defendant."
Alford said the juror who brought the incident to the attention of Stokes
believed that it was improper for the officer to make those comments in the
presence of the jury.
"I believe this extraneous information impermissibly prejudiced the defendant's
constitutional rights and illegally caused his conviction and/or his sentence
of death," Alford said in his affidavit.
The motion indicates that a new capital sentencing hearing was granted a case
that saw a similar situation.
In that case, a group of jurors was lunching at a diner during deliberations
and was approached by a man who expressed what should happen to the defendant,
according to the motion.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Virginia determined that
once there is 3rd-party contact with the jury on the subject of its
deliberations, there is a presumption of prejudice that can only be overcome if
the state shows the contact was harmless to the defendant.
Citing that case and the court's findings, Anthonys attorneys claim that at
least 1 juror was exposed to improper facts and external opinions from someone
associated with the government about what sentence Anthony should receive.
Through his attorneys, Anthony has requested that Superior Court Judge Robert
H. Hobgood, the judge who presided over the trial, be designated to hear the
motion and that the court order that all Pitt County courthouse surveillance
videos, both inside and outside the building, from Feb. 8 to April 5 be
preserved for review.
He also has requested an evidentiary hearing and a new trial or new sentencing
hearing.
Alford declined to comment on the motion on Friday.
District Attorney Kimberly Robb said she could confirm the motion had been
filed but she could not comment further. The Pitt County Sheriff's Office did
not immediately respond to requests for comment.
(source: reflector.com)
SOUTH CAROLINA:
Justice delayed extends trial by ordeal
Sept. 6, 1901: Leon Czolgosz fires 2 rounds from a .32-caliber revolver into
President William McKinley???s stomach at the Pan-American Exposition in
Buffalo, N.Y.
Sept. 14, 1901: McKinley dies of gangrene.
Sept. 26, 1901: A New York state court jury, 2 days after finding Czolgosz
guilty of murder, sentences him to death.
Oct. 29, 1901: Czolgosz is executed in the electric chair at Auburn (N.Y., not
Ala.) State Prison.
Feb. 15, 1933: Giuseppe Zangara fires 6 rounds from a .32-caliber revolver at
the open car from which Franklin D. Roosevelt has just given an impromptu
speech in Miami. The bullets don't hit the president-elect. But 2 of them do
strike the stomach of Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak as he stands on the car's
running board. 4 other people are also wounded.
March 6, 1933: Cermak dies, 2 days after Roosevelt's inauguration, from
peritonitis.
March 10, 1933: Zangara is convicted of 1st-degree murder and sentenced to
death by Florida Circuit Court Judge Uly Thompson.
March 20, 1933: Zangara is executed in the electric chair, aka "Old Sparky," at
the Florida State Prison in Raiford.
June 17, 2015: 9 people are shot to death during a Bible study at the Mother
Emanuel AME Church on Calhoun Street.
June 18, 2015: The suspected killer, Dylann Roof, is captured in Shelby, N.C.,
and brought to the Cannon Detention Center in North Charleston.
June 19, 2015: Roof is charged with 9 counts of 1st-degree murder under state
law.
July 16, 2015: State Circuit Judge J.C. Nicholson schedules Roof's trial for
July 11, 2016.
July 31, 2015: Roof is charged with 33 federal crimes in connection with the
Emanuel case.
April 13, 2016: Judge Nicholson postpones Roof's state trial until Jan. 17,
2017, explaining that he felt "obligated" to do so because the defendant's
psychiatric evaluation isn't finished.
And the state trial isn't the only one that's been put off - again. From
Thursday's Post and Courier story about Nicholson's decision:
"Roof also could face the death penalty in federal court, where he is charged
with 33 counts, but prosecutors there have not decided whether to seek it,
causing 4 delays in that case."
Back to our state's case against Roof: Though Judge Nicholson granted that
postponement Wednesday, he expressed concern about whether the supposed need
for additional mental health analysis was a "delaying tactic."
No kidding.
Do the math: The gap between the deaths of McKinley and his killer was 45 days.
The gap between the deaths of Cermak and his killer was 14 days.
The gap between the deaths of the Emanuel 9 and the start of Roof's state trial
will be 580 days.
That is, if the trial actually begins on Jan. 17, 2017.
Hurry up and wait
Another "justice delayed is justice denied" trend:
In this century, the average time between death sentences and those carried out
in the U.S. is roughly 15 years.
Another unjust pattern in many non-murder criminal cases:
Many charged suspects who can't afford bail long languish behind bars while
awaiting trial. Some who are finally found guilty are even released on time
already served.
Back to what we should do with Roof if he's convicted:
Yes, Americans increasingly oppose capital punishment, even for mass murder
motivated by vicious racism.
Yes, the Emanuel 9's loved ones displayed amazing grace by expressing
forgiveness for Roof at his arraignment, and some of them are against
sentencing him to death.
However, plenty of us still want Roof to receive the ultimate penalty - death -
if found guilty of this atrocity.
No, the good folks killed at Mother Emanuel weren't presidents or mayors.
But one of them, Clementa Pinckney, was the church's pastor - and a state
senator.
Pick up the pace
Roof has a right to a fair trial, so his attorneys rate enough time to get a
fair assessment of his mental health.
Yet why take so long to evaluate him, then try him, then convict or acquit him?
Then, if he's found guilty and condemned to death, why take so long to carry
out that utterly just sentence?
How can you determine if a person was insane while committing a murder anyway?
How can you figure out, long after a murder, a killer's mental condition at the
time of the vile deed?
And isn't murder itself at least sort of insane?
OK, so some folks might think it's crazy to long for a distant past when rushes
to judgment at times wrought tragic injustices.
Then again, our current practice of crawling to judgment is crazy, too.
So stop stalling justice.
As for my plea on behalf of those of us accused of being eager to see
death-penalty justice executed - and soon - in the Emanuel 9 case:
Guilty as charged.
(source: Frank Wooten is assistant editor of The Post and Courier)
GEORGIA:
North Georgia man who beat elderly woman to death gets sentence reduced
He waited 25 years for a new trial. Then, on Friday morning, he stood in the
Catoosa County courtroom, listening to a judge and 2 teams of lawyers resolve
his case. He stood there, surrounded by prison guards, for all of 10 minutes
before the whole process was finished, finally.
Jonathen Jarrells, convicted of beating a 71-year-old woman to death in 1988,
no longer faces the death penalty. At the agreement of his lawyers and the
Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit district attorney's office, Judge Brian House
signed a consent order, reducing Jarrells' murder sentence to life with the
possibility of parole.
It's not immediately clear when Jarrells' case file will slide onto the desks
of the State Board of Pardons and Parole. A spokesman for the board said Friday
he would need to see Jarrells' sentencing information firsthand.
But experts agree: Jarrells should be eligible soon, if not immediately.
"If he is eligible for parole now," Steve Hayes, the board's spokesman, wrote
in an email, "his case would be considered this year."
Times Free Press archives show that Jarrells was visiting his brother in
Lyerly, Ga., in 1987 when he knocked on the doors of the home across the
street. He met the Elrod sisters: Gertie, 71, and Lorraine, 75.
The sisters let him inside. Jarrells grabbed a pair of scissors and stabbed
them. He then tied them to a bed and beat them with an iron until it broke,
court records show. He crushed Gertie Elrod's skull, but her sister survived.
"He warned us," Lorraine Elrod testified in court the next year, according to
Times Free Press archives. "If we screamed, he'd have to kill us."
A jury convicted Jarrells of murder, armed robbery and aggravated assault. He
received a life sentence and the death penalty.
Questions about Jarrells' sentence arose two years later, when a lawyer filed a
motion in Butts County, Ga., arguing that Jarrells could not be put to death
because he was intellectually disabled. After a hearing, a judge agreed the
issue needed to be considered further. The judge remanded Jarrells' case to the
Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit for a new trial to determine if he was, in
fact, intellectually disabled.
25 years later, that case is now resolved.
In 2014, District Attorney Herbert "Buzz" Franklin told the Times Free Press
the process was taking decades for many reasons. In part, he said, because
these cases are complicated, with a number of pretrial hearings. Franklin, who
became district attorney in 1997, added that for years he couldn't figure out
who Jarrells' attorney was.
He said that in 2007 he began contacting the Georgia Resource Center, a
nonprofit that helps death row inmates find attorneys. Franklin said the group
didn't call him back for years.
According to the consent order signed Friday, the attorneys on both sides of
the case agreed that Jarrells was intellectually disabled based primarily on an
evaluation from Dr. George Baroff, who met with Jarrells before his 1991
hearing in Butts County.
Baroff administered a couple of intelligence tests to Jarrells, concluding that
his IQ was 69. He said educators in West Virginia who evaluated Jarrells as a
student found the same results. He repeated the 1st grade, repeated the 3rd
grade and, as of 1991, still had not learned how to read a map. He functioned
at the level of a 9-year-old.
"When asked how many weeks there are in a year," Baroff wrote in an affidavit
at the time of the Butts County hearing, "Mr. Jarrells responded that he did
not know, but if he had to guess he would say 30. He did not know the meaning
of the word 'enormous,' which he defined as 'somebody happy.'"
According to the consent order, a special education professor at the University
of Texas at Austin and a psychiatrist in Atlanta reviewed Baroff's findings.
"All of the doctors have concurred that Mr. Jarrells meets the criteria of
intellectual disability," his attorney, Gerald Word, said Friday.
Sarah Gerwig-Moore, a law professor at Mercer University, said Jarrells is
likely eligible for parole because the state will treat him under the laws of
1988, not today's. While a defendant convicted of murder would not be eligible
for parole until after 30 years in prison now, back in the 1980s that same
defendant would be eligible after 7 years.
Still, she said it's unclear whether the parole board will actually grant
Jarrells' release. Most of the details of the board's decisions are kept under
wraps.
"There will be some consideration," she said. "But Mr. Jarrells won't know when
that happens, how that happens, when the vote is."
Hayes, the spokesman, said the board considered 1,381 defendants with life
sentences in Fiscal Year 2015. Of those, they granted parole 151 times.
Rodney Zell, an Atlanta-based attorney who specializes in post-conviction
cases, said the board will consider the severity of Jarrells' crime, his mental
condition and his behavior as an inmate. If interested, Jarrells' family can
also present their case to the board, showing them that they will provide
health care for Jarrells and a place for him to stay.
Still, he doesn't believe Jarrells will get out of prison soon.
"Going from the death penalty to life with parole," Zell said, "it's not
something where the parole board would readily let him go."
(source: Times Free Press)
ALABAMA:
A more humane, effective method of execution?
There has to be a better way to perform death row executions. And there is
according to my fellow Honor Guard member, Colonel Mike Vacarro (Ret.) USAF and
veteran NASA engineer and astronaut trainer, and he knows what it is; the
Altitude Chamber. Also known as a Hypobaric Chamber, it is used for simulating
conditions of atmospheric pressure and temperature of a given altitude in order
to condition and test the behavior of flight personnel and equipment in a
rarefied environment.
Used by the military and private industry to train pilots for upper altitude
flight, Altitude Chambers (ACs) are also employed by professional athletes,
health clubs and fitness trainers. During the checkout procedure, test
participants keep oxygen masks at hand inside the chamber. While flying in
unpressurized military aircraft wearing an oxygen mask is required at 10,000
feet or above. Without the mask a person's performance effectiveness begins to
degrade at those levels. As altitude increases an individual's performance
becomes progressively worse and in the AC, as the altitude is artificially
increased, atmospheric pressure decreases. Without the protection of the oxygen
mask, the chamber that is rising in altitude reaches a point where the subject
cannot even perform trivial tasks. As the vacuum increases due to higher
altitude the subject experiences a feeling of euphoria (equivalent to three
martinis) and if the mask is not applied, soon loses consciousness followed by
a peaceful death.
A veteran of many such tests in maintaining his flight certification, Colonel
Vacarro points out that unlike the numerous botched executions referenced in an
al.com guest column by Stephen Cooper, it would seem that oxygen deprivation is
a simpler, more humane way to execute a person than electrocution or lethal
injection while at the same time eliminating the cries of cruel and unusual
punishment. He goes on to say that the sheer anticipation of execution by the
present systems, with their unpredictable results impose unnecessary pain and
suffering on the families viewing the executions.
We would like to see the state of Alabama take the lead in instituting the
Altitude Chamber to carry out the death penalty. With 181 men and 5 women
awaiting execution, the AC does indeed appear to be a more humane and
consistently reliable method than what many people believe are practices
bordering on torture that should be discontinued as quickly as possible.
We both agree; there has to be a better way and fortunately there is. Colonel
Vacarro and others propose it, and while plans are being drawn as this is
written for several new prisons to be built in Alabama to replace the archaic
existing institutions, now would be the ideal time to implement the Altitude
Chamber as the system of choice for executions.
(source: Guest Voices; John E. Carson, he writes for American Legion Post 237's
Newsletter and teaches Creative Writing at the Huntsville-Madison County Senior
Center on Drake; and Colonel Michael Vacarro(Ret.), a former NASA engineer and
astronaut trainer as well as a member of the American Legion Honor Guard, Post
237.----al.com)
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