Feb. 5
FLORIDA:
Time to abolish Florida's death penalty
Dear readers, as the family survivor of a double homicide, I am opposed to the
death penalty. It is severely broken.
It has been expensive for the state to defend the constitutionality of the
system. Many have been exonerated. With a fallible system we cannot ensure that
mistakes that cost valuable lives won't occur.
It is immoral, it is homicide. We share with children that it is a very bad
thing that he did, but it will be a good thing if we kill him. Actually, that
homicide is committed in our name. We will kill. That includes me and you. I
don't want to participate.
It is time to abolish the death penalty in Florida before the next
constitutional challenge. Peace.
Agnes Furey
Tallahassee
(source: Letter to the Editor, Bradenton Herald)
KENTUCKY:
July still target date for trial in officer's murder
Last May, Madison Circuit Judge William G. Clouse set a July 5, 2017, joint
trial date for Raleigh Sizemore Jr. and Gregory Ratliff. On Friday morning,
Clouse was still adamant the trial will start then.
Sizemore and Ratliff are charged in connection with the shooting death of
Richmond Police Officer Daniel Ellis.
Madison Commonwealth's Attorney David Smith said the status conference Friday
was set by Clouse to monitor preparation for the trial.
During the conference, Clouse said he anticipates motions will be filed by all
parties and wants motions filed expeditiously so he can time to study them and
make a ruling. Clouse, who previously requested attorneys to provide reasons
for excusing a jury for cause as prior knowledge of the case is a concern, said
those were to be filed by Feb. 23.
Ratliff's attorney indicated he will file a motion for a separate trial by the
next court date.
Sizemore's attorneys, meanwhile, filed a motion to declare Kentucky's death
penalty unconstitutional. A hearing for that motion will be held on March 17,
Smith said.
Clouse said if there are separate trials, Sizemore's case will be heard first.
Sizemore is charged with: murder (police officer); 2 counts of attempted murder
(police officer) for allegedly shooting at the officers who came to Ellis' aid;
1st-degree unlawful imprisonment for holding a woman hostage as Ellis searched
an apartment for the suspect; 2 counts of convicted felon in possession of a
handgun; attempted 1st-degree robbery; and 2 counts of being a 1st-degree
persistent felony offender.
Ratliff is charged with: complicity to murder (police officer); 2 counts of
complicity to attempted murder (police officer); and complicity to unlawful
imprisonment.
Smith previously informed the court he intends to seek the death penalty for
both defendants.
Carl Banks and Rita Creech, who are charged in connection with the attempted
robbery that prompted police to search for Sizemore, have court dates set for
March 2 and April 14, respectively.
(source: The Richmond Register)
NEBRASKA:
Death penalty issues enter legal thicket
A last-minute change in Nebraska's new protocol for executions moves the
process back into public view, where it should be so taxpayers can monitor what
government is doing in their name.
The final protocol, which has been signed by Gov. Pete Ricketts, will allow
taxpayers to know the identity of the person, company or entity supplying the
execution drugs.
It allows the Corrections Department to use whatever appropriate lethal
injection drugs are available and would give an inmate with a scheduled
execution information on what drugs would be used and in what quantity 60 days
before a request for a death warrant.
An open and transparent execution process is important to the public because
discussion continues on various aspects of the death penalty and whether
Nebraska's system will meet "the evolving standards of decency which mark the
progress of a maturing society," as Chief Justice Earl Warren of the U.S.
Supreme Court wrote in 1958.
At issue is whether Nebraska's system would constitute cruel and unusual
punishment, which is banned by the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Some advocates of the death penalty, however, apparently are uncomfortable with
the transparency of the new protocol.
Sen. John Kuehn of Heartwell has introduced a bill that would allow the state
to keep the record confidential if it would lead to disclosure of the person or
entity that manufactures, supplies, compounds or prescribes the execution
drugs.
Other states, including Texas and Missouri, currently shroud their executions
in secrecy, and use pentobarbital made by an anonymous compounding pharmacy as
part of their protocol. The only injectable form of the drug licensed for sale
in the U.S. is Nembutal, made by a firm which refuses to sell it to prisons.
It won't be easy for Nebraska officials to devise a workable system that can
survive legal challenges.
The history of the death penalty is one of constant evolution. The last person
to be executed in Nebraska died in the electric chair. Electrocution
subsequently was ruled to constitute cruel and unusual punishment by the state
Supreme Court.
Meanwhile court rulings in other parts of the country continue to constrict the
implementation of the death penalty. Last year only 20 people were executed
nationwide, and only 30 were sentenced to death.
In the wake of the November vote in Nebraska the most important discussions on
the immediate future of the death penalty will take place in a courtroom.
Legal challenges will multiply if the Legislature allows what amounts to an
executioner???s hood in the new process for putting a convict to death. How
could it be otherwise with a system that is demonstrably fallible and
arbitrary?
(source: Editorial Board Lincoln Journal Star)
NEW MEXICO:
On the death penalty, a profile in courage
Rep. Monica Youngblood has introduced House Bill 72 that would reinstate the
death penalty in New Mexico. Here is my perspective.
Like many of my generation, I was greatly influenced by reading John F.
Kennedy's Profiles in Courage. That book profiled public officials who took
public positions that went against popular opinion at the time, but history
proved to be correct.
This brings me to the subject of the death penalty. The historical trend is
against the vengeance-seeking death penalty, but in the United States, the
issue does emerge when we have an especially heinous crime like the sexual
assault and murder of Victoria Martens ("Republican plans revival of death
penalty proposal measure," Jan. 10). It is hard for any of us to understand how
anyone could do this to an innocent 10-year-old.
I experienced this same situation in my native state of Massachusetts in the
late 1990s. 2 men kidnapped a 10-year-old boy, sexually assaulted and then
killed him. In his grief, the father of the boy led a campaign to reinstate the
death penalty in Massachusetts. The issue passed the Senate and then went to
the House. There it passed by 1 vote.
In Massachusetts, legislators have 24 hours to change their vote. One
legislator went home that night and asked himself, "could I pull the switch
that would kill a person?" and his answer was "no." The legislator decided that
if he couldn't do it then he couldn't vote to ask others to do it, and went
back the next day and changed his vote. The death penalty was not reinstated.
Now that was a profile in courage.
In an ironic twist, the father of the boy who was killed is now an active
member of Murder Victim Families Against the Death Penalty. He came to realize
that taking another's life would not bring back his son.
I think any New Mexican legislator who considers voting for reinstating the
death penalty should ask themselves the same question that the Massachusetts
legislator asked himself - would you be willing to be the person who took the
action that took a human life?
Richard Mason is vice president of the League of Women Voters of New Mexico
(source: Letter to the Editor, Santa Fe New Mexican)
ARIZONA:
2 young, beautiful lives were taken in horrible tragedies. Justice is waiting.
Nearly 2 1/2 years have passed since Bella Grogan-Cannella's partially clad
body was found in a shallow grave in a Bullhead City wash.
The man charged with killing the 8-year-old was quickly apprehended, jailed,
and indicted on 1 count of 1st-degree murder and other alleged crimes.
The horrific sexual assault and murder-by-strangulation gained national
notoriety. Few victims are more sympathetic than an innocent child and Mohave
County Attorney Matt Smith and his staff decided the now 28-year-old Justin
James Rector, if ultimately convicted, should be subject to the death penalty.
Defense attorneys came and went, but the one who stuck around is Gerald Gavin,
a man who has filed dozens of documents for prosecutor Greg McPhillips to
respond to and Mohave County Superior Court Judge Lee Jantzen to rule on.
Gavin, a fierce opponent of the death penalty, has made it clear he will do
whatever he legally can do to spare his client the ultimate punishment.
1 tactic is to draw things out, which he's done. In 2014, Jantzen scheduled the
trial for October - of 2016 - giving attorneys what appeared to be more than
ample time to prepare.
When it became obvious that date would never be met, Jantzen set a new trial
date for May, tacking on another 8 months.
This isn't a criticism of Gavin or anyone else involved in this case. When the
state seeks to kill one of its citizens, exercising an abundance of due care to
ensure a fair trial for the accused is not only a legal duty, but a moral
imperative.
But at what point does justice delayed become justice denied? The legal maxim
requires justice to be speedy, but not to the point it becomes reckless.
Clearly, Rector has and should be afforded every consideration.
The Issue
One of the primary conflicts between Gavin and McPhillips regards a mental
health examination. Rector is under no legal obligation to submit to the
examination. Gavin, however, has said he intends to have Rector examined, but
not before he has gathered all of his mental health records. That process has
been underway almost from the start of the case.
McPhillips wants the examination to be conducted so a doctor could presumably
determine Rector's state of mind during the alleged attack and murder.
While the process of gathering mental health records began more than 2 years
ago, both Jantzen and McPhillips have voiced concerns in court hearings about
how much longer this will take.
McPhillips at a hearing on Jan. 27 said he was concerned about "having our eyes
on the ball" regarding the mental health records. Jantzen agreed, telling Gavin
he needed to "get to the end of the line" with his search.
Gavin, for his part, said he anticipates Rector's mental health history to be
part of his defense strategy.
Those examinations will have to take place sooner rather than later if the case
is to remain on track for a May trial. Jantzen has not yet extended the date,
but it's expected he will, perhaps in March when Rector is next in court for a
status hearing.
Ketchner Trial
Meanwhile, the 2nd death penalty trial of Darrell Ketchner, the man who stabbed
to death 18-year-old Ariel Allison and shot her mother, Jennifer Allison, on
July 4, 2009, has been slowly and quietly moving forward since February 2014,
when an appellate court determined the state permitted prejudicial testimony
from a domestic violence expert. The higher court reversed the murder
conviction and sent the case back to Mohave County to be retried.
Ketchner never denied committing the crimes. His entire defense focused on
avoiding the death penalty. Still, it took 4 years for that case to conclude,
only to be sent back for another trial 2 years ago.
When a Mohave County jury handed down the death penalty following Ketchner's
1st trial in 2013, Jennifer Allison told the Miner she was pleased with the
verdict.
She said it gave her closure, but nearly 8 years have gone by since that
horrible night and closure continues to prove elusive.
(source: Kingman Daily Miner)
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