July 22
MASSACHUSETTS:
Charlie Baker backs death penalty for cop killers, more police training
Gov. Charlie Baker renewed his call for the death penalty for cop killers in
the wake of Weymouth police Sgt. Michael Chesna's murder in the line of duty a
week ago, and said he will approve a new surcharge on rental cars to train
police in cities and towns across the state.
"I just view these jobs as so much more dangerous than other lines of work that
I think the standard on it should be very high," Baker said. "I certainly do
support the death penalty for people who kill a police officer, for a lot of
reasons."
Past attempts to reinstate the death penalty, however, have been shot down by
lawmakers or the Supreme Judicial Court.
Baker told the Herald he is going to sign a bill on his desk that will add a $2
surcharge to every vehicle rental contract in Massachusetts. The first
$10?million raised will go ???toward police training programs.
"I'm not a big fan of raising fees," Baker said. "The law enforcement community
made it very clear to us that this is their number one priority. ... We're
going to support it."
Baker said his office filed separate legislation that would've funded the
increase through the general fund, but he was willing to sign the bill passed
by the Legislature.
His support comes after Chesna, 42, was fatally shot while investigating a
report of an erratic driver last Sunday. Before him, Yarmouth police Sgt. Sean
Gannon was ambushed during an attempt to serve a warrant in April. Weeks later,
Maine Sheriff???s Deputy Eugene Cole was shot execution-style while patrolling
at night. Suspects with histories of drug convictions have been charged in each
case.
The governor also said the anti-police graffiti found in Southbridge Friday was
"outrageous."
"It's a message that I believe the majority of people in Massachusetts reject
out of hand," Baker said. "One of the things we need to remember here are these
men and women every day get up to protect and serve our communities and it's a
very tough job - probably as hard as it's ever been."
(source: Boston Herald)
LOUISIANA:
Does Louisiana death penalty bring justice?
It has been more than 8 years -- 3,118 days -- since Louisiana last executed an
inmate, and thanks to a federal court order requested by the Edwards
administration last week it will be at least another year before the state can
kill again.
Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry is appalled by the anemic body count and
is concerned that the state and Gov. John Bel Edwards just aren't trying hard
enough.
"Louisiana currently has over 70 inmates on death row awaiting execution and
the state has not carried out a death sentence since 2010, even though a large
and growing number of victims' families suffer in legal limbo waiting for
justice to be carried out," Landry wrote in a caustic letter to Edwards on
Wednesday (July 18), accusing the administration of "failing to pursue justice
for victims and their families."
Landry's wrath was ignited by the state's request for a delay in a lawsuit
challenging Louisiana's lethal injection protocols. As drugmakers refuse to
provide the chemicals for executions, Louisiana has had to change the recipe
for it's lethal cocktail. Miscalculations in other states have produced
barbaric results.
The state's latest concoction is a combination of the painkiller hydromorphone
and the sedative midazolam. The state says it doesn't have those drugs in its
inventory, rendering litigation of the case "a waste of resources and time."
U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick agreed to extend the court-ordered halt in
executions through at least July 18, 2019.
Council members condemn sham while council lawyers argue that its irrelevant.
Landry wasn't buying it and fired off the letter to Edwards announcing that the
AG's office would no longer be representing the state in the matter.
The attorney general noted that in the past two years, Texas, Florida, Georgia,
Alabama, Missouri, Ohio and Virginia have all managed to overcome similar
issues with execution drugs.
With just a hint of penal envy, Landry noted that Texas had successfully
carried out 7 executions in the first 6 months of this year and in "April 2017,
Arkansas carried out 2 executions in 1 day."
The "biggest obstacle to getting justice for our state's crime victims," Landry
told Edwards, is not about court cases or drugs but the governor's
"unwillingness to proceed with any executions."
He later tweeted out: "This is simple: I support the death penalty -- by lethal
injection, gas, hanging, and firing squad. Does @LouisianaGov? #lagov #lalege"
Edwards responded that Landry had never expressed any opposition to the state's
strategy and that leaving the case is no way to help victims.
Landry's take is not all that different than comedian Ron White's riff on
capital punishment in his home state.
"In Texas, we have the death penalty, and we use it," White says. "You come to
Texas and kill somebody, we will kill you back. That's our policy."
White marvels that the Texas Legislature even passed a bill to speed the
process when there are 3 or more credible eyewitnesses. "That means that if 3
or more people saw you do what you did, you don't sit on death row for 15
years, Jack! You go straight to the front of the line. Other states are trying
to abolish the death penalty. My state's putting in the express lane."
That sounds like Landry's kind of state.
The attorney general's appeal for justice and closure for victims and families
may be sincere, but it ignores the biggest flaws in how the death penalty is
administered in the United States: It's arbitrary, racially discriminatory, and
doesn't deter crime. In Louisiana, it's also wrong 4 out of 5 times.
A 2016 study by researchers at the University of North Carolina, found that 127
of the 155 death penalty cases resolved in Louisiana from 1976 through 2015
ended with a reversal of the sentence -- an 82 % reversal rate that is nearly
10 points above the national average. Since 2000, 7 people on death row have
been exonerated while only 2 have been executed.
In the meantime, the state is spending about $11 million a year through the
public defender's office in handling mandatory death sentence appeals.
The North Carolina study also found that a black male is 30 times more likely
to be sentenced to death in Louisiana if the victim is a white woman as opposed
to another black man. No white person has been executed in Louisiana for a
crime against a black victim since 1752, when the 2 black women who survived a
bayonet stabbing were considered someone else's property.
While Mitch Landrieu rides the wave of presidential campaign talk, his legacy
hits a few potholes at home.
But while recent polls have put support for the death penalty at about 49 %
nationally (with 42 % opposed), a survey this year by LSU's Reilly Center for
Media & Public Affairs found that 58 % of Louisiana residents back capital
punishment, while only 34 % oppose.
Still, this lag in executions would be a good time for an honest debate about
the death penalty instead of pushing to open an express lane.
(source: Tim Morris is an opinions columnist at NOLA.com ---- The
Times-Picayune)
*******************
Threaten with death in Louisiana or you simply encourage murder
The case of the Green River serial killer is one of the most chilling and
disturbing in America's history. Gary Ridgway was eventually arrested in 2001
in Washington State outside of Seattle and pleaded guilty to 49 counts of
murder. The sheriff at the time, Dave Reichert, says Ridgway wouldn't give up
the location of the bodies of his many victims until prosecutors agreed to
remove the threat of the death penalty. Ridgway didn't value the life of his
victims but he considered his own life worth saving.
It's just basic fundamental common sense that using the threat of the death
penalty provides valuable leverage for law enforcement. They can use it to
secure confessions or discover information about victims or accomplices. It's
also common sense to believe one might think twice about committing a violent
crime knowing it could lead to the offender's execution. But unfortunately, we
now live in a post-common sense world. Many of our leaders deny the fundamental
truth that the prospect of facing execution is a useful motivator. This comes
from the same crowd that believes taxes don't deter investment and government
handouts don't squash drive and ambition.
Opponents of capital punishment claim there's no conclusive data proving it
deters crime. But how could there be? Capital punishment has been so neutered,
the practice has lost its punch. The power of capital punishment to deter
violent crime will only be fully realized when it's carried out consistently
and in a timely manner.
At least two of the 70 inmates currently on death row in Louisiana have been
there since 1986. The longest-serving death row inmate, Michael Owen Perry,
murdered 5 people, including his parents and an infant nephew. James Copeland
is the 2nd-longest serving death row inmate. In 1979, Copeland sodomized and
killed an 11-year old boy.
Louisiana hasn't executed an inmate since 2010. A lawsuit over the three drugs
the state uses for lethal injection has prohibited Louisiana from carrying out
death sentences since 2014. The 3 drugs are in short supply after manufacturers
stopped producing them, bending to political pressure from anti-death penalty
groups. But Louisiana has rewritten its execution plan several times through
the years because of drug shortages.
This month, U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick extended the 12-month ban on
executions in Louisiana. Jeffrey Cody, a private attorney hired by the
Department of Corrections, wrote in a court filing that litigating the case
would be "a waste of resources and time." Shauna Sanford, a spokeswoman for
Gov. John Bel Edwards, says the governor agrees with DOC's decision not to
fight the ban on capital punishment because the shortage of the three drugs
needed has not changed.
Meanwhile, Attorney General Jeff Landry is accusing Edwards of refusing to work
with his department to "bring our state's most monstrous criminals to justice."
Landry says the DOC already has the capacity to use a single drug, the same one
used by other states for executions. Landry also claims legislation could
expand the state's options in the event the drugs are not obtainable.
In a letter to Edwards released Wednesday, Landry wrote, "The biggest obstacle
to getting justice for our state's crime victims was neither the federal case
nor the difficulty of obtaining drugs; it has and continues to be your
unwillingness to proceed with any executions."
AG Jeff Landry blames Gov. John Bel Edwards for halted executions, writes
scathing letter
An LSU Manship School of Communications poll found 58 % in Louisiana favor the
death penalty while 34 % oppose it.
The Washington Post reported last month that close to 1/2 of all murders in
Baton Rouge during the past 7 years did not result in an arrest. The Post also
reported 65 % of murders in New Orleans went without an arrest. FBI data shows
that for 28 straight years, Louisiana has had the highest murder rate in the
nation.
Violent criminals know they can often literally get away with murder in
Louisiana. They also know that even if caught, the state has unilaterally
disarmed when it comes to the death penalty.
The mostly impotent death penalty is clearly not a deterrent in Louisiana. How
can it be when we have inmates that have been sitting on death row for
32-years.
(source: The Advocate)
OHIO:
Former Greenfield man set for capital murder trial next year
The fate of a former Greenfield-area man facing the death penalty for allegedly
killing 2 people last July will be decided at a jury trial in Ross County
Common Pleas Court beginning in April, according to court records.
Jeffrey Ryan Holsinger, 32, faces the death penalty for allegedly killing an
elderly man near Clarksburg on the 4th of July, following a lethal crime spree
in the Greenfield area that left one man critically injured and another dead.
Online court records show a jury trial has been scheduled for April 17, 2019,
and the court has been reserved for trial proceedings until May 10.
Holsinger was indicted near the end of last year in Ross County on 5 counts of
aggravated murder, capital violations punishable by the death penalty; 1 count
of attempted murder, 1 count of kidnapping, 2 counts of aggravated robbery and
1 count of aggravated burglary, all 1st-degree felonies; and 1 count of gross
sexual imposition, a 4th-degree felony.
All 5 murder charges relate to the death of Paul O. Robertson, 79, Clarksburg,
who prosecutors say Holsinger shot and killed at a home near Clarksburg on the
4th of July. The 5 separate charges were filed due to multiple specifications
contained within each charge related to other acts or violations allegedly
undertaken in the course of the alleged murder.
Ross County Prosecuting Attorney Matthew Schmidt told The Times-Gazette last
year that the gross sexual imposition charge was filed because Holsinger
allegedly sexually assaulted Robertson's fiance after killing Robertson.
More than 100 motions have been filed in the case since it was filed last
December, including a motion by the defense to dismiss the capital aspects of
the case, which was overruled by the judge.
Holsinger is represented by Kirk McVay, a death penalty certified attorney with
the Ohio Public Defender's Office, and attorney John R. Cornely, director of
the Ross County branch of the Ohio Public Defender???s Office.
Holsinger is currently serving a prison sentence of approximately 26 years to
life for killing Steven Mottie Jr., 35, in a home at Higginsville earlier in
the evening on the 4th. Holsinger pled guilty to that crime in September 2017
in Highland County Common Pleas Court.
Holsinger also allegedly shot another man, Jesse Lytle, after catching a ride
with him out of Greenfield following Mottie's death. The 2 later stopped to
obtain drugs, according to Schmidt, and Holsinger tricked Lytle into getting
out of the car, then shot him 6 times. Lytle fled into the woods, and Holsinger
took Lytle's car, according to Schmidt. He later ended up at Robertson's home.
Lytle was still recovering from his wounds in December, Schmidt said.
Holsinger was eventually apprehended in Franklin County after leading
authorities on an extensive pursuit that involved multiple law enforcement
agencies.
(source: Times-Gazette)
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