[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----VA., FLA., OHIO
May 6 VIRGINIA: Virginia Death Row Inmates Prevail in Fourth Circuit A federal appeals court Friday upheld a lower court’s ruling in favor of Virginia death row inmates, finding that their living conditions amounted to cruel and unusual punishment. In a 33-page opinion, Judge James Wynn in the Fourth Circuit affirmed a ruling by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, which found that the state was “deliberately indifferent” to the physical and psychological harm caused by the state prison system’s accommodations for death row inmates. Thomas Porter, Anthony Juniper, and Mark Lawlor – death row inmates who were housed in the state’s Sussex I State Prison about 40 miles south of Richmond – sued the state Department of Corrections in 2014. According to Wynn, the inmates lived in 71-square-foot cells – about 1/ the size of a standard parking space. They were allowed 1 hour of outdoor recreation 5 days a week, a 10 minute shower 3 days a week, could have a TV and a CD player, and had access to the prison library to check out books. Their living spaces were continuously lit for safety purposes. But it was the fact that the inmates lived in solitary confinement for 23 or 24 hours a day that the district court found to violate the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment, and Wynn agreed. The judge said that, contrary to the lower court’s ruling, a “legitimate penological justification can support prolonged detention of an inmate” in solitary confinement. However, Wynn said that evidence in this case established that the inmates’ living conditions were unconstitutional. “In sum, the undisputed evidence established both that the challenged conditions of confinement on Virginia’s death row created a substantial risk of serious psychological and emotional harm and that State Defendants were deliberately indifferent to that risk,” Wynn said in his opinion. He pointed to reports filed by the inmates in which they described experiencing paranoia, hallucinations, and appetite and sleep disturbances from living in solitary confinement for prolonged periods of time. Judge Robert King joined Wynn in affirming the lower court’s ruling. In a dissenting opinion, Judge Paul V. Niemeyer noted that Virginia’s Department of Corrections made changes to inmates’ living conditions a year after this case was filed. He said the plaintiff inmates concede that their living conditions no longer violate their rights. Improvements included more recreational time and access to family members. Additionally, the state spent $2 million building a new “dayroom” and an outdoor recreation yard. Niemeyer agreed that solitary confinement was constitutionally unsound, but he questioned why the appeals court was agreeing to uphold an injunction that is now moot because of the accommodation improvements. “It simply cannot be claimed that the district court’s award of equitable relief in 2018 was ‘necessary to correct’ a violation of a federal right when the 2015 changes had, by the plaintiffs’ own concession, already corrected the alleged violation and no new violation was in any way being threatened,” Neimeyer said. The inmates’ attorneys and the Virginia Department of Corrections did not immediately respond to requests for comments Friday. (source: Courthouse News) FLORIDA: Judge to rule whether lethal drug is 'cruel' for serial killer Bobby Joe Long A Hillsborough County judge is expected to rule Monday whether the execution of Bobby Joe Long through lethal injection would be a cruel and unusual punishment. During a hearing Friday, a doctor from California testified about the anesthetic drug etomidate, which is one of the first drugs administered during the execution. Dr. Steven Yun said Long should have any an adverse reaction to the drug, based on the serial killer’s medical history. However, Long’s attorney said his client had traumatic brain injury when he was younger and suffers from epilepsy. He argued that his condition, coupled with the cocktail of lethal drugs, could, could cause him to have a seizure during the execution. During the hearing, Long's attorney challenged the doctor's expertise, pointing out he didn’t even read up on the drug before his testimony. "As a critical practicing anesthesiologist, I don't need to read basic textbooks to review my knowledge on etomidate, the same way I don't need to review my car manual to drive my car," explained Dr. Yun. Long is responsible for the murder of at least 8 victims and kidnapping and torture of at least one other. He was convicted and sent to Florida’s death row in 1986. Governor Ron DeSantis signed his death warrant, and his execution date was scheduled for May 23. Lisa McVey, a survivor who escaped Long's clutches and because a Hillsborough County deputy, said she plans to attend the execution. (source: Fox News) OHIO: Forgiven
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
May 6 CANADA: ‘Crime of passion’: How a gay man became the last person to be executed in B.C. On, Sept. 6, 1958, Aaron “Bud” Jenkins was stabbed to death as he slept in the barracks at Esquimalt’s naval base. Leo Mantha confessed to the crime. The tugboat operator had been romantically involved with Jenkins and the fatal stabbing came after the 2 had gotten into a violent argument. Jenkins’ death was a textbook definition of a “crime of passion,” says Neil Boyd, criminology professor at Simon Fraser University. “By today’s standards, it probably would’ve been a manslaughter conviction,” he said. Instead, the 30-year-old Mantha received the death penalty and was hanged in 1959, making him the last person to be executed in British Columbia. Mantha’s death came at a time when the federal cabinet commuted most death sentences, but Boyd said Mantha was an exception due to “anti-gay sentiments.” Originally from Quebec, Mantha had been in the navy before working on a tugboat. In the summer of 1958, a bartender at Victoria’s Empress Hotel introduced him to Jenkins. The two had an affair, with Mantha writing love letters to Jenkins that were eventually read aloud in court. “It was all, ‘I love you, Budzie-Wudzie,’” Stan Piontek, a friend of both Mantha and Jenkins, said of the letters read at the trial. Piontek, 88, said the 2 got into an argument the night of Jenkins’ death, with Jenkins saying he planned to marry a female friend. “I saw Jenkins in front of the Empress Hotel and somebody had beaten him up or something,” he said. Piontek said he accompanied Jenkins to Mantha’s apartment on Superior Street so he could retrieve his uniform before returning to the barracks. While in the apartment, Piontek says he spoke with Jenkins about what happened. “Meanwhile, Leo Mantha was in the next room and heard all of this stuff,” he said. Jenkins got a ride back to the barracks where he was later murdered. Following Jenkins’ death, Piontek said there was a “witch hunt” in the military. “I don’t know how many people they hauled out of the navy,” said Piontek, who had served in the navy for much of the 1950s. “I got railroaded out of there.” The story of Mantha, a former military man who dated a gay man in the navy, had a chilling effect, according to Gary Kinsman, a sociology professor at Laurentian University and co-author of the book The Canadian War on Queers. The case played a key role in a purge spearheaded by the Canadian government’s Security Panel, which led to the firing of thousands of Canadians in the military, RCMP and public service because of their sexual orientation. Kinsman said following Jenkins’ death, investigators uncovered his “little black books,” which contained the names of other gay men in the military. “They found a list of lots of people in the merchant marines and in the navy and this initiates the purge campaign on the west coast,” he said. “It feeds into the RCMP and the Security Panel’s feeling that this homosexual threat is actually much bigger than they would have previously thought.” Kinsman notes that Mantha’s case occurred at a time when gay sex was criminalized and homosexuality was considered a psychological disorder. There were also concerns that gays in the military posed a national security threat, since they could be prone to blackmail by foreign agents, although there was never any evidence that anyone was actually compromised. Mantha’s story fit all of those narratives and was used to justify expelling people from public service due to their sexual orientation. “We interviewed lots of people who were involved in the Victoria gay scene who said that prior to this murder things were pretty open,” Kinsman said. “But after that, people had to go underground and people were purged and people had to leave.” In 2017, the Canadian government issued a formal apology to the LGBTQ community, one that Kinsman characterizes as “remarkably limited.” Full speech: Justin Trudeau gives formal apology to people affected by gay purge Mantha’s case came to the attention of the federal cabinet. Prime Minister John Diefenbaker, a former defence lawyer, opposed capital punishment and his cabinet commuted around 75 per cent of death sentences, according to Boyd. The justice who presided over Mantha’s trial wrote to the federal justice minister asking for leniency. Boyd said memos to cabinet, which referred to Mantha as “the homosexual,” indicate that his sexual orientation was a factor in the decision to deny clemency. “Most of the death sentences were being commuted, but sexual orientation was something of a motivation for cabinet in deciding this was an especially heinous crime,” he said. “Today, 2 people who are intimately involved who get involved in a very serious argument that leads to the death of the other without any evidence of planning — that would normally be a manslaughter char
