[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----NEB., USA
April 17 NEBRASKA: Pardons Board denies clemency hearing for death-row inmate Carey Dean Moore The Nebraska Board of Pardons removed an obstacle to the state's 1st execution in 21 years Tuesday by denying a clemency hearing for death-row inmate Carey Dean Moore. Gov. Pete Ricketts, Attorney General Doug Peterson and Secretary of State John Gale voted unanimously to reject Moore's application for a commutation hearing. The votes from Ricketts and Peterson were expected, given that both are vocal proponents of capital punishment. None of the board members commented about their votes during Tuesday's brief meeting. Like all inmates who petition the board, Moore was not permitted to attend and no one spoke for or against his application. The governor declined to comment on his way to an appointment after the meeting. The attorney general said he believes the Nebraska Supreme Court may now act on a recent motion for Moore's death warrant, which cannot be issued while a clemency request is pending. Gale, however, said there's still a chance Moore could get a commutation hearing. If the Supreme Court orders Moore's execution to be carried out, the board could reconvene and take up the question again, Gale said. Typically the board places a 2-year moratorium for new clemency requests following a denial, but an exception could be made for an inmate facing imminent execution, he added. Gale said the board routinely denies hearing requests except under extraordinary circumstances. Few inmates have escaped death row via a commutation by the Pardons Board. The last was 1964. Moore, 60, was sentenced to death for the 1979 killings of 2 cabdrivers in Omaha. He has spent nearly 2/3 of his life under the threat of execution and is by far the longest serving of Nebraska's 11 death row inmates. Moore recently told The World-Herald that he is no longer fighting to block his execution in the courts. In his clemency application, however, he said since Nebraska officials "are either lazy or incompetent to do their jobs, or both, I should receive a full pardon." The attorney general recently petitioned the Supreme Court to issue a death warrant for Moore. Peterson's court filing said Moore has no pending appeals or motions for postconviction relief that would impede the execution. Peterson, however, did not mention Moore's application for a pardon hearing in the death warrant filing. Although Moore filed the application in September, the attorney general said Tuesday his office was unaware of it until after he filed the document seeking the death warrant. Moore, 60, shot and killed Omaha cabdrivers Reuel Van Ness and Maynard Helgeland in summer 1979. Both men were 47-year-old fathers and military veterans. The state has not carried out an execution since 1997 and has never used lethal injection to end the life of a condemned inmate. In November, prison officials announced they had obtained supplies of 4 drugs they planned to use to carry out a lethal injection. Prison officials then notified Moore in January that they intended to proceed with his execution. The American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska has filed legal actions challenging the state's death penalty protocol, which it argues should force a delay in Moore's execution until they are resolved. (source: Omaha World-Herald) USA: Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Still Gagged As Death Penalty Appeal Grinds On As the 5th anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombing comes and goes, we can't help but wonder what Dzhokhar Tsarnaev might have to say for himself - if he were allowed to speak. For one thing, we'd like to ask him if he could fill in some details about his brother Tamerlan's mysterious activities in the years leading up to the bombings - much of which the government continues to withhold as "classified." Dzhokhar is being held at the maximum-security federal penitentiary in Florence, Colorado - known as the "Alcatraz of the Rockies" - under extreme confinement conditions called Special Administrative Measures (SAMs). He was convicted and sentenced to death in 2015 for his role in the bombing near the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon. Tsarnaev is appealing his federal death penalty conviction. (All death penalty convictions are automatically appealed.) Essentially a form of solitary confinement, SAMs prevent inmates from communicating with all but a few pre-approved individuals. Tsarnaev is not even allowed to communicate with other inmates in the facility. The government justifies the imposition of SAMs by pointing to the possibility that Tsarnaev could try to secretly communicate with criminal compatriots or incite violence of one kind or another. It's not clear who that might be, since the government insists that Dzhokhar and his brother Tamerlan acted on their own. The few statements Dzhokhar made that we heard about actually sounded apologetic and
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----NEB., USA
June 20 NEBRASKA: ACLU of Nebraska Secures $400,000 Grant to Fight Death Penalty Referendum The ACLU of Nebraska announced today that it recently secured a $400,000 grant from a national funder, Proteus Action League, to fight back against the death penalty referendum. The ACLU of Nebraska has donated these funds to Nebraskans for Public Safety to conduct fraud watch, grassroots engagement, and public education efforts. Statement from Danielle Conrad, Executive Director We are honored to have national support to end Nebraska???s broken death penalty once and for all. This support demonstrates the world is watching what is happening here this summer. This support will be like rocket fuel to the campaign. This funding will ensure a thoughtful public education effort informs Nebraskans when they make a decision about whether or not to sign petitions to revive a broken death penalty. We know many Nebraskans stand with us and want our state to move forward with smart alternatives that put public safety first while turning our attention to more positive statewide priorities like education and tax relief. ### ACLU of Nebraska was founded almost fifty years ago and its diverse statewide membership works in courts, the legislature and our communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and laws of the United States and Nebraska guarantee everyone in this state. For more information, please visit: www.aclunebraska.org (source: aclunebraska.org) ** Amid uncertainty over death penalty repeal, lawyers ask to continue representing John LotterMan on death row in 'Boys Don't Cry' case is engaged to be married Legal arguments over Nebraska???s death penalty repeal have quickly emerged in a federal court case involving 1 of the state's death row inmates. 2 Kansas City attorneys argued this week that John Lotter's death sentence was negated by the Nebraska Legislature's May 27 repeal of capital punishment. But lawyers Rebecca Woodman and Carol Camp said their client remains under threat of execution while a referendum petition drive attempts to overturn the repeal law, and Gov. Pete Ricketts pushes for the lethal injections of Lotter and the nine other men on death row. For that reason, the attorneys asked to remain assigned to Lotter's case. Although Mr. Lotter asserts that the U.S. and Nebraska Constitutions would bar his execution even if the governor and his group were able to repeal the repeal, it is clear the governor will keep attempting to execute him until the courts definitively say he may not. That moment has not yet arrived, the attorneys stated in a court brief filed in U.S. District Court in Lincoln. In response, Assistant Nebraska Attorney General James Smith argued that only the Nebraska Board of Pardons has the authority to commute a death sentence under the state's Constitution. Smith contended that lawmakers passed flawed legislation by including intent language that says the repeal should apply to the existing death row inmates. If the act was an unconstitutional power grab by the Nebraska Legislature, Lotter???s final death sentence remains in effect, Smith said in his brief. Attorney General Doug Peterson also has said he will ask the Nebraska Supreme Court to decide whether the repeal law should apply to the state's 10 death row inmates. That request could be made as soon as September. Lotter, 44, has spent 19 years on death row for a triple homicide near Humboldt on New Year's Eve in 1993. One of the victims was targeted for being transgender, which inspired the film Boys Don't Cry. Lotter lost his previous appeals before state and federal courts. That makes him and Carey Dean Moore - convicted of killing 2 Omaha cab drivers in 1979 - the top candidates for execution depending on what happens with the repeal law. As of now, however, Nebraska lacks the means to carry out an execution. 2 of the 3 drugs required in the state's lethal injection protocol have expired, and federal officials have said they will block the state's attempt to import at least one of the drugs. Woodman and Camp, who work with the Death Penalty Litigation Clinic, pointed out that no other state has executed an inmate after repealing the death penalty. To do so would represent the sort of random, arbitrary, purposeless extinction of human life that the Eighth Amendment forbids, they said in their brief. The 2 have asked U.S. District Senior Judge Richard Kopf to allow them to continue to represent Lotter while the status of the death penalty remains uncertain. They indicated Lotter has been pursuing constitutional claims never before litigated that would invalidate his death sentence. Smith agreed that the attorneys should remain on the case, but only for the purposes of helping Lotter seek clemency from the Pardons Board, made up of Peterson, Gov. Pete Ricketts and
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----NEB., USA
April 16 NEBRASKA: Ricketts, prosecutors say lawmakers 'mocked' input on prison reform A group of prosecutors and Republican leaders accused Nebraska lawmakers Thursday of ignoring their opinions on prison and criminal sentencing reform as the Legislature debates the issues this week. They mocked our input, said Attorney General Doug Peterson during a news conference at City Hall in Omaha. Peterson appeared alongside Gov. Pete Ricketts, Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert, the Lancaster and Douglas county attorneys and others. They voiced concerns about a pair of criminal justice bills that received 1st-round approval earlier this week, and repeated concerns about repealing the death penalty, which the full Legislature began debating Thursday. Ricketts vowed to veto any death penalty repeal that reaches his desk. But the news conference took particular aim at an effort by the Legislature's Judiciary Committee to restore indeterminate sentencing, known as the 1/3 rule, which requires a judge to set a convicted person's minimum sentence at a number of years not greater than 1/3 of the maximum sentence. The committee unanimously advanced a bill (LB483) on Wednesday that would restore the one-third rule to include all felony crimes, except those for which the maximum sentence is life. Similar language is amended onto one of the reform bills (LB605) approved by lawmakers this week. Supporters say restoring the 1/3 rule would help ease crowding in Nebraska prisons, which are at 159 % capacity. This 1/3 rule is not a proposal to reduce prison overcrowding, Peterson said Thursday, instead calling it something from the ACLU playbook. Peterson claimed prosecutors and other public safety officials aren't being given a seat at the table to talk about criminal sentencing, saying they are the most qualified people to address the issue. Having hearings and being out in the lobby is not enough, he said. He also took issue with recent comments made by Omaha Sen. Bob Krist. During debate on the reform bills this week, Krist gestured to the Capitol lobby, where prosecutors were watching, and referred to it as Disney World. These senators are not taking our gang problem seriously, Mayor Stothert said Thursday. Ricketts said people shouldn't jump in without thinking to address prison reform, and instead should wait for the new director of the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services, Scott Frakes, to complete his own examination of the system, which should be complete this fall. He blamed management problems for the prison system's issues and the state's inability to obtain the drugs required to carry out a lethal injection under current law. Ricketts wouldn't say whether building a new prison is on the table for Frakes. I don't believe building a new prison at this point is going to solve any problems, Ricketts said. (source: Lincoln Journal Star) Nebraska may repeal death penalty amid drug shortage Nebraska is considering repealing the death penalty amid a shortage of lethal injection drugs. A bill to repeal the death penalty won 1st-round approval from lawmakers Thursday. Lawmakers advanced the bill 30-13. If that support holds, death penalty opponents would have enough votes to override Republican Gov. Pete Ricketts' promised veto. 2 additional votes are required, and death penalty supporters are still working to block the legislation. This year, the measure has won support from a coalition of Republicans who say the death penalty costs too much and the state doesn't even have the drugs to kill those on death row. Nebraska last executed someone in 1997. The bill's sponsor, Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha, has fought for 4 decades years to abolish capital punishment. The bill is LB268. (source: Associated Press) USA: I am seeking copies of any (primarily, but not exclusively, US) city council resolution which was passed opposing the death penalty or calling for its suspension or abolition. Please feel free to email me. THANKS! Rick Halperin ___ DeathPenalty mailing list DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty Search the Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/deathpenalty@lists.washlaw.edu/ ~~~ A free service of WashLaw http://washlaw.edu (785)670.1088 ~~~
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----NEB., USA, IND., CALIF.
Jan. 9 NEBRASKA: Neb. AG Defends Purchase of Lethal Injection Drug Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning produced documents Monday that he said contradicted claims that state officials had been conned into buying stolen doses of an execution drug. The Nebraska Department of Correctional Services announced in November that it had obtained sodium thiopental, 1 of 3 drugs needed to carry out executions by lethal injection, from Swiss company Naari AG. The drug is no longer manufactured in the United States and is in scarce supply worldwide. The state plans to use the drug to execute Michael Ryan for a 1985 slaying. But Ryan's attorney claims the doses Nebraska recently bought were supposed to be used only for test and evaluation as an anesthetic in Zambia and not sold. Bruning said the documents the emails and financial statements released Monday show the Indian drug broker, Harris Pharma LLP, bought the drug from Swiss manufacturer Naari and then sold doses to Nebraska. Naari's chief executive Prithi Kochhar previously sent Bruning a letter saying the doses were free samples provided for tests in Zambia and wrongfully diverted. Kochhar said Naari would never support use of the drug in executions. Ryan's lawyer, Jerry Soucie, declined to comment Monday, saying he had not yet seen the attorney general's court filing that included the documents. Soucie has previously said Bruning advised the corrections department on how to acquire the drug. Bruning said Monday that Kochhar's claims that Nebraska's purchase was illegal were baseless, and he accused Soucie of creating a circus sideshow. Naari clearly knew, based on the emails . . . that this drug was being sold to Chris Harris, Bruning said. He added, I think it's outrageous that the conversation continues to be about the method of execution as opposed to the brutal murders committed by Michael Ryan and Carey Dean Moore, another death-row inmate. Ryan was sentenced to death for torturing and killing James Thimm at a farm near Rulo in 1985. Moore was convicted of murder for killing cab drivers Maynard Helgeland and Reuel Eugene Van Ness in 1979. Bruning has a pending request before the Nebraska Supreme Court to set an execution date for Ryan. Nebraska's $5,411 purchase of sodium thiopental marked the 2nd time it has gone to India to obtain the drug. In January 2011, the Correctional Services Department announced it had obtained 500 grams of sodium thiopental from an Indian company, clearing the way for Nebraska's 1st execution by lethal injection. But questions soon arose about the legality of the purchase by Nebraska and other states, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency seized stockpiles of the drug from several states, including Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky, South Carolina and Tennessee. The DEA declined to say then whether Nebraska's purchase was under investigation, but state officials sought a new supplier anyway. (source: Associated Press) USA: Report: U.S. Death Penalty Use Declines A non-profit clearinghouse for information about capital punishment finds that the use of the death penalty in the U.S. continued to decline this past year. Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, says the number of new death sentences nationwide dropped to the lowest number since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976. He says a drop in other measures also shows that Americans are moving further away from capital punishment, reflecting a decade-long trend. Executions dropped. Public support for the death penalty in the Gallup Poll dropped this year, and the number of states with the death penalty declined this year. In the last 4 years, 4 states have repealed the death penalty; New York, New Jersey, New Mexico and Illinois. Nevada is among the 34 states that still have capital punishment, and it has executed 11 people since 1976. Dieter says fixes to Nevada's death penalty system will come at a steep price. And, policymakers, he says, would be wise to examine whether abolishing the practice is a better use of taxpayer money. A good, careful death penalty is an expensive death penalty. There's just no way of getting around it. You can't do it on the cheap and still abide by the Constitution and our basic principles of life. Dieter says the September execution of Troy Davis in Georgia, whose guilt was doubted by many, illustrated the risk of exacting a death sentence. He adds that the expense of inmates seeking appeals, coupled with inmates sitting on death row for decades, lends room for pause. Most states have no executions in a given year, and if you're not using it and it's costing you a lot, that's one more reason to reconsider the death penalty. And, I think we'll see some states doing exactly that in 2012. Dieter says that globally countries are abandoning the death penalty in great numbers. Recently, the European
