[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, ALA., KAN.
Oct. 30 TEXAS: Texas on trial for using fictional character in death penalty casesThe US state of Texas has come under fire for its use of a character from "Of Mice and Men" in determining if defendants are mentally ill. The so-called "Lennie Standard" has put several men on death row. In November, the United States Supreme Court will hear a case that might shock even those familiar with Texas' reputation for being hawkish when it comes to capital punishment. Although the court outlawed execution of the mentally incompetent in 2002, Texas has continued to use the murky legal definitions of sanity and disability to execute mentally ill prisoners. At the center of the upcoming "Moore versus Texas" is not only the state's reliance on outdated medical parameters, but the use of the so-called "Lennie Standard." This is the name Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Cathy Cochran gave "an unscientific seven-pronged test ... based on the character Lennie Smalls from John Steinbeck's 'Of Mice and Men,'" according to the Death Penalty Information Center. In Steinbeck's 1937 novel, Lennie is the large, mentally disabled farmhand who serves as the protagonist's constant companion. The climax of the novel hinges on Lennie's unwitting murder of a woman as he goes to stroke her hair, unaware of his own strength. The "Lennie Standard" asks questions such as whether a defendant showed forethought or an ability to act deceptively as determiners of mental competency. 'Borderline intellectual functioning' In the case now before the Supreme Court, the state of Texas has argued that Bobby James Moore was mentally fit because he employed the use of a wig and hid his weapon during the armed robbery of a grocery store that ended in the death of the store's owner, Jim McCarble, in 1980. This is despite the fact that, according to a piece from Adam Liptak of the New York Times, Moore "reached his teenager years without understanding how to tell time" and had a psychiatrist testify on his behalf that he "suffers from borderline intellectual functioning." Liptak, who follows the Supreme Court for the Times, told DW that the source of the conundrum was in no small part due to the court "allowing states, within broad limits, the ability to decide for themselves who was and wasn't mentally disabled ... bringing about Texas' use of this, shall we say, unusual system." This is what led Cochran to come up with the "Lennie Standard" in 2003 after the state legislature failed to provide adequate parameters. The definition dilemma The case highlights not only the Lone Star State's history of executing mentally ill patients - for example, Andre Thomas, a man who removed one his eyes with his own hands and ate it, still sits on death row - but also the legal conundrum of defining disability. There is no X-ray that reveals mental illness, and the Supreme Court ruled in 2014 that relying soley on a low IQ, a system which was employed by the state of Florida, was not a solid enough legal basis to rule someone incompetent. Even the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Illness (DSM), the gold standard for defining mental disability put out every few years by the American Psychiatric Association, is subject to the changing interpretations of medicine's perhaps most inexact branch. The novelist Steinbeck's son Thomas had some very cutting words for the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, saying in 2012 that "I find the whole premise to be insulting, outrageous, ridiculous and profoundly tragic ... I am certain that if my father, John Steinbeck, were here, he would be deeply angry and ashamed." Supreme Court 'unlikely to accept Texas standard' Liptak, however, saw reason to believe the "Lennie Standard" will be struck down. "If the Supreme Court wasn't willing to accept the Florida standard based on a hard number, they are unlikely to accept the Texas standard." He said, though, that this would likely have more to do with the state's out-of-date medical criterion than "Of Mice and Men." "In general, the trend at the Court is to cut back on the death penalty," Liptak added, though a nationwide ban is unlikely to follow, particularly in the face of staunch public support for the practice in states like Texas. Capital punishment in Texas accounts for about 1/3 of the national total, the state having executed 538 inmates since the US brought back the death penalty in 1976. (source: Deutshce Welle) ALABAMAimpending execution Arthur's execution set for Thursday Douglas Arthur and his sister, Sherrie Stone, have been on an emotional rollercoaster for 40 years, and now they are preparing for what they believe could be their last ride. Their father, Tommy Arthur, is scheduled to be executed Nov. 3, for his involvement in the 1982 murder-for-hire death of Muscle Shoals resident Troy Wicker. "I was 15 when my father went to prison (for the 1st
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, ALA., KAN., IDAHO, USA
Jan. 29 TEXASimpending executions Death Watch: 2 More Executions Will Make 3 in 5 WeeksExecutions accelerate in 2015 Texas has set a brisk pace for executions in 2015: 2 men are scheduled for the gurney this week, which will bring the tally to 3 in the 1st 5 weeks of the year. That would have been 4, but Garcia Glen White received a stay Tuesday, Jan. 27, of his scheduled Jan. 28 execution. White was sentenced to death in 1995 for the murders of Bonita Edwards and her twin 16-year-old daughters, Annette and Bernette (see Death Watch: Homicide, Drugs, Mental Incapacity, Jan. 23). Earlier this month, his attorneys Mandy Miller and Patrick McCann had asked the Court of Criminal Appeals to consider White's borderline intelligence, as well as the murky situation surrounding his 1995 confession (which he offered without counsel despite indicating to authorities that he'd prefer an attorney be present). Miller and McCann also asked the judges to appoint a special administrator to ensure that the drugs used to kill White wouldn't cause any constitutionally barred suffering. Miller told the Chronicle on Tuesday that the CCA did not explain why it had decided to stay the execution, only providing that a reprieve had been issued. Said Miller: That's a good thing. Robert Charles Ladd is set for execution today, Thursday, Jan. 29. The 57-year-old was convicted of raping and killing Tyler resident Vickie Ann Gardner in 1997, while he was out on parole for the 1978 murders of Dallas woman Vivian Thompson and her 2 infant children, Latoya and Maurice. After being handed his death sentence in August 1997, Ladd and attorney Sydney Young stayed quite busy trying to spare his life. Ladd was originally scheduled for execution in April 2003, but he received a last-minute stay after Young dug up records indicating Ladd had scored 67 on an IQ test when he was 13. (The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that anyone with an IQ below approximately 70 is mentally incompetent and thus ineligible for the death penalty. Prison testing conducted in 1978 registered Ladd's IQ at 86.) In the end, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the finding that Ladd was competent, and he was sent back to death row. The U.S. Supreme Court denied an appeal last October, and Ladd was briefly scheduled for execution on Dec. 11, 2014. That date got rejected by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, and on Dec. 4, he received the January execution date. Last week, through American Civil Liberties Union attorney Brian Stull, Ladd filed for a stay of execution on the grounds of mental incompetence. The state will follow Ladd's execution with Donald Keith Newbury's on Wednesday, Feb. 4. The 52-year-old made national headlines 14 years ago when he and 6 other inmates escaped from the John B. Connally Unit 60 miles south of San Antonio and embarked on a 6-week crime spree through Texas and Colorado. Newbury - an experienced burglar serving a 99-year sentence for the 1997 robbery and aggravated assault of a woman in an Austin-area hotel - and his 6 cohorts escaped from Connally Unit on Dec. 13, 2000, by overpowering 9 civilian maintenance supervisors, 4 correctional officers, and 3 unassociated inmates, stealing their money and clothes, robbing the prison armory, and making off in a truck owned by the prison. They left the truck at a Wal-Mart in nearby Kenedy; the next day, they robbed a Pearland Radio Shack. No one caught a trace of the Texas 7 for 2 weeks. But on Christmas Eve in Irving, Texas, an off-duty cop responded to a call reporting that Newbury and his fellow escapees were in the midst of robbing an Oshman's Sporting Goods. The cop, 29-year-old Aubrey Hawkins, showed up at the store, immediately came under fire, and was ultimately shot 11 times. Newbury and company completed the robbery (reportedly stealing at least 40 more guns in the process), ran over Hawkins' body with the truck they'd also stolen, and set off for Colorado, eventually settling into an RV park outside of Colorado Springs. They spent the first weeks of 2001 posing as a religious group within the area. Hawkins' murder set off a multistate manhunt. 1 man, Larry Harper, killed himself when he learned that authorities were closing in on them. 4 of the remaining escapees were found in the RV park on Jan. 21. 2 days later, authorities arrested Newbury and 1 other in a Colorado Springs hotel. Newbury had amassed a long rap sheet before he went to prison in 1997. He was arrested at the age of 18 for robbery. Awaiting trial in Travis County Jail, he got in a fight, was sent to a section of the jail for misbehaving inmates, and became part of a failed escape attempt. He got a 10-year sentence for the robbery, was eventually released, but stopped reporting to his parole officer after he decided he might be accused of a robbery committed by his roommate. While in violation of his parole, Newbury robbed a
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, ALA., KAN., COLO., ARIZ.
Oct. 24 TEXAS: Experts: Texas Slowly Moving Away From Executions For years Texas has executed more prison inmates than any other state, but some believe that trend is coming to an end. Kristin Houle, executive director of the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, says Texas is joining the rest of the nation in slowly moving away from executions. One of the main factors driving this movement away from the death penalty, in Texas and nationally, is the rate or the incidents of wrongful convictions, Houle explained. According to Houle, there has also been an ongoing decline in the number of people sentenced to death row. In Texas, she says, the number of new death sentences has dropped about 75 % in the last decade. So far this year, Texas has carried out nine executions and Miguel Angel Paredes is scheduled to be put to death on October 28. Even with the expected death of Paredes, Houle says, We will have carried out the fewest executions in Texas, this year, since 1996. In addition to fewer death sentences, Houle said the lower number of executions is directly related to recent revelations about wrongful convictions. Some activists are even taking to the streets to demand the death penalty be abolished. Rallies are planned across the state before the end of the year, and kick off this weekend in Houston with the 15th Annual March to Abolish the Death Penalty. (source: CBS news) * After 2 years on the run, Mission capital murder fugitive captured Police nabbed a 23-year-old man wanted for a 2012 fatal shooting and armed kidnapping. Carlos Olvera stood Thursday in Mission Municipal Court to face charges of capital murder and aggravated kidnapping after more than 2 years on the run. Police said Olvera was believed to have been hiding in Mexico after Rigoberto Olivarez's shooting death in December 2012. U.S. Border Patrol agents caught Olvera, of Diaz Ordaz, Tamps., trying to illegally enter the U.S. near Sullivan City on Tuesday. A check of Olvera's fingerprints linked him to the outstanding warrant for the Mission capital murder case. Olvera is 1 of 4 suspects investigators say participated in a home invasion and botched kidnapping in the 1200 block of West 24th Place that left Olivarez fatally shot. I did not shoot, Olvera told Mission Municipal Judge Jonathan Wehrmeister in Spanish during his arraignment. I did not have a weapon. Wehrmeister ordered Olvera, a Mexican national, to be held without bond ahead of his trial. If convicted of capital murder, he faces life in prison without parole or the death penalty. Olvera provided investigators with a statement of accused - considered a form of a confession - following his arrest, Mission police Det. Eduardo Hernandez Jr. said. He identified Jorge Ruiz, Eric Gomez Torres, and Ramon Nevarez as fellow participants in the fatal shooting and kidnapping. The other suspects may still be in Mexico, where they fled after the 2012 crime, police said. Investigators believe the 2012 home invasion stemmed from drug trafficking and that Olivarez knew Olvera and the other suspects. Police have said Olvera and 2 married couples, including Olivarez and his wife, were at a small party Dec. 22, 2012. Ruiz and Torres kicked in the door, ordering the 2 couples to lay down on the ground, police said following the incident. Witnesses told investigators that both men wore black masks during the attack. Ruiz carried a .223-caliber assault rifle later recovered after an 8-hour manhunt where the suspects escaped a high-speed chase with police. That rifle was later identified as the one that killed Olivarez, whose body was found in the kitchen of the house. He suffered 14 gunshot wounds in the attack. (source: The Monitior) ALABAMA: Does the death penalty or life in prison cost more for taxpayers? Does sentencing someone to death, really cost less? Or is it more cost effective to keep someone alive in prison? The whole conversation sparked from a story we posted about a Lauderdale couple, Patricia and Matthew Ayers, being sentenced to 2,000 years in prison for sexual abuse of a child.M Many people took to Facebook to voice their concerns, saying things like: Death penalty, cause I don't want my tax dollars feeding them! Electric chair is cheaper, the way it is now, we have to pay for them as long as they live. But, is that really the case? If you'd asked me, which is cheaper, my answer to you is, for my purposes, it doesn't matter, Broussard says. The Vera Institute of Justice estimated in 2010 it cost around $17,000 to house an inmate for a year. Assuming Patricia and Matthew Ayers live to 75, the average life expectancy in Alabama, that's between $570,405 and $708,685 in costs to the taxpayers to keep them in prison. That may be a lot, but when you compare it to the costs associated with the death penalty, we're looking at
