March 28
TEXAS----execution
Lubbock group protests death penalty on night of Rodriguez's execution
"God of compassion," read the vigil program. "You let rain fall on the just and
the unjust. Expand and deepen our hearts so that we may love as you love, even
those among us who have caused the greatest pain by taking life."
The rain stopped just long enough for the Friends of People of Faith Against
the Death Penalty group to hold signs with messages against execution in front
of St. John's United Methodist Church Tuesday night on University Avenue as
38-year-old Rosendo Rodriguez was set to by executed in Huntsville.
Minutes before he died, Rodriguez espoused the same message as the vigil group,
calling for the end of the death penalty. Rodriguez was sentenced to death for
the 2005 rape and killing of 29-year-old Summer Baldwin. He also admitted to
killing 16-year-old Joanna Rogers. Both women were from Lubbock.
The 4 solemn participants said they had different reasons for attending the
vigil. Beth Pressley, organizer of the group, said they meet for prayer and
sign holding from 5:45-6:15 p.m. each time there is an execution in Texas.
Pressley wore a T-shirt that read "pro life," and said that is the message of
the group.
"We don't like the state killing people in our name. We don't think it's
necessary," Pressley said. "There was a time that you maybe had to worry about
violent criminals getting out (of prison), but that's not really the case
anymore. People have the chance to repent."
Pressley said because this was a local case, she has followed the crime since
the beginning.
"It was frightening. It was sad. I remember being very glad that they finally
caught the guy and got him off the street," Pressley said. "But now we have 3
families who are hurting. Killing somebody isn't going to make those daughters
come back."
Participants prayed for peace for all involved people: the victims' families,
Rodriguez's family, the court system, prison employees and all others on death
row.
Phoenix Lundstrom had a more personal connection with Rodriguez. During the
prayer portion of the vigil, Lundstrom read a letter she recently received from
Rodriguez that indicated faith was on his mind in his last few weeks.
Lundstrom said her son Mitchell Wachholtz met Rodriguez around 10 years ago
when they were in neighboring prison cells. Wachholtz is serving a 99-year
sentence at the Darrington Unit in Rosharon. He was convicted of murder in the
2007 death of Chase Pendleton.
Lundstrom said her son has found his calling in life, in part because of
Rodriguez.
"Rosendo started talking to my son about Jesus. Now my son is in his 3rd year
of seminary school at Darrington," Lundstrom said. "Rosendo was one of the key
people in bringing my son from a street-wise punk to a real man of God."
The group dispersed around 6:20 p.m. Rodriguez was pronounced dead at 6:46 p.m.
(source: Lubbock Avalanche-Journal)
*****************************
'Suitcase killer' at execution: 'I'm ready to join my father'
A San Antonio man who became known as the "suitcase killer" was executed
Tuesday evening in Texas for the slaying of a 29-year-old Lubbock woman whose
battered, naked body was stuffed into a new piece of luggage and tossed in the
trash. Rosendo Rodriguez III had also confessed to killing a 16-year-old
Lubbock girl and similarly disposing of her body in the trash in a suitcase.
Asked by the warden if he had a final statement, Rodriguez spoke defiantly for
7 minutes and never apologized to relatives of his victims watching through a
window.
"The state may have my body but they never had my soul," Rodriguez said. He
also urged people to boycott Texas businesses to pressure the state into ending
the death penalty and reiterated issues raised in late appeals that were
rejected by the courts.
"I've fought the good fight, I have run the good race," he said. "Warden, I'm
ready to join my father."
Rodriguez, who turned 38 Monday, received a lethal dose of the powerful
sedative pentobarbital, injected by Texas prison officials. 22 minutes later,
at 6:46 p.m. CT, he was pronounced dead.
The execution was the 4th this year in Texas and 7th nationally.
The U.S. Supreme Court, less than 30 minutes before Rodriguez was taken to the
death chamber, rejected an appeal to block his punishment.
Rodriguez's lawyers told the justices lower courts improperly turned down
appeals that focused on the medical examiner's testimony at Rodriguez's trial
for the September 2005 slaying of Summer Baldwin. State lawyers said the high
court appeal was improper, untimely and meritless, and "nothing more than a
last-ditch effort," according to Texas Assistant Attorney General Tomee
Heining.
Workers at the Lubbock city landfill spotted a new suitcase in the trash,
opened it and discovered the body of Baldwin, who was 10 weeks pregnant.
Detectives used a barcode label sewn to the luggage to establish it was
purchased a day earlier at a Walmart. Debit card records and store surveillance
video identified the buyer as Rodriguez, a Marine reservist who'd been in
Lubbock for training that included martial arts combat.
Jurors who convicted him of capital murder decided he should die after evidence
showed Rodriguez also was linked to at least five other sexual assaults and had
confessed to killing Joanna Rogers, the 16-year-old missing for a year when her
mummified remains were found inside a suitcase at the same city garbage dump. 5
women, including his high school girlfriend, testified he raped them. Evidence
showed he initially met Rogers in an online chat room.
"This has been quite a traumatic event for all of us," Joe Bill Rogers, the
slain teenager's father, said after watching Rodriguez die. "We're just
fortunate it's all done."
He said an apology from Rodriguez "wouldn't have made a bit of difference. He
just cared about himself, just a sociopath."
Baldwin's mother, Uvah Robak, said Rodriguez "went to his maker and he's got
his justice now."
Court records also described Baldwin, the mother of four, as a prostitute.
Rodriguez lived in San Antonio with his parents and was arrested there days
after Baldwin's body was discovered. 3 weeks later, he gave Lubbock police a
statement saying he killed her in self-defense when she pulled a knife on him
after the 2 had consensual sex on Sept. 12, 2005, in a hotel room.
Testimony at his 2008 trial showed Baldwin had about 50 blunt force wounds and
may have been alive when she was folded into the suitcase and tossed into a
trash bin. The contents subsequently wound up at the city dump.
"He's really good at killing people," Lubbock County District Attorney Matt
Powell, who prosecuted Rodriguez, said Monday. "Very calm, very calculated."
"Women were terrified of him. He used his charm and good looks and status for a
long time to victimize women," Powell said. "In this case, the right guy is
getting the appropriate punishment."
Prosecutors decided to seek the death penalty after Rodriguez scuttled a deal
where he'd plead guilty to killing Baldwin and the teenager in exchange for a
life prison term.
(source: Associated Press)
*************
Executions under Greg Abbott, Jan. 21, 2015-present----31
Executions in Texas: Dec. 7, 1982----present-----549
Abbott#--------scheduled execution date-----name------------Tx. #
32----------Apr. 25----------------Erick Davila-----------550
33----------May 16-----------------Juan Castillo----------551
34---------June 21----------------Clifton Williams--------552
35---------June 27----------------Danny Bible-------------553
36---------July 17----------------Christopher Young-------554
(sources: TDCJ & Rick Halperin)
FLORIDA:
Donald Smith may learn his fate at Wednesday's Spencer hearing----Jury seeks
death for Smith, 61, but judge has final word
Donald Smith, who was convicted last month in the rape and murder of 8-year-old
Cherish Perrywinkle, is set to appear in court Wednesday morning where his fate
may be decided once and for all.
Jurors unanimously recommended the death penalty for Smith at his Feb. 22
sentencing hearing after finding him guilty of 1st-degree murder, sexual
battery and kidnapping charges in the child's death.
Circuit Judge Mallory Cooper, who presided over the trial, won't hand down a
sentence until the defense has a final opportunity to present evidence in
what's called a Spencer hearing.
The Spencer hearing takes its name from the 1993 case of Spencer vs. Florida.
It is held so defendants facing the death penalty have the opportunity to
persuade the court otherwise.
In addition, both sides are given the chance to introduce evidence that did not
come up at trial.
Prosecutors said they plan to call 2 witnesses, including Cherish's mother
Rayne, to make victim impact statements on Wednesday.
Attempts to reach defense attorneys for Smith, 61, were not successful.
It's highly unusual for a judge to go against a jury's wishes and vacate the
death penalty, according to John Tanner, former State Attorney for Florida's
7th Judicial Circuit.
During his 16 years holding that office, Tanner said, prosecutors reached more
than 20 death penalty verdicts. Not once did a judge overrule the jury's
recommendation.
Tanner did not that a judge may revisit a death sentence when there are
extenuating circumstances, such as if mitigating or exculpatory information was
withheld at trial. Or, if the evidence was too thin.
"It would be rare," he said. "Not unheard of and not necessarily unjust, but
judges have a lot of authority and discretion still. But it would be extremely
rare."
(source: news4jax.com)
ALABAMA:
Lawyer: Alabama won't try again to kill inmate who survived February execution
attempt
The state of Alabama has agreed to not set any more execution dates for an
inmate who survived his February execution attempt after officials couldn't
start his IV before midnight.
According to a press release from Hamm's lawyer Bernard Harcourt, he and
lawyers from the Alabama Attorney General's Office entered into a confidential
settlement agreement Monday that resolves all pending litigation in both
federal and state courts regarding Doyle Lee Hamm's execution.
The settlement will end efforts to set another execution date, the press
release stated.
Harcourt said the settlement "comes after lengthy, fruitful discussions" with
the AG's Office. "I cannot discuss the terms of the agreement, but I will say
that Doyle, his family, and his legal team are extremely relieved," Harcourt
said.
The Feb. 22 execution date came after months of legal battles revolving around
whether Hamm's veins were able to handle the IV required for the lethal drugs.
Harcourt argued that Hamm's veins had become nearly impossible to access after
years of intravenous drug use and Hamm's diagnosis, and treatment, of lymphatic
cancer. The AG's Office argued Hamm's cancer is in remission and there was no
reason he shouldn't be executed after spending 30 years on death row.
Hamm's scheduled execution was on Feb. 22 at Holman Correctional Facility in
Atmore. Hamm, 61, was set to die at 6 p.m., but Alabama Department of
Corrections officials did not begin preparing him for the execution until
approximately 9 p.m., after the U.S. Supreme Court lifted a temporary stay.
At approximately 11:30 p.m., ADOC Commissioner Jeff Dunn announced the state
wouldn't be executing Hamm that night because medical personnel would not be
able to prepare him for the procedure by midnight when the death warrant
expired.
Doyle Lee Hamm, 61, was set to be executed last week for the 1987 murder of
Patrick Cunningham. The execution didn't happen though, because medical
personnel couldn't find a vein to inset the catheter needed for the lethal
drugs.
Dunn did not specify what exactly the problem was and what medical personnel
had been doing for more than 2 hours between when the stay was lifted and when
medical personnel advised officials on the situation. Court records filed the
next day stated the execution team couldn't find a vein to insert the catheter
needed for the lethal drugs.
Filings by Harcourt in the following days said staff tried to use Hamm's
peripheral veins on his lower extremities, as a previous court order directed
them to, but they couldn't find a vein on either leg or either ankle. After
those attempts failed, medical personnel moved on to try a central venous line
in Hamm's right groin--where, days earlier, an independent doctor who evaluated
Hamm said there were abnormal lymph nodes.
The settlement discussions began after that execution attempt.
Harcourt previously said Hamm was traumatized by the incident, but Tuesday
called said the settlement "rewarding."
Hamm has been on death row for over 30 years, after he was convicted in the
1987 murder of Patrick Cunningham. Cunningham was shot in the head while
working the overnight shift at Anderson's Motel in Cullman.
Assistant Attorney Generals Thomas Govan Jr. and Beth Jackson Hughes prosecuted
the case. Harcourt was assisted by several law students from Columbia on his
legal team.
(source: al.com)
OHIO:
James Worley found guilty for Sierah Joughin murder
James D. Worley was found guilty on all charges--including both aggravated
murder counts--for the kidnapping and murder of Sierah Joughin.
After less than 6 hours of deliberation Tuesday, jurors returned guilty
verdicts on aggravated murder, murder, abduction, kidnapping, felonious
assault, possession of criminal tools, gross abuse of a corpse, tampering with
evidence, and having weapons under disability.
Ms. Joughin, 20, disappeared July 19, 2016, while riding her bike in rural
Fulton County. Her body was found days later bound and buried in a cornfield.
Howard Ice, Ms. Joughin's uncle, made a statement after the verdict on behalf
of the family.
"Needless to say this has been a long 4 weeks," Mr. Ice said. "Having to sit
through the detailed testimony, the piles of evidence, and the learning of what
this killer and past violent offender - which is really important to us - past
violent offender did to our beautiful Sierah was gut-wrenching."
Mr. Ice stood with her father Tom Joughin, mother Sheila Vaculik, and aunt Tara
Ice.
"I want to express to you how pleased we are that justice was served today and
this murderer was found guilty on all counts," he said.
Worley, 58, of rural Delta, was convicted by a jury of 8 women and 4 men.
Because Worley was found guilty of aggravated murder with death penalty
specifications, the case moves to a sentencing phase, where defense attorneys
call witnesses to provide mitigating evidence, or reasons why the defendant
should not receive a death sentence. The prosecution will call witnesses to
testify to the aggravating circumstance of the case.
The jury will deliberate again to sentence Worley to the death penalty or life
in prison. The sentencing phase begins Monday at 9 a.m.
Fulton County Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey Robinson advised the gallery before
the verdict that he expected composure and anyone who wasn't would be removed,
though no one was.
"This is still a court of law and not a football game," he said. "I have enough
law enforcement to make sure that happens."
(source: The Toledo Blade)
KENTUCKY:
State seeks death penalty in 2016 homicide
In many ways, Norman Hall was an easy target when he was killed in September
2016 inside his Radcliff apartment.
A 22-year veteran of the U.S. Army, Hall, 71, lived alone and needed oxygen to
go about his daily activities.
Authorities believe Aaron Lee Pearson, 25, of Radcliff, and Eloysia
James-Venerable, 18, of Radcliff, broke into his Pin Oak Court residence to rob
him. Hall ended up being killed by Pearson, police say.
On Tuesday, the Hardin County Commonwealth's Attorney's Office filed
aggravators in the case and will seek the death penalty against Pearson.
He is charged with complicity to commit murder in the Sept. 7, 2016, death of
Hall, who remained in Radcliff after retiring from Fort Knox and the death of
his wife.
"The murder occurred as part of the robbery," Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney
Chris McCrary has said.
Hall died from multiple blows to his head and face and from being stabbed in
the neck, officials said.
Pearson also was indicted on complicity to 1st-degree robbery and complicity to
tampering with physical evidence charges.
He is accused of taking an oxygen tank Hall used from the victim's residence
and throwing it "into a rocky terrain in an effort to conceal it from police,"
according to his indictment.
Hall was found after Radcliff Police Department officers performed a welfare
check Sept. 9, 2016, after neighbors said Hall hadn't been seen for a few days.
Pearson was arrested Sept. 13, 2016. He will stand trial Jan. 14.
James-Venerable, who was 16 when Hall was killed, accepted a plea deal in
February that recommends she serve 20 to 50 years or life in prison, with
parole eligibility after 20 years.
The agreement also includes assurances she will testify against Pearson. Should
James-Venerable not provide honest testimony, the commonwealth will remove the
offer and she will be sentenced to life without parole.
She was charged with complicity to commit murder; 1st-degree burglary;
1st-degree receiving stolen property - firearm; and tampering with physical
evidence.
McCrary has said she was a witness to Hall's murder.
Pearson has been lodged in the Hardin County Detention Center since his arrest.
His bond was increased from a $350,000 cash bond to $1 million following his
indictment.
(source: The News-Enterprise)
OKLAHOMA:
Oklahoma's search for humane executions is futile
Attorney General Mike Hunter and Corrections Director Joe Allbaugh recently
announced that Oklahoma would no longer attempt to execute prisoners by lethal
injection and would begin drafting a protocol for a new mode of execution,
inert gas inhalation or nitrogen hypoxia.
They admitted that lethal injection is unworkable in Oklahoma. Allbaugh said he
has been engaged in a search for drugs for 2 years that has taken him "to the
backstreets of the Indian subcontinent" and has been unable to purchase them.
Hunter blamed the inability to purchase drugs on "a guerrilla war waged against
the death penalty by its opponents," seeking to intimidate and boycott drug
suppliers.
I suggest that the primary reason that lethal injection has become unworkable
is that doctors and pharmacists have refused to participate. The American
Medical Association and the American Society of Anesthesiologists have urged
members not to participate because it violates professional obligations to
preserve life and it brings disrepute to their profession. The multi-state
grand jury convened by then-Attorney General Scott Pruitt to investigate the
botched executions in Oklahoma concluded that the Department of Corrections
could not find competent doctors and pharmacists to participate.
Hunter and Allbaugh assert that IGI or nitrogen hypoxia is the most humane mode
of execution possible. I believe that there is nothing humane about killing a
human being. We speak of humane modes of execution only for animals to put them
out of their suffering.
Nitrogen hypoxia has never been used as a mode of execution in the United
States. Hunter and Allbaugh speculate that nitrogen hypoxia will be a more
humane form of execution, based on case studies of assisted suicide. This is a
questionable analogy. The terminally ill patients who submitted to nitrogen
hypoxia were near death and unable to endure their pain and suffering. They
wanted to die and assisted in the process. We do not know what will happen when
the procedure is tried on a healthy, 40-year-old man, who wants to live and
will resist the process.
Hunter appeals to sympathy for victims' families to justify the resumption of
the death penalty in Oklahoma. I have great empathy for the victims' families.
No one can appreciate the loss that they have suffered and continue to suffer.
I do not understand how killing another person promotes healing.
The death penalty brings justice only if you define justice as retribution and
vengeance. The prisoner has been tried and convicted of a crime and has been
incarcerated for 15 years or more in solitary confinement on death row. What
more does justice require? How does killing that person bring comfort or
closure? How is justice served by strapping a defenseless prisoner to a bed and
injecting them with lethal drugs or putting on a mask to starve them of oxygen?
The arch of history is bending against Oklahoma. Crucifixions, beheadings and
drawing and quartering once were culturally accepted modes of execution.
Abolition of the death penalty is a condition for membership into the European
Union. The United States is the only country in the Western Hemisphere that
exercised the death penalty in the last 10 years. Only 11 states have carried
out the death penalty in the last 5 years, 9 of which are in the South.
The death penalty will be unlawful in Oklahoma someday, most probably by a
ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court. I hope it comes sooner rather than later.
The challenge will be to change hearts and minds of Oklahomans to recognize the
death penalty as a relic of the past that diminishes us all.
(source: Editorial; Don Heath is chairman of the Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish
the Death Penalty----Tulsa World)
************
Don't rush to the death chamber; let other states absorb the costs and the
publicity of nitrogen executions
Oklahoma criminal justice leaders appear to have thrown in the towel on ever
resuming lethal injection to carry out the state's death penalty.
The lethal injection process has been beset by problems for years that we won't
reiterate here. As a result, the state hasn't carried out an execution in 3
years, which undercuts justice and the potential for capital punishment's
deterrence.
Attorney General Mike Hunter and others are leading efforts to move toward the
use of nitrogen gas to execute condemned prisoners. They want Oklahoma, which
has a backlog of 48 killers on death row, to be the 1st state to use the new
method.
Hunter says nitrogen is an inert gas that causes fatigue, dizziness, perhaps a
headache, loss of breath and the eventual loss of consciousness. It has been
used in assisted suicide in the past.
We support capital punishment. Oklahomans have made it clear that they want the
death penalty to be used to punish the worst of the worst crimes, and we agree.
The people on death row earned their way to their position, and we don't have a
lot of empathy for what becomes of them.
But Oklahomans also expect the law to be carried out in a way that is
constitutional and not an embarrassment to the state.
We see no reason to rush our move toward an untried execution method. The state
took too many lumps over its lethal injection debacles. We'd just as soon see
other states be the test cases. Oklahomans want justice and they want it
quickly, but there's no reason we can't lay back modestly and let other states
prove the method in court and in practice.
In this race, 2nd place makes a lot more sense than 1st.
(source: Editorial, Tulsa World)
CALIFORNIA----new death sentence
Accused cop killer grins as deputy DA recounts deadly day
Luis Bracamontes Tuesday received the death penalty for the killings of 2
Sacramento area sheriff's deputies in a day-long killing spree.
Bracamontes grinned and silently clapped his hands after the verdict was
delivered, while his defense lawyers sat grim faced on either side of him in
the courtroom. Later he shook hands with his defense lawyers as deputies
prepared to lead him out of the room.
The jury's verdict comes 3 1/2 years after Bracamontes and his wife, Janelle
Monroy, set out on a murderous Oct. 24, 2014, rampage that killed Sacramento
sheriff's Deputy Danny Oliver and Placer sheriff's Detective Michael Davis Jr.
The crime spree began in the parking lot of a now-demolished Motel 6 and ended
in a cul de sac in Auburn, and was followed by years of court hearings in which
Bracamontes engaged in profane outbursts and threats directed at the judge, his
own lawyers and deputies.
During trial in the guilt phase, he turned his attention directly to jurors,
threatening the and hurling the "N-word" at an African American juror. After
consulting with that juror, White determined that he could remain on the panel
and deliberate fairly.
Despite his bluster, Bracamontes never took the witness stand in either the
guilt or penalty phase, and spent much of the trial in a holding cell where he
was able to watch from a video feed.
He appeared to time his outbursts to ensure he would be ordered removed from
court, especially when the defense brought in his family members from Mexico to
testify about his difficult childhood. He routinely called the judge names
before each session at which relatives were to testify, sparking speculation
that he wanted to avoid having to be seen by them.
Whether Bracamontes ever will actually face execution is questionable.
California has not executed a condemned inmate since Clarence Ray Allen was put
to death by lethal injection on Jan. 17, 2006.
He is 1 of only 13 inmates executed at San Quentin since 1992, when California
resumed capital punishment with the gas chamber execution of Robert Alton
Harris.
Legal challenges over the state's lethal injection methods and other court
fight have postponed other executions, although death penalty advocates say
they are hopeful that the state is inching closer to resuming executions.
California currently has 746 inmates on death row, and the average time a
condemned inmate spends there is 17.9 years, according to the state corrections
department.
White told the jurors in his jury instructions that they could not consider the
likelihood of Bracamontes being executed in making a decision on his
punishment.
(source: Sacramento Bee)
*******************
Jurors Recommend Death Penalty For Convicted Cop Killer Luis Bracamontes
Jurors have reached a verdict on whether convicted cop killer Luis Bracamontes
gets the death penalty.
Tuesday, jurors recommended the death sentence for Bracamontes in the murders
of 2 Sacramento area deputies.
Bracamontes confessed to killing Sacramento County sheriff's deputy Danny
Oliver and Placer County sheriff's detective Michael Davis Jr. in 2014. The
murders came during a violent crime spree that started as a since-demolished
Motel 6 on Arden Way and spanned into Placer County.
Last month, Bracamontes was convicted on 2 counts of 1st-degree murder.
At several points during the trial, Bracamontes acted out in court, prompting
the judge to remove him from the courtroom.
(source: CBS News)
**********************
Battle over resuming California executions heads to court
The battle over California's voter-backed effort to resume executions will
begin in earnest when state officials and death penalty supporters head to
court to seek an end to orders that have blocked executions since 2006.
State officials and a former NFL player whose family was murdered want Marin
County Superior Court Judge Roy Chernus to lift his injunction on an execution
in that case.
They say California now has the necessary regulations to execute condemned
inmates using a single dose of powerful barbiturates.
A hearing on the request is set for Wednesday.
Judges previously rejected the state's 3-drug method of carrying out
executions, forcing the adoption of new rules this year.
The case in Marin County is 1 of 4 in the courts holding up executions. No
executions can take place until all the judges agree to lift the ban.
California has the nation's largest death row with nearly 750 inmates. Only 13
have been executed since 1978. Currently, condemned inmates are more likely to
die of old age during decades of appeals.
A 2016 voter-approved ballot measure attempted to remove regulatory hurdles to
executions.
Death sentence opponents plan to fight the state's new execution method in
federal court. 2 other procedural challenges are underway.
Former NFL defensive back Kermit Alexander filed the Marin County motion,
joined by state officials who are urging the judge to end the "unwarranted
delay regarding executions."
Alexander was a proponent of the ballot measure designed to streamline death
penalty regulations and appeals and speed executions. His mother, sister and 2
nephews were murdered in 1984.
"This injunction harms the public interest, and it harms the particular
interests of families who have already waited far too long for justice," his
motion states.
Opponents counter that the state must still go through the normal
time-consuming regulatory process for procedures related to executions that
were not specifically exempted by the ballot measure.
That includes things like determining if an inmate has become insane behind
bars, selecting witnesses to executions, and disposing of inmates' bodies and
property.
A separate lawsuit filed last month in Marin County by condemned inmate Jarvis
Jay Masters and the nonprofit organization Witness to Innocence challenges the
new execution rules on similar procedural grounds.
Meanwhile, the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California contends
in legal action that state lawmakers cannot delegate the responsibility for
drafting execution regulations to unelected prison officials.
Officials say those three procedural cases must likely be resolved before a
separate legal battle before U.S. District Court Judge Richard Seeborg of San
Francisco renews the fight over how to humanely execute condemned murderers.
His predecessor on the bench ruled in 2006 that the previous execution method
violated the 8th Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
Seeborg will have to decide if the new process is humane.
"Are all these appropriate safeguards in place to avoid the substantial risk of
severe pain? Those remain real questions," said Linda Lye, a senior ACLU staff
attorney.
David Senior, one of the attorneys representing condemned inmates in that case,
said death penalty opponents are likely to challenge how executioners are
selected and trained, which facilities and equipment they use, and how the
lethal drugs are selected, mixed and stored.
The main objection has been whether the barbiturates allowed under the new
rules can be safely obtained. The rules call for using either pentobarbital or
thiopental, depending on which is more readily available.
The federal government bars importing thiopental and the maker of pentobarbital
prohibits using it in executions.
The state regulations allow for buying the drugs from compounding pharmacies,
but those businesses may have trouble importing the ingredients, said Ana
Zamora, formerly an ACLU criminal justice policy director.
Zamora also questioned how the state would guarantee the chemicals would be
properly mixed, increasing the possibility of botched executions. Inmates can
also choose the gas chamber.
"It's the nature of the death penalty litigation that they fight everything
they can," said Kent Scheidegger, legal director of the Criminal Justice Legal
Foundation that advocates for crime victims and is pushing to resume
executions.
(source: Daily Journal)
WASHINGTON:
Last juvenile sentenced to die in state faces resentencing
The last juvenile sentenced to die in the state of Washington - who was later
resentenced to life in prison - is now facing another resentencing in Kitsap
County Superior Court, one that would give him a chance to walk out of prison.
In preparing to re-sentence Michael Furman, 46, Judge Sally Olsen heard about 2
very different households not far from each other in Port Orchard. One was the
house of Ann Presler, 85, and the other was Furman's, the then 17-year-old who
raped and bludgeoned her to death in her house on April 27, 1989. Furman had
been going door to door, looking for odd jobs. Presler agreed to pay him to
wash her windows but while working in the house he attacked her.
On Monday - the 3rd day this month of hearings on the matter - prosecutors
asked for a 60-year to life sentence, meaning Furman would remain behind bars
for the next 30 years before he can apply for early release. Furman's attorney
argued that he should be eligible to apply for release now. He has served about
30 years.
A decision is expected in the coming months.
"Mr. Furman needed a person like her in his life," Chief Deputy Prosecutor Chad
Enright said of Presler. "Instead he took her from others."
It was a sentiment echoed by Furman, who said as he sat in his jail cell and
read police reports he learned that Presler was volunteering to help young
people like him.
"It occurred to me that she was trying to help me and this is how I treated
her," Furman told Olsen. "She was a really good person."
Although Furman and Presler lived near each other, Olsen heard testimony that
their households couldn't have been more different. Presler's house was warm
and full of knick-knacks, with the door always open to loved ones.
Presler was the center of the family, and her house was the destination for
holidays.
"When she was murdered, it all stopped," said Robin Jones-Adams, who was 11
when her great-grandmother was killed.
The family not only lost its gathering place, but Presler's memory has not been
passed down through new generations because of the pain it stirs.
"Instead of her life, it's become about her death," said Amy Jones, Presler's
great-granddaughter, who was 9 when Presler was killed.
Furman's house, as described to Olsen by Furman and his siblings, was cold and
violent. His stepmother renamed him "Jason" because her own son was named
Michael, and he slept in the garage. He described being coerced by his
stepmother into shooting a litter of puppies they could not afford to feed and
patrolling outside the house at night to keep his sex offender father from
molesting another one of his sisters.
He said that as he was being led off to death row, his father's last words to
him were: "Take it like a man."
Furman told Olsen that he didn't think the dysfunction, being a sexual assault
victim himself, or using marijuana and meth before raping and killing Presler
was an excuse for what he did. However, he said his story could help understand
the anger he lived with at 17.
"I am responsible for what I did," he said, apologizing to Presler's family. "I
will live with the regret and shame for the rest of my life."
Furman said through the years he has come to understand his anger and has
changed. He urges his siblings to use him as an example for their children
about what happens when a person doesn't work to be a conscientious person. In
turn, they told Olsen he has been an inspiration to them for continuing to try
to better himself even though he was facing the death penalty, then life in
prison.
Furman's boss for his job in prison, which has him handling sharp tools that
have been used as weapons, said he trusted Furman.
"I would have no objection if he was my neighbor," said John Stubbs, general
manager for Correctional Industries at Clallam Bay Corrections Center.
Presler's family anticipated - and dreaded - the resentencing for years
following a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court decision, referred to as Miller vs.
Alabama. The decision found that juveniles convicted of aggravated murder, like
Furman, cannot be automatically sentenced to life in prison. Furman was one of
30 inmates in the state who was eligible for resentencing after the Miller
decision. It was the 2nd major court decision that affected his case, the 1st
was in 1993 when his death sentence was switched to life without early release.
The decision effectively ended the death penalty for juveniles in the state of
Washington.
Subsequent state court decisions after the Miller decision went further in
changing juvenile sentencing, ruling that those convicted for an aggravated
murder before they turned 18 cannot be given a "de facto" life sentence,
meaning they must be given an opportunity for release.
The sentences are not fixed but are structured with a minimum number of years
before an inmate can apply for early release. At that point, they would plead
their case to a board. If denied release, the inmate can be kept in prison for
life.
Each court decision has led Presler's family back to court to tell their side
and urge a judge to keep Furman behind bars. 3 generations of the family have
shown up in court and will continue to when Furman is eligible to apply for
release.
"Every time we come here for another court date, it rips another stitch out of
the wound we were hoping would heal," Jones told Olsen.
It's the same series of court decisions that led to the 40-year minimum
sentence to be recommended at the sentencing of Gabriel Gaeta. He pleaded
guilty in February to raping and murdering his 6-year-old neighbor Jenise
Wright when he was 17. Gaeta is scheduled to be sentenced May 21.
Appellate courts have not defined exactly what amounts to a "de facto"
sentence, but they could, and they could rule on Furman's case after Olsen
renders her decision
"I want this to be the last time that Mr. Furman comes into this courtroom,"
Enright said in asking for a 60-year minimum sentence. Enright said Furman
would be 77 at that time.
"Is 77 old?" Enright asked Olsen, noting that Presler was active and vibrant at
85. "Yes, it is. Is it de facto life? I would assume Ms. Presler would say it
is not de facto life."
Enright also argued that in the course of sentencing Furman to die, the jury in
1990 essentially went through the list of considerations a judge must make as
required by the Miller decision. Enright said that the 1990 jury also heard
about the dysfunction of Furman's upbringing and found, beyond a reasonable
doubt, that he did not deserve any leniency.
Furman's attorney, public defender Steve Lewis, told Olsen that Furman was the
last juvenile sentenced to death in the state, and he argued that the 60-year
minimum sentence prosecutors requested was unconstitutional. If found to be
unconstitutional, Presler's family would have to return to court again.
Lewis said that the Miller decision was based on recent advances in brain
research, which has shown that juveniles do not have the same ability to reason
and control themselves as adults. Not only considering the crime, Lewis said
Furman demonstrated his immaturity by repeatedly contacting detectives to
confess following his arrest, despite his attorneys telling him not to.
"He was in every respect a juvenile," Lewis said.
Lewis also noted that the Miller decision requires judges to consider a
person's ability to be rehabilitated, which Lewis said Furman demonstrated by
his work in prison.
"He needed to be there," Lewis said of Furman's time in prison, then asked
Olsen to set a minimum sentence "in the near future" so that he can apply for
release.
"This will take some time, I have some reading to do," Olsen said, adding that
she needed to re-read documents in the case in light of the new testimony.
Olsen said it would take a minimum of a month before she would render her
decision. In the meantime, Furman will return to Clallam Bay Corrections
Center.
(source: Kitsap Sun)
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