[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----UTAH, CALIF., USA
Nov. 10 UTAH: Utah lawmaker proposes death penalty for cop killersThe current law makes the crime eligible for the death penalty, but the new measure would make it the mandatory sentence Rep. Paul Ray is drafting legislation that makes the death penalty a mandatory sentence for any person convicted of targeting and killing a police officer. According to the Deseret News Utah, Ray said that harsher consequences need to be put in place to prevent ambushes on officers that have become all too common. The current law counts murder of a law enforcement officer as an aggravated crime, allowing prosecutors and jurors the choice to ask or sentence the suspect to the death penalty. The proposed bill eliminates the district attorney's choice of pursuing capital punishment, and makes the death penalty a mandatory sentence, the publication reported. After news broke of the ambush of 2 Des Moines officers sitting in their patrol cars, Ray told the publication he became "furious" and even more committed to make the bill a law. "These are guys who knowingly, every day, go to a job they know they may not return from," Ray said. "And then you've got cowards that are going out and targeting these guys, trying to make sure they don't go home to their families." Rather than focusing on officers who are attacked or killed during process of investigating other crimes, the bill focuses on targeted attacks that single out officers, the publication reported. Defining exactly what constitutes targeting is still in progress. (source: policeone.com) CALIFORNIA: Prop 62: Challenge already filed to measure that would speed executions Although California voters soundly rejected abolishing the death penalty and appear to have approved a measure to speed up executions, don't expect anything to change soon - if at all. Proposition 66, which was ahead Wednesday by a razor-thin margin with dozens of counties still counting ballots, would face major hurdles before it could deliver on its promise of expediting a death penalty appeals process that often drags on for decades. About 750 people are on death row in California, and no one has been executed since 2006. Among the obstacles: Proponents of Proposition 62, which would have abolished capital punishment in California but was defeated more soundly than a similar measure in 2012, said they plan to file suit over the measure to speed appeals. Even with more votes left to be counted, they conceded at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday that they had lost their effort to defeat Proposition 66. And Orrick, a leading California-based law firm, filed a legal challenge late Wednesday seeking an immediate stay from the California Supreme Court. "Proposition 66 will absolutely end up in protracted and costly litigation," said Ana Zamora, manager of the No on 66 campaign. "It's just more empty promises to California voters and victims' families." But Yes on 66 supporters vowed to carry out the measure's highly technical provisions, such as putting trial courts in charge of initial petitions challenging death penalty convictions, establishing a time frame for death penalty reviews, and requiring appointed attorneys to accept death penalty appeals. "If it is obstructed, we're going to do everything we can to get it implemented," said Sacramento District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert, co-chair of the Yes on 66 campaign. The measure does not include any funding for the extra attorneys and trial judges that would be required to speed up appeals. Lawmakers would have to allocate more money to already underfunded trial courts. The state Legislature is dominated by the Democratic Party, which opposed Proposition 66. "The Legislature and the governor should respect the will of the voters," said Schubert, when asked about the funding. California voters approached the 2 dueling death penalty initiatives in a different spirit than the other criminal justice measure on the ballot, Proposition 57. Aimed at reducing prison overcrowding, that measure passed with overwhelming support. Backed by Gov. Jerry Brown, it will expand parole opportunities for certain inmates and require that judges decide whether juveniles should be tried in adult court and sent to prison. Proposition 57 is the third criminal justice reform approved by Californians since 2012. The other 2 are Proposition 36, which eased the state's tough 3-strikes law for repeat offenders, and Proposition 47, which reduced some crimes to misdemeanors, shortening sentences and sending offenders to jail rather than prison. "We're seeing a real split," said Garrick Percival, an associate professor of political science at San Jose State. "Californians are saying our prison system is broken and costs too much, but for the worst of the worst, they still advocate the ultimate punishment." Proposition 66's victory surprised some opponents, partly because polls had
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----UTAH, CALIF., USA
Nov. 3 UTAH: Utah legislator wants mandatory death penalty when police are targeted, killed With the shooting deaths of 2 Iowa police officers bolstering his resolve, a Utah legislator is proposing a mandatory death penalty clause for anyone convicted of targeting and killing a cop. Rep. Paul Ray, R-Clearfield, is drafting legislation that would enhance the penalties for anyone who specifically targets and assaults a police officer. A 1st draft of the bill is complete but not yet available, Ray said, and a number of questions remain about how the change would work. Regardless, the legislator is insistent that stiffer consequences are necessary to prevent increasingly common attacks on officers. When he received a news alert early Wednesday about the fatal ambush of two officers in Des Moines, Ray said he became "furious" and even more committed to stepping up the law in Utah. "These are guys who knowingly, every day, go to a job they know they may not return from," Ray said. "And then you've got cowards that are going out and targeting these guys, trying to make sure they don't go home to their families." Urbandale police officer Justin Martin, 24, and Des Moines Police Sgt. Anthony Beminio, 39, were gunned down shortly after 1 a.m. as they sat in their patrol cars, The Associated Press reported. The suspected shooter, 46-year-old Scott Michael Greene, surrendered hours later when he flagged down a Department of Natural Resources employee on a rural road west of the city. Ray said he began drafting his bill following attacks on police in July. 5 officers were shot and killed by a sniper in Dallas, and 3 others were gunned down in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, as they responded to calls of a man prowling the streets with a rifle. The legislation focuses on deliberate attacks that single out officers rather than assaults on police during the commission of other crimes, Ray said. He acknowledged that work remains to define what constitutes "targeting" an officer and how it would be proved under the law. Ray's bill would create a 2-step penalty enhancement for anyone convicted of targeting an officer in an assault, elevating a third-degree felony offense to a 1st-degree felony, for example. And in cases where the officer is killed, he is proposing mandatory pursuit of the death penalty, meaning district attorneys would no longer be able to choose whether to pursue capital punishment. Under current Utah law, murder of a law enforcement officer is an aggravated crime, meaning it is eligible for the death penalty if prosecutors choose to pursue it and a jury chooses to impose it. Karena Rogers daughter is about to go through puberty - and she is terrified of it. Ray says his bill keeps the jury phase for capital punishment sentencing and instead addresses the way charges are initially filed when an officer is shot and killed. "The thing that I'm tired of is on these high-profile cases - and I know the DAs are going to argue the other direction, and I get it - but they just plea them out," Ray said. "I want an ultimate penalty. If you target, you kill a police officer, you need to pay with your own life." In the case of Timothy Troy Walker, who shot and killed Draper Police Sgt. Derek Johnson in 2014 when the officer stopped to check whether Walker had been in an accident, Walker pleaded guilty to the murder to avoid the death penalty. Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill, while expressing support for a penalty enhancement, should it pass, voiced concern Wednesday about the death penalty mandate. Requiring prosecutors to pursue capital punishment takes away their ability to evaluate the strength of evidence and witnesses as the case progresses, Gill said. "Would we want to force a trial even if the case starts to deteriorate and risk losing the case?" he asked. It also overrides the wishes of the victim's family, forcing them to endure a trial and years of appeals, even if they would rather close the case quickly through a plea bargain. "I have had cases where this residual burden was too much for the family members to endure," Gill said. A penalty enhancement, however, "would certainly send a strong message as public policy that we will not tolerate targeting law enforcement officers," he said. Paul Cassell, University of Utah law professor and a former federal judge, also praised the idea of a penalty enhancement but worried about the capital punishment requirement. Cassell commended the way district and county attorneys in Utah have prosecuted murders of police officers, saying that unless there is a proven issue with how the cases are being handled, there's no need to change the law. He also cited the financial costs of death penalty cases and appeals - legislative analysts said last year that death penalty cases cost Utahns $1.6 million more on average than a life without parole case - and noted that
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----UTAH, CALIF., USA
March 21 UTAH: Defense attorney will focus on mitigating factors in effort to spare murderer the death penalty After a jury found him guilty for a 2nd time Wednesday for the 1985 murder of Ogden woman Joyce Yost. Douglas Lovell's life is in the hands of those same jurors. Douglas Lovell has been convicted for the 1985 murder twice now. First back in 1993 and again on Wednesday. He has defined himself as a burglar, said Jeffrey Thomson, a deputy Weber County Attorney. He's a convicted burglar. He's a convicted robber. He's a convicted kidnapper. He's a convicted rapist, and he's a convicted murderer. In the prosecution's opening statement during the sentencing phase, they quoted Lovell from a confession to his ex-wife in which he admitted he knew what he had done was punishable by death. Thomson said, quoting Lovell: 'Capital murder is the worst thing you can do, probably the death penalty. I committed a 1st-degree felony to cover up another felony, it's the death penalty.' Those words, all of those words, were his words. Lovell pleaded guilty to killing Yost back in 1985, saying he did so to keep her from testifying that he had kidnapped and raped her. Lovell's 1993 plea was part of a deal to keep him off death row, on the condition he led police to Yost's body. But Yost's body was never found, and a judge sentenced Lovell to die by lethal injection. In 2011, the Utah Supreme Court overturned the conviction. But his defense has never challenged his guilt. Nothing that we present to you is intended to be a smoking gun, Defense Attorney Michael Bouwhuis said. You aren't going to hear anything that's going to make you say, 'I get it. I understand why he raped and murdered this woman.' You're not gonna hear anything like that. Instead, in the sentencing phase, the defense said they plan to focus on mitigating factors like Lovell's family history and good behavior in prison. It's intended to provide you with a reason not to kill him, Bouwhuis said. Greg Roberts, the son of Yost, was the 1st witness called to testify Friday. He said, I'm haunted by a lot of guilt for leaving her unprotected. Roberts was away at college in Virginia in 1985 when his mother, who was just 39 at the time, was murdered. The last time a death sentence was imposed in Utah was in 2008. The penalty phase of the trial will resume Monday. (source: Fox News) ** Utah Representative Scared of Grandma's Opinions on the Death Penalty Utah lawmakers passed a bill last week that would allow the state to bring back the firing squad for executions if lethal-injection drugs were not available. The governor, Republican Gary Herbert, has until April 1 to decide whether it should become law - and he's leaning toward signing it. Utah currently has 8 inmates on death row and no lethal injection drugs. However, Herbert also said that it was unlikely firing squads would even be used if the law were passed, as the state is trying to procure the drugs. The debate is really more than just the firing squad, he told reporters yesterday. It's should we have capital punishment or not? Many states have considered alternative execution methods in recent months, as drug companies here and abroad have grown more reticent to be associated with death. Utah is the 1st state to come this close to changing the law, however, and death-penalty opponents have flooded the governor's office with calls and comments in the past week. Since late January, Herbert has received at least 433 emails on the legislation; 396 opposed it, with many coming from a campaign started by the American Civil Liberties Union, according to the Associated Press. Many of them were from out of state, coming from places as far away as New Zealand. A petition with 6,200 signatures opposing the measure was also sent to the governor's office by Utahns for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. One man from Seattle threatened to never again come to Utah to ski if this barbaric execution style is used again in your state. However, the office contends that they received far more comments over previous legislative fights concerning issues like same-sex marriage. Republican Representative Paul Ray, who wrote the legislation, says most of the response he has received has been positive. Others offered alternative methods of execution - one senior citizen from Florida explained how the state might want to create a death chamber. She scared me, Ray told the AP. I'm glad she's not my grandmother. Oklahoma's House recently passed a bill that would allow nitrogen hypoxia executions if lethal injection were declared unconstitutional. Last year, Oklahoma used a relatively untested cocktail of lethal-injection drugs in an execution, given shortages. It took more than 40 minutes for the man sentenced to die to stop breathing. The executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center told the
