Jan. 4
TEXAS----female facing death penalty
Another suspect facing death penalty for Breanna Wood homicide----District
Attorney Mark Gonzalez said the case will send a message that if you commit a
crime in Nueces County, you will be held accountable.
The Nueces County District Attorney will be seeking the death penalty in the
case of Sandra Vasquez, who is suspected of playing a role in the murder of
21-year-old Breanna Wood.
Vasquez appeared in court Wednesday after she was taken into custody last week
and charged with capital murder, engaging in organized criminal activity and
aggravated robbery.
District Attorney Mark Gonzalez said the case will send a message that if you
commit a crime in Nueces County, you will be held accountable.
Both Vasquez and Joseph Tejeda, another suspect charged with capital murder in
connection with Wood's murder, are both facing the death penalty. They are
among 7 people charged in connection with Wood's death.
(source: KIII TV news)
DELAWARE:
Court upholds life sentence for ex-death row inmate
Delaware's Supreme Court has upheld the life sentence of a former death row
inmate.
The court on Tuesday rejected Adam Norcross' argument that he should not have
been sentenced to life imprisonment without probation or parole after the
Supreme Court declared Delaware's death penalty law unconstitutional.
Norcross argued that he instead should have been resentenced under a law
related to certain serious felonies, but the court said his contentions had no
merit.
Norcross was convicted in the 1996 murder of Kenneth Warren of Kenton. Norcross
and an accomplice, Ralph Swan, both were sentenced to death for the murder of
Warren, who was shot 4 times in a home invasion robbery.
(source: Associated Press)
NORTH CAROLINA:
Top NC Republican accuses Democratic governor of halting the death penalty
A North Carolina prosecutor announced recently that he'll seek the death
penalty for inmates who killed 4 people during an attempted prison escape.
According to Republican state Sen. Phil Berger, the Senate leader, and Tim
Moore, the state House speaker, the state's top Democrats are standing in the
way of the state serving justice to the prison employees who died in the
October attacks.
Capital punishment is on the law books in North Carolina and Berger says there
are currently 143 inmates on death row. However, there hasn't been an execution
since 2006.
Berger and Moore contend that's because Gov. Roy Cooper, the former attorney
general, and Josh Stein, who was elected attorney general in 2016, have failed
to take legal action to counter court cases that are blocking executions. They
released a joint statement on Dec. 8.
Berger, specifically, was quoted as saying: "For over a decade, death penalty
opponents like Roy Cooper and Josh Stein have imposed a de-facto moratorium on
capital punishment in North Carolina, using every legal trick possible -
including inaction - to delay death sentences handed down by juries and deny
justice to victims."
He continued: "No matter what they say, Cooper's and Stein's indifference and
failure to fight the moratorium endangers the lives of prison employees in
close proximity to hardened murderers with nothing left to lose, who see no
possibility they will face execution for killing again."
Do Cooper and Stein oppose the death penalty? Are they using the legal system
to block executions, as Berger and Moore imply?
What's the holdup?
The last execution in North Carolina, in 2006, put to death Samuel Flippen, a
36-year-old who was convicted in the beating death of his 2-year-old
stepdaughter 12 years prior to his execution.
Since then, North Carolina has been one of several states that's in a holding
pattern while the courts consider legal arguments against death penalty
practices. Raleigh-based television station WRAL reported last year that that
North Carolina is "caught in morass of various state and federal court
rulings."
One legal challenge relates to the protocol for lethal injections and whether
they're cruel and unusual. While that lawsuit makes its way through the courts,
Wake County Superior Court Judge Donald Stephens in 2014 blocked the use of
lethal injection in the state. Stephens later retired, and the case remains
unresolved.
"That litigation is in the trial court and the injunction remains in place
until the Court approves a new protocol and all appeals are exhausted," said
Laura Brewer, a Stein spokeswoman.
The other legal challenges stem from the Racial Justice Act, a short-lived law
that allowed inmates to use local and statewide statistics in claims that
racial bias played a role in their cases. The act was adopted in 2009, largely
along party lines, and was rewritten in 2012 and then repealed in 2013 after
Republicans won majorities in the General Assembly.
Some of the cases are in active litigation, Brewer said. "Some have been fully
briefed by the parties (including by the AG's office for the State) and are
awaiting argument at the North Carolina Supreme Court," she wrote in an email.
"The Supreme Court has not set an argument date."
What Cooper, Stein say
Cooper served as attorney general for 16 years, from 2001 to 2016. We contacted
Cooper's office about his stance on the death penalty. Despite the fact that
much of his party's base opposes the death penalty, Cooper spokeswoman Noelle
Talley pointed to his record as proof he supports it.
"As Attorney General, Gov. Cooper did his duty to uphold capital punishment
sentences handed down by juries in accordance with the law, and 27 executions
were carried out in North Carolina during his time as AG before court orders
prevented executions," Talley wrote in an email.
She provided a link to the online list of the executions provided on the N.C.
Department of Public Safety website.
Stein was elected last year and he doesn't have much of a record with death
penalty cases, so we looked through news reports to see what he said on the
campaign trail last year. Stein told WRAL in August 2016 that he backs the
death penalty.
"I support the death penalty because I believe that certain crimes are so
heinous that it is the appropriate punishment," Stein said. But he emphasized
that "the state needs to take care to avoid racial bias that has contributed to
a de facto moratorium (on executions) in the state."
Stein took the same position during a debate in Asheboro last September, The
News & Observer reported.
To conclude the 1st part of our fact check, Cooper has a record of enforcing
the death penalty and Stein is on the record supporting it - despite the fact
that it's unpopular with many Democrats. So at this point, it would seem like a
stretch to describe them as death penalty opponents.
But what have they done?
Berger and Moore's statement suggests that Cooper and Stein have used their
powers to further prolong the moratorium. Berger said Cooper and Stein used
"every trick possible" to impose the moratorium.
Brewer, Stein's spokeswoman, said the attorney general's office has opposed
claims by Racial Justice Act defendants.
"Stein and then-Attorney General Cooper have made numerous pleadings on the
state's behalf in these cases opposing the claims" regarding both the Racial
Justice Act and the lethal injection case.
"Neither Attorney General Stein nor then-Attorney General Cooper have filed
pleadings supporting the claims," she said.
And a WRAL story from 2007 quotes attorneys for Cooper, then the attorney
general, arguing against attempts to block executions until the state resolved
a case related to the presence of physicians at executions.
Cooper and Stein didn't file the lawsuits delaying executions or take the side
of those who did. Have they used other, more subtle legal strategies for
keeping the cases stuck in court?
'Not the roadblock'
2 death penalty opponents said they're unaware of any action Cooper has taken
at any point in his career to block executions.
Kristin Collins, associate director of public information at the Durham-based
Center for Death Penalty Litigation, described Cooper as "very aggressive in
capital prosecutions" when he was attorney general.
Collins added that Cooper "certainly opposed the stay when it was requested by
the inmates" in the cases that have halted executions. And with the Racial
Justice Act, "the attorney general is the only one actively involved in these
lawsuits and they've done nothing besides fight for the case of the state,
which argues that these death sentences should be carried out."
James Coleman, a Duke University professor and director of the Center for
Criminal Justice and Professional Responsibility, said neither Cooper nor Stein
is in a position now to affect the outcome of the legal challenges.
"We're not at a place where the governor or attorney general could do anything
even if they wanted to resume executions," Coleman said. "They're not the
roadblock."
Bob Orr, who served from 1995 to 2004 as a justice on the N.C. Supreme Court,
said he's not familiar with Stein's position but said Cooper's staff fought to
uphold the law.
"I was on the Supreme Court for 10 years. A number of executions took place. We
handled a substantial number of death penalty appeals. It's the singular most
difficult part of the job," Orr said.
"I never heard (Cooper) say that he's personally opposed to the death penalty
and certainly members of his staff aggressively opposed appeals (of
executions)," Orr said.
A 'back-door attempt'
PolitiFact asked Berger's office for proof that Cooper and Stein prolonged
court reviews of the legal challenges.
They provided none. On the day we emailed to say we'd found no evidence of
Cooper or Stein supporting challenges to the court cases, Berger and Moore
released a new statement once again criticizing Cooper and Stein for their
inaction.
Auth, Berger's spokesperson, also followed up with an email to PolitiFact. She
said Cooper and Stein could use the attorney general's office to fight
injunctions against state laws. She also argued that Stein, in 2009 as a state
senator, contributed to the execution stoppage by voting for the Racial Justice
Act.
Supporters of the act said it was needed because statistics showed the death
penalty was used disproportionately against black defendants. A Michigan State
University study of capital cases in North Carolina between 1990 and 2010 shows
that qualified black jurors were more than twice as likely as whites to be
removed from juries by prosecutors.
Many Republicans viewed the legislation as a "back-door attempt to get rid of
the death penalty," as former state Sen. Thom Goolsby said at the time. Goolsby
later led the repeal of the act.
Former state Rep. Paul "Skip" Stam of Apex, an attorney, echoed that sentiment.
"Any knowledgeable public lawyer would have realized that the RJA would be an
indefinite moratorium on the death penalty for 1st degree murderers," Stam said
in a recent email.
"By 2012, it was clear as the nose on your face that the RJA was an indefinite
moratorium on the death penalty and irrational to boot (all the white murderers
on death row claimed racial discrimination and filed petitions to stop their
executions - so far successfully)," Stam continued. "And yet, Sen. Josh Stein
voted against the 2012 legislation to effectively do away with these aspects of
the RJA."
Our ruling
In the Dec. 8 joint statement with Moore, Berger said Cooper and Stein oppose
the death penalty and have used "every legal trick possible - including
inaction - to delay death sentences." Berger's office provided no evidence
showing that Cooper and Stein have sided with death penalty opponents in court.
Rather, Berger pointed to Stein's vote on one bill and, in a vague claim, said
the duo should've pressured the courts to expedite their review of death
penalty cases.
It's fair to criticize how Cooper and Stein spend their resources and tie Stein
to the Racial Justice Act. But those arguments alone don't prove that they
oppose the death penalty or have used legal "tricks" to delay executions. We
rate this claim Mostly False.
(source: politifact.com)
****************
Death penalty case begins for man charged in double murder of 2 friends
In a 7th floor courtroom at the Wake County Justice Center on Wednesday,
prosecutors began making their arguments that a Holly Springs man deserves the
death penalty for his role in the slaying of 2 longtime friends.
Donovan Jevonte Richardson, 24, is being tried for the capital murders of
Arthur Lee Brown, a popular construction company owner, and David Eugene McKoy,
Brown's best friend and longtime employee.
Wake prosecutors Howard Cummings and Matt Lively say Richardson, 24, along with
Gregory Adalverto Crawford of Fuquay-Varina and Kevin Bernard Britt of Holly
Springs, fatally shot Brown and McKoy in Brown's home on Howard Road in
Fuquay-Varina. Investigators said the men conspired to rob the victims.
Crawford last year was sentenced to life in prison. Britt has not gone to
trial, but has been cooperating with investigators.
Prosecutors think the men targeted the home days before Brown and McKoy were
found dead. Brown had tried to ward off would-be robbers by installing three
cameras along the exterior of the home and an alarm system inside.
"My uncle told me, 'somebody's been messing with my security cameras," his
nephew, Carl Diggs, testified Wednesday as the trial began.
Kenneth L. Brown, Brown's son,told the courtroom that his boyhood home was
ransacked. A basement window where investigators think the men entered had been
kicked in. Clothes and other items were strewn across the bedroom floor where
Brown had been shot. A wallet where he kept cash was missing. So was a .38
caliber revolver he kept on his nightstand and 2 long rifles, including a World
War II "Tommy Gun" that had been stolen from Brown's gun cabinet.
"After the murders, everything was in disarray," Brown said. "Things were
turned over. There were holes in the walls, blood on the walls, blood on the
mattress. Things were just scattered everywhere. The furniture was overturned.
And the wallet he kept his money in, that one never turned up."
Diggs and Vernon Elliott, who both live on Howard Road, said they entered the
home to investigate at the behest of Ruby Bullock, Brown???s octogenarian
sister in-law, who first found the slain men.
"She went in for a few minutes and then she called my name," Elliott said.
"'Vernon come here. I think Arthur is dead.' I went into Arthur's bedroom,
close enough to touch him. He was cold to the touch. I knew he was dead."
Elliott said he left the home, but then Bullock asked, "What about David?" He
returned to find McKoy's body in a day bed.
"He was wrapped in blankets in a small bedroom. It appeared he was asleep in
bed. He had been shot in the head," Elliott testified.
The residents of Howard Road are close-knit, and most of them are related.
Kenneth Brown said his father had owned his construction company for more than
40 years. He said the elder Brown had been working with crews building roads
and bridges since he was 10 years old.
"That's how he learned construction," Brown said.
The business had been picking up since the recession ended, the son said.
Cora McKoy Evans, David McKoy's sister, said her brother had a learning
disability and could not read or write. But he had worked for more than 25
years as Brown's helper. After the stepmother he had been living with died,
McKoy was staying with his employer for a few months until he could move into
his own apartment. She said she last spoke with her brother 2 days before he
was found dead.
"He told me he had a hard day at work. He was tired," his sister recalled. "He
had eaten and was going to get a good night's sleep. He had pig's feet and
potatoes. He was in good spirits. He was a happy person. A good person. He
loved strangers. He would speak to everybody. I used to ask him, 'why do you
speak to everybody?' He'd say, 'It don't cost nothing to speak.'"
The capital trial is scheduled to resume Thursday morning.
(source: newsobserver.com)
FLORIDA:
Death penalty sought for 2 men charged in veteran's throat slashing----Douglas
Cercy, Ray Jones plead not guilty to murder indictments
2 men indicted on murder charges in the death of an 86-year-old military
veteran who died months after having his throat slashed last year have pleaded
not guilty.
Douglas Cercy Jr. and Ray Jones III are accused of killing Melvin Clark.
The State Attorney's Office has notified both men that it intends to seek the
death penalty against them.
Cercy and Jones, who are also charged with kidnapping with a weapon and armed
robbery with a deadly weapon, are due back in court in April.
According to police, on April 8, 2017, they kidnapped Clark, made him withdraw
cash from an ATM and drove him to a wooded area off U.S. Highway 301 in the
Maxville area, where they slashed his throat. Clark died several months later.
"The murder of this elderly man was heinous, atrocious, and particularly
cruel," State Attorney Melissa Nelson said in a news release announcing the
indictments.
In October, a 3rd person, Jennifer Schulte, was charged with murder in Clark's
death. She has since pleaded guilty.
(source: WJXT news)
***********************
Once on death row as a teen killer of newlyweds, man getting new shot at
freedom
Cleo Douglas LeCroy - previously on Florida's death row for nearly 20 years for
killing young newlyweds from in 1981 - has a shot at being set free from
prison.
A judge is set to give LeCroy, who is serving a life term, a new sentence Dec.
1, thanks to several high court rulings favoring people who were juveniles when
they committed murder.
For the family of , gunned down by a 17-year-old LeCroy at a southwestern Palm
Beach County hunting area, the possibility of seeing him walk is painful.
"I should never after all of these years be going through this," said Ruth
Haines, 81, mother of Gail. "To me, it should be life without parole."
LeCroy should "rot in jail," said David Hardeman, 61, whose older brother was
fatally shot in the face. He actually wishes it was still legal to execute
juvenile killers. Since it's not, LeCroy "should never be allowed to get out,"
the Miami man said.
But LeCroy, now 54, is hoping to leave prison and move to Alabama where he
would care for his elderly mom and draw support from a church program for
released convicts.
"He's hopeful, but he's been through a lot," said defense attorney James
Eisenberg, who was LeCroy's 1st court-appointed lawyer and still argues for his
freedom 3 decades later. "I see no reason to deny this guy's release."
On and off death row
In the years after his arrest and convictions at a , LeCroy lost numerous
appeals in the murder case that captivated South Florida.
LeCroy, who grew up in North Miami as the youngest of 5 children, has and
campers John and Gail Hardeman within an Everglades wildlife preserve, about 16
miles south of Belle Glade and 5 miles from the nearest house.
Gail, a secretary for a ceramic tile company, was 24 when she died on Jan. 4,
1981. John, who worked as an exterminator for a pest control business, was 27
and the father of 2 boys, 5 and 3, from a previous marriage.
John Hardeman III, whose sons are now in their early 40s and raising 5 young
kids, was killed by a shotgun blast to his face. His wife was shot at close
range in the head, neck and chest with a .22-caliber gun.
Their bodies weren't discovered until a week later, after LeCroy and his family
assisted authorities in a massive search by air and land for the couple who
went missing a month before their first wedding anniversary.
LeCroy was sentenced to death for Gail's murder and mandatory life in prison
without the possibility of parole for 25 years for John's murder, based on the
jury's recommendations. At that time, capital punishment for juveniles was
still legal.
He also was convicted of robbing his victims at the 4,400-acre Brown's Farm
Hunting Area. The motive: LeCroy wanted John's new $100 rifle so he could sell
it, prosecutors said at the trial.
Jon LeCroy, an older brother, also was charged with the murders, but was
acquitted at a trial. He later confessed to the crimes at a , but a judge then
ruled the statement could not be used to help Cleo LeCroy's appeal for a lesser
sentence or a new trial. Jon LeCroy has since died, says his brother's lawyer.
In 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court abolished the death penalty for juveniles and
Cleo LeCroy, without a hearing, was resentenced to life in prison for the
slaying of Gail Hardeman.
Case for and against LeCroy
LeCroy's lawyer argues the felon's "tragic childhood" of physical and emotional
abuse and neglect in a dysfunctional home is reason enough for the minimum
possible punishment of 40 years in prison.
"Even his mother called him dumb," Eisenberg wrote to the court. "He was picked
on and tortured by his siblings."
While LeCroy was diagnosed with severe brain damage as recently as 2002 -
because of head-banging from the time he was a little boy until adolescence -
he has succeeded in getting his high school diploma in 2010 as well as
certificates for other coursework and educational programs, court records show.
The attorney also points out that LeCroy has been written up for discipline
problems only twice the entire time he's been in prison, and held a job called
"security orderly."
But David Hardeman said he doesn't care that LeCroy "has been a great boy in
prison - he blew my brother's face off."
And Lisa Hardeman, John Hardeman's now 81-year-old stepmother who lives near
Asheville, N.C., said of LeCroy's path through the criminal justice system:
"What we have gone through as a family, it's an affront."
Ruth Haines, Gail Hardeman's mom, also says she has no empathy for LeCroy,
though she now opposes the death penalty because cases linger in the court
system for decades.
From her Bonita Springs home on the state's gulf coast, Haines says LeCroy was
practically an adult when he killed, just two months before his 18th birthday.
Kathryn Nichols, who was John Hardeman's 1st wife and the mother of his kids,
said she wants the sentencing judge to know that "the loss of their father"
affected the boys, Charles and Matthew, their whole lives.
"It was a senseless murder," said Nichols, of St. Augustine, adding LeCroy "has
no business being out."
Juvenile justice reforms
In June, Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Laura Johnson ordered LeCroy is
entitled to a new sentence. She cited U.S. Supreme Court and Florida Supreme
Court rulings since 2010 that have had major implications for juvenile
criminals.
First, the nation's High Court ruled it is cruel and unusual punishment, a
violation of the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution, to give young criminals
a life term with no chance for parole for crimes other than murder.
Then in 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled mandatory life terms are
unconstitutional for juveniles who kill.
That landmark ruling requires judges to take various factors into consideration
before concluding a juvenile offender can never be free, including their level
of maturity and the possibility for rehabilitation.
It still allows for life sentences when a juvenile's crime is deemed so heinous
and the possibility of rehabilitation is extremely slim.
Assistant State Attorney Andrew Slater has not yet made a recommendation for
LeCroy's new punishment. He could not be reached for comment, and the victim's
kin have said they were unaware of the resentencing until a reporter called.
In Florida, if a judge determines life in prison is not warranted, the minimum
sentence for a young killer is 40 years, with a judicial review after 25 years,
under a 2014 state law.
LeCroy's lawyer says his client is the "poster child" for benefitting from the
shift in how juveniles with violent pasts are treated by the court system.
"LeCroy's history and transformation while in prison to a responsible adult is
remarkable," Eisenberg told the Sun Sentinel, citing a consultant's finding
LeCroy is "now no danger whatsoever to society."
He said LeCroy is entitled to credit for the nearly 37 years he's been locked
up, as well as a massive amount of "gain time" for good behavior. By
Eisenberg's calculation, LeCroy could be eligible for release almost
immediately under even a 50 to 60-year sentence.
A state Supreme Court ruling last year turned out to be the final boost for
LeCroy's bid to re-enter free society.
That ruling, in a 1990 murder case from Broward, found that a life sentence
including the possibility of parole after 25 years for a juvenile was
unconstitutional. Justice Barbara Pariente, in her majority opinion, wrote the
state's parole system didn't make any accommodations for youthful offenders.
The court decisions have brought a wave of resentencing hearings for juvenile
criminals, "notwithstanding how horrific the crimes were for the victims'
families," said Stephen K. Harper, a former defense attorney now on the law
school faculty at Florida International University.
"The facts of the cases are never good," said Harper, the former head of the
juvenile division at the Miami-Dade Public Defender's Office. "But kids are
significantly and constitutionally different from adults, and the Supreme Court
has found kids clearly deserve a 2nd chance."
(source: oakwoodherald.com)
NEVADA:
Quick overview wanted for case of loss of life sentence inmate
Nevada death row inmate Scott Raymond Dozier confers with Lori Teicher, a
federal public defender involved in his case, during a Thursday, Aug. 17, 2017,
appearance in Clark County District Court in Las Vegas.
Nevada prison officials and the state attorney general are asking the state
Supreme Court for a quick review of a never-before-tried protocol for the 1st
lethal injection in the state in 11 years, because 1 of the drugs that would be
used expires in April.
Meanwhile, the condemned inmate is telling a state court judge who put his
execution on hold pending high court review that he changed his mind and
doesn't care anymore if a disputed paralytic is used as the 3rd drug in his
execution.
"My overarching and near singular desire is to get my execution done as
expeditiously as possible," Scott Raymond Dozier said in a handwritten Dec. 12
letter from Ely State Prison.
The twice-convicted murderer, now 47, asks Clark County District Court Judge
Jennifer Togliatti in Las Vegas to rescind her order for the state Department
of Corrections to remove cisatracurium as final drug in his lethal injection,
and to reschedule his execution, which was canceled Nov. 14. The judge set a
hearing Tuesday morning on that request.
The lethal injection protocol developed by a state chief medical officer who
has since resigned calls for the paralytic to be administered after high doses
of the sedative diazepam, commonly known as Valium, and the powerful opioid
painkiller fentanyl, which has been blamed for overdose deaths nationwide.
Diazepam is sometimes offered in pill form to condemned inmates ahead of time,
but the nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center says none of the three drugs
has been used directly for executions in the 31 states with capital punishment.
Many states have struggled in recent years to find drugs that pass
constitutional hurdles after pharmaceutical companies and distributors banned
their use in executions.
Cisatracurium would prevent muscle movement and ensure that breathing stops,
according to Dr. John DiMuro, an anesthesiologist who quit as Nevada's top
doctor in October and returned to private practice. A letter says his departure
followed bullying by his supervisor, and wasn't related to the execution or the
lethal injection protocol he developed.
Togliatti told prison officials they could go ahead with the 1st 2 drugs, which
an expert medical witness testified would likely cause death. But the judge
cited concerns that the paralytic could "mask" or prevent witnesses from seeing
indications of pain if Dozier suffers.
The 7-member Supreme Court didn't schedule an immediate hearing on a 52-page
appeal filed Friday by attorneys in state Attorney General Adam Laxalt's
office. A spokeswoman for Laxalt, Monica Moazez, declined additional comment
Monday about the filings. They included 7 volumes of backup material.
Jordan Smith, assistant state solicitor general, wrote that a quick decision is
needed from the court because the supply of cisatracurium begins expiring April
1 and the diazepam expires May 1.
Records show that Nevada obtained the drugs last May from its regular
pharmaceutical distributor, Cardinal Health. It was not clear if the company
knew their intended use. The state has refused pharmaceutical company Pfizer's
demand to return the diazepam and fentanyl it manufactured.
Dozier has been on death row since 2007 for convictions in separate murders in
2002 in Phoenix and Las Vegas.
(source: kaplanherald.com)
USA:
At https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/administrative/crsj/
Life-After-Death-Penalty_Transcript.authcheckdam.pdf [www.americanbar.org], you
will find an important program discussing the circumstances that have led 7
states to stop using the death penalty, & the complete lack of the supposedly
"horrible" consequences that capital punishment proponents claim will
inevitably result from abolition. The experiences of these states are crucial -
and yet are usually completely ignored.
Life After the Death Penalty: Implications for Retentionist States
Presented by the Committees on Capital Punishment of the American Bar
Association Section of Civil Rights & Social Justice and of the New York City
Bar Association
(source: RT)
*************
What to Know About the Death Penalty in 2018----Here are the most important
places to keep an eye on.
Only a little more than a year ago, many opponents of the death penalty were
cautiously optimistic that the U.S. Supreme Court - perhaps with a Clinton
appointee or 2 - might strike down the punishment for good. Then came President
Donald Trump, who tweeted "SHOULD GET DEATH PENALTY!" about one criminal
suspect and recently called for the execution of anyone who kills a police
officer. He picked an attorney general, Jeff Sessions, known for his efforts to
pursue executions in Alabama, and a Supreme Court justice, Neil Gorsuch, whose
first major decision was to deny a prisoner's request for a stay of execution.
But does all that matter? The number of executions and new death sentences have
been trending downward for years. Support for capital punishment in the U.S. is
at about 55 %, its lowest point in more than four decades. Trump's 1st year saw
a slight rise in death sentences and executions, but those are the product of
counties and states; the president and attorney general have little say beyond
the occasional federal case.
What can we expect at the beginning of 2018? Is the death penalty almost gone,
or will the president's support rejuvenate it?
To answer those questions, there will be 4 places to watch:
The Counties
It's up to local, elected district attorneys to decide whether to ask a jury
for the death penalty. In the 1990s, many prosecutors campaigned on their
successes sending men to death row. But much has changed. In the last 2 years,
voters elected district attorneys in Denver, Philadelphia, and Orlando, Fla.,
who all promised to stop seeking the death penalty completely. In Orlando, the
move prompted a backlash, as Florida Gov. Rick Scott removed potential death
cases from new DA Aramis Ayala's authority; she sued, lost, and rescinded the
death penalty ban.
In Houston and Tampa, newly elected DAs made vaguer pledges: they said they
would be more judicious about which cases merit the death penalty. Inevitably,
there will be high-profile crimes in these communities, and many - perhaps
inspired by the president - will call for harsh punishments. It will be worth
watching these prosecutors handle the new cases that cross their desks.
As the death penalty disappears, it has been replaced by life without parole, a
punishment that California prisoner Kenneth Hartman once called "death by
another name." In Texas alone, between 70 and 100 people are sentenced to life
without parole each year - far exceeding death sentences there. Keep an eye on
prosecutors who spare prisoners from execution to see if they send even greater
numbers to prison for life.
The States
It takes a DA and a jury to send someone to death row, but it takes a massive
state bureaucracy to kill him. Courts must uphold the convictions, prison
officials must secure lethal injection drugs, and governors and attorneys
general must clear political and legal obstacles.
In recent years, executions have become even more difficult to carry out
because drug companies have protested the use of their products in lethal
injections. States have searched for new sources and combinations of drugs, and
defense lawyers have fought these new plans in court.
8 states managed to clear these obstacles and carry out executions in 2017. The
result was more executions than the year before, when only 5 states pulled it
off.
But numerous other states have made moves to obtain lethal injection drugs and
revive their death chambers. In 2018, we will see if they succeed, or whether
opponents are able to hold them off through litigation. Nebraska and Nevada are
both trying new drug combinations that feature fentanyl, the opioid responsible
for thousands of accidental deaths in recent years.
Capital Punishment in Practice, State by State
Although a limited number of states carried out executions last year, many
others made moves to join their ranks. Some developed new lethal injection drug
combinations, others defended their execution policies in court, and others
attempted to pass new laws to protect the identities of drug suppliers.
This is an area where Trump could have an effect. In Arizona, Nebraska, and
Texas, efforts to import execution drugs from India have been stymied by the
federal Food and Drug Administration. Trump could push the agency to let the
drugs in, paving the way for many states to seek drugs abroad.
The Supreme Court
Trump could leave a massive legacy at the Supreme Court, especially if Justice
Anthony Kennedy follows through on his plan to retire. This would affect many
areas of the law, including the death penalty. Kennedy has been a swing vote in
the court's efforts to ban its use on the intellectually disabled and people
who committed their crimes before age 18.
Death row prisoners are likely to find less success under a Trump-nominated
successor, but some observers have pointed to Chief Justice John Roberts as a
potential swing vote on capital cases. Recently, he rejected the death sentence
of Duane Buck, whose trial featured testimony from an expert witness that
suggested he was more likely to be dangerous because he is black. "Some toxins
can be deadly in small doses," Roberts wrote of that testimony. The court is
currently considering whether to hear a challenge to the Georgia death sentence
of Keith Tharpe. A juror from his trial used the n-word and "wondered if black
people even have souls." Still, as with Buck, a victory for Tharpe would not
have a broad effect on capital punishment as a whole.
For that, look to Abel Hidalgo, whose Arizona case the justices are currently
considering whether to hear. Hidalgo was convicted of the 2000 murders of 2 men
at an auto repair shop; he was paid $1,000 by a gang that wanted 1 of the men
dead. His lawyer, Neal Katyal - a former solicitor general under Obama, who
also represented the state of Hawaii in a challenge to Trump's travel ban - has
asked the Supreme Court to consider whether the death penalty as a whole is
unconstitutional. That is a long shot, given that the court has chosen to avoid
the question several times in recent years.
But Katyal has also given the court an opportunity to take a more modest
challenge. Most states with the death penalty have laws that say only certain
"aggravating" factors can qualify a murderer for the punishment. Katyal argues
that in Arizona there are so many aggravating factors that practically any
murder qualifies. If the court takes the case, it could cast into doubt the
future of the death penalty in a state where 120 people are on death row.
Another potentially important case - which Robert Dunham, executive director of
the Death Penalty Information Center, said he's watching - comes from Missouri,
where a man was sentenced to death last year by a trial judge after his jury
deadlocked 11-1. Missouri is 1 of only 2 states, along with Indiana, where
judges are allowed to break such a deadlock. But 2 years ago, the Supreme Court
ruled in Hurst v. Florida that judges cannot be the primary decider behind a
death sentence. Perhaps, as this case is appealed, it also will land in front
of the Supreme Court.
The U.S. Attorney General
The federal government has successfully sought capital punishment 76 times
since 1988. It will become clear in 2018 whether Sessions will try to impose
capital punishment in some current cases. As attorney general of Alabama in the
1990s, he oversaw the state's efforts to move cases toward execution. But
during his confirmation hearings, he said he had dropped the death penalty in
an Alabama case when he learned it did not meet the legal criteria, weathering
political attacks for the decision. (He did not specify the case.) The
Department of Justice has a bureaucratic process for determining whether to
seek death, and it will be up to Sessions to decide whether to overrule the
decision brought to him.
Obama oversaw several federal death sentences - most famously those of Dzhokhar
Tsarnaev and Dylann Roof - but no executions. The federal government, much like
the states, has not been able to obtain lethal injection drugs. Sessions could
prioritize the issue and seek a revival of the federal execution chamber.
Finally, there is one way he could speed up executions in the states. People
sent to state death rows can appeal to federal courts, and in 1996, Congress
set a 1-year deadline for these appeals. Former Marshall Project reporter Ken
Armstrong investigated in 2014 how lawyers frequently missed the deadline,
leading to their client's executions.
But a little-known provision of that law offered states the opportunity to push
the deadline back even further - to 6 months - and also force federal courts to
rule more quickly. The provision has been tied up in a lengthy legal battle,
but it will eventually be up to Sessions to decide if states can speed up
appeals. "I suspect it hasn't been a priority in this very tumultuous 1st year
of the Trump Administration," said Kent Scheidegger of the Criminal Justice
Legal Foundation in California, who supports the changes. "But it will go
forward at some point."
(source: themarshallporject.org)
**********************
Stop Executing the Severely Mentally Ill
While Governor Terry McAuliffe's commutation of the death penalty to life in
prison for the mentally ill William Burns was welcome, the fact that the
governor in July also allowed the execution of the equally mentally deficient
William Morva shows the need for a fair and consistent law.
Diagnosed with delusional disorder, William Morva committed his crimes while
under the delusional paranoia of his mental illness, including the belief that
President George W. Bush was conspiring with local law enforcement officers to
have him killed. Despite this, the jurors who sentenced Morva to death were
told during the trial only that he had "odd beliefs" about the world.
His execution raises a basic bipartisan request: It is time that Virginia
lawmakers pass a severe mental illness exemption to the death penalty.
These illnesses, such as schizophrenia and the disorder that afflicted Morva,
are characterized by hallucinations and delusions which make it difficult to
distinguish between reality and fiction. These characteristics make people with
psychiatric disabilities often unable to control or understand the consequences
of their behavior. People with severe mental illnesses experience these
symptoms, not out of voluntary choice, but as a consequence of their
diagnosable medical condition.
These involuntary conditions disproportionately affect the most vulnerable
people in our society. Low-income Virginians are less likely to have stable
access to mental health services, and subsequently suffer from higher rates of
untreated mental illness. Veterans are similarly affected, as the RAND
Corporation has found that a staggering 20% of veterans suffer from
post-traumatic stress disorder or major depression.
The United States Supreme Court has already recognized that the death penalty
should be reserved only for the "worst of the worst." Indeed, it ruled against
the practice of executing juveniles and individuals with intellectual
disabilites, finding that their impairments reduce their moral culpability.
Similarly, and due to their unique conditions, people with mental illnesses
also have reduced moral responsibility for their actions. Human decency should
make it obvious that defendants with severe mental illnesses should not be
considered the "worst of the worst" in our society.
It is obvious that Virginia's existing legal safeguards aren't enough to
protect this vulnerable population and are too prone to the whims of a
prosecutor, a jury or the Governor. Mental illness is often seen by prosecutors
and juries as something that heightens, rather than lessens, the accused's
level of guilt and responsibility. Studies have even indicated that jurors
sometimes see mental illness as a reason to vote for, rather than against,
death. Correcting this backwardness of our admittedly outdated death penalty
system is critical.
To be clear, this proposed legislation would not have enabled William Morva,
William Burns or anyone with similar conditions, to "fake" mental illness to
avoid punishment. It is strictly defined to exempt only individuals diagnosed
with the most serious and consequential disorders. Under this law, Morva, Burns
and defendants like them would still face a maximum sentence of life without
the possibility of parole. This exemption still does justice to victims and
their family members, while respecting community demands of decency and the
Constitution.
"[Burns] will not evade punishment," McAuliffe said in a statement, "he will be
incarcerated for the remainder of his life ... in my view this is the only just
and reasonable course."
According to Public Policy Polling, over half of Americans oppose the execution
of people with severe mental illness. It is hoped that in the upcoming 2018
General Assembly session our lawmakers recognize this consensus in the law.
Decency and justice demand that we fairly and consistently spare those with
severe mental illness from the ultimate punishment.
(source: Dale Brumfield is Field Director for Virginians for Alternatives to
the Death Penalty (VADP) and the author of "Virginia State Penitentiary: A
Notorious History" (Arcadia, 2017)----baconsrebellion.com)
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