[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TENN., MISS., ALA., VA.

[Rick Halperin]

June 22



TENNESSEE----impending execution

Appeals court rejects Tennessee death row inmate's DNA request


A state appeals court refused Thursday to approve DNA testing sought by
convicted killer Sedley Alley.

He is scheduled for execution June 28th.

The Court of Criminal Appeals upheld a Memphis judge's ruling that Alley
was not entitled to the testing on evidence gathered at the scene of the
1985 murder he was convicted of committing.

Judge Otis Higgs ruled May 30th that Alley failed to show DNA testing
could have kept him from being indicted or convicted if the technology had
existed at the time of his trial in 1987.

State law allows such post-conviction testing only for attempts to prove
innocence.

Higgs said Alley's petition appeared aimed instead at delaying his
execution.

Alley was convicted of killing 19-year-old Suzanne Collins, who was beaten
and sexually assaulted with a sharpened tree limb.

(source: Associated Press)

*******************

Judge denies sister's stay effort; Reid execution on


In Clarksville, a Montgomery County judge has turned down the latest
attempt by Paul Dennis Reid's sister to delay her brother's execution,
scheduled for next week.

Circuit Judge John Gasaway issued a written order Wednesday denying a stay
of Reid's June 28 execution date.

Reid received death sentences for the 1997 slayings of 2 em-ployees of a
Clarksville Baskin-Robbins store and for killing 5 Nashville fast-food
workers. The execution is set for the Clarksville slayings.

Reid has ceased personally pursuing appeals for the 2nd time.

Reid's sister, Linda Martiniano, has also appealed Gasaway's ruling last
week that a "threshold showing" of Reid's mental competency had not been
met.

In the Wednesday ruling, Gasaway said the basis of his order denying an
expedited hearing on a stay of execution is "multifaceted."

First, Reid's June execution date was set early last month by the
Tennessee Supreme Court, giving the Montgomery County Circuit Court "very
limited authority" to stay the execution.

Martiniano submitted the motion as Reid's "next friend"  someone
authorized to act on behalf of a convict whose mental competency is
suspect.

Gasaway ruled last week that Martiniano and the state Post-Conviction
Defender's Office failed to show that Reid is incompetent.

Because they failed to make that "threshold showing," Gasaway found the
petition for post-conviction relief to be "invalid."

"The merits of a post-conviction petition have not been presented to this
Court," Gasaway wrote.

State law allows an exception for instances when a friend can prove the
convict lacks the ability to file the petition on his own behalf. Gasaway
noted he ruled against Martiniano on that very matter last week.

In addition, Gasaway wrote that the appeal of his ruling last week, filed
in the Court of Criminal Appeals, places the matter "further outside the
jurisdiction" of his court.

Gasaway wrote Wednesday's order while on vacation.

(source: The Tennessean)






MISSISSIPPI:

Miss. officials settle ACLU prison lawsuit


State officials have settled a lawsuit filed on behalf of 4 inmates who
claimed they were subjected to excessive heat, unsanitary conditions,
biting insects and the rants of psychotic prisoners at the Mississippi
State Penitentiary at Parchman.

The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit in June 2005 on
behalf of 4 of the roughly 1,000 inmates in Unit 32 of the state prison.

The lawsuit's allegations included that inmates in the maximum security
unit were subjected to inadequate medical, mental health and dental care.
In 2003, the ACLU filed a lawsuit and won improvements in Unit 32 for
death row inmates.

The settlement, which was confirmed Wednesday, will allow inmates in Unit
32 to shower 6 days a week, receive a 32-ounce cup of ice 3 times a day
during the summer and exercise outside of their cells.

U.S. Magistrate Jerry A. Davis agreed to the settlement. Last week, Davis
closed the prior ACLU lawsuit seeking relief for the death-row inmates
housed in Unit 32-C.

Margaret Winters of the ACLU's National Prisons Project said the
settlement was the best possible solution.

"We would rather have the consent decree (settlement) than to have to go
to trial," Winters said. "The state wants to work with us to bring about
constitutional guaranteed rights for inmates."

Corrections Commissioner Chris Epps said there was no problem signing the
settlement because most of the improvements have already been made.

"We want to treat all inmates properly, and we are not going to violate
anyone's constitutional rights," Epps said.

Epps has estimated the cost of carrying out the improvements for all of
Unit 32 at about $800,000. Unit 32 consists of 1,000 inmates housed in 5
separate buildings.

Winters said the state is making progress but there are still improvements
that need to be made. Epps acknowledged adequate mental health care is
still needed. He said people are being trained now to take care of the
problem.

Under the settlement, the ACLU will monitor conditions at the
penitentiary.

Epps said some of the cost as a result of the lawsuit will come out of the
inmate welfare fund instead of from taxpayers.

(source: Associated Press)

*****************

Decree gives prisoners relief----Settlement to allow Unit 32 inmates
privileges of showers, ice, exercise outside cells


A consent decree signed by the state will allow inmates in the maximum
security Unit 32 at the Mississippi State Penitentiary to shower 6 days a
week, receive a 32-ounce cup of ice three times a day during the summer
and exercise outside of their cells.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Jerry A. Davis recently agreed to the settlement in
a 2005 federal lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union's
National Prisons Project in Washington on behalf of four inmates seeking
relief for all Unit 32 inmates.

Davis also last week closed a prior lawsuit filed in 2002 seeking relief
just for death-row inmates housed in Unit 32-C.

Attorney Margaret Winters of the National Prisons Project said Wednesday
the consent decree was the best possible solution of the case.

"We would rather have the consent decree than to have to go to trial,"
Winters said. "The state wants to work with us to bring about
constitutional guaranteed rights for inmates."

Inmates had complained about being subjected to excessive heat, human
excrement, biting insects and the ranting of psychotic prisoners.

Mississippi Department of Corrections Commissioner Chris Epps said his
department had no problem signing the consent decree because most of the
improvements already have been made.

"We want to treat all inmates properly, and we are not going to violate
anyone's constitutional rights," Epps said Wednesday.

Epps has estimated the cost of carrying out the improvements for all of
Unit 32 at about $800,000.

Unit 32 consists of 1,000 inmates housed in 5 separate buildings.

Winters said the state is making progress but there are still improvements
that need to be made.

One thing Epps said has yet to be carried out is providing adequate mental
health care. He said people are being trained now.

One Unit 32 inmate complained in court papers about no mental relief.

"I'm not being allowed any kind of mental relief; these cells are starting
to appear to be closing in on me periodically," said inmate Lonnie Banks,
44, serving a 38-year sentence for armed robbery from Lincoln County.

Under the consent decree, the ACLU will monitor conditions at the
penitentiary.

Epps said some of the cost as a result of the lawsuit will come out of the
inmate welfare fund instead of from taxpayers. The inmate fund includes
money gathered for inmate telephone calls.

Epps said the settlement also will avoid expensive attorney fees. No
figure was available Wednesday on the amount of attorney fees paid out in
the case.

Winters said the agreed order will go beyond improvements ordered in the
2002 lawsuit that dealt strictly with death-row inmates.

PRISON DECREE

Among the improvements outlined in the consent decree, the prison must:

- Provide all prisoners assigned to Unit 32, and not sentenced to death,
with prior notice of factual basis for the assignment to the unit, a
hearing, an opportunity to appeal, and at least a semi-annual review with
the same rights of notice, opportunity to be heard, and appeal.

- Formulate and implement a plan whereby all prisoners who are assigned to
Unit 32 and not sentenced to death may, through good behavior and a
step-down system, earn their way to less restrictive housing.

- Implement an effective mosquito eradication and pest control program.

- Eradicate the problem of "ping-pong" toilets in every cell. That is when
one toilet flushes in one cell and then backs up in a toilet an another
cell.

- Make sure that the medical services provider delivers adequate medical
care for serious health needs.

- Provide adequate mental health care.

- Provide housing for prisoners with psychosis and severe mental health
illnesses separate and apart from all other prisoners that is appropriate
in light of their special needs.

- Prevent excessive risk to prisoners of staph infection.

- Ensure that food trays are properly cleaned and sanitized prior to food
service, that food portions are adequate, and that food is served as
appropriate and safe temperatures

- Allow prisoners out-of-cell exercise and complete new exercise pens no
later than July 1.

(source: The Clarion Ledger)






ALABAMA:

Supreme ruling on juveniles ---- The U.S. Supreme Court refused Alabama's
attempt to reinstate executions for juvenile killers. Let's hope the
court's ruling puts this issue to rest.


The U.S. Supreme Court had a chance to validate the odd legal theories of
Alabama Associate Justice Tom Parker. Thankfully, the court passed.

The U.S. justices refused Alabama's bid to reinstate the death penalty for
defendants who were as young as 16 when they committed their crimes. The
decision came with no commentary. But let's hope it spoke volumes to a
group of Alabama politicians who tried to use this issue to their
advantage during the most recent political primaries.

Chief among this group was Parker, who ran for chief justice under the
mistaken assumption that Alabamians have as little regard for the law as
he does.

Parker, you see, didn't agree with the U.S. Supreme Court's 2005 decision
barring the execution of offenders under the age of 18. As a result, he
claimed he didn't have to adhere to the ruling and neither did his
colleagues. In particular, Parker said the state court should not have
overturned the death sentence of Renaldo Adams, who was 17 when he raped
and stabbed to death his pregnant neighbor, Melissa Mills.

Parker had worked on the Adams case in the attorney general's office, so
he could not participate in the Alabama Supreme Court's decision. Instead,
he publicly sniped at his colleagues afterward, saying they should have
resisted the nation's highest court - a show of defiance he said might
have led the Supremes to reconsider and get it right.

It was bad enough Parker politicized this case to aid his bid for chief
justice. Worse, he enlisted candidates to run against his court colleagues
on the same frightening platform.

Thank goodness Alabama voters soundly rejected the Parker slate.

Alabama has suffered enough from court-defying stunts. Voters understand -
and judges, of all people, should know - there are proper channels for
challenging court rulings without putting the state through another
stand-in-the-door debacle.

Indeed, that's just what Attorney General Troy King did: He asked the U.S.
Supreme Court, in appropriate legal form, to revisit the issue.

The court said no.

On principle, The News applauds the court's decision to stand firm. People
can't vote before they're 18; they can't buy beer or cigarettes; they
can't join the Army. There's a reason. They aren't judged mature enough or
responsible enough to take on certain risks or obligations or make certain
decisions. Neither should they bear the same culpability as adults when
they commit the most heinous of crimes.

Does that mean they should endure no punishment? Absolutely not. The
question in Adams' case was not whether he would die for his crime or go
free. It was whether Adams would die for his crime or be locked up for the
rest of his life. It's entirely appropriate for the court to say
executions at least should be reserved for people who were old enough to
vote when they committed a capital crime.

It's the right decision. And if it silences the likes of Parker, all the
better.

(source: The Birmingham News)






VIRGINIA:

Delay doesn't mean Kaine is 'soft' on death penalty


One hour before the recently scheduled execution of Percy Levar Walton for
murdering 3 people, Gov. Tim Kaine delayed Walton's execution for 6 months
to ascertain "whether his mental capacity imposes a ban to his execution."

The U.S. Constitution prohibits executing someone who is mentally
incompetent, and the U.S. Supreme Court's Ford v. Wainwright case requires
that a defendant convicted for murder "must have sufficient mental
capacity to understand the punishment he is about to suffer and why he is
to suffer it."

Before leaping to the unsubstantiated conclusion that Kaine is "soft" on
the death penalty, as some politicians quickly did, it is important to
understand exactly what the governor did and did not do on Thursday
evening.

One critic blamed Kaine for waiting until the last minute because the
commonwealth had scheduled the execution of Walton for months. However,
the governor appropriately waited until Walton's attorneys had exhausted
all appeals to the federal courts.

Only after the U.S. Supreme Court had denied Walton's final appeal at 7:22
p.m. did Kaine exercise his authority to suspend the execution for a
half-year to ascertain Walton's mental capacity. This fact-finding
exercise will guarantee compliance with the constitutional mandate
governing execution.

Kaine stated that he would cooperate with Attorney General Robert
McDonnell, who represents the state in this case to develop a fair
fact-finding process.

Other critics have asserted that Kaine's action shows that he is soft on
capital punishment.

However, the governor issued a statement which clearly observed that
Walton killed "3 innocent people in their homes where people should feel
most secure from acts of violence," admitted committing "these horrific
crimes and, after pleading guilty, was sentenced to death."

Given these crimes' nature, Kaine stated that he had "no reason to
question the prosecutor's decision to seek the death penalty or the
judge's decision" to impose it.

Equally important is what the governor did not do. Kaine did not usurp the
federal courts' authority.

Indeed, the governor undertook the opposite approach by letting Walton's
appeals run their course. Kaine also did not grant clemency by, for
example, reducing Walton's death penalty sentence to life imprisonment.

The governor only suspended Walton's execution for six months to determine
whether he can be executed consistent with the Constitution. 6 of 13
active 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal judges, including Chief Judge
William Wilkins, who heard Walton's latest appeal believed that the
determination regarding Walton's mental competency had not been properly
completed and would have remanded the case to the district judge for that
determination.

This was a very close and sharply divided decision of the appellate court.
Kaine also suggested that the 4th Circuit had not considered evidence of
Walton's mental state since 2003 and that later evidence might show his
condition had deteriorated.

Governor Kaine correctly delayed Walton's execution until appropriate
procedural fact-finding guarantees that the Supreme Court mandate
regarding mental competence has been satisfied.

The governor has displayed fidelity to the Constitution and fulfilled his
duty to comply with Supreme Court requirements before the commonwealth
imposes the ultimate sanction on a convicted defendant.

(source: Editorial, Roanoke Times - Caro Tobias is the Williams Professor
at the University of Richmond School of Law)