[Deathpenalty] death penalty news-----ALA.

Sun Sep 30 17:27:59 CDT 2007

Sept. 30

ALABAMA:

Alabama Governor Blocking DNA Testing Before Execution

Alabama Governor Bob Riley issued a 45-day stay of execution for Thomas
Arthur Thursday so that the state can change its lethal injection
protocol. Arthur was set to be executed Thursday evening, Sept. 27.

The Innocence Project, which represents prisoners seeking to prove their
innocence through DNA testing, has been asking Governor Riley to issue a
stay of execution in Arthur's case in order to conduct DNA testing that
could prove his guilt or innocence. The Innocence Project said Thursday
that Governor Riley should immediately order DNA testing in Arthur's case
- and that DNA testing could be completed well within the 45 days granted
in the stay of execution. Arthur's case is the second in less than 2
months in which Governor Riley has refused to allow for DNA testing before
an execution. In July, Darrell Grayson was executed in Alabama without DNA
testing that could have conclusively proven his guilt or innocence.

The Innocence Project, which does not represent Arthur and does not have a
position on his guilt or innocence, said DNA testing in Arthur's case
could show whether the initial story from the victim's wife was, in fact,
accurate. (She initially claimed a stranger - someone other than Arthur -
broke into their home, raped her and killed her husband. Police suspected
she was lying, and she was charged and convicted in the murder. She then
changed her story and testified against Arthur in order to be released
from prison earlier.)

Her motive to lie is obvious, the Innocence Project says. Several pieces
of evidence - the victim's wife's blood-stained clothing, a rape kit
collected from her after the crime, and hairs in the victim's wife's car -
could be subjected to DNA testing. The testing could show that her
testimony against Arthur was false, and the DNA testing could identify the
true perpetrator.

For example, it's possible that the testing could show that her original
story was true and that she was raped, and the DNA profile from evidence
in the rape could be entered in the federal DNA database and yield a hit
to a man matching her initial description of the intruder at the couple's
home.

"Governor Riley said last week that DNA testing was only a tactic to delay
this execution. It's not. Now that the execution is delayed for other
reasons, DNA testing should be started immediately", Peter Neufeld,
Innocence Project co-director said. "By the time Governor Riley made his
statements last week that we were simply trying to delay this execution,
weeks had passed since we first requested DNA testing - and the testing
could have already been conducted.

"The 45-day stay of execution gives us more than enough time to conduct
and complete DNA testing that could show whether Thomas Arthur is guilty
or innocent. Governor Riley is out of excuses. There is no reason to
continue denying DNA testing - and every reason to start the process for
DNA testing immediately.

"As we have said before, we do not have a position on whether Thomas
Arthur is guilty or innocent. Our concern is that biological evidence may
exist that could be subjected to DNA testing and prove whether or not he
is guilty. The victim's wife in this case was convicted of murdering her
husband and then changed her story; DNA testing could show that she
changed her story only to get out of prison sooner, and that in fact
someone other than Thomas Arthur committed this crime.

"In 42 states, Darrell Grayson or Thomas Arthur would have been able to
get DNA testing that could resolve their cases and maintain public
confidence in the criminal justice system. Governor Riley, who has refused
DNA testing before executions twice in the last two months, has made it
clear that he isn't concerned with getting to the truth in these cases.
Nationwide, 15 people who served time on death row have been exonerated
through DNA evidence. Sometimes within days of execution, DNA proved they
were innocent. If any of those 15 people had been in Alabama, they would
be dead today.

"This indifference to the power of DNA to determine the truth through hard
science is unconscionable. It is nothing short of a national scandal that
Governor Riley is repeatedly refusing DNA testing before executions when
testing could confirm guilt or innocence. With this 45-day window of time,
Governor Riley has an opportunity to restore faith in the system and
restore credibility to his office."

(source: North Country Gazette)

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

Alabama faces execution challenge like other Southern states

Alabama has joined a growing list of death penalty states facing court
challenges to lethal injection policies, and a trial tentatively scheduled
for November will determine if Alabama's temporary halt of one execution
will turn into longer delays like those in Tennessee and Florida.

2 convicted killers contend in lawsuits that Alabama's lethal injection
procedures can subject inmates to unconstitutionally cruel pain because
they are not completely unconscious when their lungs and hearts are
stopped.

For death penalty opponents, the upcoming trial and Gov. Bob Riley's
decision to postpone an execution scheduled for Thursday night give new
hope that there will be more public scrutiny of the way the state
administers its harshest punishment.

"Even people who support the death penalty can be opposed to executions
that are gratuitously inhumane and torturous," said anti-death penalty
attorney Bryan Stevenson.

The trial over Alabama's lethal injection procedures had been scheduled to
start Oct. 3, but a federal judge postponed it - tentatively to the week
of Nov. 26 - after the governor decided to make changes in Alabama's
execution procedures.

At the trial, the state attorney general's staff will argue that medical
professionals carry out executions appropriately, and Alabama's executions
have been free of problems.

"The Department of Corrections has done a good job of carrying out the
law," said Clay Crenshaw, director of the attorney general's capital
litigation unit.

Lawsuits challenging lethal injection procedures are spreading throughout
the 37 states that use the procedure, according to the Death Penalty
Information Center, which opposes capital punishment.

"None of these suits are saying lethal injection itself is irredeemable.
It's the way it's being carried out," executive director Richard Dieter
said.

So far, the rulings have been mixed. But lawsuits or execution problems
have caused moratoriums or delays in 11 states, including Florida, North
Carolina and Tennessee.

In Kentucky, the state Supreme Court upheld the state's procedures, but
the U.S. Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to hear an appeal. The arguments,
possibly in late 2007 or early 2008, will mark the 1st time the nation's
highest court has considered whether the mix of drugs used in Kentucky and
elsewhere violates the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual
punishment.

"It will have implications for this litigation all over the country," said
Stevenson, director of the Equal Justice Initiative of Alabama, which is
representing death row inmates in challenging lethal injection in Alabama.

In the Alabama case, U.S. District Judge Keith Watkins plans to hear about
3 days of testimony in lawsuits filed by Willie McNair and James Callahan
challenging Alabama's procedures.

For McNair and Callahan, it's literally a case of life or death.

Since the suits were filed, state Attorney General Troy King asked the
Alabama Supreme Court to set execution dates for the 2 inmates. Those
dates would be set if they lose in federal court or if the U.S. Supreme
Court sides with the state of Kentucky.

McNair received a death sentence for stealing Ella Foy Riley's purse and
stabbing her to death in 1990. The 68-year-old widow from Abbeville had
occasionally hired McNair to do yard work.

Callahan has been on death row 25 years. He was convicted of kidnapping
Jacksonville State University student Rebecca Suzanne Howell from a
laundry in the college town and then raping and suffocating the
26-year-old woman in 1982.

Alabama keeps its lethal injection procedures secret, and a curtain in the
execution chamber keeps witnesses from seeing the medical professionals
who are involved. State officials say it's for security reasons and to
prevent harassment. But that secrecy also raises suspicions.

"There is no transparency. That creates room for questions and doubts
about what the state does," Stevenson said.

Last Thursday, the governor decided to temporarily postpone the execution
of convicted killer Tommy Arthur to add safeguards to Alabama's lethal
injection procedures. The changes, still being worked out, will include a
2nd person, in addition to the warden, to check the condemned for signs of
consciousness and possibly the use of more anesthetic, officials said.

"The decision to grant a brief stay is being made only because the state
is changing its lethal injection protocol, and this will allow sufficient
time for the Department of Corrections to make that change," Riley said.

When Riley decided to make the changes, state attorneys notified the
federal judge, who promptly delayed the trial to give Riley time to
implement his plan.

Alabama's next execution is scheduled Oct. 25 for triple-killer Daniel Lee
Siebert, but he is also seeking a postponement.

Court papers reveal the state uses the same 3-drug combination for
executions commonly used in other states, but the papers don't reveal the
amounts. The 1st drug, called both sodium pentothal and sodium thiopental,
is an anesthetic that depresses the central nervous system to produce
unconsciousness.

Next is pancuronium bromide, which paralyzes muscles, including the
diaphragm. Finally, potassium chloride stops the heart.

The inmates' suit contends that if unconsciousness is not achieved by the
first drug - perhaps by a technician missing a vein with the needle - then
the 3rd drug is excruciatingly painful, but the pain cannot be observed by
witnesses because the 2nd drug has paralyzed the muscles of the condemned
inmate.

The suit also points out that doctors don't insert the needles because
that would run afoul of American Medical Association policies.

Crenshaw said Alabama uses emergency medical technicians who have plenty
of experience with getting needles into a vein.

Kent Scheidegger, legal director for the pro-death penalty Criminal
Justice Legal Foundation, said the main legal problem the state faces is
proving that the first drug is administered properly to achieve
unconsciousness.

"Basically it's a matter of making sure the 1st drug goes into the veins,
and the person is completely under. ... If the anesthetic goes into the
vein, it's enough to put a horse under," he said.

(source: The Associated Press)

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

Arthur case shows need to suspend executions in state----Alabama's
11th-hour maneuvering in its attempt to execute Tommy Arthur and still
stay within the boundaries of the U.S. Constitution underscores again the
need for a death penalty moratorium in our state.

On Wednesday, the day before Arthur's scheduled execution, Gov. Bob Riley
announced plans to change the state's lethal injection procedure.

The change comes a week before the start of a federal court case alleging
that the state's lethal injection protocols allow inmates to remain
partially conscious and suffer unconstitutionally cruel pain during their
deaths.

Riley said the change he ordered would provide additional safeguards to
ensure that inmates are unconscious before drugs are administered to stop
the lungs and heart.

Initially, state officials said the revision was too late to apply in
Arthur's case. But within hours of the scheduled execution, Riley granted
a 45-day stay to allow for the changes in protocol.

The governor said evidence is overwhelming against Arthur and that he will
be executed for his crime.

Arthur, 65, was sentenced to death for the 1982 murder-for-hire killing of
a Troy Wicker, 35, of Muscle Shoals. He has steadfastly denied
responsibility, saying DNA evidence would clear him. Riley has refused to
order the tests, however, contending that Arthur's request was only a
tactic to delay execution.

Since he has ordered a stay, perhaps the governor will reconsider the DNA
request. It's a dicey case.

Wicker's wife initially told authorities that a man raped her and killed
her husband.

Later, however, she testified that Arthur, an inmate on work release with
whom she was having an affair, killed her husband to allow her to collect
$90,000 in insurance.

His first 2 convictions were overturned. In the 3rd trial, the district
attorney who prosecuted him was the attorney for Arthur's wife before he
became DA. A witness for the prosecution refused to testify in the third
trial, saying he'd been bribed to tell a story in the first 2 trials. And
Arthur acted as his own attorney in the 3rd trial.

At each of his trials, he asked for the death penalty, while maintaining
his innocence, saying that a death sentence would give him an advantage in
the appeals process, where he was confident of victory.

His case raises anew many of the disturbing issues that argue for a
moratorium to study the way our state administers the death penalty.
Post-conviction appeals, DNA testing and lethal injection protocols all
pose key questions.

So do racial disparities in sentencing, a law that lets judges override a
jury's sentence in capital cases and the possibility of executing inmates
with mental retardation.

Moreover, a recent controversy has raised the issue of the role the
Alabama attorney general should play in the death cases.

All of these questions deserve thoughtful study by the Legislature and
other elected officials.

We need a moratorium on the death penalty to allow for such a
comprehensive examination.

(source: Tuscaloosa News)

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

Seeking all the answers

With stay granted, state should order testing

Tommy Arthur's death penalty case is a convoluted one, but the latest
legal twist gives the state an opportunity to straighten out at least one
question raised by the lawyers representing the convicted murderer.

Gov. Bob Riley stayed Arthur's execution last week because the state is
making a change in its protocol for lethal injection - the method that
would have been used to execute Arthur. The 45-day stay gives the
Department of Corrections time to make the change, which may make the
state's way of executing prisoners less vulnerable to court claims that it
is inhumane.

The delay gives time for something Arthur's lawyers have requested: That
DNA tests that couldn't be performed when Arthur was tried now be
performed on biological evidence in the case. Lawyers for the Innocence
Project say the tests could be completed in a couple of weeks and would
cost the state nothing.

Arthur was convicted in the 1982 murder of Troy Wicker after the victim's
wife, Judy Wicker, said she had hired him to kill her husband. The woman
had been convicted in her husband's murder, and implicated Arthur after
prosecutors agreed to recommend her parole. Judy Wicker also implicated
other people in the crime, but they were not prosecuted.

Initially, she claimed an intruder raped her and killed her husband.
According to published reports, she had injuries consistent with that
story and semen and other evidence was collected at the time of the crime.

At least 1 member of the victim's family has voiced support for DNA
testing of the evidence in the case.

Many convictions have been proven to have been wrong when DNA testing was
applied to evidence in old cases. In some others, it confirmed the
rightness of a jury's conviction.

If our legal system is to rely on DNA evidence to convict people - even to
bring criminal charges against someone because of DNA when no other
evidence tied them to a crime - it should be open to the use of DNA
testing even when the results might call a conviction into question.

One argument against allowing the testing - that it would further delay
justice for the victim's family - has been removed. The execution was
pushed back for 45 days. If Arthur's lawyers can get DNA testing done
while the Department of Corrections fine-tunes its protocols for lethal
injection, they should be allowed do.

Issuing a stay was the right thing to do. It would be right also, if Gov.
Riley would now order the DNA testing Arthur's lawyers seek.

(source: Gadsden Times)

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

Ala. faces fight over executions

Alabama has joined a growing list of death penalty states facing court
challenges to lethal injection policies, and a trial tentatively scheduled
for November will determine if Alabama's temporary halt of one execution
will turn into longer delays like those in Tennessee and Florida.

Two convicted killers contend in lawsuits that Alabama's lethal injection
procedures can subject inmates to unconstitutionally cruel pain because
they are not completely unconscious when their lungs and hearts are
stopped.

For death penalty opponents, the upcoming trial and Gov. Bob Riley's
decision to postpone an execution scheduled for Thursday night give new
hope that there will be more public scrutiny of the way the state
administers its harshest punishment.

"Even people who support the death penalty can be opposed to executions
that are gratuitously inhumane and torturous," said anti-death penalty
attorney Bryan Stevenson.

The trial over Alabama's lethal injection procedures had been scheduled to
start Oct. 3, but a federal judge postponed it -- tentatively to the week
of Nov. 26 -- after the governor decided to make changes in Alabama's
execution procedures.

At the trial, the state attorney general's staff will argue that medical
professionals carry out executions appropriately, and Alabama's executions
have been free of problems.

"The Department of Corrections has done a good job of carrying out the
law," said Clay Crenshaw, director of the attorney general's capital
litigation unit.

Lawsuits challenging lethal injection procedures are spreading throughout
the 37 states that use the procedure, according to the Death Penalty
Information Center, which opposes capital punishment.

"None of these suits are saying lethal injection itself is irredeemable.
It's the way it's being carried out," executive director Richard Dieter
said.

So far, the rulings have been mixed. But lawsuits or execution problems
have caused moratoriums or delays in 11 states, including Florida, North
Carolina and Tennessee.

In Kentucky, the state Supreme Court upheld the state's procedures, but
the U.S. Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to hear an appeal. The arguments,
possibly in late 2007 or early 2008, will mark the first time the nation's
highest court has considered whether the mix of drugs used in Kentucky and
elsewhere violates the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual
punishment.

"It will have implications for this litigation all over the country," said
Stevenson, director of the Equal Justice Initiative of Alabama, which is
representing death row inmates in challenging lethal injection in Alabama.

In the Alabama case, U.S. District Judge Keith Watkins plans to hear about
three days of testimony in lawsuits filed by Willie McNair and James
Callahan challenging Alabama's procedures.