[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, ORE., CONN/.USA, FLA., OHIO, S. DAK.

[Rick Halperin]

Oct. 22


TEXAS:

20 Death Row Exonerees to Lead 12th Annual March to Abolish the Death Penalty


The 12th Annual March to Abolish the Death Penalty will be held Saturday, 
October 22nd, 2011 at the Texas Capitol at 2 PM (on the north side of the 
capitol). A rally will begin at 2 PM followed by a march through the streets of 
downtown Austin at 3.

The march will be led by 20 death row survivors who each spent many years on 
death rows around the U.S. despite being innocent. The 20 exonerees are coming 
to Texas as members of Witness to Innocence. Some of the exonerees are in Texas 
for a speaking tour across the state and all of them will be in Austin for the 
Witness to Innocence "Gathering" from October 20-23. Witness to Innocence is 
the nation's only organization composed of, by and for exonerated death row 
survivors and their loved ones.

Many people at the rally and march will carry signs that say "Perry/Willingham 
2012" to suggest that if Rick Perry becomes president of the U.S., it will be 
over the dead body of a person whose execution Perry allowed even though he was 
given information before the execution discrediting the forensic science used 
to convict Todd Willingham. After Willingham's execution, Perry abused his 
power as governor to interfere with the investigation of a governmental body 
into the Willingham case. Rick Perry's actions regarding Todd Willingham raise 
serious questions about Perry's character and judgement. Perry is not ethically 
qualified to be president of the United States.

One of the signs marchers will carry is below:

>From Todd Willingham

Before his execution, Todd Willingham told his parents,"Please don't ever stop 
fighting to vindicate me."

Before his execution, Troy Davis told his supporters in a letter,"There are so 
many more Troy Davises. This fight to end the death penalty is not won or lost 
through me but through our strength to move forward and save every innocent 
person in captivity around the globe. We need to dismantle this unjust system 
city by city,state by state and country by country."

Texas has executed 475 people since 1982 (as of Oct 16, 2011). Under current 
Texas Governor Rick Perry, 236 people have been executed, including some with a 
strong case of innocence. 12 people have been exonerated while on death row in 
Texas, the most recent being Anthony Graves in 2010. Since 1976, there have 
been 138 death row exonerations in the United States.

A recent CNN poll showed that when given a choice of sentences between life in 
prison without parole or the death penalty for the crime of murder, more 
Americans (50%) would opt for the life sentence than for death (48%).

"We will be urging all Texans to join us at the March to Abolish the Death 
Penalty on October 22 in Austin", said Ron Keine, formerly on death row in New 
Mexico.

?"As they see what the death penalty really means, in my case and others, more 
and more Texans believe that Texas can do without the death penalty," said 
exonerated death row survivor Clarence Brandley, from Conroe, Texas, who has 
been fighting for compensation from the state of Texas for over 20 years.

Each October since 2000, people from all walks of life and all parts of Texas, 
the U.S. and other countries have taken a day out of their year and gathered in 
Austin to raise their voices together and loudly express their opposition to 
the death penalty. The march is a coming together of activists, family members 
of people on death row, community leaders, exonerated former death row 
prisoners and all those calling for repeal of the Texas death penalty.

The annual march is organized as a joint project by several Texas anti-death 
penalty organizations and their allies: Texas Moratorium Network, the Austin 
chapter of the Campaign to End the Death Penalty, the Texas Death Penalty 
Abolition Movement, Texas Students Against the Death Penalty, Witness to 
Innocence, Journey of Hope ... From Violence to Healing, Texas Civil Rights 
Project, International Socialist Organization, Amnesty International at The 
University of Texas, Kids Against the Death Penalty, The Austin Chronicle, 
NOKOA, Gray Panthers and Democrats for Life.

(source: Burnt Orange Report)

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

Impending executions in Texas

date------# under Gov. Perry----name------------------# in Texas since 1982

Oct. 27---237--Frank Garcia------------------------------476

Nov. 9----238--Hank Skinner------------------------------477

Nov. 16--239--Guadalupe Esparza-----------------------478----50 % of all Tx. 
executions carried out under Gov. Perry, since 2001

Jan. 26--240--Rodrigo Hernandez-----------------------479----more than 50 % of 
all Tx. executions now carried out under Gov. Perry's tenure

(sources: TDCJ & Rick Halperin)






OREGON:

DOJ wants death penalty petition ignored----Anti-capital punishment group works 
to halt planned execution


Attorneys for death row inmate Gary Haugen are expected next week to submit to 
the Oregon Supreme Court their written response to a petition filed with the 
court by an organization that is seeking to block Haugen's execution.

After the filing by Haugen's attorneys, the high court could set a hearing for 
additional legal arguments on the petition or issue a decision without a 
hearing.

The state Department of Justice on Friday filed legal papers asking the Oregon 
Supreme Court to throw out a petition that seeks to block the planned execution 
of death row inmate Gary Haugen.

The high court should dismiss the petition because it was filed by an 
organization, Oregon Capital Resource Center, that lacks legal standing to 
intervene in the case, argues a brief filed with the court by the state DOJ.

The center is led by lawyer Jeff Ellis, a board member of Oregonians for 
Alternatives to the Death Penalty, a non-profit advocacy group whose stated 
goals are to prevent Haugen's execution and repeal Oregon's death penalty law.

In asking the Supreme Court to throw out Ellis's petition, the state DOJ's 
legal brief says: "Nothing in Ellis's request alleges any facts that would 
provide a basis for this court to conclude that either he or the OCRC has any 
particular interest in this proceeding — or in the impending execution of 
defendant — that is different from that of any other citizen. Therefore, this 
court should dismiss Ellis's request."

In his petition, Ellis maintains that Marion County Circuit Judge Joseph 
Guimond erred this month when he conducted a mental competency hearing for 
Haugen and then deemed him legally sane to be executed.

Ellis asserts that the judge failed to properly consider key information that 
casts doubt on the 49-year-old inmate's competency — a three-page affidavit 
prepared by psychologist Muriel Lezak, who visited Haugen at the state 
penitentiary and concluded that he is delusional and not competent to waive his 
legal appeals.

Ellis is asking the Supreme Court to vacate Guimond's finding that Haugen "is 
competent to be executed and that he knowingly, intelligently, voluntarily and 
competently waives post-conviction review."

The anti-death penalty lawyer also is asking the high court to "issue an order 
directing the trial court not to issue the death warrant until this court's 
review is complete."

Guimond has indicated that he plans to sign Haugen's death warrant soon. The 
execution is tentatively scheduled for Dec. 6.

Ellis's petition is the latest effort by death penalty foes to block the 
execution of Haugen, a twice-convicted murderer who has repeatedly sought to 
drop his appeals and be put to death.

Haugen previously was scheduled to be executed on Aug. 16. But in late June the 
Supreme Court — at the request of Haugen's former attorneys Andy Simrin and 
Keith Goody — ordered Guimond to cancel the execution and conduct another 
review of Haugen's competency.

Guimond ruled on Oct. 7 that Haugen was competent to waive his appeals. In 
part, he relied on the findings of a clinical psychologist, Richard Hulteng, 
who met with Haugen for 10 hours and testified that the inmate was mentally 
fit.

In his recent filing, Ellis said Guimond repeated the same mistake he made 
previously — excluding Lezak's findings that Haugen suffers from delusions and 
"didn't have a rational understanding of the connection between his crime and 
his execution."

In the rebuttal brief filed on Friday, the state DOJ notes that Guimond 
excluded Lezak's affidavit after Haugen complained that Simrin and Goody 
manipulated him into cooperating with Lezak and that the attorneys "then 
improperly disclosed and used her opinion without his informed consent and in 
violation of his privilege."

According to the state's brief, Guimond "scrupulously" complied with "every 
step" of the previous Supreme Court directive, including ordering an assessment 
of Haugen's "mental capacity to engage in reasoned choices of legal strategies 
and options" and then conducting an evidentiary hearing.

It also notes that Hulteng "independently evaluated" Haugen and "concluded 
without qualification" that he is competent.

(source: Statesman Journal)






CONNECTICUT/USA:

Capital Punishment No Solace To Survivors


I know of no one in our state who has followed the horrible story of the home 
invasion in Cheshire, where a mother and 2 daughters were cold-bloodedly 
murdered, who wouldn't want to yell, "Kill the killers!"

I have talked to many who strongly support Dr. William Petit Jr., the lone 
survivor of this unspeakable crime, who has sought the death penalty for the 
murderers of his family. And believe me, I empathize with all of them, even 
though I believe strongly that they are wrong to want more murders, even if 
done so-called legally by the state.

Like Dr. Petit, I faced unspeakable torment when a Montana sheriff called in 
August 1993 to tell me that my son John and his beautiful wife, Nancy, had been 
murdered in their newly purchased home in Big Fork. We didn't know for five 
months who the killer was, but then we found out — it was the 18-year-old son 
of the people from whom John had bought the house. The killer entered through a 
basement window, sneaked up into their bedroom where they were sleeping and 
shot them to death.

Montana had only recently re-established capital punishment, and the boy, 
"Shadow" Clark, was facing death. I had always opposed the death penalty and my 
children were raised to believe as I had. I remember kneeling in that room of 
death with my surviving sons and we all grasped a truth so clearly — that 
unnatural death at the hands of another is wrong, except in a clear case of 
self-defense. The state is no more justified in taking a life than is an 
individual. Killing cannot be sanitized by calling it "official" and "legal."

And so, my then 5 living children and I wrote to the Montana judge asking him 
not to seek the death penalty for Shadow Clark. We knew it is only a delusion 
to believe that one's pain is ended by making someone else feel pain. We were 
relieved when the young murderer took a plea bargain and received a life 
sentence, avoiding the death penalty.

My daughter Mary expressed our belief well.

"The truth is, no one in my family ever wanted to see Shadow Clark put to 
death. We felt instinctively that vengeance wouldn't alleviate our grief. We 
wanted Clark in prison, removed from society forever, so he could never hurt 
another person. But watching Clark suffer and die would have done nothing to 
help us heal. Worse, wishing Clark would suffer and die would only have 
diminished us and shriveled our own souls. We had had enough pain already, 
dealing with the indescribable horror of our loved ones' brains and blood 
splattered all over their bedroom walls. We didn't need to increase our own 
torment by demanding more blood."

And Mary emphasized where we all stood: "Hatred doesn't heal. Mercy, 
compassion, moving on with life, turning toward good people, walking into the 
light of love as much as possible, that's what victims need. And our lawmakers 
have the capacity to help us do that by abolishing the death penalty and along 
with it, the fantasy that it will make the pain go away."

Sadly, the United States, which so often claims to be the world champion of 
human rights, is the only Western industrialized country that still practices 
this barbaric punishment. We do have 16 states without the death penalty, but 
unfortunately, Connecticut is not one of them.

I am often asked about my opposition to the death penalty, and I give credit to 
my Catholic faith. I well remember when the Catholic bishops first called for 
an end to the death penalty nearly 40 years ago. In the fall of 2005, they 
launched the Catholic Campaign to End the Use of the Death Penalty, saying we 
must be people who affirm life. "State-sanctioned killing in our names 
diminishes all of us," they said.

I agree.

Many of us are working to end the death penalty in Connecticut. We who belong 
to the Connecticut Network to Abolish the Death Penalty believe we have the 
means to punish convicted criminals without having to resort to killing them 
for protection, vengeance or retaliation.

(source: Antoinette Bosco of Brookfield is the author of "Choosing Mercy, A 
Mother of Murder Victims Pleads to End the Death Penalty," (Orbis 
Books)----Hartford Courant)






FLORIDA----impending execution

Inmate's attorney argues against execution


An attorney for a condemned inmate is arguing that a jury should again be given 
the chance to decide if the man should live or die.

Oba Chandler listened by telephone and said little Friday as his attorney, Baya 
Harrison III, told a judge that Chandler's rights were violated in his 1st 
trial. Harrison argued that the jury and not the trial judge should have been 
the ultimate decider of whether he got the death penalty.

A lawyer for the Florida Attorney General's Office called the claim baseless. 
The judge said he expects to rule Monday.

The 65-year-old Chandler was convicted in the 1989 murders of Joan Rogers and 
her teenage daughters, Michelle and Christe, of Ohio. Gov. Rick Scott signed 
Chandler's death warrant Oct. 10.

(source: Associated Press)





OHIO:

Clermont County sheriff appointed to death penalty task force


Sheriff A.J. Rodenberg of Clermont County has been appointed by Ohio Supreme 
Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor to serve as a member of a newly created 
task force to review the administration of Ohio’s death penalty.

The task force will be comprised of 20 members including attorneys, judges, and 
professors. It will not discuss nor debate whether or not Ohio should have a 
death penalty, but rather, review current law and procedures to determine if 
the penalty is being imposed and implemented in the most fair and judicious 
manner possible.

The 1st meeting of the task force will be in November at the Ohio Judicial 
Center in Columbus.

“I am honored to have been selected to serve as a law enforcement 
representative for this important endeavor," said Sheriff Rodenberg. "Hopefully 
my background in criminal justice as a student, professor, defense attorney, 
prosecutor, and sheriff will allow me to bring something of value to the 
table.”

(source: WCPO News)






SOUTH DAKOTA:

Execution options added----Amid questions about 1 drug, S.D. turns to 3 
possibilities for lethal injection


The South Dakota Department of Corrections this week officially altered its 
lethal injection procedures to allow for a one-, two- or three-drug execution 
process.

Corrections Secretary Denny Kaemingk signed off Wednesday on the new injection 
policy, according to a news release sent out Friday by DOC spokesman Michael 
Winder.

The new system will allow the state to use either sodium thiopental or 
pentobarbital during 1-drug lethal injections. It also allows the state to 
substitute pentobarbital for sodium thiopental as the initial sedative in the 
other 2 methods.

On Friday afternoon, Winder confirmed that the state does have pentobarbital in 
its possession. Because of ongoing litigation, he declined to comment further.

Death penalty opponents long have argued that one-drug executions are less 
likely to cause unnecessary pain and suffering for condemned inmates.

Travis Schultze, organizer of South Dakotans for Alternatives to the Death 
Penalty, opposes executions regardless of the method but agrees that a single 
drug is preferable

. "There are less complications with fewer drugs," he said last week.

The state used a 3-drug method to execute Elijah Page in 2007. The next death 
row inmate in line for execution is Donald Moeller, who kidnapped, raped and 
killed 9-year-old Becky O'Connell in 1991.

Attorney General Marty Jackley has said Moeller's appeals are likely to run out 
within 2 years.

Moeller's appeals cases were given new life this year, however, when his 
lawyers seized upon a purchase in March of sodium thiopental from Mumbai, 
India. They challenged the quality of the drug in court documents filed this 
summer and fall.

Last month, the Drug Enforcement Administration advised South Dakota against 
using the product, prompting the state to inform Moeller's lawyers in early 
October of the possible protocol change. Kaemingk's signature this week made it 
official.

"It remains the state's expectation that the proceedings should reach a 
conclusion within the two-year time frame," Jackley said earlier this month, 
even before this week's protocol change. "The state plans to have the 
substances or means necessary to carry out the jury and the court's sentence."

Sodium thiopental's only U.S. manufacturer ceased production last year, 
prompting many states to switch to pentobarbital, a sedative used in animal 
euthanasia. That drug's Danish manufacturer, Lundbeck Inc., decided in August 
to cease sales of the drug to U.S. states that use lethal injection.

(source: Argus Leader)