[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----MO., OKLA., NEB., NEV., USA

[Rick Halperin]

June 13


MISSOURI:

Man Accused of Killing Clerk Could Face Death Penalty



The man accused of killing a southeast Missouri store clerk could face the 
death penalty if convicted.

The Sikeston Standard Democrat (http://bit.ly/1f5y2yF ) reports that 
21-year-old Deion Martin of Parma is charged with 1st-degree murder, 1st-degree 
robbery and armed criminal action. New Madrid County prosecutor Andrew Lawson 
filed notice Wednesday that he will seek the death penalty.

Brenda Smith was fatally shot during a robbery on May 18 at D and L One Stop in 
Parma. She was 59. Police say she was shot after refusing to open the store's 
safe.

(source: Associated Press)

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

Jefferson County Wants Death For Sheley



If Nicholas Sheley of Illinois is convicted of murder in Jefferson County, he 
may get the death penalty.

The prosecuting attorney is seeking death against Sheley who allegedly killed 
an Arkansas couple in Festus in June of 2008.

He's accused of killing Thomas and Jill Estes in the Comfort Inn parking lot.

The bodies of the 55 and 54-year-old were later discovered dumped behind a 
trash can at a Phillips 66 on American Legion Drive.

The 35-year-old Sheley is already serving life in Illinois for 6 1st degree 
murder convictions.

He will be arraigned in Jefferson County on July 6th.

(source: mymoinfo.com)








OKLAHOMA:

As Lethal Injection Decision Nears, Oklahoma Court Permits Open Records Lawsuit 
on Botched Execution to Move Forward



As the anticipated late-June decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in the Oklahoma 
lethal injection case, Glossip v. Gross, approaches, the Oklahoma state courts 
have ruled that a media lawsuit seeking discovery and depositions relating to 
the state's botched execution of Clayton Lockett may proceed. On June 8, the 
Oklahoma Supreme Court unanimously denied a motion filed by Oklahoma Governor 
Mary Fallin to block action in Branstetter v. Fallin, a lawsuit filed by the 
Reporters Committee on Freedom of the Press on behalf Tulsa Frontier editor 
Ziva Branstetter and the Tulsa World. As described by Branstetter, the lawsuit 
seeks disclosure of "why attorneys [for Oklahoma] blacked out hundreds of 
sentences and dozens of pages in interview transcripts related to the 
execution." Oklahoma has for more than a year failed to act on an open records 
law request for these records. Branstetter says "[t]he secrecy surrounding the 
execution almost certainly contributed to the 'procedural disaster' and 
international criticism that followed. But the secrecy continues."

Among other matters, the identities of 23 of the 101 people interviewed by the 
Oklahoma Department of Public in its investigation of the Lockett execution 
were never disclosed. Records that were disclosed revealed that the prison 
staff had felt pressured by having to conduct two executions on the same night 
and that the doctor who was present at the execution -- described as the 
state's "3rd choice" -- had said he received not received any training other 
than that he would be asked to pronouce death after the execution. She said the 
records showed that "Lockett had to help the medical team find a vein but the 
IV still failed, possibly because DOC lacked the right needles." Branstetter 
said another record disclosed that prison warden Anita Trammell had informed 
investigators that the state attorney general's office had prepared and asked 
to her sign an affidavit stating that she had verified the pharmacist's license 
and the expiration dates on the lethal drugs, when she had not done so.

(source: Death Penalty Information Center)








NEBRASKA:

New Coalition supports death penalty repeal



The heated death penalty debate is gathering more steam. This time its from 
those who support the repeal.

A state-wide coalition called Nebraskans for Public Safety forms to show others 
that there is public support for the repeal.

The group looking to put capitol punishment to a vote, Nebraskans for the Death 
Penalty, is already gathering signatures before their August 27th deadline. On 
May 27th, Nebraska lawmakers voted to override the governor's veto.

But the newly formed Nebraskans for Public Safety is an effort by people and 
groups including the ACLU, Nebraska Innocence Project, faith and conservative 
leaders.

"It was a bipartisan decision it really was. I think there was a lot of 
misinformation out there that Nebraskans weren't being represented and this 
isn't what they really want," said Bryan Bumgart, the former chairman of the 
Douglas County Republican Party.

They want to educate people about the state's broken system. And they're 
recruiting volunteers on their website to make sure people on the other side 
are property collecting petition signatures.

The group also includes retired Sarpy County District Court Judge Ronald 
Reagan, who was on the panel that sentenced john joubert to death. He says in 
his expereience capital punishment was never a deterrant.

"Whether they're predisposed to commit murder or some heat of the passion 
moment they have absolutely no thought that they'll be either appreheneded or 
punished," Hon. Regean explained.

Nebraskans for the Death Penalty will need more than 56,000 signatures to get 
the issue on the november 2016 ballot.

(source: scrippsmedia.com)

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

Scottsbluff graduate works to change Nebraska views about the death penalty



Imagine that Nebraska's governor is a Democrat (OK, it's a stretch. Work with 
me). Imagine further that he purchases $50,000 of marijuana in Colorado to ease 
the suffering of cancer patients, in defiance of the Legislature, after failing 
to gain support for legalizing medical marijuana.

Law-and-order conservatives would go hysterical.

Yet after a bloc of Republican lawmakers helped to make Nebraska the 1st red 
state in ages to end the death penalty, supposedly pro-life, tight-fisted Gov. 
Pete Ricketts turned to the black market to spend $54,400 on an illegal poison 
in an attempt to exterminate Nebraska's 10 death row inmates. While $5,440 
apiece might seem expensive, he paid for enough to kill 300 people - although 
only 17 people have been legally executed in Nebraska history.

The website Buzzfeed noted that HarrisPharma, run in India by a man named Chris 
Harris, not only sold Ricketts the drugs without Food and Drug Administration 
approval, Nebraska officials made little effort to verify that the deal was 
legal.

"When he sent the invoice, Harris described the shipment as 'harmless 
medicine,' probably not the most accurate way to describe drugs intended for an 
execution," noted Buzzfeed, which published copies of state emails related to 
the transaction. It also noted that Nebraska paid $25 per vial of sodium 
thiopental - "about 7 times more than what the drug typically costs."

The Omaha World-Herald reports that prison officials are trying to have the 
chemical shipped as a controlled substance through the Drug Enforcement 
Administration, though the scheme faces little chance of federal approval.

Apparently, Ricketts believes he can still carry out executions. Elsewhere, 
Americans are wondering if the governor has lost his mind.

Against that backdrop, a former Scottsbluff woman is working to convince 
Nebraskans that it's time to let capital punishment die a well-deserved and 
peaceful death.

Stacy Anderson, 34, is executive director of Nebraskans for Alternatives to the 
Death Penalty. A 1999 graduate of Scottsbluff High School, she attended Western 
Nebraska Community College and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to study 
political science. And, like many lawmakers who voted to repeal the death 
penalty, she's a conservative Republican.

"I've always been a political nerd and involved in politics," Anderson said. "I 
knew in 7th grade I was going to be a political science major."

After graduation, she went to work in the GOP office in Lincoln.

"I think my title was finance assistant, but I did everything. I worked in 
campaigns."

While living in Scottsbluff she had known Heather Guerrero, a 15-year-old 
newspaper carrier who was raped and murdered by Jeffrey Hessler, one of the 10 
men now on death row. That was more than 12 years ago.

"Somebody told me that he'd never be executed. I thought that was strange, and 
I wanted to know why," Anderson said. "I read 25 books about the death penalty. 
When I learned about all the problems with it, I knew that I had to do 
something about it."

She took the job with NADP, where she and a small staff do lobbying and 
educational outreach work, often putting her at odds with fellow Republicans.

"I never in a million years expected to be doing this full time," she said.

Although capital punishment remains popular in Nebraska - a drive is under way 
to reinstate it - politicians and judges have long lacked the political will to 
carry it out. It's been 18 years since the last execution. The longest serving 
prisoner on death row has been there since 1980, before Anderson was born.

What changed her thinking, she said, is the risk of executing an innocent 
person and a revulsion for the notion of observing a hierarchy of murders.

"We create a class of victims when we talk about 'the worst of the worst.' To a 
mother, any murder is heinous," she said. "You can't tell a mother that her 
child's death was just common."

The millions of taxpayer dollars spent on appeals should be directed instead 
toward helping the families of victims with counseling, offering compensation 
for time lost from work while grieving and with burial costs, she said.

"Nebraska is dead last in providing victim services. We're spending millions on 
trying to kill these people. It's a misplaced priority. We should end the 
charade and actually take care of victims.:

Meanwhile, other like-minded conservatives now oppose capital punishment 
because it no longer aligns with their values, she said. While repeal has 
inflamed many who still see the death penalty as justifiable revenge for 
murder, it has also generated a lot of support.

"Reasonable people can disagree on this issue," Anderson said. "Many Nebraskans 
feel we can live without it. As public policy it's not serving us well."

As for Hessler and the others on death row, she said, it's more appropriate to 
let them live out their lives behind bars, in obscurity, rather than return to 
the public eye every time the issue gets debated.

"We should never hear their names again."

(source: Steve Frederick, Editor, Star-Herald)








NEVADA:

Shuttered Nevada prison closer to being tourist attraction



To see the Nevada State Prison in Carson City is to understand why lawmakers 
decided to shut it down three years ago. The site, which housed prisoners even 
before Nevada became a state 150 years ago, features cramped cells, uneven 
walkways and the kinds of blind spots that would leave corrections officers 
patrolling the yard nervous.

But an enthusiastic group of history buffs, including some who once worked as 
guards there, see the fossil-laden, sandstone-block structure as the next 
Alcatraz - a tourist attraction steeped in lore of prison breaks, Wild West 
personalities and outlaw antics.

"From a correctional standpoint, it's awful," said Glen Whorton, a former 
prison guard and head of the prison's preservation society.

"But from a design standpoint, it's awesome," former guard Terry Hubert added.

The Nevada State Prison Preservation Society scored a win this legislative 
session when lawmakers approved AB377, a bill sponsored by Carson City's 
Republican Assemblyman P.K. O'Neill. The measure sets up a process for the 
state to designate portions of the 153-year-old complex for cultural use, 
establishes a funding mechanism and sets groundwork for eventual tours.

But even proponents acknowledge that the opening day of a functional museum is 
far off. Despite closing in 2012, the state's correctional department still 
operates a license plate manufacturing plant and Nevada's only functioning 
execution chamber on prison grounds.

Plus, the state hasn't allocated money to prison preservation efforts or 
conducted feasibility studies on the buildings, meaning substantial financial 
assistance is needed to move the project forward.

"There's too many variables to give you an exact date," O'Neill said.

Yet preservation advocates say the prison, which operated as the state's only 
correctional institution until 1964, drips with historical appeal as the site 
of inmate escapes and the nation's only prisoner-operated casino. Founded 2 
years after Nevada became a territory in 1862, the prison has housed everyone 
from mining boom-era "desperadoes" to card cheats from Las Vegas.

The National Park Service is reviewing a lengthy application for the prison to 
be put of the National Register of Historic Places.

The application details the prison's history, including an 1871 jailbreak in 
which about 30 prisoners escaped and engaged in a gun battle with warden John 
Franklin Denver, who also was the state's lieutenant governor.

The prison's execution chamber hasn't been used since 2007 and can't be used 
because the steep stairs up to the witness chamber are out of compliance with 
the Americans with Disabilities Act. Lawmakers voted this session to approve 
$860,000 to build an execution chamber in Ely State Prison - a decision that 
drew criticism from death penalty foes.

The prison also holds a place in death penalty history as the site of the 
nation's first gas chamber execution in 1924.

If the prison opens to tours, it would join Alcatraz and numerous other prisons 
in the U.S. that have become tourist attractions.

"People are interested in prisons and want to see the inside of them," said 
Sean Kelley, senior vice president at the Eastern State Penitentiary Historic 
Site in Philadelphia, which draws about 400,000 visitors a year. "There's a 
taboo that you'll never get to go inside a prison."

Kelley said Eastern State, which opened in 1829, closed in 1971 and opened as a 
cultural attraction in 1994, isn't above holding a spooky fundraiser every 
Halloween. But the rest of the year, it sees itself as a place for tourists to 
grapple with questions about mass incarceration.

"We have all intentions to be the place in the U.S. to look for the most 
substantial conversations about the criminal justice system today," Kelley 
said. "We're coming out of a real tough-on-crime era, and no one realized how 
tough on crime we were being . There's bipartisan interest in looking at our 
prisons."

Proponents of the Nevada project are organizing a ceremonial bill signing and 
barbecue with the Carson City Chamber of Commerce to generate interest in the 
restoration.

O'Neill said the prison would offer one more reason for visitors to stop by 
Nevada's capital city.

"Europeans love the Wild West, and are enthralled by any building that can take 
you back to the western days," he said. "The Nevada State Prison will fit that 
bill."

(source: Las Vegas Sun)








USA:

Death penalty can never be undone



To the Honorable Antonin G. Scalia, associate justice of the Supreme Court of 
the United States:

Dear Sir:

21 years ago, your then-colleague, the late Justice Harry Blackmun, wrote what 
became a famous dissent to a Supreme Court decision not to review a Texas death 
penalty conviction. In it, Blackmun declared that he had become convinced "the 
death penalty experiment has failed" and said he considered capital punishment 
irretrievably unconstitutional.

The death penalty, he wrote, "remains fraught with arbitrariness, 
discrimination ... and mistake. ... From this day forward, I no longer shall 
tinker with the machinery of death."

You mocked him for this stance in an opinion concurring with the majority, 
invoking as justification for capital punishment the horrific 1983 case of an 
11-year-old girl who was raped then killed by having her panties stuffed down 
her throat. "How enviable a quiet death by lethal injection," you wrote, 
"compared with that!"

A few months later, the very case you had referenced came before the court. 
Henry Lee McCollum, a mentally disabled man who was on death row in North 
Carolina after having been convicted of that rape and murder, applied to the 
court for a review of his case. You were part of the majority that rejected the 
request without comment.

The demagoguery of your response to Justice Blackmun is pretty standard for 
proponents of state-sanctioned death. Rather than contend with the many logical 
and irrefutable arguments against capital punishment, they use a brute-force 
appeal to emotion. Certain crimes, they say, are so awful, heinous and vile 
that they cry out for the ultimate sanction. For you, Sabrina Buie's rape and 
murder was one of those, a symbol of why we need the death penalty.

As you have doubtless heard, it now turns out McCollum was innocent of that 
crime. Last year, he and his also mentally disabled half-brother Leon Brown 
(who had been serving a life sentence) were exonerated by DNA evidence and set 
free. A few days ago, McCollum was pardoned by North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory.

The case against him was never what you'd call ironclad. No physical evidence 
tied him to the crime. The centerpiece of the prosecution's case was a 
confession McCollum, then a 19-year-old said to have the mentality of a child 
10 years younger, gave with no lawyer present after 5 hours of questioning. "I 
had never been under this much pressure," he told the News & Observer newspaper 
in a videotaped death row interview, "with a person hollering at me and 
threatening me ... I just made up a false story so they could let me go home."

But he didn't go home for over 30 years. You and your colleagues had a chance 
to intervene in that injustice and chose not to. Not incidentally, the real 
culprit avoided accountability all that time.

The argument against the death penalty will never have the visceral, immediate 
emotionalism of the argument in favor. It does not satisfy that instinctive 
human need to make somebody pay - now! - when something bad has been done. 
Rather, it turns on quieter concerns, issues of inherent racial, class, 
geographic and gender bias, issues of corner-cutting cops and ineffective 
counsel, and issues of irrevocability, the fact that, once imposed, death 
cannot be undone.

Those issues were easy for you to ignore in mocking Blackmun. They are always 
easy to ignore, right up until the moment they are not. This is one of those 
moments, sir, and it raises a simple and obvious question to which one would 
hope you feel honor bound to respond. In 1994, you used this case as a symbol 
of why we need the death penalty.

What do you think it symbolizes now?

(source: Leonard Pitts Jr., is a columnist for the Miami Herald; Idaho 
Statesman)