[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----PENN., S.C., OKLA., NEB., CALIF.

[Rick Halperin]

June 21




PENNSYLVANIA:

Court: Man with 74 IQ can't be executed for Philadelphia officer slaying



Pennsylvania's high court says a man convicted of killing a Philadelphia police 
officer can't be executed because he has an IQ of 74.

The state Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a lower court ruling that Edward 
Bracey's below-average intellectual functioning made him ineligible for the 
death penalty.

Bracey is serving a life sentence without possibility of parole in the 1991 
murder of 21-year-old officer Daniel Boyle.

Boyle's sister, Kathleen Wrigley, is the wife of North Dakota Lt. Gov. Drew 
Wrigley.

The Pennsylvania court voted 4-1 to uphold Judge M. Teresa Sarmina's January 
2014 ruling sparing the 52-year-old Bracey.

The U.S. Supreme Court has barred execution of anyone deemed mentally disabled 
by a state.

(source: Associated Press)








SOUTH CAROLINA:

Call for death penalty in shooting, but state lacks the drug



2 days after the shooting deaths of 9 people during a Bible study at a 
Charleston church, Republican Gov. Nikki Haley made a bold public statement: 
The gunman "absolutely" should be put to death. But her state, though largely 
pro-death penalty, can't secure 1 of the drugs needed for lethal injections and 
hasn't executed an inmate since 2011.

Any potential execution order for Dylann Storm Roof, 21, would be years away. 
He is charged with 9 counts of murder in Wednesday's massacre. He appeared 
briefly before a judge Friday, and his next court appearance isn't until 
October. Haley made her comments Friday on NBC's "Today" show, but the governor 
has no power in Roof's prosecution or sentencing.

Suspect Dylann Roof's alleged manifesto discovered online

South Carolina's supply of pentobarbital, 1 of 3 drugs in the state's lethal 
injection, expired in 2013. Corrections Director Bryan Stirling has made it 
clear to legislators that his agency can't buy anymore, even as 44 people are 
on death row in the state. All attempts to purchase more have failed - a 
problem in states nationwide. Some are trying to find new drugs and new sources 
for drugs because pharmaceutical companies have stopped selling them for 
executions and pharmacists are reluctant to expose themselves to possible 
harassment.

Stirling advocated this year for a bill that would keep secret the information 
of any company or pharmacist providing execution drugs, saying that should help 
secure them. But bills have stalled in both chambers, and opponents urged 
legislators not to vote for government secrecy.

The Supreme Court is considering the constitutionality of Oklahoma's 3-drug 
injection, with inmates arguing it doesn't reliably produce unconsciousness and 
causes pain and suffering. State House Judiciary Chairman Greg Delleney, a 
Republican, has said he will probably wait for that decision before asking 
lawmakers to vote on the bill, though Stirling notes that South Carolina uses a 
different drug.

Still, Delleney said, "I don't see any urgency to get ahead of the Supreme 
Court."

Even with the dozens of inmates on South Carolina's death row, the next 
execution is probably 5 years away, according to Emily Paavola, executive 
director of South Carolina's Death Penalty Resource and Defense Center, which 
believes South Carolina's death penalty is fraught with problems and advocates 
for reform. Paavola has said the only way that would speed up is if an inmate 
who's sentenced to die waives all appeals - an unlikely scenario.

Death row inmates can choose electrocution, but if a prisoner doesn't want to 
die that way, the prisons agency could not carry out an execution order without 
the necessary drugs for a lethal injection, Stirling said.

Since lethal injection became an option in 1995, only 3 of 39 people executed 
have died by electrocution.

After the bills on drugmaker secrecy stalled, Rep. Joshua Putnam, a Republican, 
introduced a proposal that would add death by a 5-member firing squad to the 
state's list of approved execution methods. Putnam said while there are cases 
in which lethal injection drugs didn't work properly and caused pain, "we do 
know by firing squad you don't feel anything."

But Rep. Joe Neal said that makes little sense.

"I can't think of a more hideous spectacle than gunning down someone," said 
Neal, a Democrat. "Whether people suffer or not depends on the aim of an 
unknown marksman."

Putnam's measure also would allow for execution by electrocution if the state 
doesn't have the lethal injection drugs. Last month, Rep. Mike Pitts, a 
Republican and retired police officer, introduced a bill that's more 
straightforward. It would eliminate all references to a lethal injection 
option, leaving electrocution as the only method.

No action has occurred on either bill. But they can be taken up when the second 
of a 2-year legislative session resumes in January.

(source: Associated Press)






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

The Last Person Executed In South Carolina Was Jeffrey Motts. Will Dylann Roof 
Be The Next One?



On Friday, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, asked for Dylann Roof to be 
given the death penalty for allegedly shooting and killing 9 people in Emanuel 
African Methodist Episcopal Church on Wednesday. Haley and others, including 
presidential candidate Lindsey Graham, who is a South Carolina senator, are 
calling the shootings a hate crime. Now facing 9 counts of murder, Roof could 
also be facing the death penalty, which is still legal in South Carolina. The 
most recent convict executed in South Carolina was Jeffrey Motts in 2011.

South Carolina has executed 43 prisoners since 1985, all of them were convicted 
of murder charges, and all of them have been men. As of Friday, South Carolina 
currently has 44 inmates on death row, but in general the number of inmates 
executed in the state has seen a large decline.

Jeffrey Motts was executed on Friday, May 6th of 2011. Motts was originally 
convicted in 1997 for murdering his aunt and one other relative; he also robbed 
these same 2 relatives. While serving his sentence at Perry Correctional 
Institution, Motts strangled his cellmante, Charles Martin to death. After 
killing Martin, Motts is reported as having breakfast and a cigarette, then 
bringing Martin's body into a common room and kicking it in front of other 
inmates.

Something very unique about Motts' case is that he requested his own death 
sentence. Motts was already serving a life sentence for the double murder of 
his family members in the mid-1990s, and asked to forgo any appeals after he 
strangled Martin. A court ruled him mentally competent to make the decision to 
ask for the death penalty, and he was then put on death row, to be executed by 
lethal injection.

In addition, Motts was the 1st person to be executed by lethal injection in 
South Carolina using the new required combination of drugs. After a federal 
investigation into how prisons were obtaining the drugs used for lethal 
injections, prisons switched from sodium thiopental to penobarbital. It took 
longer for Motts to die than it had for prisoners who had been executed using 
the previous drug combination, but there were no complications reported.

Included in the final statement that Motts' lawyer read before his execution 
were the following statements to Motts' mother and grandmother, as well a 
message about not abusing drugs:

"To my mom and grandma, Happy Mother's Day. I know this is a sad one but let us 
remember the good times. I am finally free and at peace in heaven."

"I want to warn kids of the dangers of drugs. I was the child everyone wanted 
their children around until I got on drugs. Drugs will destroy your life."

Because of the downward trend in executions in South Carolina, it remains to be 
seen if anyone will follow Motts on the death row roster. The death penalty has 
long been an extremely divisive and controversial issue in the U.S., and will 
be an important one to keep track of in the already very high profile case of 
Dylann Roof.

(source: bustle.com)








OKLAHOMA:

OK-CADP forum focuses on opposition to State Question 776



On Thursday, June 18, the Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty 
(OK-CADP) hosted a forum on "Mass Incarceration and the Death Penalty," at the 
First Unitarian Church in Oklahoma City.

Presented by Restoring Justice Oklahoma (RJO), the event kicked off the 
coalition's campaign to defeat State Question 776. RJO leaders describe the 
group as working to address criminal justice reform through citizen awareness 
and action.

Co-organizer Jonathan Marshall opened by recalling the infamous lynching, in 
1911, of an African American mother Laura Nelson and her 13 year old son 
Lawrence in Okemah, Oklahoma.

A local sheriff was investigating a livestock theft, and Laura's husband Austin 
Nelson was a suspect. The sheriff was shot and the mother and the son were 
charged with murder and were later lynched by town members. The event was 
immortalized when photos of the 2 bodies hanging from the North Canadian River 
bridge were sold as postcards.

Marshall contended the notoriety of the event was not unlike Oklahoma's status 
today regarding capital punishment.

Mass incarceration is a major social crisis and one of the biggest problems 
facing the United States, in the view of many analysts, including sponsors of 
the RJO event.

The federal Bureau of Justice Statistics 2013 report showed more than 1 out of 
every 100 Americans is behind bars. Oklahoma's overall incarceration rate ranks 
4th in the United States and it has the highest rate of female incarceration 
per capita.

RJO co-organizer Dr. Britney Hopkins reported that, "The United States has less 
than 5 % of the world's population, but has 25 % of the world's prisoners. The 
question is why? The War on Drugs, economics, race, and harsh sentencing all 
play crucial roles."

Hopkins challenged what she termed "misconceptions" that surround both mass 
incarceration and the death penalty. "In order to start fixing the problem, we 
must first educate ourselves," she said.

"The death penalty is fiscally irresponsible, Studies vary, but it costs 
anywhere from 2 to 10 times more to execute someone than it does to put them in 
prison for life. Add to that, the fact that execution doesn't deter crime. 
These are important facts in the death penalty debate."

OK-CADP chair Connie Johnson said, "The relationship between these two issues 
from an economic perspective alone demands that we do more to educate citizens.

"OK CADP is privileged to host and is grateful to Restoring Justice Oklahoma 
for presenting this 1st in our series of many activities designed to increase 
education and awareness in the coming year in support of OK-CADP's campaign to 
defeat State Question 776, constitutionalizing death in Oklahoma."

Johnson, a former Democratic state Senator, also thanked First Unitarian for 
use of their facility and for what she described as leadership in the area of 
social and criminal justice reform in Oklahoma.

S.Q. 776, regarding the Death Penalty, will be on the November 8, 2016 
statewide ballot. The measure, if approved, would provide state constitutional 
language declaring that all "statutes of this state requiring, authorizing, 
imposing or relating to the death penalty are in full force and effect," 
subject to changes in state statute by the legislature or initiative.

S.Q. 776 would forbid, in state law, the death penalty from being construed as 
"the infliction of cruel or unusual punishments." However, the impact of such 
an amendment might be uncertain in light of a present review of Oklahoma's 
capital punishment protocols at the U.S. Supreme Court.

Rev. Zachary Gleason, RJO co-organizer and pastor at Joy Mennonite Church in 
Oklahoma City, talked at the forum about the "Biblical View of the Death 
Penalty." He said, "Passages such as those from Romans 13 and 1 Peter 2 are 
written to console and advise people living under the threat of the death 
penalty. They teach victimized people how to respond to the reality of capital 
punishment; they do not sanction such violence.

"We abuse the Bible if we distort it into a statement of support for the 
killing of Jesus and his apostles," Gleason continued. "When the Bible 
characterizes authorities as wrathful and overbearing, it becomes clear that 
they are not models for Christian behavior."

More than 3 dozen people attended. Organizers called upon supporters to help 
educate Oklahoma voters before the November 2016 election that capital 
punishment is a violation of human rights, racially biased, not a deterrent and 
a waste of limited resources.

For more information about OK-CADP's and RJO's work, visit okcadp.org or 
www.facebook.com/restoringjusticeok.

(source: The City Sentinel)








NEBRASKA:

Faith groups, law enforcement jump into death penalty debate



Nebraska voters can expect to hear a lot about the death penalty this summer 
from influential people in their communities, from their local church pastor to 
the county sheriff.

Faith groups and law enforcement are jumping into the debate as petition 
circulators try to gather enough signatures to place the issue on the 2016 
general election ballot.

Law enforcement groups have generally supported the punishment each year when 
Nebraska lawmakers considered repealing it, while religious groups spoke 
against the death penalty.

Both sides are now turning their attention to the public after the Legislature 
voted last month to abolish capital punishment, overcoming Gov. Pete Ricketts' 
veto. Nebraska became the first typically conservative state to end the death 
penalty since North Dakota in 1973.

Some lawmakers said they opposed the punishment for moral or religious reasons, 
while others argued it was too expensive and will never likely be carried out 
because of legal appeals. Shortly after the vote, death penalty supporters 
launched a petition drive to keep the death penalty.

On Friday, the ACLU of Nebraska said it had received a $400,000 donation from 
Proteus Action League, a group based in Amherst, Mass., that has spent millions 
on campaigns to abolish the death penalty. The money will go to Nebraskans for 
Public Safety, a coalition that is urging voters not to sign the petitions.

Nebraskans for the Death Penalty, a group with ties to Ricketts, has to gather 
roughly 57,000 signatures of registered voters by Aug. 27 to place the law on 
the ballot. The signatures must come from at least 5 percent of the registered 
voters in 38 of Nebraska's 93 counties.

Faith leaders said they plan to discuss their church's position on capital 
punishment in sermons, homilies and bulletins. Leaders from Catholic, 
Methodist, Presbyterian, evangelical and Episcopalian churches in Nebraska have 
all voiced concerns about the death penalty.

Earlier this month, the Catholic Church's Archbishop of Omaha published a 
newsletter column saying church leaders were exercising their responsibility to 
teach their faith.

"At the very least, each of the bishops will continue to communicate with 
Catholics about why they support the repeal," said Greg Schleppenbach, 
executive director of the Nebraska Catholic Conference.

Schleppenbach said he believes many Catholics will want to learn more about the 
church's position as the signature campaign continues.

The church doesn't teach that the death penalty is immoral but says it should 
only be used in rare circumstances when the state has no other way to protect 
society from violent offenders. Schleppenbach said life sentences are 
sufficient to keep the public safe.

The Rev. Lauren Ekdahl, minister at First United Methodist Church in Gering, 
said he expects the religious community will continue making public statements 
in favor of the repeal. Ekdahl has advocated against the death penalty for 
years, arguing it's a sin that punishes one death with another.

"I do expect them to think about it, to pray about it, and ponder what the 
implications are for society," Ekdahl said. "We rationalize and try to sanitize 
the death penalty in the way it's applied, but murder is murder in God's eyes 
and my eyes as well."

Some county sheriffs plan to speak publicly to their constituents in favor of 
the referendum campaign, possibly at county fairs and other summer community 
events. The Nebraska Sheriffs' Association voted unanimously to support the 
petition drive shortly after it was launched, said Grant County Sheriff Shawn 
Hebbert, the group's president.

Hebbert said that although he and most sheriffs support the death penalty, the 
group plans to focus on giving Nebraskans the right to vote on the issue rather 
than the punishment itself.

"If we win, we win. If we lose, we lose," he said. "But it should at least be a 
vote of the people that decides it."

Omaha Police Sgt. John Wells, the president of the Omaha Police Officers 
Association, said his group donated $10,000 to the referendum campaign. Wells 
said the group's members could help with the signature gathering campaign after 
the College World Series of Omaha, one of the busiest times of year for police.

"Certainly we're willing to help if they're looking for volunteers," he said.

(source: Associated Press)








CALIFORNIA:

Attorneys in death penalty trial for man accused of officer's 2011 slaying 
argue over alleged statement



A Solano County Superior Court judge is set to rule Monday whether or not a 
suspect's statements to police in the hours after the fatal shooting of a 
Vallejo police officer should be allowed before a jury.

On Nov. 17, 2011, veteran Vallejo Officer Jim Capoot became engaged in a high 
speed pursuit of an SUV driven by a possible bank robbery suspect. The chase 
wound its way along city streets, onto Highway 37 and ended on Janice Street in 
North Vallejo where Capoot performed a PIT maneuver on the fleeing suspect 
vehicle.

The suspect, Fairfield resident Henry Albert Smith Jr., 41, is currently on 
trial, accused of the robbery of a Bank of America branch on Springs Road and 
the eventual gunshot slaying of Capoot following a foot pursuit into a backyard 
on Janice Street. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty in the case.

After 2 weeks of trial testimony, jurors have heard evidence that Smith was 
apprehended a handful of homes away from the scene where Capoot was slain, and 
just minutes after officers reported shots had been fired.

When he was taken into custody, he had a loaded .40 caliber Glock 22 
semi-automatic pistol in his pocket, according to law enforcement testimony.

Smith was eventually placed under arrest and taken to the Vallejo Police 
Department, where he was placed in a holding cell.

On Friday, outside the presence of jurors, attorneys in the case argued whether 
jurors should be allowed to hear about an alleged statement Smith made while 
being held.

Vallejo police Det. William Badour testified that while Smith was in the 
holding cell, he swabbed his hands for gunshot residue and collected his 
clothing. It was around this time Badour asked Smith a question.

"I asked him if he was alone in the SUV," Badour testified.

"He said, 'I was alone. No one else was in it,'" Badour added.

At the time, police officers from multiple agencies had descended on the 
neighborhood surrounding the shooting scene, gathering evidence and canvassing 
the area for any outstanding suspects. Badour said he posed the question, 
absent an advisement that Smith had a right to remain silent, as a matter of 
public safety. He said he relayed that information back to his superiors who 
were still at the shooting scene.

"I wanted no one else to get hurt that day," Badour testified.

According to trial testimony, Smith has already been identified in court by one 
of the first arriving officers as the man Capoot chased from the SUV prior to 
his being shot.

Defense attorneys, however, said in their opening statement that Smith was not 
the man seen running from the SUV that afternoon.

On Thursday, attorneys for Smith argued their client's statement to the 
detective should be kept out of the trial as Smith hadn't been advised of his 
right to remain silent (or Miranda advisement) before he spoke to Badour.

Prosecutors argued that an exception to the Miranda advisement exists when it 
pertains to public safety and further argued that Smith's alleged statement was 
voluntary.

Judge Peter B. Foor is expected to rule on the matter Monday, when testimony in 
the case is set to resume.

Foor will also rule on whether prosecutors can present evidence of a three hour 
long videotaped interview Smith had with investigators, after which he was 
advised of his constitutional rights.

According to Vallejo Det. Mathew Mustard, who conducted the interview, and a 
portion of the video played in court, Smith acknowledges being in a car chase, 
but denies involvement in a robbery and shooting. Late in the video, according 
to Mustard???s testimony Thursday, Smith insinuates the gun officers have 
previously testified they located on him was planted.

Smith is charged with murder of a peace officer with an enhancement for the use 
of a gun, robbery and being a felon in possession of a firearm. Prosecutors 
have alleged special circumstances to include: murder during the commission of 
a robbery; murder to avoid lawful arrest; and murder perpetrated against a 
peace officer lawfully performing their duty.

He has pleaded not guilty and remains in Solano County Jail custody.

The trial is set to resume at 9 a.m. Monday in the Fairfield courtroom of Judge 
Peter B. Foor.

(source: The Reporter)