[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----PENN., VA., S.C., OHIO, OKLA.

[Rick Halperin]

Oct. 1



PENNSYLVANIA:

Suprme Court to examine judge's role in Pennsylvania death penalty case


The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday said it would hear an appeal by a 
Pennsylvania death row inmate who contends that a state judge who upheld his 
murder conviction should have stepped aside because of his prior role as a 
prosecutor in the case.

Terrance Williams, convicted of the 1984 bludgeoning murder of a man in 
Philadelphia, says former Pennsylvania Chief Justice Ronald Castille should 
have recused himself from hearing Williams' appeal as a member of the state 
Supreme Court because he had served as the local District Attorney at the time 
of the conviction.

Castille, who recently retired from the bench, won election to the state's high 
court in 1993. Williams' lawyers said in court papers that Castille ran a 
tough-on-crime campaign in which he "emphasized his pursuit of capital 
punishment."

The case focuses on a December 2014 Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling that 
upheld Williams' conviction and sentence. Castille had denied a recusal motion 
filed by Williams and was in the majority in the unanimous decision.

Williams had, among other things, introduced new evidence that he had been 
sexually abused by the victim.

Williams, a former star high school quarterback, was sentenced to death in 1986 
for killing a 56-year-old man two years earlier, when Williams was 18. He was 
convicted of bludgeoning the man and later setting the body on fire. 
Prosecutors said the killing was tied to a robbery.

Williams had been scheduled to be executed in March but Governor Tom Wolf in 
February declared a moratorium on the death penalty in Pennsylvania to reassess 
the effectiveness of capital punishment.

The dispute has echoes of a 2009 case in which the Supreme Court ruled that a 
West Virginia appeals court judge should have recused himself in a case in 
which one of the parties had contributed $3 million to his election campaign.

In a data analysis last month, Reuters found a strong correlation between the 
results in death penalty cases and the way each state chooses its justices.

In states like Pennsylvania where high court judges are directly elected, 
justices rejected the death sentence in 11 % of appeals compared to a 26 % 
reversal rate in states where justices are appointed, Reuters found.

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments and decide the case in its new 
term, which begins on Monday and ends in June.

The case is Williams v. Pennsylvania, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 15-5040.

(source: Reuters)






VIRGINIA:

Attorneys win appeal in lethal injection case in Virginia. What happens next?


Attorneys for a convicted serial killer are appealing to the state of Virginia 
to spare his life, which is slated to end at 9 p.m. on Thursday at the 
Greensville Correctional Center. Alfredo Prieto's attorneys have raised 
concerns about one of the lethal injection drugs that the state intends to use. 
A federal judge in Alexandria, Va., approved an order Wednesday temporarily 
blocking Mr. Prieto's execution, and called for a hearing.

Prieto, an El Salvador native, was already on death row in California for the 
rape and murder of a teenage girl when Virginia authorities found DNA evidence 
attaching him to another to rape and murder of Rachael Raver, and the death of 
her boyfriend, Warren Fulton III. Prieto has not been prosecuted again because 
he is already sentenced to death, but he is believed to be responsible for as 
many as nine killings in California and Virginia.

The execution appeal hearing has not been scheduled because the case was 
transferred to a new court in Richmond.

Virginia obtained pentobarbital from Texas to replace its supply of another 
sedative, midazolam, which expired Wednesday.

Prieto's attorneys have expressed concern over the quality of the drugs, saying 
the drugs may bring Prieto "gratuitous and unnecessary pain."

Prieto's lawyers have requested the name of the drug supplier, test results 
showing sterility and potency, and evidence that the drugs were handled 
properly. Lawyers for another death row inmate in Oklahoma, accused Texas of 
manufacturing it's own supply without a license, during an appeal for Richard 
Glossip last week. In Texas, prison officials are allowed to keep where they 
get execution drugs confidential, and Virginia officials have not provided any 
information about the drugs.

Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring's office has encouraged the judge to 
dismiss Prieto's case, pointing out that Texas has administered 24 executions 
over the past 2 years without issue, adding that delaying Prieto's execution 
may "fully indulge his speculations" and could push the case past the drug's 
expiration date.

Back in March, the American Pharmacists Association voted to oppose 
participation in executions, stating that to help put a person to death 
violates the goals of the profession. That decision came just a week after the 
International Academy of Compounding Pharmacists took a similar stance.

"It's never been legal in the US to write a prescription to execute a person," 
William Fassett, the board member and professor emeritus of pharmacotherapy at 
Washington State University, Spokane, who drafted the policy, told The 
Huffington Post at the time. "The basic federal law is that a prescription is 
to be used for medical proposes in the context of an established 
patient-physician relationship."

The US Supreme Court is also considering Prieto's appeals to stop the execution 
on the grounds that he's intellectually disabled. Prieto's attorneys say he 
would likely be deemed intellectually disabled if he was allowed to fight his 
death penalty case in the state of California.

"There is a substantial likelihood that he's intellectually disabled but he's 
never had a fair and reliable hearing to prove it," wrote Hilary Potashner, a 
federal public defender based in Los Angeles. "Without a stay, it is likely 
that the Commonwealth of Virginia will execute an intellectually disabled man."

(source: Christian Science Monitor)






SOUTH CAROLINA:

Judge wants fast decisions on death penalty in Dylann Roof case


Federal Judge Richard Gergel told federal prosecutors Thursday he wants to know 
as soon as possible if the government is going to seek the death penalty in the 
hate-crimes murder case against Dylann Roof.

Speaking at a hearing in Charleston, Gergel told lawyers for both Roof and the 
government that a death penalty trial is expensive and since he is drawing up 
the court budget for next year, he needs to know as soon as possible whether 
the government will seek the death penalty.

Roof is charged with federal hate crimes in the June killings of nine 
African-Americans at a downtown Charleston church. Those crimes are eligible 
for the death penalty, but the government has not yet made a decision on 
whether to pursue it.

Federal prosecutor Jay Richardson told Gergel that the U.S. Justice Department, 
which will make the decision, has given the Roof case its "highest priority."

However, Richardson said he could not give the judge a specific date as to when 
the government will announce its decision.

Richardson told the judge the prosecution has turned over "more than 15,000 
pages" of documents, along with voluminous video and electronic evidence, to 
the defense. Just 2 weeks ago, Richardson said, the government turned over 
thousands of more documents.

Roof's defense lawyer David Bruck told the judge that if the case were a death 
penalty case it clearly would take much more time to mount a defense.

However, Bruck said, if the government did not seek the death penalty and 
allowed Roof to plead guilty, the case could be settled "almost immediately."

Roof did not appear in court Thursday. He waived his right to be present, his 
lawyer said. Roof also waived his right to a speedy trial. Under federal law, a 
defendant is guaranteed the right to a fair and speedy trial within 70 days 
unless a judge grants an extension based on what is called "the interest of 
justice."

Since Thursday's hearing was largely about technical matters, there were only a 
sprinkling of relatives of the victims Roof is charged with killing.

In a July 31 arraignment in Charleston before a federal magistrate judge, Bruck 
told federal magistrate judge Bristow Marchant that Roof wants to plead guilty, 
avoid a trial and get a life sentence.

But Bruck said then that until he knows whether the federal government will 
seek the death penalty, he cannot advise Roof on how to plead.

At that time, Marchant entered a not guilty plea on Roof's behalf.

On June 17, Roof, who is 21, white and from the Columbia area, is accused of 
driving to Charleston, sitting through a Wednesday night Bible study gathering, 
then shooting and killing 9 parishioners at the historic "Mother" Emanuel AME 
Church. He is an avowed white supremacist who has published his extremist 
racial views on the Internet, according to a federal indictment in the case.

State prosecutors are pursuing their own set of charges. On July 7, Roof was 
indicted on nine counts of murder by a Charleston County grand jury. On Sept. 
3, 9th Circuit Solicitor Scarlett Wilson announced she is seeking the death 
penalty. State Judge J.C. Nicholson has set a tentative trial date on those 
charges for July 11 of next year.

Charleston Shooting Timeline

June 17: 9 African-Americans shot to death at Mother Emanuel AME Church in 
Charleston

June 18: Dylann Roof arrested in Shelby, N.C., charged with killings

June 19: Relatives of victims, appearing in court, say they forgive Roof

July 7: Charleston County grand jury indicts Roof on nine murder and other 
charges

July 22: Federal grand jury indicts Roof on hate crime charges involving death

Sept. 3: 9th Circuit Solicitor Scarlett Wilson announces she will seek death 
penalty in state court

(source: The State)

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

Federal Trial Delayed for Charleston Church Shooter Dylann Roof


A federal judge on Thursday delayed the trial for a white man accused of 
shooting nine black parishioners at a Charleston church earlier this year.

Jury selection in the case of Dylann Roof had been set to begin next month. But 
U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel agreed to push the trial back until at least 
January after both defense attorneys and federal prosecutors said they needed 
more time to prepare.

Roof, 21, faces dozens of federal charges, including hate crimes, stemming from 
the June 17 shootings at Emanuel AME Church.

Roof's attorneys have said he would like to plead guilty but need to know first 
if the government will seek the death penalty against him.

On Thursday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay Richardson said the U.S. Justice 
Department is still reviewing the matter.

"It is an absolute priority for the department and is not something on the back 
burner by any stretch of the imagination," he told the judge. He said that U.S. 
Attorney General Loretta Lynch will ultimately decide if the government will 
pursue a death sentence.

Gergel urged the prosecutor to let officials at the Justice Department know 
that it's important to get a decision. He said he realized such a review can 
take some time but "I want it to be done as soon as possible."

Roof did not attend the meeting. In court documents he waived his right to 
appear and also waived his right to a speedy trial. Under federal law, a trial 
must be held within 70 days of a defendant's indictment.

Defense attorney David Bruck told the judge that "we understand and our client 
accepts that it's going to take a lot of time to get our arms around this 
case."

He said the defense only received the main evidence in the government's case 
about 2 weeks ago and needed time to review the material. "In two months we 
will have a better sense of where this case is going," he said.

When Roof was arraigned in federal court on 33 charges in late July, Bruck said 
his client wanted to plead guilty but that he could not counsel him to do so 
without knowing the government's intentions on the death penalty.

Roof faces additional counts in state court, including nine murder charges.

State prosecutor Scarlett Wilson announced last month that while not all the 
families of the victims want her to seek the death penalty, the state will 
argue that Roof be put to death if he is convicted in a state trial set for 
next July.

(source: Associated Press)






OHIO----death sentence invalidated

Suspect in 1985 Youngstown rape, murder freed from death penalty


The death sentence of a man convicted of killing a college student 30 years ago 
is invalid because prosecutors failed to prove he committed aggravated burglary 
during the crime, a divided Ohio Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

The 5-2 decision also said that because the burglary evidence wasn't proved at 
trial, defendant Bennie Adams can't face the death penalty again when his case 
goes back to a judge for re-sentencing.

Adams, 58, was long a suspect in the 1985 rape and murder of Youngstown State 
University Gina Tenney but was not charged until 2007 when DNA evidence was 
submitted for updated testing procedures.

Prosecutors never settled on where the attack happened and never distinguished 
between trespass and aggravated burglary in allegations that Adams had gone 
into Tenney's apartment afterward, Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor said, writing 
for the majority.

If Adams abducted Tenney outside her apartment, she could not have been present 
when he returned with her keys, O'Connor said. A resident's presence in a 
dwelling during a burglary is one factor used to argue for an aggravated 
burglary charge.

"It is also possible that Adams accosted Tenney outside her apartment, forced 
her to admit him to the upstairs apartment, and raped and killed her there," 
O'Connor said. "But this scenario is purely speculative. The state presented no 
direct physical evidence to establish where the rape occurred."

The case was complicated by the fact the statutes of limitations had passed for 
prosecuting Adams on stand-alone charges of rape, kidnapping, aggravated 
robbery and aggravated burglary.

Normally, having those stand-alone charges would help in a capital case, said 
Ralph Rivera, an assistant Mahoning County prosecutor who had asked the court 
to uphold the death sentence.

Instead, those crimes were alleged only as additional factors to the aggravated 
murder, which are required under Ohio law to make someone eligible for the 
death penalty, he said.

A message was left for Adams' attorney. Adams had pleaded not guilty in the 
case, and an attorney had questioned whether the right person was arrested.

Justice Terrence O'Donnell dissented, saying it didn't make sense that the 
court upheld Adams' aggravated murder conviction but not the death sentence.

"If the evidence of guilt is sufficient to support a finding of guilt of 
aggravated murder, it is also sufficient to uphold the penalty recommended by 
the same jury that found guilt," O'Donnell wrote.

Tenney, 19, lived in an apartment above Adams in Youngstown and had grown 
fearful of him, according to the Supreme Court ruling. Her body was discovered 
in the Mahoning River on Dec. 30, 1985.

At the time, Adams was preliminarily charged with receiving stolen property 
because Tenney's ATM card was discovered in his jacket, though he was never 
indicted.

A year later, he was convicted of kidnapping, rape and aggravated robbery in an 
unrelated case in Boardman, according to Thursday???s court decision. He served 
nearly 18 years in prison before he was released in 2004.

(source: Reuters)






OKLAHOMA:

AG Pruitt Asks Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals to Stay Scheduled Executions


Attorney General Scott Pruitt on Thursday filed a petition with the Oklahoma 
Court of Criminal Appeals seeking an indefinite stay of all scheduled 
executions. The attorney general also said his office is launching an inquiry 
into the events surrounding the scheduled execution of Richard Glossip.

"The state owes it to the people of Oklahoma to ensure that, on their behalf, 
it can properly and lawfully administer the sentence of death imposed by juries 
for the most heinous crimes. Not until shortly before the scheduled execution 
did the Department of Corrections notify my office that it did not obtain the 
necessary drugs to carry out the execution in accordance with the protocol. 
Until my office knows more about these circumstances and gains confidence that 
DOC can carry out executions in accordance with the execution protocol, I am 
asking the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals to issue an indefinite stay of 
all scheduled executions. I am mindful of the families who have suffered an 
agonizing time through this process, and my heart breaks for them. At least 3 
families have waited a combined 48 years for closure and finality after losing 
a loved one. Yet, they deserve to know, and all Oklahomans need to know with 
certainty, that the system is working as intended," Attorney General Pruitt 
said.

The attorney general said his office already has begun an inquiry into the 
events surrounding the scheduled Glossip execution. The attorney general said 
his office will work quickly to learn more about this issue, but there is no 
certain timetable as to when the inquiry will conclude.

(source: Oklahoma Office of the Attorney General E. Scott Pruitt)

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

Death row inmate was feet from death chamber when reprieve came


Oklahoma death row inmate Richard Glossip was just minutes away from his 
scheduled lethal injection, stripped of all his belongings in a holding cell 
just a few feet from the state's death chamber, when he learned his execution 
had once again been delayed.

"I'm just standing there in just my boxers," Glossip, who claims he's innocent, 
told reporters in a telephone interview from the Oklahoma State Penitentiary. 
"They wouldn't tell me anything. Finally someone came up and said I got a 
stay."

For the 2nd time in as many weeks, Glossip on Wednesday received a last-minute 
stay of execution - this time a 37-day delay from Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin 
after prison officials said 1 of the 3 drugs they had received to carry out the 
lethal injection was the wrong one.

Oklahoma's protocols call for the use of potassium chloride, but the state 
received potassium acetate instead. State law prohibits prison officials from 
revealing the drugs' supplier. While the drugs treat similar medical 
conditions, Oklahoma officials didn't know whether the potassium acetate was an 
appropriate substitute in an execution.

Fallin spokesman Alex Weintz said Wednesday that the Department of Corrections 
receives its lethal injection drugs on the day of an execution. But state 
officials had written to the local federal public defender's office in August 
to say prison officials had found the needed drugs.

"I have received confirmation from the Oklahoma Department of Corrections that 
sufficient drugs to carry out the executions ... have been obtained," Assistant 
Attorney General John D. Hadden wrote in a letter Aug. 11.

The Corrections Department reached out immediately to the attorney general's 
office after realizing the mistake, Weintz said.

Attorney General Scott Pruitt's office received word of the drug mix-up 
"shortly before" Glossip's scheduled execution Wednesday and advised that 
Oklahoma's lethal injection guidelines, which had been upheld by the U.S. 
Supreme Court, had to be followed, said Pruitt spokesman Aaron Cooper.

"It is unclear why, and extremely frustrating to the attorney general, that the 
Department of Corrections did not have the correct drugs to carry out the 
execution," Cooper said.

Glossip's lawyer, Dale Baich, said Wednesday that Oklahoma has had months to 
prepare.

"Today's events only highlight how more transparency and public oversight in 
executions is sorely needed," he said.

The state's execution protocols call for the prison's death row section chief 
to ensure the drugs are ordered, arrive as scheduled and are properly stored 
after the execution date is set, which in Glossip's case happened 2 weeks ago.

Fallin on Wednesday reset Glossip's execution for Nov. 6, saying it would give 
the state enough time to determine whether potassium acetate is a suitable 
substitute, or to find a supply of potassium chloride.

Oklahoma's protocols call for the use of midazolam at the start of an 
execution. It is followed by vecuronium bromide, which halts an inmate's 
breathing, and potassium chloride, which stops the heart.

According to the National Institutes of Health, potassium acetate and potassium 
chloride both can be used in medical settings to treat low levels of potassium, 
which helps regulate heart rhythms, blood pressure and kidney function. NIH 
literature did not compare the drugs' effectiveness when used in death 
chambers.

The governor's office said Wednesday it did not know whether potassium acetate 
ever had been used in an execution. A database maintained by the Death Penalty 
Information Center, an anti-death penalty group, does not show potassium 
acetate among any state's drug protocols.

Hours before Glossip was scheduled to be executed Sept. 16 for ordering the 
1997 killing of Barry Van Treese, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals 
granted a rare 2-week reprieve to review his claims of new evidence, including 
another inmate's assertion that he overheard former motel handyman Justin Sneed 
admit to framing Glossip.

The Van Treese family, in a statement to The Associated Press, said: "The only 
response we can muster at this juncture is a collective 'unbelievable.'

"We continue to have faith that it will, at some point, be finished."

Glossip, 52, has long claimed he was framed by Sneed, who admitted to fatally 
beating Van Treese with a baseball bat, but said he did so only after Glossip 
promised him $10,000. Sneed, who is serving a life sentence, was the state's 
key witness against Glossip in 2 separate trials.

The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court this week 
both rejected Glossip's requests for a stay - with justices acting just minutes 
before Glossip was due to die.

"This will allow us time to review the current drug protocol and answer any 
questions we might have about the drug protocol," Oklahoma Corrections Director 
Robert Patton told reporters before walking away without taking questions.

Patton took over as head of corrections in January 2014. That April, Clayton 
Lockett writhed and struggled against his restraints after an intravenous line 
was improperly placed. Lockett died 43 minutes after his lethal injection 
started.

Glossip has been the lead plaintiff in a separate case challenging the use of 
midazolam, saying the sedative cannot adequately render an inmate unconscious 
before other drugs kick in. They said Oklahoma risked violating the Eighth 
Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment, but the U.S. Supreme 
Court voted 5-4 in June to approve the sedative.

Oklahoma says it expects 2 executions set for Oct. 7 and 28 to occur as 
scheduled.

(source: CBS news)

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

Dead Man Walking: Richard Glossip vs. The Death Penalty


NERMEEN SHAIKH: We end today's show in Oklahoma. Just moments before death row 
inmate Richard Glossip was scheduled to be killed on Wednesday, Oklahoma 
Governor Mary Fallin issued a stay of execution. She wrote in a statement, 
quote, "Last-minute questions were raised today about Oklahoma's execution 
protocol and the chemicals used for lethal injection. After consulting with the 
attorney general and the Department of Corrections, I have issued a 37-day stay 
of execution while the state addresses those questions and ensures it is 
complying fully with the protocols approved by federal courts." The stay is 
intended to give the Department of Corrections and its attorneys time to 
determine whether potassium acetate complies with the state's court-approved 
execution procedures.

AMY GOODMAN: Richard Glossip's case has attracted international attention. On 
Wednesday, Pope Francis urged Oklahoma Governor Fallin to commute the sentence 
over questions of Glossip's guilt.

The case dates back to 1997, when Glossip was working as a manager at the Best 
Budget Inn in Oklahoma City when his boss, Barry Van Treese, was murdered. A 
maintenance worker, Justin Sneed, admitted he beat Van Treese to death with a 
baseball bat, but claimed Glossip offered him money for the killing. The case 
rested almost solely on Sneed's claims. No physical evidence ever tied Glossip 
to the crime. And Sneed, in exchange for his testimony, did not get the death 
penalty.

For more, we're joined now by Sister Helen Prejean. She's one of the world's 
most well-known anti-death-penalty activists. As a Catholic nun, she began her 
prison ministry over 30 years ago, author of the best-selling book, Dead Man 
Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty.

Sister Helen Prejean, welcome back to Democracy Now! We are speaking to you 
every day. This is absolutely astounding, what's taking place in Oklahoma. So, 
the stay of execution was issued not over the innocence or guilt of Richard 
Glossip, but over which drug they would use to kill him?

SISTER HELEN PREJEAN: It's stunning. I was in the room where the witnesses were 
being held. We weren't getting any information. So, at 2:30 - Richard was 
supposed to be killed at 3:00 - I looked at my watch. I said, "It'll be time 
for them now to take us over in the van." At 3:00 nothing had happened - 3:15, 
3:30. You know, what can be going on? I thought it would be because the Supreme 
Court was really looking at all the, you know, new evidence of possible 
innocence. But, in fact, we only got one vote from the Supreme Court. And it 
was only when we were brought out that we heard that they had messed up the 
drug.

And this potassium acetate, they thought they had - or should have had 
potassium chloride, which stops the heart, and they had a - it was a food 
additive or food preservative, which just shows you how broken the bloody thing 
is. I mean, you reach for the wrong vial? You had time to get this together. 
And to me, Amy, what it shows most of all is how broken the system is, because 
the Supreme Court has turned over to the states the administration of death, 
and they're not even supervising or asking accountability to them of what drugs 
they???re using, and allowing them to experiment. They got the wrong bloody 
vial and only at the last minute discovered that they had potassium acetate.

AMY GOODMAN: So what happens now? And have you spoken to Richard Glossip?

SISTER HELEN PREJEAN: Yeah, right afterward.

AMY GOODMAN: How many time - you did speak to him.

SISTER HELEN PREJEAN: Oh, yeah.

AMY GOODMAN: And what did he say?

SISTER HELEN PREJEAN: Well, he was really - you can see he's losing weight, and 
the stress is really getting to him. And he was just saying, "You know, I 
thought this time really might be it. I was sitting in my cell. Nobody was 
coming." He wasn't getting any information at all. And I felt that a little bit 
just being with the witnesses, but much less when you're the one sitting in 
that cell.

So what happens next? On one level, they might just clean up the protocol, get 
the right drugs and say, "Let's go again" - unless something else happens, 
unless the lawyers could bring the issue to the 10th Circuit, which they did 
not - they went straight to the Supreme Court yesterday - and just show all the 
new witnesses that show the complete unreliability of the man Justin Sneed, 
which the state themselves characterized as inherently suspect, and just show 
that, you know, in one of the - in the criminal -

AMY GOODMAN: We have 10 seconds.

SISTER HELEN PREJEAN: OK, criminal court of appeals, in the dissent, one of 
them said, "This man did not have a fair trial, obviously. There needs to be a 
way that the new evidence can be looked at, because this really might be an 
innocent man."

AMY GOODMAN: Sister Helen Prejean, we'll leave it there. One of the world???s 
most well-known anti-death-penalty activists, speaking to us from Oklahoma, she 
was to be one of the witnesses at Richard Glossip's execution, but he was not 
killed.

(source: democracynow.org)