[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, GA., OHIO, OKLA., MONT., CALIF.

[Rick Halperin]

Oct. 15



TEXAS:

Another execution in Texas, another argument for capital punishment


Licho Escamilla is — or was — that charming fellow who will be remembered for a 
courtroom riot. It was a melee he started by throwing a water pitcher at the 
Dallas County jury that had just sentenced him to death.

Let’s also remember what put him in that courtroom. On Thanksgiving weekend in 
2001, Escamilla took Dallas police Officer Kevin James from his wife and 
8-year-old daughter. Escamilla, already with a warrant out for his arrest in 
the shooting death of a West Dallas neighbor, got into a fight outside a fairly 
infamous northwest Dallas nightspot, Club DMX.

Kevin James was a decorated 7-year officer who graduated tops in his cadet 
class. Like many cops, he worked off-duty security to supplement a city 
paycheck that fell far short of his societal value. In his case, he just wanted 
to save up enough to buy a house for his young family.

In the fight outside Club DMX, Escamilla pulled a gun and fired into the 
darkness. James was the more seriously wounded of 2 off-duty officers hit by 
gunfire. 2 shots from Escamilla’s gun put James on his knees. Escamilla 
strolled up and put 3 more shots into the back of a wounded cop’s head.

After a chase, Escamilla was caught. He bragged about the killing to EMTs 
trying to patch him up. He told them he’d be out in 48 hours. He later admitted 
to killing James in a television interview.

The state of Texas ended his life Wednesday night. He was the 24th person 
executed this year in the U.S. and 12th in our state. My only sympathy goes to 
Kevin James’ friends and family.

My colleagues on the editorial board believe Texas should rid itself of the 
death penalty. They believe, in good conscience, that it’s a sentence of 
irrevocable finality too inconsistently applied, that once it’s carried out 
there’s no do-over on mistakes.

Licho Escamilla might agree, if he could. In my mind, it’s better that he 
can’t.

(source: Opinion; Mike Hashimoto, Dallas Morning News)


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

Campaign to END the Death Penalty
austincedp at nodeathpenalty.org
http://www.facebook.com/austincedp
http://www.nodeathpenalty.org

16th Annual March to Abolish the Death Penalty!
Saturday, October 24 at 2PM
Texas State Capitol
https://www.facebook.com/events/652987168171485/
http://marchforabolition.org/

Donate here: http://marchforabolition.org/?page_id=35

Come to the 16th Annual March to Abolish the Death Penalty back in Austin, 
Texas this year!
Featuring special guest Alfred Dewayne Brown - Dewayne was released on June 8, 
2015 after more than
10 years on Texas Death Row for a crime he did not commit. Come to the march 
and welcome him back to
freedom with a warm collective embrace.

More special guests include exonerated death row survivors and members of 
Witness to Innocence: Ron
Keine, Shujaa Graham, Sabrina Butler, and Gary Drinkard. And members of Journey 
of Hope … from
Violence to Healing: Bill Pelke (grandson of murder victim), Randy Gardner 
(brother Ronnie Lee
Gardner was executed by the state of Utah on June 18, 2010), Edward Mpagi (over 
18 years on death row).

Sponsored by: 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, Kids Against the Death Penalty, International Socialist 
Organization, the Journey of Hope
... from Violence to Healing, Texas Democrats Against the Death Penalty, and 
Dallas Amnesty International.

*If you would like to list your business or organization as a sponsor of the 
march, please message
any administer of this event.

*****************************************************************************
Fighting the Death Penalty and Mass Incarceration:
THE TIME IS NOW!
November 14, 2015 at 8AMKing-Seabrook Chapel, Jackson-Moody Building
Huston Tillotson University, 900 Chicon St., Austin

http://nodeathpenalty.org/events/fighting-death-penalty-and-mass-incarceration
https://www.facebook.com/events/1495460054102266/

The death penalty abolition movement continues to make strides as support for 
the death penalty
declines. Meanwhile, new movements against racist police murders and for 
criminal justice reform
have emerged. The time is now to link our struggles together in the fight to 
end the New Jim Crow!

Our convention this year will feature panels and workshops that take on the 
system - from policing
to death row. Discussions will take up issues like police violence, abuse of 
prosecutorial
discretion, harsh sentencing, execution methods, solitary confinement and 
prison conditions, and
more. We’ll focus on specific cases and we will feature the voices of family 
members and former and current prisoners as highlighted speakers, including:

Sabrina Fulton Former MS death row prisoner * Sara Kruzan Former California 
juvenile life without
parole prisoner * Sandra Reed Mother of Texas death row prisoner Rodney Reed 
* Mark Clements Former
Illinois juvenile life without parole prisoner and police torture victim * 
Barbara Lewis Mother of
Robert Gattis, commuted of Delaware death row * Delia Perez Meyer Sister of 
Texas death row prisoner
Louis Castro Perez * Liliana Segura Editor at The Intercept * Terri Been Sister 
of Jeff Wood,
sentenced to death in Texas under the Law of Parties * Sandy Joy Author of 
Grief, Loss and Treatmen
for Death Row Families * Lily Hughes - National Director of the Campaign to End 
the Death Penalty

Invited speakers: Kevin Cooper Current CA death row prisoner (by phone) * 
Kenneth Hartman Current CA LWOP prisoner (by phone)


Sessions include: Two Cases of Injustice: Stop the executions of Rodney Reed 
and Louis Perez! * Why
are people turning against the death penalty? * How police and prosecutors get 
away with murder *
The torture of solitary * Grief, loss and treatment for death row families * 
The Gross Injustice of
the Law of Parties * Prisoner speak out! An evening event featuring the voices 
of current and former prisoners.

Registration:

Please take the time to register online before the event! Registration will be 
$25 regular - $10 for
students and family members of prisoner or former prisoners. No one will be 
turned away for lack of
funds.

Hotel:

The CEDP has been given a discounted rate of $90 (before tax) at the Habitat 
Inn and Suites at 500 E
Highland Mall Blvd, in Austin. Call (512) 467-6000 and request a room as a part 
of the Campaign to
End the Death Penalty. Reservation must be made by October 30th to guarantee 
the discounted rate.
After that time, the discounted rate will still be honored if rooms are still 
available.
All of the rooms are one bedroom suites, with a king size bed and pull out sofa 
in the living room,
and a full kitchenette.

Sponsored by: Sponsored by: The Campaign to End the Death Penalty, Pi Gamma Mu 
Honor Society at Huston-Tillotson University, Witness to Innocence, The 
People’s Task Force, International Socialist
Organization - Austin







GEORGIA:

Was Kelly Gissendaner’s death justifiable?


Kelly Gissendaner, a prisoner from Georgia, has made headlines because she was 
the 1st woman put to death by the state in 7 decades. Gissendaner was
convicted of murder in February of 1997 after she conspired with her lover to 
stab her husband, Douglas Gissendaner.

Many people attempted to stop Gissendaner’s execution, including Pope Francis 
and Gissendaner’s 3 children. Her children were unable to be with her on the 
day of her execution because they were in a meeting with the Georgia Board of 
Pardons and Paroles making one last ditch effort to save their mother’s life.

Gissendaner’s lawyers argued that her sentencing was unjust considering her 
role in the crime and the fact that Gregory Owen, the lover who actually 
committed the murder, was sentenced to a life prison sentence and will be 
eligible for parole in 2022.

The difference in sentences speaks volumes. Even though Gissendaner never 
murdered her husband, she is still being punished more severely than the man 
who actually committed the crime.

Although what she did was wrong and she should be punished, sentencing her to 
death and executing her was unjust and wrong. The court system was attempting 
to use her as an example in order to send a message to the public that they are 
not playing any games and are willing to administer the death penalty even if 
they haven’t in a while.

Throughout her time in prison, Gissendaner was a model prisoner and helped 
fellow prisoners adjust to life behind bars. She even prevented some women from 
committing suicide, as well as mentored juveniles. Prison guards who knew 
Gissendaner wanted to speak on her behalf, but nothing proved to be enough to 
stop the execution.

Mr. Gissendaner’s family feels that she was sentenced appropriately and that 
their son is the real victim in all of this. Again, Douglas is the victim here 
and that justice should be served, but it’s unconscionable how 1 of the 2 
people involved was executed and the other, the one who actually, physically 
committed the murder, will be eligible for parole and possibly able to enter 
back into society.

4 sitting judges, including a Supreme Court judge, said that they would have 
granted her stay, but it was not enough and the execution proceeded as 
scheduled. Before she was injected, Gissendaner apologized for her part in the 
crime and sang “Amazing Grace.”

Gissendaner should have received a sentence similar, if not the same, as her 
accomplice in the crime, seeing as her part was more mental rather than 
physical.

(source: Opinion; Kristen Catalano, The (St. Johns Univ.) Torch)




OHIO:

Suspected Serial Killer Trucker Investigated in Unsolved Slayings


Prosecutors are retracing the steps of a suspected serial killer,
trying to uncover whether he's possibly tied to additional unsolved
slayings in the Midwest.

Trucker Robert Rembert Jr. was charged this week in connection to 4
killings over nearly 20 years.

A grand jury indicted Rembert, 45, Tuesday on 25 charges related to the 
Cleveland-area killings, including kidnapping, sexual assault and 10 aggravated 
murder counts, according to court documents obtained by ABC News.

Prosecutors on the case allege that Rembert is a serial killer who had not 
previously been charged in any of these 4 cases.

The killings date back to 1997, starting with the alleged sexual assault and 
slaying of Rena Mae Payne, 47.

Payne's body was found at a bus station -- Rembert was a bus driver then -- 
and authorities located Rembert's DNA at the crime scene, they say.

Rebecca Hall, 31, was sexually assaulted and killed in June of this year, again 
with DNA allegedly linked back to Rembert.

Authorities also say Rembert shot dead his cousin, Jerry Rembert, 52, as well 
as Morgan Neitzel, 26, both of whom Rembert was living with at the time.

Rembert hasn't entered a plea. He remains in custody, held on $1 million bond.

If convicted, he could face the death penalty.

Rembert was previously convicted in 1997 for voluntary manslaughter in a man's 
death, and served six years in prison.

(source: ABC news)



OKLAHOMA:

Fallin: Pruitt "Doing a Great Job" on Execution Investigation


Gov. Mary Fallin has been in touch with Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt 
as he investigates breaches of the state’s lethal injection protocol.

Fallin said Pruitt’s inquiry is moving along.

"We don’t talk on a day-to-day basis about it, but I have told the attorney 
general I’m very supportive of doing everything he can with his inquiry into 
the protocols, into what might have happened, and he needs to be allowed to do 
his job," Fallin said. "And he’s doing a great job, and I support that."

The recent string of mistakes administering lethal injections in Oklahoma is 
not going to lead to changes at the top of the Department of Corrections just 
yet.

"We need to allow [Pruitt] the time to give us the information before we make 
any decisions," Fallin said. "But I have, as you know, the attorney and I have 
stopped all executions until we have confidence in how our protocols work in 
our state."

Fallin halted an execution last month because the Department of Corrections had 
potassium acetate rather than the approved potassium chloride. The state 
recently disclosed potassium acetate was used in a January execution. The 
corrections department has not commented.

Despite the recent problems with lethal injections, the governor is not 
considering pushing the state away from the death penalty. Fallin said an 
overwhelming majority of Oklahomans still support it.

"It’s important that we restore confidence in how we carry out our protocol and 
our execution process, which is current state law with the death penalty, and 
we get to the bottom of what has happened," Fallin said.

This week, Pruitt asked for permission to disclose information in a lawsuit 
over Oklahoma’s lethal injection protocol only to the judge and not to 
attorneys representing death row inmates. That lawsuit is separate from his 
inquiry.

(source: publicradiotulsa.org)





MONTANA:

Lethal injection----Death penalty in death throes


Last week's answer to a single medical question effectively ended the death 
penalty in Montana.

The question—Does a drug called pentobarbital act "ultra fast" to render 
prisoners unconscious, as required by state law?—pitted two experts in Lewis 
and Clark County District Court. The ACLU of Montana, which challenged the 
protocol outlined in the state's "Execution Technical Manual" on behalf of 
Montana's 2 death row inmates, put forth a Columbia University anesthesiologist 
known as an expert on lethal injection. The state's witness was a controversial 
Auburn University dean of pharmacy who cited printouts from consumer website 
Drugs.com.

Judge Jeffrey Sherlock wasn't buying the state's case. In his Oct. 6 ruling, 
Sherlock pointed out conflicting statements made under oath by Dr. Roswell Lee 
Evans and noted that an overwhelming body of research suggests the drug isn't 
of a class of barbiturates considered "ultra-fast," despite the Drugs.com page 
saying its effects were "immediate."

"This is not to in any way insinuate that Dr. Evans is not a credible witness," 
Sherlock wrote. "However, it is a factor when weighing the evidence ..."

In fact, Evans' credibility has been called into question before. He was the 
state witness in a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case earlier this year that 
upheld Oklahoma's lethal injection protocol. More than 1/2 of Evans' testimony 
consisted of printouts from Drugs.com, whose website includes a disclaimer that 
it isn't intended for medical advice, ProPublica reported at the time. His 
report drew the ire of dissenting Supreme Court justices and 16 professors of 
pharmacology who submitted a brief disputing his opinions.

The fact that Evans' testimony had prevailed in the country's highest court 
despite questions about its validity underscores what Fordham University law 
professor and death penalty expert Deborah Denno says is the "extraordinary" 
nature of Sherlock's ruling in Montana.

"Some courts haven't paid much attention to what the statute says," Denno says. 
"Based on the testimony, (Sherlock) could have said, 'It's fast enough.'"

The distinction isn't semantics to critics of the death penalty. As 
manufacturers have cut off supplies of traditional lethal injection drugs, 
states are scrambling to find alternative cocktails. Denno notes this tactic 
has led to a flurry of lawsuits like the one in Montana, and numerous botched 
executions that end with prisoners writhing in pain.

"Essentially what states are doing is experimenting on executed inmates," says 
Caitlin Borgmann, the ACLU of Montana's executive director.

Borgmann says because none of the drugs Sherlock deemed "ultra-fast" are 
available, the death penalty is effectively under moratorium unless state 
legislators tweak the law.

But such a change won't come easy, as state lawmakers have grown increasingly 
skeptical toward capital punishment. Earlier this year, a bill to abolish the 
death penalty sponsored by Rep. David "Doc" Moore, a Missoula Republican, 
advanced out of House committee for the first time ever before failing on a 
50-50 floor vote. The Senate has previously endorsed similar measures.

"I think unless [the state] finds another source for what's on the books, I 
don't think anything is going to happen," Moore says.

Questions to the Montana Department of Corrections about the case were directed 
to the attorney general's office, which did not respond by press time.

(soure: Missoula Independent)




CALIFORNIA:

Windows on Death Row----Art from Inside and Outside the Prison Walls


Thursday, October 22 to Friday, December 18
  Annenberg East Lobby, Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism
  University Park Campus

Opening Reception: Thursday, October 22, 5:30 p.m.

ADMISSION
Admission is free. Reservations requested for the opening reception. RSVP 
beginning Tuesday, September 29, at 9 a.m.


DESCRIPTION

There are currently over 3,000 Americans on Death Row. California, with more 
than 700, has the largest number. What are the legal, ethical, religious, 
political, and policy dimensions of America’s continued use of the death 
penalty? Join us for an art exhibition and discussion that will look at capital 
punishment not only from the outside, but also from inside Death Row walls.

Swiss journalist Anne-Frédérique Widmann and international New York Times 
cartoonist Patrick Chappatte have curated a one-of-a-kind exhibition featuring 
more than 70 artworks by people incarcerated all over the United States, who 
were asked to draw and paint their daily life on Death Row. Their work will 
appear alongside art by renowned editorial cartoonists including Pat Oliphant 
and Jeff Danziger (syndicated worldwide), David Horsey (Los Angeles Times), 
Jack Ohman (Sacramento Bee), KAL (The Economist, Baltimore Sun), Mike Luckovich 
(Atlanta Constitution), Ann Telnaes (Washington Post), Mark Wuerker (Politico), 
Joel Pett (Lexington Herald-Leader), Clay Bennett (Chattanooga Times Free 
Press), Rob Rogers (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette), and Scott Stantis (Chicago 
Tribune).

Join us for the opening reception on Thursday, October 22, at 5:30 p.m. The 
reception will include remarks by Chappatte, Widmann, and artist Ndume 
Olatushani, who was wrongfully sentenced to death, spent 28 years in jail, and 
was freed in 2012. Ndume, who became an accomplished painter in prison, has 
said, “Art saved my life.” After the reception, Sister Helen Prejean, whose 
story was brought to international attention in the Academy Award–winning film 
Dead Man Walking, will discuss her work to end the death penalty.


Related Event:
Dead Man Walking: The Journey Goes On
A Lecture by Sister Helen Prejean
  Thursday, October 22, 7 p.m.

Organized by Diane Winston (Journalism), Patrick Chappatte (research fellow), 
and Anne-Frédérique Widmann.

Switzerland’s Federal Department of Foreign Affairs is glad to support this 
project, which aims at fostering inclusive and constructive debates on the 
death penalty.

Co-sponsored by the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, the 
USC Levan Institute for Humanities and Ethics, the USC Center for Religion and 
Civic Culture, the USC Office for Religious Life, the USC Caruso Catholic 
Center, the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies at USC, the USC Center for 
Public Diplomacy, the USC School for Cinematic Arts, and Murder Victims’ 
Families for Human Rights.

Artwork was gathered with the help of Compassion, R.E.A.C.H., Minutes Before 
Six, Who Decides Inc., Witness to Innocence, and Art for Justice.

(source: visionsandvoices.usc.edu)