[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, IND., MO.

[Rick Halperin]

April 7



OHIO:

Convicted serial killer Sowell wants Ohio Supreme Court to reconsider death 
sentence


An attorney for a convicted serial killer in Cleveland urged the state's high 
court to remand the case for further legal proceedings, arguing errors in the 
deliberations that lead to Anthony Sowell's death sentence in the grisly 
murders of 11 women.

The Ohio Supreme Court must decide whether to send the case back for a new 
suppression hearing or whether other claims merit reconsideration of Sowell's 
capital sentence.

"We have raised a total of 21 propositions of law in this case, 18 in the 
original briefing and three pursuant to the order of this court/," Jeffrey 
Gamso, an assistant public defender representing Sowell, told justices April 5.

But prosecutors argued that the case is clear cut, with ample evidence to 
convict and confirm the death penalty.

"This case involves the aggravated murders of 11 innocent women," said 
Assistance Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Christopher Schroeder. "He lured them to 
his house with the promises of drugs and alcohol. He kidnapped them. When their 
bodies were recovered, their were bindings still around their wrists and their 
ankles, sometimes around their necks."

(source: Twinsburg Bulletin)






INDIANA:

DA seeks to block insanity defense


Prosecutors are seeking to bar a survivalist from using a possible insanity 
defense at his trial over the ambush shooting death of a state police trooper 
outside a rural barracks.

Eric Frein is charged in northeastern Pike County with the September 2014 
shooting that killed Cpl. Bryon Dickson and seriously wounding Trooper Alex 
Douglass outside the Blooming Grove barracks. Frein was arrested about 30 miles 
away after a 48-day manhunt.

District Attorney Ray Tonkin filed a motion Friday saying defense attorneys are 
required by state law to notify prosecutors in advance if they plan to use a 
defense of insanity or mental infirmity. He said such notice needs to be filed 
at the time of pretrial motions so prosecutors can seek an independent 
examination of the defendant.

Tonkin said defense attorneys, who filed several pretrial motions in February 
and March, should be barred from presenting such a defense.

Defense attorney William Ruzzo told The Times-Tribune newspaper in Scranton on 
Monday that the defense is still consulting with a psychiatric expert and will 
file notice if appropriate once that consultation is complete.

The defense has asked the judge to move the trial or bring in a jury from 
another county due to extensive pretrial publicity about the case. Attorneys 
also seek to bar prosecutors from using statements Frein made to police 
following his arrest.

Frein was captured by U.S. marshals near an abandoned airplane hangar, ending a 
manhunt that had rattled the nerves of area residents.

The quiet takedown of Frein, who kneeled and put his hands up when marshals 
approached him, ended weeks of tension and turmoil in the area, as authorities 
at times closed schools, canceled outdoor events and blockaded roads to pursue 
him. Residents grew weary of hearing helicopters overhead, while small 
businesses suffered mounting losses and town supervisors canceled a popular 
Halloween parade.

Frein has pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

(source: Associated Press)






MISSOURI:

Missouri lethal injection under scrutiny


The Missouri department of corrections (DOC) has been ordered to release two 
pharmacy names from where it purchases the lethal drugs used in execution.

Final judgements laid down by the circuit court of Cole County criticize 
Missouri prisons for not rightfully informing the public about their way of 
conducting the death penalty. According to the Death Penalty Information 
Center, Missouri has executed 18 men since 2013 using the drug pentobarbital 
through an unknown source.

These sources are thought to be by the press as compounding pharmacies where 
organization make drugs specifically to tailor the needs of a client. Those 
pharmacies are not held to the same processes and testing standards of other 
larger pharmaceutical companies.

A lawsuit filed in 2014 by media organizations including The Associated Press, 
Kansas City Star and St. Louis Post-Dispatch argued that public disclosure of 
purchasing records reduce risks over the way "improper, ineffective or 
defectively prepared drugs are used."

Judge Jon Beetem ruled in favor of the organizations, notably marking where the 
DOC had "knowingly violated the Sunshine law by refusing to disclose records 
that would reveal the suppliers of lethal injection drugs, because its refusal 
was based on an interpretation of Missouri statutes that was clearly contrary 
to law."

Beestem ruled that correspondent drug-providing pharmacies were not protected 
in the same way as execution team members' identities.

The Guardian was represented in the legal action by the Media Freedom and 
Information Access Clinic at Yale Law School, along with Bernard Rhodes of 
Lathrop & Gage LLP in Kansas City, Missouri.

The Guardian has their representative's take on the case.

"Without this information, the public is unable to exercise meaningful 
oversight of the executions carried out in its name," Rhodes said. "One of the 
primary purposes of a free and independent press is to perform a watchdog 
function over government activities, and this lawsuit is a perfect example of 
that."

Most active death penalty states attempt to circumvent a European-led boycott 
that blocks trade of lethal injection drugs to U.S. prison markets in part of 
established ethics.

Without providing the public with information on both the source and methods 
utilized in execution risks of "failed" executions remain.

The Los Angeles Times reported on an unsuccessful Arizona execution where 
regularly administered doses of a lethal substance with a private origin did 
not kill the convict until 15 doses had been administered. Arizona officials 
neglected to disclose where the state obtained the drugs due to concern over 
reputation of the supplying company.

Because DOC purposely violated the Sunshine law freedom of information law, 
Plaintiffs are entitled to all costs and reasonable attorney's fees, which they 
have established to be $73,335.41.

The nature of public information and how it is legally disbursed affects 
opinions on the moral aspects associated with the 32 states that still 
implement the death penalty. Public awareness promotes an ease of mind in our 
state and own localities.

"I think it's ethical to be able to know what's being used to kill people on 
death row. We are sentencing these people to this fate, and not knowing what we 
use to bring them to their end is pretty cruel," junior Leigha Chenoweth said.

Some people do agree that the public show know what drugs are being used to 
execute the death row prisoners.

"I think people should know what drugs are being pumped into the death inmates. 
It's wrong to not know. What if people accidently find it and use it?" senior 
Jason Vanhorn said.

(source: nwmissourinews.com)