[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----VA., N.C., CALIF.

[Rick Halperin]

Sept. 15




VIRGINIA:

Virginia won't say how much it would pay secret supplier for lethal injection 
drugs ---- Agreement between Virginia Department of Corrections and secret 
vendor for purchase of lethal injection drugs


It's unlikely there are many state contracts as peculiar as the one between the 
Virginia Department of Corrections and a secret vendor.

The contract - a memorandum of agreement obtained by the Richmond 
Times-Dispatch under the Freedom of Information Act - states that it is "for 
the purchase of drugs to be used exclusively for implementing the lawful order 
of the court for a death sentence by lethal injection in the commonwealth."

A Virginia law that took effect July 1 keeps the identity of the supplier 
secret, and the Department of Corrections will not even reveal what the vendor 
is charging to provide Virginia a product or products specified only for use in 
executions.

A request to the governor's office for the figure was not answered Wednesday.

The initial agreement may be good for up to seven years but can be ended by the 
vendor if it cannot make a requested compound, "or for no reason whatsoever."

As pharmaceutical manufacturers have stopped supplying drugs for executions, 
some states have found so-called compounding pharmacies willing to do so - 
provided they are not identified.

But compounding pharmacies are not subjected to the same approval process as 
larger manufacturers, leading to litigation and allegations about the drugs' 
effectiveness and the possibility of a botched execution.

Last year, Virginia had to obtain a compounded drug from the state of Texas to 
execute serial killer Alfredo Prieto, who also had been sentenced to death in 
California.

Earlier this year, it appeared the Department of Corrections did not have 
enough drugs to execute Richmond mass-killer Ricky Gray. His March execution 
date was stayed when his lawyers appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

7 men are on Virginia's death row, but none has a pending execution date.

Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, 
wrote in an email Wednesday, "We don't know who has actually requested the 
secrecy, the pharmacies or the states (or both). But it is clear that the 
pharmacies that have chosen to supply execution drugs prefer that the public 
not know they are doing so."

"No execution drug supplier has voluntarily disclosed its identity. At least 1 
- a Tulsa pharmacy known as the Apothecary Shoppe - was identified as a result 
of a Missouri lawsuit, and was found to have committed more than 1,800 
regulatory violations," Dunham wrote.

The secrecy provision was passed by the General Assembly in April as a 
compromise that avoided a return to the electric chair if lethal injection was 
not available, something Gov. Terry McAuliffe opposed.

Virginia law allows an inmate to choose between the 2 methods of execution. If 
the inmate refuses to choose, the default method is by injection.

The memorandum of agreement between the Department of Corrections released by 
the department this week has redacted the identity of the supplier, the date it 
was signed, and the price to be paid for "each distribution to the Department 
of Corrections of a requested compound."

"Each distribution" is defined as "a batch of sufficient quantity of vials of 
the compounded drug to permit 1 execution by lethal injection (i.e., 1 dose and 
2 backup doses) plus enough vials to allow for testing of the compounded drug 
for every month prior to the date of expiration (i.e., 1 vial every month)."

Citing the state's new secrecy amendment, the Virginia memorandum states: "The 
identity of the pharmacy or outsourcing facility that supplies drugs for lethal 
injection, or any officer or employee of such pharmacy or outsourcing facility, 
and any person or entity used by such a pharmacy or outsourcing facility to 
obtain equipment or substances to facilitate the compounding of lethal 
injection drugs shall be confidential, shall be exempt from the Freedom of 
Information Act, and shall not be subject to discovery or introduction as 
evidence in any civil proceedings unless good cause is shown."

"The above exemption includes any information reasonably calculated to lead to 
the identity of such persons, including their names, residential and office 
addresses, residential and office telephone numbers, Social Security numbers 
and tax identification numbers," the memorandum says.

The amended state law does not appear explicitly to include the price paid for 
the drugs as being exempt from the Freedom of Information Act.

(source: Richmond Times-Dispatch)






NORTH CAROLINA:

NC State Bar panel approves rules for evidence of innocence


North Carolina prosecutors would have to reveal evidence of innocence obtained 
after a person is convicted under a rule that a State Bar approved Tuesday.

Previously, prosecutors only had to reveal the evidence of innocence before a 
conviction. After agreeing to that rule, the panel went a step further and 
tentatively signed off on another new rule that requires all attorneys, 
including criminal defense attorneys, to reveal post-conviction evidence of 
innocence, provided they're not violating rules including attorney 
client-privilege.

"A clear decision was made by the subcommittee today that it was not 
comfortable making years ago," said defense attorney Brad Bannon, referring to 
a decision several years not to send the prosecutors' rule to the full 
committee. "We have seen these wrongful conviction cases increase in the years 
since, and we need to be sure that the people most able to correct that 
injustice - prosecutors and other lawyers - take steps to do so."

The proposal from the ethics subcommittee now goes to the full ethics 
committee, which meets in October. If it is approved, it's then sent to 
attorneys for comment.

The 5-member subcommittee had met several times previously to discuss the rule 
and discussion Tuesday was brief and mostly concentrated on language to tell 
prosecutors that they must consider the evidence they receive and not just 
focus on the credibility of the source.

The American Bar Association says 14 states have a rule about prosecutors and 
post-conviction evidence of innocence and recommends that each state approve 
such a rule.

For the proposal involving all attorneys, the subcommittee discussed whether to 
allow attorneys to ignore attorney-client privilege. Eventually, the panel said 
the importance of protecting that relationship was greater.

"This is the classic example of a clash of values," said Alice Mine, the State 
Bar's assistant executive director and ethics counsel. "We've got this value of 
preventing wrongful convictions. But we also have this value of protecting the 
interest of our clients. And the duty of confidentiality is really core to the 
attorney-client relationship."

Advocates cited a Buncombe County murder case as a prime example of why North 
Carolina needed the rule for prosecutors. 5 innocent men served prison terms in 
connection with a 2000 home-invasion murder they didn't commit.

Another man confessed in 2003 and implicated an accomplice whose DNA was 
eventually found on masks and bandanas near the scene. The district attorney 
said in a deposition that he didn't believe the confession and that he never 
saw the DNA evidence, although the report from the State Bureau of 
Investigation showed it was copied to the DA.

The 5 received a total $8 million for their wrongful convictions. Some of them 
had pleaded guilty to avoid the threat of the death penalty.

(source: Associated Press)






CALIFORNIA:

A Look Inside San Quentin, Home of Death Row


Controversial, complicated, and at times contradictory -- life on California's 
death row is in many ways a mystery. As voters prepare to decide the fate of 
the death penalty in November, FOX40 was the only local TV station allowed 
access to San Quentin State Penitentiary, California's only death row for male 
inmates.

The home of one of the most breathtaking views of the San Francisco Bay is also 
home to 700 convicted murderers awaiting execution -- just one of many 
paradoxes behind the walls of San Quentin State Penitentiary.

It's hard to argue there's not something charming about San Quentin's old world 
feel. Touring the 19th century prison at times seemed like walking through a 
movie set or prison museum... surreal.

That feeling was short lived.

The stab proof vests the FOX40 crew had to wear were actually our 2nd reality 
check. The 1st was the "no hostage" policy we had to sign, warning that if an 
inmate took us captive, the guards would not bargain for us.

We were part of an international group of journalists allowed rare access to 5 
cell blocks where male condemned inmates live starting with the most 
restrictive, the adjustment center -- the sometimes temporary, sometimes 
long-term home to inmates with behavioral issues. The spit shield we had to 
wear when approaching those men was reality check No. 3.

Yard time in the kennel-like exercise cages of the adjustment center isn't 
much, but at least there's fresh air. Adjustment center inmates spend as many 
as 24 hours a day in a cell with a concrete door, getting to use the exercise 
cages on average 3 days a week.

"What am I supposed to do for the rest of my life, just sit here?" asked inmate 
Jamar Tucker.

Incarcerated on and off since he was a teen, a deadly home invasion in 2005 got 
Tucker life in prison, killing his cell mate 5 years later got him a death 
sentence.

"I don't regret nothing," he said.

After 6 years on death row, the 34-year-old seemed to welcome his execution.

"I'm ready to go," he claimed.

There is a long line ahead of him. California has only executed 13 prisoners 
since 1978. Leaving about 600 inmates in the standard death row cell blocks.

The prison didn't let us prearrange interviews, but we were allowed to approach 
anyone we came across.

Richard Allen Davis, who kidnapped Polly Klass from her home nearly 16 years 
ago, ignored us.

A few cells down, Douglas Clark, also known as the "Sunset Strip Killer," 
wanted to talk. 30 years later he insists he's innocent of the 6 L.A. area 
murders that put him on death row. His accomplice, Carol Bundy, avoided death 
row by testifying against him.

"I'd have killed the b---- if I had a chance," said Clark.

Notorious or not, inmates spend on average more than 20 years on death row. At 
this point, they are more likely to die of illness, suicide or old age than 
execution. And that's the real death row reality check.

"I think they're just waiting on their ass for me to die of old age," said 
Charles Case.

Also known as the "Midday Rapist," the 75-year-old has been on death row for 
two decades after a Father's Day double murder in Sacramento.

Our 4-hour tour came to an end without ever seeing the place where condemned 
prisoners are supposed to meet theirs. The lethal injection chamber is the 
entire purpose of death row -- yet it hasn't been used in a decade, and of the 
747 prisoners condemned to die, not one is scheduled to have that sentence 
carried out, which is the ultimate San Quentin Penitentiary paradox.

Executions are on hold in California until at least November while a new lethal 
injection protocol is developed.

It's unclear if that will happen before voters go to the polls to decide 
whether to speed up the death penalty process or abolish capital punishment 
altogether.

(source: Fox News)