[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ALA., MISS., LA., ARK., WASH.

[Rick Halperin]

May 22



ALABAMA----impending execution

Alabama death row Inmate Tommy Arthur Pleads for 8th Reprieve


7 times, Tommy Arthur has escaped death. With his 8th execution date less than 
a week away, he phoned from an Alabama prison to talk about the increasingly 
slim chance that his lethal injection will be called off yet again.

"Until I take my last breath I'll have hope," Arthur, who has been on death row 
for almost 35 years, told NBC News on Friday. "I don't know how to quit. I 
don't know how to give up."

He has the paperwork to prove it. Sentenced to death for a 1982 contract 
killing he insists he didn't commit, Arthur has filed a mountain of challenges, 
many of them successful - at least in the short run.

The U.S. Supreme Court halted his last scheduled execution six months ago but 
later declined to take up his case. More recent appeals have been rejected, and 
while Arthur's attorneys are continuing to fight, the prospects for another 
reprieve are growing dimmer.

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey last month shot down a request for new, enhanced DNA 
testing of a wig from the crime scene, which Arthur, 75, contends will prove 
that someone else is responsible for the murder of Troy Wicker. She's 
considering a request to test a hair he claims was collected.

"There is evidence in the evidence box that can be and should be DNA tested and 
they are not doing it," he said. "I asked them, 'Please don't let Alabama kill 
me without testing it.'

"Honest to goodness," said Arthur, who was found guilty by 3 different juries, 
"I did not commit this crime."

Arthur's odyssey through the justice system began in 1977. That's when he was 
sentenced to life for fatally shooting his sister-in-law through the eye. He 
joined a work release program, and according to court records, began an affair 
with a married woman named Judy Wicker.

By prosecutors' account, Wicker offered Arthur $10,000 to kill her husband, 
Troy. Arthur dressed up as a black man, in an Afro wig, and shot the sleeping 
man through his eye, prosecutors say.

Arthur and Judy Wicker, who initially claimed a burglar raped her and killed 
her husband, were convicted at separate trials.

But Arthur's 1st conviction was overturned because the court found details of 
the earlier killing were improperly disclosed during the trial. He was tried 
and convicted again, and that verdict was tossed over a statement he gave to 
police without a lawyer present.

At Arthur's 3rd trial in 1992, Judy Wicker testified and named him as the 
hitman for the 1st time; she was paroled soon after. Arthur was convicted and 
sentenced to death for a 3rd time - after telling the jury he wanted a capital 
sentence because, he said, it would give him better tools to appeal the 
verdict.

The 3rd conviction stuck - and the Alabama Supreme Court set execution dates in 
2001, 2007, 2008, 2012, 2015 and 2016.

Each time, they were postponed, once after a fellow inmate claimed in writing 
that he was the real killer, only to clam up on the stand during a hearing 
where Judy Wicker again swore Arthur was the gunman.

Arthur is now the 3rd longest-serving death-row inmate in Alabama, where the 
legislature just passed a measure that would hasten executions by speeding up 
appeals. He has several pending appeals that have to be resolved before his May 
25 execution date.

One challenges Alabama's lethal injection protocol, which uses the 
controversial sedative midazolam, on the grounds that it will cause suffering. 
It cites the December execution of Ronald Smith, who witnesses said heaved and 
coughed for 13 minutes and moved his arm during a consciousness check.

"It's inevitable that I'm going to have some problems if they execute me," 
Arthur said.

Another appeal attacks the state's former sentencing scheme, which allowed 
judges to overrule juries and impose death sentences and which the governor 
just overturned.

Arthur, who has encyclopedic knowledge of his case, is most focused on another 
avenue: his quest to have the killer's wig subjected to a new type of DNA 
testing that could turn up genetic material that might have been missed by 
earlier tests.

On April 26, the governor's counsel turned down that petition, saying it 
"merely recycles the same request and contention made by Arthur for more 
testing on a piece of evidence that has been shown to contain no DNA profile."

Arthur said he doesn't understand the state's reluctance. "Why won't they let 
this testing take place? What would it hurt?" he asked.

His lead attorney, Suhana Han, said that "neither a fingerprint nor a weapon 
nor any other physical evidence" links Arthur to the crime.

"If the state executes Mr. Arthur on May 25 as planned, he will die without 
ever having had a meaningful opportunity to prove his innocence, an outcome 
that is inexcusable in a civilized society."

An advocacy group called Victims of Crime and Leniency said the courts have 
given Arthur enough 2nd chances over the last 3 decades.

"He's Houdini," said Janette Grantham, the executive director. "He escapes and 
he escapes."

She said that for many years, she had been in contact with Troy Wicker's 
sister, who showed up for several executions that were then called off at the 
last minute.

"She died a couple of months ago so she won't make it to the final execution," 
Grantham said. "To me, that is very sad."

However the courts rule, Arthur said, he does not plan to apply for clemency; 
in his view, it would amount to an admission of guilt.

"I'm not interested," he said. "I could have pleaded guilty to this in 1982 and 
taken a straight life sentence but I'm not going to plead guilty to something I 
just didn't do."

(source: NBC News)

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

Alabama Prepares for May 25, 2017, Execution of Thomas Arthur


Thomas Douglas Arthur is scheduled to be executed at 6 pm CDT on Thursday, May 
25, 2017, at the Holeman Correctional Facility in Attmore, Alabama. 75-year-old 
Thomas has been convicted of the murder 35-year-old Troy Wicker on February 1, 
1982, in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Thomas has spent the last 33 years on 
Alabama's death row.

In 1977, Thomas was convicted of murdering Eloise Bray West, the sister of his 
common-law wife, after she refused to reveal the location of his wife. Thomas 
received a life sentence for the this murder.

While serving time for the murder of Eloise West, Thomas Arthur joined a work 
release program. Arthur, while on work release, began an affair with Judy 
Wicker, wife of Troy Wicker. In 1982, Judy offered Arthur $10,000 to kill her 
husband, to which Arthur agreed. Arthur acquired the ammunition for the murder 
from an acquaintance, whom he told he was going to use the supplies to kill 
someone.

On February 1, 1982, Arthur entered the Wicker resident wearing an "afro" wig 
and in dark makeup to disguise himself as a black man. Troy was shot through 
the right eye at close range with a pistol, which killed him instantly.

Judy told police that after dropping the kids off at school and arriving back 
at the house, she discovered a black man in their home. According to Judy, the 
man raped her and knocked her unconscious before killing her husband.

Police discovered discrepancies in Arthur's work release time and payment logs, 
prompting an investigation. Arthur was not at his job on the day of the murder 
and police discover $2,000 in cash in Arthur's personal belongings a few days 
after the murder. Judy had paid Arthur from the $90,000 in life insurance she 
collected from Troy's death. Police arrested Judy and Arthur for Troy's murder.

Judy was arrested and sentenced to life in prison for the murder of her 
husband. Initially, Judy claimed that Arthur was not involved in the crime. 
Years after her conviction, she agreed to testify against Arthur at his trial, 
in exchange for a reduced sentence. She testified that she paid Arthur to kill 
her husband and strike her several times so that it would look like she was 
also attacked. Arthur continues to insist that he is innocent of the crime. 
Arthur was tried, convicted and sentenced to death on March 22, 1983.

This is Arthur's 7th execution date. All previous executions have been stayed 
for various reasons, including in 2008, when a man named Bobby Ray Gilbert came 
forward and confessed to the crime. Limited DNA testing failed to link Bobby to 
the crime scene and a judge ruled his confession as lacking credibility.

Alabama Governor Kay Ivey has recently rejected a request by Thomas Arthur to 
retest DNA evidence in the cast. Thomas is requesting that the wig worn by the 
killer be retested. The state has argued that the wig was previously tested and 
found to contain no traces of DNA. He has also asked the governor for clemency.

Please pray for peace and healing for the family of Troy Wicker. Please pray 
for the family of Thomas. Please pray that if Thomas is innocent, lacks the 
competency to be executed, or should not be executed for any other reason, that 
evidence will be presented before his execution. Please pray that Thomas may 
come to find peace through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, if he has 
not already.

(source: theforgivenessfoundation.org)






MISSISSIPPI:

1st Court Appearance for 3 Teens in Shooting Death of Boy, 6----3 Mississippi 
teenagers accused of killing a 6-year-old boy are scheduled to make their 1st 
court appearances Monday morning.


3 Mississippi teenagers charged with capital murder in the shooting death of a 
6-year-old boy are expected to make initial court appearances.

Nineteen-year-old Byron McBride and 17-year-olds Dwan Wakefield and D'Allen 
Washington were arrested in the shooting death of Kingston Frazier. Authorities 
say Frazier was found dead in his mother's car Thursday, hours after the 
vehicle was stolen from outside a Jackson supermarket with the child inside.

A judge is expected to decide Monday whether to set bail and also will appoint 
lawyers to any of the 3 who lack one.

A special investigator's sworn statement obtained by The Associated Press says 
Wakefield told police that McBride stole the car and killed Frazier. Though all 
3 are charged with capital murder, only McBride could face the death penalty, 
authorities say.

(source: Associated Press)






LOUISIANA:

State officials struggle with no way to execute death row inmates


73 people sit on Louisiana death row - convicted of crimes so horrific that a 
jury of their peers sentenced them to death. But as things stand, the state has 
no way to execute them.

Over the past several weeks, Louisiana lawmakers have debated whether they 
should end the practice of capital punishment entirely, citing their faith, the 
costs of the program and whether the death penalty is an effective deterrent.

But to some extent, the question of whether to ban the death penalty is moot. 
Louisiana finds itself in the same predicament as many other states with 
capital punishment: It has run out of its supply of drugs for lethal 
injections, and pharmaceutical companies whose drugs were being used for the 
deadly cocktail have largely blocked further access. And, like other states, 
Louisiana law details how the execution is to be carried out by lethal 
injection, meaning the Legislature would have to pass a bill to allow the state 
to kill the condemned using other methods, such as by electrocution or firing 
squad.

"The state currently does not have a supply of the drugs to carry out the death 
penalty," said Ken Pastorick, spokesman for the Department of Corrections. 
Without access to those drugs, Pastorick says, "the state will not conduct 
executions."

It's been seven years since Louisiana executed a death row inmate - Gerald 
Bordelon, who was convicted of killing his 12-year-old stepdaughter. Bordelon 
hastened his own execution by waiving his appeal.

Bordelon is the only person Louisiana has executed in the past 15 years. Before 
that, executions occurred steadily if not routinely: Between 1983 and 2002, 27 
people were executed in Louisiana. During that period of time, the longest lag 
between executions was 2 years. In 1987 alone, 8 people were executed.

But Louisiana's lack of urgency in carrying out death sentences - which 
distinguishes Louisiana from other law-and-order states like Texas and Oklahoma 
- has been a frustration to at least 1 state lawmaker. Rep. Steve Pylant, 
R-Winnsboro, said he's a proponent of the death penalty and believes it's an 
effective deterrent to crime but not if criminals see the state has cold feet 
about going through with it.

"We need to start executing folks," he said. "They say they can't get the 
pharmaceuticals - well, then why can other states get them but we can't? If we 
don't want to do lethal injections, we got firing squads, we got gas chambers, 
we got other means."

Pylant ruffled feathers this week when he cast a game-changing vote in a House 
committee to spike a bill that would abolish the death penalty. Pylant was a 
co-sponsor of the bill and had previously said the state was wasting money if 
it wasn't going to go through with executions. But after he voted against his 
bill, which failed by a single vote, he said he had only attached his name to 
draw attention to his concerns.

Since 1993, Louisiana law has only allowed for lethal injection as a means of 
execution. Pylant said he wouldn't comment on whether he intended to propose 
legislation next year to expand the ways the state can execute people.

As recently as 2014, the Legislature mulled ways to allow executions to move 
forward. Former state Rep. Joe Lopinto, R-Metairie, pitched a short-lived 
proposal to bring back the electric chair, which is on display at the museum at 
the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. After pushback from the Department 
of Public Safety and Corrections, that legislation morphed into a bill that 
would keep secret the sources of lethal injection drug providers and allow the 
state to tap out-of-state pharmacies. The bills lost steam after two botched 
lethal injections elsewhere in the country made national headlines.

The soonest Louisiana could execute anyone would be next year. A lethal 
injection scheduled for convicted child-killer Christopher Sepulvado has been 
delayed by the courts since 2014, after attorneys on his behalf filed a suit 
challenging the constitutionality of the death penalty in Louisiana. In his 
appeal, Sepulvado has requested to learn exactly how he'd be put to death in 
light of botched lethal injections in recent years, and a lack of access to the 
drugs.

The state has previously used lethal doses of pentobarbital, an anesthetic. But 
in 2011, European drug manufacturers banned the export of the drug for lethal 
injections.

Since then, states have moved to a drug called midazolam, a sedative commonly 
used for colonoscopies, combined with hydromophone. That combination was 
challenged in the U.S. Supreme Court, after inmates sued saying the drug wasn't 
strong enough to block the pain of the other lethal drugs in the injection. 
Midazolam was the drug used in a handful of high-profile botched executions, 
like Arizona's Joseph Wood, who strained in agony for two hours after receiving 
the injection in 2014.

But in 2015, the Supreme Court ruled midazolam was not "cruel and unusual" in a 
5-4 vote.

Some states, however, are still having trouble getting access to midazolam for 
the use of lethal injections.

"It's becoming increasingly difficult for states to obtain drugs for 
executions, and it's gotten to the point where some companies won't sell to 
state prisons even for medical purposes because they're afraid the drugs will 
be diverted for the use of executions," said Robert Dunham, executive director 
of the Death Penalty Information Center.

In Arkansas, the state raced to execute 4 death-row inmates in April because 
its supply of midazolam was set to expire.

Only 32 states still allow the death penalty. And of those states, lethal 
injection is the most widely used means of execution; however, in some states, 
electrocution, lethal gas and firing squads are still options.

Death penalty lives on in Louisiana after House committee rejects bid to end 
practice

The death penalty lives on in Louisiana.

A 2015 report by Louisiana State Penitentiary officials recommended using 
nitrogen induced hypoxia - which is a deficiency of oxygen - as an alternative 
to lethal injection. A gas chamber was ruled out, but the recommendation 
considered using a mask to deliver the nitrogen.

"The research reviewed suggests that this method would be the most humane 
method and would not result in discomfort or cruel and unusual punishment to 
the subject," the report said.

Dunham said he disagrees, noting that the effect is people are effectively 
suffocated to death.

"The American Veterinary medical association won't even euthanize large mammals 
with nitrogen hypoxia," he said. "Their guidelines on euthanasia won't allow 
it."

Though a bill was rejected last week in a House committee to abolish the death 
penalty, its sponsor Rep. Terry Landry, D-New Iberia, said there could be a 
glimmer of possibility for its revival.

He said there was a possibility the lone Democrat who voted against the bill, 
Rep. Barbara Norton, D-Shreveport, could ask the chairman of the committee for 
reconsideration. Norton could not be reached for comment.

But Landry said it's a difficult and emotional vote, and he's not sure if he'll 
put his colleagues through another debate.

"It's a very, very tough vote," he said. "It's literally about life and death. 
I'm not sure whether I want to do this again."

(source: The Advocate)






ARKANSAS:

Morrilton pastor walks with man to death chamber----Msgr. Jack Harris tells of 
prison ministry: 'You never execute the same man you convict'


Ledell Lee, Jack Jones, Marcel Williams and Kenneth Williams. To most, the 
names of the 4 death row inmates executed in a 8-day span in Arkansas during 
April were just names in the news cycle, understood most prominently by crimes 
they committed.

For Msgr. Jack Harris, who has worked in prison ministry for 43 years since his 
ordination, these were not men defined by their crimes about 20 years ago.

"You never execute the man you convict. You never execute the same man that you 
convict," Msgr. Harris told a crowd of more than 30 May 11 at St. John Center 
in Little Rock. He was the guest speaker, sharing about his work in death row 
prison ministry and answering questions, during the monthly meeting for Pax 
Christi Little Rock, a chapter of the national Catholic social justice 
organization that promotes peace.

Msgr. Harris, pastor at Sacred Heart Church in Morrilton, works as a chaplain 
in the Varner Unit of the Arkansas Department of Correction, south of Pine 
Bluff in Lincoln County. He is a crisis intervention specialist and has worked 
with youth in juvenile courts.

Msgr. Harris explained that Arkansas is both a death penalty state and supermax 
state.

"Supermax means you're locked down 23 hours a day in a one-man cell, it's a 
little concrete box, a lighted concrete box is what it is. You don't control 
when the lights go on, off," he said. "Some men spend literally years locked up 
in there. You think just a minute what that does to a person mentally. That 
type of isolation."

2 days a week starting at 7 a.m., Msgr. Harris walks the six cell blocks, 78 
cells on each block, 3 tiers high.

It takes about 3 hours to speak with the 468 men and that includes about 20 to 
30 meaningful conversations with inmates.

Vengeance

Msgr. Harris pointed to the 3 reasons he has heard most often in support of the 
death penalty: a crime deterrent, protecting society and vengeance. In Arkansas 
alone there are roughly 2,100 men and women in prison convicted of murder, and 
only 30 of those are on death row.

"The men that I know, and I'm going to say 34 because I knew those 4 men who 
lost their lives the past 2 weeks, I knew them all. Those 34 were not deterred 
by the death penalty," Msgr. Harris said. "Those 34 were men who acted in the 
moment; they didn't think about 'Gosh what is going to happen to me if I do 
this.'"

In terms of protecting society, for the past 20 or so years, these men have 
never been a threat. He said, "I know that we do not have the most vicious 
murders in that unit on death row. But they had something they could bargain 
with and got a reduced sentence," Msgr. Harris said.

The only reason that "holds water is vengeance," he said.

"I will never denigrate or minimize the pain that victims feel. The victim's 
family, I don't ever want to pretend like that's not important," he said. "... 
But I'm not quite sure the vengeance that comes from that should be what guides 
our policy as a state."

Msgr. Harris said he has heard from many "high up state officials" that the 
victims' families will receive "closure" by executing these men.

"There is no closure with this thing. We move to another level of it, but we 
continue to work with it. It's a little unfair to use that language," he said. 
"... Justice was served the day they were caught, convicted and sent to prison. 
What you do to them after they're in prison, that's vengeance."

Seeking redemption

Much of death row ministry includes just merely talking to the men on the row, 
from complaining about the food to their favorite sporting events. But always 
on the horizon is the looming truth that they are destined to be put to death.

"A very privileged conversation to get to have with these guys is when they try 
to figure out how to say, 'I'm sorry.' And they will talk about that," Msgr. 
Harris said. "They will get frustrated about it too because how do you go to 
someone whose loved one you murdered, very likely raped and kidnapped, and say 
you're sorry. What they know is the words 'I'm sorry' mean nothing."

Death row inmates also "talk about how should we carry ourselves the night they 
make us walk into that chamber."

As his spiritual adviser, Msgr. Harris witnessed Marcel Williams' execution 
April 24 and stayed with those on death row when the other executions occurred 
April 20 and 27. The executions, administered at the Cummins Unit, have changed 
the makeup of the row.

"We lost one of the strongest men on the row as far as bumping up against other 
people," to correct bad behavior, Msgr. Harris said of Williams, who was 
Catholic. He added that he needs Jason McGehee, who was granted a stay of 
execution, "because the man has learned how to navigate the prison system. He 
mentors younger inmates; he'll bump up against people that need to change their 
behavior. He's not an angel. He does not deny what he did. But we need Jason 
McGehee inside this mega-carceral state."

Msgr. Harris also pointed out that there was a subdued feeling for both the 
death row inmates and the staff. He praised ADC Director Wendy Kelley for 
bringing "sensitivity" to the row.

"I am a fan of the department. I've worked for them for years. They are not the 
cause of this; they just have to carry it out," he said.

It is unlawful to execute death row inmates who are or have become mentally 
ill. Msgr. Harris said it would be wrong to execute someone immediately after 
receiving a death sentence, but after 20 years, if the opposite is true, a man 
changing from disturbed to "stronger and more spiritual," there is no reason to 
execute.

"If you leave a man in prison for 20 years and he's no longer the same man who 
committed the crime, do you really have a right to kill him?"

(source: arkansas-catholic.org)






WASHINGTON:

End costly limbo and repeal the death penalty----The state Supreme Court again 
passed on a chance to overturn the death penalty. It is up to the Legislature - 
if it has the courage to put it to a vote.


The death penalty in Washington is like a zombie, not alive or dead, yet 
continuing to eat its way through precious resources in the criminal-justice 
system.

Capital punishment is effectively dead as long as Gov. Jay Inslee is in office, 
if he stays true to his word. Yet capital punishment is still alive on the 
books - so exhaustive, expensive appeals of death sentences continue to lurch 
on. On Thursday, the state Supreme Court, by an 8-1 margin, turned down an 
appeal by death-row inmate Cecil Davis, who argued state law is 
unconstitutional because it does not sufficiently protect against executing a 
developmentally-disabled defendant.

The Supreme Court also passed on a chance to rule the death penalty itself 
unconstitutional, as they have repeatedly. So eight men remain on an expensive 
death row at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla, their sentences 
in a limbo that gives no peace to victims' families.

The zombie status of capital punishment also gives no reprieve to prosecutors, 
who must continue deciding whether to pursue the death penalty that may not be 
carried out. It remained on the table for the alleged Burlington mall shooter 
Arcan Cetin, but he died by suicide in jail before prosecutors announced a 
charging decision. In many more recent cases, prosecutors declined - perhaps 
influenced by the legal uncertainty, the apparent reluctance of some juries and 
the extra $1 million or more that a death-penalty sentence adds to a murder 
case.

The Seattle Times editorial board supports repeal of the death penalty because 
it is an overly expensive, ineffective and immoral sentence. Civil society must 
not kill its own.

Ending the death penalty can take 2 paths. The state Legislature has blocked 
both.

In a bold act, the state's 39 county prosecuting attorneys asked the 
Legislature to put the question of the death penalty on the ballot. Lawmakers 
did not act.

The Legislature also has failed to act for decades on repeal bills. This year, 
Sen. Mike Padden, R-Spokane, chair of Senate Judiciary Committee and a 
proponent of the death penalty, said he would consider holding a hearing on a 
repeal bill - something he has not done before - if the Democrat-led House acts 
first. He didn't promise he'd allow a vote, however.

House Judiciary Chair Laurie Jinkins, D-Tacoma, declined to hold a vote in her 
committee, arguing there was no point if Padden remained a roadblock.

That was a mistake, one that should not be repeated next year. According to 
advocates for repeal, there are enough bipartisan votes in the House to pass an 
abolition bill. This year, former Attorney General Rob McKenna, a Republican, 
joined the call for repeal. At least 2 Republican senators, Mark Miloscia of 
Federal Way and Maureen Walsh of Walla Walla, also publicly support repeal.

Attorney General Bob Ferguson, a proponent of repeal, argues that a vote in the 
House could embolden previously unknown support among lawmakers. "You don't 
know that reaction if you don???t take a vote," said Ferguson in February, 
after Jinkins declined to hold a vote. "Right now, they have it easy. They 
point fingers at each other. It's very frustrating."

The state Supreme Court won't end this zombie criminal policy, as they showed 
again last week. The public wants bold leadership on important issues. A path 
to repeal is through the Legislature, either this year or next - if they have 
the courage to act.

(source: Seattle Times; Editorial board members are editorial page editor Kate 
Riley, Frank A. Blethen, Donna Gordon Blankinship, Brier Dudley, Mark Higgins, 
Jonathan Martin, William K. Blethen (emeritus) and Robert C. Blethen 
(emeritus).