[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----PENN., KY.

[Rick Halperin]

July 8




PENNSYLVANIA:

Harold Wilson, Kirk Bloodsworth and Ray Krone: We are proof that mistakes 
happen in death penalty cases



"An unavoidable fact of capital punishment is that as long as it exists, it 
remains possible that an innocent person will be executed. Pennsylvania is not 
exempt from this."

This statement is taken directly from a report released June 25 by 
Pennsylvania's bipartisan Joint State Government Commission. As 3 men who were 
all sentenced to die for crimes we didn't commit, we know this statement to be 
frighteningly true.

We all have deep connections to this state. 1 of us was wrongfully convicted 
here, 2 of us were raised here, and 2 of us currently live here. But we all 
share 1 thing in common: We know the deeply painful experience of being 
wrongfully convicted and sentenced to die for crimes we didn't commit. 
Collectively, we spent 35 years on death row before being exonerated.

Unfortunately our stories are not isolated, nor are they rare. There at least 
162 men and women who have been released from death row nationwide due to 
wrongful convictions, and 6 of those cases are from Pennsylvania. Our cases 
suffered from many of the usual causes of wrongful conviction: mistaken 
eyewitness identification, official misconduct, and false or misleading 
forensic evidence. We were also fortunate that DNA testing played a role in 
helping to exonerate all 3 of us.

One of our greatest concerns about Pennsylvania's capital punishment system is 
the lack of state funding for the defense of men and women who are facing 
execution, which is discussed at great length in the report. Research has shown 
that ineffective lawyering is one of the prominent causes of wrongful 
conviction. The report noted that defense lawyers in this state often failed to 
meet professional standards, and the subcommittee called for the creation of a 
statewide capital defender office funded by the commonwealth.

The commission report also notes, "In 2014, a report published in the 
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences concluded that 4.1% of 
individuals convicted and sentenced to death in the U.S. were wrongfully 
convicted during the time period from 1973-2004. The authors note that this is 
a 'conservative estimate' of the proportion of wrongful capital convictions, 
and that the real proportion may be higher." This translates to approximately 1 
out of every 24 prisoners currently on death row nationwide.

Despite the fact that the report offers many valuable reforms that could 
improve the accuracy and fairness of the capital punishment system in 
Pennsylvania, we are acutely aware that there is no way to completely eliminate 
the risk of executing innocent people.

Our system of justice is administered by human beings - judges, prosecutors, 
defense lawyers, experts, members of law enforcement, and jurors - who make 
mistakes despite their best efforts and intentions.

Therefore, we must ask ourselves: Is the death penalty worth the risk? 
Especially when Pennsylvania offers the alternative of life in prison without 
the possibility of parole, a harsh punishment which is essentially another type 
of death sentence, but one which allows for mistakes to be corrected if new 
evidence is discovered? The commission also found that life without parole 
sentences are significantly less expensive for taxpayers than death sentences.

Our fellow citizens and lawmakers have a choice to make. They must decide if 
the death penalty is worth the human and financial costs, knowing that some 
innocent men and women will inevitably be executed.

As men who narrowly escaped this unthinkable fate, we believe the time has come 
to end capital punishment. As one of our fellow exonerees always says, "You can 
release an innocent man from prison, but you can't release him from the grave."

Harold Wilson, Kirk Bloodsworth and Ray Krone are members of Philadelphia-based 
Witness to Innocence, an organization for exonerated death row survivors to 
advocate for an end to the death penalty.

(source: The Morning Call)








KENTUCKY:

Lawmakers hear pros and cons on death penalty in Kentucky at legislative 
committee meeting



Kentucky's use of the death penalty, including comments from proponents and 
opponents, was the topic of a legislative committee meeting Friday.

Since 1976, Kentucky has executed 3 death row inmates, 2 of whom waived their 
appeals, according to Andrew English, general counsel for the Justice Cabinet. 
"Since 2010, we were under an injunction by the courts to cease all executions 
and cease all progress toward executions in the commonwealth."

English told the General Assembly's Interim Joint Committee on Judiciary that 
the Department of Corrections attempted in 2012 to "rewrite the regulations to 
achieve conformity with the court rulings.

"There's an ever-evolving change in the landscape when it comes to federal and 
state courts, with the death penalty."

He testified they are changing their execution protocol to deal with such 
issues as more access to legal counsel for defendants, changing the drug 
cocktail used for executions from 2 drugs to 1, as well as the mental 
capacities of inmates, in light of a June ruling by the Kentucky Supreme Court 
in the case of condemned killer Robert Keith Woodall, who is intellectually 
disabled.

Although the courts will have the last word, English said, "I feel comfortable 
that the new regulation addresses concerns in the Woodall case. We don't have a 
strict line set on mental capacity. There's going to be a review of mental 
capacity that takes place. I think that is something ultimately will affect 
things more at the trial court level than with appellate courts."

He also told the panel that of the 31 inmates on Kentucky's death row, only 1 
is a woman, and the average time on death row stands at 24.5 years.

Committee members also heard from prosecutors, including Brian Wright, 
Commonwealth's Attorney for Adair and Casey counties. He described for 
lawmakers the process he uses to determine in which cases he would seek the 
death penalty.

"Number 1, the nature of the offense, but a close second would be the 
defendant's criminal history. The type of defendant you're dealing with, for 
example, if he has any mental health issues."

Wright says he has avoided other death penalty cases by allowing the accused to 
plead guilty to a lesser offense, with those receiving a sentence of life 
without parole, or life without parole for 25 years.

"We also factor into it input from law enforcement and the victim's family," 
Wright said. "I think it's very important the victim's family have a voice in 
any prosecution."

Chris Cohron, the Commonwealth's Attorney for Warren County, said seeking the 
death penalty in a case is a decision not taken lightly.

"When I was first elected Commonwealth's Attorney, I remember thinking, 'God 
help me if I ever have to make the decision whether or not to file that notice 
of intent to seek the death penalty.' It was a few months later that, for the 
1st time in my career, I had to make that decision."

Opponents of the death penalty also spoke, including Rep. Jason Nemes, 
R-Louisville, a member of the judiciary committee.

He said there is no more important issue. "Every life, from the 1st heartbeat 
to natural death, is worthy of protection, and the only reason it is 
justifiable to take a life is to protect another," Nemes said. "Life without 
parole, which is relatively new in Kentucky, I think satisfies that need."

"We don't believe the government can adequately fill potholes. And if we don't 
believe the government can do that perfectly, then why should we give it the 
power to do that which is irreversible? In Kentucky, we've had 49 out of 97 
convictions reversed. Not all of them on direct appeal. Since the death penalty 
was reinstituted in 1976 by the United State Supreme Court, there have been 156 
exonerations. Exonerations of a man who was sentenced to die by the hands of 
the government."

Nemes said, "Kentucky should get out of the business of killing its citizens 
unless they are a danger to other people. We should end the death penalty in 
Kentucky, and it can't come soon enough."

Rep. John Blanton, R-Salyersville and a retired Kentucky State Police officer, 
responded to comments made by death penalty opponents who said it costs more to 
prosecute and deal with appeals in death penalty cases than a life without 
parole sentence.

Blanton said: "When we use money as a reason to justify ending the death 
penalty, we've reached a new low. We have a reason for the death penalty. Let's 
speed up the process."

(source: Northern Kentucky Tribune)