[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OKLA., UTAH, NEV., USA

[Rick Halperin]

July 20



OKLAHOMA:

Oklahoma Could Execute Potentially Innocent Prisoners With Nitrogen Gas



Oklahoma has a notorious reputation for its frequent use of the death penalty 
and for the excruciating and drawn-out deaths that numerous executions have 
resulted in there, leading to a suspension of the practice since October 2015.

Oklahoma was the 1st jurisdiction in the world to adopt lethal injection as a 
form of execution. The United States Supreme Court ruled the death penalty, as 
it was implemented at the time in 1972, was unconstitutional, though left the 
death penalty open to new legislation to allow it to continue. In the wake of 
the ruling, Oklahoma and other states began legislative processes to reinstate 
the death penalty, which passed overwhelmingly in the Oklahoma state 
legislature in 1976.

Republican State Rep. Bill Wiseman voted in favor of re-enacting the death 
penalty at the time due to political pressure, though he staunchly opposed it 
as a form of capital punishment. Wiseman helped develop a bill in 1977 to 
establish lethal injection in hopes of making the death penalty "more humane" 
than electrocution. In interviews preceding his death in 2007, Wiseman 
expressed profound regret for the bill, which wound up facilitating the death 
penalty in the state rather than mitigating its impact.

Since 1976, Oklahoma has had the third-highest number of executed prisoners at 
112 individuals, and the highest rate of state executions in the country. 
Meanwhile, 10 prisoners on Oklahoma's death row have been exonerated of all 
charges against them.

The state's death penalty system has come under scrutiny in the past several 
years, not only for its frequent use, but for a flawed system that led to the 
horrific lethal injections of Clayton Lockett and Charles Warner that caused 
the prisoners to endure a heart attack and excruciating pain for 43 and 18 
minutes before death, respectively, in 2015. The issues pushed the state of 
Oklahoma to issue a moratorium on its executions in October 2015 until the 
issues were fixed. An April 2017 report published by the Oklahoma Death Penalty 
Review Commission recommended the moratorium continue and noted "[m]any of the 
findings of the Commission's year-long investigation were disturbing and led 
Commission members to question whether the death penalty can be administered in 
a way that ensures no innocent person is put to death."

In March 2018, the state of Oklahoma announced nitrogen gas will be used to 
execute prisoners once the death penalty moratorium is lifted after months of 
failing to obtain lethal injection drugs. The moratorium still continues to 
this day as prevailing issues with the death penalty remain.

"Our Office and the Oklahoma Department of Corrections notified the Governor's 
office that Corrections was unable to obtain drugs and the state would be 
moving forward with a protocol or Nitrogen Hypoxia," said Terri Watkins, 
director of communications for the Oklahoma attorney general, in an email to 
Truthout. "The Oklahoma Department of Corrections is in charge of writing the 
protocol for executions. That process is underway, but you will need to check 
with them on the status." The Oklahoma Department of Corrections declined to 
comment.

Prisoners Scheduled to Die Could Be Innocent

Several prisoners on death row in Oklahoma have produced substantive cases in 
favor of their innocence. Richard Glossip was being prepped for execution days 
before the moratorium on executions was implemented, but the state of Oklahoma 
could not obtain the lethal injection drugs to carry out killing him before the 
moratorium went into effect.

Over the past several years, attorneys representing Glossip have worked to 
collect evidence to prove his innocence. "From a procedural standpoint, 
everything is at a standstill," said Don Knight, an attorney representing 
Glossip, in an interview with Truthout. "Once the Oklahoma Department of 
Corrections develops a protocol, then they have to give notice and at that 
point in time all the prisoners on death row represented by the federal 
[public] defender's office will challenge the constitutionality of this 
nitrogen gas protocol, so I think it will take this matter quite a while until 
they begin to execute again."

Glossip was convicted and sentenced to death in 1997 for allegedly hiring 
19-year-old Justin Sneed to murder Barry Van Treese, Glossip's boss and owner 
of the motel he managed at the time. The entire case relies on Sneed's 
testimony. In exchange for his testimony, Sneed was spared the death penalty 
and sentenced to life in prison. He is currently serving his sentence in a 
medium security prison.

"The best evidence the state has against Richard Glossip is the testimony from 
Justin Sneed," attorney Knight told Truthout. "This is a guy you would never 
trust in anything, but his testimony is what put Glossip on death row. It's a 
travesty."

Among the issues with Sneed's testimony is how it changed over time, and in 
2017, Glossip's attorneys found a witness, Justin Tapley, who shared a cell 
with Sneed and explained that Sneed bragged about setting Glossip up. Another 
former fellow prisoner with Sneed, Michael Scott, gave sworn testimony that 
Sneed discussed the murder in detail and affirmed he acted alone in the crime. 
A 3rd witness, another former cellmate of Sneed, Roger Lee Ramsey, told 
attorneys that Sneed told him about the murder plot, which involved a woman, 
but made no mention of Glossip.

Medical examiner Chai Choi also testified in Glossip's trial that Van Treese 
slowly bled to death over an 8-hour period, signaling to jurors that Glossip 
could have saved Van Treese. This testimony was in direct contradiction to the 
autopsy report, which concluded Van Treese died within minutes of the attack.

Another prisoner, Julius Jones, was convicted and sentenced to death in 1999 
under similar circumstances. The then-19-year-old freshman at University of 
Oklahoma was convicted of murdering 45-year-old insurance executive Paul Scott 
Howell. Jones's co-defendant in the case, Chris Jordan, testified against him 
in exchange for a 30-years-to-life sentence, which was subsequently reduced to 
15 years. Jordan was released from prison in 2014, and his testimony was the 
basis for convicting Jones.

Attorneys for Jones have argued racism played a significant role in his 
conviction. In 2017, during interviews with jurors from Jones's trial, 1 juror 
told Jones's attorneys, "During the trial I was the juror who went to the judge 
with the comment from another juror about how it was a waste of time and 'they 
should just take the n***** out and shoot him behind the jail' although that 
juror was never removed and nothing further came from it." A study published in 
2017 found "the probability of a death sentence for a nonwhite defendant 
charged with killing a white victim (5.8%) was more than triple the probability 
of a death sentence for a white defendant charged with killing a non-white 
victim (1.8%)."

"Julius has always maintained his innocence,' said Dale Baich, assistant 
federal public defender currently representing Jones. "What we've learned is 
the police relied on confidential informants and allowed tunnel vision to set 
in during their investigation."

The only eye witness to the crime, the victim's sister, described the assailant 
as a Black man wearing a dark stocking cap, with a half-inch of hair sticking 
out and a red bandana across his face. Jones's attorneys noted his hair was 
nearly clean shaven at the time, and the description fits Jordan.

Jones has exhausted his appeals and his attorneys are currently pushing for 
clemency proceedings and the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals to consider new 
evidence based on the jurors' testimony in regard to racial bias of at least 
one juror. Jones's attorneys are also in the process to find out if the red 
banana worn by the assailant in evidence can be tested for DNA.

"The race issue is really significant," added Baich. "The study documents 
systemic racism and we have identified racist statements made by at least 1 
juror who voted to sentence Julius Jones to death. He was an academic scholar 
in high school, a star athlete with no history of violent crimes. It sure seems 
to me like he was set up to take the fall in this case."

Public Still Favors Death Penalty

A significant hurdle for attorneys representing death row prisoners and death 
penalty abolitionists in Oklahoma is public opinion in the state still 
overwhelmingly supports the death penalty. In 2016, voters in Oklahoma approved 
an amendment to protect the death penalty in the state with 66.36 % of voters 
in favor.

"We moved the needle from being viewed as an issue that would be overwhelmingly 
approved by at least 75 % of Oklahoma's voters to it only being approved by 
66.36 % of the voters," Connie Johnson, who served as chair of the Oklahoma 
Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty during the vote, told Truthout. "We lost 
that race, but we moved the needle, literally and figuratively. The fact that 
it was expected to pass by 75 % but only got 66.36 % is indicative of what a 
little education can do."

She cited a variety of factors in favor of abolishing the death penalty, from 
the number of prisoners on death row who have been exonerated, the high 
economic costs of enacting the death penalty, and the discrimination the death 
penalty is based on. "If you live in an urban area, you're more likely to get 
the death penalty than if you live in a rural area. If you're poor, you're more 
likely to get the death penalty," she said. "Then for me, ultimately, as a 
family member of a murder victim, the reality that the death penalty takes away 
the opportunity of forgiveness. As a Christian, that was the only way that I 
was able to overcome my brother's murder ... by forgiving the guy."

(source: truthout.org)

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

Death row inmate's legal team hopes DNA testing on key piece of evidence will 
exonerate him before execution



Time moves slowly for 37-year-old Julius Jones as he sits and waits on death 
row in Oklahoma.

Each day for the past 19 years, Jones moves closer to being executed for a 
murder many believe he did not commit. Now, a key piece of evidence that was 
never tested before could give Jones a shot at freedom.

"We think Julius was wrongfully convicted, and that Oklahoma is at risk of 
executing an innocent man," Jones' attorney Amanda Bass told "Nightline."

Jones was 19 years old when he was arrested and at the time, prison seemed like 
an unlikely place to find him.

"It was just an ordinary night," Jones said. "I really didn't have any idea how 
my life could change."

He was a champion high school basketball player, beloved by his teachers and a 
star student.

"We were the only 2 African-American males to graduate in the top 10 % of our 
class," said Jones??? friend Jimmy Lawson. "Julius attended the University of 
Oklahoma on an academic scholarship as well, which was big time."

Jones' case is the focus of a new ABC docu-series called "The Last Defense," 
from Oscar-winning actress turned executive producer Viola Davis. "The Last 
Defense" finale airs on Tuesday, July 24 at 10 p.m. on ABC.

Jones now has a new legal team composed of Bass and Dale Baich.

His story begins on a summer night in 1999 when gunshots rang out in a quiet 
neighborhood in Edmond, Oklahoma, a wealthy suburb of Oklahoma City. Paul 
Howell, 45, had been shot and killed during a carjacking of his GMC suburban.

Jones' attorneys said 2 shell casings were found at the scene and the victim's 
sister, Megan Tobey, was the only eyewitness.

"Megan Tobey described the shooter as a young, black man wearing a red bandana, 
a white shirt and a stocking cap or a skullcap. She was not able to identify 
the shooter's face because it was covered," Bass said.

2 days after the shooting, Jones' attorneys said police found Howell's car 
parked at a grocery store on the southside of Oklahoma City. The store was just 
a few blocks away from a chop shop where police learned Ladell King had offered 
to sell a suburban.

"He told police that on the night of the crime, a guy named Chris Jordan comes 
to his apartment," Baich told "Nightline". "A few minutes later, according to 
Ladell King, Julius Jones drives up."

King was well known to local police, according to retired Edmond Police Det. 
Dennis Dill, who said King "was involved in car thefts all around the metro 
area. He had been doing that for years."

Jordan and Jones were high school acquaintances. Jordan was a suspected gang 
member and Jones, by then a college student, had recently been in some trouble 
of his own.

"My 1st year at school, being young, just wanting to have money. I got into 
shoplifting," Jones said. "I stole pagers, I stole things that I could sell."

"Wrong is wrong. I shouldn't have done it, and I'm not trying to hide it from 
anybody that I've broken the law. I have. But, just because I broke the law 
does not make me a murderer," said Jones. During King's interrogation, he told 
detectives that the 2 young men asked him to help them sell a stolen suburban.

"I'm just a middle man relaying a message. From this guy to that guy," King 
told police.

But, King said, he told them that the attention around the Howell case made it 
too risky to sell the car for parts. When he went home later, King said he told 
detectives he turned on the local news and saw a story about the killing that 
included a photo of Howell's suburban. "That [car] is what Julius got out of," 
King told police.

"I seen Julius driving a gold Suburban," King said during interrogation. "I 
remember something about him. He had a red bandana around his neck. He had a 
stocking cap on."

King also accused Jordan of being the driver.

Jordan was arrested and charged with felony murder, claiming he and Jones were 
out looking for suburbans to steal, but said it was Jones who pulled the 
trigger when they carjacked Howell. Jones has long maintained he never killed 
Howell.

"These people set me up to take the fall because they knew somebody was going 
to fry for this," Jones said.

"Both Ladell King and Christopher Jordan were directing the police's attention 
to the home of Julius Jones' parents as a place that would have incriminating 
items of evidence," Amanda Bass said. "Chris Jordan was in the back of a police 
vehicle talking to detectives who were telling people inside the home where to 
potentially look."

Inside Jones' parents' home, police found a gun wrapped in a red bandana tucked 
inside an upstairs crawl space.

Jones' attorneys said the evidence police found could have been planted by 
Jordan the night after the murder.

"Chris Jordan... [told police during interrogation] that the next day [after 
the killing], he had spent the night at Julius' parents' home," said Bass.

The night that Jordan stayed over, Jones said Jordan had told him he was locked 
out of his grandmother's house and needed a place to crash. He had never spent 
the night before that, Jones said.

"Julius slept on the downstairs couch, meanwhile Chris slept in the upstairs 
bedroom," Bass said. That bedroom is where police found the gun and the 
bandana.

Jordan denied this during trial.

Investigators built a case against Jones using statements from King and Jordan, 
as well as the gun and bandana being found inside his home. Jones was arrested 
and charged with capital murder.

Shortly after Jones' arrest, the late prosecutor Bob Macy held a press 
conference announcing he would be seeking the death penalty.

"The prosecutor in this case, Macy, had been responsible for sending 54 people 
to death row. Well half of those convictions were overturned later," said 
Vanessa Potkin, one of the Executive Producers of The Last Defense and an 
attorney with The Innocence Project. "And 3 of the people that Macy sent to 
death row were later exonerated."

"Unfortunately in our criminal justice system," she continued, "the 1st person 
to be interrogated and to talk to the police who tells the police the story can 
be the one who gets the deal."

At trial, Jones' defense team was inexperienced and overwhelmed. First, the 
victim's sister said the killer's hair stuck out an inch from underneath the 
stocking cap and Jones' hair was closely cut.

"We actually have a photo of him the week before and then immediately after 
arrest is that his hair was incredibly short," attorney and Executive Producer 
Aida Leisenring told "Nightline."

"Unfortunately his defense team never submitted a photograph of a week prior of 
Julius Jones."

Jordan, meanwhile, wore his hair in cornrows that stuck out at the sides, Bass 
said.

Jones' lawyers also point out that the jury was not made aware that Ladell King 
was facing felony charges in an unrelated case until after his damaging 
testimony against Jones.

"Ladell King was facing a minimum of 20 years on a check fraud matter because 
he had three strikes," Leisenring said. "He was required to serve at least 20 
years and in fact, it was dismissed entirely... So they had every motive and 
incentive to lie and the jury didn't get to hear all of that evidence."

Jones' legal team is convinced that there is no objective reliable evidence 
that points to Jones being the murderer, Leisenring said.

Jordan was sentenced to 30 years to life for being Jones' accomplice. He served 
15 years and was released from prison in 2014. Jones was convicted of 
1st-degree murder and sentenced to death.

In a startling twist, producers on "The Last Defense" recently tracked down one 
of the original jurors on the case, who told them a disturbing story about 
racial bias in the deliberation room.

"I was a juror on the case," this juror explains during 1 episode. "And this 
thing has weighed on me for a long time. What happened was, several of us from 
the jury were getting on an elevator. This was well before deliberations. And 
one of the jurors said, 'Well, they should just take that n----- out back, 
shoot him and bury him under the jail. It didn't matter what happened, this was 
a black man that was on trial for murder. He did it.'"

This juror said she told the judge about the racial comments the following day, 
but nothing happened. Recently, an appeals court judge rejected the claim.

Since his conviction, Jones' legal team has filed several motions for appeals. 
In October 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review his appeal, as well 
as the appeal for 2 other Oklahoma death row inmates, which made Jones eligible 
for execution when Oklahoma resumes state killings later this year, according 
to the Oklahoma City-based newspaper, The City Sentinel.

Julius Jones' only hope of exoneration now is the argument from his legal team 
that the red bandana, found inside his house, was never tested for DNA.

"The district attorney agreed to DNA testing," Bass said. "They agreed to test 
the red bandana and we are hoping there's something there that can identify who 
the real shooter was."

If the results come back and show a DNA profile for Jordan, then it should 
exonerate Jones, Leisenring said.

"Justice would be an exoneration but you can't get those 20 years back," she 
said. "So justice is bittersweet."

"What happened to Mr. Howell and his family is terrible. It's very tragic," 
Jones said. "But justice has not been served. Because the person who took his 
life is walking the streets. I want a new trial, I want a chance to show a jury 
why I'm innocent."

(source: ABC News)








UTAH:

Attorney contract issues push back hearing for Ogden death penalty case



A couple accused of killing their 3-year-old child appeared in court Thursday 
for the 1st time since prosecutors filed their intent to seek the death penalty 
against them.

Miller Costello, 26, and Brenda Emile, 23, appeared in court but didn't say 
much, as most of the chatter was between attorneys.

Defense attorneys asked to continue the hearing so they could sort out the 
issue of contracts with the state. One attorney stated that the typical 
contracts for public defenders do not extend into capital cases unless the 
state approves a new agreement.

Judge Michael DiReda agreed and continued the hearing to another date.

DiReda also suggested that prosecutors move quickly toward securing a 
mitigation expert that will meticulously comb through the case.

No trial dates were set during the Thursday morning hearing, but the court will 
discuss scheduling when they meet for their next hearing on Aug. 13 in Ogden.

On July 6, 2017, police responded to a 911 call about a 3-year-old who was 
unconscious and not breathing.

The 2 were arrested and charged with aggravated murder just days after the 
severely malnourished child was found with injuries to her head, chest, wrists, 
legs and a "piece missing" from her nose, according to an Ogden Police 
detective.

Her injuries ranged from brain hemorrhages to cigarette burns, according to the 
medical examiner.

(source: Standard-Examiner)








NEVADA:

Nevada's path forward unclear after twice-delayed execution



Nevada twice has come close to carrying out its 1st execution in 12 years. And 
twice it failed.

Condemned killer Scott Raymond Dozier says he wants to die, but the state has 
no clear path forward after courts blocked it from using a never-tried 
combination of drugs that it created after struggling to get lethal injection 
supplies.

The delays are raising questions about whether Nevada can overcome legal 
hurdles to execute its first inmate since 2006 and whether the political will 
exists to find a way to carry out capital punishment at all.

States, including Nevada, have increasingly run up against pharmaceutical 
companies who don't want their products used in executions, with states like 
Texas, Georgia and Virginia changing laws to shield information about the drugs 
they use and others coming up with backup methods such as gas chambers and 
firing squads.

In an election year, few Nevada politicians are talking about possible changes 
to keep the death penalty viable while the state faces a court battle that's 
expected to be lengthy.

"It will be quite a while before Scott Dozier is going to face an execution 
day," said Deborah Denno, an expert in capital punishment law at Fordham 
University in New York.

Hours before Dozier was to die July 11, a judge blocked use of the sedative 
midazolam until at least September after drugmaker Alvogen sued. The state was 
expected to appeal the postponement to the Nevada Supreme Court.

Nevada's 3-drug plan would follow the sedative with fentanyl, the potent 
synthetic opioid that's fueling overdose deaths nationwide, and a muscle 
paralytic called cisatracurium. Neither has been used in an execution, and 
critics have raised concerns Dozier could be conscious, unable to move and 
suffocating.

Dozier, a 47-year-old twice-convicted murderer who insists he doesn't care if 
his death is painful, had his execution previously delayed in November.

If the courts block it again, Nevada could try to get drugs from a 
made-to-order compounding pharmacy. Texas and Georgia both use such pharmacies 
and have passed laws shielding the facilities' identities.

Nevada could try to obtain a compounded drug from Texas, like Virginia did in 
2015 before passing a law allowing prisons to use a secret compounding 
pharmacy.

But the made-to-order drugs can be expensive, and "Nevada may not want to make 
that kind of investment," Denno said.

Dr. Jonathan Groner, a lethal injection expert and surgeon who teaches at Ohio 
State University, said there is no shortage of drugs that can kill people, "but 
each has problems and will cause endless litigation."

"My guess is that most of the 79 death row inmates in Nevada will die of old 
age and not at the state's hands," Groner said.

Nevada law calls for capital punishment by lethal injection, so state officials 
would have to approve changes - and perhaps build new facilities - to switch to 
a different method.

It might consider joining Alabama, Mississippi, Ohio, and Oklahoma in a 
yet-to-be-employed method using nitrogen gas, Denno said. It asphyxiates a 
person in an airtight chamber through a lack of oxygen.

Nevada's new death chamber is not airtight, prisons spokeswoman Brooke Santina 
said.

There also are firing squads, the method Utah decided in 2015 to use as a 
backup if lethal injection drugs can't be found.

Nevada lawmakers and Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval have not called for changes 
to ensure executions can be carried out. Sandoval is term-limited, and his 
spokeswoman, Mary-Sarah Kinner, said he believes any change should come from 
the Legislature and next governor, who will be elected in 4 months.

Key candidates who could influence executions spoke in generalities or not at 
all about the future of the death penalty.

State Attorney General Adam Laxalt, a Republican running for governor who 
supports capital punishment, declined to comment. Democratic gubernatorial 
candidate Steve Sisolak supports the death penalty "in extreme cases" and has 
not called for laws to be changed.

The top 2 contenders for attorney general, Republican Wes Duncan and Democrat 
Aaron Ford, support the death penalty.

Duncan said he couldn't comment on Dozier's case because he may handle it if 
elected. He said he would be open to "alternate constitutional means of 
execution, including different drug cocktails."

Democratic state lawmaker James Ohrenschall has called in the past for ending 
the death penalty as "costly, unfair and ineffective." He said he hasn't 
decided if he will try again when the Legislature meets next year.

Michael Green, a history professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said 
the death penalty is a question the state faces about links between its past 
and future.

"Is the death penalty a remnant of our 'Old West' past? Or is it something that 
a more modern Nevada should keep or get rid of?" Green said.

Kent Scheidegger at the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, a California-based 
pro-death penalty group, blamed the Dozier delays on a public pressure campaign 
to starve states of the ability to enforce a punishment that many Americans 
favor for the worst murderers.

Dozier's case "exposes Nevada's death penalty as a costly exercise in 
futility," said Scott Coffee, a deputy public defender in Las Vegas who has 
lobbied the Legislature for years to get rid of the death penalty.

"Even when someone is begging to be executed," Coffee said, "we don't really 
have means to carry it out."

(source: Associated Press)








USA:

Bay Area U.S. Attorney considers rare death penalty charges against Louisiana 
man



The U.S. Attorney's office is considering whether to seek the death penalty 
against an alleged marijuana trafficker accused of at least 2 murder 
conspiracies.

Marcus Etienne, of Louisiana, currently faces murder conspiracy charges along 
with his ex-wife, Elizabeth Gobert, and 2 others, Craig Marshall and Mario 
Robinson. But Northern California District Acting U.S. Attorney Alex Tse has 
indicated in court records his office may soon bring additional charges and 
seek the death penalty.

Abraham Simmons, a spokesman for the Northern California U.S. Attorney's 
Office, said prosecutors are still considering weather to pursue a death 
sentence. A final decision must be made by Aug. 10, according to court records.

Etienne, who federal prosecutors claim goes by the nickname "Hitler," allegedly 
directed a marijuana trafficking ring that moved multi-pound shipments of 
Mendocino County cannabis to Louisiana. A center point of the ring was a 
daycare center in Louisiana, but the couple also made trips to California, 
prosecutors allege.

In March 2016, Etienne allegedly directed others, including Marshall and 
Robinson, to kill a man named Trince Thibodeaux for failing to pay for all of 
the marijuana Etienne advanced him. Federal prosecutors allege Marshall and 
Robinson were present when Thibodeaux was gunned down in Oakland, but cannot 
say who the shooter was, according to court records.

Then, in early 2017 - after Etienne and Gobert were arrested on federal charges 
of trafficking more than 200 pounds of marijuana across state lines - 
prosecutors allege the pair conspired to kill Robinson and discussed the plot 
in phone calls.

In August 2017, months after Etienne and Gobert were first charged with 
marijuana trafficking, they were hit with a superseding federal indictment, 
along with Marshall and Robinson. The charges included racketeering and murder 
in connection with continuing a criminal enterprise.

Federal death sentences are rare, and a federal execution has not happened 
since 2003, when Louis Jones Jr., a onetime respected Gulf War veteran, was 
executed for murdering 19-year-old Pvt. Tracie Joy McBride. 2 years before 
that, Oklahoma City bomber Timothy J. McVeigh and Juan Garza - convicted of 
murdering 3 people as part of a marijuana trafficking ring - became the 1st 2 
federal executions in nearly 40 years.

Currently, 63 people sit on federal death row, according to the Death Penalty 
Information Center, a nonprofit that stores data on the death penalty. The only 
2 from California are co-defendants Iouri Mikhel and Jurijus Kadamovas, 
convicted in 2007 of killing 5 people in a kidnapping-for-ransom plot.

Most recently, a federal jury in Utah sentenced 2 members of an Aryan prison 
gang to death in federal court last month, for orchestrating a murder inside 
prison.

(source: Mercury News)