[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TENN., MO., NEB., IDAHO

[Rick Halperin]

Nov. 21




TENNESSEE----impending execution

Tennessee gives next death row inmate more time to decide how he wants to die



The state says it will extend the deadline for Tennessee's next death row 
inmate to tell prison officials how he would like the state to execute him.

David Earl Miller previously had until Tuesday to tell prison officials whether 
he’d prefer the state's default method of execution by lethal injection, or the 
alternative of the electric chair.

In a federal court filing late Tuesday, Tennessee says it will now give Miller 
until 5 p.m. Monday to make his decision, 10 days before his scheduled 
execution date of December 6.

Edmund Zagorski, Tennessee's latest death row inmate to be executed, was the 
1st inmate in Tennessee to choose the electric chair since 2007, amid concerns 
surrounding the chemicals Tennessee uses during lethal injection.

The announcement comes as legal filings in several courts are beginning to ramp 
up, as is typical in the days before a scheduled execution.

Tuesday, a federal judge in Nashville denied a request from Miller's attorney 
Stephen Kissinger to reconsider delaying Miller's execution. That denial has 
been appealed to the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Earlier this week, the U.S. Supreme Court denied issuing a stay of execution 
for Miller based on arguments he had ineffective lawyers during his trial - an 
argument Zagorski's attorneys also made in the days before his death sentence 
was carried out.

Miller's attorneys have also appealed a previous Tennessee Supreme Court ruling 
about the legality of the state's 3-drug lethal injection protocol to the U.S. 
Supreme Court. Miller's attorneys are asking for the high court to pause 
Miller's execution until it decides another death penalty case involving a 
death row inmate in Missouri that it heard arguments in earlier this month.

The U.S. Supreme Court has not yet decided to stop a scheduled execution in 
Tennessee since the Tennessee Department of Correction resumed them this year 
following a 9-year hiatus.

(source: WTVF news)

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

Tenn. death row inmate asks Supreme Court to halt execution----David Earl 
Miller's attorneys argue the court needs to give guidance on what inmates must 
do to establish that a more humane method of execution is available



A Tennessee death row inmate is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to halt his 
execution, at least until it clarifies a point of law.

In an application filed Tuesday, David Earl Miller's attorneys argue the 
Supreme Court needs to give guidance to lower courts on what inmates must do to 
establish that a more humane method of execution is available.

Miller faces death either by electrocution or a three-drug lethal injection mix 
that uses the controversial drug midazolam.

Miller and others earlier argued a single dose of pentobarbital would be more 
humane. That case was thrown out by Tennessee courts that ruled the inmates 
failed to prove prison officials could obtain the alternative drug.

Miller is scheduled to die Dec. 6 for the 1981 murder of Lee Standifer.

(source: correctionsone.com)








MISSOURI:

Missouri Supreme Court upholds death sentence in case that’s been litigated for 
decades



The Missouri Supreme Court in Jefferson City has upheld the death sentence for 
a man whose case has bounced up and down through the state's court system for 
20 years.

In its 4th time considering the case of Terrance Anderson from southeast 
Missouri's Poplar Bluff, the high bench backed up a lower court's rejection of 
claims made by Anderson's attorney.

The Supreme Court's unanimous decision was written by Judge George W. Draper 
III. Anderson was convicted in 2001 for the 1997 killing of his ex-girlfriend's 
parents and was sentenced to death for murdering the mother.

In its decision handed down Tuesday, the Supreme Court dismissed contentions 
from Anderson's attorney that his previous trial lawyers were ineffective for 
failing to call witnesses, for failing to object more quickly to questions 
during cross-examination, and for not objecting to the introduction of certain 
evidence.

The high bench also said Anderson's previous lawyers were not irresponsible in 
asking him to testify and concluded that his appellate attorney had reason to 
not question whether the death sentence was appropriate. The high judges also 
said Anderson did not present evidence showing the lower court failed to 
properly consider his claims.

The Supreme Court had twice previously ordered new sentencing for Anderson 
after it found discrepancies in lower court proceedings.

Initially, the Supreme Court upheld the lower court's 2001 decision. But it 
ordered new sentencing in 2006 when it was revealed that a juror had indicated 
Anderson's attorneys would have to prove he didn't deserve the death penalty.

The lower bench again sentenced him to death in 2008, and the Supreme Court 
affirmed that penalty in a 4-3 decision. But in 2013, the high court again 
found his sentencing to be unfair, this time because the judge had conversed 
about the case extensively as it was ongoing with the jury foreperson.

The case was once again sent to the lower court with a replacement for the 
judge who was instructed to recuse himself. The Supreme Court left the death 
sentence in place but ordered a new hearing on Anderson's request to have his 
case canceled. Anderson appealed to the high bench once again after the circuit 
court denied his request. The Supreme Court's latest hand down is a response to 
that appeal.

The murders occurred in southeast Missouri's Poplar Bluff, but the case was 
tried 85 miles away in Cape Girardeau on a change of venue from Butler County 
to Cape Girardeau County.

Anderson killed the parents of his ex-girlfriend the same day she secured a 
restraining order again him and told him visitation of their 3-month-old child 
would be arranged through the courts.

(source: missourinet.com)








NEBRASKA:

Judge rejects accused murderer Bailey Boswell's motion to rule out death 
penalty



A Saline County judge has rejected a motion by accused murderer Bailey Boswell 
to nullify the state's death penalty.

District Judge Vicky Johnson made the ruling on Tuesday and scheduled a hearing 
for Dec. 17 to arraign Boswell, 24, on charges of 1st-degree murder and illegal 
disposal of a body.

Both Boswell and her 52-year-old boyfriend, Aubrey Trail, face the death 
penalty if convicted in connection with the slaying and dismemberment of 
Lincoln store clerk Sydney Loofe.

Boswell’s court-appointed lawyer, Todd Lancaster of the Nebraska Commission on 
Public Advocacy, had argued that Nebraska's death penalty statues should be 
tossed out as unconstitutional.

Among his arguments was that the death penalty is arbitrary, and that the 
nation's "evolving standards of decency" are such that execution now represents 
cruel and unusual punishment.

Loofe’s body was found in plastic bags near Edgar, Nebraska, about 3 weeks 
after she went on a date arranged online with Boswell.

Boswell and Trail were then living in a basement apartment in Wilber, Nebraska. 
The pair were recently convicted in federal court of scamming a Kansas couple 
out of nearly $400,000 in a scheme to buy a rare coin overseas.

Trail, who has a long criminal record, has called reporters to tell them that 
he was responsible for Loofe's death and that Boswell was not in the room when 
it happened.

Trail is scheduled to go on trial in June in Saline County. A trial date for 
Boswell has not yet been set.

(source: omaha World-Herald)








IDAHO:

Wyoming man argues against death penalty in fetus death



A Wyoming man charged with killing his girlfriend in Idaho in July 2016 argues 
the death of her unborn baby does not qualify as a 2nd murder that makes him 
eligible for the death penalty.

Attorneys for 41-year-old Erik Ohlson of Jackson say it's "legal insanity" for 
Idaho law to protect a 1st trimester fetus under the homicide law but not under 
the abortion law.

Ohlson is charged with killing 39-year-old Jennifer Nalley and her unborn baby. 
His trial is set for July 2019 in Bingham County, Idaho.

"A woman and her doctors can kill an embryo or fetus in the 1st trimester 
without repercussions from the law," Ohlson's attorneys Jim Archibald and John 
Thomas wrote in their Nov. 9 motion to dismiss the murder charge related to the 
fetus. "To say a potential mother has protection from being prosecuted but a 
potential father does not have protections violates equal protection under 
law."

They argue the 12-week-old fetus wasn't old enough to have a right to life.

"Erik Ohlson was put on notice that a fetus in its 1st trimester could be 
killed," they wrote. "He knew this personally as 2 different women he had 
relationships with had aborted, or killed, their 1st trimester fetuses."

The attorneys also argued the fetus didn't die because it was shot, but because 
Nalley was shot. There was no autopsy or death certificate for the fetus, 
meaning Ohlson can't be charged with a 2nd count of murder.

Prosecutors plan to use text messages apparently sent by Ohlson as evidence for 
premeditation in Nalley's death.

"She seems to be interested in having this baby without me except for when it 
comes to money," investigators said Ohlson texted to a friend just before the 
shooting. "I want to strangle her and witness her last mortal moment."

A motions hearing is set for Dec. 7, the Jackson Hole News & Guide reported .

(source: Associated Press)