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

[Rick Halperin]

September 20




TENNESSEE:

Attorney: TDOC Didn't Follow Execution Protocol----Attorneys representing more 
than 30 death row inmates say the Tennessee Department of Corrections did 
follow correct execution protocol during the execution of Billy Ray Irick.

Did the Tennessee Department of Correction have a backup plan ready in case 
things went wrong during the execution of a death row inmate last month? 
Attorneys for 32 other death row inmates say no, they did not.

It's the latest move to stop the state from using lethal injection to carry out 
the death penalty, as another condemned inmate is set to be put to death in 
less than a month.

The latest claim from attorneys representing 33 death row inmates is that 
Tennessee Department of Correction officials didn't follow their own rule book 
during the execution of Billy Ray Irick last month when it did not completely 
prepare a backup set of lethal chemicals.

The attorneys made the argument based on a filled out "Chemical Preparation 
Timesheet" it received from the TDOC after filing a Freedom of Information Act 
request. On the sheet, while spaces next to the other lethal chemical names 
listed the times of day the corresponding syringes were filled, a space next to 
one of the chemicals in the backup lethal chemical set was filled with "not 
used."

Attorneys for the death row inmates argue, had something gone wrong with the 
first chemical they used -- Midazolam -- prison officials wouldn't have had a 
backup set of Midazolam ready to go, to use instead.

NewsChannel 5 asked the Tennessee Department of Correction for their response 
to the allegations in the lawsuit. They replied, "It would be improper for the 
department to comment on the new legal filing due to the ongoing litigation."

(source: newschannel5.com)








OKLAHOMA:

Prosecutors will seek death penalty for Oklahoma City father charged with 
killing 7-month-old son



Prosecutors will seek the death penalty as punishment for an Oklahoma City 
father accused of killing his 7-month-old son and leaving the body in a trash 
can.

Victor Manuel Minjarez told police he "bagged up" his son after watching the 
baby take his last breath, an Oklahoma City police inspector testified 
Wednesday during a preliminary hearing.

Minjarez, though, maintains his innocence, claiming the boy died after being 
laid too close to a heater. However, the baby, Jody Minjarez, suffered blunt 
force trauma to the head, a skull fracture and brain bleeding, the state 
medical examiner reported.

Minjarez, 31, is charged with 1st-degree murder and desecrating a human corpse. 
At the conclusion of Wednesday's hearing, Oklahoma County Special Judge Kathryn 
Savage found enough evidence to send Minjarez's case to trial.

At trial, prosecutors will seek the death penalty on grounds that the victim's 
death was heinous, atrocious or cruel and that Minjarez is a continuing threat 
to society.

Minjarez was arrested March 7, just hours after authorities issued an Amber 
Alert. Later that day, Oklahoma City police found the victim in a trash can 
outside a vacant house where Minjarez had been hiding with his son.

That night, police inspector Robbie Benavides questioned Minjarez, who said his 
son died about a week before.

Minjarez told the inspector he got into a physical fight with the boy's mother 
on Feb. 19 at her home in Norman and then took the baby. Days later, Minjarez 
sent a text message indicating the boy's mother "ain't ever going to see my son 
again. I made sure of that," the inspector testified.

Minjarez told police he stayed at various locations before hiding at the vacant 
house in Oklahoma City. The house was under construction, and no one was living 
there at the time.

One cold night, Minjarez and his son were lying on a mattress inside the house. 
The father said his son was getting sick so he found a heater and put it close 
to the baby, the inspector told the judge.

Minjarez later woke up and found the baby with blisters all over his face. The 
father said he rolled the baby over and fell back asleep. In the morning, he 
found the child making "bubble noises," the inspector testified.

Minjarez said he heard his son say, "Dada," before the baby took his last 
breath. The father then "smacked" his son a few times to try to wake him up, 
the inspector told the judge.

Minjarez said he didn't call 911 because he knew he was wanted by the police. 
The father admitted he then placed his son in the trash, the inspector 
testified.

A police lieutenant who discovered the victim's body during a search of the 
vacant house also testified Wednesday. The lieutenant said the victim had been 
wrapped in a blanket and then was "double-bagged" in black trash bags. Police 
found another black trash bag containing baby clothes.

Minjarez also was ordered to trial on a 2nd-degree burglary offense.

(source: newsok.com)








NEVADA:

Nevada high court cancels oral arguments in execution case



The Nevada Supreme Court has canceled plans for oral arguments this week on a 
state request to quickly decide whether a twice-delayed execution of a 
condemned inmate should go forward despite drugmakers' protests.

Chief Justice Michael Douglas' 4-sentence order canceling Friday's arguments in 
Carson City takes the case off a fast-track and makes it unlikely the execution 
can be rescheduled in November.

State attorneys have argued that drugs would begin expiring after that.

But Nevada's prisons pharmacy chief testified last week in Las Vegas the state 
has stocks of drugs to carry out an execution into next year.

The order issued Tuesday slows a case involving Nevada and 15 other states with 
capital punishment.

They're opposing a drugmakers' lawsuit to block Nevada from using their drugs 
for a lethal injection.

(source: Associated Press)








CALIFORNIA:

Pinyon Pines case rekindles idea to provide true justice in murder cases



Murder in most civilized countries is defined as "the unlawful killing of 
another human being, especially if committed with malice aforethought." In 31 
states, a conviction of 1st-degree murder can mean a sentence of death. In the 
remaining 19 states, the death sentence is illegal, leaving the options of life 
in prison without possibility of parole, or a sentence which may offer an 
eventual release back into society. Interestingly, the homicide rate is higher 
in states in which execution is legal, than in states banning execution.

I thought about these vagaries as I followed the case of the Pinyon Pines 
murders and co-defendants Robert Pape and Cristin Smith. Pape was found guilty 
of second-degree murder in the slaying of Rebecca "Becky" Friedli, 18. Pape and 
Smith were both found guilty of 1st-degree murder in the slayings of Becky 
Friedli's mother and her boyfriend. While the death penalty is legal in 
California, Pape and Smith were both sentenced to life without the possibility 
of parole.

Knowing how the jurisprudence system works in our country, there may be a 
series of appeals coming for one or both convicted parties. But appeals or not, 
this case rekindled thoughts I have had about convicted murderers going back to 
my days with ABC News and the Manson murders.

I was a young staff director for ABC News in Los Angeles at the time and had 
never remotely experienced anything like the Manson atrocities. But when the 
verdicts came in and the sentences were handed out, which were all basically 
life sentences behind bars, (in some cases with the possibility of parole), I 
remember thinking: is that punishment enough for taking a life? Multiple 
lives?!

In the course of that thought process, an off-the-wall thought came to me - a 
thought I've never shared with anyone ... until now. And let me say very 
clearly, I am not a proponent of an eye for an eye. If death sentences stopped 
murders, murder would have become obsolete many, many years ago.

That said, here is my unsolicited 2 cents in the matter. I maintain that no 
punishment will ever fit the crime of taking another innocent person's life. 
But I do think there is a fitting sentence that in my humble opinion, is better 
than anything currently on the books. And it does not involve an eye for an 
eye.

If someone is convicted of murder, or even manslaughter, I propose they be 
sentenced to time behind bars, for whatever length of time the current law 
dictates, with one additional element. In whatever prison cell they are to 
spend their sentence, every wall of that cell should feature life-sized images 
of the person or persons whose lives they took. In that way, every single day 
and night of their life behind bars they would be forced to confront the 
reality of their callous action.

For some hardened criminals without conscience or remorse, this may have 
absolutely no negative effect. But for whatever percentage of the murdering 
population might still have a semblance of conscience, having to face their 
victims, day after day, night after night, would, I think, be infinitely more 
punishing than mere incarceration with 3 meals a day and free medical coverage.

Of course, eliminating murder all together would be the ultimate cure. But 
that's another story entirely.

(source: Opinion; Frank V. Furino is a former TV writer/producer, current board 
member of SafeHouse of the Desert, and faculty member of the local Osher 
Lifelong Learning Institute----The Desert Sun)








USA:

Accused killer Donald Fell to take plea deal, avoid death penalty



Nearly 20 years after he allegedly kidnapped and murdered a Vermont 
grandmother, accused killer Donald Fell is changing his plea and will avoid the 
death penalty.

Terry King, 53, was arriving for work at the Rutland Price Chopper in 2000 when 
police say Donald Fell and Robert Lee carjacked her, drove her to New York and 
killed her on the side of the road.

Fell was convicted and sentenced to death in 2005. But his federal conviction 
was overturned due to juror misconduct and a new death penalty trial was set to 
begin.

But now there is a plea deal that takes the death penalty off the table. Court 
documents show Fell will plead guilty to 4 federal crimes, including carjacking 
and kidnapping with death resulting. In exchange, he will spend the rest of his 
life in prison without the possibility of parole.

A judge must still accept the agreement.

Fell's alleged accomplice, Robert Lee, never stood trial. He killed himself in 
prison.

Fell and Lee were accused of two other murders that night. Police say before 
kidnapping Terry King, the men murdered Fell's mother, Debra, and her friend, 
Charles Conway in Rutland. But those killings took a back seat to King's murder 
because the feds were charging the men in that case since they brought King 
across state lines. The feds also had the death penalty to bargain with. The 
state of Vermont does not have a death penalty.

(source: WCAX news)

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

Why Were the Rosenbergs Executed?----Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were the only 
spies executed during the Cold War and some question whether their sentence was 
fair.



Julius and Ethel Rosenberg who were executed after having been found guilty of 
conspiracy to commit espionage. The charges were in relation to the passing of 
information about the American atomic bomb to the Soviet Union.

Few death-penalty executions can equal the controversy created by the 
electrocutions of spies Julius and Ethel Rosenberg in 1953. Accused of 
overseeing a spy network that stole American atomic secrets and handing those 
over to the Soviet Union, the couple were the only spies executed during the 
Cold War.

But were they guilty? For some, that has been in dispute for more than half a 
century.

Julius Rosenberg was almost certainly guilty.

By most accounts, Julius Rosenberg was an enthusiastic Communist. His job at 
the Army Signal Corps Engineering Laboratories made him an enticing recruit for 
Soviet spies, who approached him on Labor Day, 1942.

Late in 1944, Julius became a recruiter for the Russians and oversaw several 
spies himself, including the one who would cause Julius' downfall: his 
brother-in-law David Greenglass. Greenglass worked on the Manhattan Project at 
the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.

After the ring was uncovered, Greenglass was arrested on June 15, 1950. He 
named his wife as a co-conspirator, along with Julius. Greenglass originally 
denied his sister Ethel was involved, but later changed his story.

Ethel Rosenberg was arrested on the courthouse steps.

Soon after, the FBI raided the Rosenberg home and arrested Julius. Ethel was 
later arrested while leaving a federal courthouse in New York City after 
testifying she had no knowledge of espionage efforts. The FBI hoped her arrest 
would force Julius to name names of other Communist sympathizers.

Greenglass later told New York Times journalist Sam Roberts that he had entered 
into a deal with the government, implicating his sister in exchange for his 
wife's immunity.

The Rosenbergs and Greenglass were all found guilty.

Sentencing guidelines gave the judge two choices for Julius and Ethel: 30 years 
imprisonment or execution. FBI director J. Edgar Hoover suggested a 30-year 
sentence for Ethel, believing she would eventually name names in jail.

But Judge Irving Kaufman chose death for both Rosenbergs. David Greenglass got 
a 15-year sentence, serving just over 9 years.

The Rosenbergs were executed by electric on June 19, 1953, at Sing Sing Prison 
in Ossining, New York.

(source: history.com)