[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ILL., TENN., MO., S.DAK., NEV., CALIF., ORE., USA

[Rick Halperin]

April 10



ILLINOIS:

Innocence Project founder seeks 'conviction integrity unit'



The co-founder of a group that has cleared a dozen people wrongfully convicted 
of crimes said Tuesday that the Illinois attorney general should create a 
"conviction integrity unit" to investigate innocence claims.

Bill Clutter, a private investigator who helped create the Illinois Innocence 
Project in 2001 and now does similar work from Louisville, Kentucky, said he 
proposed the idea in a letter to Attorney General Kwame Raoul .

Illinois has a history of wrongful convictions. Chicago Police Lt. Jon Burge 
was accused of torturing more than 200 criminal suspects into forced 
confessions in the 1980s. Former Gov. George Ryan labeled the state's system of 
capital punishment "haunted by the demon of error" when he halted executions in 
2000. By the time Illinois abolished the Death Penalty in 2011, wrongful death 
sentences imposed on 20 people had been reversed, according to the Death 
Penalty Information Center.

Conviction integrity units have sprung up recently in major metropolitan 
jurisdictions such as Dallas, New York, and Chicago. But a statewide team in 
Illinois would be a first nationally.

Clutter said that an independent, statewide team of detectives and lawyers to 
review convicts' claims of innocence would be more effective than a nonprofit 
organization with limited resources and limited power. He used the example of 
Karen Slover of Decatur, whose ex-husband and in-laws are serving 60-year 
sentences for her 1996 murder. Seeking to clear them, Clutter sought an 
analysis of an unknown fingerprint in the victim's blood at the crime scene, 
but was rebuffed.

"With a conviction integrity unit, you have a prosecutor who has the authority, 
who wants to know the answer to the question, 'Who left that fingerprint in 
blood at the crime scene?'" Clutter said at a state Capitol news conference. 
"They'd have a badge and they could work cooperatively with innocence projects 
within the state to unlock this evidence."

The plan got a cool reception from Raoul, a Democrat who took office in 
January.

"Ensuring the integrity of a conviction by evaluating new evidence, eyewitness 
testimony or an appellate court decision is the responsibility of every 
prosecutor," spokeswoman Annie Thompson said.

Clutter agrees, but he said it's human nature for a prosecutor to be defensive 
of suspected errors or omissions.

Former Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez created a conviction 
integrity unit in 2012. Under successor Kim Foxx, it's become an independent 
unit of the office with publicized policies and standards, spokeswoman Tandra 
Simonton said. The office receives about 150 applications annually from those 
convicted of felonies, but many do not meet criteria for review.

Since 2017, just after Foxx took office, 70 convictions have been reversed, 
Simonton said. Staffing the office are a director, supervisor, four assistant 
state's attorneys who conduct investigations, one who specializes in forensic 
work, a part-time forensic scientist and an administrative assistant.

Clearly, only a jurisdiction the size of Cook County can afford such an outlay, 
said Clutter, who is currently seeking exoneration for Thomas McMillen in the 
1989 abduction and murder of Melissa Koontz of Springfield.

Even in Sangamon County, where Springfield is the county seat, "it would be a 
financial burden for this office to have a truly independent staff of at least 
one investigator and one attorney to review the claims, and there are not 
enough claims like this in a county like Sangamon to warrant those resources," 
Clutter said. "But on a state level, it makes sense to have it housed in the 
attorney general's office."

(source: herald-review.com)








TENNESSEE:

Tennessee gov signs bill to nix 1 court death penalty review



Tennessee is removing one state court's review before executing inmates under 
legislation signed by Republican Gov. Bill Lee.

With Lee's approval Tuesday, Tennessee in July will begin skipping the state 
Court of Criminal Appeals and provide automatic state Supreme Court death 
penalty reviews.

Lee spokeswoman Laine Arnold has said the governor was deferring to the 
Legislature's will on the legislation.

Court of Criminal Appeals Judge John Everett Williams has said his court's last 
four death penalty reviews took 3 to 6 months. Federal courts account for most 
of sometimes-3-decades in death penalty court reviews.

Tennessee executed 3 inmates in 2018. 4 executions are scheduled this year.

The law is named for Dickson County Sheriff's Sgt. Daniel Baker, who was killed 
in May. 2 people are approaching trial over Baker's death.

(source: Associated Press)

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

A death chamber is shown.



Tennessee officials want to have their cake and eat it, too, a group of death 
row inmates complains to the U.S. Supreme Court in a petition challenging a 
state court’s “Kafkaesque” ruling implicating execution drug secrecy.

Except the cake is information the prisoners say they need to prove their cruel 
and unusual punishment claim, and eating it, too, means executing them without 
due process.

“In the annals of increasing government powers and government assertions that 
citizens are powerless to contest, this case involves the most extreme example 
yet—via legislation, the State of Tennessee has taken away the ability of 
certain citizens to secure a fair hearing to prove that their Eighth Amendment 
rights are being denied them,” according to an outside brief filed Monday by a 
group called Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty. “If that 
precedent can be set in this context, what will prevent government actors from 
taking similar steps in countless other contexts?”

The inmates are challenging the state’s three-drug lethal injection protocol, 
which “hinges on the ability of one drug, midazolam, to block the torturous 
sensations of entombment and burning caused by two other drugs,” they say in 
their petition.

But as the Supreme Court reaffirmed last week in its contentious 5-4 decision 
in Bucklew v. Precythe, a prisoner claiming a state’s execution method violates 
the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment needs to put forth 
an available and feasibly implemented alternative that will substantially 
reduce the risk of suffering.

State officials argue the proposed alternative here, a single-drug protocol of 
pentobarbital, is not readily available, and the state’s top court approved the 
status quo based on the challengers’ failure to offer “direct proof” otherwise.

The problem with that, the prisoners say, is that the state court approved 
government officials’ testimony based on their privileged communications with 
potential drug suppliers, which, under the state’s secrecy law, are shielded 
from discovery.

So the state’s secrecy law “ensured that petitioners’ claim would fail,” they 
argue, saying the issue goes beyond just Tennessee, citing a surge in such laws 
around the country in death penalty states.

The conservative group supporting the prisoners says the Bucklew decision, 
which ruled against an inmate’s Eighth Amendment challenge over heated dissent, 
makes their case even stronger. That’s because Missouri’s Russell Bucklew had 
“extensive discovery” into alternative methods of execution, and the majority 
in his case said death sentences are permissible “so long as proper procedures 
are followed.”

But that’s not the case here, the group says, “because there was no 
discovery—the essential discovery was completely barred.”

In this case, “Tennessee’s execution secrecy statute barred discovery into the 
state’s communications with 10 concededly willing suppliers,” the prisoners say 
in their petition. They add that it barred them from “exploring the details of 
the suppliers’ offers by deposing those suppliers or even the state officials 
with whom they interacted,” while, at the same time, “other state officials 
testified that they believed pentobarbital was not reasonably available because 
of information passed onto them by the very persons whom petitioners were 
prevented from deposing.”

The prisoners say they’re not challenging state secrecy laws in general, but, 
rather, the government’s ability to use one here as both a “sword” to win its 
alternative method argument and a “shield” from letting defendants test the 
state’s argument and, in turn, prevail on their constitutional claim.

So the state court’s “Kafkaesque ruling,” allowing their executions to go 
forward without fully exploring less risky alternative methods, “strikes at the 
core of due process,” they say, imploring the justices to step in.

State officials argue in opposition that the prisoners never presented to the 
state court the claim they’re raising now at the Supreme Court, and so the 
justices should decline to review it. Officials go on to argue that the 
justices should also reject the claim because due process does not entitle 
prisoners “to unlimited discovery to support their affirmative claims against 
the State.”

They, too, cite Bucklew, where Justice Neil M. Gorsuch’s opinion for the 
majority said it wasn’t an abuse of discretion for the trial court to deny the 
prisoner the ability “to learn the identities of the lethal injection execution 
team members, to depose them, or to inquire into their qualifications, 
training, and experience.”

They say the challengers can’t “force the State to disclose the identity of its 
drug procurer, its potential drug suppliers, or other participants in the 
execution process.” Requiring such disclosures, officials say, “would unduly 
burden the State by making it difficult, if not impossible, to carry out the 
death penalty.”

The case is Abu-Ali Abdur’Rahman, et al., v. Parker, U.S., 18-8332, petition 
pending

(source: bloomberglaw.com)








MISSOURI:

Undocumented immigrant facing death penalty found dead in jail



The undocumented immigrant accused of killing 5 people, including a man in 
Montgomery County, was found dead Tuesday.

According to the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office, workers at the St. Louis 
Justice Center found Pablo Serrano-Vitorino unresponsive inside his cell around 
2:02 a.m.

Serrano-Vitorino was pronounced dead at the hospital around 3 a.m.

Serrano-Vitorino was accused of killing Randy Nordman on March 8, 2016 at 
Nordman's home. Serrano was on the run at the time for allegedly killing 4 
people in Kansas. Nordman's death started a massive manhunt in Montgomery 
County and authorities captured Serrano nearly 24 hours later.

Prosecutors were seeking the death penalty in the case.

(source: ABC News)

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

Missouri Supreme Court hears arguments in Wood death penalty case



The Missouri Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday in Jefferson City in 
the case of a prisoner who’s appealing his death sentence for killing a 
Springfield child in 2014.

51-year-old Craig Wood was convicted of 1st degree murder and was sentenced to 
death for killing 10-year-old Hailey Owens.

The court heard about 50 minutes of arguments and asked numerous questions of 
both attorneys.

Wood’s public defender, Rosemary Percival, tells the Supreme Court that 
Missouri’s “death penalty scheme” is unconstitutional, because it allows a 
judge to impose a death sentence when the jury is not unanimous.

“Even the staunchest of death penalty states, states like Texas, Louisiana, 
Mississippi, now mandate that no defendant go to his death but by the unanimous 
vote of the jury,” Percival says.

Percival is asking the Missouri Supreme Court to overturn Wood’s death sentence 
and instead sentence him to life in prison, without the possibility of parole.

She tells the Supreme Court’s seven judges that Missouri and Indiana are the 
only 2 states that allow a judge to impose a death sentence after jurors could 
not.

“And so I ask the court to strike this deadlock provision and order that Mr. 
Wood receive a sentence of life without parole,” says Percival.

Defense attorneys admitted in court in August 2017 that Wood kidnapped, raped 
and killed Owens, who was walking home from a friend’s house when the February 
2014 abduction happened.

Greene County Judge Thomas Mountjoy sentenced Wood to death, after jurors were 
not unanimous about the death sentence.

The “Springfield News-Leader”, quoting the jury foreman at the time, has 
reported that 10 jurors supported the death sentence and that 2 favored life in 
prison without parole.

The jury was selected in western Missouri’s Platte County and transported to 
Springfield for the trial. The jury was chosen there because of the large news 
media coverage the case received in Springfield.

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt and Assistant Attorney General Daniel 
McPherson filed a 106-page brief in response to Percival’s argument.

McPherson tells the State Supreme Court that Missouri’s statute allowing a 
judge to impose a death sentence when the jury deadlocks is constitutional.

The Attorney General’s office writes that the Missouri Supreme Court “has 
repeatedly found that procedure to be constitutional.”

Percival also says Judge Mountjoy should not have overruled defense attorneys’ 
objection to Greene County Prosecutor Dan Patterson’s closing argument that the 
jury, in sentencing Wood to death, would speak for Hailey Owens and her family.

Mr. McPherson addressed that issue before the Supreme Court.

“If the prosecutor had explicitly argued that the family demands the death 
penalty or they want you to impose the death penalty, you’d certainly have a 
more problematic situation,” McPherson says.

Schmitt and McPherson, in their court filing, write that Patterson’s argument 
was an appeal to the jury to uphold the law and not an argument that Owens’ 
family desired the death penalty.

Springfield Police found Hailey Owens’ body in a plastic tub in Craig Wood’s 
basement. Court documents say Hailey Owens died from a gunshot wound to the 
back of her neck.

Wood, who’s incarcerated at the maximum-security Potosi Correctional Center in 
Mineral Point, was not in the courtroom on Tuesday.

A Missourinet reporter covering the Jefferson City hearing did not see Hailey 
Owens’ family nor Craig Wood’s parents in court.

The Missouri Supreme Court has not announced when it will rule in the case.

(source: missourinet.com)

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

Craig Michael Wood asks Supreme Court to remove death penalty



Convicted murderer Craig Michael Wood, found guilty in the murder of 
10-year-old Hailey Owens in Springfield in 2014, will have his argument heard 
Tuesday by the Missouri Supreme Court that he should not face the death 
penalty.

Wood is accused of abducting Hailey Owens while she walked home from her best 
friend's house in Springfield, just two blocks from her own home. Shocked 
neighbors reported watching the abduction and unsuccessfully giving chase as 
Hailey was pulled into a pickup truck that sped away. She was found dead hours 
later in the basement of Wood's home.

According to the Missouri Supreme Court, the appeal of his conviction on 
charges of First Degree Murder, Armed Criminal Action, Kidnapping, Rape, and 
Sodomy presents several questions. "One involves whether the circuit court 
properly struck for cause a proposed juror who said she was opposed to the 
death penalty but then said she could listen to the evidence and consider both 
the death penalty and life imprisonment without parole."

"Other questions involve whether certain evidence admitted during the penalty 
phase of the trial over Wood’s objection violated his state and federal 
constitutional rights to due process, to a fair trial by a fair and impartial 
jury, to be tried only for the offenses charged, to confront witnesses against 
him, freedom from cruel and unusual punishment, and freedom from the capricious 
or arbitrary infliction of the death penalty and, if so, whether he was 
prejudiced as a result."

(source: KRCG news)








SOUTH DAKOTA:

Deadline set for death penalty decision in murder case



The Pennington County State’s Attorney’s Office must disclose by April 30 
whether it intends to seek the death penalty if 2 Rapid City men are convicted 
of their alleged roles in a murder, a judge ruled Tuesday.

Andre Martinez and Cole Waters, both 19 years old, are each charged with aiding 
and abetting 1st-degree murder, commission of a felony with a firearm, aiding 
and abetting 1st-degree robbery, and conspiracy to commit 1st-degree murder.

They each pleaded not guilty to all charges Tuesday at the Pennington County 
Courthouse in Rapid City.

If found guilty of aiding and abetting 1st-degree murder, they could face the 
death penalty or life in prison.

Waters’ attorney, John Murphy, moved for disclosure of the prosecution’s intent 
regarding the death penalty by April 30, and Martinez’s attorney, Randal 
Connelly, joined the motion, which Judge Robert Gusinsky granted.

Gusinsky also granted Murphy’s motions to hire a private investigator for 
Waters, and to have Waters undergo a psychological examination to determine his 
competency and cognitive functioning.

At a previous court proceeding, a prosecutor said Martinez and Waters hatched a 
plan to rob another teenager. During the robbery on Feb. 26, Waters allegedly 
held a gun to the head of 17-year-old Emanuel Hinton, of Box Elder, and pulled 
the trigger.

(source: rapid City Journal)

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

Rapid City teens accused in shooting death plead not guilty, await decision on 
death penalty



The 2 Rapid City teens accused in the shooting death of Emmanuel Hinton, 17, of 
Box Elder, appeared in court Tuesday and now await a decision from the state on 
if the death penalty will be sought.

Cole Waters, 19, and Andre Martinez, 19, pleaded not guilty to all the charges 
against them, including: aiding and abetting 1st degree murder, commission of a 
felony with a firearm, aiding and abetting 1st degree robbery, and conspiracy 
to commit 1st degree robbery.

If convicted of the murder charge, the maximum penalty is life in prison or the 
death penalty should the state pursue the punishment.

The defense for both Waters and Martinez filed a motion to set a deadline of 
April 30 for the state to decide if they will seek the death penalty.

The teens are set to appear in court again on that date. They remain in the 
Pennington County Jail on $1 million cash bond.

On Feb. 26, Emmanuel Hinton, 17, of Box Elder was shot in the alleyway behind 
Blaine Avenue and later died from his injuries at Regional Health Rapid City 
Hospital. Waters and Martinez were both arrested and charged the next day.

According to statements from the state prosecutor, Waters admitted to putting 
the gun to Hinton’s head and pulling the trigger. Both teens were given 
“no-contact orders” for someone named “C.B.” but it is not clear at this time 
who that person is or what their involvement is in this incident.

(source: newcenter1.tv)








NEVADA:

Death penalty repeal bill won’t get a hearing, sponsor says



Legislation to abolish capital punishment in Nevada won’t even get a committee 
hearing, the bill’s sponsor said Tuesday.

Without a hearing before Friday, the bill dies along with any hopes Nevada 
would end the practice of the death penalty any time soon.

“I thought the time was now and that it was at least the time to have a 
conversation,” Assemblyman Ozzie Fumo said.

Fumo said he was told directly by Assembly Judiciary Committee Chair Steve 
Yeager that the bill won’t even get a hearing. “It’s kind of disappointing,” he 
added.

Yeager could not be immediately reached for comment Tuesday afternoon.

Assembly Bill 149, sponsored by Fumo and state Sen. James Ohrenschall, would 
have made Nevada 1 of 20 states to abolish capital punishment according to the 
Death Penalty Information Center — there are 3 additional states that have 
gubernatorial moratoria, which essentially has suspended execution without 
outright abolishing it.

Fumo said support for the death penalty had been declining over the years. 
Activists, such as those with the Nevada Coalition Against the Death Penalty, 
have called for states to get rid of the practice saying it is unfair, has room 
for error and is racially biased.

Fumo added there are additional reasons the Legislature should at least discuss 
the possibility, given the growing number of people exonerated from death row — 
the Death Penalty Information Center has confirmed at least 165 cases in the 
U.S. — to the increasing costs of the practice.

A legislative study found seeking the death penalty is also more expensive and 
costs $500,000 more to prosecute capital cases regardless of outcome.

(source: Nevada Current)



CALIFORNIA:

Prosecutors to cite accused Palm Springs cop killer John Felix's past contacts 
with police----Suspected cop killer John Felix pleaded not guilty during his 
1st court appearance on Thursday.



With opening statements looming in the trial of a man accused of killing 2 Palm 
Springs police officers in 2016, a prosecutor said Tuesday she plans to 
introduce evidence of past contacts between the defendant and police, suggest 
they could point to a possible motive for the shooting.

John Hernandez Felix, 28, is charged with 2 counts of murder and 6 counts of 
attempted murder, with special circumstance allegations of killing police 
officers and committing multiple murders making him eligible for the death 
penalty if convicted.

During a motions hearing on Tuesday, Deputy District Attorney Michelle Paradise 
said she hopes to present evidence during the trial of two past contacts 
between Felix and Palm Springs police that could suggest a "motive to plan and 
intentionally make a choice" to fire at officers who responded to a domestic 
disturbance call at Felix's mother's Cypress Avenue house on Oct. 8, 2016.

Veteran training officer Gilbert Vega, 63, and rookie Officer Lesley Zerebny, 
27, were killed in the shooting.

"The people are going to intend to show motive in this case," Paradise said. 
"And, in order to do that the people will ask questions regarding prior conduct 
between the defendant and Palm Springs police."

Defense attorney John Dolan said he needed time to review the prosecutor's 
motion, but said past animosity between his client and PSPD may also be part of 
his arguments during the trial.

In court documents, Dolan requested that Felix's brother be included as a 
witness to show the family was "victimized by police." Dolan pointed to a 
specific instance in which Felix and his father were beaten and arrested by 
police when PSPD came to the family's residence looking for Felix's brother.

Around 10:30 a.m. Friday, after a monthlong selection process, a jury was 
impaneled. Opening statements are scheduled for April 17. Prosecutors say Felix 
opened fire on Vega, Zerebny and a third officer through the metal screen door 
of his mother's property after the victims stepped onto the porch. He also is 
accused of firing on 5 of their colleagues who responded to the shooting. None 
were struck by the gunfire.

Felix was taken into custody following a 12-hour standoff.

District Attorney Mike Hestrin said the defendant wanted to kill cops, donning 
body armor and firing armor-piercing rounds from an AR-15 rifle during the 
attack.

The trial comes after a string of delays connected to defense motions regarding 
Felix's mental fitness, including an argument alleging he has intellectual 
disabilities that should preclude him from execution if jurors recommend the 
death penalty.

Criminal proceedings were previously suspended for 6 months in 2017 when 
Felix's attorneys sought to have him declared mentally incompetent to stand 
trial.

They argued that he suffers from "traumatic amnesia" and has no memory of the 
shooting, preventing him from contributing to an adequate defense, but Judge 
Anthony Villalobos ruled in late 2017 that Felix was sufficiently competent.

Following a bench trial with testimony from mental-health experts, Villalobos 
ruled that prosecutors could proceed with their capital murder case against 
Felix, leading to an appeal of the judge's decision and another 2-month delay. 
An appellate court denied the defense's appeal seeking to bar the death penalty 
from being included as an option upon conviction.

Vega and Zerebny were the first Palm Springs police officers to be killed in 
the line of duty since Jan. 1, 1962, when Officer Lyle Wayne Larrabee died 
during a vehicle pursuit. The only other death in the department was that of 
Officer Gale Gene Eldridge, fatally shot on Jan. 18, 1961, while investigating 
an armed robbery.

Vega had been with the department 35 years — 5 years past his retirement 
eligibility — and had planned to retire in 2018. He had 8 children, 11 
grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren.

Zerebny had been with the department for 18 months and had just returned to 
duty following maternity leave, having given birth to a daughter, Cora, 4 
months before her death.

Felix, who is being held without bail at the Robert Presley Jail in Riverside, 
has a prior conviction for assault with a deadly weapon, for which he served 
time in state prison.

(source: The Desert Sun)








OREGON:

John Hummel and Oregon’s death penalty



The only testimony in the Oregon Senate Judiciary Committee last month in 
opposition to a bill that would functionally abolish capital punishment — was 
offered by the courageous and sensible district attorney of Lane County, Patty 
Perlow. She pointed out that voters had repeatedly said “yes” to the death 
penalty in Oregon, and if there was to be a massive change, the voters should 
make the call, not legislators.

Although I prosecuted Randy Guzek three times in Bend between 1990 and 2010, I 
am retired and no longer a part of Guzek’s prosecution. The current DA — John 
Hummel, has never tried a homicide case as a DA and excluded me from 
participating on behalf of the state of Oregon in the parole process involving 
Guzek’s co-killer, Mark Wilson. Guzek is the only person from Deschutes County 
on death row, sentenced for gunning down Rod and Lois Houser in Terrebonne in 
the summer of 1987.

Perhaps someone will ask exactly what Hummel is privately advocating for Guzek?

In 4 separate trials, 48 different Deschutes County jurors unanimously sent 
Guzek to death row in 1989, 1991, 1997, and 2010.

But now official position of the prosecution will not be that of the Houser 
family, who suffered the loss of their brother/father/mom/grandparent in 1987, 
but that of a politician who advocates for abolishing capital punishment.

The issue is one thing in the abstract, possible future, but very concrete for 
the too real double murder committed shortly after voters overwhelmingly 
approved the imposition of capital punishment in 1984. When Hummel testified at 
Wilson’s Parole Hearing three years ago, he stunned those in attendance by 
declining to even urge that the Parole Board order Wilson to honor his 1988 
plea deal … to serve 40 years (another 8 years) before being eligible for 
parole in 2028. Wilson stays in prison, for now.

If deceptive and intellectually dishonest legislation offered this session by 
Rep. Mitch Greenlick, D-Portland, passes, the multiple murder of a police 
officer or a serial killer, all would face only the newly created charge of 
“Murder in the Second Degree.” This act of legislative legerdemain is intended 
to bypass the constitutional requirement advocated by DA Perlow, referral to 
the voters, since voters passed capital punishment in a constitutional 
referendum. By claiming to “just limit” capital punishment by jurors, it 
effectively abolishes it … but not quite, without a full and public debate and 
without a decision by the state’s voters.

Guzek, and about 5 other death row inmates sentenced before 1991 cannot face 
“true life” sentences since such sentences did not exist when they were 
convicted, and would be eligible for immediate parole, although it would be by 
no means automatic. Under Oregon law if capital punishment is retroactively 
revoked, the maximum sentence is that sentence existing at the time the crime 
occurred. That could mean near immediate release of a man dozens of Deschutes 
County jurors decided after long deliberation, should die.

Oregon voters first abolished capital punishment in the early years of the 20th 
century, then a few years later reinstated it. The last time any state’s voters 
decided to abolish the death penalty was in Oregon in 1964. First in 1977, then 
in 1984 voters once again decided death should be a possible punishment in a 
very few of the worst murders. No state in America has voted out capital 
punishment since Oregon did 55 years ago.

States as diverse as Nebraska, Wisconsin, and California (twice just in the 
last 10 years) voted to reject abolition of capital punishment or (as in 
Wisconsin) to reinstate capital punishment.

Some issues are too important to be left to politicians.

(source: Guest Column; Joshua Marquis served from 1990 to 1994 as chief deputy 
district attorney in Bend, then from 1994 to 2018 as district attorney in 
Astoria. Marquis prosecuted the Randy Guzek murder case 3 times----The Bend 
Bulletin)








USA:

Race and the Death Penalty----A sociologist says racial prejudice is “a strong 
predictor" of whites’ support for capital punishment.



To the Editor:

Re “Democratic Candidates Rethink the Death Penalty, and Its Politics” (news 
article, April 9):

Our political parties should not be overly swayed by public opinion on the 
death penalty. Many studies conclude that prejudice against blacks is a strong 
predictor of whites’ support for capital punishment. If so many whites were not 
racially prejudiced, white support for the death penalty would be much lower, 
and so would public support more generally.

In a country that professes “liberty and justice for all,” political leaders 
should keep this context in mind when they consider public opinion in 
formulating their stance on capital punishment.

Steven E. Barkan

Holden, Me.

The writer, a professor of sociology at the University of Maine, is the author 
of “Race, Crime and Justice: The Continuing American Dilemma.” A sociologist 
says racial prejudice is “a strong predictor" of whites’ support for capital 
punishment.

(source: Letter to the Editor, New York Times)