[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----KY., COLO., ARIZ., CALIF., USA

[Rick Halperin]

Dec. 11



KENTUCKY:

How Kentucky Handle Dealth Penalty Cases For Mentally Ill Inmates


A nationwide debate on the execution of mentally ill death row prisoners 
erupted across the country after a federal appeals court last week granted a 
last-minute stay of execution to convicted murderer and diagnosed schizophrenic 
Scott Panetti in Texas.

Could a similar situation happen in Kentucky? The answer is: It almost did - 
and still could, said Kentucky lawmakers and death penalty experts.

Kentucky law forbids the execution of prisoners with mental retardation, but in 
2010 it took another last-minute stay of execution - this one from Franklin 
Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd - to spare the life of Gregory L. Wilson, a 
death row inmate with a measured IQ of 62.

"In Kentucky right now, if a client has an IQ of roughly 70 or below and the 
defense says, 'My client is mentally disabled and suffers from retardation,' 
they have a hearing," explained Father Pat Delahanty, a longtime advocate for 
the abolition of the death penalty in Kentucky.

The question is then left to the judge to determine if that's the case - if it 
is, the death penalty is removed as a sentencing option, Delahanty said.

If Wilson's IQ is well below the maximum, why is he still on death row? Because 
he waited too long to sue.

IQ scores are among several factors used to diagnose intellectual disability, 
though and a majority of clinicians agree that IQ scores for the intellectually 
disabled may range up to 75. For any convict in the low to mid 70s, the death 
penalty is still an option in Kentucky and Virginia - the only states still 
using the score as a legal barometer.

When Shepherd halted Wilson's execution in 2010, he raised concerns about how 
the state handles intellectually disabled and mentally ill inmates, saying "It 
seems to me that this regulation could be followed to the letter and someone 
who is mentally retarded could still be executed."

How the Decision is Made

Delahanty said convicts who aren't intellectually disabled but have a severe 
mental illnesses - such as hallucinatory schizophrenia, dementia, or traumatic 
brain injury, for example???are not protected from execution in Kentucky, and 
they make up roughly 10 % of all inmates.

Lawmakers have been cautioned in recent years that Kentucky execution laws may 
prove a liability to the state, including a 2011 study by the American Bar 
Association which urged the state to suspend all executions until its process 
is clarified.

In more than 500 pages, the study illuminates a variety of blind spots in the 
state's execution process. It finds that judges, attorneys and law enforcement 
officers widely lack training on dealing with mentally ill defendants. The 
study also calls on the courts to ensure mental health professionals who 
testify on behalf of defendants are qualified, pointing out instances of 
incompetency.

In 1 instance, a federal court "reversed an inmate's death sentence... based on 
the defense's repeated use of a mental health expert whose testimony was 
'bizarre and eccentric,'" the report said. "It was subsequently determined that 
the testifying expert ... had actually only finished 2 years of college as an 
English major."

Kentucky is also one of the few states that permit judges to rule a defendant 
"Guilty But Mentally Ill." While there haven't been any executions of those 
convicts, there's nothing on the books preventing it.

Mark Coppenger of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary has been outspoken 
in his support of the death penalty in Kentucky. He regularly testifies before 
panels of Kentucky lawmakers.

"I would even say that if someone is so amoral that they can't even frame a 
sense of evil of the thing, I would not let them off on that," said Coppenger. 
"I would say: so much the more. If someone is just pathologically indifferent 
to morals, that ... is not so much insanity as it's just sheer evil."

Coppenger said mentally ill inmates on death row should bear the burden of 
proof, and that the standards amounting to proof of mental disability should be 
more rigorous.

Burden of Proof

Proving intellectual disability became a problem for Wilson when a Kenton 
Circuit judge denied his request for mental evaluation. It could also be a 
problem for other inmates in the future who attempt to prove their mental 
condition, as the Kentucky Department of Corrections currently does not have a 
protocol requiring them to determine whether an inmate is intellectually 
disabled or mentally ill prior to execution.

The KDC is required to administer a pregnancy test before execution, but not an 
IQ test.

When inmates are able to prove their disability,prosecutors often accuse 
inmates of intentionally fudging the results, the American Bar Association 
said, citing six separate instances in Kentucky.

"Mentally retarded offenders may be sentenced to death when courts deny the 
existence of mental retardation without an IQ test score of 70 or below," reads 
the report. "And then discount or reject such IQ scores when they are 
provided."

State Rep. Denver Butler, a Louisville Democrat, is a former Louisville Metro 
Police sergeant who used to work homicide cases His work on cold-case files led 
to the exoneration of 2 inmates, but he said he still sees a place for the 
death penalty in Kentucky.

"But what I think we should do and what I try to get across is that we should 
put a stay on it until we can have a better process," he said.

"I think the process really needs to be looked at. Who are we we trying to 
apply the death penalty to? What are the standards? And make sure all of those 
are being vetted appropriately."

Several bills to protect mentally ill inmates from execution have been offered 
in the Kentucky General Assembly in recent years, although no legislation has 
yet passed.

Suspended

Wilson's case led to more than his own delayed death: Judge Shepherd suspended 
all executions in Kentucky after realizing the inability of the state to 
determine an inmate's intellectual disability. He then ordered the state to use 
a single-drug method for lethal injection, a follow-up on the Kentucky Supreme 
Court ruling which deemed the state's 3-drug lethal injection cocktail cruel 
and unusual.

Since the drug's manufacturer stopped producing the single-drug alternative and 
Kentucky handed over its final 3 doses to the DEA, the state has been without 
the legal means to execute inmates.

But attempts to resume executions have already begun. In 2013, Attorney General 
Jack Conway filed notice with the Franklin Circuit Court that Kentucky was 
ready to get back to executing prisoners. He proposed the use of a single-drug 
solution of sodium thiopental or pentobarbital (whichever is on hand).

Since both of those are in short supply nationwide, Conway offered that 
executions could be conducted via a 2-drug combination of midazolam and 
hydromorphone - the same combination administered in January to an Ohio inmate 
who gasped and snorted for 26 minutes before finally dying.

In July, Judge Shepherd put the brakes on Conway's request to resume executions 
with the 2-drug mix, then eliminated the method altogether in mid-November, 
obligating the state to rework its execution methods entirely.

It's not clear what options Kentucky will explore next, though Gov. Bill Haslan 
in May made Tennessee the 1st state to bring back the electric chair, 
authorizing its use in the event the state couldn't get the lethal injection 
drugs.

'It's Kind of a Catch-22'

State Sen. Gerald Neal said these hair-splitting questions on the specifics of 
state executions only serve to illustrate a broader point: Because the justice 
system is imperfect, the state should abolish the death penalty.

"Once you start defending or setting up a system for handling mentally ill 
defendants, you actually begin to undermine the larger argument of whether we 
should have a death penalty," said Neal. "But if you don't deal with that 
argument, are you not violating or withholding on your moral obligation to 
address whatever current problems you can? It's kind of a catch 22."

Neal noted that the American Law Institute, the organization responsible for 
clarifying what a constitutionally sound execution process would look like over 
the last 50 years, pronounced their work a failure in 2010.

"The fundamental question is: Why do we have a death penalty in a civilized 
society?" said Neal. "Is it compatible?"

Neal, a Louisville Democrat, has filed a bill for consideration in 2015 which 
would create a task force to study the costs of the death penalty. It'd be the 
1st study of its kind for Kentucky.

The bill will start its trek through the state legislature when the new session 
begins on Jan. 6.

(source: WKMS news)

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

Kentucky man accused of killing family could face death penalty


Ryan Champion, the Kentucky man accused of killing his family and another man 
in Trigg County, could face the death penalty.

On Wednesday, Commonwealth Attorney G.L. Ovey filed a notice of aggravating 
circumstances outlining the intentional killings of Lindsey, Joy and Emily 
Champion as well as kidnapping while committing murder.

Ovey says the Commonwealth plans to use the notice to seek the death penalty.

Also in court, Champion entered a not guilty plea and introduced his new 
attorney.

His next court appearance is scheduled for February 13th.

(source: WPSD news)

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

Death penalty in play in Champion case


Public defenders were in the middle of setting up another court date for a man 
charged with complicity to murder in the Oct. 26 shooting deaths of 2 of his 
family members and murder in the death their alleged killer when a new attorney 
came into play.

"I'm untimely in terms of arrival but timely in terms of consideration," Ryan 
Champion's new attorney, Tom Osborne, told Trigg Circuit Judge C. A. "Woody" 
Woodall shortly after the beginning of Wednesday's proceeding.

(source: kentuckynewera.com)






COLORADO:

Judge in Colorado movie theater massacre case refuses to delay trial again


A judge overseeing the Colorado movie theater massacre case said on Wednesday 
he will not delay the trial of gunman James Holmes again, rejecting a request 
by the defense for more time to study the results of a 2nd court-ordered sanity 
exam.

Jury selection in the trial of Holmes, 26, is due to start next month, and 
Arapahoe County District Court Judge Carlos Samour has previously told lawyers 
for both sides to be ready to present their opening statements in late May or 
early June.

Holmes is charged with multiple counts of 1st-degree murder and attempted 
murder for opening fire inside a Denver-area theater in July 2012 at a midnight 
screening of the Batman film, "The Dark Knight Rises," killing 12 and wounding 
dozens.

His lawyers concede he was the sole gunman, but argue that the former 
neuroscience graduate student was suffering from a psychotic episode at the 
time. Prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty if he is 
convicted.

Defense lawyers asked last week for the trial to be delayed to give them more 
time to study the results of Holmes' second sanity exam, which they said run to 
nearly 5,000 pages of documents and more than 20 hours of video.

On Monday, they told the judge their team had also been hit by 2 medical 
emergencies.

The prosecution had opposed any further delay to the trial.

In his ruling on Wednesday, Samour said the defense will have had ample time to 
study the results of the 2nd exam by the time trial begins, and he said they 
had failed to identify specific materials their experts were unable to view.

"If such vague allegations were sufficient, every criminal defendant could be 
entitled to a postponement of his trial," the judge wrote.

Holmes' trial has already been delayed several times, mostly because of the 2 
mental examinations the California native was ordered to undergo after invoking 
the insanity defense.

While Samour said he sympathized with the defense and the "tragic events" of 
their medical emergencies, he said that likewise they were not grounds to delay 
a case that has been pending for 2 1/2 years.

The judge also said a majority of victims polled oppose any further holdups.

"Simply put, it is time for this case to proceed to trial," Samour wrote.

(source: Reuters)






ARIZONA:

Third Juror Dismissed From Death Penalty Trial After Getting Arrested

More details have emerged about the latest juror to be dismissed from the Jodi 
Arias sentencing retrial.

Last Tuesday, Judge Sherry Stephens announced at the end of a long afternoon 
break that Juror No. 3 was dismissed from the retrial without giving an 
explanation. It turns out that the juror, who has been identified as Melissa 
Lenette Garcia, was kicked off the case due to a recent arrest.

According to RadarOnline.com, the 36-year-old woman was arrested on Black 
Friday and charged with issuing a bad check, making her the 3rd juror to get 
the boot from the high profile murder trial.

In October, one of the 12 original jurors was let go due to an ongoing family 
emergency on the 1st day of the retrial. The next day, a 2nd juror was removed 
for talking to a reporter that she thought was HLN talk show host Nancy Grace.

The incident took place on Oct. 22 during a morning break as Beth Karas, a 
former on-camera reporter and commentator for HLN, was being interviewed by 12 
News about the case. After her interview was over, Juror No. 9 asked Karas if 
she was Nancy Grace, a nationally renowned television personality and a vocal 
opponent to Arias, reports AZ Central. In response, Karas told her that she 
used to work with Grace and then reported the incident to the court.

Juror No. 9 was then immediately dropped from the case and Maricopa County 
Judge Sherry Stephens reiterated to the remaining jurors that they are 
prohibited from discussing the case, watching TV, consuming news media and 
using social media, reports USA Today.

Altogether 12 jurors and 6 alternates were selected from a pool of hundreds of 
people earlier this month. However, there will be a mistrial if there are less 
than 12 jurors to serve on the panel.

Jodi Arias, 34, was convicted of the 1st-degree murder of her ex-boyfriend 
Travis Alexander in May 2013. According to medical examiners, Arias stabbed him 
27 times, primarily in the back, torso and heart in his Phoenix home in 2008. 
She also slit Alexander's throat from ear to ear, nearly decapitating him, and 
shot him in the face before she dragged his bloodied corpse to the shower.

Although she was found guilty in the case, the jurors failed to reach a 
unanimous decision on her sentencing. As a result, the retrial will determine 
whether she should be sentenced to death, life in prison or life with a chance 
of release after serving 25 years.

(source: Latin Post)

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

2016 trial date set in girl's slaying


A judge on Wednesday set a trial date for a Bullhead City man accused of 
strangling an 8-year-old girl to death in September.

The day after holding a status hearing, Superior Court Judge Lee Jantzen set a 
trial date of Oct. 17, 2016, for Justin James Rector. The judge also set a 
pre-trial hearing for Aug. 23, 2016, and Rector's next hearing for Jan. 28. At 
that January hearing, a 2nd defense attorney will provide Jantzen with their 
qualifications to act as co-counsel. A 2nd attorney is required in a death 
penalty case.

State statutes require a trial date be set 24 months after a prosecutor files a 
notice to seek the death penalty. Deputy Mohave County Attorney Greg McPhillips 
recently filed a notice to seek the death penalty against Rector, the only 
capital case in Mohave County.

Jantzen set the trial date early so McPhillips and Rector's attorney, Harry 
Moore, have time to schedule witness interviews, disclose evidence and 
exhibitions, file motions and agree on jury instructions.

The judge also ordered Rector to undergo an IQ competency evaluation to 
determine his sanity at the time of the alleged crime, which is required in a 
death penalty case. A pre-screening mental health exam has determined that 
Rector is competent to stand trial.

Rector, 26, is charged with 1st-degree murder, kidnapping, child abuse and 
abandonment of a dead body for the murder of Isabella Grogan-Cannella. Rector 
allegedly murdered Grogan-Cannella shortly after midnight on Sept. 2 and left 
her partially naked body buried in a shallow grave near her Lakeside Drive 
home.

At Tuesday's hearing Jantzen allowed the autopsy report to be made public but 
refused to allow graphic autopsy photos to be released. The medical examiner 
ruled her death was from asphyxia due to strangulation.

(source; Mohave Daily News)






CALIFORNIA:

Death penalty to be sought against illegal alien accused of killing deputies


After talking with the families of 2 deputies slain in October, Sacramento and 
Placer county prosecutors announced Tuesday that they will seek the death 
penalty against Luis Enrique Monroy Bracamontes, the 34-year-old Mexican 
national suspected of killing the lawmen during a daylong rampage on Oct. 24 
that spread from Sacramento to Auburn.

The announcement came in Sacramento Superior Court, where Bracamontes and his 
wife, 38-year-old Janelle Marquez Monroy, made brief court appearances and had 
their next hearing set for Feb. 4.

Prosecutors did not seek the extend the death penalty to Monroy, who is charged 
with murder in the death of Placer County Detective Michael Davis but not in 
the slaying of Sacramento County Deputy Daniel Oliver.

Bracamontes is charged with killing both deputies, as well as the attempted 
murders of motorist Anthony Holmes during a botched carjacking attempt, and the 
attempted murders of three other Placer County deputies.

Another attempted murder count was added in an amended criminal complaint filed 
Tuesday that charges Bracamontes with trying to kill Oliver's partner, 
Sacramento County Deputy Scott Brown, during the shootout at an Arden area 
Motel 6 where the crime spree began.

The criminal complaint lists 5 special circumstances against Bracamontes, which 
allows prosecutors to seek the death penalty, but none against Monroy.

The couple is being prosecuted jointly by the Sacramento and Placer district 
attorneys' offices, and prosecutors issued a statement saying they had decided 
to seek the death penalty for Bracamontes after reviewing the evidence 
separately.

"Input from the victims' families was solicited, received, and considered 
during the decision making process," said the statement, which Placer County 
Assistant District Attorney Dave Tellman repeated in court. "Both offices 
independently concluded that the death penalty is the appropriate penalty in 
this instance."

Tellman added that before making the decision prosecutors "sought input from 
the defense team" and had agreed to allow Bracamontes' lawyers to "submit a 
package of materials to us for reconsideration of that decision."

"Collectively, we agreed to that procedure," the prosecutors said in their 
statement.

Bracamontes, who listened to the proceedings through a Spanish interpreter 
while standing inside a cell in the courtroom, did not appear to react visibly 
to the decision, and Public Defender Jeff Barbour said after court that it was 
too early to comment on prosecutors' decision.

"We're still in the process of getting volumes of information," Barbour said. 
"We haven't had a chance to review it thoroughly. That's why we continued this 
to February. Because of that, we're not putting out any comment at this time."

Bracamontes' wife, who was brought into the courtroom cell after Bracamontes, 
also did not speak, although at the end she turned to the back of the courtroom 
and smiled broadly and waved at her parents, who declined to speak to reporters 
afterward.

Judge Helena Gweon did not allow the media to photograph the faces of either 
suspect, despite the fact that the case has generated international attention 
and photos of them have been made widely available.

The crime spree has gained notoriety because of its ruthless nature and because 
it came during a national debate on immigration reform. Bracamontes, who lived 
in the Salt Lake City area, has entered the United States illegally repeatedly 
and has a history that includes at least four arrests in Arizona on drug and 
weapons charges. Federal officials say Bracamontes, who used numerous aliases, 
had been deported at least twice but continued to enter the country illegally.

Both are being held without bail: Bracamontes is in custody at the El Dorado 
County Jail, while his wife is in the Yolo County Jail.

(source: Associated Press)






USA:

Ask The Ethicist: Capital Punishment And The Mentally Ill


Texas inmate Scott Panetti was sentenced to die for shooting and killing 2 
people. Last week, the state's Attorney General's office granted a stay due to 
Panetti's documented mental illness.

Scott Louis Panetti is a death row inmate in a Texas prison. Last week, a judge 
granted a stay of execution because Panetti - who once represented himself in a 
trial, and called Jesus Christ and the Pope as witnesses - has a history of 
mental illness.

Panetti was convicted of killing Joe and Amanda Alvarado. Under Texas law, he 
was sentenced to die by lethal injection. The court determined Panetti's 
schizophrenia to be no impediment in terms of mental acumen. Last Wednesday, 
Panetti's attorney Gregory Wiercioch successfully petitioned to reverse the 
decision - citing the Eighth Amendment's protection against cruel and unusual 
punishment - and the execution order was suspended.

Medical ethicist Art Caplan called Panetti not only mentally ill but "floridly 
schizophrenic." "It makes no sense to execute a person like that. I'm not even 
sure he can fully appreciate the fact that he's being executed," Caplan said 
Wednesday on Boston Public Radio.

"It doesn't make any sense to me," Caplan said, adding that there are only two 
reasons to seek the death penalty. "One of them is to deter crime, [and] I 
don't think this guy would've been deterred. (...) The other is retribution: 
you deserve it. You did something hard, you should lose your life for it." 
Caplan said that without either rationale, the death penalty shouldn't be used.

Caplan raised an equally-vexing question for prison medical staff and doctors. 
"There are people in prison who clearly are mentally ill and who have done 
awful things. And the question becomes, Should we give them drugs to restore 
them to at least some level of sanity, and then execute them?" Caplan said that 
technically, given the proper amounts of medication, those prisoners could be 
diagnosed "fit to be executed." The power, Caplan said, lay in the 
psychiatrist's hands.

Caplan noted that prisons have higher levels of mental illness than the 
population. Some of that population may be better served in a minimum-security 
facility, or in a mental health treatment center. "A lot of [prisoners] have 
just brain disorders, and while we certainly don't want them running around 
getting guns, (...) I think we're going to start moving over to the mental 
illness model with [hospitalization]. I think the punishment model is going to 
start to fade as the brain science gets better."

(source: WGBH news)

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

There is justice for all in America, unless ...


A federal appeals court has halted Texas' execution of convicted killer Scott 
Panetti. While allegedly suffering from religious delusions, he murdered his 
wife???s parents.

The appeals court considered Panetti's history of mental illness. The Supreme 
Court ruled nearly 30 years ago mentally incompetent persons could not be 
executed, because that would be cruel and unusual punishment prohibited under 
the 8th Amendment.

In addition to insanity, courts have ruled that convicted murderers can be too 
young or have too low an IQ to receive the death penalty.

A person can commit horrific crimes, claim innocence due to insanity, and 
eventually rejoin society as a free person. Last month, convicted murderer 
Theodore Leleaux - who murdered a co-worker, cut out his heart and put it in 
his jacket - was paroled by a California judge who decided Leleaux was 
rehabilitated. Leleaux claimed he suffered a psychotic delusion when he 
committed the murder. But he is alright now? Really? If Charles Manson is 
alright now, should he be released?

If Panetti is too crazy to execute, then maybe his murder conviction should be 
overturned. Then, he could be retried, found innocent by reason of insanity, 
and if he could convince some judge he was no longer insane, he could be a free 
man. So, one can be crazy enough to commit murder, but too crazy to be fully 
punished for it.

Panetti's defense is that he suffered from psychotic religious delusions - the 
devil made him do it. It can be argued all religious beliefs are delusions, 
therefore any religious person committing a crime could be innocent by reason 
of insanity. So, all those Islamic State barbarians butchering people in the 
name of God could be innocent.

It challenges both the notions of logic and justice that some people committing 
murder are evil and deserve punishment, while others are mentally ill and 
deserve therapy. If the latter are innocent and not evil, then there is no 
guilty party. Murder is just an unfortunate accident. That can be difficult for 
the victims' loved ones to accept.

While some murders are committed out of mercy, as when someone kills a loved 
one who is suffering a painful terminal illness and wants to die, most murders 
are either cold-blooded or acts of rage. Why are they not acts of insanity? All 
such murderers are crazy, so why is it OK to execute any of them?

However, who is nuts and who is not isn't the most critical issue in deciding 
justice for murder, the death penalty is. While the courts are deliberating 
over whether a murderer is sane, or who is too young or not smart enough to 
execute, or what method of execution is constitutional, the larger problem is 
the instances of failed justice that result in wrongful convictions.

Unless justice can be absolutely infallible, all cops and prosecutors honest, 
and all juries impartial, the death penalty is not appropriate. With police 
executing people on the streets with impunity, and with the federal government 
using drones to assassinate American citizens, we sure don't need more 
state-sanctioned executions by a fallible, sometimes-corrupt, judicial system.

Widespread police thuggery, an emerging police state that spies on and bullies 
the public, twisted justice that punishes victimless drug users while it 
ignores fraudulent bankers who victimize millions of people have all made 
American justice suspect, putting trust in the judicial system in jeopardy.

Justice in America is the best money can buy, and for that reason and others it 
is not always impartial, honest or fair. It is certainly not infallible. 
Allowing such a system to put people to death is not only barbaric. it is a 
lethal threat to every citizen.

(source: Opinion, Randy Alcorn----Lompoc record)

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

As exonerations continue, so do executions


In Buffalo, another likely exoneration:

Josue Ortiz is on the cusp of freedom.

District Attorney Frank A. Sedita, one of the few remaining obstacles to 
Ortiz's release from prison, is dropping his opposition, paving the way for 
Ortiz to be freed, possibly as early as this week.

Ortiz, a West Side man now in Attica Correctional Facility, is believed to have 
been wrongfully convicted in Erie County Court of the double murder that sent 
him to jail 10 years ago.

"Simply stated, I cannot, in good conscience, permit a man to remain in jail 
when I have a reasonable doubt concerning his guilt," Sedita said in a letter 
Monday.

The letter to Erie County Judge Thomas P. Franczyk is expected to accelerate 
the process for Ortiz's release.

Sedita pointed to a number of reasons why he is dropping his opposition to 
Ortiz's release, most notably an alleged confession to the murders by Efrain 
"Cheko" Hidalgo.

And in Ohio, another one:

A judge Tuesday cleared Ronnie Bridgeman of a murder that he didn't commit. The 
false allegation, however, cost him 28 years in prison.

Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Pamela Barker tossed out the 1975 conviction 
against the 57-year-old man who now goes by the name Kwame Ajamu. He was 
released from prison in 2003. Barker's decision comes just weeks after judges 
threw out the cases against his brother, Wiley, and Ricky Jackson.

"My battle has come to an end," he told Barker.

Then, he detailed what 28 years behind bars did to him.

"We were robbed," Ajamu said. "There will be no offspring when I die. When my 
brother passes away, that is it. We don't have children. There will never be 
another Ronnie Bridgeman. The important part is that we have been united while 
we are standing forward and upward and that we are not looking at each other in 
the graveyard."

Meanwhile, an Illinois appeals court reversed two murder convictions in 2 days 
this week. You might think that the ongoing stream of exonerations, findings of 
police and prosecutor misconduct, and overturned convictions might cause some 
public officials to think twice about irreversible executions. That's true in 
some places. But not in Georgia.

Robert Wayne Holsey died by lethal injection Tuesday night for the killing of a 
Baldwin County deputy in 1995.

He was executed at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison near 
Jackson.

In his last moments, Holsey addressed the father of Deputy Will Robinson, who 
witnessed the execution. Holsey said: "Mr. Robinson, I'm sorry for taking your 
son's life that night. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me and 
my family." That account comes from our reporter Randall Savage, who was among 
a handful of reporters who were also witnesses.

There was no doubt about Holsey's guilt, although he was represented by an 
attorney who had a quart-a-day vodka habit, including during the trial, and was 
later disbarred for stealing from his clients.

Last year, I wrote about the state of the death penalty in Florida. That state 
leads the country in death row exonerations. That fact only motivated the state 
legislature to speed up executions. I guess that's one way to cut down on 
exonerations - just kill them before they can prove their innocence. Missouri 
has also seen a spate of exonerations, including several overturned convictions 
won by Kenny Hulshof, a former prosecutor (and congressman) often specifically 
used by the state's attorneys general because of his reputation for winning 
death verdicts. But Missouri isn't going to let a few close calls keep business 
away from the death chamber.

Early Wednesday morning, Missouri set a record for its number of executions in 
a year.

Paul Goodwin was the 10th man executed, more than any other year since the 
death penalty was reinstated in the state.

Goodwin was put to death for sexually assaulting Joan Crotts, a 63-year old 
widow, and then killing her with a hammer.

In denying clemency, Gov. Jay Nixon referred to the crime as "brutal" and 
"senseless."

You might say the same thing about executing a man who is mentally deficient.

Goodwin's attorneys had argued that their client wasn't fit to be executed due 
to his mental deficits, legally referred to as mental retardation or an 
intellectual disability.

The most recent assessment by a psychologist found Goodwin was 
"borderline-intellectually disabled" with an IQ of 73. Another assessment found 
Goodwin had the mental understanding of a 13 year old.

"The one absolute certainty for this examiner over the 12 years I have been 
involved with this case is that Paul Terrence Goodwin is now, and probably 
always has been, mentally retarded,??? Denis Keyes wrote in concluding his 
examination.

"As such, if the state of Missouri proceeds with his judicial execution, then 
it is the devout opinion of this expert of 40 years experience in mental 
retardation, the state is doing so against the findings of both state and 
federal law, the Supreme Court and the Constitution of the United States of 
America," Keyes wrote.

The good news is that just a small percentage of counties sentence and carry 
out the vast majority of death penalty cases in America. The bad news is that 
those counties are incredibly proficient. And there seems to be a strong 
correlation between those counties and the types of police and prosecutor 
misconduct that lead to wrongful convictions.

(soruce: Radley Balko, Washington Post)