[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----KAN., OKLA., ARIZ.

[Rick Halperin]

Dec. 16


KANSAS:

"Her 72 Pounds Fought For Her Life" / Prosecution Argues Death For Davis



Jurors are weighing life in prison or the death penalty for convicted child 
killer Billy Davis.

Jurors will deliberate the death penalty or life in prison for convicted child 
killer Billy Davis for a 2nd day, after no agreement was reached Monday.

Davis's defense asked the jury to give him life, saying a controlled, medicated 
environment free from drugs and alcohol will protect the community from their 
defendant.

A clinical psychologist testified for the defense that he is "psychotic."

Dr. June Cooley, a doctor from Atlanta, said she met with Davis twice in 
November 2014 and said he has several mental disorders, including chronic 
adjustment disorder, PTSD, mood disorder (severe depression), bipolar 1 
disorder with psychotic features, paranoia, and substance abuse disorder. He 
had been having "homicidal ideations" for years, meaning he had been thinking 
about killing people even before he abducted, assaulted, raped and murdered 
8-year-old Ah'liyah Irvin. After he choked her, he stuffed her body in a 
clothes dryer.

Cooley said at first Davis insisted he did not commit the crime, but knew who 
did, but did not want to say who it was. That example, and several others, is 
what helped Cooley come to the conclusion that Davis is delusional. Cooley had 
already seen the transcripts between Davis and officers in which he confessed 
to the crimes.

Cooley also said Davis's history of alcohol and drug abuse heighten his 
psychotic symptoms. In December 2011, Davis went into a psychotic break. He had 
been off his medications and using drugs and alcohol when he ordered people 
outside at gunpoint in his underwear. He was hospitalized and taken to jail. 
Just 3 months later, after he was released, he was off his meds and again 
abusing drugs and alcohol when he murdered the little girl.

Defense attorney Mark Manna asked the jury to think about Davis's mental and 
emotional disturbance and how much the drugs and alcohol impaired him. Manna 
also asked for mercy, if not for Davis, then for his mother Kim.

Deputy Chief District Attorney Jacqie Spradling argued Davis committed the 
crime in a heinous, atrocious, and cruel manner, which is one of the 
aggravating circumstances in deciding the death penalty.

Spradling told the jury they can find Davis has mental illness and can even 
feel sorry for him, and still sentence him to death.

"Her 72 pounds fought for her life," Spradling said, as she displayed about 30 
pictures of the child's bruised and beaten body on a TV screen, along with 
pictures of the bloody crime scene. Closer pictures showed drag marks and claw 
marks in blood down in the basement where Davis murdered her. Family of the 
victim were brought to tears once again as they saw the images.

"In less than 10 minutes he stripped Ah'liyah of her life. Look at that and 
you'll know what to do," Spradling said.

Jurors will return to the Shawnee County Courthouse Tuesday morning at 9 a.m. 
to start the second day of deliberations.

Ah'liyah's grandmother told 13 News that no matter which sentence Davis 
receives, he'll never be able to hurt someone else again.

Kansas has not executed anyone since 1965.

(source: WIBW)








OKLAHOMA:

Attorneys for US state's death row inmates seek halt to executions, release 
witness accounts



Attorneys for 21 death row inmates in the state of Oklahoma head to federal 
court this week hoping that behind-the-scenes details of an execution gone awry 
will prevent a "bloody mess" from ever happening again.

Oklahoma state attorneys say new lethal injection protocols will address the 
problems encountered during the April 29 execution of 38-year-old Clayton 
Lockett, who writhed on the gurney, clenched his teeth and mumbled before a 
doctor noticed a problem with an intravenous line. That helped sparked a 
national debate on the death penalty in general and lethal injections in 
particular, as European drugmakers restrict sales of lethal drugs for 
executions.

Oklahoma inmates argue the state is experimenting on them with new drug 
combinations that amount to cruel and unusual punishment.

A legal filing in the case includes accounts of Lockett's execution, including 
Oklahoma State Penitentiary Warden Anita Trammell's description of the scene 
inside the death chamber after the blinds were lowered on witnesses as "a 
bloody mess."

Oklahoma's 1st execution since Lockett's is set for Jan. 15, with 3 more 
scheduled in the following weeks. A federal judge will hold hearings starting 
Wednesday on the inmates' claims that the state isn't ready.

According to accounts from others in the death chamber, including execution 
team members, once the blinds were lowered, a doctor tried to set a 2nd 
intravenous line, resulting in Lockett's blood spraying the doctor's jacket. 
One unidentified executioner told investigators Lockett "tried to get up" and 
continued straining and mumbling while prison officials scrambled to figure out 
what to do.

Lockett's execution ultimately was halted after prison officials consulted with 
the governor's office, but he died anyway 43 minutes after the 1st drug was 
administered. Witness accounts show there were no lifesaving measures given to 
Lockett even after the execution was halted.

The inmates' case centres on the state's use of the sedative midazolam as the 
1st in a 3-drug lethal injection procedure. Oklahoma used the drug for the 1st 
time with Lockett's execution.

The Oklahoma Department of Public Safety investigated Lockett's execution and 
released some - but not all - details to the public. Items kept secret include 
the transcripts of witness interviews, which have been obtained by defence 
attorneys as part of discovery.

The agency has denied requests from various media outlets, including The 
Associated Press, to release the additional information.

The secrecy has led to criticism from civil libertarians who accuse the state 
of whitewashing its report.

Last week's legal filing also includes details from an interview with former 
Department of Corrections general counsel Michael Oakley, who said the state 
selected midazolam based on conversations he had with prison officials in other 
states and his own online research.

Oklahoma and Florida are the only states that have used midazolam as part of a 
3-drug protocol, but Florida uses 500 milligrams, 5 times the amount Oklahoma 
used on Lockett. Oklahoma has since revised its protocol to match the amount 
Florida uses.

(source: News-Optimist)

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

When an execution is 'like a horror movie'



For the most part, American support for capital punishment is conditioned on 
humane conditions - there's an expectation that when U.S. officials execute an 
American, it will be done in a sanitary way that falls short of constitutional 
prohibitions against cruel and unusual treatment.

And yet the execution of Clayton Lockett in Oklahoma earlier this year 
continues to stand out for its gut-wrenching details. In April, we learned that 
the state intended to kill Lockett by using a new, lethal drug combination with 
contents state officials did not want to disclose, from a drug manufacturer the 
state did not want to identify. It quickly became apparent that the method was 
a failure - Lockett reportedly began to writhe and gasp after he had already 
been declared unconscious.

A prison official at the execution reportedly stated the obvious at the time: 
"Something's wrong." Lockett eventually died that night, but of a heart attack.

Over the weekend, however, the Tulsa World reported on the extent to which the 
execution was even worse than the public previously realized.

When Oklahoma investigators issued a report on what went wrong with the April 
execution of Clayton Lockett, they downplayed and omitted disturbing details 
from witnesses and officials, records filed in federal court show.

During interviews with state investigators, the warden at Oklahoma State 
Penitentiary recalled the scene inside the execution chamber on April 29 as "a 
bloody mess," according to a motion filed Friday by attorneys for death-row 
inmates.

Another witness said the scene "was like a horror movie" as Lockett was bucking 
and attempting to raise himself off the gurney when he was supposed to be 
unconscious and dying.

The article, to be sure, is not easy reading, but it's an important account of 
an instance in which a state tried to kill one of its citizens and struggled in 
ways that are genuinely shocking.

Although the prison lacked the right needles and had no backup drugs, the 
doctor attempted another femoral IV. No one was sure why. Blood backed up into 
the IV line, and the paramedic told the doctor he'd hit the artery, noting the 
doctor seemed anxious.

"We've got blood everywhere," the paramedic recalled to investigators.

It just gets worse from there.

(source: MSNBC news)








ARIZONA:

Jodi Arias Death Penalty Could Be Scrapped Over Claims Of Prosecution's 
'Misconduct,' 'False Evidence'



The Jodi Arias hearing regarding porn files on Travis Alexander's computer came 
to a close Thursday afternoon, according to a new report on The Arizona 
Republic.

Next, Judge Sherry Stephens must decide whether prosecutors' intent to seek the 
death penalty against Arias is void due to prosecutorial misconduct.

More than 6 years after Alexander's murder, his convicted ex-girlfriend found a 
lucky break that could potentially triumph her freedom once again - or at least 
allow her to avoid the death penalty.

The hearing, stretched three days stretched over 3 separate weeks, brought new 
claims to light. Arias' attorneys and their forensic expert Bryan Neumeister 
led the court through a description of the porn sites that had been visited and 
the computer viruses that had infected Alexander???s computer because of his 
usage.

Meanwhile, prosecutor Juan Martinez adamantly blamed the previous defense team 
for the deletions, Perry Smith, the Mesa police expert, eventually admitted to 
porn found on Alexander's laptop.

During the closing arguments, Arias' defense lawyers stressed that the state 
should no longer allow prosecution to continue to seek the death penalty.

"Let's put an end to this circus," defense attorney Kirk Nurmi said Thursday. 
"Any further proceedings will be based on false evidence," he added.

Judge Stephens informed the lawyers that the trial will resume on Monday.

(source: radaronline.com)