[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----PENN., DEL., MISS., OHIO, IND.

[Rick Halperin]

Nov. 17


PENNSYLVANIA:

Jury selection on hold in case involving deaths of East Liberty sisters


Jury selection in the trial of a man accused of killing 2 East Liberty sisters 
earlier this year will not occur today as scheduled, the Allegheny County 
district attorney's office said.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Allen Wade, 44, charged with two 
counts of homicide and other crimes in relation to the deaths of Susan and 
Sarah Wolfe.

Online court records show jury selection was set to begin today, but DA's 
office spokesman Mike Manko said it had been put on hold pending a status 
conference.

The sisters were found in their home on Chislett Street about 1 p.m. Feb. 7 
after coworkers became concerned after Susan Wolfe didn't show up for her job 
as a teacher's aide at Hillel Academy in Squirrel Hill. Sarah Wolfe was a 
psychiatrist at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic.

Investigators believe the women were killed the night before, each by a single 
gunshot wound to the head. DNA from Wade, a convicted felon who lived next door 
to the women, was found under Susan Wolfe's fingernails, prosecutors said.

(source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)






DELAWARE:

Delaware death penalty opponents gear up orchestrated campaign


Death penalty opponents are going public in Delaware the next few days.

"Death Penalty Awareness Days" started Friday and runs through Nov. 23.

The orchestrated push was designed to "educate the public about the inherent 
flaws in a capital punishment system and grow support for repeal of the death 
penalty in Delaware," according to a The Delaware Repeal Project news release.

Town hall-style forums are scheduled in Bear (Tuesday), Middletown (Wednesday) 
and Dover (Thursday) next week.

Among the keynote speakers is retired Manchester, N.H., police officer John 
Breckinridge, who said he initially supported the death penalty but has come 
around for repeal. Mr. Breckinridge's law enforcement partner was shot and 
killed as they investigated a disturbance in 2006.

When asked why, in a nutshell, the death penalty should be repealed, Mr. 
Breckinridge answered via email with:

"The death penalty should be repealed as it is about revenge, not justice," he 
said. "It prolongs the legal process potentially by decades making the families 
of all involved suffer for that length of time.

"The death penalty is not cost efficient as the bills for a DP case are in the 
millions while similar cases where the sentence is life in prison without 
parole tend to cost significantly less.

"The sole death row inmate in New Hampshire has cost the state $5 million plus 
to date with appeals yet to happen while the estimate for his case would have 
been under $1 million if the death penalty had not been sought.

"There have been people that were sentenced to death who were later found to be 
not just not guilty under law but innocent in every sense. The execution of 
even one innocent person is enough reason to repeal the death penalty."

Mr. Breckinridge will speak at St. Joseph Catholic Church Parish Hall at 115 
Cleaver Farm Road in Middletown on Wednesday, followed by an appearance at 
Wesley United Methodist Church at 209 S. State St. in Dover on Thursday. The 
first meeting is Tuesday at St. Elizabeth Anne Seton R.C. Parish Hall at 345 
Bear-Christiana Road in Bear.

The meetings are scheduled from 7 to 9 p.m.

Emotions likely will run high at the death penalty repeal gatherings, Mr. 
Breckinridge said.

"The (gatherings) that I've seen tend to be a pep rally of sorts for the people 
attending, it gets them excited about their cause, lets them meet and connect 
with like-minded people, and shows that lots of people from very different 
lives and points of view can agree about a cause," he said.

"On the other hand there are some people who become very upset at these events. 
It can be a very emotional and polarizing issue. ..."

"It's True: Police Support Repeal" is the theme for the town-hall forums, 
officials said.

Other keynote speakers include West Orange, N.J., Police Chief James Abbott, 
Terrence Dwyer and George Kain of Western Connecticut State University, both 
past and present police officers.

"The death penalty system is broken beyond repair, and the fact that police 
officers and others in law enforcement support repeal illustrates that the 
death penalty does not contribute to our safety," The Delaware Repeal Project 
Campaign manager Ti Hall said in a news release.

"We can replace the death penalty with life without parole and use the tax 
dollars saved to fund violent crime prevention and services for victims??? 
families."

The Delaware Repeal Project will visit church worship services throughout the 
state as well, which started Friday.

Currently, there are 16 convicted murderers, all men, sentenced to death in 
Delaware, according to the Delaware Department of Correction.

More information on The Delaware Repeal Project is available online at 
www.DERepeal.org.

(source: delaware.newszap.com)






MISSISSIPPI:

No 7th trial for Curtis Flowers in quadruple murder


For some Mississippians, especially those in Montgomery County, the name Curtis 
Flowers evokes a haunting and eerie reflection.

Flowers sits on death row convicted of killing 4 people, including his former 
boss, at Tardy Furniture Store in Winona in July 1996.

After a succession of mistrials and successful appeals that led to retrials, 
the Mississippi Supreme Court on Thursday upheld Flowers' 4th conviction for 
the execution-style killings of Robert Golden, Carmen Rigby, 16-year-old 
Derrick Stewart and store-owner Bertha Tardy. Flowers, 44, will not face a 7th 
trial.

The court, in a 6-3 decision, rejected numerous arguments made by Sheri Lynn 
Johnson, assistant director of the Cornell Death Penalty Project, at a hearing 
July 21 that there were "many odd characteristics and many errors" in Flowers' 
last and 6th trial. Johnson alleged the prosecution "cheated" when they made 
misstatements of evidence in closing arguments, introduced unreliable 
identification and displayed racial discrimination during jury selection.

Johnson also said there was "no way one person could have shot all four people 
at close range."

At the hearing, Melanie Thomas, special assistant attorney general, said a 
primary witness consistently identified Flowers as being in front of the store 
that day, that Flowers had a clear motive and that the Tardy family "considered 
Flowers a threat and were concerned for their safety."

Facts of the case

On the morning of July 16, 1996, Sam Jones Jr., a retired employee of Tardy 
Furniture, went to the store to teach 2 new employees, Golden and Stewart, how 
to properly load and unload furniture.

As Jones entered the store that Tuesday morning between 9:30 and 10 a.m. he 
found the bodies of the 4 victims. All 4 had been shot in the head. Golden had 
been shot twice.

During his initial testimony, the 87-year-old Jones, now deceased, said he was 
startled by "gurgling" sounds or what he later described as "someone trying to 
catch their breath." The prosecution said it was Stewart, fighting for his 
life. He died a week later, unable to name his assailant.

Flowers became an immediate suspect when investigators learned he had been 
fired from the store several days earlier and owed Bertha Tardy $30 for a cash 
advance on his check.

Prosecutors have consistently argued Flowers had a "beef" with the store 
because his paycheck had been withheld to offset merchandise damaged in his 
care.

Several other factors tied Flowers to the crime: bloody shoe prints found at 
the scene matched shoes he was said to own; several eyewitnesses saw him in 
front of or near the store the morning of the killings; the gun used was stolen 
from Flowers' uncle's car the morning of the killings and Flowers was seen 
sitting on the car; cash found at Flowers' home was close to what had been 
stolen from the store, and a gunshot residue test performed on Flowers hours 
after the killings confirmed particles on his hands.

In October 1997, Flowers faced his first trial in Lee County for Tardy's death. 
Flowers took the stand in his defense and gave inconsistent testimony as to his 
actions the morning of the killings. He was found guilty and sentenced to 
death. That conviction was later reversed because of prosecutorial misconduct, 
namely, introducing evidence related to the deaths of the other victims when 
Flowers was not on trial for those crimes.

In March 1999, Flowers stood trial in Harrison County for Stewart's killing and 
was found guilty and sentenced to death. That conviction was reversed for 
prosecutorial misconduct, including the introduction of evidence relating to 
the other killings.

In February 2004, Flowers was tried for all four killings in Montgomery County. 
He was again found guilty and sentenced to death. That conviction was reversed 
for prosecutorial misconduct, including racial discrimination in the jury 
selection.

The remaining 3 trials also took place in Montgomery County.

In November 2007, the state did not seek the death penalty, and the trial 
resulted in a hung jury and mistrial.

In September 2008, at the fifth trial, two black jurors were arrested and 
charged with perjury. An alternate juror, and the only black female on the 
panel, Mary Annette Purnell, claimed during the voir dire process that she 
didn't know Flowers, but it was later revealed her car was seen prior to the 
trial at his parents' house and that she was listed as an approved visitor at 
the prison where Flowers was being held. Another juror, James Bibbs, introduced 
information during the jury deliberations that had not been considered during 
the trial. Judge Joseph Loper eventually declared a mistrial.

Flowers' 6th trial in June 2010 lasted 2 weeks. The jury deliberated 30 minutes 
before finding Flowers guilty and sentencing him to death.

Divided opinions

The Tardy murders, as they are known, have split the county of more than 
10,000, which is is 53 % white and 45 % black.

In a recent poll of Montgomery County residents, just as many blacks as whites 
said they believe Flowers is guilty. A large number from both races remains 
undecided and a small percentage believes Flowers was involved but didn't act 
alone.

Ormon Knox, jury foreman in Flowers' 5th trial in 2008, said there are numerous 
conspiracy theories. "This is all the community is talking about," he said, 
"but these things were never discussed in the courtroom."

Some residents also believe that 2 men accused of robbing a pawn shop and 
shooting 2 people in Alabama around the same time as the Tardy killings may 
have actually committed the crime. A .38-caliber pistol was used in those 
killings, the same as in the Tardy case.

The prosecution has also been criticized for allegedly trying to keep 
African-Americans off the jury. In Flowers' 6th trial, more than 600 jurors 
were summoned - 55 % white and 42 % black. By mid-morning, fewer than 200 
remained.

Prosecutors have argued - and it was borne out during the voir dire process - 
that the majority of potential black jurors in Montgomery County knew Flowers 
personally, had some kind of relationship with his family, or had been sued by 
Tardy Furniture and could thereby not be impartial.

In its decision, the high court agreed, citing several specific instances of 
those facts.

During the 2010 trial, Loper encouraged District Attorney Doug Evans to pursue 
legislation that would allow for a wider jury selection.

"Supposedly, the jury is fair to everyone," Evans said in 2010. "But as far as 
the law is concerned, if the defendant thinks the jury is not fair to him, he 
can request a change of venue. That's by law. But there is no such provision 
for the state."

Sen. Lydia Chassaniol, who resides in Montgomery County, introduced a bill that 
would "allow an impartial jury to be drawn from a wider geographical area than 
the county where the crime was committed."

"I offered the bill because the jury pool seemed to be depleting rapidly due to 
several trials," Chassaniol said. "Also, modern transportation is very 
different from when the state constitution was drafted. It seemed like a 
logical step to expand the jury pool lines from the county boundary to that of 
the Circuit Court district."

Chassaniol said the chairmen of the judiciary committees, however, believes her 
bill would require a constitutional amendment, and she has yet to pursue that 
effort.

Thus far, Flowers' trials have cost Montgomery County taxpayers $340,000. 
Chancery Clerk Tallmadge "Tee" Golding said a 7th trial could cripple the 
county.

"The amount of money that it costs for these kinds of trials is so much more 
than the average trial," Golding said. "We have the jury sequestered. We have 
to put them up in a motel. We have to feed the jurors 3 meals a day, and we 
have to provide transportation for them. It's just a lot of extra money that 
could be used for anything like buying new equipment or paving roads."

Golding also said continued litigation would put a continued strain on families 
involved.

"They can never put this case to rest," he said. "Time heals a lot of things. 
But for these families and anybody connected to these families, they will 
never, ever forget."

Monica Land is a freelance writer living in Monroe County.

OTHER MULTIPLE RETRIALS

Sheri Lynn Johnson, assistant director of the Cornell Death Penalty Project, 
said at a July hearing that at 6 trials, Curtis Flowers' case was "unmatched in 
capital litigation in the entire country." But Flowers is not the first person 
to stand trial several times for the same crime in the state of Mississippi.

-- On July 6, 1974, Arthur Lee Stevenson, an inmate at the Warren County jail, 
stabbed a 72-year-old guard 26 times with a butcher's knife. After 4 mistrials, 
Stevenson was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison, where he 
remains.

-- 5 mistrials were declared in the case of Loretta Pierre of Harrison County. 
Pierre was charged with killing Kathy Schweinsberg, the girlfriend of her ex, 
in December 1985. After a change of venue to Warren County, Pierre was found 
guilty of murder in February 1989 and sentenced to life in prison where she 
remains.

(source: Clarion Ledger)

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

Behind closed doors: Jury foreman tells his story


I was the best possible chance for Curtis Flowers to get a fair trial.

All of the other jurors were from Winona and were here when the incident 
occurred. I wasn't. I spent 22 years in the Navy, retired and moved back to 
Winona in 2003. And as somebody who was from Winona but didn't live here, I 
didn't have access to all the noise, the conspiracies and the theories of what 
he did do and what he didn't do. ... I didn't know Curtis Flowers. All I had 
was the order from the judge on how to conduct myself as a juror.

I was sequestered for the 5th trial in 2008. There were 15 of us chosen. 1 
juror was dismissed and 2 of the jurors got in trouble. One juror, Mary Annette 
Purnell, placed a call to Flowers and she didn't make that known. And they came 
in during deliberations and walked her out in handcuffs.

And once we got into the nitty gritty of it, and we were already confused about 
Purnell, James Bibbs finally said what he said - that Curtis Flowers wasn't 
guilty because he and another man saw him around an auto shop the day of the 
murders. And we all jumped on him and said, "You can't do that Mr. Bibbs." But 
he held onto the fact Flowers didn't do it. But his premise was based on what 
was not discussed in court. And, in all fairness, that's how we got the 
mistrial.

Me, Mr. Bibbs and another man named Brown were the only blacks on the jury. And 
there were 7 ladies. And once we were given our instructions to go in and 
deliberate, the bailiff said, "Choose who you want to be your leader because if 
you need a break, if you need anything, we're only going to work through 1 
person and 1 person only." And I was chosen to be that 1 person.

I spent 3 years with the Navy brig as a guard and a receipt and release 
officer. I heard every kind of case imaginable. So, I had a unique perspective 
on justice from a military standpoint. And what I tried to do in Flowers' trial 
was to take a more practical approach. We had chart papers all over the place. 
We re-stepped everything and tried to keep everything on point as to what we 
could discuss and what we knew what was not discussed in the courtroom.

But the real hard part from now on with any trial that has to do with Curtis 
Flowers is knowing that all the outside information that doesn't even get 
discussed in the courtroom is what the community is talking about. And here's 
what I mean. Mr. Tardy, Mrs. Tardy's husband, was known on business days to 
come in the store and take a seat in the rocking chair. You come through the 
front door; he's usually the 1st person you see. The day of the crime, he 
wasn't at the store. People talk about that.

There's a lot of conspiracy surrounding Mr. Tardy's son from his previous 
marriage. That he didn't like his stepmom. There was somebody connected to the 
mob. Curtis Flowers fled to Texas and came back with all this money. His mom 
had earlier won a class-action suit with Fen-Phen and folks were talking about, 
"Where is all this money coming from? How are they living now?" I heard all 
types of crazy stuff like that later, but it wasn't discussed in the courtroom.

They said there's no way he could have shot four people. You can say all you 
want. But all I know is, even O.J. took the stand. If you don't take the stand 
in your own defense, then for me, you know more than what you're letting on. 
And what you know may be detrimental to not only your family but other people 
who know what you know.

Flowers didn't move. He didn't flinch during the trial. He sat there the whole 
2 weeks. And he didn't have to do anything. The burden of proof was on the 
state. So, there wasn't anything for him to do.

In the military, if you ever go up against a court martial, you're guilty. And 
now you have to sit there and prove your innocence or justify your actions.

But most of the information against him was very circumstantial. There was a 
missing gun that was never found. But each circumstantial thing pointed in his 
direction.

We deliberated for almost two weeks, and I was trying to uncover everything. 
Sometimes we brought up things the defense should have brought up. And because 
of the urgency of trying to put him away, I could also see a lot of missteps at 
the hands of the district attorney because these folks were frustrated.

The DA and some people here in the county connected with the local judicial 
system, they are totally, totally frustrated and the truth is, if the death 
penalty had never been on the table, he'd be serving life in prison right now.

But once we got the case, I didn't allow the jury to come up with a verdict in 
15 minutes after going in or 45 minutes. I mean, we worked. And the female 
jurors. They were very conscious of Flowers' mother being there. And they 
agonized over the decision that they had to make. They did. And all these 
ladies were white. So, at this point, it just wasn't a black and white thing. 
It really wasn't. I can't speak so much for the men. Because they pretty much 
had their minds made up. But it was mostly the women that went to work in 
there.

When Mr. Bibbs said what he said, I passed a note through, and the judge said, 
"Keep deliberating."

When we went around the room and said what is your decision, the majority said 
guilty, with 2 who said not guilty. And I actually had 1 of the female jurors 
on my side. And one abstained. We asked them to bring in pictures; we 
questioned the testimony of the experts they brought in. And I had 1 female 
juror who hung in there with me to guide all of us into a real deliberation 
mode instead of just saying, "This is my opinion, and I'm sticking with it." I 
was the last person to break down and say, "Well, based on the information we 
have, it all points to him."

The 2nd time I passed a note through and said, "Judge, we're at a deadlock." He 
said okay. He declared a mistrial, and they immediately put handcuffs on Mr. 
Bibbs.

But before all that took place. Before we said, "Let's get the opinion of 
everybody." Everybody agreed that, this time, if we could come up with a 
unanimous verdict of guilty, we were going to recommend no death penalty. Just 
life in prison. And that's another credit to these particular jurors. But you 
don't hear people talking about that.

I've read some of the national blogs, and it's so easy for people to say, 
especially when you talk about our black men being railroaded, that "2 blacks 
voted guilty, and there still isn't enough evidence to prove he's really 
guilty." That's just not the case. It all pointed to him.

After it was declared a mistrial, most of us had an emotional breakdown. It 
just hit us, and we were crying like babies. I took these people through 
talking about this, looking at bloody pictures - and especially those women who 
were looking at that boy's mother every day. There wasn't a day during 
deliberation that they didn't mention, "I could not be in her seat right now." 
And they did everything they could to figure out a way to free that fella.

So, it wasn't a black and white thing. These women agonized over it until the 
judge said, "We thank you for your time, and we thank you for your service." 
The bailiff opened the door for us to go out the side way, and that was it. I 
couldn't do anything but cry myself. It was just that emotional, the weight we 
were carrying. It was almost like a collapse, and I just took a few days and 
got away.

Now, when we see each other on the street, we speak. Most of the ladies give me 
a hug. We ask about family. But this experience hasn't changed me.

But the (community) leaders should be trying to get people past this. Winona is 
a place that should be growing, but it's totally stagnant. Instead of raising 
up a cross, you need to start raising up some leaders that will really bring 
folks together.

Don't get me wrong. I love where I live. No matter where I went around the 
world, I found myself defending Mississippi.

I'm just like James Meredith. He didn't want to go to Ole Miss because he was 
trying to change civil rights or because he wanted to be the 1st black to go 
there. And he writes in his book that, technically, he wasn't the 1st black to 
go. But he wanted to go because, he said, as a citizen of Mississippi, there 
should be no reason why a school that has every major nationality attending - 
that as a citizen of Mississippi, that he couldn't attend. And that's sort of 
how I feel about it. There's still work to be done here.

(source: Ormon Knox is currently the District 5 election commissioner of 
Montgomery County----Clarion Ledger)






OHIO:

Might Ohio use electric chair again?


The difficulty of obtaining drugs for executions has some Ohio legislators 
talking about alternatives, including the electric chair.

"There are other options," said Rep. Jim Buchy, R-Greenville, a co-sponsor of 
legislation to keep the supplier of execution drugs secret.

"Rope is cheap," said state Sen. Bill Seitz, R-Cincinnati.

No one is seriously suggesting - at least not yet - taking "Old Sparky," Ohio's 
electric chair, out of retirement, or returning to hanging, which the state 
abandoned in 1897.

But Ohio's problem with lethal-injection drugs is coming to a head: The 
scheduled Feb. 15 execution of Ronald Phillips is 90 days away.

Legislators are rushing to pass House Bill 663 before the lame-duck legislative 
session ends on Dec. 31 so that the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and 
Correction can obtain drugs it needs at least a month before the execution. The 
legislation would protect the identity of the source of the drugs from 
disclosure to the public and news media, and allow physicians who participate 
in the process - as well as execution-team members - to remain anonymous.

The deadline is crucial because the state must inform U.S. District Judge 
Gregory Frost of any changes in the execution protocol, including use of new or 
different drugs, 30 days before a scheduled execution. Frost, the judge 
handling lethal-injection lawsuits filed by death row inmates, postponed 
executions this year until the drug issue is resolved.

Ohio's most-recent execution, of Dennis McGuire on Jan. 16, was troubled. After 
the injection of midazolam and hydromorphone into his veins, McGuire struggled 
against the restraints around his body for about 20 minutes. He repeatedly 
gasped for air, made snorting and choking sounds and clenched his hands into 
fists.

That combination of drugs had never been used in the U.S., and, if Ohio prisons 
director Gary Mohr has his way, will never be used again in Ohio. The state had 
resorted to the untested combination when pentobarbital, the single drug used 
previously, became unavailable because manufacturers no longer sold it for use 
in executions.

The drug still can't be obtained except from small "compounding pharmacies" 
that mix drugs to customer specifications.

Ohio House Speaker William Batchelder, R-Medina, said the issue can't wait, "or 
we're going to have people pass away prior to execution."

If Ohio were to revert to the electric chair, it would not be the 1st state to 
do so. Tennessee passed a law this year requiring electrocution if 
lethal-injection drugs aren't available. Tennessee also enacted a law last year 
shielding the source of execution drugs from public disclosure.

The Death Penalty Information Center, a nonpartisan capital-punishment 
clearinghouse, says 8 states allow electrocutions, but most of them don???t use 
it.

In addition, Arizona, Missouri and Wyoming allow the gas chamber, Delaware, New 
Hampshire and Washington permit hanging, while Oklahoma and Utah allow the 
firing squad under limited circumstances.

Even if Ohio would, like Tennessee, go back to electrocutions, there's a 
problem: Old Sparky was unplugged and shipped in 2002 to what is now the Ohio 
History Connection. It was the focal point of a 2011 exhibition, "Controversy: 
Pieces You Don't Normally See," that attracted thousands of visitors to the 
museum at 17th Street and I-71. The wood, metal and leather chair was used to 
execute 312 men and 3 women between 1897 and 1963.

It is now in storage.

Lethal injection, by law, became the only means of execution in Ohio in 2001. 
However, that doesn't rule out other execution methods being added. There have 
been discussions of options, including a gas administered by a mask fitted over 
the face.

Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, 
said Missouri, Georgia and Texas have, like Tennessee, passed laws or have by 
administrative rule cloaked the source of lethal-injection drugs. Georgia made 
it a crime to reveal the drugs or their source.

Dieter said he's uncomfortable with a system that hides vital information from 
the public about government's ultimate power of life and death.

"This is a curious path to go down. States would be better off being more 
upfront about this.

"The fundamental principle is about how government is kept in check by the 
people knowing what government is doing. ... It makes a difference where the 
drugs come from, just as it would make a difference where the bolts come from 
in bridges that the state builds."

Dieter said he is unaware of pharmacies or drug suppliers being harassed or 
threatened, something suggested in the Ohio proposal as the rationale for 
confidentiality. But there have been issues. A Houston pharmacy stopped selling 
execution drugs when it was publicly revealed as a supplier. A Missouri 
pharmacy that sold drugs to Oklahoma was sued for allegedly violating a 
prohibition against interstate sale of drugs.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio slammed the legislation. "It's not 
only a bad idea, it is bad governance to ram through during a postelection 
session without due and serious consideration," said Mike Brickner, ACLU senior 
policy analyst.

The Ohio Newspaper Association is opposed to making secret the records of 
execution drugs. In a column, association Executive Director Dennis Hetzel said 
he was "shocked by the sweeping language and the overall tone" of the 
legislation.

"Under the current language, it will be impossible for journalists, citizens, 
families and anyone else outside a handful of government officials and 
bureaucrats to scrutinize the process. The new, open-ended exception will 
invite the courts to block access to more and more information."

(source: Columbus Dispatch)






INDIANA:

A good reason to rethink the death penalty


It's not a deterrent, and we don't execute the worst of the worst.

If someone has a mental illness that makes him unclear on the very concept of 
death, is that a valid reason not to execute him?

That's the question raised in the case of Michael Dean Overstreet, convicted 
and sentenced to death for the 1997 abduction, rape and killing of 18-year-old 
Franklin College student Kelly Eckhart. His attorneys are asking St. Joseph 
County Judge Jane Woodward Miller to rule Overstreet is not competent to be 
executed because he doesn't understand that he would die.

"Given his specific delusion, Overstreet would go to the execution chamber 
believing that he would not die but rather would transition back to life with 
his family. He cannot prepare himself in any spiritual sense for death," his 
attorneys wrote.

The state counters that several of Overstreet's phone calls and emails include 
conversations in which he discussed topics related to his death and noted that 
he has prepared a will and made plans with relatives to visit him in prison 
before he is executed.

If Overstreet is capable of grasping death, he deserves no more consideration 
than any other death row inmate. If he isn't, it raises an interesting 
philosophical dilemma. Does that add to the cruel and unusual nature of 
executing him because the state will inflict on him something he doesn't 
understand? Or would it diminish it because it takes away the most agonizing 
part of execution, the long wait of dreading what's coming?

As interesting as that dilemma is, another aspect to the case makes 
Overstreet's execution even more troubling. If the judge rules against him, he 
could be the 1st inmate executed in Indiana since 2009.

With 5 years between executions, no one can claim that the death penalty is a 
deterrent in any meaningful sense. That means the only reason to execute 
someone is to express our sense of moral outrage, convey the idea that some 
crimes are so horrible only the death penalty will do.

You can't be executed Indiana just for killing somebody. You also have to meet 
one or more of carefully spelled out aggravating circumstances. The state, 
then, intends to kill for only the worst of the worst of the worst crimes. 
Clearly, though, it does not always do that.

The state, once in a great while, puts somebody to death just because it can. 
Talk about arbitrary and capricious.

(source: Editorial, The News-Sentinel)