[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TENN., MO., OKLA., COLO.

[Rick Halperin]

Sept. 9



TENNESSEE:

Holly Bobo's remains found in Decatur County, TN


Human remains discovered in a rural Tennessee county are those of a missing 
nursing student who disappeared from her home in April 2011, investigators said 
late Monday.

The remains of Holly Bobo were found Sunday in Decatur County, not far from her 
home in the town of Parsons, about 110 miles east of Memphis, Tennessee Bureau 
of Investigation Director Mark Gwyn told a news conference.

Bobo was 20 when she disappeared. Her brother told police that he saw a man 
dressed in camouflage leading her away into the woods. Investigators and 
volunteers scoured the woods and fields of the town of about 2,400 for clues, 
but her remains were not immediately found.

Gwyn has said the Bobo investigation has been the most expensive and exhaustive 
in TBI history, and it's not over yet.

Since Bobo disappeared, the small town of Parsons and surrounding areas in West 
Tennessee tried to support the family, putting up pink ribbons on lamp posts, 
mailboxes and storefronts. Bobo was wearing a pink shirt and carrying a pink 
purse before she disappeared.

2 men found a skull Sunday not far from property owned by the family of Zachary 
Adams, who has been charged with Bobo's kidnapping and murder. He has pleaded 
not guilty. The area near his family's property was searched in March.

A 2nd man facing murder and kidnapping charges, Jason Autry, also has pleaded 
not guilty.

Recently elected District Attorney Matt Stowe said his office was preparing to 
seek a possible death penalty in the case. A decision is expected in coming 
weeks, after he consults with the Bobo family, he said.

"The evidence is voluminous," Stowe said. "We are going to make sure that 
everyone who played a part in the heinous crime that has attacked the peace and 
dignity of the state of Tennessee faces a consequence for that."

Stowe said the Bobo family would be issuing a statement Tuesday.

Before the news conference Monday, the Bobo family was trying to remain calm 
and let authorities do their job, said their attorney, Steve Farese.

"You can imagine the emotional roller coaster that they've been on," Farese 
said.

2 brothers, Jeffrey Kurt Pearcy and Mark Pearcy, also face charges of tampering 
with evidence and accessory after the fact in the case. Both men have said they 
are not guilty.

(source: Times Free Press)






MISSOURI----impending execution

Missouri Fights Lethal Injection Suit on Eve of Earl Ringo Execution


A federal appeals court will hear arguments Tuesday on a lawsuit filed by 23 
death row inmates who are challenging Missouri's secrecy-shrouded lethal 
injection protocol, but the outcome won't affect 9 of the plaintiffs - because 
they have already been executed.

1 plaintiff in the suit, Earl Ringo Jr., could be put to death at the state 
penitentiary in Bonne Terre just hours after the hearing on the suit, which the 
losing side is likely to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Ringo is pressing last-minute appeals on several fronts, including a claim that 
racial bias played a role in his sentencing by an all-white jury. But the 
latest court filing argues the execution should be canceled because of 
revelations that prison officials have been quietly using the controversial 
drug midazolam on condemned inmates.

Midazolam is the common thread in three executions in 2014 that did not go as 
planned in Ohio, Oklahoma and Arizona - and Missouri Department of Corrections 
officials said under oath in January that they would not use the drug.

But St. Louis Public Radio reported last week that since November, nine death 
row inmates have been injected with midazolam before being given a lethal dose 
of pentobarbital.

Ringo's lawyer says he believes midazolam isn't being used simply to calm the 
nerves of condemned inmates but to "mask the symptoms of the lethal injection 
drug" - the pentobarbital.

"The Department's actions shock the conscience, and a hearing is required to 
determine whether the prison intends to continue its pattern of 
unconstitutional executions," defense lawyer Richard Sindel wrote in a motion.

Corrections officials said midazolam is "not part of the actual execution."

"A sedative is administered to relieve the offender's level of anxiety in 
advance of the execution. The only lethal chemical the department uses is 
pentobarbital," the agency said in a statement.

Elsewhere, midazolam is used as a lethal agent.

In Ohio, it was part of a 2-drug injection tried for the 1st time during the 
January execution of Dennis McGuire, who took nearly 25 minutes to die and 
appeared to gasp for breath.

The botched April 29 injection of Clayton Lockett, which prompted the White 
House to order a review of execution procedures nationwide, also involved 
midazolam, as did Arizona's July 23 execution of Joseph Wood, which lasted 2 
hours.

For Missouri's death row inmates, however, midazolam has not been the primary 
issue. Instead, the suit that goes before the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of 
Appeals on Tuesday morning focuses on claims that the Show-Me State is 
violating the Constitution by refusing to name the compounding pharmacies that 
sell the pentobarbital.

The prisoners are also challenging lower court rulings that have presented a 
paradox: Even if they successfully show an execution method would be unduly 
painful, they must recommend a more humane alternative to end their own lives.

While Texas remains the leading capital-punishment state in America - 16 
murderers were put to death in the state last year - Missouri could break its 
own state record for executions by January. If his appeals fail, Ringo will be 
the 8th prisoner to enter the death chamber in 2014, the most in 15 years.

State officials have shown no inclination to slow the pace. In fact, Attorney 
General Chris Koster suggested this year that the prison system should make its 
own lethal injections so it doesn't have to rely on suppliers that demand 
anonymity.

Ringo is a plaintiff in the suit the Eighth Circuit will hear en banc, meaning 
all the judges will weigh in as opposed to a select few. His lawyer said it was 
not clear if that would help him win a temporary reprieve, noting that courts 
have declined to issue 11th hour delays for most other inmates involved in the 
case.

"It hasn't been a roadblock so far," Sindel said.

Relatives of Ringo's victims did not immediately respond to requests for 
comment.

(source: NBC News)

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

Racial bias influences Missouri executions


Death Penalty


For the past few weeks, citizens of the world have been questioning the 
equality of the criminal justice system in Ferguson. And yet, very few seem to 
be asking if racial bias affects how the most drastic, irreversible act of the 
law - executions - are carried out in Missouri, the state ranked 5th in 
executions since they were reinstated in1976.

On September 10, Earl Ringo is scheduled to be the 4th black man executed in 
Missouri this year. Mr. Ringo was sentenced to death as a result the robbery of 
a restaurant after-hours that resulted in the deaths of 2 employees. The 1 
African-American from the Cape Girardeau county jury pool who was actually 
questioned about her qualifications to serve on Mr. Ringo's jury was struck for 
cause at the request of the Prosecuting Attorney and under dubious 
circumstances. Mr. Ringo was thus tried by an all-white jury in front of a 
white judge by a white Prosecuting Attorney. Both of the people who died on the 
night of the offenses were white.

The handing down of the death penalty in America is clearly affected by the 
color the defendant's skin. African Americans have always been, and continue to 
be, disproportionately put to death at the hands of the American "justice" 
system. Currently African Americans account for 42% of the nation's death row 
population, even though they make up only 13% of the nation's civilian 
population. Furthermore, African Americans are disproportionately 
over-represented among those who have been sentenced to death and later found 
innocent. 38% of death row inmates freed since 1973 because of new evidence 
were African Americans, and even more alarming 35% of those executed and later 
found to be innocent were Black.

If Ferguson taught us anything, it's that grave consequences follow when the 
hard questions go unanswered. A 2012 study commissioned by the American Bar 
Association specifically found that Missouri's capital punishment system is 
influenced by race and that racial considerations play an improper role in 
determining outcomes in capital cases.

Mr. Ringo's attorneys have requested that the Governor stay the execution of 
Mr. Ringo and appoint an independent board to look into the issue of how race 
may have been a factor in his conviction and sentence. Earlier this year, St. 
Louis University School of Law, under the guidance of former Chief Justice of 
the Missouri Supreme Court Michael Wolff, launched a study aimed at answering 
the difficult questions of what factors play a role in capital sentencing 
decisions. This study provides a framework for conducting the exact analysis 
that is needed and being requested by Mr. Ringo's attorneys.

Governor Nixon should stay Earl Ringo's execution and grant an independent 
board of inquiry.

Cheryl Clay----President, Springfield NAACP

(source: Letter to the Editor, Springfield News-Leader)






OKLAHOMA:

Death chamber revamped for upcoming executions


The director of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections says the agency will 
renovate the state's death chamber and get new equipment for executions, 
including a tool that will allow staff to more easily find suitable veins for 
lethal injections.

Prisons director Robert Patton discussed the troubled April 29 execution of 
Clayton Lockett.

Lockett writhed and moaned before he was declared dead 43 minutes after his 
execution began.

A report issued last week blamed Lockett's flawed lethal injection on poor 
placement of intravenous lines.

The medical team could not find suitable veins in Lockett's arms, legs, neck 
and feet, leading the team to insert it in his groin.

Patton says that upgrades to the death chamber will include new communication 
devices so government officials can know what's going on.

(source: tvnz.co.nz)

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

Oklahoma updates policies after botched execution----After a state report 
released last week on April execution, prison officials say they will use new 
tools to find veins


Oklahoma is renovating its death chamber and buying new equipment for 
executions - including a tool to allow staff to more easily find suitable veins 
for lethal injections - after a troubled execution earlier this year, the 
director of the state Department of Corrections Robert Patton said on Monday.

The move follows a state report released last week that faulted poor monitoring 
of the intravenous line delivering the fatal drugs during the April 29 
execution, in which the prisoner writhed and gasped on a gurney for 43 minutes.

"I am extremely confident that these changes will have executions moving 
smoothly in the future," Patton said.

Republican Gov. Mary Fallin said last week that more executions would not take 
place until the new protocols are in place.

The state plans to have the new protocols written within 2 weeks to correct for 
shortcomings revealed in the report about the troubled execution of Clayton 
Lockett, convicted of a 1999 murder in which he shot 19-year-old Stephanie 
Nieman with a sawed-off shotgun as he watched 2 accomplices bury her alive.

The prisons department aims to have all the recommendations made in the report 
in place and ready for the next Oklahoma execution, Patton told reporters.

When asked if he was embarrassed by the Lockett execution, Patton said: "It was 
clear that we needed a review." He added that the execution "was not botched."

The state's Department of Public Safety (DPS) report last week blamed Lockett's 
flawed lethal injection on poor placement of intravenous lines, saying the 
medical team could not find suitable veins in Lockett's arms, legs, neck or 
feet before the line was inserted into his groin.

The report said a doctor and paramedic trying to execute Lockett failed nearly 
a dozen times to place an IV in his body and were unprepared for how to proceed 
once the line they secured to deliver a lethal injection began leaking drugs, 
causing a swelling in Lockett's leg slightly larger than a golf ball. Death 
penalty opponents slammed the execution as an example of the inhumane nature of 
the punishment.

DPS investigators made 11 recommendations to improve the process, including 
having additional lethal injection drugs on hand, more training for medical 
personnel in the death chamber and leaving the IV area of the body exposed so 
it can be monitored.

Among the changes under way are a fresh coat of paint for the death chamber, 
new seating for witnesses and expanded medical equipment that includes a vein 
finder and a heart monitoring machine, Patton said.

Patton declined comment on whether the sedative midazolam, which was used for 
the 1st time in the state with Lockett, will continue to be part of Oklahoma's 
lethal injection method. Use of the drug is being challenged in a federal 
lawsuit filed by death row inmates including Oklahoma's Charles Warner, who in 
1997 raped and murdered his roommate's 11-month old baby, Adrianna Walker.

Warner was set to die on the same day as Lockett, but his execution was 
postponed after problems with Lockett's lethal injection. Now he is next on the 
state's death penalty schedule, with his execution set for Nov. 13.

Gov. Fallin has said she wants the new guidelines implemented before the state 
conducts another execution. Patton said he would inform Fallin if new 
procedures are not in place or training is not done before Warner's execution 
day.

But critics contend there is no quick fix for a troubled system.

"The execution of Mr. Lockett represented multiple foundational failures of 
leadership, at various levels, including the systematic lack of transparency, 
which has marked this execution since before it began," said Dale Baich, an 
attorney for Oklahoma death row prisoners.

President Barack Obama said in May that the execution raised questions about 
the death penalty in the United States. He said he would ask Attorney General 
Eric Holder to look into the situation.

Oklahoma is also facing lawsuits over its execution protocols and the 
combination of chemicals it uses. Midazolam has come under scrutiny after it 
was used in problematic executions in the state earlier this year, as well as 
Ohio and Arizona. In each case, witnesses said the inmates gasped after their 
executions began and continued to labor for air before being pronounced dead.

(soure: Al Jazeera America)






COLORADO:

Prosecutors join defense, ask judge to bar TV cameras from Colorado theater 
shooting trial


Prosecutors in the Colorado theater shooting case joined defense lawyers in 
opposing television coverage inside the courtroom during the trial, saying it 
would inflict intense and hurtful attention on victims who testify.

In a court filing dated Friday and made public Monday, prosecutors also argued 
that television coverage could change the way trial witnesses behave.

Last week, attorneys for defendant James Holmes argued courtroom television 
would violate his right to a fair trial by making witnesses worry about public 
reaction if they gave testimony considered favorable to Holmes. They said it 
could also expose jurors and attorneys to death threats and cause other 
problems.

Prosecutors also asked the judge to bar still cameras from the courtroom. 
Defense lawyers focused their objections on television.

6 Denver television stations, a Denver radio station and the CourtTV cable 
channel asked the judge last month to allow a single TV camera and an audio 
system in the courtroom during the trial, scheduled to start Dec. 8.

The Denver Post filed a separate request to have a still photographer in the 
courtroom who would provide photos to the Post, The Associated Press and 
others.

Steven Zansberg, an attorney representing the Post and the AP, said media 
organizations planned to file a response with the court Tuesday on the requests 
for both still and television cameras.

Holmes pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to multiple counts of murder 
and attempted murder stemming from the July 2012 attack on a movie theater in 
the Denver suburb of Aurora. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

More than 400 people were in the theater, and 12 were killed. Another 70 were 
injured.

In their latest filing, prosecutors said they plan to call about 70 people who 
survived the attack to testify, along with family members of the dead.

If cameras are allowed in the courtroom, the victims' images and voices will 
end up permanently on the Internet, available to media organizations and 
bloggers as well as conspiracy theorists and "groups of individuals who support 
mass murder," prosecutors wrote. In a footnote, they added that as strange as 
it sounds, mass-murder supporters do exist, linked by the Internet.

Many of the victims will give highly personal, emotional and difficult 
testimony, and they will have no way to erase it from Internet sites, 
prosecutors wrote.

Separately, defense lawyers again suggested Holmes could withdraw his insanity 
plea, but one outside analyst said that appeared unlikely.

In a filing released Monday, the defense argued that prosecutors shouldn't 
automatically get a video recording of Holmes' second sanity evaluation. One 
reason they cite is that if Holmes changes his plea after the evaluation, 
prosecutors are no longer entitled to see the results.

The judge rejected the defense request.

Dan Recht, a longtime Denver defense lawyer who isn't involved in Holmes' case, 
said the odds of a plea change were remote. However, Recht agreed with Holmes' 
attorneys that prosecutors should not be given the recording automatically.

Holmes' attorneys made a similar suggestion in June 2013, but no change was 
made. They have not said what new plea Holmes might enter. His other choices 
are guilty or not guilty.

(source: Associated Press)

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

Political expert: Hickenlooper will have a tough time gaining 
re-election----Death penalty stance cited as biggest issue


2 months from Election Day, voter surveys show a dead heat and political 
analysts predict a tight race in Colorado's gubernatorial election.

"This is the 1st time Gov. Hickenlooper has ever really been challenged in a 
political race," said Bob Loevy, a retired political science professor at 
Colorado College.

The delayed execution of a man on death row is the biggest issue in the 
campaign, according to Loevy, and Hickenlooper's stance against the death 
penalty will hurt him at the polls.

Hickenlooper granted an indefinite reprieve to death row inmate Nathan Dunlap 
last year and has suggested he could grant him clemency even if he is not 
re-elected. Republican challenger Bob Beauprez says, if elected, he would carry 
out the death sentence for Dunlap. Dunlap was convicted of murdering 4 people 
at an Aurora Chuck E. Cheese restaurant in 1993. When granting the reprieve, 
Hickenlooper said he doubted the fairness of Colorado's death penalty.

Though it's a hot issue in November's election, Loevy argued voters should 
remember there's effectively no death penalty in Colorado because it's been 
carried out just once in the 40 years since it was reinstated in 1975.

"When you think of all the other issues in Colorado that we might be arguing 
over in a tough governor's race, here we are arguing over the death penalty, 
something that actually doesn't exist in the state," said Loevy. "We did put 
one man to death for murder and absolutely no one else. We've gone years and 
years with people committing murders and no one being put to death."

Besides Dunlap, there are 2 other men on death row. Robert Ray and Sir Mario 
Owens were both convicted in the murders of Javad Marshall-Fields, a witness to 
a murder trial involving Ray, and Marshall-Fields' fiancee, Vivian Wolfe.

Loevy said the death penalty in Colorado is only used politically and under 
pressure from the public in high-profile cases.

"If a district attorney senses there is great public outrage in the case of a 
murder, they will seek the death penalty," Loevy said. "Not because of the 
seriousness of the crime, but because of the political situation and how angry 
the people have become over the particular murder."

The issue weighs heavy with Colorado voters, most of whom still support the 
death penalty. A recent Quinnipiac University poll showed 69 % of the state's 
voters support the death penalty while 24 % think it should be replaced by life 
in prison without parole.

Loevy said the Aurora theater shooting case could also sway voters because 
people want to see the shooter punished to the full extent of the law. Though 
the trial hasn't started, prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for James 
Holmes, the suspect. Loevy said some voters may worry that having Hickenlooper 
in office may prevent a potential execution.

Loevy also said he believes this November will have a strong Republican 
undercurrent because it's the 6th year President Barack Obama, a Democrat, has 
been in the White House.

"Gov. Hickenlooper has had the bad luck of this death penalty case coming up in 
a year where we're all expecting things to go Republican anyway," Loevy said. 
"I think it's going to be a very close election, but if anyone wins easily, I 
think it's going to be the Republican, not the Democrat."

(source: KRDO news)