[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS

[Rick Halperin]

Sept. 9



TEXAS----impending execution

Appeal for Houston killer says lethal drug has passed expiration date


Laywers for Houston double-killer Willie Trottie Tuesday asked the U.S. Fifth 
Circuit Court of Appeals to halt their client's Wednesday execution, charging 
that the drug to be used in the procedure may have passed its expiration date 
and could result in consitutionally cruel and unusual punishment.

The 11th-hour appeal questions authorities' assertion that the compounding 
pharmacy-produced pentobarbital to be used in the execution should remain 
potent through Sept. 30. It asks the court to stop the execution and schedule 
oral arguments on the issue.

Trottie, 44, is scheduled to die for the May 1993 murders of his estranged 
lover, Barbara Canada, 24, and her brother, Titus Canada, 29. The siblings were 
killed in a hail of bullets - Barbara Canada was shot 11 times - after Trottie 
arrived at their family home, ostensibly to borrow a car.

According to court documents, Trottie repeatedly had threatened to kill Canada 
if she failed to return to him. Other active appeals by Trottie's legal team 
argue that the former security guard's first lawyer failed to call witnesses 
who would have testified that Trottie and Canada had reconciled by the time of 
her death. In a recent interview, Trottie said the shootings occurred in the 
"heat of passion."

In Tuesday's filing, Houston lawyer Jonathan Ross and Philadelphia lawyer 
Maurie Levin argue that the Texas Department of Criminal Justice's "purchases 
(actual and attempted) of lethal injection drugs have been riddled with 
deceptive and questionable practices and communications."

In response to queries from Trottie's lawyers, Tuesday's petition says, the 
state prison system revealed that the pentobarbital to be used Wednesday will 
not expire until Sept. 30. The dose comes from the same batch as that used in 
April 3 and April 16 executions. It was tested for potency on March 17.

That claim, Trottie's lawyers contend, "is not supported by a shred of 
evidence, expert or otherwise, or the relevant science, which understands that 
expiriation dates of compounded chemicals is not a fixed science, is dependent 
on factors including the quality and sterility of the original ingredients, the 
proficiency of the compounders and the testing laboratory and storage 
conditions."

The federal appeal also challenges the reliability of the laboratory which 
tested the drug for potency, noting that it came under U.S. Federal Drug 
Administration scrutiny for operational shortcomings in 2013.

Trottie's lawyers say that use of a "drug beyond its use date deriving from a 
deeply flawed and unregulated industry is highly likely" to present the 
possibility of "serious, unneccessary and lingering pain and suffering."

Texas replaced its traditional 3 drug lethal cocktail with a single dose of 
pentobarbital in 2012 after anti-death penalty activists succeeded in shutting 
off supplies of the other drugs. Texas has executed 515 killers since lethal 
injection was begun in 1982.

(source: Houston Chronicle)

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

Executions under Rick Perry, 2001-present-----276

Executions in Texas: Dec. 7, 1982-present----515

Perry #--------scheduled execution date-----name---------Tx. #

277------------Sept. 10-----------------Willie Trottie--------516

278------------Sept. 17------------------Lisa Coleman---------517

279------------Oct. 15------------------Larry Hatten----------518

280------------Oct. 28------------------Miguel Paredes--------519

281------------Jan. 14------------------Rodney Reed-----------520

282------------Jan. 21-------------------Arnold Prieto--------521

283------------Jan. 28-------------------Garcia White---------522

284------------Feb. 4--------------------Donald Newbury-------523

285------------Feb. 10-------------------Les Bower, Jr.-------524

286------------Mar. 18-------------------Randall Mays---------525

(sources for both: TDCJ & Rick Halperin)