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

[Rick Halperin]

Sept. 14




OKLAHOMA:

Convicted killer writes of the uncertainty he faces in pending execution


Since July, Richard Glossip has been listening to renovations going on inside 
the Oklahoma State Penitentiary. The noise is a constant reminder that his days 
are numbered.

Glossip, 51, is scheduled to be the 2nd inmate executed under new procedures 
for lethal injections in Oklahoma, and in a newly renovated chamber. Convicted 
in a murder-for-hire plot, he lives on death row, in a small cell that he says 
is situated beneath the execution chamber.

The state's execution policies are so new that they are still being drafted, 
and prison officials haven't even been trained yet. Glossip, himself, writes 
that he can only speculate what his last days will be like under the new rules 
and how he'll die come Nov. 20.

"They have moved the execution table ... so that they could put a window in the 
door where the person administering the drugs, so that if an inmate starts 
flopping they can give them a little more muscle (relaxant) to stop it," he 
wrote in a July 24 letter to a reporter. "They think it makes it better, but 
that is not true, even though your muscles are relaxed, you will still be 
suffocating and will still feel it."

Death row has been on a media lockdown, with in-person interviews prohibited, 
since the clumsy execution of Clayton Lockett on April 29. Corrections 
officials explain that the blackout was necessary pending the investigation, 
ordered by Gov. Mary Fallin, into why it took Lockett about 40 minutes to die 
by lethal injection.

The months-long investigation by the Department of Public Safety ultimately 
found that an IV tube, meant to deliver deadly drugs, had become dislodged from 
the 38-year-old's groin area.

In the meantime, Glossip has communicated by letters, attempting to get his 
story told and convince others of his innocence.

Glossip's execution is 1 of 3 being scheduled by the state, starting in 
November. He's been on death row since 1998, when he was first convicted in a 
plot that killed motel owner Barry Van Treese the year before. The convicted 
hitman, Justin Sneed, is serving a sentence of life without parole.

In his letters, Glossip claims his innocence. And, while there are many 
uncertainties about his future, he writes that he's sure the state will make 
him suffer in his last moments, referring to Lockett's execution.

"I truly have no doubt that it will go exactly as Lockett's did," he wrote. 
"The drugs they are using have not been tested, so they have no clue how a 
person is going to react to them. ... To tell you the truth. I don't believe 
there will be a humane way to execute anyone. No matter what drugs they use, 
there will always be side effects that cause inmates to suffer a prolonged and 
painful death."

Jerry Massie, a spokesman for the Department of Corrections, had no comment 
about Glossip's assertions. Prison officials plan to be ready for Glossip's 
execution, he said, and are on track to have the new policies drafted and 
turned over to the state's attorney general for review within the next 2 weeks.

After experiencing a shortage of the drug more typically used in lethal 
injections, Oklahoma chose a lethal cocktail of midazolam, vecuronium bromide 
and potassium chloride to execute inmates. Its use of midazolam has been 
heavily criticized by death penalty opponents since Lockett's death, and in the 
aftermath of a 26-minute execution involving the same drug in Ohio and another 
that lasted nearly 2 hours in Arizona.

Glossip wrote that he closely monitored the Arizona case.

"The reporter who witnessed the execution put it the right way," he wrote. "It 
was like taking a fish out of water and throwing it on land. It is bad enough 
that the guy (I know his crimes were bad) had to suffer for so long, then you 
have people saying it was a just punishment."

Oklahoma corrections officials haven't said what drugs they plan to use, citing 
pending litigation filed on behalf of death row inmates.

The attorney general's office, which is handling all the appeals connected to 
Glossip's case, believes justice will be served by his execution, said Aaron 
Cooper, the office's director of communications, in a statement.

Cooper noted a 27-page ruling by the Court of Criminal Appeals in 2007 that 
outlined the facts of the case while rejecting Glossip's appeals. Glossip was 
tried twice; he received a new trial after an appeals court found issues with 
his 1st.

He was twice convicted and twice sentenced to death.

"The state and the attorney general's office will continue its work to ensure 
the sentence handed down by a jury for this heinous crime is carried out so 
that justice can be served for the family of Barry Van Treese," Cooper said.

Jurors found that Glossip hired Sneed to kill Van Treese, who owned the Best 
Budget Inn in Oklahoma City. Glossip had managed the motel for 2 years.

Van Treese had discovered money was missing. Family members said Van Treese, 
54, planned to confront Glossip and was about to fire him.

Sneed told jurors that he killed Van Treese with a baseball bat because Glossip 
offered him money to do it. Then the 2 tried to cover up the death.

Prosecutors said Sneed worked in maintenance at the motel, in exchange for a 
place to stay, and was dependent on Glossip.

Glossip has denied all involvement in the crime. He claims that Sneed took a 
deal and then lied about Glossip's involvement to save himself from the death 
penalty.

He insists that there's no evidence beyond Sneed's word linking him to the 
murder.

Glossip said 17 years have been taken from him, although the worst part has 
been the isolation of death row: "The isolation that inmates have to face here 
on H-Unit until they are executed is horrible. It's like you are already in 
(your) tomb waiting for your death to complete it."

(source: Norman Transcript)

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

Inside Oklahoma's execution chamber: What happens in the small, dark room


The room where Oklahoma's 3 executioners have carried out their lethal duties 
since 1992 is the size of a walk-in closet and so dimly lit they are provided a 
flashlight to see, according to court records.

Cleaning supplies have been stored in the "drug room," where executioners 
administer the lethal drugs. A small window in the door provides only a partial 
view of the inmate being executed. If something goes wrong, the executioners 
stick colored pencils through holes in the drug room wall to communicate with 
the doctor and others in the death chamber.

Depositions by Department of Corrections officials and affidavits by attorneys 
who toured death row at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary describe in detail the 
cramped, dark and isolated conditions inside the execution chamber. The 
documents are part of past legal challenges to the state's lethal injection 
process.

The Department of Corrections is renovating the execution chamber to address 
issues raised following the botched execution of Clayton Lockett on April 29. 
The agency also is revising its lethal injection protocols to comply with 
recommendations made by a Department of Public Safety investigation of 
Lockett's 43-minute execution.

Department of Public Safety Commissioner Michael Thompson said in a Sept. 4 
press conference that the state has had no previous problems with its 
executions.

"For almost 25 years, 110 consecutive times, it did work. This time, obviously, 
it didn't work this time, or we wouldn't all be sitting here today," Thompson 
said.

However, records indicate that several past executions have not gone as 
expected.

In an affidavit for a federal challenge to the state's death-penalty process, 
an attorney with the Oklahoma Indigent Defense System described her visit to 
the prison on June 8, 2006. The attorney, Janet Chesley, stated she was waiting 
at the entrance to H unit, where death row is housed, to visit with clients.

"While I was waiting, I saw the guard at the entrance to H-Unit point to a spot 
on her desk and ask the trustee to clean the spot because she believed it to be 
blood from a recent execution," Chesley's affidavit states.

"The guard said to me that she thought the blood was left over from the 
movement of a body after a bad execution," states Chesley, who is no longer 
with the Oklahoma Indigent Defense System.

One week earlier, Oklahoma had executed 74-year-old John Boltz, the oldest 
inmate put to death in state history, according to news reports. Boltz had 
argued in appeals that Oklahoma's lethal injection protocols were 
unconstitutional and would subject him to "a significant risk of excessive pain 
and suffering."

A federal judge ultimately rejected those claims, as judges have done following 
other challenges to the state's lethal injection process.

Boltz's execution was delayed an hour because the medical team had trouble 
inserting an IV. Records show Boltz was executed using a single IV placed in 
his femoral vein, the same kind that was improperly inserted into Lockett's 
body.

During a hearing in Boltz's legal challenge, Oklahoma State Penitentiary Warden 
Marty Sirmons testified that the doctor carrying out the execution had 
difficulty establishing an IV. The doctor was not "completely familiar" with 
operation of the IV supplies provided by the prison, Sirmons testified.

'Disturbing' events

The Department of Public Safety investigation into Lockett's execution found 
that the doctor did not have properly sized needles to start a femoral IV. The 
report found "minor deviations" from Department of Corrections protocol during 
the execution but does not detail them or hold anyone accountable for them.

Problems with an IV also were documented in the 2001 execution of Loyd 
LaFevers, who witnesses said repeatedly convulsed during the 6 minutes it took 
him to die.

In an autopsy, an investigator with the Oklahoma State Medical Examiner's 
Office stated that LaFevers' IV "infiltrated after the 1st drug was 
administered."

"A prison unit manager had sent two letters to the clemency board stating that 
this inmate needed to die," the autopsy report states.

"The family of (LaFevers) is accusing prison officials of diluting the 
execution drugs or gave it (sic) in the wrong order to make this inmate 
suffer."

A state law prohibits release of information identifying doctors and other 
medical personnel taking part in executions. The identities of the 3 
executioners and the pharmacist who provides the lethal drugs is also secret 
under the law.

In 1992, it took inmate Robyn Parks 11 minutes to die, during which he 
remarked, "I'm still awake."

Witnesses said his body began bucking under the straps as he spewed the air out 
of his lungs. A Tulsa World reporter who witnessed the execution described it 
as "overwhelming, stunning, disturbing."

Parks' execution was the first held in the current execution chamber at the 
Oklahoma State Penitentiary. Death row prisoners were moved into the newly 
constructed death row unit in November 1991.

The chamber is actually 4 connected rooms: the execution chamber itself, a 
smaller room where 3 executioners are stationed, a room for relatives of the 
victim separated by 1-way glass from a room where witnesses from the media, 
government agencies and the inmates' family sit.

Chesley's affidavit describes the executioners' room as 4 feet by 5 feet and 
lit by a single florescent light with a green cover.

"I found it hard to believe that three people could fit in the room without 
jostling one another," she states. "Even with the door to the execution room 
open, the room was dim."

Sirmons testified that executioners are provided a flashlight but said the room 
has enough light to enable them to read labels.

In a 2007 deposition, a Corrections Department deputy warden said he used a 
flashlight in the executioners' room "to make sure that all the drugs are in 
the right order."

The deputy warden also described how executioners communicate with those in the 
death chamber: by sticking colored pencils through holes in the wall, where 2 
IV lines feed into the inmate's body.

"If you saw red, there might be possible problems," the official stated.

Rachel Peterson, a former reporter for the McAlester News-Capital, witnessed 13 
executions while working for the newspaper.

"There was one time where they said, 'Let the execution begin,' and the 
prisoner was awake for a lot longer than expected. ... Then I saw this little 
red plastic-looking thing; it poked in and out and then not too long later I 
could start seeing liquid flow through the tube. There was clearly a technical 
difficulty," Peterson said.

Room 'absurdly small'

The Department of Public Safety investigation found that "current communication 
methods used during the execution process are antiquated and require 
unnecessary multi-tasking from key personnel in the execution chamber."

The report recommends that the Corrections Department explore ways to modernize 
communication between the execution chamber and the executioners' room.

"The current processes, including the use of color pencils and hand signals, 
could be used as a contingency if other modern methods fail," the report 
states.

Communication between Department of Corrections officials and the Governor's 
Office should also be improved, the report recommends.

"DOC should research and implement methods to modernize the communication link 
that would allow direct, constant contact between the personnel in the 
execution chamber and the Governor's Office," the report states.

Because DOC Director Robert Patton was not inside the execution chamber, 
information had to be relayed by phone from the chamber to Patton outside, then 
to Gov. Mary Fallin's general counsel, Steve Mullins, who then called Fallin.

Patton said last week that "major reconstruction" of the execution chamber is 
underway.

DOC spokesman Jerry Massie did not answer questions from the World seeking 
additional details about the reconstruction.?Records show the agency has spent 
$11,000 on new doors and windows for the execution chamber. DOC notified the 
state Department of Central Services that it purchased custom-made, 
detention-grade doors and window frames from a vendor under a state law 
allowing agencies to waive bidding in emergencies.

DOC's July 22 letter states the agency "must complete renovations to the 
execution room in order to meet the necessary timelines to carry out the next 
mandated execution."

"The execution room at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary is currently under 
construction and the need for custom metal fabrication for two doors and window 
frames in an extremely short period of time has given rise to the emergency 
declaration," states the letter from DOC General Services Administrator Ernest 
Lamirand.

Oklahoma's next execution is scheduled for Nov. 13, when Charles Warner is set 
to be put to death. Warner was to be executed 2 hours after Lockett but 
received a stay after Lockett's execution went awry.

Lockett was put to death for the 1999 killing of Stephanie Neiman, 19, of 
Perry. Warner was sentenced to death for the 1997 rape and murder of Adriana 
Waller, his roommate's 11-month-old daughter.

During a press conference last week, Patton said DOC planned to be ready to 
carry out Warner's execution as scheduled but would request additional time if 
needed. The agency must revise protocols, receive input from the Attorney 
General's Office and then train employees, he said.

While it is unclear whether the renovations include expanding the executioners' 
room, attorneys who have seen the room say they were disturbed by conditions 
there.

Kim Marks, an investigator with the Oklahoma Indigent Defense System, 
accompanied Chesley on the 2006 death row tour. Marks described the 
executioners' room as "a walk-in closet."

"I remember it being absurdly small. I remember it had cleaning chemicals 
stored inside. ... I could see how 3 petite-sized people could squeeze in, but 
I do not see how three average or larger people could."

During Lockett's execution, a paramedic was also in the room with the 
executioners, the Department of Public Safety report shows.

Marks said the drug room lacked air circulation and was "definitely dark."

"The lack of circulation and restricted movement would not be ideal," she said.

"The main thing I recall thinking is there's absolutely no way to preserve the 
integrity of what's happening in that closet. We have no knowledge of what they 
(executioners) are told or instructed. They can do anything."

(source: Tulsa World)






ARIZONA:

Corrections department renews registration to import execution drug


The Drug Enforcement Administration on Thursday renewed the Arizona Department 
of Corrections??? registration to import pentobarbital, the drug of choice for 
executions in states that allow lethal injection.

The notice comes just 6 weeks after the state executed Joseph Wood Jr. using a 
different set of drugs, midazolam and hydromorphone, in a process that took 
almost 2 hours and that witnesses said left Wood gasping for air.

"I would think they want it (pentobarbital) because what happened during their 
last execution was an embarrassment," said Richard Dieter, executive director 
at the Death Penalty Information Center. He called pentobarbital the "most 
desired drug for states who administer the death penalty."

But the drug has become increasingly hard for states to come by, as some 
manufacturers have refused to sell the drug for lethal injection.

Officials at the Arizona Department of Corrections would not comment on the DEA 
approval Thursday, except to note that it was a renewal of a previous license 
to import. A call to the DEA was not immediately returned.

The renewal is just one step in what would be a long process toward the 
importation of pentobarbital, said experts familiar with the process. In 
addition to the DEA approval, the corrections department would also have to be 
granted approval from the Food and Drug Administration to import the drug.

Even then, they might be hard-pressed to find a seller, Dieter said.

"The major manufacturers don't want to sell it for executions," Dieter said.

While a "local pharmacist might be able to put it together," Dieter said, 
Arizona has not been able to get the drug from compounding pharmacies as states 
like Texas and Missouri have done.

Dale Baich, the assistant federal public defender for Arizona, said he asked 
the state before Wood's execution where it acquired the 2 drugs it planned to 
use in the execution.

"They refused to tell us the source," Baich said.

Wood, convicted of a 1989 double-murder in Tucson, spent 23 years on death row 
before his execution on July 23. Witnesses said in published reports that Wood 
spent almost 2 hours strapped to a gurney in the death chamber after the lethal 
drugs were administered, gasping for air about 600 times by one count.

Donna Hamm, executive director of Middle Ground Prison Reform, said the focus 
on which medications to use for executions is simply a way for death-penalty 
supporters to kill "without the spectacle."

Hamm said that for death-row inmates, a life behind bars is punishment enough.

"People don't realize what the loss of freedom means," she said. "That is a 
harder punishment."

But, for states that do have the dealth penalty, pentobarbital is "paving the 
way for quick, relatively quick executions," Hamm said.

Baich said it is important for the public to know where the state acquires 
drugs that it uses for its executions.

"The public should be fully informed about how the ultimate punishment is 
carried out," Baich said. "That includes the drugs that are used during the 
execution."

(source: White Mountain Independent)






USA:

Lawyers agree on jury process in Marathon trial


Prosecutors and defense attorneys in the trial of Boston Marathon bombing 
suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev have reached an agreement on the process for 
selecting a jury in the terrorism case.

In order to pick 12 jurors and 6 alternates, the lawyers want the court to 
issue jury summonses to 2,000 people about 6 weeks before the trial, which is 
currently set for Nov. 3.

The 2 sides then hope to pare that list down to 800 people who will be asked to 
fill out questionnaires in person. Then, with the judge's approval, they will 
further whittle down that list to 70 qualified jurors.

Tsarnaev is accused of detonating 2 bombs at the 2013 marathon along with his 
now-deceased brother, killing 3 people and injuring about 260 others. He could 
face the death penalty if convicted.

(source: Associated Press)