[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, KAN., OKLA., CALIF., USA

[Rick Halperin]

Sept. 18



OHIO----new death sentence

Jury recommends death sentence for David Martin


For the 1st time in more than 10 years, a Trumbull County jury has recommended 
the death penalty for a convicted felon.

David Martin, 30, of Cleveland showed no reaction as Judge Andrew Logan of 
common pleas court read the jury's verdict that he should be executed for the 
murder of Jeremy Cole and attempted murder of Melissa Putnam.

The jury deliberated about 4 hours today before giving its verdict. Sentencing 
will be next Wednesday.

The last person sent to the death row from the county was Donna Roberts in 
2002.

(source: Youngstown Vindicator)






KANSAS:

Judge denies 9 motions in Phillip Cheatham Jr. case


After attorneys for Phillip D. Cheatham Jr. argued 10 motions in Shawnee County 
District Court on Wednesday morning, Cheatham spent about 20 minutes explaining 
two motions he has filed in his retrial.

"I'm actually innocent of these crimes," Cheatham told Judge Richard Anderson.

Before Anderson let Cheatham speak on his own behalf, he cautioned him that 
everything he said in court would be on permanent record. Anderson also asked 
why Cheatham uses a logo on motions he files.

The logo includes the words "Marvelous Light Due Process Foundation." Cheatham 
labels the motions he files as "Affidavits of Truth."

"I don't file motions," Cheatham said. "I file affidavits on behalf of my 
foundation."

Anderson said Cheatham isn't filing a motion on behalf of the foundation. 
Instead, Anderson said, Cheatham is filing on his own behalf.

Cheatham also signs his "affidavits" as King Phillip Amman Reu-El. Until 
Cheatham's name has legally been changed to King Phillip Amman Reu-El, he has 
to sign the motions using his legal name, Anderson said.

The 12 motions taken up Wednesday were supposed to be argued Sept. 3. However, 
the courthouse was closed unexpectedly for the day after water leaked into the 
building's transformer, initially shutting down the elevators and some offices.

Anderson denied 9 defense motions Wednesday, several questioning whether the 
death penalty is unconstitutional. One motion will be considered at a later 
hearing, and 2 others will be taken under advisement by Anderson and he will 
issue a ruling at a later date.

A new trial was ordered for Cheatham, 41, in 2013 after the Kansas Supreme 
Court overturned his capital murder conviction and death penalty sentence for 
the Dec. 13, 2003, killings of Annette Roberson and Gloria Jones, who were shot 
to death in a home at 2718 S.E. Colorado in the Highland Park neighborhood.

Cheatham also faces charges in connection with the attempted 1st-degree murder 
of Annetta D. Thomas, who survived after she was shot 19 times in the attack.

Cheatham also faces 2 alternative premeditated 1st-degree murder counts in 
their killings, as well as attempted 1st-degree murder and aggravated battery 
in the shooting of Thomas. Cheatham also is charged with criminal possession of 
a firearm.

After his conviction in his 1st trial, Cheatham was sentenced in 2005 to the 
"Hard 50" prison term for the killing of Jones, and the death penalty for the 
slaying of Roberson.

Those convictions and sentences were overturned when the Supreme Court ruled 
Cheatham received ineffective assistance of counsel by Dennis Hawver. Attorneys 
John Val Wachtel, of Wichita, and Paul Oller, of Hays, are defending Cheatham.

In arguments Wednesday, Wachtel said it will be difficult for Cheatham to 
receive due process because memories have faded and people have died.

He also discussed statements made by Topeka Detective Lou Randall, who has 
since died. Wachtel questioned some of Randall's testimony, and he also said 
Randall had "perjured himself" in another case. He cited an unpublished opinion 
from the court of appeals.

"I can't effectively cross-examine Randall's testimony," Wachtel said.

Randall served "honorably at the Topeka Police Department" until he died of 
cancer, said chief deputy district attorney Jacqie Spradling.

She said Cheatham continued to complain about his trial lawyer, his appeals 
lawyer and how long the Supreme Court took to render a decision.

"I find no merit in any of it," Spradling said.

Motions will continue to be argued in coming weeks. Both sides agreed in court 
Wednesday the jury trial will most likely take place in mid-March and will last 
about 6 weeks.

(source: Capital Journal)






OKLAHOMA:

Botched Execution----The Death that Could Kill Lethal Injection


The horrific execution of Clayton Lockett by lethal injection this spring in 
Oklahoma took an astonishing 43 minutes to complete. Together with other 
botched killings, the incident has focused attention on the inexperience and 
incompetence that now accompanies many executions in America.

On the afternoon of April 29, 2014, a vehicle arrived in the courtyard of the 
prison in McAlester, Oklahoma to pick up Clayton Lockett. The driver parked in 
the shadow of the white prison walls. His wait, it turned out, would be longer 
than anticipated. The vehicle was a hearse.

Behind the wall, at 4:40 p.m., prison guards removed Clayton Lockett's 
handcuffs and leg irons and forced him to get undressed so that he could take a 
shower. This is stipulated by the "Procedures for the Execution of Offenders 
Sentenced to Death." The shower is adjacent to the execution chamber: The 
purpose of the procedure is to ensure that the execution is clean - in all 
respects.

Lockett, wearing scrubs and tennis shoes, was taken into the execution chamber 
at 5:20 p.m. The 5 men on the "strap-down team" restrained him to the gurney 
with 7 black straps. He could only move his head at this point. When he turned 
it to the right, he could see a large, round clock: It was 5:26 p.m. His 
execution was scheduled to begin in 34 minutes.

Lockett, 38, had been on death row for 13 years. He didn't want to die, at 
least not in the way the 25-page protocol - an attempt to provide a 
bureaucratic framework for dying - required.

When Locket was picked up for his physical examination 12 hours earlier, at 
5:06 a.m., he tried to hide under his blanket. Prison officials used a stun gun 
to force him to comply. In the medical department, Lockett was X-rayed, again 
according to a precise protocol, which states that "beginning at the head [the 
prisoner is to be] X-rayed downward of the body. The X-rays will be taken prior 
to eating breakfast." The protocol doesn't explain why a person who is to be 
put to death in a few hours should be X-rayed.

Then Lockett's veins were examined. Officials sometimes have trouble finding a 
vein, especially when the condemned prisoners are overweight or IV drug users, 
but Lockett didn't take any drugs, was muscular and exercised daily. On this 
morning, the examination results stated that his veins were in good condition 
and readily accessible.

Lockett was scheduled to receive his last meal between noon and 1 p.m. In a 
"30-day information packet," he had previously been required to enter the 
"name, address and telephone number of the funeral home that will pick up your 
remains," as well as his final meal request. He wrote: "Chateaubriand steak 
(medium rare), shrimp with cocktail sauce, a baked potato, 6 slices of garlic 
toast, pecan pie, a liter of Coca-Cola Classic." The prison personnel rejected 
his request because it exceeded the $15 (12 euros) limit specified under the 
state's rules for final meals.

"I called the prison warden," says LaDonna Hollins, Lockett's stepmother. "I 
told her that I would pay every single dollar for this meal, and also, that I 
could deliver it myself," she adds. She pauses for a moment as her eyes fill 
with tears. "I could feel the coldness coming through the phone."

A Failed Lawsuit

Clayton Lockett was three when his mother sent him to live with his father, who 
was living with Hollins. From then on, she was Clayton's closest confidante, 
and he called her "Mom." On this day, Hollins is sitting in her dark living 
room on the outskirts of Oklahoma City. There are goldfish in the aquarium and 
there is an open bible on the coffee table in front of her. She visited her 
stepson two days before the execution. They sat facing each other in the 
prison's death row wing for three hours, separated by a glass panel, praying 
and weeping.

At some point, says Hollins, Lockett told her that he didn't fear death, 
because he deserved it for the brutal murder of 19-year-old Stephanie Neiman. 
"But I'm afraid that they will torture me, that they'll provide me with some 
kind of rat poison," he told his stepmother. "They don't even know how to 
insert a needle."

On several occasions, Lockett had heard the moans and screams coming from the 
execution chamber at the end of the hall. He remembered what Michael Wilson, 
who had been held in a cell near his, had shouted in January when the poison 
had been injected into his body: "I feel my whole body burning!"

He had also read in the paper that Oklahoma and other states were no longer 
getting the lethal injection drugs they had used for many years, after the 
European Union, partly at the urging of then-German Health Minister Philipp 
Rosler, had imposed tough restrictions on exporting the compounds. Lockett knew 
that the authorities had been trying out other drugs since then. He also knew 
that Dennis McGuire had been in agony for 26 minutes in an Ohio death chamber, 
gasping for air. In the end, the reasons for botched executions were always the 
same: the wrong drugs or unqualified personnel, and often both.

That was why Lockett had filed a lawsuit against the state over its policy of 
not disclosing the source of the drugs and the identity of the executioners. 
The Eighth Amendment to the US Constitution prohibits the "cruel and unusual 
punishment" of condemned prisoners. Lockett was afraid that he would become 
part of an experiment, says his stepmother. "It was as if he had sensed what 
was going to happen to him."

There are currently about 3,070 people on death row in the United States. But 
opponents of the death penalty hope that the latest series of botched 
executions could usher in the end of the lethal injection, which was developed 
in its current form in Oklahoma in 1977 and was long seen as the most humane 
method of execution.

"Do me one favor," his stepmother begged him in their last conversation. "As 
long as you can talk on that gurney: Talk. Let the world know how they are 
executing people here in Oklahoma."

When visiting hours were over, Lockett stood up, allowed the guard to put on 
his handcuffs and said, with tears in his eyes: "Mom, I love you."

"I'll see you in the next life," Hollins replied.

Horrifically Botched Execution

At 5:27 p.m., a paramedic and a doctor entered the execution chamber. Thus 
began one of the most gruesome executions in the history of the United States.

The paramedic's job was to insert a needle, which would be used to inject the 
lethal drugs into Lockett's body. He punctured the left arm with a hollow 
needle, but he forgot to use a bandage to keep the needle in place. By the time 
the bandage was brought into the room, the site was no longer usable. The 
paramedic tried to insert the needle at 2 other locations on Lockett's arm, but 
he failed both times. He switched to the right arm and tried three locations 
there. Then he removed the prisoner's tennis shoes and tried to insert the IV 
into his foot.

The doctor approached the gurney and tried to insert the needle into Lockett's 
jugular before trying a subclavian vein near his collarbone. While the 2 men 
were poking around his body, Lockett heard a drumming noise echoing through 
death row, as the inmates banged on their cell doors for 5 minutes - a ritual 
intended as a final farewell to the condemned man.

Only a few cells away, Charles Warner was also waiting for his execution. He 
had said goodbye to his family and eaten his final meal. He was appointed to 
die at 8 p.m., on the same gurney where Lockett was now lying. But the schedule 
proved difficult to adhere to.

More than 10 attempts to place an IV had already failed by the time the doctor 
and the paramedic tried to insert it in Lockett's right groin. They cut open 
his scrubs and underwear, and then used a scalpel to cut into the flesh, 
because the veins in the groin are deep beneath the surface. The doctor, who 
had never before placed an IV in the groin area with the kind of needle now at 
his disposal, had only been asked to substitute for a colleague 2 days earlier. 
Until the day of the execution, neither he nor the paramedic had participated 
in a preparatory exercise.

While the 2 men taped the IV to Lockett's thigh, they discussed whether the 
needle might be too short for this location on the body, but they didn't have 
the right needle on hand. It was now 6:18 p.m., and it had taken them 51 
minutes to place an IV.

Government authorities are having more and more difficulty finding specialists 
for executions. The professional associations of doctors, paramedics and nurses 
are urging their members not to participate in executions. According to one 
statement, "when the healthcare professional serves in an execution under 
circumstances that mimic care, the healing purposes of health services and 
technology become distorted." As a result, executions are carried out by 
doctors or nurses who are either unlicensed or acting illegally. They slip into 
the execution chambers like burglars, and they participate either out of 
conviction or for the $500 the prisons pay - in cash, to prevent the names of 
those involved from being documented.

The prison warden asked the doctor whether he could place a second IV, to be on 
the safe side. But the doctor declined her request. Then the warden ordered the 
IV to be covered with a sheet, supposedly to preserve Lockett's "dignity."

The execution was scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. When the warden ordered the 
beige blinds in the viewing gallery opened, at 6:23 p.m., 36 pairs of eyes were 
staring at Lockett. The government may have moved executions from market 
squares to a room behind thick prison walls, but the law requires that they not 
be carried out entirely in secret. Journalists and Lockett's attorneys were 
sitting on folding chairs in the viewing gallery.

LaDonna Hollins honored Lockett's request and did not attend. He had told her 
that he didn't want her to see what would happen to him.

The warden asked Lockett if he had any final words.

"No," he replied.

"Then let the execution begin."

The Search for a Clean Way of Killing

The next day, on April 30, a book was published in the United States called 
"Gruesome Spectacles: Botched Executions and America's Death Penalty." The 
author is Austin Sarat, a professor at Amherst College in Massachusetts.

Most Americans are in favor of the death penalty, says Sarat in his office, 
because they know nothing about the details of an execution. He tested his 
theory in a survey many years ago, when he told the respondents exactly what 
takes place during the use of the electric chair. Many changed their opinion 
afterwards.

Although about 2/3 of Americans support the death penalty, the number of 
executions has dropped sharply in the last decade, partly because the states 
are increasingly worried that something could go wrong. 98 people were executed 
in the United States in 1999, but only 39 in 2013. Texas leads the nation in 
the number of executions, although Oklahoma, with its much smaller population, 
was long the nation's top executioner per capita.

Sarat knows everything there is to know about botched executions in the United 
States, because he has investigated every one of them. There was the 1900 
hanging of Art Kinsauls in North Carolina, who failed to die during the first 
attempt and dangled from the rope, bleeding profusely, until the executioners 
forced him to climb the stepladder a second time. And then there was the case 
of Jimmy Lee Gray who, in 1983, gasped, groaned and went into convulsions in 
the Mississippi gas chamber for what seemed like an eternity. And when Pedro 
Medina was executed in the Florida electric chair in 1997, smoke and flames 
emerged from his body, and there was a smell of burning flesh in the air.

But none of this has led to any real challenge to the idea of government 
execution, says Sarat. Instead, he explains, officials have vowed to improve 
their methods and become more innovative. "The history of the death penalty is 
also the history of finding a clean, silent and perfect way of taking people's 
lives," says Sarat, "a death without severed heads and faces distorted in pain 
- without blood, fire and stench."

To that end, the gallows and the firing squad were replaced by the gas chamber 
and the electric chair. With each new technology, the state pronounced its old 
method archaic and barbaric. And in 1977, when a medical examiner in Oklahoma 
invented a method to provide death by lethal injection, the search for 
perfection seemed complete. The belief at the time was that execution would 
become a medical procedure, the execution chamber an operating room and the 
executioner a doctor.

'He's Not Unconscious'

The 1st of the 3 drugs, 100 milligrams of midazolam, was now flowing into 
Lockett's groin. It came from a tube that emerged from a wall behind his head. 
3 volunteers were sitting behind the wall in a cramped, dark room, the 
executioners' room. When they arrived at the prison that afternoon, they were 
wearing ghost-like hoods and robes. Their job was to push the drugs from 
syringes into the tube, with one volunteer assigned to each drug. To avoid 
confusion in the darkness, they used flashlights. They were told that if 
problems arose, they should simply push colored pencils through holes in the 
wall to the execution chamber.

The midazolam was supposed to render Lockett unconscious, so that he wouldn't 
feel the pain caused by the second and third drugs. Until recently, the 
anesthetics sodium thiopental and pentobarbital, the latter patented by the 
German pharmaceutical firm Bayer in 1916, were administered, but ever since the 
EU imposed an export ban in December 2011, thereby blocking shipments to US 
prisons, corrections officials have been at a loss over how to obtain the 
necessary drugs. In emails to their counterparts in Texas, officials from 
Oklahoma have jokingly asked for football-game tickets in exchange for leftover 
stocks of pentobarbital and California authorities reportedly sent agents to 
Pakistan to buy the drug.

To cover up the undignified search for lethal injection drugs, the Oklahoma 
House of Representatives passed a secrecy law 3 years ago. The law enables 
officials to conceal where the drugs they use come from, how they are acquired 
and whether they are being used past their expiration dates. The identity of 
those carrying out an execution also remains secret.

It's over this law that Lockett had sued Oklahoma. His attorneys argued that 
failing to inform Lockett about which drugs would be used to kill him and who 
would administer them was a violation of his constitutional rights. Because of 
the suit, the Oklahoma Supreme Court initially granted a stay of Lockett's 
execution, but it reversed its decision the next day.

The doctor examined Lockett's pupils at 6:30 p.m. He pressed his hand against 
Lockett's chest and shook him lightly. "He's not unconscious," the doctor said.

"I'm not," Lockett said clearly.

Prison officials had asked for a delay of Lockett's execution a few months 
earlier because they were unable to obtain the regular lethal injection drugs. 
Their search remained unsuccessful, but two weeks before the scheduled 
execution, midazolam was suddenly added to the protocol. It was a stopgap 
solution, because the drug had never before been used in executions in 
Oklahoma. Unlike the drugs previously in use, midazolam is not an anesthetic. 
It is instead meant to sedate patients and place them into a semi-conscious 
state. Doctors use it in dental surgery and colonoscopies. No one knew whether 
and at what dose midazolam would render Lockett unconscious.

The doctor checked Lockett's condition again at 6:33 p.m. "He is unconscious," 
he said. Lockett was no longer speaking.

In the executioners' room, the drugs pancuronium and potassium chloride were 
now being injected into the tubes. The pancuronium was supposed to paralyze 
Lockett and suppress convulsions. It is used solely for cosmetic purposes, so 
as to conceal the pain. The goal was to ensure that Lockett looked peaceful as 
he died. Potassium chloride, often used to euthanize animals, is supposed to 
cause the heart to stop functioning. But without heavy sedation it produces a 
sensation of burning from within.

At 6:34 p.m., Lockett suddenly moved. He kicked with his leg and rolled his 
head to the side, his body contorting. He grunted and mumbled, and then 
shouted, "Man" and "Something's wrong!" His face was twisted in agony. He 
cursed, but whatever he was trying to say remained incomprehensible. He raised 
his head and shoulders several times, as if he were trying to sit up.

In a 2nd viewing gallery, the relatives of Lockett's victim were also watching 
him suffer.

Lockett's Crime

Stephanie Neiman had died 15 years ago in Oklahoma. Neiman was kneeling inside 
a freshly dug grave when, Lockett, then 23, loaded his sawed-off shotgun and 
fired at her. The recoil caused him to lose control, the gun fell to the ground 
and the shot hit Neiman in the shoulder. Lockett could hear her sobbing in the 
hole. He picked up the rifle, aimed it and shot again. The sobbing stopped.

"It's done!" he told his accomplices. "Now bury her!"

Neiman died on that night, among oil refineries and fields, because she and her 
female friend had accidentally witnessed Lockett and 2 friends beating up a man 
who owed them money. After that, the men repeatedly raped Neiman's friend. The 
man who had been beaten and the friend promised not to tell anyone what had 
happened, but 19-year-old Neiman refused to make the same promise. She had a 
learning disability and lacked the ability to think strategically.

"She's not dead," Lockett's friends shouted, next to the hole in the ground. 
Neiman was breathing and her body was twisting in the dirt.

"Get the shotgun and finish her off," Lockett ordered, but his accomplices 
didn't want to do it. "Okay, then just bury her."

Lockett later told investigators that he had heard the young woman coughing as 
the dirt fell on top of her. The men continued to shovel earth into the hole 
until the choking noises stopped.

Lockett's body had now been twisting on the gurney for 6 minutes. It was only 
at 6:40 p.m. that the doctor lifted the sheet covering the IV and saw that the 
skin at the puncture hole had blown up into a balloon "smaller than a tennis 
ball but bigger than a golf ball," as was later documented in the investigative 
report. The needle had either not punctured Lockett's vein or had sliced it 
open. Instead of flowing into his bloodstream, the anesthetic and the lethal 
drugs had entered the tissue, where they acted more slowly and weakly. At this 
point, the question was whether the drugs could still kill Lockett. The members 
of the execution team were at a loss. They decided that they no longer wished 
to be observed as they worked. "We will lower the blinds temporarily," the 
warden told the witnesses at 6:42 p.m.

'They Wanted to Torture Him'

"I'm gonna show you something," says Lockett's stepmother. Hollins jumps up 
from the sofa and walks over to a table by the wall that she has converted into 
an altar for Lockett. It is covered with photos, of Clayton as an 
eight-year-old, Clayton as a teenager and, finally, a photo of him shortly 
before his execution. Lockett had a fellow inmate take it secretly with a 
smartphone that had been smuggled onto death row. He is lying on the bed, his 
upper body uncovered, flexing his muscles and clenching his fists. There isn't 
an ounce of fat on his body. He looks like an athlete.

"And you tell me they can't find a vein on a man like this?" asks Hollins. She 
is a nurse. She knows how to place IVs. She does it every day.

"They wanted to torture him. They did it intentionally. And now they're trying 
to cover up everything." It probably wasn't intentional, but it was 
incompetent, the breakdown of a ramshackle system that had long claimed to be 
capable of delivering a gentle death, and that now seeks to conceal its own 
inadequacies.

An official investigative report documents what happened to Lockett after the 
blinds were lowered. The doctor tried to insert a new IV to inject the 
remainder of the lethal drugs, this time in the left groin. He tried to 
penetrate the skin 1 or 2 times, then gave up. The warden reached for the wall 
telephone and called the witness room to speak with Robert Patton, the 
executive director of the Oklahoma Corrections Department.

"Have enough drugs been administered to cause death?" Patton asked. "No," the 
doctor replied.

"Is another vein available, and if so, are there enough drugs remaining to 
finish the execution?"

"No," the doctor said, adding that Lockett was now unconscious again, and that 
his pulse was weak.

Patton tried to reach the office of the governor, without whom nothing could be 
decided. He finally succeeded, but it took some time. Then he called the 
execution chamber again and, at 6:56 p.m., announced that the execution had 
been stopped.

It was unclear to the people working in the chamber whether this meant a stay 
of execution. According to protocol, that would require the immediate 
commencement of life-sustaining measures. As Lockett's heartbeat became weaker, 
the men waited for clearer instructions.

The doctor pronounced Lockett dead at 7:06 p.m.

Experts believe that it would have still been possible to save Lockett's life. 
The investigative report recommends ensuring greater linguistic clarity in 
future executions, and that the meaning of the terms "stop," "hold" and "stay" 
must be clearly defined.

Race to Preserve Death Penalty

The execution of Charles Warner, the man who was scheduled to die 2 hours after 
Lockett, was postponed. He now has a new execution date of Nov. 13. A team of 
attorneys is fighting in court for Warner and the other 49 inmates on 
Oklahoma's death row. They cite Lockett's execution as proof that lethal 
injection amounts to the "cruel and unusual" punishment barred by the 
Constitution. Even President Barack Obama said that Lockett's execution was 
"deeply troubling," and that it exposed problems with the death penalty that 
must be taken seriously.

"I wouldn't mind if he suffered for hours on that gurney," says Republican 
State Representative Mike Christian in his office in the state capitol in 
Oklahoma City. When he heard in the spring that the Oklahoma Supreme Court 
wanted to stay Lockett's execution, he threatened the justices with impeachment 
proceedings. Christian's threat was the reason the court reversed the stay a 
day later.

"As a father, I don't care how we put these animals to death, if by lethal 
injection, by the guillotine or being fed to the lions."

Still, Christian has realized that Lockett's execution reflects poorly on his 
state. "I don't want journalists from all over the world to come to Oklahoma 
writing that we're a barbaric state," he says. This is why he is meeting with 
Mike Copeland, an adjunct professor at a local university. "We had a beer the 
other night, and suddenly there was this idea." They look at each other 
enthusiastically. "Ever heard of death through nitrogen?"

Copeland spent 3 years working in the tiny Pacific island nation of Palau, 
where he went scuba-diving in his free time. "If you inhale pure nitrogen, you 
lose consciousness very quickly, and you're dead soon afterwards." The idea, he 
says, will save the death penalty. "Nitrogen is the most humane way to die. You 
simply sit there, breathe, and 1 minute later you're dead."

There are 3 advantages to using nitrogen, he says. First, he explains, raising 
his thumb, "there's no problem with the supply. You can buy nitrogen in every 
hardware store." 2nd, he says, raising his index finger, it's a cheap method, 
because aside from the gas all you need is a plastic bag that can be placed 
over the condemned criminal's head. And 3rd, he adds, raising his middle 
finger, "You don't need a doctor that has to find a vein."

"This method is used by the poultry industry, the pork and the beef industry," 
Rep. Christian adds. He nods to his friend and says: "Tell us about the pig on 
YouTube."

"Well, on YouTube you can watch a pig that is confronted with nitrogen. It 
inhales, then becomes unconscious for a short time and walks away as if nothing 
had happened. This proves that nitrogen doesn't cause any harm."

Christian wants to promote his idea. He is convinced that he can achieve a 
majority in the state house, where the majority leader has indicated his 
support. In fact, he adds, Oklahoma should be grateful to Lockett. "His 
execution made us think twice. And now we've finally found the perfect method."

On May 13, 2 weeks after the execution and a subsequent autopsy, the State of 
Oklahoma turned over Lockett's body to his family, which cremated him soon 
afterwards. The authorities kept only 1 organ, allegedly for further study: 
Lockett's heart.

(source: Der Spiegel)

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

Okla. lawmakers consider different method to execute death row inmates


Oklahoma became the first state to allow lethal injection as a method of 
execution for death row inmates back in 1977, but after the botched execution 
of Clayton Lockett this past April, some state lawmakers are considering using 
a different method to execute death row inmates.

They're even turning to a local university to research one option.

State Representative Mike Christian of Oklahoma City suggests using nitrogen 
gas for executions. Christian says it would be painless for inmates and 
affordable for Oklahoma.

Local State Representative Pat Ownbey says he's in favor of a more humane 
method, and wants to see more research on the gas. Now, several professors at 
East Central University in Ada will take on the task.

"One of the problems not only in Oklahoma but in other states, is these drugs 
are used in other states that have the death penalty and the drugs are hard to 
find; it I more difficult. That is one of the reason this is taking place," 
Ownbey said.

State Representative Pat Ownbey says nitrogen gas is extremely easy to find and 
much cheaper than the drugs used in current executions. But the main goal is to 
keep the execution as humane as possible.

"They would fill a small room with nitrogen while basically depleting the 
oxygen and they would pass away that way," Ownbey said. "Putting the drug in 
the arm through lethal injection sometimes doesn't get in the right vein."

Christian has organized a team of researchers at East Central University to 
study the gas and its effects. Professor Michael Copeland claims nitrogen 
hypoxia will make people feel euphoric or drunk. If a person inhales nitrogen 
gas, the person will quickly become unconscious and die within minutes.

"It does seem like that would be a very humane way to carry out that sentence," 
Ownbey said. "But we are still going over everything and looking for all the 
facts. I know we will be going over this and talking with doctors before any 
decision is made."

But, opponents to the death penalty, like attorney Jason May, say there is no 
humane way to kill someone. "There are countless instances in our nation's 
history where a person found guilty by a judge or jury who were later 
exonerated had been executed," May said. "There is obviously nothing that can 
be done to make that right."

Lawmakers hope to address the issue when the legislature reconvenes in 
February.

(source: KXII news)

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

Oklahoma asks court to dismiss lawsuit brought in wake of botched 
execution----Plaintiffs in lawsuit, including ACLU and The Guardian, claim 
bearing witness to executions is first amendment right


Oklahoma has asked a federal court to dismiss a first amendment lawsuit filed 
after the botched execution of Clayton Lockett on the grounds that having 
members of the public witness an execution "does not play any particularly 
positive role".

Oklahoma assistant attorney general M Daniel Weitman filed a motion for 
dismissal of the lawsuit, which was brought in the US district court for the 
western district of Oklahoma in August by the ACLU, The Guardian, The Oklahoma 
Observer and journalist Katie Fretland, who reported on the execution for the 
Guardian. The plaintiffs claim that bearing witness to executions is a first 
amendment right, and contested the state's decision to draw a curtain midway 
through the execution, prohibiting witnesses from seeing what was happening in 
the death chamber.

Weitman wrote in the motion to dismiss (pdf), that case law shows that courts 
believe eyewitness testimony following executions is "speculative, equivocal 
and generally unhelpful."

"The general lack of utility of the salacious details of an execution shows 
that press presence does not play a particularly positive role worthy of a 
First Amendment right of special access," said Weitman. "Because press or 
public access to executions does not play any particularly positive role, 
Plaintiffs' claims fail the 'logic' prong of the 'experience and logic' test as 
well."

Prison officials closed the curtains between the execution room and observation 
room 27 minutes into Lockett's 43-minute execution. He was observed writhing 
and groaning on the gurney before the curtain was drawn.

ACLU staff attorney Lee Rowland called Weitman's filing "stunning". 
"Unfortunately, it is consistent with Oklahoma's consistent and misguided 
attempts to maintain a shroud of secrecy around the death penalty," he said. 
"The media played a crucial role in reporting details of the Lockett execution 
that contrasted with the state's own account - details that contributed to the 
public's understanding of Oklahoma's execution procedures."

Plaintiffs have asked for legal injunctions that would block Oklahoma from 
filtering information about its lethal injection process before the next 
scheduled execution set for 13 November.

The ninth circuit court of criminal appeals in 2002 found that there is a first 
amendment right to view an execution, allowing media witnesses to view the 
insertion of the IV during executions in the states covered by the court, which 
are California, Hawaii, Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Nevada and 
Arizona.

(source: The Guardian)

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

2nd Oklahoma execution under new procedures drawing near


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 Lockett'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.

(source: McAlester News)






CALIFORNIA:

Triple Homicide Suspect to Undergo Mental Competency Exam----A judge ordered 
Carlo Mercado, 29, be held without bail until the exam on Oct. 10


Triple homicide suspect Carlo Mercado, 29, appears in court for the 2nd day of 
his pretrial on Sept. 3, 2014. A judge ruled he will stand trial in the 
slayings of Ilona Flint, 22, and brothers Salvatore Belvedere, 22, and Gianni 
Belvedere, 24.

Criminal proceedings have been suspended against the man accused of fatally 
shooting 3 San Diegans until he can undergo a mental competency evaluation, a 
judge ordered Wednesday.

But during an arraignment Wednesday, Mercado's public defender Gary Gibson told 
Judge Kathleen Lewis he doubted his client's mental competency to go to trial.

Could Triple Homicide Suspect Get Death Penalty?

NBC 7's Dave Summers looks into the chance of Carlo Mercado getting the death 
penalty if he is convicted of a triple homicide last Christmas Eve.

Judge Lewis ruled that criminal proceedings would be put on hold and that 
Mercado be held without bail until his mental competency exam on Oct. 10.

He will be evaluated to make sure he understands the nature of the case against 
him. If officials deem him competent, a trial date will be set at a status 
hearing on Oct. 28.

If Mercado is deemed not competent, he will to go Patton State Hospital in an 
attempt to restore that competency.

The suspect has pleaded not guilty to 3 counts of 1st degree murder in the 
Belvedere and Flint deaths that remained a mystery to San Diegans for 6 months.

It started when Flint and Salvatore were discovered with gunshot wounds in the 
Mission Valley Mall parking lot outside of Macy's on Dec. 24, 2014. Flint died 
at the scene, while Salvatore died at the hospital just days later.

At the same time, police began a missing person search for Salvatore's brother 
and Flint's fiance Gianni.

On Jan. 17, 2014, Gianni's body was found dead from a gunshot wound in his 
car's trunk, which was parked in Riverside, about 100 miles north of San Diego.

Inside that trunk, investigators found a Febreze canister with duct tape around 
the trigger, they say in an effort to mask the smell of the badly decomposing 
body.

Detectives testified at Mercado's preliminary hearing that they were able to 
pull off one black hair from that duct tape, and its DNA matched Mercado's.

A firearms analyst said the gun that killed all 3 victims was found in 
Mercado's possession when he was pulled over by Border Patrol at a San Clemente 
checkpoint on Jan. 18.

Finally, a crime scene investigator testified Mercado had written "R.I.P." in 
his smartphone's calender for Dec. 24, 2013 -- the day Salvatore and Flint were 
shot.

Mercado was arrested on June 21.

Earlier this month, Judge Lewis determined there was enough evidence to bind 
the suspect over for trial.

Mercado's attorney says his client denies all involvement in these crimes.

(source: nbcsandiego.com)






USA:

Peace Cannot Be Achieved When the State Executes Innocent Men


Almost 3 years ago, the state of Georgia likely executed an innocent man. 
Despite no physical evidence connecting Troy Davis to the August 19, 1989 
murder of police officer Mark MacPhail in Savannah, Georgia, despite the fact 
that numerous witnesses implicated Sylvester "Redd" Coles, who was the 
individual to accuse Davis of the murder, despite the fact that police never 
seriously investigated Coles as a suspect, and despite the fact that 7 of 9 
state trial witnesses later recanted or changed their stories, the state of 
Georgia went ahead with the execution of Troy Davis on September 21, 2011...the 
International Day of Peace, no less.

While there are so many issues with the death penalty, in light of the upcoming 
anniversary of Georgia's murder of Troy Davis, I am focusing this piece on 
issues of innocence, which are, of course, generally coupled with police and 
prosecutorial failings.

Since then, 2 more states - Connecticut and Maryland - have abolished the death 
penalty. Yet 32 states continue to execute convicted offenders, many of whose 
guilt, like Troy Davis, is dubious. In July 2013, the Office of the Inspector 
General of the Department of Justice issued a scathing report in which it 
stated the Justice Department failed to review the lab work of an FBI examiner 
even when it was known that the work was flawed. 3 of the 64 individuals whose 
lab work was reviewed by this examiner were already executed.

Several other cases of possible wrongful executions, according to the Death 
Penalty Information Center, occurred, not surprisingly, in Texas. In 1989, 
Texas executed Carlos DeLuna. Conflicting eyewitness statements, mistakes in 
the police investigation, and missing information resulted in the wrongful 
conviction, according to a study completed by Columbia Law School Professor 
James Liebman and his students. In 1993, Texas executed Ruben Cantu for capital 
murder during an attempted robbery. Subsequent investigations have revealed 
that key witnesses changed their stories. Four years later, Texas executed 
David Spence, whose trial, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, 
"was pursued by a zealous narcotics cop who relied on testimony of prison 
inmates who were granted favors in return for testimony."

Gary Graham, also known as Shaka Sankofa, was executed by the state of Texas in 
2000, despite there being no physical evidence connecting him to the 1981 
robbery and murder of Bobby Lambert for which he was convicted. The conviction 
was based largely on the word of one witness, who was said to have seen the 
incident through her windshield from 30-40 feet away. Graham's court-appointed 
defense attorney failed to call 2 other witnesses who were at the scene and did 
not believe it was Graham who was the shooter. 4 years later, Texas executed 
Cameron Todd Wilingham for intentionally setting the fire that killed his 3 
daughters. As fire science advanced in the years that Willingham sat on death 
row, multiple experts testified before various courts that, in fact, there 
really was no arson but instead an accidental fire. Hence, no crime at all, and 
definitely not an intentional triple homicide.

Missouri executed Larry Griffin on June 21, 1995. An investigation by the NAACP 
Legal Defense and Educational Fund found that a witness, who was injured in the 
drive-by shooting that Griffin allegedly perpetrated, claimed that Griffin was 
not the shooter, and a police officer who responded to the scene later provided 
an account that discredited previous witness statements. The NAACP supplied the 
prosecution with the names of three likely suspects, all of whom are in jail 
for other offenses. University of Michigan Law Professor Samuel Gross stated in 
2005, "There is no real doubt that we have an innocent person. If we could go 
to trial on this case, if there was a forum where we could take this to trial, 
we would win hands down." But there is no such forum, because Griffin is dead. 
Joseph O'Dell was executed in 1997 by the state of Oklahoma. DNA evidence cast 
much doubt on his 1986 conviction for rape and murder, and 3 state Supreme 
Court judges expressed concern that O'Dell was allowed to defend himself, yet 
the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the case.

My current state of Florida may also have executed an innocent man. Leo Jones 
was executed in 1998 for the murder of a police officer in Jacksonville. In all 
likelihood, Jones was tortured by the police officer who interrogated him and 
after multiple hours of abuse, coerced Jones into signing a confession. Of 
course, nothing seems to have been learned, as Florida leads the way in 
exonerations with 24. According to Floridians for Alternatives to the Death 
Penalty, the usual compensation from the state upon release is a t-shirt, a 
pair of jeans, and a bus ticket or the equivalent.

Yet, despite what is obviously a deeply flawed system if this many people can 
be sentenced to death row or even executed in error, 29 individuals have been 
executed to date in 2014, mostly from Florida, Texas and Missouri. The state of 
Florida has executed 10 people in the past 10 months.

As we approach the 2014 International Day of Peace, it is imperative that the 
nation re-visit the case of Troy Davis and the others listed here. To have a 
system of justice that is so unjust as to kill those who may have been innocent 
is a tremendous blight on the freedoms and liberties we allegedly stand for.

(source: Op-Ed; Laura Finely, Huntington News)