[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----KY., TENN., LA., NEB., OKLA.

[Rick Halperin]

April 19



KENTUCKY:

Lexington police made 2nd arrest in shooting death of UK student



Lexington police have made a 2nd arrest arrest in the death of Jonathan 
Krueger, a junior at the University of Kentucky who was shot while walking home 
early Friday.

Krueger, 22, of Perrysburg, Ohio was killed about 2 a.m. during a robbery at 
Transylvania Park and East Maxwell Street. He died from a gunshot wound to the 
chest, according to the Fayette County Coroner.

Police arrested Efrain Diaz, 20, Friday evening and charged him with murder and 
robbery.

Police also arrested Justin D. Smith, 18, who has been charged with murder in 
the fatal shooting. In addition to murder, Smith also is charged with robbery, 
tampering with physical evidence and fleeing and evading stemming from a brief 
pursuit and standoff.

As police loaded Smith into a cruiser Friday evening, reporters asked whether 
he killed Krueger.

"No. Hell no," Smith replied before heading to the Fayette County jail.

Smith spent several hours being questioned in police headquarters Friday after 
police announced they had made an arrest in the case.

Lexington police Chief Mark Barnard, during a news conference earlier, said 
investigators caught Smith quickly, but the case is not closed. They are 
looking for other individuals who were involved. Barnard would not say how many 
others could be involved.

"We've updated the family on our investigation and our thoughts and prayers are 
with them," Barnard said.

The chief said the investigation "moved so quickly" so there was a lot that 
they are still piecing together. The chief said he could not say much about the 
case, but he scheduled the news conference because police had received multiple 
calls from the community.

"It has been such a quick, fluid investigation that we are still actively 
working on it and investigators are out in the field, so I don't want to 
jeopardize anything they're doing or their safety," Barnard said.

Barnard said his officers did well by making an arrest seven hours after the 
shooting. A large number of officers were working on the case, and he said they 
wanted to provide some sense of closure for Krueger's family, but he realized 
that this doesn't heal their wounds. Barnard said he spoke to Krueger's father 
and he was, understandably, very upset.

"I don't think there's anything ever anything I could say to a family or a 
victim that ever makes them whole again after something like this," said 
Barnard, who was flanked by several city leaders, including Lexington mayor Jim 
Gray and Fayette Commonwealth's Attorney Ray Larson. "It's very difficult for 
families."

When asked whether this would be a capital murder case, Larson said he would 
not discuss the case because it was pending.

"One thing I don't do is talk about a pending case," he said. "This is a 
pending case and as a result, I'm not going to say anything about it. If you 
want to know about procedures, we'll talk about those at some point. If you 
want to talk about facts, that sort of thing, you have to come to the trial."

Kentucky law allows prosecutors to seek the death penalty when there are 
aggravating circumstances when someone is killed during a robbery or there is 
an active emergency protective order.

IT'S TERRIFYING

Krueger, a junior in the College of Communication and Information, was shot 
about 2 a.m. Friday during a robbery at Transylvania Park and East Maxwell 
street, according to Lexington police.

Officers, responding to a report of shots being fired, found Krueger lying on 
East Maxwell street. After interviewing witnesses, police say, Krueger was 
gunned down during a robbery. A friend who was with Krueger escaped and found 
two people who called police. The friend told police that a minivan pulled up, 
2 men jumped out and confronted them. The witness says the men grabbed his 
watch and when he tried to throw his wallet at them and run, he heard gunshots. 
He was not injured.

The men who called police say they thought the gunfire was fireworks until they 
saw Krueger's friend.

"The look on his face was just like, incredible. He was in so much shock. He 
was asking us if like, he could trust us, cause he was just scared of anything 
at that point in time.That was his friend who got shot at so it's terrifying," 
Thomas O'Mara, who helped the victims, said.

The University of Kentucky issued an urgent alert for students to avoid the 
Transylvania Park area around 3 a.m. The alert was cleared about 40 minutes 
later when the university issued a statement, saying "the emergency condition 
has passed, all conditions are normal and you may safely resume your regularly 
scheduled activity."

Earlier Friday, police released some details about the shooting, but they did 
not connect the shooting to a later search and standoff on Le Havre Road.

After the shooting, officers began looking for a man wearing a red hoodie. He 
was last seen leaving the area in a maroon minivan, possibly, a Chrysler Town 
and Country model.

Around 5:30 a.m., Lexington police Lt. Clay Combs said they tried to stop a 
maroon minivan because they thought the driver was under the influence. 
Officers say the driver took off toward a home on Le Havre Road. The man 
refused to come outside, so police called in its Emergency Response Unit or 
SWAT team.

Around 6:30 a.m., Justin Smith exited the home peacefully and was arrested.

Police recovered a weapon near Cardinal Valley neighborhood on Cambridge Drive, 
but would not discuss any evidence they collected.

A CAMPUS TRAGEDY

News of Krueger's death rocked the campus.

Krueger was a photojournalist and was the photo editor for the Kernel, UK's 
student newspaper. Chris Poore, the Kernel's adviser, told our sister station 
in Lexington, WKYT, that Krueger was tapped to be the paper's ad manager in the 
fall. Several students said they knew him well.

UK President Eli Capilouto, noting that it was a tragedy for the campus 
community, issued a statement about his death.

The president said he notified the campus community Friday morning of the death 
of a student.

"We extend our deepest sympathies to Jonathan's family, friends, faculty 
members, and fellow students," he said. "We have reached out to his family to 
let them know that we are here to assist them in any way we can at this 
incomprehensible moment."

Capilouto noted that the shooting happened off campus, but it "is a stark 
reminder that all members of our campus community should at all times be 
vigilant about their safety, and the safety of others. We are each other's 
keeper."

"It is also in a moment like this that we are reminded of how fragile and 
precious life is," he said. "Let us all keep Jonathan's family, loved ones and 
friends in our thoughts and prayers."

Krueger's fraternity, Beta Theta Pi, issued a press release that, in part, said 
"Jonathan had a way of putting a smile on everyone's face, every single day. 
His passion for photography and athletics was great; his love for people was 
even greater."

Krueger's co-workers at The Kentucky Kernel said he was an easy friend to 
anyone he met and was always stepping into help when it was needed.

Krueger worked as a photo editor for The Kernel and this year covered the men's 
basketball team all the way through the Final 4. His adviser at The Kernel 
says, next year would Krueger would have been stepping up into the role of 
advertising manager.

His friends say Krueger always brought a smile and positive attitude to their 
newsroom, something they say will be greatly missed.

"We just saw him yesterday so it is hard to grasp. At The Kernel we are very 
tight knit ... we spend every evening together so we are like family," said 
Morgan Eads.

(source: WLKY news)








TENNESSEE:

Living on death row in Tennessee: 'The rollercoaster is exhausting' ---- 34 
inmates are volleyed between life and death as the state grapples with lawsuits 
on the constitutionality of legal injection and the electric chair



Donnie Johnson has spent nearly 1/2 of his life waiting to die. In 1985, the 
Memphis camping equipment center staffer was found guilty of suffocating his 
wife, Connie, with a plastic garbage bag. Since his conviction, he's maintained 
his innocence; insisting that a work-release inmate murdered his wife, and that 
he only helped dispose of the body at a nearby shopping center out of fear for 
his life.

The 64-year-old death row inmate, who stays at Riverbend Maximum Security 
Institution on the western outskirts of Nashville, has twice been scheduled to 
die. Johnson received his 1st stay of execution in 2006, which later led to an 
unexpected meeting in 2012 with his stepdaughter, Cynthia Vaughn. The meeting 
gave the Southaven, Mississippi, resident, who was 7 years old when her mother 
was killed, a chance to forgive her stepfather. The 2 have since met another 4 
times, exchanged letters and chat on the phone every Saturday.

"It changed my life totally," Vaughn says. After spending most of her life 
hating her stepfather, she says she's learned more about the mother she hardly 
knew and has commemorated each visit with a tattoo of a bird. "I can't even 
think of a word to say how much it changed my life."

Their fragile relationship, slowly on the mend, hinges on the uncertain future 
of Tennessee's death penalty. Johnson, whose latest execution date on 24 March 
was indefinitely postponed, is one of 69 inmates currently locked up on 
Tennessee's death row. The inmates' lives now hang in the balance of a pair of 
lawsuits contesting whether the state's 2 execution methods, lethal injection 
and the electric chair, illegally subject them to cruel and unusual punishment 
in violation of their constitutional rights. A court last week halted all 
executions until the current legal challenges are resolved.

Tennessee's courtrooms have become one of the latest battlegrounds over how 
prisoners sentenced to death are executed. Those challenges - which gained 
national attention last year after several botched executions ahead of the US 
supreme court's landmark lethal injection case later this month - come at a 
time when some residents of the conservative southern state are showing signs 
of shifting their views on the death penalty.

Since Tennessee's last execution in 2009, lawyers have argued over numerous 
parts of the capital punishment process. Following a series of court rulings, 
the state has switched up the deadly drug used in its executions, concealed the 
identities of people administering lethal injection drugs to inmates, and 
brought back the electric chair as a backup execution method in case its 
dwindling supply of lethal injection drugs runs out. Those legal fights, 
largely taking place over the past 2 years, occurred as former Democratic 
attorney general Robert Cooper embarked on an unprecedented effort to schedule 
executions in a state that has only killed 6 inmates since the turn of the 
century.

34 Tennessee death-row inmates are now challenging whether the state's 
procedures for both execution methods are unnecessarily cruel. Kelly Henry, a 
capital habeas unit supervisor with the Tennessee federal public defender's 
office, on Friday presented oral arguments contesting the state???s use of 
lethal injection in Davidson County chancery court ahead of a trial scheduled 
later this summer. A separate lawsuit related to the electric chair will be 
taken up in the Tennessee supreme court in May, Henry says.

Citing the ongoing lawsuits, Tennessee department of correction spokeswoman 
Alison Randgaard declined to discuss the department???s ability to perform 
executions, the status of lethal injection drugs currently in its possession, 
and other death penalty protocols. The state's supreme court last month 
overturned a pair of lower-court rulings that would have forced DoC officials 
to hand over the identities of executioners and pharmacists to death-row inmate 
attorneys to determine their qualifications. Henry says it's still unclear 
whether the state can keep secret other details about the process of obtaining 
lethal injection drugs.

Tennessee attorney general's office spokesman Harlow Sumerford said he was 
unable to respond to multiple requests comment about its stance toward the 
death penalty, citing time constraints.

"The Department of Correction stands ready to carry out the will of the court," 
Randgaard wrote in a statement.

As those executioners remain on call, Henry questions the broader use of the 
death penalty in Tennessee. She says the process, particularly when execution 
dates are delayed, can trigger post-traumatic stress disorder due to the 
psychological torture involved. Case in point: one of her past clients had four 
stays of execution before which he washed down his cell for the next inmate, 
packed up his belongings and divided them up for his family members. 3 days 
before an execution, Henry says, inmates are moved to an 8ft-by-10ft cell, 
placed under 24-hour observation, and strip-searched before all visitations.

"It's surreal," Henry says. "All this complete dehumanization of themselves to 
make sure they don't kill themselves before they kill them."

Despite the state's continued push to carry out executions, traditionally 
progressive death penalty opponents have forged an unlikely partnership with 
some conservative residents on the issue. State representative Jeremy Faison 
recently co-sponsored a bill with a longtime death penalty opponent, state 
representative Johnnie Turner which could gain traction inside the Tennessee 
statehouse in 2016.

Knoxville resident Kenny Collins, who helped launch Tennessee Conservatives 
Concerned About the Death Penalty, says his stance toward the death penalty 
changed when he learned about the higher costs of incarceration for death-row 
inmates, the potential risk of killing a wrongfully convicted person, and the 
amount of power given to the government over a person's life.

"I can't say if [a wider shift in opinion] is going to happen overnight," says 
Collins, whose own opinions on the issue shifted just 3 years ago after doing 
some research. "I can't say if it's going to happen next week. The conversation 
around the death penalty has changed so much within a year. More conservatives 
are voicing their opposition to the death penalty."

Vaughn was once also a staunch supporter of the death penalty, actively posting 
on online forums and demanding that convicts like her stepfather be held 
accountable for their actions. But her views have slowly changed. Without an 
all-but-unlikely moratorium, she realizes the inevitability of Johnson's death 
and is asking him every last question about her mom, jotting down every last 
detail, and has even made him promise to choose lethal injection over 
electrocution - an option he still holds due to the length of time he's served 
in prison. Johnson, who she says has come to terms with his eventual death, 
agreed her request.

"The window of opportunity could close in 5 minutes or 5 years," Vaughn says. 
"The rollercoaster that the state puts everybody through is exhausting ... If 
you're going to execute him, execute him. If you're not, don't execute him. 
Stop messing with the families of both the inmates and the victims."

(source: The Guardian)








LOUISIANA:

Double murder trial to begin after 4 year delay



After 4 years, a trial for a man accused of double-murder is set to start in a 
few weeks.

Lee Turner Jr. is on trial for allegedly killing 2 co-workers. Police say 
Turner shot and killed Randy Chaney and Edward Gurtner at the Carquest Auto 
Parts on Airline Hwy in 2011. Turner was hired less than 2 weeks before. 
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty and jury selection started Friday.

East Baton Rouge District Attorney Hillar Moore said cases like this can take 
time to get rolling.

"These cases take 5 to 6 years just to get to trial," said Moore. "These are 
very time consuming cases."

The last person sentenced to death in East Baton Rouge Parish was Dacarius 
Holiday. Holiday was convicted of beating to death his girlfriend's 2-year old 
son, back in 2010. Moore said since that time, the parish has had other death 
penalty cases. None of those ended with a death sentence.

"It seems to be that way around the state and the country," said Moore "Death 
penalties are somewhat on the decline. And I know for Baton Rouge they have 
probably have for the last few years."

We have reached out to Turner's attorneys for comment, but they have not 
returned our calls.

(source: WAFB news)








NEBRASKA:

Nebraska could abolish death penalty



Nebraska senate endorses measure to replace capital punishment with life 
imprisonment

Nebraska has taken a major step closer to doing away with the death penalty, 
amid controversy over lethal injection that has some US states questioning the 
punishment and others digging in.

Despite a threat of veto from the state governor, the Nebraska senate endorsed 
the measure to replace the death penalty with life imprisonment on Thursday, 
according to official records.

Nebraska would join 18 other US states that have banned the death penalty if 
the bill becomes law.

Governor Pete Ricketts promised to veto the legislation, saying on Twitter that 
capital punishment "is an important tool for public safety and our 
prosecutors."

"Death row inmates have earned the penalty they received. They do not deserve 
the luxury of living on the taxpayer dime for a lifetime."

The legislature though could overturn the governor's veto with 30 votes -- the 
number of votes the bill received Thursday.

Executions have continued to decline in the United States with 11 states having 
abandoned the use of the death penalty without legally doing away with the 
punishment.

Around 80 % of the country's executions take place in Texas, Missouri and 
Florida. The US federal government rarely imposes the death penalty.

A recent shortage of a drug used in lethal injections prompted a state scramble 
to find an alternative to move forward with executions.

Some inmates appeared in agony as they were executed with alternative drugs, 
prompting a public outcry and raisingquestions over whether the punishment is 
overly cruel.

The US Supreme Court is due to consider the controversy at the end of the 
month. A recent Pew survey puts US public support for the death penalty at 56 
%.

In the meantime, some states with the death penalty have tried to ensure 
scheduled executions go forward.

Utah reinstated the firing squad and Texas restocked supplies of the needed 
lethal injection drug from an anonymous supplier. Oklahoma passed a law Friday 
to allow execution by gas chamber.


(source: i24news.tv)








OKLAHOMA:

Experimental execution: Oklahoma legalizes nitrogen-gassing of death-row 
inmates



Oklahoma has become the 1st US state to legalize the gassing of death row 
inmates if lethal injection drugs are not available. The rushed decision was 
made without any proper clinical trials, Robert Dunham, Head of Death Penalty 
Info Center told RT.

Following a spree of horrific accidents involving botched lethal injection 
executions across the US, Oklahoma has decided to go ahead and press forward 
with contingency measures for executing inmates.

Last year Oklahoma witnessed the execution of Clayton D. Lockett, who suffered 
from a heart attack and convulsions, and was in agony for 45 minutes prior to 
his death. While the Supreme Court decides whether the new drug mix is 
constitutional, Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin on Friday approved the use of 
nitrogen in executions as an alternative option to the so-called painless 
death.

The new cost-effective procedure involves only a mask and a tank of nitrogen. 
As the inmate inhales pure gas without any oxygen, he or she is supposed to 
lose conciseness within seconds, while his or her body slowly dies from 
asphyxiation.

But politicians in Oklahoma did not pay much attention to medical evidence and 
veterinarian practice and expertise, Robert Dunham, Head of Death Penalty 
Information Center told RT.

"It has not been tested on humans because it is unethical to test it on 
humans," Dunham said. Admitting that there is no way to run such lethal tests 
on humans, he said that at the same time there was "no indication that they 
looked into what the experience has been with the veterinarians."

Yet proponents of the new method argue that it is a painless way to depart this 
life and one of the most humane ones.

"Nitrogen-induced hypoxia is a painless form of execution that doesn't require 
any specific pharmaceutical compounds or any medical expertise to administer," 
Rep. Mike Christian, R-Oklahoma City, told The Tulsa World ."It is a far better 
alternative to the electric chair should lethal injection ever become 
unavailable, and so I thank the governor for signing this bill into law."

To come up with the new execution method, the state commissioned a study which 
last month concluded that "an execution protocol that induced hypoxia via 
nitrogen inhalation would be a humane method to carry out a death sentence."

But despite all the claims of a humane method of execution, Dunham told RT, 
that at its core the death penalty is a violent act.

"The execution of a person, the taking of their life against their will is a 
violent act," he said, pointing out that recent capital punishment cases 
conclude that any evidence rather that DNA evidence can be mishandled and that 
innocent people might die.

"What the DNA has shown us is that you can't really have a whole lot of 
confidence in the rest legal process in capital cases," he said.

The governor's decision, Dunham says, "illustrates that when legislatures are 
having these really fast, thoughtless responses, they're not taking into 
consideration things you would expect a careful legislature would."

(source: rt.com)