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

[Rick Halperin]

April 20



OKLAHOMA:

'No guarantee nitrogen gas execution is painless'



Oklahoma has added the gas chamber to its execution methods. The head of the 
Death Penalty Information Center, Robert Dunham, told RT the decision was made 
hastily, with no medical research and that nitrogen was "inappropriate for use 
on humans".

RT:What was your reaction to the news?

Robert Dunham: I think my reaction is the one of disappointment. It shows first 
that the legislature in Oklahoma and the government of Oklahoma are out of step 
with the views of vast majority of Americans and are certainly out of step with 
the views of the rest of the world. Oklahoma moved very very swiftly because 
their lethal injection protocol is under attack to come up with some 
alternative method of execution. But in doing so there is no medical research, 
there is no indication of a very very fast legislative response here.

There is no indication that they looked into what the experience has been with 
the veterinarians, and animals and things along those lines. And it turns out 
if you look at what the American Veterinarian Association has said, nitrogen 
gas is inappropriate for use among most mammals, and particularly large mammals 
which of course human beings are.

RT: State officials say the new method is painless. But it has never been 
tested on humans - so how do they know?

RD: It has not been tested on humans because it is unethical to test it on 
humans. But I think what is really instructive is the language used by the 
Oklahoma legislatures and the Oklahoma governor drawing this entire process. It 
is virtually identical to what the legislatures were saying when they went into 
lethal injection. They without a whole lot of research and without medical 
experience to back it up were saying that the lethal injection is going to be 
swift, is going to be painless, and is going to be effective. So this is the 
same rhetoric. There is no guarantee whatsoever. It may work. It may be 
painless, but we don't know. And it is unethical to experiment and find out.

RT: Are there any humane ways of executing people?

RD: I don't know what the answer to that is. I can tell you that the people of 
good will, whether you're for the death penalty or against the death penalty, 
if it is going to get carried out you want it to get done in a manner as quick 
and as painless as possible. And recent polls in the US show that among the 
death penalty proponents that view is held by over 70 % of people who say that 
they support the death penalty. As Pope Francis recently said, "the is no 
humane way to execute somebody." 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. And I think the failures of lethal injection and the swift but 
not particularly thoughtful reaction by states like Utah with their firing 
squad proposal and Oklahoma with the gas proposal just kind of 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.

RT: How do you believe this sensitive subject should be handled?

RD: I think there is a rising concern about the problems with the death penalty 
in the United States. And that concern - there're a lot of reasons for it. With 
the innocence revolution, with the development of DNA technology, there have 
been more and more instances we've seen people who are innocent coming off the 
death row. In the last month alone in the US there have been two death row 
exoneration. And one of the scariest things about this is, you know with DNA 
you're able to examine whether somebody did the offense or did not do the 
offense. DNA is not present in vast majority of these cases. It is available as 
an evidentuary tool in maybe 10-15 % of the cases.

And what we have learned with the DNA cases is, every other piece of evidence 
that was used to convict the person is wrong. And so we have seen a disturbing 
number of confessions that are either false or fabricated. We have seen eye 
witness identification that simply is incorrect. We have seen things like 
prison informants giving false information, and an extraordinary amount of 
preceptorial or police misconduct. So 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. And I think the folks in the US are very concerned about that 
and it is one of the reasons why support for the death penalty is at a forty 
year low in our country.

(source: rt.com)








USA:

More marathon survivors come out against death penalty----Penalty phase of 
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev trial to begin Tuesday



2 people who lost limbs in the Boston Marathon bombing have come out in 
opposition of the death penalty for convicted bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

Married couple Jessica Kensky and Patrick Downes join the parents of 8-year-old 
victim Martin Richard, who died in the 2013 blasts, in asking the federal 
government not to put Tsarnaev to death.

In a statement to The Boston Globe, the couple says "If there is anyone who 
deserves the ultimate punishment, it is the defendant. However, we must 
overcome the impulse for vengeance."

They call their position "intensely emotional and profoundly practical."

Like the Richards, they call for life in prison without parole or appeals to 
ensure that Tsarnaev "disappears from our collective consciousness as soon as 
possible."

The penalty phase of the trial starts Tuesday.

(source: WCVB news)

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

FBI admit to scores of forensic errors, including death penalty cases

The FBI on Sunday admitted "errors" spanning several years in evidence provided 
in court by its forensic lab to help secure criminal convictions, including in 
death penalty cases.

The admission follows a report by the Inspector General's Office (OIG) last 
July probing "irregularities" by the Federal Bureau of Investigation lab.

The OIG's report found that the flawed forensics were used in at least 60 
capital punishment cases, including three in which the defendants were put to 
death.

In a statement acknowledging the flawed forensics, the FBI said it is 
"committed to ensuring that affected defendants are notified of past errors and 
that justice is done in every instance".

The statement admitted "errors made in statements by FBI examiners regarding 
microscopic hair analysis in the context of testimony or laboratory reports. 
Such statements are no longer being made by the FBI," the statement said.

It added that the FBI "is also now employing mitochondrial-DNA hair analysis in 
addition to microscopic analysis".

The statement, co-signed by the Department of Justice, added that "the 
department and FBI have devoted considerable resources to this effort and will 
continue to do so until all of the cases are addressed".

(source: Agence France-Presse)