[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, MO., NEB., USA

[Rick Halperin]

Dec. 11



OHIO:

Man speaks of time wrongfully in jail on death row


"I turned 18. I blew out a candle in my prison cell on death row for my 18th 
birthday," Kwame Ajamu said.

It was the 5th night of Chanukah, about 2 weeks to Christmas.

Both a Christmas tree and menorah offered a soft glow in the Unitarian 
Universalists of Southern Delaware. The room held a small group of individuals.

But the night wasn't about holidays and festivities.

Instead, Kwame Ajamu stood at a podium in Lewes on International Human Rights 
Day, stopping every so often to wipe tears from his eyes, as he told his 
now-famous life story.

He was only 17.

Ajamu, formerly Ronnie Bridgeman, was arrested and sent to prison alongside his 
older brother, Wiley Bridgeman, and best friend, Ricky Jackson, for crimes the 
3 did not commit.

The case was based on the testimony of a 12-year-old boy. The boy, Eddie 
Vernon, later recanted his statement and, Ajamu said, had been coerced by 
police.

"Those 3 young male negroes, as we were labled, would be courted out, stand 
trial, be tried and convicted, and be sentenced to die," he said. "I turned 18. 
I blew out a candle in my prison cell on death row for my 18th birthday."

He spent 2 years on death row before Ohio repealed the death penalty. Then, he 
moved into general population.

Ajamu came to Delaware to speak Thursday about his struggles, and to stand with 
the UUSD, Amnesty International and other Delaware Repeal Project partners, to 
stand up against the death penalty.

He and those running the event also urged attendees to reach out to Delaware 
representatives asking them to repeal the death penalty.

"Because of the human atrocities that happened in my life, because of pain and 
suffering that happened to my brother and my good friend, I stand before you 
today," Ajamu said. "I say to you today, thank you so much for having the 
courage to stand before the world and say these thing should never be."

He spent 2 hours detailing the traumas he suffered while wrongfully 
incarcerated for 27 years. Ajamu spoke of his time isolated on death row, on 
his brother being forced to take drugs in prison, of his family members who 
died while he was put away.

The death of his mother, he said, was the death of Ronnie. And so, he became 
Kwame Ajamu, a name holding significance, a name meaning he would fight for 
what he believed in.

It's a fight, while he is now free, that Ajamu keeps fighting.

"I only stand here that I might help another not suffer the way I have," he 
said.

Ajamu learned to forgive his time in prison. He questioned his life, his god. 
He went from being a Baptist to a Muslim.

Thursday night he spoke of religion, of the strong ties behind both the Muslim 
and Christian faiths, a topic that the country has been engulfed in over the 
last few months.

Many times, he stopped to compose himself. The sound of quiet cries, empathy 
vocalized, could be heard throughout the room.

As he finished his story, his final words were met with applause, the crowd 
rose to its feet.

They are winning the fight, Ajamu said. It may not feel like it, but they are.

"We are soldiers in a fight that must never end."

(source: delmarvanow.com)






MISSOURI:

State representative files bill to 'optimize' death row----New rule would 
expedite execution process for those without further chance of appeal

State lawmakers will soon discuss House Bill 1647, which would reform 
Missouri's execution process.

State Rep. Mike Kelley, R-Lamar, said the bill would require the state Supreme 
Court to perform a review on all pending death row cases within 30 days of it 
passing.

The bill would also require the court to schedule an execution within 60 days 
of the review's completion.

Kelley said the bill would both save the state about $30,000 a year per inmate. 
He said it would more effectively carry out the court's decision to impose the 
death penalty.

"My goal is not to ever execute anyone that's innocent. That's no one's goal," 
Kelley said. "When you have a person who's admitted they are guilty, once there 
are no more appeals available, that sentence needs to be carried out."

There are currently 27 inmates facing the death penalty in Missouri.

(source: ABC news)






NEBRASKA:

Delays continue in Nikko Jenkins case as judge orders 3rd competency evaluation


Here we go again.

A judge today ordered a 3rd competency evaluation to determine whether serial 
killer Nikko Jenkins is capable of understanding and participating in his 
defense against the death penalty.

Attorneys believe that Judge Peter Bataillon's order will delay Jenkins' 
scheduled January hearing before a 3-judge panel that will determine whether he 
deserves the death penalty for the August 2013 killings of Jorge Cajiga-Ruiz, 
Juan Uribe-Pena, Curtis Bradford and Andrea Kruger.

If delayed, this will be the 4th time that judges have had to set Jenkins' 
death-penalty hearing. Jenkins pleaded no contest to the charges April 18, 
2014. His death-penalty hearing was originally set for Aug. 11, 2014.

All told, competency evaluations alone have delayed Jenkins' case by 9 months. 
The next delay almost certainly will cost another 2 to 3 months - pushing the 
overall delay to a year.

Indeed, patience has been tested in a 27-month-old case filled with Jenkins' 
antics and his alternate claims of incompetency and courtroom supremacy.

"Frustrating is a word that doesn't adequately describe the situation we're in 
here," said Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine, the prosecutor in the case. 
"It's extremely frustrating. ... It's been an ongoing struggle to bring this 
matter to an end. Everyone wants to have some closure here."

Standing in the way of that closure: sporadic reports that Jenkins is not 
competent to participate in his defense or understand the proceedings against 
him. Dr. Bruce Gutnik, a defense-paid psychiatrist, has repeatedly said that 
Jenkins' is "hypomanic" and suffers from hallucinations and, thus, is unable to 
participate in his defense.

State psychiatrists, meanwhile, have repeatedly said Jenkins is feigning mental 
illness in order to try to manipulate either his court proceedings or where he 
is placed in prison. They have said he knows exactly what he is doing and that 
he is well-versed in the law and courtroom gamesmanship.

Add to the mix: Jenkins has repeatedly mutilated himself on his face and penis. 
While some court participants roll their eyes at the mutilations as another way 
Jenkins attempts to get attention, Judge Bataillon has seemed swayed by them.

"This is a rather unique situation," said Jenkins' on-again, off-again 
attorney, Douglas County Public Defender Tom Riley. "We have extreme polar 
views of what's going on with (Jenkins). One group says he's faking and the 
other says he's not.

"I can't think of a case where the (doctors') opinions have been so polarized."

The only consolation to all this consternation: Jenkins has been convicted.

Once Jenkins is declared competent, Riley said, he will file a number of 
motions: A motion to allow Jenkins to withdraw his no-contest pleas. 
Constitutional challenges to the death penalty - which Nebraska has no way to 
carry out currently, anyway, Riley noted.

"If he's deemed competent, I've got a bunch of motions ready to go," Riley 
said. "But I have a difficult time filing motions until that time comes."

(source: omaha.com)





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

Nebraska looking to recoup $54,400 spent on execution drugs


Nebraska officials are looking for ways to recover the $54,400 that was spent 
on foreign-made lethal injection drugs which haven't been delivered, but a 
spokesman for Gov. Pete Ricketts said Friday that it's not clear whether 
they'll succeed.

Ricketts spokesman Taylor Gage said the governor has directed Nebraska's 
corrections department to review its purchase agreement with Harris Pharma, a 
1-man company based in India.

Ricketts announced last week that the state would stop trying to obtain the 
drugs until after a statewide vote on capital punishment next November. State 
officials have struggled to import them because the U.S. Food and Drug 
Administration said they can't do so legally.

"It is unclear what recourse the state has, if any, to recover the funds at 
this time," Gage said.

Lawmakers abolished capital punishment in May over Ricketts' veto, but a 
statewide petition drive partially financed by the governor gathered enough 
signatures to suspend that decision and put the issue on the ballot.

Chris Harris, who runs Harris Pharma, sold drugs to the state in 2010, but the 
manufacturer later accused him of misrepresenting how he intended to use them. 
Legal challenges prevented the state from using that batch before it expired. 
Harris did not immediately respond to an email Friday morning.

An attempt to ship the newest batch of drugs in August via FedEx was thwarted 
because the transport company said it lacked necessary paperwork for 
international shipping.

Nebraska prison officials also tried but failed in October to buy 1 of the 
required drugs, pancuronium bromide, from a Mississippi-based pharmaceutical 
company. The order was canceled a day later, after the company said the product 
wasn't available.

Dawn-Renee Smith, a Nebraska Department of Correctional Services spokeswoman, 
said the agency planned to review its purchase agreement for the drugs at 
Ricketts' request.

Nebraska hasn't executed an inmate since 1997, when it used the electric chair, 
and has never carried one out with lethal injection drugs. The state lacks 2 of 
the 3 drugs required in its execution protocol. Nebraska currently has 10 men 
on death row.

Some lawmakers said they doubt the state will get its money back.

"When you do business with people who don't have good reputations, you 
shouldn't expect to be refunded," Sen. Bob Krist of Omaha said Friday.

Krist, who voted to repeal the death penalty, said he was pleased Ricketts 
decided not to pursue the execution drugs until after the election.

Sen. Heath Mello of Omaha, chairman of the budget-writing Appropriations 
Committee, said during a hearing last month that he was concerned state 
officials were able to send a check to Harris without having a way to recoup 
the money. Mello, who supported the death penalty repeal, said he was looking 
into the state's policies to try to prevent similar losses in the future.

Ricketts has said his administration is also working with Nebraska Attorney 
General Doug Peterson and correctional services director Scott Frakes to look 
at changing the state's lethal injection protocol.

(source: Associated Press)






USA:

Ethical Responsibilities of Physicians: Capital Punishment in the 21st Century


Karen B. Rosenbaum, MD; William Connor Darby, MD; Robert Weinstock, MD

Psychiatric Annals

December 2015 - Volume 45 - Issue 12: 615-621


The United States is in the company of only 22 other countries with the death 
penalty. The American Medical Association is among many medical professional 
organizations that prohibit the participation of physicians in the physical act 
of execution. Despite these clear guidelines, debate remains regarding 
physician involvement in various aspects of death penalty cases. This article 
outlines different positions that physicians and specifically forensic 
psychiatrists have taken on this issue. Our position is that given the 
overwhelming secondary duty related to their physician role - specifically to 
do no harm - forensic psychiatrists should not use their expertise if they 
believe their involvement will be used for the primary purpose of obtaining a 
death penalty. Of necessity, forensic evaluations can do harm. But when 
something as extreme as death is concerned, the secondary medical duties 
preclude directly facilitating a person's death. [Psychiatr Ann. 
2015;45(12):615 - 621.]

(source: healio.com)