[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----VA., FLA., OKLA., NEB.

[Rick Halperin]

Dec. 16



VIRGINIA:

Executions, death sentences continue to drop in U.S.


Virginia's death penalty was last imposed on Robert Charles Gleason Jr. on 
Sept. 6, 2011.

Executions across the nation declined again this year and fewer death sentences 
were imposed in the past decade than in the 10 years prior to the U.S. Supreme 
Court's decision that halted capital punishment in 1972, according to a study 
released today.

The Death Penalty Information Center reports that the 28 executions this year 
were the fewest since 1991. And, as of Tuesday, 14 states and the federal 
government had imposed 49 new death sentences this year, a 33 % decline over 
2014 and the lowest number since the early 1970s.

Virginia, which ranks 3rd among states in the number of executions carried out 
since the death penalty was allowed to resume in 1976, has not had a new death 
sentence imposed since Sept. 6, 2011. In Wise County, a judge imposed a death 
sentence against Robert Charles Gleason, who wanted to be executed.

"It has now been over 4 years since a jury in Virginia has imposed a death 
sentence," said Michael E. Stone, executive director of Virginians for 
Alternatives to the Death Penalty.

The Death Penalty Information Center's year-end study reported that only 6 
states conducted executions in 2015, the fewest number of states in 27 years. 
Virginia, which executed rapist-murderer Alfredo Prieto in October, was 1 of 
the 6.

Richmond's Ricky Gray, sentenced to die for the 2006 slaying of 2 young sisters 
during a murder rampage, could be executed in 2016.

The center's report found that 86 % of executions in 2015 were in just 3 
states: Texas (13), Missouri (6) and Georgia (f5), and that executions across 
the country declined 20 % from 2014, when there were 35.

"The use of the death penalty is becoming increasingly rare and increasingly 
isolated in the United States," said Robert Dunham, the center's executive 
director and author of the report.

"These are not just annual blips in statistics, but reflect a broad change in 
attitudes about capital punishment across the country," he said.

Others have pointed out that a dramatic decline in murders across the country 
in recent decades has played a large part in the decline of executions.

The year-end report found that relatively few jurisdictions imposed death 
sentences this year and that Riverside County, Calif., imposed 16 % of all 
death sentences in the U.S. in 2015, accounting for more death sentences than 
any state except Florida.

Nearly 2/3 of all new death sentences this year came from the same 2 % of U.S. 
counties that are responsible for more than 1/2 of all death-sentenced inmates 
nationwide.

The report also found that during the year, 6 death row inmates were exonerated 
of all charges, 1 each in Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi and 
Texas.

And the number of people on death rows across the U.S. dropped below 3,000 for 
the 1st time since 1995, according to the latest survey by the NAACP Legal 
Defense Fund. Virginia, where the death row population once hovered around 60, 
now has just 7 inmates on its death row, one of the smallest death rows in the 
country.

Virginia has executed 111 people since 1977, when executions resumed in the 
U.S. It is 3rd behind Texas, with 531, and Oklahoma, with 112.

Across the U.S., at least 70 inmates with execution dates this year received 
stays, reprieves or commutations - 2 1/2 times the number who were executed, 
the report said.

(source: Richmond Times-Dispatch)




FLORIDA:

Florida continues to lead most states in administering death penalty


Although Florida saw a drop in 2015 in the number of death-row inmates executed 
and the number of criminals sentenced to death, findings from a national 
nonprofit research organization show the Sunshine State continues to be an 
"outlier" in its administration of capital punishment.

The year-end report from the Death Penalty Information Center, released 
Wednesday, highlights Florida and a handful of other states for bucking 
national trends that reflect growing disfavor among Americans toward the death 
penalty.

Nationwide in 2015, executions dropped to their lowest level in 24 years, and 
the number of new death sentences imposed fell sharply from already historic 
lows, the center found.

18 states and the District of Columbia have outlawed the death penalty, while 
another 12 haven't executed anyone in 9 years or longer, the center said.

"We're seeing that the death penalty as a whole is being imposed much less 
frequently, and when it's being imposed, it's being imposed by an increasingly 
isolated group of states and counties," said Robert Dunham, the center's 
executive director. "When we talk about the death penalty being a product of 
outlier practices or geographically isolated, Florida is a perfect example."

In Florida, executions and new death sentences were down in 2015, but the state 
still joins a few others in being responsible for the most use of the death 
penalty, the center found.

According to the report, 93 % of the 28 executions this year came from four 
states: Texas (13), Missouri (6), Georgia (5) and Florida (2). Oklahoma and 
Virginia had 1 each.

The 2 executions in Florida were down from eight in 2014, largely because 
Florida, like other states, held off on executions during most of the first 
part of 2015 until the Supreme Court determined whether Oklahoma's 
controversial lethal injection cocktail -- containing the drug midazolam -- was 
constitutional. Florida's lethal injection mixture also includes the drug. The 
court upheld use of it in a June ruling.

Dunham said the controversy over lethal injection drugs "had some effect" in 
yielding fewer executions nationwide in 2015, but "it does not explain the 
dramatic long-term drop in executions, new death sentences and public opinion."

While most states, including Texas, have executed fewer inmates over time, 
Florida saw an uptick in 2013 and 2014 -- with 7 and 8 executions in those 
years, respectively -- largely because of Gov. Rick Scott's accelerated pace of 
executing of death-row inmates.

With the execution of Jerry Correll in October, Scott surpassed former Gov. Jeb 
Bush in overseeing the most executions during his time in office. Correll's 
execution -- for brutally stabbing 4 people, including his 5-year-old daughter -- 
was the 22nd to take place in the death chamber at Florida State Prison since 
Scott took office in 2011.

The only other person executed in Florida this year was Johnny Kormondy, who 
was put to death in January for fatally shooting a Pensacola banker and raping 
his wife.

Already, 2 executions are scheduled for early 2016. The 1st -- Oscar Ray Bolin, 
Jr., convicted of 3 murders in the Tampa Bay area in 1986 -- is slated for Jan. 
7, but Bolin's attorneys are seeking a stay from the Florida Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, Florida was 2nd only to California this year in sentencing criminals 
to death. The number of new death sentences in Florida fell slightly to 9, 
compared with 11 in 2014, according to the center's findings. California had 14 
this year.

7 of Florida's 9 new death sentences resulted from non-unanimous jury 
recommendations -- which is prohibited in most every other state. Only Delaware 
and Alabama join Florida in still allowing it.

Florida is the only state in which a jury can recommend a death sentence by a 
bare majority of seven of 12 jurors without also having to unanimously agree on 
aggravating circumstances to justify the ultimate punishment.

The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in October challenging Florida's system; 
justices are expected to deliver their ruling in 2016 for the case, Hurst v. 
Florida.

Dunham said the court could choose to rule on the constitutionality of either 
or both of Florida's outlier practices: allowing non-unanimous recommendations 
and allowing non-unanimous decisions on aggravating factors that yield the 
final recommendation.

"The issue of non-unanimous jury verdicts will gain even greater prominence if 
it is not decided by the Supreme Court," Dunham said. "One of the trends in the 
Supreme Court has been narrowing the circumstances in which the death penalty 
can be applied. As Florida becomes more obviously an outlier, its practices 
will face increased scrutiny."

Legislation has been filed for the 2016 session to require unanimous jury 
recommendations in Florida, but Republican lawmakers don't appear eager to take 
up the bills. They have said they want to see how the Supreme Court rules 
first.

If the court deems Florida's practices unconstitutional, the decision has the 
potential to throw an unknown number of cases into upheaval -- a figure death 
penalty experts, like Dunham, are still attempting to quantify.

There are 392 inmates on death row in Florida, the 2nd-most nationwide. 
California has the most, with 745 inmates. Texas is 3rd with 252.

Overall, fewer states and counties imposed death sentences in 2015, the center 
found.

In regard to the 9 new death sentences in Florida, Dunham said 7 came from 
counties that are part of the 2 % of counties nationwide that account for more 
than 1/2 of people on death row and that also generated 63 % of new death 
sentences in 2015 alone.

They are: Hillsborough County -- which had 2 -- and Miami-Dade, Broward, Duval, 
Orange and Seminole, which each had 1 new death sentence.

Hillsborough was 1 of only 6 counties in the country to impose more than 1 
death sentence in 2015, Dunham said. Riverside County in California, with 8, 
was responsible for 16 % of new death sentences nationwide.

(source: bradenton.com)

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

Mother of girl found in freezer is indicted, could face death penalty


The mother of an 11-year-old Florida girl who was found dead in a freezer at a 
relative's home was indicted Tuesday on 1st-degree murder charges, authorities 
said.

A grand jury handed up the indictment charging Keishanna Thomas, according to 
the Manatee County State Attorney's office.

Documents filed with the county's court clerk revealed months of abuse of 
11-year-old Janiya, and the grand jury used the word "tortured" when describing 
the conditions under which the girl lived.

The indictment said Keishanna Thomas killed Janiya by "starving her and/or 
asphyxiating her and/or drowning her." A man who dated Thomas since August said 
he didn't even know she had a child named Janiya.

The documents paint a horrific portrait of Janiya's young life in Bradenton, a 
small city south of Tampa on Florida's Gulf Coast. The girl's cousin told 
investigators that Janiya had a medical condition that caused her to lose 
control of her bladder and bowels. A family friend said Keishanna Thomas was 
upset that her daughter had the condition, and liked to keep the house spotless 
with bleach.

The family friend told investigators that Janiya was once placed in water that 
contained too much bleach, and that her skin turned red. The girl's siblings 
told investigators that their mother would lock Janiya in the bathroom day and 
night and had blocked the door with a large trunk to prevent her from leaving.

Last December, neighbors saw the then-10-year-old Janiya going through the 
garbage in the apartment complex cans. The girl told the neighbor that she was 
looking for food for her and her siblings.

Thomas had withdrawn Janiya from school in the spring of 2013 and was allegedly 
homeschooling her, a probable cause affidavit said, but had not submitted the 
required documentation for academic evaluation.

Thomas has been in custody at the Manatee County jail on bonds totaling 
$200,000 on charges of abuse, aggravated child abuse and abuse of a dead body. 
During several court hearings, she refused to talk about the girl's 
whereabouts.

If convicted of 1st-degree murder, Thomas could face the death penalty.

A call to her public defender, Franklin Roberts, was not immediately returned.

An assistant to Manatee County Assistant State Attorney Art Brown confirmed the 
indictment Tuesday. She identified herself as Brittany but per office policy, 
did not give a last name.

Authorities say Janiya's body was found Oct. 18 in a freezer that Thomas had 
delivered to a relative's house. The girl had been placed in a cardboard box 
and she appeared to be emaciated.

A state report noted that Manatee County Sheriff's child protective 
investigators and partnering agencies for years failed to accurately assess the 
pattern of violence in the home and the safety threat to the children.

Thomas has 4 other children, all of whom are in the custody of relatives.

(source: Ocala Star Banner)






OKLAHOMA:

Oklahoma in line with decline in use of capital punishment nationwide


Oklahoma is in line with the decline of capital punishment across the country.

The state of Oklahoma executed 1 person and handed down only 3 new death 
sentences in 2015, a trend that death-penalty researchers say is in line with a 
decline in the use of capital punishment around the country.

The Death Penalty Information Center, a nonprofit that researches capital 
punishment, released its year-end report Wednesday, and Oklahoma features 
prominently throughout. The cases of Richard Glossip and Charles Warner are 
highlighted, including the legal and logistical issues regarding the state's 
lethal injection protocol.

"The problems that Oklahoma has had this year illustrate many of the concerns 
that conservative groups have been talking about with the death penalty," 
Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, told 
the Tulsa World. He said that controversy surrounding Oklahoma's handling of 
death-penalty cases has played a key role in changing attitudes toward capital 
punishment in the U.S.

'Clearest example'

There were 28 executions in 6 states, the fewest since 1991. The 49 death 
sentences handed down in 2015 represents a 33 % drop from the record low set 
last year.

The report also says new death sentences during the past decade have reached 
historic lows and are lower than in the decade preceding the U.S. Supreme 
Court's 1972 Furman v. Georgia decision that led to a 4-year moratorium on 
executions.

Oklahoma was 1 of only 14 states to impose a new death sentence and 1 of 6 to 
execute an inmate this year - Charles Warner was killed by lethal injection 
Jan. 15.

"The national trend has been a precipitous decline in the number of death 
sentences and executions, but where they do occur, they've been concentrated," 
Dunham said. "So for new death sentences, Oklahoma follows a national pattern."

The report cites the backlash and media attention the state received in the 
case of Richard Glossip, who was granted a stay of execution Sept. 30 after the 
Oklahoma Department of Corrections discovered it had obtained an incorrect drug 
for his lethal injection. The same incorrect drug, potassium acetate, had been 
used in Warner's execution.

"This year, Oklahoma provided perhaps the clearest example in modern history of 
the U.S. death penalty of what happens when states get things wrong," Dunham 
said. "Coming off of the botched execution last year of Clayton Lockett 
(involving midazolam), one would have expected that the state would have paid 
extra close attention to protocol and to ensuring that it didn't botch other 
executions.

"Because of secrecy provisions ... nobody knew the state thought it had 
problems storing the (lethal injection) chemicals. Nobody knew what the review 
process was, and nobody would have imagined they obtained the wrong drug and 
illegally executed Charles Warner without anybody noticing it, or worse yet 
somebody noticing but not caring."

Capital punishment in Oklahoma

Oklahoma's lethal injection protocol calls for the use of the sedative 
midazolam, paralytic rocuronium bromide and potassium chloride, which stops the 
heart. It also allows for sodium thiopental or pentobarbital anesthetics to be 
used, but both are difficult to obtain because manufacturers of both drugs have 
refused to provide them to death-penalty states.

When asked Tuesday, a spokesman from Gov. Mary Fallin's office said Fallin 
continues to be a proponent of capital punishment for murderers whose crimes 
are "especially heinous or cruel," and believes executions should be carried 
out "efficiently, professionally and without cruelty."

"It is the position of the state of Oklahoma that lethal injection is the best 
available method of execution that fits that criteria," Fallin said in a 
statement.

"It is obvious, however, that anti-death-penalty activists are committed to 
opposing lethal injection both in the courts and by working to choke off the 
supply of lethal injection drugs."

Aaron Cooper, director of communications for Attorney General Scott Pruitt, 
also issued a statement on the matter Tuesday afternoon.

"In accordance with the will of Oklahomans, the law allows juries to hand out 
death sentences for the most heinous of crimes," Cooper said. "Accordingly, the 
Attorney General's Office will continue to fight diligently on behalf of the 
victims of violent crimes and their families to ensure justice is served."

A SoonerPoll.com survey conducted by 2 TV stations in November revealed about 
52 % of Oklahomans would favor life without parole over a death sentence if it 
also included a provision for restitution to the victim's family. An October 
survey from The Oklahoman indicated 68 % of those in the sample supported the 
death penalty in general but that half favored a moratorium in the state due to 
the current controversies.

The Oklahoma Attorney General's Office has a pending investigation into how the 
Department of Corrections handled Glossip's and Warner's cases, and multiple 
DOC figures have appeared before a multicounty grand jury in connection with 
the inquiry. Neither agency has commented on the status of the investigation.

No executions will be sought in Oklahoma until at least 150 days after the 
investigation is complete, Pruitt has said, making the state one of a growing 
number with effective moratoriums.

"The country is watching what's happening in Oklahoma, and Gov. Fallin and 
Attorney General Pruitt were clearly embarrassed by what happened (this year)," 
Dunham said. "The long-term question is what will the grand jury investigation 
find, and how will Oklahomans respond afterward?"

(source: Tulsa World)






NEBRASKA:

Death penalty debate draws interest from exonerated Maryland inmate


Gov. Pete Ricketts is answering questions as death penalty opponents share 
their message in the Omaha metro.

This is another step in the important debate, ahead of November's referendum.

For Kirk Bloodsworth, the death penalty debate is hauntingly personal.

"I became the most hated man in the state of Maryland," Bloodsworth said.

Sentenced to death in 1985 for a child's attack and murder in that state, he 
spent 9 years in jail, and 2 years in line to die.

"When they slid that paper under my door that said you'll be executed by lethal 
gas, it gets to you then," Bloodsworth said.

DNA evidence proved his innocence; now, he advocates states abolish it.

"We're letting them off the hook by executing them," Bloodsworth said. "They 
can't be accountable anymore. The best way to punish them is to make them take 
those 3 steps in a cell everyday like I did."

Ricketts said again Tuesday that the state is waiting until Nebraskans vote on 
capital punishment next year, adding that it's not clear if taxpayers will get 
a refund for a lethal injection drug the state cannot import.

"Right now, we're reviewing the purchase agreement and we'll have further 
conversations with the vendor," Ricketts said.

Still, Ricketts said he hears plenty of voter support.

"The overwhelming number of people who talk to me say they want to retain 
capital punishment," Ricketts said. "It's an important tool for public safety 
and it helps us protect our law enforcement officers."

Ricketts said corrections is studying other states' execution protocol in the 
case that voters keep capital punishment, but lethal injection is not an 
option.

Death penalty opponents in Lincoln argue it's another sign of a systematic 
problem.

"Whether we change the protocol, whether we try to keep trying to obtain the 
drugs illegally from all over the world -- the fact of the matter is this 
system is broken," Dan Parsons said.

(source: KETV news)