[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----VA., GA., FLA., OKLA., MO., KAN.

[Rick Halperin]

Feb. 11



VIRGINIA:

Virginia Senate says suppliers, ingredients of execution drugs should be secret 
---- Bill proposes secrecy on Virginia executions



Virginia could keep the suppliers of the drugs used in executions secret, as 
well as all the components they mix to make the drug cocktail used in lethal 
injections under a bill the state Senate approved Tuesday.

But the measure the Senate passed dropped a section of the original proposal, 
which would have exempted all information about how executions are conducted 
from the Freedom of Information Act or from discovery in court cases.

The purpose of the measure is to authorize the Department of Corrections to 
contract with compounding pharmacies to obtain drugs for lethal injections, 
Senate Minority Leader Richard Saslaw, D-Springfield, said.

Current state law says firms that compound drugs must do so for therapeutic 
purposes.

And to ensure the state can get those drugs, it needs to take the additional 
step of keeping confidential the names of those firms and details about what 
they use to make the compounds, Saslaw argued.

Many of his fellow Democrats weren't so sure.

"This is the public's business," state Sen. Barbara Favola, D-Arlington, said.

She said when the state takes a life, the process should be as transparent as 
possible.

State Sen. John Edwards, D-Roanoke, said keeping information about execution 
drugs and their suppliers confidential raised significant constitutional 
issues.

One of the key challenges to executions in recent years has been over whether 
the ways they are carried out constitute cruel and unusual punishment, which 
the Eighth Amendment prohibits.

The U.S. Supreme Court has halted the scheduled executions of three Oklahoma 
prisoners, after agreeing in January to review a challenge to that state's 
lethal injection procedures. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in a 2008 
challenge to Kentucky's lethal injection procedure that putting people 
sentenced to death at risk of excessive pain violates the Constitution.

Some legal scholars say keeping information about the drugs secret denies 
prisoners sentenced to death their legal rights to go to court to make sure 
their executions are constitutional.

State Sen. Charles Carrico, R-Grayson, who co-sponsored the bill, said the 
purpose was simply to make sure the state could carry out the executions the 
law allows and courts order.

State Sen. Thomas A. Garrett, R-Louisa, agreed, and said his fellow senators 
needed to think about the victims of those sentenced to death.

"This bill is not about the death penalty, this bill is about government 
secrecy," replied state Sen. Jennifer Wexton, D-Loudoun.

The Senate passed the measure 23-14. The vote drew a quick, sharp response from 
the American Civil Liberties Union.

"This bill prevents the public and the press from knowing anything about the 
drugs (their source, materials, or components) used in an execution," said 
Frank Knaack, the group's public policy director.

"The awesome power of the government to kill in our name must be accompanied by 
transparency and accountability, both of which would go away if this bill 
becomes law," he said.

(source: Daily Press)








GEORGIA:

Death-penalty opponents rally at state Capitol



Death penalty opponents rallied at the Capitol Tuesday, the day the execution 
date was set for the lone woman on Georgia's death row.

"We cannot believe in any practice that treats humans beings, God's beloved 
children, as disposable objects," said the Rev. Joseph Shippen, speaking on 
behalf of the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta.

The Department of Corrections has announced Feb. 25 as the date to carry out 
the death sentence against Kelly Renee Gissendaner of Winder, convicted of 
getting her boyfriend to kill her husband, Douglas, in 1997. She will be the 
1st woman executed in Georgia since 1945 and only the 4th ever to receive 
capital punishment in the state.

Her boyfriend, Gregory Owen, wielded the fatal knife, but was only sentenced to 
25 years for the murder after he confessed and testified against her. Sara 
Totonchi, executive director of the Southern Center for Human Rights, said 
Gissendaner's case represents a problem of proportionality since the 2 
defendants received different sentences.

"We don't see juries doing this anymore. This has sort of evolved," she said. 
"If 1 defendant gets a life sentence, the other gets a life sentence."

However, Shippen said, it's a common circumstance to find among the condemned 
murderers who got stiffer penalties after prosecutors succeeded in turning 
defendants against one another.

"As is often the case, whichever turns 1st gets the deal," he said, adding that 
while he regularly visits men waiting on death row in Jackson, he hasn't met 
Gissendaner because she's being held separately in another prison.

The capital-punishment opponents had already planned their rally before the 
execution date was announced.

They were continuing their fight over the previous execution on Jan. 27 of 
Warren Hill because they say he should have been given clemency due to his low 
IQ. The group is hopeful that legislation will change Georgia law to make it 
easier for a defendant to prove mental retardation, but so far no bill has been 
introduced this legislative session.

Totonchi noted that prosecutors are turning to capital punishment less often 
and that jurors are more reluctant to impose it. Last year's 35 executions in 7 
states was the lowest number in 20 years.

"Even as executions continue, there is a growing consensus across the nation 
that the death penalty serves no compelling purpose," she said.

(source: onlineathens.com)








FLORIDA:

FIU Law receives grant to educate defense lawyers handling capital cases



No matter a person's moral, ethical or religious beliefs when it comes to the 
death penalty, a person facing this judgment should have received highly 
competent representation from his or her attorney during trial.

It's the well-investigated and proper presentation of all of the mitigating 
circumstances made to the prosecutor, jury and judge that assists them in 
making a fully informed and intelligent decision as to whether someone should 
face the death penalty.

In many cases, the reason they were sentenced to death was because their 
defense lawyers did not sufficiently investigate or present all of the 
mitigating factors that would have led to a result short of death. Too often, 
the death sentence occurs because the defense is deficient in knowing and doing 
all that is necessary to provide mitigating evidence and properly presenting 
that to the prosecution.

In an effort to improve the quality and effectiveness of defense lawyers 
handling capital cases, FIU Law's Death Penalty Clinic, through its Florida 
Center for Capital Representation (FCCR), will now spend the next 2 years 
providing education and consultation to lawyers who are representing clients 
facing the death penalty.

The effort was made possible thanks to a $620,000 grant - the largest grant 
amount ever received by FIU Law - provided by the Themis Fund, a Proteus Fund 
initiative.

Clinical Professor Stephen Harper will lead the training program and currently 
serves as the supervising attorney for the Death Penalty Clinic.

Harper has more than 3 decades of experience with the Miami-Dade Public 
Defender's Office where he served as co-coordinator of the Capital Litigation 
Unit. He also coordinated the Juvenile Death Penalty Initiative where he 
oversaw the drafting and filing of amicus briefs in Roper v. Simmons.

"The goal is to improve attorneys' investigation skills and teach them how to 
create mitigating profiles on behalf of their client," Harper explained. "We 
will also teach them how to present powerful and compelling arguments, how to 
get their client to plea, when necessary, and how to preserve the record for 
appeal if they are denied the things they need to fully investigate and prepare 
for a penalty phase. The training will also include jury selection and how to 
integrate the first phase of a capital case with the penalty phase."

When defense lawyers are building their cases, many do not or cannot hire true 
mitigation specialists to work with them on their capital cases. Mitigation 
specialists have clinical and personal skills that lawyers do not.

These specialists understand the clinical implications of mitigating evidence 
and are trained in how to elicit often humiliating evidence from clients and 
their families. They can assist a client in accepting a plea to life when it is 
offered where there is overwhelming evidence of guilt. The specialists can also 
make the difference in whether a client receives death or life.

Sara Totonchi, Executive Director of the Southern Center for Human Rights, 
whose organization represents people facing the death penalty and employs class 
action lawsuits and individual representation in challenging unconstitutional 
and unconscionable practices within the criminal justice system, recognizes the 
value of housing this kind of work at FIU Law.

"There is no place in the country more relevant and rich with opportunity for 
law students to learn about the practice of capital litigation," Totonchi said. 
"With this grant, FIU Law's Death Penalty Clinic has the potential to make an 
extraordinary impact not only on the lives of people facing the death penalty, 
but in shaping the career trajectories of the students who are fortunate to 
have the opportunity to participate in its work."

For FIU Law students, under the supervision of faculty, this unique opportunity 
will teach them to properly and thoroughly manage capital punishment cases.

Students will have specific tasks and work on real cases, pleadings, motions, 
and will interview witnesses and clients. FIU Law will not only be assisting 
lawyers in specific research and investigations, but they will also be training 
future lawyers on how to properly represent someone facing the death penalty. 
The law school will also act as a "measuring stick" of what is effective 
representation.

Right now, Florida has almost 400 individuals who face possible execution. Last 
year, the state ranked second in the country in the number of people sentenced 
to death and ranked second in the number of executions. There are more than 
1,000 death penalty cases currently waiting for trial.

FIU Law's Death Penalty Clinic is currently working on nine cases and 
consulting on many more. Professor Harper is conducting his second round of 
trainings throughout the state. He is also developing protocols on how to 
address capital cases, advocating for the hiring of mitigation specialists and 
creating an online database of pending death cases in Florida.

FIU Law's Death Penalty Clinic - the Florida Center for Capital Representation 
(FCCR) - is 1 of 6 experiential programs open to law students that gives them 
the opportunity to learn about the law through real-life experience and 
hands-on learning options.

(source: FIU News)








OKLAHOMA:

Oklahoma considers bringing back the gas chamber



The Oklahoma state legislature will consider 2 bills this week that would allow 
the state to use gas chambers in executions when lethal injection chemicals are 
unavailable.

Using nitrogen gas is "a lot more practical" than lethal injection, Republican 
Rep. Mike Christian told the Associated Press Tuesday. "You wouldn't need a 
medical doctor to do it."

The bills' introduction comes less than 3 weeks after the Supreme Court 
announced it would consider a challenge to the constitutionality of using 
midazolam, a drug used by Oklahoma and multiple other states, in executions by 
lethal injection. The case could make the state's current death penalty 
protocol unlawful.

Lawyers arguing on behalf of death row inmates in Oklahoma claim that 
midazolam, a drug in the same family as Xanax and Valium, does not sufficiently 
sedate the inmate to prevent cruel and unusual punishment. They further allege 
that the drug was responsible for the botched execution of Clayton Lockett in 
April 2014, which the state of Oklahoma maintains was the result of a misplaced 
IV.

Oklahoma is not the 1st state to consider alternative methods to lethal 
injection.

In 2014, Tennessee passed a law allowing the use of the electric chair when 
lethal injection drugs are unavailable; a bill that would reinstate the firing 
squad passed through the Wyoming state senate earlier this month.

Other states' laws still allow older death penalty methods like the firing 
squad or the electric chair, though the practices have been supplanted by 
lethal injection's widespread acceptance.

Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, 
believes laws allowing alternative execution methods are simply "a threat" 
meant to warn courts not to scrutinize lethal injection protocols.

"If the courts are going to be monitoring this process, it's all going to be 
bogged down," Dieter said. These laws were introduced "not so much because 
anyone wants to go back to the firing squad or the gas chamber, but rather 
because [state governments] want to be left alone" to perform executions 
without legal challenges.

In recent years, many states have scrambled to find adequate lethal injection 
drugs after being cut off by pharmaceutical companies that do not support the 
drugs' use in executions. States from Oklahoma to Florida, Ohio to Arizona have 
begun using midazolam instead of more potent medical anesthetics, while others 
have turned to unregulated "compounding pharmacies" to secure the drugs.

Defense attorneys in multiple states have pursued legal challenges, akin to the 
one the Supreme Court will hear this year, that argue that various lethal 
injection protocols force inmates to experience cruel and unusual levels of 
pain.

The Supreme Court stayed all Oklahoma executions using midazolam on Jan. 28 
until the case is decided. If the court finds that use of the drug constitutes 
cruel and unusual punishment, multiple states might have to end their current 
death penalty protocols.

(source: politico.com)

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

Senate committee advances bill to modify execution procedure



The Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday advanced legislation that would allow 
the state to utilize nitrogen hypoxia as an alternative method for executing 
death row prisoners.

Authored by Sen. Anthony Sykes, Senate Bill 794, states that nitrogen hypoxia 
will be used to carry out death sentences in the event that an appellate court 
rules the state's existing lethal injection procedure to be unconstitutional.

"Today, we are moving forward with a plan that would allow the state to proceed 
with the implementation of the death penalty for our most heinous criminals," 
said Sykes, R-Moore. "The state has an obligation to the people of Oklahoma and 
to the families of victims to crimes to see that this penalty is enforced 
effectively. The death penalty is a just and appropriate punishment for our 
worst criminals and nitrogen hypoxia is recognized as one of the most humane 
methods for carrying out the sentence. It is important that the Legislature act 
to ensure the will of the people of Oklahoma will not be dismissed by the 
courts."

Rep. Mike Christian is the House author of the proposal, and has also authored 
legislation relating to nitrogen hypoxia this year.

"I applaud the Senate Judiciary committee for passing this measure," said 
Christian, R-Oklahoma City. "Senator Sykes and I will be working on this issue 
this session."

This afternoon, the House Judiciary Committee will hear House Bill 1879, a 
similar measure.

(source: Norman Transcript)








MISSOURI----execution

Walter Storey Executed For Killing Special Ed Teacher Jill Frey

A man convicted of breaking into his neighbor's home in a St. Louis suburb and 
slitting her throat 25 years ago was executed early Wednesday.

Walter Timothy Storey was the 1st Missouri inmate put to death this year after 
a record 10 executions in 2014. His fate was sealed when the U.S. Supreme Court 
refused to halt the execution over concerns about Missouri's secretive process 
for obtaining and using the lethal injection drug pentobarbital.

Strapped to the gurney, Storey mouthed what appeared to be "I love you" to his 
witnesses and the family of the victim, Jill Frey. A few seconds later, he 
began chanting something.

Moments after the drug was administered at 12:01 a.m., he stopped suddenly and 
heaved 1 deep final breath. He was pronounced dead at 12:10.

Jeff Frey, the victim's brother, said the "sad and devastating ordeal" of the 
killing and the protracted court delays took a toll on the family. He said the 
execution "brings a sense of closure to a part of this unspeakable tragedy in 
our lives. It will not bring Jill back, nor will it ever lessen the pain and 
suffering we go through every day."

Storey was sentenced to death 3 times in the same case. He was living with his 
mother in a St. Charles apartment on Feb. 2, 1990, when he became upset over 
his pending divorce. He spent an angry night drinking beer.

He ran out of beer and money, so he decided to break into the neighboring 
apartment of Frey to steal money for more beer.

Frey, a 36-year-old special education teacher, had left the sliding glass door 
of her balcony open. Storey climbed the balcony and confronted Frey in her 
bedroom, where he beat her. Frey suffered 6 broken ribs and severe wounds to 
her head and face.

Storey used a kitchen knife to slit her throat so deeply that her spine was 
damaged. Frey died of blood loss and asphyxiation.

Storey left the body and returned the next day to clean up blood, throw clothes 
in a trash bin and scrub Frey's fingernails to remove any traces of his skin.

But he missed a key piece of evidence: blood on a dresser.

"There was a really good palm print in blood," said Mike Harvey, a retired St. 
Charles detective who now works as an investigator for the St. Charles County 
prosecutor.

Lab analysis matched the print to Storey, whose prints were on file for a 
previous crime.

Storey was convicted and sentenced to death.

The Missouri Supreme Court tossed the conviction, citing concerns about 
ineffective assistance of counsel and "egregious" errors committed by Kenny 
Hulshof, who was with the Missouri attorney general's office at the time and 
handled the prosecution. Hulshof was later a congressman and a candidate for 
governor.

Storey was tried again in 1997, and sentenced again to death. That conviction 
was also overturned, this time over a procedural error by the judge. Storey was 
sentenced to death a 3rd time in 1999.

Storey's attorney, Jennifer Herndon, said he spent "thousands of hours" working 
in a restorative justice program in prison, trying to help crime victims. She 
said he was remorseful for the killing.

According to prison officials, Storey released this final statement: "For this 
world full of anger, hate and revenge, I would like to pray for peace, 
forgiveness and love! I love everyone, even those who are doing this deed."

Storey becomes the 1st condemned inmate to be put to death this year in 
Missouri and the 81st overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 
1989. Only Texas (521), Oklahoma (112), Virginia (110) and Florida (90) have 
executed more condemned inmates since July 2, 1976, when the death penalty was 
re-legalized in the USA.

Storey becomes the 8th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA 
and the 1402nd overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977.

(sources: Huffington Post & Rick Halperin)

***********

Walter Storey Executed; 1st Execution In Missouri This Year



Walter Storey's execution was carried out at 12:01 a.m. by lethal injection, 
according to a brief statement from the Missouri Dept. of Corrections. His time 
of death is listed as 12:10 a.m.

Storey received a lethal dose of pentobarbital, according to DOC spokesman Mike 
O'Connell. He says Storey was also offered Valium and midazolam as sedatives, 
but he refused both. He consumed a last meal, and shortly before his execution 
released the following written statement: "For this world full of anger, hate 
and revenge, I would like to pray for peace, forgiveness and love! I love 
everyone, even those who are doing this deed."

O'Connell later added in a separate brief statement, "Witnesses said he 
appeared to quickly and quietly stop breathing. This is the same in all 
executions in Missouri."

During a press briefing following the execution, Department of Corrections 
Director George Lombardi read a statement from Gov. Jay Nixon:

"25 years ago this month, Jill Frey was murdered in a brutal manner, in what 
should have been the safety of her own home. As a special education teacher, 
she had dedicated her life to the students she taught, and accomplished a great 
deal during a life that was cut tragically short. Tonight, I ask Missourians to 
remember Jill Frey, and keep her loved ones in their thoughts and prayers. "

Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster released the following statement:

"Jill Frey's loved ones waited a quarter-century for the closure and finality 
of justice that came early this morning. The level of violence and utter 
disregard for life that Storey displayed, nearly 25 years ago to-the-day, 
demanded he pay the ultimate sentence."

Jeff Frey, Jill's brother, had the most to say following Storey's execution. He 
gave a long statement to reporters, which reads in part:

"My attempt to give a brief statement about this event and the past 25 years 
can never explain the overall effect this senseless and brutal murder has had 
on so many people. Jill was a tremendous person, daughter, sister, aunt, 
godmother, cousin, teacher and friend.

To go back 25 years (almost to the day) when we received the tragic news, to 
what has taken us through 3 trials over the next 10 years, then waiting another 
15 years for the courts to set an execution date has needless to say had an 
undeniable impact on Jill's family and friends. Over this period of time 
several of our family members have passed away including both our mother and 
father. From the outset, this tragedy took its toll on our father. He passed 
away shortly after the 3rd trial and unfortunately his quality of life went 
from bad to worse beginning that dreadful day of Feb. 5th, 1990 when he lost 
his oldest daughter. Our mother passed away in 2011 - 6 months after we finally 
received the news that the US Supreme Court denied his final appeal.

We know Jill, Mom, Dad, and all of our family and friends are relieved that 
this is finally over and justice has been served. Unfortunately, we have had to 
endure and suffer through all the countless delays and re-trials when there was 
absolutely no doubt that 2 days after this brutal murder took place they had 
the right guy - a guy that we can truly call a terrorist.

To say Jill was a special person is an understatement. Having Jill taken from 
us not only affected her family and friends' lives but all the special needs 
children that she taught and loved, all the children she could have taught and 
been enriched by her love. Her never-ending desire was to give of herself 
always. This world lost a very special and beautiful person."

(source: Kansas City Star)








KANSAS:

Christian leaders offer support to Rep. Becker's bill to end capital punishment



Leaders of the Catholic, Methodist, Lutheran, Mennonite and Episcopal 
denominations Tuesday converged at the Statehouse to offer religious, financial 
and ethical arguments for abolition of capital punishment in Kansas.

The faith group acknowledged strong convictions and deep passions raised by 
consideration of the death penalty as well as suffering of families made 
victims of heinous crime, but they also put forth the proposition 
state-sanctioned execution conflicted with God's message of forgiveness, 
redemption and reconciliation.

"In the light of God, the death penalty is morally bankrupt," said the Rev. 
Peter Goerzen, campus minister at Bethel College and representative of the 
Western District Conference of the Mennonite Church USA. "Killing people -- 
because killing is wrong -- skews morality toward revenge and contributes to a 
culture of vengeance and death."

Joseph Naumann, the most reverend archbishop of the Archdiocese of Kansas City 
in Kansas, said Kansas statute offering capital punishment as a path to justice 
pulled society down to the level of violent perpetrators.

"Our refusal to resort to the death penalty is not because we fail to 
appreciate the horror of the crime committed," said Naumann, whose father was 
murdered. "But because we refuse to imitate violent criminals."

He said there could be circumstances justifying the death penalty as a last 
line of defense to protect society, yet that condition didn't exist in the 
United States.

These church leaders, in collaboration with the Kansas Coalition Against the 
Death Penalty, delivered to state legislators at the Capitol a petition signed 
by more than 430 Kansas faith leaders that called for an end to capital 
punishment.

Rep. Steven Becker, R-Buhler, accepted the petition and recalled for an 
audience of several dozen people that Gov. Sam Brownback had referred several 
weeks ago in his State of the State speech to his belief that Kansas was the 
"most pro-life state in America" from the beginning to the end of life.

"That cannot be true," Becker said. "That cannot be true as long as the death 
penalty is in the pages of our law books. The sanctity Bills to be offered in 
the 2015 Legislature would replace capital punishment with a sentence of life 
in prison without possibility of parole. The bill would apply to crimes 
committed after the effective date of the new law. The measure also would 
prohibit commutation of life without parole sentences.

Opposition to reform have centered on members of the Republican Party, but Gov. 
Sam Brownback has been sharply critical of rulings by the Kansas Supreme Court 
overturning death sentences of inmates.

Although the death penalty was reinstated in Kansas in 1994, the state hasn't 
executed anyone since 1965 double-hanging of George Ronald York and James 
Douglas Latham. 6 states have repealed the death penalty since 2007, bringing 
to 18 the states without capital punishment.

Kansans who have been incarcerated under the sentence of death include Gary 
Kleypas, who was convicted in the 1996 for the rape and murder of Carrie 
Williams in Pittsburg. The death row roster also includes Reginald and Jonathan 
Carr, guilty of five murders in Wichita; Scott Cheever, convicted in 2007 for 
killing Greenwood County Sheriff Matt Samuels; and James Kraig Kahler, 
convicted of slaying his wife, two daughters and his wife's grandmother.

(source: Hutchinson News)

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

Clergy plead for repeal of Kansas death penalty----Pending House, Senate bills 
abolish capital punishment



Leaders of the Catholic, Methodist, Lutheran, Mennonite and Episcopal 
denominations Tuesday converged at the Statehouse to offer religious, financial 
and ethical arguments for abolition of capital punishment in Kansas.

The faith group acknowledged strong convictions and deep passions raised by 
consideration of the death penalty as well as suffering of families made 
victims of heinous crime, but they also put forth the proposition 
state-sanctioned execution conflicted with God's message of forgiveness, 
redemption and reconciliation.

"In the light of God, the death penalty is morally bankrupt," said the Rev. 
Peter Goerzen, campus minister at Bethel College and representative of the 
Western District Conference of the Mennonite Church USA. "Killing people -- 
because killing is wrong -- skews morality toward revenge and contributes to a 
culture of vengeance and death."

Joseph Naumann, the most reverend archbishop of the Archdiocese of Kansas City 
in Kansas, said Kansas statute offering capital punishment as a path to justice 
pulled society down to the level of violent perpetrators.

"Our refusal to resort to the death penalty is not because we fail to 
appreciate the horror of the crime committed," said Naumann, whose father was 
murdered. "But because we refuse to imitate violent criminals."

He said there could be circumstances justifying the death penalty as a last 
line of defense to protect society, yet that condition didn't exist in the 
United States.

These church leaders, in collaboration with the Kansas Coalition Against the 
Death Penalty, delivered to state legislators at the Capitol a petition signed 
by more than 430 Kansas faith leaders that called for an end to capital 
punishment.

Bills to be offered in the 2015 Legislature would replace capital punishment 
with a sentence of life in prison without possibility of parole. The bill would 
apply to crimes committed after the effective date of the new law. The measure 
also would prohibit commutation of life without parole sentences.

Although the death penalty was reinstated in Kansas in 1994, the state hasn't 
executed an inmate since 1965. 6 states have repealed the death penalty since 
2007, bringing to 18 the states without capital punishment.

(source: Capital Journal Online)