[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----S. DAK., UTAH, ARIZ., CALIF., WASH., USA

[Rick Halperin]

Feb. 11



SOUTH DAKOTA:

South Dakota lawmakers weigh repeal of death penalty



2 former state attorneys general and an ex-judge are among those who plan to 
encourage South Dakota lawmakers to repeal the state's death penalty.

The Senate State Affairs Committee in Pierre will take testimony Wednesday 
morning on legislation that would replace capital punishment with a life prison 
sentence without the possibility of parole.

The main sponsors of the bipartisan bill are Democratic Sen. Bernie Hunhoff, of 
Yankton, and Republican Rep. Steve Hickey, of Sioux Falls, who's also a pastor.

Among those who plan to testify: former Republican Attorneys General Mark 
Meierhenry and Roger Tellinghuisen, and Republican Sen. Arthur Rusch, of 
Vermillion, a former judge.

Charles Russell Rhines, Briley Piper and Rodney Berget are currently on the 
state's death row.

Last year's Legislature rejected an effort to repeal the death penalty.

(source: Associated Press)








UTAH:

New death penalty legislation is the law of retaliation----Capital punishment 
in Utah



Supporters of capital punishment have had a bad year. On Jan. 16, 2014, Ohio 
death row inmate Dennis McGuire was strapped to table and injected with a 
lethal dose of midazolam (a benzodiazepine tranquilizer) and hydromorphone (a 
potent narcotic painkiller). Instead of losing complete consciousness, McGuire 
writhed and gasped for over 20 minutes before finally expiring. Witnesses to 
the execution later said that it "looked and sounded as though he [McGuire] was 
suffocating."

This particular drug cocktail was a new form of lethal injection. Ohio, among 
other states, has been faced with supply shortages of the chemicals typically 
used to perform executions. So McGuire became a guinea pig - a test subject in 
an experiment to find new "humane" ways to kill. By the end of 2014, 2 more 
executions were botched - both ended in prolonged agony for the inmates, and 
both employed experimental chemical combinations because of drug shortages.

These shortages come as a result of refusals by European pharmaceutical 
manufacturers to sell their products to U.S. prisons intent on using the drugs 
for execution. Nearly every country in Europe has abolished the death penalty, 
and many Europeans want to see the U.S. follow their lead. However, 39 states 
and the federal government still have capital punishment on the books. Most of 
these states have made lethal injection the only legal form of execution.

In large part, abolishing other execution procedures came as an appeasement to 
those who argue that the death penalty constitutes "cruel and unusual 
punishment." Death penalty supporters claim that lethal injection can't 
possibly be cruel and unusual since the prisoner simply falls into a deep 
sleep, never again to wake up. But the past year has proven otherwise. This 
recent string of bungled executions has lawmakers scrambling to find new ways 
to humanely kill condemned inmates.

This has led some states to consider reinstating previously abandoned methods - 
including the particularly gruesome use of firing squads - as a means of 
carrying out the business of death. On Feb. 4, 2015, Utah State Representative 
Paul Ray (R-Clearfield) introduced House Bill 11 (H.B. 11), which would amend 
the Utah Code of Criminal Procedure to allow the use of firing squads in the 
event that Utah ever runs out of its most effective thanatotic chemicals. Ray 
touts the firing squad as "a lot more humane than the electric-chair, hanging, 
or lethal injection," while at the same time admonishing his fellow lawmakers 
not to get "caught up" in ensuring the painless demise of convicted murderers.

"These people are being put to death for a reason ... their victims didn't get 
to die in a less excruciating manner," Ray said in his arguments to the House 
Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee on Wednesday.

Ray was quick to remind committee members "this is not a debate on the death 
penalty." But he also claimed to "understand the people who are opposed to the 
death penalty," and conceded that abolishing capital punishment in Utah is "a 
discussion we probably ought to have at some point in time."

So my question is this: why not have that discussion now? What better time for 
Utahns to reevaluate the priorities and motivations behind taking the lives of 
their fellow citizens?

Don't get me wrong, I think most death row inmates are violent offenders who 
need to be separated from society. But when examined closely, the most popular 
arguments in favor of capital punishment don't hold up to scrutiny. The most 
oft cited reasons given for continued executions include recidivism (the idea 
that the only way to ensure killers don't kill again is to snuff them out), 
deterrence (the belief that exterminating murderers sends a message to other 
would-be killers), and - my favorite of all - cost (the notion that eliminating 
violent offenders saves the money it would take to imprison them for life). The 
interesting thing about the cost argument is the fact that the exact opposite 
is true.

The money it takes to carry out a single death sentence far outweighs the 
expense of locking up a person for life.

Gary Syphus of the Legislative Fiscal Analyst's Office reported that Utah 
spends $1.6 million more per inmate to carry out an execution than it does to 
sentence the same prisoner to life without parole. Since 1976 (the year the 
U.S. Supreme Court lifted a 4 year moratorium on capital punishment), Utah has 
put to death 7 men. Using Syphus' numbers this means $11.2 million dollars have 
been spent to kill 7 people who would otherwise have been rotting in a prison 
cell unable to inflict further violence. So why does our society spend millions 
of extra dollars to execute certain criminals (many of whom live for decades on 
death row as they pursue multiple appeals), rather than just permanently 
locking these people away?

The answer comes in one word - revenge. When capital punishment is boiled down 
to its most concentrated form, all that remains is vengeance. It's the 
mentality of an eye for an eye, a life for a life - the law of retaliation. And 
who knows, maybe we humans still need some outlet to unleash our most primal 
instincts, and maybe capital punishment serves that purpose. But that's a 
question for a psychologist.

I, however, would like to offer an alternative, just a slight realignment of 
our vengeful urges. Rather than spend millions to eliminate a few of society's 
biggest creeps, we should instead take all that money and direct it toward 
solving the hundreds of cold-case murders in Utah. A 2008 report released by 
Scripps Howard News Service lists Utah as having 424 unsolved murders since 
1980. That's 424 families that live under the constant cloud of not knowing who 
killed their loved one. If we took the $11.2 million spent on exacting revenge 
against 7 men, and instead put that money toward solving those 424 murder 
cases, each investigation would receive over $25,000 in additional funding. 
Just think how many families would receive closure. But here we are, debating 
if we should poison, shoot, or electrocute our way to "justice," while over 400 
other murderers run free.

(source: Opinion; Marcos Camargo----The Independent)








ARIZONA:

Death Penalty or Life Sentencing? Dwayne Cates Stirs Humanitarian Jury for a 
Lighter Penalty



More court drama unfolds as the defense attorneys representing the case of Jodi 
Arias refuse to put their defendant on the witness stand during the retrial of 
her murder case. Is she about to face the worst and prepare herself for a death 
penalty sentence?

According to reports, it has been a strategy for the defense attorneys of Arias 
to "humanize" their client to make it even harder for the jury to vote for 
death penalty. It has already been a struggle to fabricate the feeling of 
compassion for Arias since she admittedly testified that she was the one 
responsible for the gruesome death of her ex-boyfriend Travis Alexander.

According to legal expert Dwayne Cates, the defense team is trying to stir the 
emotions of the jury. 'We're talking about humanizing her, making her a person 
for the jury." "Jurors have a hard time putting female defendants to death to 
begin with, and the more she becomes a person, the harder it will be for them 
to vote for the death penalty," he added.

Arias is also firm on not entertaining questions as she is being ordered by the 
court in testifying in front of the public. She plans to address the jury when 
the trial is over and when she is not required to answer lawyers.

It has been reported in the past that Arias actions was more of a self-defense 
rather than a plotted murder. She claims that her ex-boyfriend had injured and 
battered her several times in the past leading her to do the crime back in 
2008. On the other hand as Deana Reid, one of Alexander's ex-girlfriend was 
called to testify on court, she denied that Alexander abused her, physically or 
emotionally. On the other hand, reports say that Reid refused to answer 
cross-examinations lawyers unless she was given access to her earlier recorded 
statement in a transcript.

On the defense, unidentified witnesses claim in seeing it in action that 
Alexander forcibly restrains and physically abuses Arias during a dispute. It's 
a battle of who's saying the truth and who are fabricating lies in this long 
overdue court room real drama.

Life imprisonment with a possibility of parole after 25 years is most likely 
the sentence the judge will give Arias unless the jury comes with a firm 
penalty this time.

(source: Venture Capital Post)








CALIFORNIA----female eligible for death penalty

Sandoval charged with 1st degree murder, eligible for death penalty



Erika Sandoval waited hours for her ex-husband to get home and then killed him, 
according to prosecutors who charged the Visalia woman Tuesday.

Sandoval, 28, was charged 4 days after Daniel Green was gunned down inside his 
Goshen home. District Attorney Tim Ward said Sandoval will face 1 count of 
1st-degree murder. She also faces a special circumstance that the crime was 
committed while Sandoval was "lying in wait" and special allegations that a 
firearm was used.

She could face the death penalty, however that decision won't be made until a 
preliminary hearing.

"These crimes, which are perpetrated behind closed doors, within intimate 
relationships, are egregious and they are unacceptable," Ward said. "Domestic 
violence can impact every gender and every community and the worst possible 
tragic outcome is death.

"The allegations in this investigation mirror that."

Green and Sandoval, who have a child together, were previously involved in 
domestic violence incidents in December 2010 and February 2011. Ward said both 
appeared to be "mutual victims" in those cases. Deputies found evidence to 
arrest both Green and Sandoval, sheriff's officials reported at the time of 
their arrest. Charges were never filed for either of them.

For Sandoval, it's not known if she's hired an attorney, however she will face 
the veteran prosecutor Anthony Fultz. Fultz is Ward's assistant district 
attorney. While he hasn't tried a case in a couple years, he's not a stranger 
to death penalty cases.

Ward called him the best.

"We had a lot of prosecutors ask for this one and we are going to put our best 
on this, Ward said.

(source: Visalia Times-Delta)

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

San Bernardino man faces death penalty for fatally beating son



A jury began deliberating Tuesday on whether a San Bernardino man convicted of 
beating his 4-year-old son to death with an aluminum baseball bat will be 
executed or spend the rest of his life in prison.

Harby Ausbon Burden, 36, of San Bernardino was convicted Jan. 21 of murder and 
torture for the Oct. 11, 2006, beating death of his 4-year-old son, Ausbon 
Juan, or "A.J.," as the boy was commonly called.

Burden became enraged when A.J. soiled his pants and struck the boy several 
times with the bat. Police responded to Burden's apartment, in the 2900 block 
of North Mountain Avenue, about 1:30 p.m. and found A.J. unconscious. The boy 
was rushed to St. Bernardine Medical Center, where he died at 2:03 p.m., police 
said.

Evidence showed that Burden beat his son regularly, and older injuries A.J. had 
suffered were in various stages of healing at the time of his death. A neighbor 
interviewed by police told them she saw Burden yelling at A.J. and slamming his 
head repeatedly against the seat of Burden's car about a month prior to A.J.'s 
death, Deputy District Attorney Bobbie Mann said.

During her closing statement Tuesday, Mann reminded the jury of the extensive 
injuries found on A.J.'s body at the time he was killed: Scars, bruises and 
lacerations covered his body. He suffered a lacerated kidney, hemorrhaging in 
his scalp, broken ribs, a broken right arm, hand and leg, and a broken left arm 
and foot. The boy was struck so hard in the buttocks that the muscles tore away 
from his pelvic girdle and caused internal bleeding.

"The evidence showed that the defendant repeatedly, savagely, over the course 
of time, beat A.J.," Mann said. "He systematically and savagely destroyed this 
little boy."

Burden's attorney, Chuck Nacsin, asked the jury to show mercy to his client and 
return with a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. He 
read statements from members of Burden's family, who say they have forgiven 
Burden and have compassion for him.

Nacsin also cited Burden's own violent upbringing, in which discipline was 
typically meted out with beatings.

Burden, Nacsin said, was ill-equipped to be a parent, despite the best efforts 
of Burden and A.J.'s mother, India Marie Waller, who gave birth to A.J. while 
Burden was doing time in prison on a statutory rape conviction in which Waller 
was the victim. Waller was 16 and Burden 21 at the time of the offense in 
February 2001, court records show.

When Burden was released from prison, he and Waller reconnected and made a go 
at raising a family. Waller bore another child with Burden, a daughter, Nacsin 
said.

But a back injury prevented Burden from working. He was on pain medication and 
did not have the tools to care for his 2 small children, Nacsin said.

And while that certainly is no excuse for what Burden did to his son, Nacsin 
was hoping it would elicit some sympathy with the jury.

"Do we have to kill him?" Nacsin asked the jury. "Is that all there is? Is he 
so terrible that he has to be executed?"

Waller, now 29, was sentenced in January 2011 to 5 years in prison on charges 
of child abuse, manslaughter and false imprisonment. Per a plea agreement, the 
murder charge initially filed against her was dropped. She has since been 
released from custody.

Mann told the jury Tuesday that, given all the evidence presented at trial and 
Burden's lack of remorse, the death penalty is appropriate.

"Is he deserving of sympathy that he did not give his own child?" Mann asked 
the jury. "(A.J.) was murdered by the one person who was supposed to protect 
him against all the evils of the world. Instead, he (Burden) was the biggest 
evil of the world to A,J."

(source: San Bernardino Sun)

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

Judge wants death penalty issue to move forward----Brother of victim: 'My 
sister needs justice'



A Sacramento Superior Court judge has denied a bid from the state to toss out a 
lawsuit that pushes for the execution of condemned murderers, such as 
Stockton's Michael Morales, whose case has led to an indefinite moratorium on 
executions in California.

1 of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit is the brother of Terri Lynn Winchell, who 
as a 17-year-old was raped and tortured to death by Morales in 1981.

The California Justice Legal Foundation filed the civil complaint in the 
Sacramento trial court last November on behalf of Bradley Winchell and Kermit 
Alexander, whose family members were murdered in 1984 by Tiequon Cox, arguing 
the continued delays in carrying out the death penalty are denying justice to 
the families of the victims.

The foundation alleges that by not adopting a single-drug lethal injection 
protocol, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has not 
been complying with state law and a federal court order for the past 9 years.

"They have not stated a reason, and that is one of the things that is 
frustrating about this whole thing," said Kent Scheidegger, the foundation's 
legal director.

The state Attorney General's Office recently asked Sacramento Judge Shellyanne 
Chang to drop the matter. But Chang issued a ruling late Monday, allowing the 
case to move forward and ordering the department of corrections to answer to 
the lawsuit - to defend itself.

Jeffrey Callison, press secretary for the corrections department, said that at 
this time, all the department can say is that it is reviewing the judge's 
order.

Scheidegger said the ruling is important for 3 reasons. "First, the court has 
recognized that crime victims do have standing in court to require that the law 
be enforced. Second, the court held that CDCR does not have the 'unfettered 
discretion' that they claimed to drag their feet indefinitely."

Morales, 55, who sits on San Quentin State Prison's death row for the brutal 
attack on Winchell, was convicted in 1983.

Morales was recruited by his cousin Richard Ortega to kill Winchell, because he 
was romantically seeing the same man she was. Ortega wanted Winchell out of the 
picture.

Morales, who has said he was high on PCP at the time, and Ortega tricked 
Winchell into a car ride in Lodi. Morales attacked Winchell from behind. He 
beat her unconscious with a hammer, dragged her into a vineyard, raped and 
stabbed her.

Morales has exhausted all appeals, along with about a dozen other condemned 
prisoners, but their executions are stalled in litigation started by Morales, 
who claimed it was cruel and unusual punishment - banned by the U.S. 
Constitution - because of the pain it caused.

Morales was scheduled in the death chamber on Feb. 21, 2006, when state 
officials halted the procedure, saying they could not comply with a federal 
court ruling on the lethal injection process.

California has yet to replace its 3-drug lethal injection cocktail with a 
1-drug injection being required by the courts.

Gov. Jerry Brown indicated about 2 years ago that he wanted the state to start 
exploring the use of a single-drug lethal injection method.

But Bradley Winchell said he and other families have been patient long enough 
and after 2 years of waiting, he decided to take action with the lawsuit.

"They've just been dragging their feet," Winchell said. "They're not going to 
play the waiting game until we finally say 'just forget about it.'

"It's sad that justice isn't being served. My sister needs justice."

(source: Stockton Record)








WASHINGTON:

Legislature considers abolishing death penalty



Gov. Jay Inslee has already placed a moratorium on criminal executions during 
his term, but now there's an effort in Olympia to abolish Washington's death 
penalty for good.

This is not the first push to end executions in Washington state, but this 
time, with a moratorium already in place, more lawmakers seem to be on board.

"[Executions] peaked about 1990," said Sen. Mark Miloscia, R-Federal Way. "More 
and more people think, maybe we don't need this anymore, so I think the time is 
right to start this discussion to see if maybe we can move to life imprisonment 
without the possibility of parole."

Miloscia and other supporters of the Senate bill want to end any future 
executions in Washington state, including the executions of those who have 
already been -- or will be -- sentenced to death before the bill could become 
law.

Miloscia says he's heard from family members and friends of murder victims who 
support the legislation.

But, there are plenty of people who believe some crimes are just too severe not 
to have the death penalty option, such as the 2 current capital cases on trial 
in Seattle.

One is the trial of Christopher Monfort, accused of killing Seattle Police 
Officer Tim Brenton. The other is for Joseph McEnroe, 1 of the 2 people charged 
with the massacre of 6 people in Carnation on Christmas Eve 2007.

Bill supporters argue capital punishment is costly. Studies show it typically 
costs $1 million more to execute an inmate compared to keeping them in prison 
for life.

"We are facing a big budget crunch right now and, economically, using the death 
penalty doesn't really work anymore," said Miloscia.

Gov. Inslee reportedly has an interest in the legislation. There is a companion 
bill currently being considered in the House. The Senate bill is currently in 
committee and will have to go to a floor vote by the end of next week.

(source: KING news)








USA:

Jury Selection Set to Resume in Marathon Bombing Trial



After 2 days off due to heavy snow, jury selection is set to begin again in the 
trial of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

Tsarnaev is charged in the 2013 attack that killed 3 people and injured more 
than 260. Jury selection in Tsarnaev's federal death penalty trial began Jan. 
5.

Jury selection was canceled Monday and Tuesday after a snowstorm dumped up to 2 
feet of snow on Massachusetts. On Wednesday, Judge George O'Toole Jr. will 
resume questioning prospective jurors individually.

Tsarnaev's lawyers have repeatedly argued that he cannot receive a fair trial 
in Boston because of the emotional impact of the bombing and the personal 
connections many people have to the marathon and people injured in the attack.

O'Toole has rejected 3 defense requests to move the trial outside 
Massachusetts.

(source: Associated Press)

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

Jury selection in Aurora theater shooting trial now moves to 2nd 
phase----Prospective jurors to face pointed questions



After 3 weeks of questioning for 7,000 prospective jurors, the process of 
seating a jury in the Aurora theater shooting trial now moves to a 2nd phase.

Starting Wednesday morning, the remaining potential jurors will be questioned 
face to face by attorneys on both sides.

"The lawyers are going to be asking very pointed questions on very specific 
issues," said legal analyst David Beller. "The death penalty obviously (being) 
one of them. Mental health is one of them."

Prospective jurors remaining in the pool for the Aurora movie theater shooting 
trial will be questioned at a rate of 12 per day starting Wednesday, according 
to a plan published by the court.

The plan calls for each potential juror to be questioned by the defense and 
prosecution for 20 minutes each. At that rate, the court and the defense 
estimates that they'll be able to question 960 jurors during the 16-week period 
set aside for this phase of the selection process.

The goal of the individual questioning is to narrow the list of candidates down 
to between 100 and 150 citizens.

"The objective of the attorney is not to change their minds. It's to get the 
answer and take it at face value," said Beller.

There's a shallow side to this process. Prospective jurors could be eliminated 
based off of their appearance, even their choice in music.

"The lawyers look at everything," said Beller. "The perception of their 
financial status, what radio they listen too."

All of the jurors remaining in the pool have already survived the cut during 
the 1st phase, which consisted of questionnaires administered over the past few 
weeks. The 3rd phase, group questioning, is scheduled to last about 2 days in 
May or June and will reduce the group to 12 jurors and 12 alternates for the 
trial.

"Both the defense and the prosecution are going to be able to eliminate jurors. 
And the jurors that aren't eliminated are the ones left over. And that is your 
jury pool," said Beller.

In many high profile cases, attorneys have hired "jury consultants," who can 
help make judgments based on an appearance and body language. However, Beller 
said he doesn't expect to see jury consultants in this trial.

The defendant has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to killing 12 people 
and injuring 70 others during a midnight showing in an Aurora movie theater. If 
jurors find him guilty, they must then decide whether to recommend the death 
penalty. If the defendant is found not guilty, he would be committed 
indefinitely to the state mental hospital.

(source: The Denver Channel)

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

Prospective jurors in theatre shooting trial to be questioned about death 
penalty, mental illness



Prospective jurors in the running to serve in the trial of Colorado theatre 
shooting defendant James Holmes will be grilled about their views on the death 
penalty, mental illness and aspects of the criminal justice system as the 2nd 
phase of jury selection begins Wednesday.

Thousands of people have been called to court since Jan. 20 to fill out lengthy 
questionnaires. Judge Carlos A. Samour Jr. dismissed more than 1,000 who 
brought doctors' notes, weren't U.S. citizens, had family problems or weren't 
Arapahoe County residents.

The hundreds who weren't excused will return starting Wednesday to answer 
questions from the prosecution, the defence and the judge about issues at the 
heart of the case. They will do so in the presence of Holmes, who has been 
sitting quietly in the courtroom since jury selection started.

Holmes, 27, has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity in the July 20, 2012, 
attack on a Denver-area movie theatre that killed 12 people and injured 70 
others.

If jurors find him not guilty for that reason, he would be committed 
indefinitely to the state psychiatric hospital. Prosecutors dispute that Holmes 
was insane and are seeking the death penalty, though Colorado has only executed 
1 person in the last 40 years.

12 citizens will be questioned each day in a process that could last up to 4 
months. Each side will have 20 minutes to ask them whether they can be fair 
about a case that has received massive news coverage. Samour hopes the process 
will find between 100 and 120 people who will then return for group 
questioning. 12 jurors and 12 alternates will be chosen from that pool.

The scope of jury selection is testament to the logistical hurdles of trying 
the rare case of a mass shooter who survives his attack. Opening statements 
won't likely begin until late May or early June.

Only potential jurors who would be willing to sentence someone to death can be 
selected. Prosecutors will try to ensure jurors have no reservations about the 
death penalty, while defence attorneys will look for those sympathetic to 
mental illness and uneasy with the idea of executing a person.

"You're talking about a human being, and that human being is right over there 
in the room," said Denver attorney Craig Silverman, who is not involved in the 
Holmes case but has been monitoring it. "It's a soul-searching moment for a 
person to say, under oath, that yes, under the right circumstances I could vote 
for death for this person."

(source: Associated Press)






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

Mothers of murder victim, death-row inmate describe their anguish



Murder leaves plenty of collateral damage to the living. Just ask Vicki 
Schieber and Terri Steinberg. Schieber's daughter was raped and murdered by a 
serial rapist. Steinberg's son languishes in a Virginia jail despite having 
been exonerated of the crime that put him on death row in the first place.

Both women gave their testimony -- Schieber by video -- during a Feb. 8 
presentation on the death penalty as part of the annual Catholic Social 
Ministry Gathering, held this year Feb. 7-10 in Washington.

Schieber's daughter, Shannon, like the rest of the family, was an active, 
practicing Catholic. She graduated from Duke University in 3 years with a 
triple major, and got a full-ride scholarship to study at the Wharton School of 
Business at the University of Pennsylvania.

The Philadelphia neighborhood she lived in for grad school was not the safest, 
and a serial rapist had been preying upon women in the vicinity -- but nobody 
alerted residents to his presence. One night, the man broke into Schieber's 
apartment, raped and murdered her.

"It was terribly devastating," Schieber said. "You do not know the devastation 
it created."

The Schieber family, she said, had followed Catholic teaching, including its 
admonition against use of the death penalty. But the family's stance was being 
tested now. "When you have to apply it to your own circumstances, it's very 
difficult," Schieber said.

After much discussion, the family said that, should the criminal be caught and 
tried, the prosecution should ask for "a life sentence with no possibility of 
parole." Despite pressure from the local district attorney's office, the 
Schiebers held fast. "It was the best way to honor her," she said of her 
murdered daughter. The man was eventually caught, tried, found guilty, and 
sentenced to life without parole.

Steinberg said she raised her son, Justin Wolfe, the oldest of her 5 children, 
to be loving and truthful. "He wasn't perfect" and had done some things wrong 
in his young life, but he was incapable of murder.

Except Wolfe was tried and convicted on capital murder charges after the gunman 
who had fatally shot a drug dealer said Wolfe had asked him to do it.

At first, Steinberg said, she was so shaken at her son's charges that "I 
started grocery shopping at different stores. I started going to Mass at other 
churches. ... People stopped talking to us."

While initially not knowing much about capital punishment, Steinberg grew 
acutely familiar with it during Justin's years on death row. "The death penalty 
is the legalization of vengeance," she said.

Fighting back tears at several points during her remarks, Steinberg said her 
son's death sentence was vacated after the shooter admitted lying to police to 
avoid the death penalty himself. He had received a 32-year sentence instead.

Moreover misconduct by prosecutors in Prince William County, Virginia, shielded 
this evidence from her son's defense lawyer. State judges have twice ordered 
Wolfe released from prison. However, prosecutors have slapped drug charges on 
him and have indicated they would retry Wolfe on the original capital murder 
charge.

"When you go 14 years not knowing whether he's going to live or die, I tell 
you, it is a form of torture," Steinberg said.

Wolfe has nearly been released twice. One of those times, Steinberg and 
Justin's siblings were driving to pick him up from prison and were 45 minutes 
away when she got a phone call informing her he would remain jailed.

Steinberg added that her youngest child, who was 4 years old when Wolfe was 
convicted, is now 18 years old and about ready to go to college.

But now, Steinberg said, the girl doesn't know if she wants to go. "She says, 
'I want to be here when my brother gets home," Steinberg reported.

(source: Catholic Sentinel)

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

Lethal Rejection: Will the Supreme Court's Lethal Injection Review Kill the 
Death Penalty?----The Supreme Court is reviewing lethal injection for the 1st 
time in 7 years. Here's what it means for the death penalty.



The Supreme Court recently put three executions in Oklahoma on hold as it 
reviews the constitutionality of the state's death penalty protocol.

If the nation's top court strikes down Oklahoma's lethal injection procedure, 
what would it mean for the death penalty? We've asked the experts what you need 
to know.

WHAT EXACTLY IS THE SUPREME COURT REVIEWING?

The court is assessing Oklahoma's use of the drug midazolam, a sedative used in 
its 3-drug lethal injection protocol. According to the Death Penalty 
Information Center, 5 states have used midazolam for their executions, and at 
least 5 other states have proposed using it.

In the wake of several botched executions in 2014 involving the drug, a group 
of death row inmates in Oklahoma filed a petition challenging the efficacy of 
midazolam to mitigate pain, which they claim would render the state's 
executions in violation of the Eighth Amendment's protection against "cruel and 
unusual" punishment.

"[Midazolam] doesn't guarantee that the prisoners will be insensate throughout 
the execution," said Eighth Amendment expert Megan McCracken from U.C. Berkeley 
School of Law's Death Penalty Clinic.

Legal experts are not the only ones with concerns about Oklahoma's drug 
protocol. Several anesthesiologists have expressed concern about using 
midazolam for executions. The drug is typically used in surgical procedures to 
sedate patients before they receive anesthesia. To sedate an average adult in 
surgery, a dose of midazolam is normally no more than 2 milligrams. State 
executioners, however, administer the drug in much greater quantities. During 
recent executions, about 500 milligrams have been used.

Many medical experts have noted that little is known about how the body reacts 
at that dose.

"We don't know the effects of 500 milligrams of midazolam," said Dr. David 
Waisel, an anesthesiologist at the Boston Children's Hospital, an affiliate of 
Harvard Medical School. "We don't study it, and we don't use it clinically. 
They are experimenting."

WHY DID THE SUPREME COURT AGREE TO CONSIDER A CHALLENGE TO LETHAL INJECTION 
NOW?

The lethal injection landscape has been fraught with issues since 2011, when 
Hospira, the only American manufacturer of a key lethal injection drug, stopped 
its production in the midst of an international campaign by capital punishment 
opponents. The company's decision set off a scramble to find another supplier 
and ultimately another drug.

In late 2013, Florida became the first state to execute an individual using 
midazolam, but it wasn't until April 2014 that concerns about midazolam became 
widespread. That month, Oklahoma botched the execution of prisoner Clayton 
Lockett. Despite receiving an injection of midazolam, Lockett groaned and 
writhed on the gurney for about 40 minutes until his death, witnesses reported.

"I think the Supreme Court would prefer not to have to get involved in the 
details of executions, but felt compelled to because of what happened last 
year," said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information 
Center. "Something went really wrong, and somebody's got to monitor this thing 
or states will keep repeating it."

The Supreme Court is expected to hear the Oklahoma prisoners' case in April and 
make a final ruling by July. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, 
midazolam was used for at least 11 of 35 executions in 2014.

IS THIS THE 1ST TIME THAT THE SUPREME COURT HAS WEIGHED IN ON LETHAL INJECTION?

No. The last time the court weighed in was 7 years ago, when it upheld 
Kentucky's lethal injection protocol in the case Baze v. Rees.

According to McCracken, it's critical to look at what has changed since then. 
"In 2008, all of the states were using a very similar protocol???all the states 
were using the same three drugs," McCracken said. "Because some pharmaceutical 
companies have made their drugs unavailable for executions, the states have 
been changing their methods."

McCracken considers the botched executions a "consequence of using untested, 
untried combinations."

WHAT HAPPENS IF THE COURT STRIKES DOWN THE LETHAL INJECTION METHOD?

It's possible that midazolam would no longer be used. Other drugs might take 
its place or Oklahoma might decide to use a single-drug protocol in place of 
the current 3-drug cocktail.

"I don't think that the death penalty is going anywhere," said Michael 
Rushford, president of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation.

Even if the court limits the use of lethal injection and states continue to 
face difficulty getting approved drugs, there are other methods that prisons 
could employ. Virginia lawmakers have already discussed bringing back the 
electric chair when the approved drugs are not readily available. Wyoming 
lawmakers have proposed allowing firing squads.

Death penalty experts doubt that such methods would become the primary protocol 
for execution. "States changed from hanging to electric chair because it was a 
modern, supposedly painless method of execution," said Dieter of the Death 
Penalty Information Center. "There has been a continuous attempt to make 
executions appear more palatable, humane, and modern."

COULD THIS BE THE BEGINNING OF A LARGER TREND MOVING AWAY FROM THE DEATH 
PENALTY?

Not really. "The Supreme Court position is that if the death penalty is 
constitutional, some method of execution will be allowed," Dieter said. "But 
you have to try to do the best. You have to minimize the harm. You can't just 
use any drug that's on the shelf. It has to be something reputable that stands 
up to scrutiny. [The Supreme Court] is not going to narrow it so much that it 
makes it impossible."

The rate of executions across the United States, however, has decreased 
markedly over the past decade. 10 years ago 60 inmates were executed. In 2014, 
there were 35. Among the 32 states that allow the death penalty, only 7 had 
executions in the past year.

"In many places in the U.S., the death penalty is at best a symbolic gesture," 
said Austin Sarat, Amherst professor and author of Gruesome Spectacles: Botched 
Executions and America's Death Penalty.

Regardless of this downward trend, more than 3,000 people remain on death row 
in the U.S.

(source: Pacific Standard Magazine)