[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----KAN., CALIF., ORE.

[Rick Halperin]

Feb. 16



KANSAS:

Kansas Death Penalty Opponents Renewing Push For Repeal



Opponents of the death penalty in Kansas are hoping to replace the option with 
life in prison without the possibility of parole. Kansas reinstated the death 
penalty in 1994, but has not yet executed anyone in last 20 years. Anti-death 
penalty advocates are renewing their push to change the law.

During a Statehouse visit, opponents of the death penalty handed out letters 
showing that hundreds of faith leaders in the state are opposed to capital 
punishment. Donna Schneweis, with the Kansas Coalition Against the Death 
Penalty, hopes the sheer number of faith leaders on the letter can sway 
lawmakers.

"The reality is, there are many Kansans, including many Kansas faith leaders, 
who are profoundly disturbed that the state still continues this practice," 
says Schneweis.

But recent attempts to end the death penalty in Kansas haven???t convinced 
enough lawmakers. Some Republicans have been frustrated that court rulings and 
proceedings have delayed death penalty sentences. Lawmakers last year 
considered legislation that would speed up the appeals process, but that bill 
stalled.

(source: KCUR news)








CALIFORNIA:

Death penalty should be used



On the front page of Thursday's Record, there was an article titled "Judge 
wants issue to move forward." The article addresses the death penalty and 
whether delays should continue to be allowed. This is an issue that has 
previously been addressed on numerous occasions but, never seems to get 
resolved.

The taxpayer continues to support (sometimes in luxurious ways) our 
incarcerated criminals. Those convicted of heinous crimes are housed at our 
many prisons, given privileges many non-criminal folk, are not able to 
recognize.

We as a society continue to allow those who have received the death penalty, 
their supposed "right" to life. It appears that we enjoy continually paying to 
house these inmates because very few executions take place, when compared to 
the number of inmates who have been sentenced to die and sit comfortably on our 
tax dollar.

Our society is sick. It is sick because it will allow a non-criminal to take 
their own life in some states but those condemned to death are really not 
condemned after all. California can't find a drug to kill someone on death row, 
but Oregon can find a drug that can kill a non criminal. Ironic? No, just sick.

Utah recently re-enacted the firing squad as a method of execution. Utah is 
smart. They will pay a couple of cents for a piece of lead or other 
not-so-toxic metal, to execute their criminals. Meanwhile, California will 
continue to nurture and care for our death row populace.

Joe Larranaga Jr.

Stockton

(source: Letter to the Editor, Stockton Record)








OREGON:

Kitzhaber is asked to empty death row----The outgoing governor had put a 
moratorium on executions, but it will expire in 24 days



Various groups opposed to Oregon's death penalty law are making a concerted 
effort to persuade outgoing Gov. John Kitzhaber to commute the death sentences 
of Oregon's 36 death row inmates before he leaves office Wednesday.

8 inmates sentenced in Lane County are on death row, and 2 others have local 
connections.

"He has been personally asked to clear the row, and additional efforts are 
being made to convince him to do so," Portland defense attorney Jeff Ellis, a 
board member of Oregonians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, wrote in an 
email that went out Saturday to death penalty defense lawyers across the state.

"If you represent an individual on death row and are considering taking some 
action on behalf of your client, please contact me so we can discuss," Ellis 
wrote in the email, a copy of which was obtained by The Register-Guard.

"Efforts are being made to contact incoming Governor Brown to discuss the state 
of the moratorium, in the event that Kitzhaber does not issue commutations," 
Ellis wrote, referring to the moratorium Kitzhaber put on the state's death 
penalty in 2011.

Ellis also referred to an online poll in The (Portland) Oregonian newspaper, 
asking if Kitzhaber should commute the sentences to life imprisonment. He said 
it was "running about 70 % in favor of commutation."

Kitzhaber, the only governor in state history to be elected 4 times, said 
Friday that he will resign in the face of an influence-peddling scandal 
involving his fiancee , Cylvia Hayes. Secretary of State Kate Brown will be 
sworn in Wednesday as Oregon's 37th governor.

Ellis, described on the OADP website as "one of the top death penalty defense 
lawyers in the country," on Saturday referred questions to others involved in 
the effort.

But none of them wanted to speak on the record, including Dave Fidanque, 
executive director of the Oregon chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union; 
OADP Chairman Ron Steiner; or S. Bobbin Singh, executive director of the Oregon 
Justice Resource Center, which promotes civil rights and aims to enhance the 
quality of legal representation for underserved communities.

But OADP board member Aba Gayle, of Silverton - also a board member of Murder 
Victim Families for Human Rights, an international death penalty abolition 
group - did talk about the effort when reached by phone.

"Every one of us is making phone calls, whatever we can do," said Gayle, whose 
daughter was murdered in 1980 in Auburn, Calif. "It's been done before. This is 
not something that would be unique."

Gayle was referring to a couple of historic sentence commutations by 
ex-governors, one 6 weeks ago and one 12 years ago.

On Dec. 31, outgoing Gov. Martin O'Malley of Maryland commuted the death 
sentences of the last 4 inmates on that state's death row, effectively ending 
capital punishment there.

In 2003, Illinois Gov. George Ryan commuted the sentences of all 167 death row 
inmates there, 2 days before leaving office. 3 years earlier, Ryan, as 
Kitzhaber has done in Oregon, placed a moratorium on the death penalty in 
Illinois.

In his resignation statement Friday, Kitzhaber said: "I am proud that Oregon 
has not invoked the death penalty during my last 4 years on the watch."

Attempts Saturday to reach a spokesperson in Kitzhaber's office were 
unsuccessful. The Oregonian reported on Friday that Kitzhaber's moratorium 
expires 20 days after he leaves office.

As for whether Brown plans to continue the moratorium if Kitzhaber does not 
commute all 36 death sentences to life in prison, her spokesman said Saturday 
that she will have plenty of other things on her mind initially.

"Kate has not come out with a position on the governor's moratorium," said Tony 
Green, Brown's spokesman. "There is certainly a lot to be done, not just 
between now and Wednesday, but beyond that."

The state has executed just 2 inmates since Oregon voters reinstated capital 
punishment in 1984.

Douglas Wright was executed in 1996 and Harry Charles Moore in 1997. Both came 
during Kitzhaber's first term as governor, and both because each inmate had 
foregone the appeal process and said he wanted to die.

It was the case of a current death row inmate - twice-convicted murdered Gary 
Haugen, who has fought for the right to be executed - that led to Kitzhaber's 
moratorium. The stays were upheld by the Oregon Supreme Court in 2013.

"I am still convinced that we can find a better solution that holds offenders 
accountable and keeps society safe, supports the victims of crime and their 
families, and reflects Oregon values," Kitzhaber said in a statement at the 
time.

Old wounds and heartache

When contacted Saturday, those who have strong feelings in Lane County about 
upholding the death penalty were not shy about voicing their views.

"There's a world of difference between supporting a temporary moratorium on 
executions and erasing decades worth of capital punishment litigation in 
Oregon," Lane County District Attorney Alex Gardner wrote in an email to The 
Register-Guard, "particularly since Oregonians have been unequivocal in their 
support for retaining death as 1 of the 3 sentence options a jury can consider 
in the most heinous murder cases that qualify as aggravated murder.

"The governor hasn't said anything to me about this, and I don't see any value 
in spreading rumors and unsubstantiated fears."

1 of Gardner's deputies, Erik Hasselman, had no qualms about his giving his 
opinion on the death penalty.

"I certainly hope that's not his parting desire," said Hasselman, who in 2011 
successfully prosecuted the case of the only woman, Angela McAnulty, on death 
row in Oregon.

"It would rip open old wounds," Hasselman said. "It would cause a lot of 
heartache. It would effectively waste hundreds of hours of hard work."

McAnulty, of Eugene, was convicted of causing the death of her 15-year-old 
daughter, Jeanette Maples, by neglect and maltreatment in a case that horrified 
the local community.

Those on Oregon's death row are not just murderers, Hasselman said. "They are 
the worst of the worst. It's just inconceivable to me that someone in the 
executive branch of government would just overrule that."

Eugene's Ted Larsen speaks from personal experience when it comes to losing a 
child to murder. His daughter, Susi Larsen, a 1980 South Eugene High School 
graduate, was 34 when she was raped and murdered by Billie Lee Oatney in 1996 
in Tigard.

Oatney was sentenced to death in Washington County in 1998.

"It makes me furious to think he would do that," Larsen, 79, said of Kitzhaber 
commuting death sentences.

"The guy thinks it's alright to kill unborn babies," Larsen said of the 
governor's stance on abortion. "But you take a guy like this Oatney, who is 
just the scum of the earth, and then pardon someone like that?

"That's disgusting to me. And it flies in the face of the people of Oregon, who 
have voted to maintain the death penalty."

Gayle understands how Larsen feels. She said she felt the same way for years 
after her daughter, 19-year-old Catherine Blount, was stabbed to death by 
Douglas Mickey on a September night almost 35 years ago.

"The DA told me that's how I was going to be healed," Gayle said, of watching 
Mickey die one day. "That's a big lie."

In 1992, Gayle wrote to Mickey at San Quentin State Prison. He wrote back and 
invited her to come meet him; she did.

Gayle said she found him to be "intelligent and well-read. And he was so 
remorseful. He wept, openly."

Since then, Gayle has stayed in touch with Mickey. She has toured the nation 
speaking out against the death penalty and met with other death row inmates.

"I am so opposed to the death penalty," Gayle said. "It does nothing to honor 
my daughter."

(source: Register-Guard)