[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, MD., GA., ALA., OHIO, MO.

[Rick Halperin]

Jan. 21



TEXAS:

Texas executed 279 people on Rick Perry's watch ---- Governor leaves office 
after overseeing deaths of nearly 300 inmates



Capital punishment may be cruel, but in Rick Perry's Texas, it was far from 
unusual.

During his 14 years as governor, Perry presided over the executions of a record 
279 inmates, according to figures compiled by the state's Department of 
Criminal Justice. Perry, who handed over the reins of power to fellow 
Republican Greg Abbott today, has touted his support for the death penalty as 
evidence of his toughness on crime, but his execution record also tells a far 
less flattering story.

Opponents of the death penalty have zeroed in on two key factors in campaigning 
for its abolition: the growing number of death row inmates who have later been 
proven innocent, and deeply embedded racial biases in the meting out of death 
sentences. Texas is an illustrative case.

Take the question of innocence. Since 1973, according to the Death Penalty 
Information Center, 150 death row inmates have been exonerated and, with 1 
exception, subsequently released from prison. (One inmate died of cancer before 
he was cleared.) Since Perry became governor in December 2000, 5 of those 
exonerations have occurred in his state.

You can't quite call those 5 former inmates "lucky," given that they spent 
years behind bars serving time for crimes they didn't commit. But they had 
better fortune than Cameron Todd Willingham, whom the state of Texas put to 
death in 2004. Willingham was executed for the 1991 deaths of his three young 
daughters in a house fire prosecutors charged Willingham had set himself. Later 
investigations demonstrated that the charges were based on shoddy forensic 
work. Shortly before Willingham's execution, the renowned arson expert Gerald 
Hurst sent Perry and the Texas Board of Pardon and Parole an analysis 
demonstrating that Willingham could not have set the fire that killed his 
daughters, but a defiant Perry signed Willingham's death warrant anyway. 
Subsequent investigations have only cast further doubt on the case against 
Willingham.

But Perry hasn't lost any sleep over the matter. Asked by Brian Williams 
whether he ever worried that someone innocent had been executed, Perry said in 
a 2011 presidential primary debate, "No, sir. I've never struggled with that at 
all. The state of Texas has a very thoughtful, a very clear process in place of 
which - when someone commits the most heinous of crimes against our citizens, 
they get a fair hearing, they go through an appellate process, they go up to 
the Supreme Court of the United States, if that's required."

"But in the state of Texas, if you come into our state and you kill one of our 
children, you kill a police officer, you're involved with another crime and you 
kill one of our citizens, you will face the ultimate justice in the state of 
Texas, and that is, you will be executed," Perry continued.

Of course, certain individuals are more likely to be executed than others. 
African Americans account for a disproportionate share of those executed on 
Perry's watch; while blacks make up just 11.6 % of Texas' population, they 
represented 40 % of those put to death during Perry's tenure. Whites (44.4 % of 
the population) accounted for another 40 % of executions, while Latinos (38.2 % 
of the population) accounted for the remaining 20 %.

Conservatives may argue that the overrepresentation of African Americans on 
death row isn't an overrepresentation at all - that the figures simply reflect 
who commits crimes, and that's that. This notion may be comforting to those who 
would rather not confront the problems of systemic racism that continue to 
plague our criminal justice system, but it has no basis in reality: As with 
other states, Texas is substantially more likely to seek the death penalty 
against a black person convicted of killing a white person than against those 
convicted of killing a black person.

Should Perry proceed with plans to launch a 2nd White House bid in 2016, he 
will do so amid a renewed national focus on overzealousness and racism in law 
enforcement and the criminal justice system. Although he shows no signs of 
having thought much about such problems, his state has often been Ground Zero 
for them.

(source: Luke Brinker is Salon's deputy politics editor)

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

Governor Abbott is a Catholic lone-wolf on Death Penalty, refuses to be Pro 
Life



Dear Governor Abbott,

Congratulations on your inauguration as Texas' Governor today! I too claim to 
be a follower of Christ and to work for the common good of all Texans.

As a fellow Christian I'm deeply saddened by your refusal to believe and live 
by your church's pro-life stance. The sanctity of life is a beautiful 
foundation upon which stands staunch and near total support for the abolition 
of capital punishment. How is it you can support killing in the name of Texas?

In an interview with the San Antonio Express-News you said "there is no 
conflict" between your eager support for and your Church's stance against the 
death penalty. I do not know whether your statement was out of ignorance or 
intent to mislead. But whether you were mistaken or chose to lie, one simply 
cannot promote the following words as truth as you did, "Catholic doctrine is 
not against the death penalty."

Catholic social teaching as found in statements, catechism, and through the 
words of your popes clearly state that state-sponsored killing is far outside 
the will of God or the needs of the common good! In Texas, life sentences as an 
alternative to the death penalty are not only available, they are far more 
economically viable.

Today I heard you invoke God's grace for yourself, while consciously planning 
to refuse it for those on Texas' death row; including Arnold Prieto, age 41, 
who is scheduled to be your 1st execution on the 2nd day of your Governorship 
(Wednesday). Perhaps I'm just confused. Or perhaps the cognitive dissonance I 
and others experience between your faith and politics is an integrity gap that 
will have grave implications.

Undoubtedly it will further the cycle of violence in Texas ("those who live by 
the sword will die by the sword"). Likely it will lead to the death of an 
innocent; and thus unmask the moral bankruptcy of our social imagination in the 
same way Jesus' unjust execution did.

Sadly, as Governor of the Lone Star State you stand in a long line of leaders 
who have been at variance with their church's pursuit of abolishing the death 
penalty. Both Rick Perry (who woke up today as governor of Texas) and George W. 
Bush were opposed to the anti-death penalty position of The United Methodist 
Church.

The UMC has "unequivocally" held a stance against the death penalty for over 50 
years! Read their statement here. Nearly every Christian body in America has 
issued statements against state killings.

But given you are a Catholic, allow me to speed up your research with a couple 
links and quotes:

-- 1997 Texas' Bishops Statement against the Death Penalty. "As religious 
leaders, we are deeply concerned that the State of Texas is usurping the 
sovereign dominion of God over human life by employing capital punishment."

-- 2005 US Catholic Bishops. The death penalty "contributes to a cycle of 
violence in our society that must be broken."

-- Pope Francis Calls for the Abolition of the Death Penalty. "All Christians 
and people of good will are thus called today to struggle not only for 
abolition of the death penalty, whether it be legal or illegal and in all its 
forms, but also to improve prison conditions, out of respect for the human 
dignity of persons deprived of their liberty. And this, I connect with life 
imprisonment," he said. "Life imprisonment is a hidden death penalty."

Finally, and I'm sure this will be of immense help for you, I invite you to 
read my own writings supporting abolition from a Christian perspective.

My encouragement to you from one leader to another? Lead. Don't follow the 
polls and culture or chase re-election. Lead Texas strongly, with your faith 
both as guide and strength.

I look forward to the day your faith is a more powerful lens than politics when 
you examine the death penalty. Likewise, I look forward to the day when 
headline news is not about a Governor's disconnect from his church's teachings. 
But when we together can celebrate a headline such as this, "BREAKING NEWS: 
Texas Abolishes the Death Penalty!"

May it be so during your administration! Peace to you,

Pastor Marty Troyer

Houston Mennonite Church

1231 Wirt Road

Houston Texas, 77055

(source: Houston Chronicle, Jan. 20)








MARYLAND:

Maryland Governor Officially Commutes Death Sentences for 4



Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley has officially commuted the death sentences of 4 
inmates who had been sentenced to die before Maryland banned capital punishment 
in 2013.

O'Malley officially signed executive orders commuting their sentences on 
Tuesday, 1 day before he leaves office.

The Democratic governor signed the commutations for Vernon Evans, Anthony 
Grandison, Jody Lee Miles and Heath Burch.

In each of the 4 orders, O'Malley wrote that in granting the commutation he 
intends each inmate to "serve the remainder of his natural life in prison."

O'Malley had announced his plan to commute the sentences last month.

The General Assembly abolished the death penalty 2 years ago, leaving 5 inmates 
on death row. One of them, John Booth-El, died in prison last year.

(source: Associated Press)








GEORGIA----impending execution

Georgia court denies stay for death row inmate claiming mental disability



The Georgia Supreme Court refused on Tuesday to stop the state's planned 
execution next week of a death row inmate whose lawyers say should not be put 
to death because he is mentally disabled.

Warren Lee Hill, 54, is scheduled to die by injection on Jan. 27 for beating 
fellow prisoner Joseph Handspike to death in August 1990. At the time of the 
killing, Hill was serving a life sentence for the 1986 shooting death of his 
18-year-old girlfriend, Myra Wright.

Hill's attorneys argue that Georgia's strict standard of requiring inmates to 
prove their mental disability "beyond a reasonable doubt" is unconstitutional.

They had asked for more time to appeal his case in light of a U.S. Supreme 
Court decision last year that threw out a Florida death row inmate's sentence 
and found that the state's IQ test standard for assessing whether defendants 
are mentally disabled was too rigid.

Hill's case "is worth a thorough and searching review without the time-pressure 
of an impending execution," his lawyers wrote in their request for a stay.

The Georgia Supreme Court denied the request without comment, with 2 justices 
dissenting.

Hill has been granted several last-minute stays in recent years and his 
attorneys plan to keep up their fight. They will appeal Tuesday's ruling to the 
U.S. Supreme Court, said one of his lawyers, Brian Kammer.

In 2013, a judge halted his execution to allow Hill to challenge a new Georgia 
law that allowed the state to keep secret its source for lethal injection 
drugs. The Georgia Supreme Court last year upheld that law and said it should 
not prevent Hill from being executed.

In Hill's current claim, his attorneys said mental disability is generally 
defined as having a score of 70 or below on intelligence tests. Hill scored 69 
on 1 intelligence test and in the 70s on other examinations, according to court 
records.

Hill's lawyers filed affidavits in a Georgia court in 2013 from three doctors, 
who found Hill competent 13 years ago but now believe he is mentally disabled.

Georgia prosecutors argue the lethal injection should move forwarding because 
past examinations showed Hill has the capacity to understand his execution.

After graduating from high school, Hill joined the U.S. Navy and was promoted 
to the rank of seaman 2nd class, prosecutors said.

(source: Reuters)

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

District Attorney's Office seeking death penalty in case against Catherine 
Goins



Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit District Attorney Herbert "Buz" Franklin 
filed a notice of intent to seek the death penalty against Catherine Goins 
Thursday.

The 37-year-old is behind bars charged in the September shooting death of 
Natalia Roberts. Deputies say Goins who had been living a ruse that she was 
pregnant lured the new mom to a home, with the promise of free baby clothes.

Officials say Goins then shot Roberts in the back of the head and kidnapped her 
2 children from the crime scene all because she wanted to claim Robert's 
3-week-old baby as her own.

Local attorneys tell Channel 3, having the death penalty on the table could be 
used as leverage for the District Attorney's Office. The notice could initiate 
plea deal negotiations or it could do the exact opposite meaning several months 
maybe years of appeals and thousands, possibly millions of dollars spent 
fighting a conviction.

"It was an unneeded murder and I say murder because that's what she did ... she 
flat out murdered her," said Gary Sisk, Catoosa County Sheriff.

If convicted, Goins would be the 1st woman out of Catoosa County and the 2nd 
woman ever to be on Georgia's death row. Local attorneys say death penalty 
cases against women in Georgia are rare.

"It's extremely rare," said Ringgold attorney Adam Cathey. "I know that I've 
been here practicing law for 10-years now and I have not seen one in Catoosa 
County or heard of one in our entire Judicial Circuit for that matter,"

Cathey who worked in the District Attorney's office for 3 years, explains the 
death penalty can only be sentenced by a jury after a conviction.

"Only if the jury finds beyond a reasonable doubt that the kidnapping occurred 
during the commission of the murder can the death penalty be handed down," said 
Adam Cathey.

In addition he says prosecutors must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Goins 
committed felony murder and kidnapping with malice intent.

"I wish that house would just disappear," said neighbor Jodie Dunaway.

Dunaway knew Goins well, she tells Channel 3. the house where Roberts was 
killed has had many visitors since it was put up for sale.

"A lot of visitors over there and a lot of people going up and down the roads, 
it's not been quiet since," said Dunaway.

One neighbor has already moved out of the subdivision, Dunaway says she and 
others are ready to move and ready for closure.

"I trusted her but if they find her guilty and the death penalty is on the 
table and then that's what she gets, she deserves it. Anybody that takes a life 
deserves the death penalty," said Dunaway.

According to Georgia law, if a person is found incompetent to stand trial, 
unable to determine right from wrong at the time the crime was committed, or 
unable to understand why they are being punished by death... that person can 
not be sentenced to death even if they have been convicted.

Catherine Goins is scheduled in Catoosa County Court January 28th for a 1st 
proceedings unified appeal. There prosecutors will discuss their intent to seek 
the death penalty with the defendant and the judge.

(source: WRCB TV news)








ALABAMA:

Alabama loses another round in court in effort to execute Tommy Arthur



Death row inmate Tommy Arthur has won another round in court to block his 
execution, which had been scheduled for Feb. 19.

U.S. District Judge W. Keith Watkins scheduled a final hearing May 5-6 in 
Arthur's latest challenge to the state's method of lethal injection.

Watkins denied the state's request to change his earlier decision that a 2012 
stay on Arthur's execution remains in place.

The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals issued that stay the last time the state set 
an execution date for Arthur, in 2012.

Watkins rejected the state's argument that the 2012 stay applied only to that 
March 29, 2012 execution date.

The appeals court issued that stay, in part, to allow the district court to 
conduct fact-finding and gather evidence about Arthur's claims that the state's 
lethal injection protocol violated his rights to be free from cruel and unusual 
punishment and to due process.

Those claims were not resolved.

Last September, the state changed the drug combination for lethal injection and 
asked the state Supreme Court to set an execution date for Arthur, which it 
did.

The Feb. 19 date was the 6th execution date the state has scheduled for Arthur.

Arthur was first convicted of capital murder in 1983 in the death of Troy 
Wicker of Muscle Shoals. That conviction and a 2nd conviction were overturned. 
He was convicted a 3rd time in 1991 and that conviction was upheld.

Arthur has filed numerous appeals, including challenges to all 3 combinations 
of lethal injection drugs Alabama has used since 2002.

In his latest challenge, he claims that the sedative used as the 1st drug in 
the 3-drug combination, midazolam hydrochloride, will not prevent pain and 
suffering from the 2 drugs that follow, which are to stop his breathing and his 
heart.

In his ruling, Watkins acknowledged the court's frustration with "Arthur's 
propensity to manipulate the litigation process." But Watkins wrote that he was 
also frustrated with the state's tactics, saying that it "continues to make 
arguments that have been squarely addressed and rejected."

Alabama state has not executed an inmate since Andrew Lackey in 2013.

Executions were put on hold after the state could no longer obtain 
pentobarbital, which had been the 1st drug used.

In a footnote in the Jan. 15 ruling, Watkins wrote that 5 other lawsuits 
challenging the state's new drug protocol are pending before his court.

(source: Al.com)








OHIO:

Ohio death row inmates sue to know makers of execution drugs----Prisoners' 
attorneys say new state law 'violates right of free speech'; Supporters say 
secrecy is necessary to prevent harassment of suppliers



?4 death row inmates who are suing Ohio officials over a new state law that 
shields the names of companies providing lethal injection drugs want a federal 
court to prevent the law from taking effect in March.

Attorneys for the inmates filed the motion on Monday in US district court in 
Columbus. They want the court to stop the provisions that they say violate the 
right of free speech from taking effect, pending a trial on the lawsuit.

Attorney Timothy Sweeney said in a statement on Monday that the law is designed 
to shut down one side of debate on the issue.

"Constitutional protections are most needed precisely when the government 
begins to limit the ability of its citizens to question, speak, or inquire 
freely into its workings, and that is certainly the case here," Sweeney said.

Dan Tierney, a spokesman for Ohio's attorney general, Mike DeWine, said on 
Monday that the office will need to review the motion before commenting.

Supporters of the new law have said that shielding the names of companies that 
provide lethal injection drugs is necessary to protect drugmakers from 
harassment and ensure the state gets supplies of the drugs.

But Sweeney said in a telephone interview on Monday that "there is no evidence 
whatsoever of harassment. What the state views as harassment is speech. Lawful 
speech is never harassment."

He said those who provide the drugs don't want to hear from people who oppose 
the death penalty or lethal injection.

"The government has no power to now silence its citizens because it does not 
like their message and the result of their protected speech upon a government 
policy," the motion states.

The law also keeps confidential the names of those who help carry out Ohio 
executions.

Sweeney said that under the new law, disclosure of those names carries the 
threat of civil penalties.

The lawsuit was filed in December on behalf of Ohio death row prisoners Ronald 
Phillips, Raymond Tibbetts, Robert Van Hook? and Grady Brinkley.

(source: The Guardian)








MISSOURI:

U.S. Supreme Court faults St. Louis lawyers in death penalty ruling



The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday reversed 2 lower courts and said that a 
triple murderer on Missouri's death row, whose execution last fall was delayed, 
should be granted a replacement of the 2 St. Louis lawyers on his case.

The ruling also means convicted killer Mark Christeson can argue that he should 
be allowed to appeal his case in federal court, an avenue that was blocked when 
the lawyers missed a deadline.

The ruling says Christeson's attorneys, Eric Butts and Phil Horwitz, admitted 
failing to meet with Christeson until 6 weeks after his federal appeal was due. 
It also says there was no evidence they had communicated with him before that. 
The lawyers filed the appeal 117 days late and subsequently blamed it on a 
miscalculation.

The high court said both attorneys now have a "conflict of interest" in arguing 
that the deadline should be waived because of their mistake.

"Advancing such a claim would have required Horwitz and Butts to denigrate 
their own performance. Counsel cannot reasonably be expected to make such an 
argument, which threatens their professional reputation and livelihood," reads 
the unsigned 7-2 opinion.

Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas said they would not reopen the case 
without "briefing and argument" to show whether the lawyers' conduct was merely 
an error or "the kind of abandonment" that needs intervention.

Tuesday's ruling notes that Christeson still must demonstrate "extraordinary 
circumstances" to justify the reopening of the case.

Horwitz and Butts did not return phone calls and emails seeking comment 
Tuesday.

Christeson was too poor to afford counsel. He was represented at trial by the 
state public defender's office. A federal judge in western Missouri appointed 
Horwitz and Butts, who are paid for their work, in 2004 to handle the federal 
appeals after state court appeals were exhausted.

Christeson was convicted in 1999 and sentenced to death for raping Susan Brouk, 
36, and murdering her and her 2 children in 1998, near Vichy, Mo.

Christeson, then 18, and his cousin, Jesse Carter, then 17, wanted to steal 
Brouk's SUV and drive to California, court records show. The documents say 
Christeson raped Brouk, and that she recognized Carter.

Officials said the men drove the victims to a nearby pond, where Christeson cut 
Brouk's throat, then cut the throat of her son, Kyle, 9, and held him under the 
water. Christeson then suffocated Brouk's son Adrian, 12, and threw Brouk into 
the water, where she drowned.

Tuesday's ruling represents a victory for St. Louis University Law School 
adjunct professors and Death Penalty Clinic students, who began looking into 
the case last year at the request of Butts and Horwitz.

One of the SLU lawyers, Joseph Perkovich, said his team met with Christeson and 
realized the condemned man was unaware ?his appeals had been exhausted.

After Butts and Horwitz refused to turn over their files, Perkovich said, he 
and his colleagues began attempting to oust them, to make the argument in court 
that Christeson was not represented effectively.

Perkovich and his colleagues from the "public interest, nonprofit" law firm 
Phillips Black have argued Christeson has "severe cognitive disabilities" 
making him totally reliant on his lawyers.

Butts and Horwitz fought to remain on the case, and lower courts, including the 
8th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in St. Louis, agreed multiple times.

U.S. District Judge Dean Whipple wrote in October that the 2 lawyers had 
appeared on behalf of Christeson in other legal challenges to the death 
penalty. He also warned of an "untenable precedent" that outside lawyers could 
delay an execution "by simply waiting until the 11th hour and then 2nd-guessing 
the work of appointed counsel."

But Perkovich said Butts and Horwitz had merely signed on to legal challenges 
being filed by other inmates.

The SLU team helped Christeson win a stay of his execution just hours before it 
was scheduled on Oct. 29.

The Missouri attorney general's office, which argued against the delay, did not 
respond Tuesday to a request for comment.

Perkovich said the case was partly a product of a "beleaguered" system that 
represents the poor in capital cases. He said the process was further strained 
by a series of execution dates recently set by the Missouri Supreme Court.

Perkovich said he and his colleagues "have no appetite for taking down 
attorneys" but were ethically bound to protect Christeson's interests.

Horwitz and Butts, who do criminal defense work here, continue to be appointed 
to federal defense work. In U.S. District Court in St. Louis, it was as 
recently as December for Butts and July for Horwitz.

(source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

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

Supreme court rules Missouri prisoner's death penalty appeal should be heard 
---- Mark Christeson had been scheduled to be executed in October 2014 for 
triple murder after his attorneys missed a deadline to apply for an appeal



The supreme court has said that the appeal for Mark Christeson, a Missouri man 
sentenced to death for the murder of a woman and her 2 children in 1998, should 
be heard.

In 2005, Christeson's attorneys missed a deadline to apply for an appeal before 
a federal court - by nearly 4 months. A 2nd appeal, which challenged the 
planned use of a made-to-order execution drug, was denied by the high court of 
Missouri.

Christeson was scheduled to be killed by lethal injection in October 2014, but 
the supreme court stayed the execution while it considered whether to grant 
another chance at appeal.

In 1999, Christeson was found guilty of the rape and murder of Susan Brouk and 
the murders of her 12-year-old daughter, Adrian, and 9-year-old son, Kyle. 
Christeson's 17-year-old cousin Carter, then 17, was also implicated in the 
murders, but was spared the death sentence after he agreed to give evidence for 
the prosecution against his relative.

After stealing Brouk's car, the 2 drove to California, selling her belongings 
along the way. They were arrested 8 days later.

An attorney for Christeson did not respond to a request for comment.

(source: The Guardian)