[Deathpenalty] death penalty news---KAN., OKLA., NEB., ARIZ., CALIF.

[Rick Halperin]

June 30



KANSAS:

U.S. Supreme Court to hear Carr brothers, Gleason appeals in October 
session----Kansas appeals state court decisions vacating death sentences


The United States Supreme Court has allocated time periods for oral arguments 
in three cases in which the Kansas Supreme Court set aside the death penalty 
for men convicted of capital murder.

The nation's highest court will consider Kansas' appeal of its own high court 
decision at an unspecified date during the next court session beginning in 
October, the Supreme Court announced Monday.

The Kansas Supreme Court in 2014 upheld the capital murder convictions but 
vacated the death sentences of brothers Jonathan and Reginald Carr, both of 
Wichita, and Sidney Gleason, a former Topekan convicted in two Great Bend 
killings. The state appealed the decision to overturn the death sentences to 
the U.S. Supreme Court, which agreed this past March to hear all three appeals.

Gleason was convicted of capital murder in the Feb. 21, 2004, killing of a 
woman, Mikiala "Miki" Martinez - a potential witness against him in a 
knifepoint robbery in Great Bend - as well as her boyfriend, Darren Wornkey.

The Carrs were convicted in a killing spree in which 5 people were murdered in 
December 2000. 4 of the victims were killed together after a night in which 2 
women were raped by their assailants and forced to have sex with 3 other male 
victims. All 5 were shot execution style in a field, but 1 female victim 
miraculously survived a gunshot wound to the head and lived to testify against 
the Carrs, who also were convicted of killing another Wichita woman several 
days earlier.

The Kansas Supreme Court cited the failure of the Barton County District Court 
judge to give a jury instruction regarding mitigating circumstances in vacating 
Gleason's death sentence. In removing the Carrs from death row, the Kansas 
court said the brothers should have been given separate hearings in the 
sentencing phase of their trial.

The issue of jury instruction is common in all three cases to be argued before 
the U.S. high court.

According to Supreme Court orders filed with all three, the high court must 
decide "whether the Eighth Amendment requires that a capital sentencing jury be 
affirmatively instructed that mitigating circumstances need not be proven 
beyond a reasonable doubt," as the Kansas Supreme Court found in vacating the 
death sentence.

The U.S. Supreme Court allocated one hour of oral argument on the question, 
assigning 30 minutes to the state of Kansas, 20 minutes for Jonathan Carr and 
Sidney Gleason, and 10 minutes for Reginald Carr.

A 2nd question to be considered by the high court in the matter of the Carr 
brothers is whether the confrontation clause applies in the "selection" phase 
of the capital sentencing hearing, as the Kansas court maintained. In dividing 
1 hour of oral argument on this question, justices assigned 20 minutes for the 
state of Kansas, 10 minutes for the Solicitor General, 20 minutes for Reginald 
Carr and 10 minutes for Jonathan Carr.

The justices made no oral arguments allocation for a third question in the 
Carrs' case - whether the trial court's refusal to order separate sentencing 
hearings for the Carrs violated the Eighth Amendment right to "individualized 
sentencing" and was more than harmless error.

(source: cjonline.com)

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

US Supreme Court to hear Kansas appeals----US Supreme Court to hear appeals in 
Kansas capital murder cases in October session


The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in 3 cases in which the Kansas 
Supreme Court set aside the death penalty for men convicted of capital murder.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports (http://bit.ly/1GIn4Fl ) the U.S. Supreme 
Court will consider the Kansas appeal of its own high court's decision sometime 
during the Supreme Court's next session, which begins in October.

The Kansas Supreme Court in 2014 upheld the capital murder convictions but 
vacated the death sentences of Wichita brothers Jonathan and Reginald Carr and 
former Topekan Sidney Gleason.

The state then appealed the decision to overturn the death sentences to the 
U.S. Supreme Court, which agreed this past March to hear all 3 appeals. The 
issues the U.S. Supreme Court will consider include jury instruction and 
separate sentencing hearings.

(source: Associated Press)






OKLAHOMA/FLORIDA:

Oklahoma, Florida move quickly to resume lethal injections


Oklahoma and Florida moved quickly to resume lethal injections after the U.S. 
Supreme Court upheld the use of midazolam, a sedative that has been used in 
several problematic executions.

Attorneys general in both states asked courts Monday to allow executions to 
proceed, just hours after the high court voted 5-4 in a case from Oklahoma that 
midazolam can be used in executions without violating the Eighth Amendment 
prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.

Prison officials in both states have said previously they were ready to proceed 
with executions if the use of midazolam were upheld, but neither would disclose 
Monday how many doses they have.

Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt sent notice to the state Court of 
Criminal Appeals that Richard Eugene Glossip, John Marion Grant and Benjamin 
Robert Cole have exhausted their appeals and may be executed as early as Aug. 
5.

"The families in these three cases have waited a combined 48 years for 
justice," Pruitt said in a statement.

In Florida, Attorney General Pam Bondi asked the state Supreme Court to lift 
the stay on the execution of Jerry Correll, who was convicted in the 1985 
killing of4 people in Orlando. He had won a temporary reprieve while the high 
court was reviewing the Oklahoma case.

Florida has used midazolam in 11 executions with no apparent difficulties, but 
executions last year in Arizona, Ohio and Oklahoma took longer than usual and 
raised concerns that the drug did not perform its intended task of putting 
inmates into a coma-like sleep.

Execution protocols in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana and Virginia allow for 
midazolam, but those states have not used it.

Unlike other execution drugs that have become difficult for states to obtain 
because of opposition by manufacturers, mostly based in Europe, there are 
numerous manufacturers of midazolam. Several states, including Oklahoma, have 
had no problems obtaining the common surgical sedative, although one 
manufacturer, Illinois-based Akorn, announced in April it was taking steps to 
ensure midazolam is no longer made available to states for use in executions.

Oklahoma 1st used the drug last year in the execution of Clayton Lockett, who 
writhed on the gurney, moaned and clenched his teeth for several minutes before 
prison officials tried to halt the process; he died 43 minutes after it was 
first injected. The state then increased by 5 times the amount of midazolam it 
uses and executed Charles Warner in January. He complained of a burning 
sensation but showed no other obvious signs of physical distress.

While the U.S. Supreme Court narrowly upheld the use of the drug, 2 dissenting 
justices - Justice Stephen Breyer and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg - said for 
the 1st time they think it's "highly likely" the death penalty itself is 
unconstitutional.

Justice Samuel Alito, in writing for the conservative majority, said arguments 
that the drug could not be used effectively in executions as a sedative were 
speculative.

He dismissed the problems in Arizona and Oklahoma's executions as "having 
little probative value for present purposes."

But Dale Baich, an attorney for the three Oklahoma inmates who challenged the 
use of midazolam, said litigation is certain to continue.

"If the system was working," he said, "we would not have these spectacles that 
are caused by different drug formulas and continuing experimentation."

(source: Associated Press)






NEBRASKA:

Gov. Ricketts wants death penalty to protect law enforcement


Governor Pete Ricketts told KTIV's News Partner, the Norfolk News Bureau that 
he believes the death penalty is an essential tool to protect law enforcement 
in the state of Nebraska.

"There has to be additional sanctions for somebody for instance, is on a life 
sentence so that they have consequences for any actions they might take, for 
any violence they might try to impart or inflict on one of our law enforcement 
officers," said Ricketts.

Ricketts said that he was surprised that the death penalty got repealed and 
that the legislators that voted to repeal it were simply not listening to their 
constituents.

"I don't think that anybody would have guessed with 35 Republican Senators in 
the Unicameral that the Death Penalty would have been repealed. In my mind I 
think the Legislature is completely out of touch with the overwhelming majority 
of Nebraskans and I suspect that the Senators who voted for this, who are out 
of touch with their constituents, will be hearing about it over the course of 
the summer," said the Governor.

The governor also said that he wants Nebraskans to sign the petition and if the 
measure gets on the ballot the citizens of Nebraska will vote for it.

"I encourage all citizens to sign the petition and I look forward to seeing it 
on the ballot. I'm confident that if it's on the ballot then Nebraskans will 
support it overwhelmingly," said Ricketts.

(source: KTIV news)






ARIZONA:

Arizona death penalty unresolved after Supreme Court ruling


The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the use of a controversial drug used in the 
lengthy execution of an Arizona inmate last year. But the ruling does not end 
the legal debate over capital punishment in the state.

The justices voted 5-4 on Monday in a case from Oklahoma that the sedative 
midazolam can be used in executions without violating the constitutional 
prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.

Midazolam was 1 of 2 drugs used in the execution of convicted murderer Joseph 
Rudolph Wood in Arizona last summer.

Wood died after snorting and gasping for air for nearly 2 hours, raising 
questions about the drug combination.

Midazolam was used in executions in Ohio and Oklahoma in which the inmates 
gasped and writhed in pain before dying.

Wood's lengthy death put a halt to Arizona's executions and set the stage for 
other courtroom battles on the issue.

Here are some things to know:

EXECUTIONS ON HOLD

Wood was given 15 doses of midazolam and a painkiller and gasped over and over 
before taking his final breath nearly 2 hours later on July 23.

In November, a judge put on hold a lawsuit challenging the secrecy of execution 
protocols in Arizona pending the investigation of Wood's death.

The state also agreed to put on hold executions and to not seek any death 
warrants until the lawsuit is resolved. Once executions do resume, the state 
has said it will use a different drug combination and will only use midazolam 
if it cannot obtain the 2 other drugs, pentobarbital or sodium pentothal.

However, the state still refuses to say whether it has any execution drugs in 
supply, which kind, or whether it is actively seeking them.

Arizona has put 37 inmates to death since capital punishment resumed in 1992 
and has about 120 inmates on death row.

LAWSUIT AGAINST ARIZONA

Wood and 5 other death row inmates filed a lawsuit against Arizona last June. 
The inmates say they have a First Amendment right to know about specific 
execution protocols such as the types of drugs used in lethal injections and 
the companies that supply them.

The state, like many others, had refused to provide information about the drugs 
used in executions since 2010, around the time Arizona had to find new drugs 
and manufacturers after an Illinois-based pharmaceutical company stopped making 
the drug that had been used previously.

News organizations, including The Associated Press, have also filed a lawsuit 
seeking information about the drugs.

WOOD INVESTIGATION

The state hired an independent firm to investigate the Wood execution amid 
claims it had been botched. But that firm found in December that the state had 
done nothing wrong and had followed proper protocols. The findings showed Wood 
was injected correctly but did not react to the drugs as expected. Still, the 
3-member team recommended the changes to the drugs used, which the state agreed 
to.

Dale Baich, Wood's attorney, said the report failed to explain why the 
experimental drug protocol did not work as promised.

(source: Associated Press)






CALIFORNIA:

CA high court overturns death sentence for convicted double-murderer


The California Supreme Court Monday upheld a man's conviction, but overturned 
his death sentence, for a monthlong crime spree that included robberies in 
which 2 men were shot and killed 8 days apart in Sun Valley and Hollywood.

The state's highest court upheld Richard Leon's conviction on 2 counts of 
murder, 16 counts of robbery, 3 counts of assault with a deadly weapon and two 
counts related to a police chase that led to his arrest, finding that "the 
evidence of defendant's guilt was overwhelming."

But the panel reversed the convicted double-murderer's death sentence, finding 
that a "cursory" examination of three prospective jurors who expressed general 
opposition to the death penalty was "simply not sufficient to permit an 
informed decision about their ability to serve."

The panel noted that binding U.S. Supreme Court precedent requires automatic 
reversal of a death sentence based on error in excusing a prospective juror for 
cause based on that person's views about the death penalty.

"Thus, regardless of whether defendant suffered any actual prejudice from the 
dismissal of these panelists, his penalty judgment must be reversed," Associate 
Justice Carol A. Corrigan wrote on behalf of the panel.

The justices ordered the case to be sent back for determination on whether the 
penalty phase of Leon's trial will be retried.

Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey handled the case as a trial 
attorney.

When asked if she had any misgivings about how jury selection was done, she 
said: "As I recall, it was a very diverse panel of people who looked at the 
case. I have not reviewed the opinion, obviously, but in that case I'm very 
settled about how I conducted myself as a prosecutor."

Leon was convicted of the Feb. 2, 1993, killing of 41-year-old Norair 
Akhverdian, who was shot in the back - a crime captured on surveillance video - 
after a robbery at a Shell gasoline station in Sun Valley, and the Feb. 10, 
1993, shooting death of Varouj Armenian, 39, during a robbery at Jack's Liquor 
Store in Hollywood, which he owned.

Both victims were married and had 2 young children.

Jurors also found true the special circumstance allegations of multiple murders 
and murder during the commission of a robbery.

Leon was additionally found guilty of a series of other heists in Hollywood, 
Beverly Hills, North Hollywood and Arleta - with 4 of the robberies occurring 
on Feb. 17, 1993. He was arrested the next day by Los Angeles police after a 
high-speed chase.

(source: mynewsla.com)

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

Supreme Court decision on lethal injection process triggers movement in 
California's stalled executions


A Supreme Court decision upholding a controversial drug used in lethal 
injection executions in Oklahoma starts the clock for California to come up 
with its own injection procedures, thus increasing the chance executions could 
resume here.

The justices on Monday ruled 5-4 that the sedative midazolam, which was 
implicated in several botched executions and is the 1st of 3 drugs in 
Oklahoma's lethal injection cocktail, can be used without violating the 
constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

State and federal court decisions have prevented California from using its 
3-drug lethal injection protocol, contributing to a 9-year hiatus in 
executions. One was a federal judge's ruling that the state's 3-drug lethal 
injection protocol could result in excessive pain. But after families of 
homicide victims sued the state in November in an effort to end delays, prison 
officials agreed this month to submit proposed regulations for a new lethal 
injection procedure - a precursor to resuming executions - within 120 days of 
the Supreme Court decision.

"I very much doubt that (California corrections officials) would use midazolam, 
but whatever they adopt I think the Supreme Court has raised the bar for anyone 
wanting to challenge it" with this decision, said Kent Scheidegger, legal 
director of the pro-death penalty Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, which 
represented the families in the lawsuit.

However, Matt Cherry of Death Penalty Focus, which opposes capital punishment, 
said he doesn't think the Supreme Court decision in the Glossip v. Gross case 
will help or hinder California's procedures.

"I think you're talking about a very different protocol in California," Cherry 
said. "And I think that California would have its own standards and the court 
would have its own standards for what is cruel and unusual."

The state now has until Oct. 27 to come up with a new lethal injection 
protocol, Scheidegger said. Corrections officials say they have been developing 
regulations for a single-drug protocol but have yet to propose one, an effort 
they say has been complicated by a nationwide challenge in accessing drugs.

Despite the movement, executions are not expected to resume anytime soon. 
Before a final protocol can be adopted, there is a formal administrative 
process of notice and comment. The state must consider comments made about the 
draft regulations and revise them if it deems it necessary, said Robert Dunham, 
executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center.

Once the protocol is established according to state law and adopted, it is 
expected to be legally challenged as past procedures have been, he said.

There are 751 condemned inmates in the state as of Monday, according to the 
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. More than 900 people 
have been sentenced to death in the state since the death penalty was 
reinstated in 1978, but only 13 have been executed here, as well as 1 in 
Missouri. In contrast, 101 condemned inmates have died by other means: 67 of 
natural causes, 24 by suicide, 7 from incidents such as drug overdoses or 
homicide, and 3 deaths that have yet to be classified, according to the 
department. Regardless of the hiatus on executions, appeals in capital cases 
often take 2 decades before a decision is made.

Last year a federal judge ruled the state's death penalty system was 
unconstitutional, which if upheld could ultimately commute all death sentences 
to life in prison.

(source: Los Angeles Daily News)

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

Death penalty being sought in slaying of McStay family


The district attorney will seek the death penalty for a California man who is 
accused of killing a family of 4 and burying their bodies in shallow desert 
graves.

District Attorney Mike Ramos filed notice Monday in San Bernardino County 
Superior Court in the case against 58-year-old Charles Ray Merritt, who is 
being held without bail.

Prosecutors say Merritt killed his business partner, Joseph McStay; McStay's 
wife Summer and their children, 4-year-old Gianni and 3-year-old Joseph Jr.

Merritt has pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to go on trial beginning Aug. 
10.

Search warrants served in the case will be unsealed Wednesday.

The McStays vanished in February 2010, puzzling investigators who said there 
were no signs of forced entry at the home, nothing was missing, and the 
couple's credit cards and tens of thousands of dollars in bank accounts were 
untouched.

The family's remains were found more than three years later buried in the 
desert in San Bernardino County, 100 miles from their home in the San Diego 
community of Fallbrook. Merritt was arrested a year later, in November 2014.

(source: CBS news)