[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----IDAHO, CALIF., ORE., WASH., USA

[Rick Halperin]

March 4



IDAHO:

Idaho court upholds lower court's death penalty sentence



An Idaho death row inmate will remain there following an Idaho Supreme Court 
decision upholding a lower court's ruling rejecting a post-conviction relief 
request.

The Idaho Supreme Court in a 189-page decision released Monday ruled that 
37-year-old Azad Haji Abdullah's death sentence for killing his wife and trying 
to kill 3 children will remain in place.

Abdullah received the death penalty after being convicted in 2004 of 1st-degree 
murder, 1st-degree arson, 3 counts of attempted 1st-degree murder, and felony 
injury to a child.

Authorities say Abdullah in 2002 killed his wife in their Boise home and then 
set fire to the house with 2 of their children and a young friend asleep 
inside. Another of their children was in the backyard.

(source: Associated Press)








CALIFORNIA:

Lawyer Proposes Death Penalty For Gays In California With "Sodomite Suppression 
Act"



San Diego lawyer Matt McLaughlin has proposed a ballot initiative that calls 
for the death penalty for homosexuals in California.

The Sodomite Suppression Act, McLaughlin's submission to the state Attorney 
General's office, declares same-sex sex is a "monstrous evil that Almighty God, 
giver of freedom and liberty, commands us to suppress on pain of our utter 
destruction, even as he overthrew Sodom and Gomorrha [sic]."

And he thinks us sodomites would be better off dead: "It is better that 
offenders should die rather than that all of us should be killed by God's just 
wrath against us for the folly of tolerating wickedness in our midst, the 
People of California wisely command ... that any person who willingly touches 
another person of the same gender for purposes of sexual gratification be put 
to death by bullets to the head or by any other convenient method."

Perhaps McLaughlin didn't hear California outlawed the death penalty last year?

In an ironic tip of the hat to Vladimir Putin, the SSA also bans the 
distribution of "sodomistic propaganda," and bars LGBT people from holding 
public office.

Another provision of the measure:

This law is effective immediately and shall not be rendered ineffective nor 
invalidated by any court, state or federal, until heard by a quorum of the 
Supreme Court of California consisting only of judges who are neither sodomites 
nor subject to disqualification hereunder.

If McLaughlin wants his initiative to make its way onto a public ballot, he'll 
need to get some 350,000 signatures. For now, California Attorney General 
Kamala D. Harris is giving it a look.

(source: NewNowNext.com)








OREGON:

Handing over the reins of Oregon's Death Row



Despite rumors on the subject, former Gov. John Kitzhaber did not commute 
Oregon's 34 pending death sentences before resigning last month -- although it 
wasn't like it would have gotten him into any more trouble. Kitzhaber, who'd 
been governor during Oregon's only 2 executions of the last half-century, had 
made it clear he wasn't going to sit through any more, but didn't feel the need 
to extend the ban beyond his own tenure.

That left incoming Gov. Kate Brown as the new landlady of Oregon's death row, 
and the subject came up almost immediately. Last week, Brown told Jeff Mapes of 
The Oregonian/OregonLive that she personally opposed the death penalty and 
expected to continue Kitzhaber's moratorium. But she wouldn't say an execution 
was impossible, explaining that her thinking on the issue had become "more 
nuanced."

It's possible to overstate the uncertainty here; offhand, you might expect Kate 
Brown to sign an execution order when Earl Blumenauer trades his bicycle for a 
rickshaw. And as she says, "I think there are a whole lot of issues that need 
to be resolved. And one of them is, can we even carry this out at this point in 
time in this country?"

Technique is everything. And lately, all over the country, there are issues 
about not only why but how we execute people.

(Or in Oregon's case, of course, how we don't.)

Supplies of the drugs that have been part of the three-drug combination used in 
most U.S. executions have been running out, as European manufacturers, opposed 
to capital punishment, have been refusing to supply them. (After Kitzhaber 
declared his moratorium, Oregon said it would sell its supply back.) 
Replacement drugs have produced extended, messy executions in Arizona and 
Oklahoma, and some states, such as Ohio, have declared their own moratoriums 
until the situation is sorted out.

For various reasons, the feds -- who don't execute a lot of people anyway -- 
have declared their own freeze, and outgoing Attorney General Eric Holder has 
urged states to do the same. There's anticipation of a Supreme Court ruling on 
which drugs are and aren't acceptable.

Last month, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, another new Democratic governor -- and 
there aren't many new Democratic governors -- declared an execution moratorium, 
as he said he would during his campaign. There are more than 180 convicts on 
Pennsylvania's death row; since the reinstatement of the death penalty by the 
U.S. Supreme Court in 1976, Pennsylvania has executed exactly 3 people. During 
that time, going through the motions of capital punishment has cost the state 
an estimated $350 million.

It's said that more people on Pennsylvania's Death Row die of natural causes 
than of execution. Since 6 residents have been freed on appeal, you could also 
say more have been released than executed.

"This unending cycle of death warrants and appeals diverts resources from the 
judicial system and forces the families and loved ones of victims to relive 
their tragedies each time a new round of warrants and appeals commences," Wolf 
wrote in his moratorium order. "The only certainty in the current system is 
that the process will be drawn out, expensive, and painful for all involved."

Pennsylvania's situation, in fact, has been greatly like Oregon's -- 
maintaining at considerable effort and expense a penalty virtually never used. 
Pennsylvania managed to execute one more convict over 40 years than Oregon did, 
but it had many more sentenced -- and unlike Oregon's, its executions may not 
have been voluntary.

Both states, like all the others, are dealing with the drug shortage. Last 
month, Utah's House of Representatives passed a bill restoring execution by 
firing squad; it now moves to the state Senate, and Wyoming is also taking aim. 
It's not as easy to imagine Oregon going in that direction, although we could 
probably find volunteers.

There is talk about putting a repeal of capital punishment on the 2016 ballot, 
where the odds might be against it; many voters like the idea of capital 
punishment, even if it hardly ever happens in practice.

People on Oregon's death row have been convicted of doing hideous things, 
making it even more curious for Oregon to spend large amounts on a decades-long 
appeals process that ends up giving them the choice of departure. Now that 
process is muddied even more by the challenges of actually carrying it out, 
with legal and procedural complications joined by pharmacological ones.

And despite the great deal of attention the idea has gotten recently, we're 
probably not going to take up beheading.

Although on this issue, we've been in no hurry to use ours.

(source: Opinion, David Sarasohn, orefonlive.com)








WASHINGTON:

California case reignites Washington death penalty debate----In California a 
man is suing the state for not executing his family's killer -- despite being 
sentenced to death decades ago. A family in Washington is undergoing a similar 
situation.



30 years after the murder of his mother, sister and 2 nephews, a California man 
is suing that state for not executing the killer, even though he was sentenced 
to death.

It has some people in Washington state wondering if they can pursue the same 
option.

Kermit Alexander said he trusted in the legal system for years. But, the killer 
is still sitting in prison decades later. Because of that, Alexander filed a 
lawsuit demanding California put in place an execution protocol and end the 
murderer's life.

Alexander won a small victory last month when a superior court judge agreed 
that he had standing to bring the action, so there will be a hearing on the 
merits of the suit.

Washington state Governor Jay Inslee put a moratorium on the death penalty last 
year, but the California case has some Washington families looking at their 
options.

Jane Hungerford Trapp was found dead at the top of a stairwell in Tacoma in 
1996. Cecil Davis was convicted of her murder, and another, and was sentenced 
to death.

20 years later, Davis remains in the state penitentiary in Walla Walla.

"We grew up learning that if you break the law, the law will punish you," said 
Kathy Obert, Hungerford-Trapp's niece. "Where is his punishment? He gets a new 
free home, paid for by us. This is just outrageously wrong."

Obert said her family will be following the California case closely as they 
work to figure out if there are any other options when it comes to getting 
Davis executed.

Jessie Ripley is Hungerford Trapp's daughter. She said it's been exceptionally 
difficult having her children grow up without a grandmother and spending most 
of her adult life without a mom.

"He (Davis) doesn't get to say, 'Oh I wish I could see my family,' because, 
guess what? His family can go visit him. I don't get any of that. My children 
don't get any of that," Ripley said. "I'm sitting here working. My family is 
sitting here working to support him in a prison. Somebody who took something 
from us. Now I have to support him? Where's the justice in that."

Governor Jay Inslee's office declined comment on this story, but it is expected 
that as long as he is in office, the moratorium on the death penalty in the 
state will remain in place.

(source: KREM news)








USA:

Louis "Lepke" Buchalter Gets the Chair



On March 4th 1944, one of the most notorious crime bosses in US History was 
executed by electric chair at Sing Sing Prison in New York. Louis "Lepke" 
Buchalter's execution gave him the distinction of being the only US mob boss to 
receive the death penalty from the US Government.

Born in the Lower East Side of Manhattan in February 1897, Buchalter's family 
were Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. His mother gave him the nickname 
"Lepkeleh", which means 'little Louis' in Yiddish, it was later shortened to 
"Lepke". Following the death of his father and his mother moving to Arizona for 
health reasons, Lepke was left in the care of his sister in New York.

The time spent in his sister's care saw Buchalter's first involvement with 
crime. In September 1915, he was arrested for burglary and assault, although 
the case was discharged. In February 1916, he was again arrested for burglary, 
and sentenced to a juvenile offenders institute until July 1917. In September 
1917, he was sentenced to 18 months in the state prison at Sing Sing in New 
York (the very same prison in which he would be killed decades later). 
Following his release in January 1919, he was arrested and sentenced again a 
year later, this time to a 30 month sentence.

Following his release from prison in 1922, Buchalter moved into the world of 
organised crime with his fellow youthful crook Jacob "Gurrah" Shapiro. The 2 
supposedly met after both attempted to rob the same pushcart, they quickly 
decided to pool their resources in order to extort Manhattan's pushcart owners.

Establishing themselves through their extortion and protection businesses, they 
eventually joined Jacob Orgen's gang. Lepke terrorised New York's garment 
workers, taking control of the city's textile unions and receiving bribery 
payments from both employers and the union members. As the 1920s wore on, 
Lepke's reputation and presence in the New York underworld continued to grow, 
and he turned his attention to alcohol bootlegging, illegal gambling and 
ultimately, the narcotics trade.

In many ways, Louis Buchalter was representative of a drastic change taking 
place in the world of American organised crime during this period. Buchalter 
was of Jewish origin, but he was not restricted to just working with members of 
New York's Jewish community. He was a member of the large Mafia concern run by 
Charles Luciano, who in turn had a close business relationship with Mayer 
Lansky, a gangster from a Russian Jewish family. Whereas the early 20th century 
had seen criminal organisations in the USA split along ethnic grounds, by the 
1930s it was increasingly common for the old racial prejudices between 
different ethnic groups to be set aside for mutual financial gain.

Buchalter's notoriety came from his running of an organisation of hired 
killers, which later came to be known as 'Murder Inc.', in reference to the 
business like approach it took to killing. Murder Inc. made profit through 
killing troublesome gangsters within the mob, as well as eliminating eye 
witnesses to the mob's crimes. Inevitably, it is difficult to determine exactly 
how many hit men were on the organisation's pay roll, and how many deaths it 
was responsible for, but it made Buchalter one of the most powerful gangsters 
in the United States.

The details of his arrest in 1939 are particularly interesting. Up until then 
he had used bribery and intimidation to keep himself free from the authorities. 
However, in August, word was received by the FBI that he was willing to 
surrender, if a deal could be struck. On 24th August, he arranged to meet FBI 
Director J. Edgar Hoover to hand himself in. Although Buchalter was arrested 
before he reached the agreed meeting spot, he was brought to Hoover, and taken 
away in the director's black limousine.

Buchalter initially escaped the death penalty, instead being sentenced to just 
14 years in prison for narcotics offences, with his links to Murder Inc. 
initially being overlooked. Exact details of the deal he struck with Hoover are 
unknown, but the benefits did not last long. Buchalter was eventually turned 
over to New York authorities, run by District Attorney Thomas Dewey, who had 
vowed to give Buchalter the death penalty. Buchalter was eventually betrayed by 
Abe Reles, a mobster who had become an informant. Reles implicated Buchalter in 
4 murders, and in December 1941 the boss of Murder Inc. was sentenced to death.

Conspiracy theories surround the decision to execute Buchalter. When he was 
first arrested, the Chicago Tribune published an article claiming Buchalter had 
only avoided the death sentence because he had made a deal to keep silent about 
links between the Roosevelt administration and Murder Inc.

These conspiracy theories had further weight attached to them after Buchalter's 
execution was delayed by two days. Officially, the delay was the result of a 
final appeal by Buchalter's attorney, relating to the procedures of Buchalter's 
arrest and trial. At the time however, New York's newspapers speculated that 
Buchalter had more information to reveal. In particular, this related to Sidney 
Hillman, a member of Roosevelt's administration. Hillman was also president of 
the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America. Buchalter's earlier involvement 
with garment workers' unions led some to theorise that he could have held 
incriminating information on Hillman. Information which would have inevitably 
proved damaging to the whole Roosevelt administration.

Despite the delay, Buchalter was put to the electric chair on 4th March 1944. 
The anniversary of his death provides a timely reminder of the prominence of 
organised crime in the United States in the 1930s and 1940s, and how entwined 
criminality became with US society and politics.

(source: newhistorian.com)

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

Jury selection continues in Colorado theater shooting case with questions about 
death penalty



Jury selection in the Colorado theater shooting trial is continuing with 
attorneys asking prospective jurors about their views on the death penalty and 
mental illness.

As of Tuesday, Judge Carlos Samour had asked 47 potential jurors to return for 
more questioning. He hopes to have 120 from which to choose 12 jurors and 12 
alternates.

Those selected will decide if James Holmes was legally insane during the 2012 
attack that left 12 dead and 70 injured. Prosecutors are seeking the death 
penalty.

On Tuesday, Samour dismissed a woman who said she could never impose the death 
penalty and a clairvoyant, out of concern that she would apply her skills 
during testimony.

A nurse, a data analyst and a woman who has a friend who knew some of the 
victims were asked to return.

(source: Associated Press)

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

Jury seated in US death penalty trial of Boston Marathon bombing suspect 
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev



After 2 months of jury selection, a panel of 12 jurors and 6 alternates was 
seated Tuesday for the federal death penalty trial of Boston Marathon bombing 
suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

The panel consists of 8 men and 10 women. Opening statements in the case are 
scheduled for Wednesday.

Tsarnaev, 21, faces 30 charges in connection with twin bombings at the finish 
line of the marathon April 15, 2013. 3 people were killed and more than 260 
were injured. He is also charged in the killing of a Massachusetts Institute of 
Technology police officer days after the bombings.

If the jury convicts Tsarnaev, the trial will move on to a 2nd phase to 
determine his punishment. The only 2 options available for the jury are life in 
prison or the death penalty.

Judge George O'Toole Jr., prosecutors and Tsarnaev's lawyers questioned 
prospective jurors individually.

Many potential jurors were excused when they said they had already formed an 
opinion on Tsarnaev's guilt or were morally opposed to the death penalty. Many 
others were dismissed because of personal connections to the bombings, 
including people who have friends or family who were near the finish line when 
the bombs went off or who knew first responders who treated victims.

During the jury selection process, Tsarnaev's lawyers tried repeatedly to get 
the trial moved out of Massachusetts, saying he could not find a fair and 
impartial jury because of the emotional impact the bombings had in the state.

O'Toole rejected 3 change-of-venue motions, saying the process of carefully 
questioning jurors to detect bias was successful in finding impartial jurors. 
The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals twice refused to order the trial moved.

(source: Fox News)

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

Tsarnaev's lawyer admits he carried out Boston bombing----Tsarnaev may face 
death penalty if convicted in Marathon bombing



Dzhokhar Tsarnaev went on trial for his life Wednesday in the Boston Marathon 
bombing with his own lawyer bluntly telling the jury he committed the crime. 
But she argued that he had fallen under the influence of his older brother.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has pleaded not guilty to 30 charges connected to the April 
2013 explosions that killed 3 people and wounded more than 260 others.

"It WAS him," Judy Clarke, one of the nation's foremost death-penalty defense 
attorneys, said of Tsarnaev in a startling opening statement in the most 
closely watched terrorism trial in the U.S. since the Oklahoma City bombing 
nearly 20 years ago.

Laying out an argument aimed at saving Tsarnaev not from a guilty verdict but 
from the death penalty, Clarke said that the defense will not try to "sidestep" 
his involvement in the "senseless, horribly misguided acts carried out by 2 
brothers."

"The evidence will not establish and we will not argue that Tamerlan put a gun 
to Dzhokhar's head or that he forced him to join in the plan," Clarke said, 
"but you will hear evidence about the kind of influence that this older brother 
had."

She began laying out her case after prosecutors sketched out the scene of 
horror at the marathon and accused Tsarnaev of cold-bloodedly planting a bomb 
designed to "tear people apart and create a bloody spectacle," and then hanging 
out with his college buddies as if nothing had happened.

"He believed that he was a soldier in a holy war against Americans," Assistant 
U.S. Attorney William Weinreb said. "He also believed that by winning that 
victory, he had taken a step toward reaching paradise. That was his motive for 
committing these crimes."

A shaggy-haired, goateed Tsarnaev, 21, slouched in his seat and looked at 
Weinreb as the prosecutor launched into his opening statement.

3 people were killed and more than 260 hurt when 2 pressure-cooker bombs 
exploded near the finish line seconds apart on April 15, 2013. Tsarnaev is 
accused of carrying out the attacks with his older brother, now dead.

About 2 dozen victims took up the entire left-hand side the courtroom, watching 
somberly as Weinreb described the carnage. Several hung their heads and 
appeared to fight back tears.

Weinreb said Tsarnaev carried a bomb in a backpack, and it was "the type of 
bombs favored by terrorists because it's designed to tear people apart and 
create a bloody spectacle."

Sketching out the horrific scene on the streets after the 2 shrapnel-packed 
pressure-cooker bombs exploded, Weinreb said: "The air was filled with the 
smell of burning sulfur and people's screams."

The prosecutor described how 8-year-old Martin Richard stood on a metal barrier 
with other children so he could get a good view of the runners.

"The bomb tore large chunks of flesh out of Martin Richard," and the boy bled 
to death on the sidewalk as his mother looked on helplessly, Weinreb told the 
jury, with the boy's parents in the courtroom.

After the bombings, Tsarnaev "acted like he didn't have a care in the world," 
the prosecutor said. Weinreb said Tsarnaev went back to the University of 
Massachusetts-Dartmouth and hung out with his friends.

"While victims of the bombing lay in the hospital and learned that they would 
have to have their limbs chopped off to save their lives, the defendant 
pretended that nothing had happened," Weinreb said.

Clarke, in an opening statement that took less than 20 minutes, ended by asking 
the jury to "hold your hearts and minds open" until the second phase of the 
trial, when the defense will try to save Tsarnaev's life by presenting evidene 
that could mitigate his guilt.

Among the victims in the courtroom was Heather Abbott, who lost a leg in the 
attack. None of the victims came in on crutches or in wheelchairs; all appeared 
to walk under their own power.

Tsarnaev's lawyers have made it clear they will try to show that at the time of 
the attack, Tsarnaev, then 19, looked up to his older brother, Tamerlan, 26, 
and was heavily influenced by him. They plan to portray Tamerlan as the 
mastermind of the attack. He died in a shootout with police days after the 
bombings.

But prosecutors say Dzhokhar was an equal participant who acted of his own free 
will. They contend the brothers - ethnic Chechens who arrived from Russia more 
than a decade ago - were driven by anger over U.S. wars in Muslim lands.

Tsarnaev faces 30 charges in the bombings and the shooting death days later of 
a police officer from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Seventeen of 
the charges carry the possibility of the death penalty.

Tsarnaev's lawyers fought right up until the last minute to have the trial 
moved out of Massachusetts, arguing that the emotional impact of the bombings 
ran too deep and too many people had personal connections to the case. Their 
requests were rejected by Judge George O'Toole Jr. and a federal appeals court.

The panel of 10 women and 8 men was chosen Tuesday after 2 long months of jury 
selection, interrupted repeatedly by snowstorms and the requests to move the 
trial.

The trial will be split into 2 phases - 1 to decide guilt or innocence, the 
other to determine punishment. If Tsarnaev is convicted, the jury will decide 
whether he gets life in prison or death.

The trial is expected to last 3 to 4 months.

Clarke, Tsarnaev's lawyer, has saved a string of high-profile clients from the 
death penalty, including Atlanta Olympics bomber Eric Rudolph; Unabomber Ted 
Kaczynski; and Jared Loughner, the man who killed 6 people and gravely wounded 
then-Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in a 2011 shooting in Tucson, Arizona.

(source: WCVB news)