[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, N.C., MISS., OHIO, MO., OKLA., CALIF., USA

[Rick Halperin]

March 17


TEXAS:

RIP: Gerald Hurst, arson expert



Gerald Hurst, the arson expert who blew the whistle in the case of Cameron Todd 
Willingham, has died. From the Innocence Project:

Earlier this week, renowned arson expert Dr. Gerald Hurst died of complications 
with a prior liver transplant. Dr. Hurst was an instrumental figure in driving 
the state of Texas to reform its once-outdated arson investigation practices.

In early 2004, Dr. Hurst wrote an in-depth fire investigation report which 
revealed that the Texas State Fire Marshal Office's findings around the Cameron 
Todd Willingham case were based on a flawed investigation and outdated science 
. . .

Hurst disseminated his report to Texas officials - including Texas Governor 
Rick Perry - in the days before Willingham's execution, in hope of getting 
officials to grant Willingham clemency, but to no avail. Willingham was 
executed by lethal injection in April 2004.

The same year that Willingham was executed, Hurst wrote another report, this 
time on the behalf of Ernest Willis, who was on death row after being 
wrongfully convicted of setting fire to a house that killed 2 women. Hurst was 
one of the experts who was able to prove that the same faulty arson science 
that had been used to help convict Willingham had also been used in the Willis 
case. Willis was released and exonerated in 2004 at the age of 59.

Willis said of Hurst's passing, "I will forever be incredibly grateful to Dr. 
Hurst. That man helped save my life."

Since then, arson convictions have been falling apart all over the country. 
Perhaps one day we'll have eliminated junk science from criminal trials, and 
we'll be able to look back and recognize people like Gerald Hurst and Michael 
Bowers for the heroic figures they are.

(source: Washington Post)








NORTH CAROLINA:

Pardons Elude Men Freed After Decades in North Carolina Prison



In the days leading up to the one last summer when Henry L. McCollum left North 
Carolina's death row, it seemed that inmates and staff members could not stop 
talking about what awaited him beyond Central Prison.

The man who had spent almost his entire adult life awaiting execution would be 
able to go out for fried chicken, his favorite. Maybe he could strike a movie 
deal. At the very least, Mr. McCollum remembers, people told him that he would 
be a man of considerable wealth once the state paid him the $750,000 he could 
seek under North Carolina law because he had been wrongly convicted and 
imprisoned for decades.

Mr. McCollum, 50, was released from prison last September after DNA evidence 
showed that he did not rape and murder a young girl in 1983. But since then, he 
and his half brother, Leon Brown, who was also exonerated and freed in the same 
case, have led anything but glamorous post-prison lives. Instead, because of 
legal decisions made to help accelerate their release, as well as Gov. Pat 
McCrory's deliberate approach to granting what is known here as a pardon of 
innocence, both men have clung to a minimal existence, absent substantive 
remuneration, counseling or public aid in transitioning back to society.

"If the governor called me, I would tell him the reason why I need his pardon: 
I would tell him I deserve this pardon," Mr. McCollum said. "I did 31 years in 
prison for a crime I did not commit. I could have given up a long time ago and 
told the state to kill me."

So far, though, Mr. McCrory has not acted on the pardon applications of Mr. 
McCollum and Mr. Brown, whose I.Q. scores were previously recorded in the 50s.

Because of the approach lawyers used to secure swifter releases for the 2 men, 
neither is entitled to wrongful conviction compensation until he gets a pardon.

The men were teenagers - Mr. McCollum was 19 and Mr. Brown, 15 - when they were 
arrested in Red Springs in September 1983 in the rape and murder of an 
11-year-old girl, Sabrina Buie. They were convicted about a year later.

But Judge Douglas B. Sasser of Robeson County Superior Court concluded last 
year that "no physical evidence, either at the time of their arrest or at any 
time since, linked Mr. McCollum or Mr. Brown to the scene or the commission of 
this crime." Judge Sasser also found that the case against the men, who are 
black, was built "almost entirely" on the inconsistent confessions that they 
quickly recanted.

DNA recovered from the crime scene was linked decades later to Roscoe Artis, 
who is serving a life sentence for another 1983 rape and murder in Red Springs. 
(Mr. Artis has not been charged in the death of Sabrina Buie.)

Mr. McCollum and Mr. Brown each received $45 when they left prison and have 
lived on charity since. They lived for a time at a home here, where Mr. Brown 
slept on a couch in 1 room and Mr. McCollum's mattress and box spring were on 
the floor in another.

Without money for a car or any knowledge about how to drive one, the men walked 
to a grocery to buy subsistence fare like canned potatoes and pork and beans. 
Mr. McCollum, who was a janitor in prison, said he wanted to apply for a job 
but was reluctant until he had a pardon.

Mr. Brown, who had been sentenced to life imprisonment, is far more reticent 
than Mr. McCollum, but he talked of starting a church or a radio ministry.

Both say that until Mr. McCrory issues them pardons, they cannot fully set 
aside what happened over about 31 years.

Theresa A. Newman, a co-director of the Wrongful Convictions Clinic at Duke 
University Law School, said such sentiments were common among men who had been 
cleared by judges but not by governors. She said the mostly closed nature of 
the lengthy process could prove demoralizing.

"Just having some information would be very, very powerful, and I think it 
would hold these men up slightly," said Ms. Newman, who is not involved in the 
McCollum or Brown case. "Why would they trust the state to do the right thing?"

In a statement last week, a spokesman for Mr. McCrory, Ryan Tronovitch, said: 
"Our extensive review is ongoing, and we need to ensure that we have gathered 
and considered all relevant information as part of our process. While we can't 
put an exact time frame on when a decision will come, this is a top priority 
for Governor McCrory, and he has made that abundantly clear to those involved."

Lawyers here say the pardon process in North Carolina has been an enigmatic one 
for far longer than Mr. McCrory's term. But Ms. Newman said that when a client 
of hers had sought a pardon from Mr. McCrory, the governor had been an active 
participant while he weighed his options. He even "grilled" the man during an 
interview as part of a process that took about 6 months, she said.

What remains unclear is how, exactly, Mr. McCrory's process unfolds, and how 
much he considers any opposition to pardon applications. In the cases of Mr. 
McCollum and Mr. Brown, there is some, namely from the retired district 
attorney who prosecuted them.

The prosecutor, Joe Freeman Britt, who came to be known as the nation's 
"deadliest D.A." because he won death sentences so often, said, "There is no 
doubt in my mind that they're not entitled to a pardon, and there is no doubt 
in my mind that they're not entitled to compensation by the taxpayers."

But the current district attorney, Johnson Britt (a distant relative of his 
predecessor), supported the men's bids for freedom last year and told Judge 
Sasser that "the state does not have a case" and would not prosecute them 
again.

That support is partly why a lawyer for the men, Scott Brettschneider, said he 
hoped that "there isn't something more here than just bureaucracy" as they 
waited for the governor's decision.

Recently, a bank bet that the delay was only administrative, and it wrote a 
large enough loan that the men last week began renting a home where each has a 
bedroom. Mr. McCollum, who, since leaving prison, has sometimes referred to a 
bedroom as a cell, picked one at the top of a stairwell.

"This is my room right here," he said softly as he looked around one afternoon. 
"This is my room."

He said his favorite feature of the room, more than twice the size of his 
former cell on death row, is the lock on the wooden door. He can lock it - and 
unlock it - himself.

(source: New York Times)








MISSISSIPPI:

Mississippi wants execution-drug supplier's name kept secret



Mississippi's attorney general is asking a judge to keep the identity of the 
state's execution-drug supplier secret while he appeals her order to release 
the name.

Hinds County Chancery Judge Denise Owens ruled earlier this month that the 
state's public-records law requires officials to release the information, 
sought by death-penalty opponents at the Roderick and Solange MacArthur Justice 
Center.

The judge hasn't yet ruled on Attorney General Jim Hood's latest request, made 
last week.

States across the country are wrestling with similar issues as they face 
shortages of lethal-injection drugs and some drug companies are refusing to 
provide the drug if their identity is not kept anonymous. Mississippi lawyers 
say one such pharmacy has refused to sell them further drugs after its identity 
became known through a public-records request submitted by the MacArthur 
center.

(source: Associated Press)








OHIO:

Death row inmates appeal rejection of 1st Amendment challenge to Ohio's lethal 
injection law



4 death row inmates challenging an Ohio law that shields the names of companies 
providing lethal injection drugs have appealed a judge's dismissal of their 
lawsuit.

The inmates argue the new law violates free speech rights, contending in part 
that the measure restricts information that helps inform the public debate over 
capital punishment.

U.S. District Court Judge Gregory Frost ruled last month the inmates lacked 
standing, saying their challenge was not tied to "actual or imminent injuries."

The inmates appealed to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last Thursday.

Ohio's attorneys argue that nothing in the law infringes on prisoners' First 
Amendment rights or their ability to argue issues in court.

(source: Associated Press)




MISSOURI----impending execution

Attorneys, family, argue whether killer of Barry County deputy should be 
executed by Missouri tonight



It's been more than 18 years since Cecil Clayton fatally shot Barry County 
Sheriff's Deputy Christopher Lee Castetter. His attorneys argue that a brain 
injury he suffered 43 years ago means he shouldn't be executed for that crime, 
as is scheduled to happen today.

In the 1972 accident a piece of lumber shot through the skull of Clayton, now 
74, and doctors removed part of his frontal lobe. His attorneys say he was a 
changed man after that. They say he went from a happily married, religious man 
who had quit drinking, preached and sang gospel music, to a man who suffered 
from anxiety, loss of memory and focus, impulsive behavior, and hallucinations.

His attorneys don't deny that Clayton fatally shot Castetter in November, 1996, 
when the deputy responded to a call from Clayton's girlfriend's sister, who was 
concerned about Clayton sitting in the driveway in front of her home following 
an argument with his girlfriend.

Attorney Cynthia Short maintains that examinations by multiple doctors in the 
past decade show him to be incompetent to be executed under the U.S. 
Constitution and Missouri law.

"If a person is unable to understand what his punishment is, or that he has 
been punished, or believes that the punishment is the product of a conspiracy 
that has been brought forth against him based on his delusional thinking," 
Short told Missourinet, "then it is not in society???s interest and certainly 
not in the interest of the impaired person to punish them in a way they do not 
understand."

Short said Clayton's IQ has also diminished over the years to 71, and argues 
that to execute him would violate laws against executing the intellectually 
disabled.

The state Supreme Court has rejected one of Clayton's attorneys' attempts to 
halt his execution, finding that he is competent to be executed and that he 
remembers, "details from 1996 quite clearly and is aware that both he and his 
counsel continue to search for arguments to preclude his execution," as written 
by Judge Paul Wilson in his opinion. It also found that he does not meet the 
state law's threshold for an intellectual disability.

"I think it's B.S.," James Castetter, Christopher Castetter's brother, said of 
the claim that Clayton is incompetent. Castetter told Missourinet he believes 
Clayton knew what he was doing the night he killed his brother.

"He knew he was wrong because he went to Cole's house to get him, let him know 
what he did, [to say] 'You're my alibi,'" said Castetter, referring to 
Clayton's friend at the time of the murder, Martin Cole. "If he would have 
stayed there, asked 'What did I do?' Said, 'Hey Cole, I did this. I can't 
believe I did this,' that might be one thing," said Castetter. "He knew what he 
was talking about, so that's a competent person."

James Castetter, who is an emergency medical technician in Florida, is in 
Missouri today to witness Clayton's execution.

"I think it's going to put closure," said Castetter. "Knowing that the evil 
that killed my brother is no longer walking this earth ... and remembering my 
brother the way he used to be." Castetter has named his daughter after his 
brother, and plans to bring her to Missouri some other time to see the section 
of highway in southwest Missouri that is named for him.

Castetter hasn't told his daughter why he's in Missouri this week. "That's one 
thing I don't want her to know, at least now."

Clayton's attorneys have asked the U.S. Supreme Court and the Eighth Circuit 
federal court to halt his execution and additional actions are pending in a 
U.S. Western District and U.S. Eastern District court. Governor Jay Nixon (D) 
has also been asked to commute his sentence to life in prison without parole. 
Nixon was Missouri's attorney general when earlier challenges to Clayton's 
death sentence were rejected, including when a federal appeals court upheld 
that sentence in 2008.

"Deputy Castetter was protecting the law-abiding citizens of Barry County when 
he was shot and killed without warning by Cecil Clayton," Nixon said in a 
statement at the time. "The jury appropriately determined Clayton should face 
the ultimate punishment."

Clayton's execution is set to happen between 6 p.m. tonight and 5:59 Wednesday. 
If it hasn't happened by the latter time, the execution warrant from the state 
Supreme Court will expire and the court would have to set a new date. His is 
the 1st execution since the 1930s that Missouri has scheduled for a time other 
than 12:01 in the morning.

(source: Missourinet.com)








OKLAHOMA:

Oklahoma votes to execute prisoners by asphyxiating them with nitrogen ---- The 
process, which would require an inmate to be in a sealed chamber or wear a 
special mask, would slowly replace oxygen with nitrogen



Politicians in the state of Oklahoma have come up with a new and largely 
untested way to execute death row prisoners - asphyxiation with nitrogen.

After the US Supreme Court put on hold the execution of 3 inmates due killed by 
lethal injection and amid an ongoing struggle to obtain the drugs used in the 
injection, politicians voted overwhelmingly to allow nitrogen be used.

State Representative Mike Christian, a Republican who sponsored the bill, 
claimed the process would be both painless for inmates and affordable for 
Oklahoma.

"Nitrogen hypoxia is a better way. It's a more humane way," he told Reuters. "I 
believe the use of nitrogen hypoxia will be the thing of the future once it's 
passed in Oklahoma."

Last week, the Oklahoma House of Representatives voted 85 to 10 to allow 
nitrogen be to be used. The process, which would require an inmate to be in a 
sealed chamber or wear a special mask, would slowly replace oxygen with 
nitrogen. The bill now has to be approved by the Senate.

In January, the US Supreme Court said it was temporarily halting the execution 
of 3 Oklahoma inmates who are challenging the state's lethal injection 
procedure.

The method has been under intense scrutiny since the flawed April 2014 
execution of convicted murderer Clayton Lockett. He could be seen twisting on 
the gurney after death chamber staff failed to place the needle into him 
properly. The execution was halted and Lockett died about 45 minutes after it 
started due to a buildup of lethal injection chemicals in his tissue.

Yet despite the politicians claims that nitrogen asphyxiation is safe and 
painless, it appears there is little hard data on its use; no other state uses 
this method for putting inmates to death although the Death Penalty Information 
Centre website reveals that a commission in Louisiana recently recommended 
using nitrous gas to kill condemned prisoners.

The Washington Post said Mr Christian commissioned a report from East Central 
University which recommend it as "a humane method to carry out a death 
sentence". However, the paper said none of those who carried out the study had 
a background in medicine or biology while one of the professors helped Mr 
Christian in his election campaign.

Amid the controversy over the use of lethal injections, many states have been 
looking to secure an alternative method of execution. Utah, which outlawed 
death by firing squad in 2004, voted last week to reinstate it while Tennessee 
and Alabama have voted to use the electric chair as a back-up method.

(source: The Independent)








CALIFORNIA:

Decision by May on death penalty for bank robbery suspects



A county prosecutor is expected to announce in May whether the District 
Attorney will seek the death penalty for the 2 men charged in the death of a 
bank robbery hostage, who police say was used as a shield in a shootout with 
law enforcement.

Jaime Ramos, the suspected surviving gunman, appeared in court Monday for a 
motion hearing along with co-defendant Pablo Ruvalcaba, the man authorities 
believe dropped off the assailants at Bank of the West on Thornton Road the day 
of the heist.

Deputy District Attorney Robert Himelblau stated at the hearing he intends to 
reveal the agency's decision on the death penalty on May 4.

A grand jury has indicted the 2 on 47 charges, including 3 counts of murder 
under a provocative clause in the law and about 3 dozen counts of attempted 
murder, carjacking, kidnapping, robbery and numerous enhancements and other 
allegations

Because prosecutors are attaching special circumstances to the murder charges, 
the defendants are eligible for California's capital punishment.

Himelblau said the defense may submit mitigating letters in support of Ramos, 
which the prosecution can consider.

However, he said in court, "I will have that decision (May 4) whether or not I 
get the letters."

Prosecutors look at the person's life and criminal history in weighing whether 
to seek the death penalty.

On July 16, 2014, three gunmen entered the Bank of the West branch just days 
before it was scheduled to close, and took 3 hostages - 2 bank employees and 
Misty Holt-Singh, a customer.

The suspects led officers on a one-hour pursuit that ended in a flurry of 
gunfire at Thornton Road and Otto Drive.

Assailants Alex Martinez, 27, and Gilbert Renteria, who were cousins, were 
fatally injured in the final exchange of gunfire.

While 2 of the hostages escaped with injuries during the pursuit, Holt-Singh 
was killed by police gunfire as Ramos used her as a shield, according to 
Stockton police.

Holt-Singh's family has filed a claim for damages against the City of Stockton, 
an action that usually is followed by a civil lawsuit should a claim be denied.

At Monday's court proceeding for the suspects, Ruvalcaba's defense attorney 
ended an effort to have Judge Bernard Garber recused from the case.

Garber previously had denied a motion filed by the attorney, Jeffrey 
Hirschfield, because co-defendant Ramos already had another judge removed. Only 
one such recusal is permitted per case.

Hirschfield had asked the state Third District Court of Appeal to intervene, 
citing case law that makes an exception.

The appellate court upheld Garber's decision prior to the Monday hearing, but 
it allowed Hirschfield more time to look into the possibility of challenging 
the trial judge. Hirschfield, however, said he is not pursuing further review.

(source: Stockton Record)

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

Jurors talk about Scott Peterson trial a decade after death sentence



As Monday marked the 10 year anniversary of when Scott Peterson was sentenced 
to die for killing his 27-year-old pregnant wife Laci, KTVU spoke with 2 of the 
jurors on the trial about the decision they made a decade ago.

Laci Peterson was 8 months pregnant with their unborn son when she died. Some 
say Peterson's case is an example of the slow pace of justice in the United 
States.

Behind the walls of San Quentin Prison's original death row are the state's 
most notorious inmates. Scott Peterson has lived there now for 10 years.

Prison officials said the 42-year-old's life is pretty monotonous. Every day he 
walks the yard on the roof. These days he doesn't get much mail.

"I hope he's having a miserable time," said former juror in the Peterson trial 
Mike Belmessieri. "I hope he's suffering much as I'm sure his wife did."

Back in 2004, Belmessieri and John Guinnaso spent nearly 6 months at the Hall 
of Justice in Redwood City as jurors for Peterson's trial.

"It was unbelievable as far as looking at him in the courtroom versus the facts 
in the case," said Guinnaso. "By physical looks he didn't look like the type of 
individual that could carry out murder."

The grim murder case captivated the nation. Captured in photos, a beaming Laci 
Peterson was pregnant with a baby to be named Conner.

She vanished right before Christmas 2002. Months later, the 27-year-old's body 
and remains of a fetus were found on the shoreline of the San Francisco Bay.

Her husband Scott Peterson was the main suspect after reports of infidelity 
surfaced. Jurors ultimately saw him as a young man who wanted to be free of a 
wife and child.

"I believe that had Laci not been pregnant she'd still be alive today," said 
Belmessieri.

After months of emotional testimony and weeks of deliberations, the jury found 
Scott Peterson guilty. The judge then agreed with the jury's recommendation 
that Peterson be put to death by lethal injection.

State law does not allow news organizations to request on camera interviews 
with prisoners. According to Peterson's automatic appeal to the California 
Supreme Court filed 2 years ago, he maintains he's innocent as he did when KTVU 
interviewed him in 2003.

"I had absolutely nothing to do with her disappearance," said Peterson in 2003.

A decade on death row, the State Attorney General's Office just filed its 
response to Peterson's appeal in January. It took Peterson 8 years to file that 
appeal.

"I think one of the things it tells us is that these cases are slow to come to 
justice," said Santa Clara University Law Professor Ellen Kreitzberg.

Kreitzberg studies death penalty cases. She said these cases normally take 
years since there are not enough qualified and competent lawyers in California 
to handle them and the state simply doesn't pay enough.

Right now, 749 inmates are currently on death row in California. The last 
execution was in 2006. According to a death penalty information center report, 
the state has spent more than $4 billion on the death penalty since 1978. The 
majority of the dollars are spent on pre-trial and trial costs.

"I think the one thing everybody agrees on in California is that the system is 
broken and by everyone I mean whether you are for the death penalty or against 
the death penalty everybody agrees it doesn't work," said Kreitzberg.

Last July, a federal judge ruled California's death penalty procedure is 
systematically flawed and therefore unconstitutional.

Kreitzberg estimates Peterson will likely sit on death row for at least another 
15 years as his appeals go through the state and federal levels.

"I'm a little frustrated because we made the decision and it hasn't been 
followed through yet," said Guinnaso.

"I think we have to take a look at how our system is built and reconstruct it 
to where it's a little more efficient than what it is," said Belmessieri.

As these jurors wait, they live with no regrets on handing down the ultimate 
penalty.

"No I don't have a second thought at all," said Belmessieri. "Every juror on 
that jury to this day will stand up and tell you we did the right thing."

While it will be closure for them when and if Scott Peterson is executed, they 
realize it will never be for Laci Peterson's family.

"They lost their daughter forever," said Guinnaso. "I'm sure they will want to 
be present when it happens but it will not bring their daughter back or their 
grandson back. They are going to have that heartache for the rest of their 
lives as long as they are here on this earth."

(source: KTVU news)








USA:

Most death penalty sentences are overturned. Here's why that matters.



If a person is given a death sentence, what is his or her chance of actually 
being executed? Based on a review of every death sentence in the United States 
since 1973, the beginning of the modern era of the death penalty, we have found 
that the most likely outcome isn't being executed or even remaining on death 
row as an appeal makes its way through the courts. In fact, the most common 
circumstance is that the death sentence will be overturned. Here is why that 
matters.

>From 1973 to 2013, 8,466 sentences of death were handed down by U.S. courts, 
and 1,359 individuals were executed - only 16 %. Even excluding those who 
remained on death row as of 2013, only about 24 % of condemned inmates have 
been executed. Those sentenced to death are almost 3 times as likely to see 
their death sentence overturned on appeal and to be resentenced to a lesser 
penalty than they are to be executed. Here is a summary of the outcomes:

--8,466 death sentences were imposed across the United States from 1973 through 
2013.

--3,194 were overturned on appeal, composed as follows. For 523, the underlying 
statute was declared unconstitutional. For 890, the conviction was overturned. 
For 1,781, the death penalty was overturned, but guilt was sustained.

--2,979 remain on death row as of Dec. 31, 2013.

--1,359 were executed.

--509 died on death row from suicide or natural causes.

--392 had their sentence commuted by the governor to life in prison.

--33 had some other outcome or a miscellaneous reason for being removed from 
death row.

Execution is in fact the 3rd most likely outcome following a death sentence. 
Much more likely is the inmate to have their sentence reversed, or to remain 
for decades on death row.

Executions have never been the most common outcome of a death sentence. In the 
early years of the modern death penalty, many were removed from death row 
because the underlying statute under which they were condemned was ruled 
unconstitutional. In fact, of 721 individuals sentenced between 1973 and 1976, 
just 33 were eventually executed. Other reversals have come because inmates' 
individual convictions were overturned, and some were exonerated entirely.

But by far the most likely outcome of a U.S. death sentence is that it will 
eventually be reversed and the inmate will remain in prison with a different 
form of death sentence: life without the possibility of parole.

Why would reversal of the sentence be the single most common outcome of a death 
sentence? Capital trials have many unusual characteristics, but a key one is 
that there is an automatic (or "direct") appeal through the state appellate 
courts and, if the death sentence is not overturned by the state appellate or 
supreme court, a review by a federal judge.

Throwing out a duly enrolled conviction is not something that state or federal 
appellate courts do because of a misplaced paperclip on a brief. State 
appellate courts and federal judges are not knee-jerk opponents of capital 
punishment; they participate in a system that imposes it regularly.

But both Republican and Democratic appointees have voted to overturn these 
convictions because they so often involve such issues as evidence withheld from 
the defense, improper instructions to the jury, or other serious flaws in the 
original trials.

States differ greatly in the degree to which they carry out their legal promise 
of death, but most operate systems consistent with the trends above: They 
sentence far more inmates to death than they actually execute. The graph below 
shows the 3 of death sentences that have been carried out, for all 40 states 
that have had the death penalty as well as for the federal government, which 
has executed 3 individuals but has condemned 71.

The average state has a 13 % likelihood of carrying out a death sentence. Some 
states - such as Texas, South Dakota, Missouri, and Oklahoma - significantly 
higher rates, though none of these states reaches a level of 50 %.

In fact, only one state, Virginia, has executed more than half of the inmates 
it has condemned. This rate of execution may stem in part from legal 
shortcomings, however: an American Bar Association report recently found many 
areas in which Virginia's "highly efficient" death penalty suffers from 
deficiencies: in access to post-conviction DNA testing, jury instructions, 
prosecutors' provision of evidence to the defense, and other areas.

Several states listed at the top of the graph have not executed a single 
person, though New Jersey sentenced as many as 52. Pennsylvania and California 
have very large death penalty systems, but extremely low rates of executing 
those who have been condemned.

Texas, Florida, and California have all condemned more than 1,000 individuals 
to death in the modern period. However, the numbers of executions in these 
states are 508, 81, and 13, respectively. Virginia has sentenced 152 
individuals to die, and 110 have been put to death. The long string of dots 
along the bottom rows of the graph shows that, in general, no matter how many 
people the states say they are going to execute, in fact, very few are actually 
executed.

Regardless of one's view of the death penalty in principle, these numbers raise 
questions about how the death penalty is applied in practice. The wide 
differences across states in the odds of carrying out a death sentence are 
potentially troubling from an equal protection standpoint. Indeed, David 
Garland has argued that if it were not for federalism and the strength of the 
Southern reaction to a series of U.S. Supreme Court decisions in the 1960s and 
1970s, we might never have seen the resurgence of the death penalty in the 
post-Furman world.

Also potentially troubling is the simple fact that most death sentences do not 
result in executions. In fact, a federal judge recently ruled that California's 
death penalty is unconstitutional because it is in fact a penalty of "life in 
prison with the remote possibility of death."

Ultimately, the American system of capital punishment arguably creates 
unnecessary suffering for both those defendants sentenced to death and the 
surviving family members of the victims of the crimes for which the defendants 
were convicted. A system that ensures prolonged court time, automatic appeals 
for the convicted inmate - most of whom are eventually successful - and only a 
small chance of actual execution is a system built on false promises for 
everyone, and indeed one that seems to verge on torture.

(source: Frank Baumgartner is the Richard J. Richardson Distinguished Professor 
of Political Science at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Dietrich 
graduated from UNC-CH in 2014 and wrote a senior thesis on this topic; she now 
works for a U.S. government agency----Washington Post)

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

Defense in Colorado shooting case asks judge to move trial



Defense attorneys in the Colorado theater shooting case have again asked a 
judge to move the trial, writing in court documents released Monday that most 
prospective jurors already believe defendant James Holmes is guilty.

The request came nearly 2 months into jury selection, as attorneys question 
individual candidates about their views on mental illness and the death 
penalty.

In recent weeks, Judge Carlos A. Samour Jr. and attorneys on both sides have 
qualified more than 70 people for the final stage of selection.

Still, lawyers for Holmes contend that intense negative publicity about the 
attack has biased the jury pool and made it impossible to find impartial 
panelists in Arapahoe County, where the 2012 attack left 12 people dead and 70 
others injured.

Holmes has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, and prosecutors are 
seeking the death penalty.

In an effort to find people with no connection to the shooting, Samour 
initially summoned more than 9,000 prospective jurors - a number that experts 
called the biggest jury pool in U.S. history.

In their request to move the trial, defense attorneys claimed about 68 % of the 
more than 3,500 prospective jurors who filled out questionnaires said they 
believe Holmes is guilty, and more than half of that group added they can't put 
that opinion aside.

About 39 % said they believe Holmes was either sane or not mentally ill, the 
documents state. More than 30 % of the prospective jurors said they already 
believe Holmes should be sentenced to death, the lawyers contend.

"The questionnaires reveal that the residents of Arapahoe County are deeply 
saturated not only with detailed knowledge and opinions, but bias concerning 
this case," defense attorneys wrote in the documents that include more than 
1,000 pages of local news articles and opinion pieces they consider 
prejudicial.

Promises by prospective jurors to set aside their knowledge and opinions are 
not enough to ensure Holmes gets a fair trial, the documents say.

The attorneys initially sought a change of venue last year, but Samour did not 
rule on the request, saying attorneys should try to find impartial jurors 
within the county.

Prosecutors have until March 27 to file their response to the latest defense 
demand to move the proceedings.

Moving the trial could be costly and difficult.

A courtroom in the Centennial courthouse has been remodeled at a cost of 
$26,400 to accommodate the 12-member jury and 12 alternates Samour is seeking.

A new venue also would raise questions about housing and transporting Holmes. 
In Centennial, deputies can move him between the courthouse and neighboring 
jail relatively easily.

In a separate ruling, Samour agreed to keep the public from seeing graphic 
autopsy and crime-scene photos during the trial. Victims' families said they 
would be traumatized by the images that will be shown only to jurors.

(source: Associated Press)