[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----GA., ALA., LA., OHIO, NEB.

[Rick Halperin]

March 21



GEORGIA:

Media-savvy campaign pushes clemency for Gissendaner



Though a variety of factors may be keeping Kelly Gissendaner alive, the local 
supporters who have waged a savvy media campaign on her behalf may be one of 
the most influential, drawing national attention.

The execution of Gissendaner, the only woman on Georgia's death row, was 
delayed in late February because of a winter storm. A 2nd try in early March 
was cancelled when the drug that was to be used to kill her didn't look right. 
Her supporters are asking for a federal stay while state execution procedures 
are investigated.

Gissendaner was convicted of the 1997 murder of her husband. She had persuaded 
her boyfriend to kill Douglas Gissendaner, and the boyfriend later testified 
against her.

Since then, she has graduated from a theology program operated by a consortium 
of divinity schools in the Atlanta region and earned encomiums from guards, 
chaplains, and teachers alike as a powerful example of religious conversion. 
Her case has drawn attention not only from progressive death penalty opponents, 
but also from mainstream evangelical media outlets like Christianity Today and 
other believers with high media profiles.

Using a multifaceted blend of digital outreach and old-fashioned local 
networking, her supporters turned a story that had already engaged many 
volunteers, both inside and outside Lee Arrandale State Prison, into a national 
clemency campaign.

"Who knows why one thing gets social media attention and another doesn't?" 
asked Mark Oppenheimer, who described Gissendaner's relationship with famed 
German theologian Jurgen Moltmann in a New York Times column the same week the 
Georgia parole board denied her clemency.

"She's a Christian in the South, and that goes far," Oppenheimer added. "It 
wins a lot of people's empathy and it's attractive to the media. It's easier to 
rally around a Christian than an atheist on death row."

"We were really expecting clemency to go through," said activist Melissa 
Browning, who teaches contextual theology at Mercer University's McAfee School 
of Theology.

But when that didn't happen - 2 requests for clemency have been denied at this 
point - Browning and others were prepared with a full-court press to save 
Gissendaner.

Between her 2 scheduled execution dates, supporters had uploaded essays to the 
Huffington Post, launched a popular Twitter hashtag, and worked alongside the 
nonprofit Faith in Public Life to recruit 1,000 religious leaders to sign a 
clemency petition. Another petition, at www.groundswell-mvmt.org, attracted 
about 84,000 signatures in 2 days, Browning reports.

Browning says that a number of conservative Georgia faith leaders and 
congregants (many of whom are death penalty supporters) have been advocating a 
life-without-parole sentence - on the condition that their names not be made 
public.

Part of the reason the campaign became a national one, says Mercer professor 
David Gushee, was that Gissendaner put a face and narrative to what might have 
been an abstract story. "Any system in which they are locked away, and the 
general public never sees them again, human beings become invisible," he said. 
Now, many people know Gissendaner and her story.

For Browning, who has about 700 Twitter followers, the days before 
Gissendaner's 2nd execution date were an intense and fast education in creating 
social-media buzz. "It was a huge factor," she said, "because we did get 
information out and we got it out quickly."

"Social media expands the circle of abolitionists," said Stephen Dear, 
executive director of People of Faith Against the Death Penalty. "More and more 
people become involved, engaged on the issue or by a case. Some may not stay 
involved, but some will."

As Dear pointed out, the furor over Gissendaner takes place in a national 
environment in which death penalty cases have been on the decline.

After posting an open letter to "Georgia's Christian citizens" on Baptist News 
Global, Gushee watched as his impassioned indictment against the death penalty, 
threaded with scriptural allusions, was shared hundreds of times on Twitter and 
thousands more on Facebook.

"It certainly was a very loud campaign, and it would have been impossible for 
the decision-makers not to notice it," he said.

Activists now wait to see if their pleas will make a difference, rippling 
beyond a state in which there are numerous ties among death penalty opponents 
across party lines.

"To me, it's interesting how few clergy and theologians speak about the death 
penalty," Oppenheimer said, and "how strong a consensus there is among 
conservative evangelicals that it's acceptable. ... The question is whether 
that will ever change."

(source: The Philadelphia Inquirer)

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

Death penalty case may be derailed by employee's sexting



A Fulton County death penalty case could be derailed because of the 
inappropriate actions of one county employee. 11Alive's Investigators are 
digging into the personnel file of that employee, and what they have discovered 
is raising even more questions.

The Investigators first reported that witness advocate Wesley Vann was 
suspended for allegations of sexting and threatening a witness in a death 
penalty case.

Defense attorneys say because of the misconduct, they want the death penalty 
taken off of the table.

This marks the 3rd time that Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard has 
suspended Vann from his job - warning each time, that it would be the last 
time.

In court on Friday, accused double murderer Stephen Heller watched as his 
attorneys fight to spare his life.

This is not his trial - they are asking a judge to throw out the death penalty 
in his case after their key witness was harassed and threatened.

Defense attorneys claim Vann had been sexting Heller's former live-in 
girlfriend, even showing up drunk at her house demanding sex and making threats 
should she testify on Heller's behalf.

District Attorney office employee accused of sexting, threats

That was enough for Howard to suspend Vann for 20 days, saying, "Although I 
have chosen not to terminate your employment, your behavior in this instance 
raises serious questions as to your judgment."

These are questions that have been raised several times before - like in 2012, 
when Vann was suspended from his county job 3 times. He was disciplined 
previously for inappropriate conduct with a witness, reprimanded for showing up 
to court while appearing to be under the influence, and ordered multiple times 
to seek help for drug and alcohol abuse.

After Vann's 2nd suspension, Howard wrote that it was his final warning, saying 
in part, "If you continue along this path of addiction and misbehavior, I will 
have no other choice but to terminate you."

Putting so many cases like this in jeopardy, some question how Vann has kept 
his job. The file shows it was Howard who directly pushed for the county to 
hire Vann and later promote him.

Vann may have gotten a good word put in from his wife, former CNN anchor Lyn 
Vaughn. She was Howard's former spokesperson and still works in Fulton County 
government.

Vaughn, according to her husband's personnel file, has been present for at 
least 1 of his disciplinary discussions with Howard.

She appeared briefly at court in Friday morning, only to say they are working 
on bringing the truth out.

Howard said in a letter to Vann that he was choosing to keep him on board 
because Vann was recognized by his peers in 2014 for his "excellent work."

11Alive News asked Howard's office on Friday for comment on Vann's work record. 
Howard said that given the sensitivity of this particular death penalty case, 
he would not comment at this time.

(source: WXIA news)








ALABAMA----female may face death penalty

Grandmother Joyce Garrard guilty of capital murder for running granddaughter 
Savannah Hardin to death



An Etowah County jury tonight found Joyce Hardin Garrard guilty of capital 
murder in the 2012 death of her 9-year-old granddaughter Savannah Hardin.

Penalty phase will begin at 9 a.m. Monday.

Garrard, 49, held her head down and cried after the verdict was read, with 
attorneys comforting her on both sides as deputies stood behind. Sobs rang out 
in the courtroom from her family, who have filled 3 pews in the courtroom 
nearly every day of the trial.

Garrard faces life in prison or the death penalty for the crime. Prosecutors 
said Garrard forced Savannah to run for more than 3 hours in the yard of her 
Etowah County home on the afternoon of Feb. 17, 2012 as a punishment for lying 
about eating candy bars on a school bus.

Savannah collapsed that evening and died days later in a Birmingham hospital.

The verdict comes 3 years and a month, less a day, after Savannah's death.

The jury deliberated for 3 1/2 hours, and spent about 12 hours at the 
courthouse today, first listening to closing arguments. Earlier in the 
afternoon, District Attorney Jimmie Harp told jurors, "Discipline that ends in 
death is never right."

(source: al.com)








LOUISIANA:

Lawsuit Says State Prison Officials Broke Sunshine Law----The lawsuit claims 
the Department of Corrections broke the law because state officials convened as 
a legislative committee to help shape public policy, but they didn't invite the 
public to any of their meetings.



The Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections violated state law by 
meeting in secret to discuss new ways to execute death-row prisoners, a new 
lawsuit alleges, even though a lawyer for the department said officials did 
nothing wrong.

The lawsuit was filed Tuesday by the Promise of Justice Initiative, an 
organization that seeks changes in Louisiana's criminal justice system, 
particularly the abolition of the death penalty. It claims the Department of 
Corrections broke the law because state officials convened as a legislative 
committee to help shape public policy, but they didn't invite the public to any 
of their meetings, as required by the state's Open Meetings Law.

James LeBlanc, secretary of the department, headed the study committee, which 
was tasked last year with finding the most humane way to administer the death 
penalty in Louisiana. Other members were State Penitentiary Warden Burl Cain, 5 
other department employees and 2 lawyers that represent the department.

Together, those state officials and lawyers submitted a report to the state 
House of Representatives in February after conducting a 6-month study of the 
death penalty, as mandated by a resolution passed last year. The report 
suggested executing inmates with a never-before used method - suffocation by 
nitrogen - as well as reviving a bill that would allow for more secrecy 
surrounding executions.

While conducting the study, the committee met at least seven times in secret, 
with no public notice or opportunity for input, according to Sidney Garmon, 
plaintiff in the suit and director for the Louisiana Coalition for Alternatives 
to the Death Penalty.

The lawsuit says that Garmon, as a member of the public, should have been able 
to attend these meetings in order to do a key part of her job - work with 
policymakers to implement alternatives to the death penalty.

"It is essential to the maintenance of a democratic society that public 
business be performed in an open and public manner and that the citizens be 
advised of and aware of the performance of public officials and the 
deliberations and decisions that go into the making of public policy," the 
lawsuit says, quoting Louisiana's Constitution.

The lawsuit says the committee's report is void because all of the meetings 
leading to it were conducted in private.

Louisiana Open Meetings Law mandates that "every meeting of any public body" 
shall be open to the public, and shall be recorded with notes or minutes for 
the public to review later, with a few exceptions.

One of those exceptions allows legislative committees to enter executive 
session - but only for certain purposes, such as discussing confidential 
communications. The committee also has to meet as a public body first before 
voting to go into executive session.

After first reporting on the death-penalty study, The Lens asked committee 
members and Rep. Joseph P. Lopinto III, R-Metairie whether or not their 
meetings were held in public. The Lens also asked if the committee produced any 
agendas before or kept notes during the meetings.

Lopinto, the chairman of the House Administration of Criminal Justice 
Committee, authored the resolution asking for the study. He also authored a 
secrecy bill last session, but then dropped it without explanation.

Lopinto didn't respond to requests for comment.

James Hilburn, a lawyer for the corrections department, avoided answering 
whether or not committee members met in public, but he said the state agency 
obeyed the law.

"The Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections complied with all 
applicable laws in preparing the report in response to HR 142 as requested by 
the legislature," Hilburn said in an email.

The committee's report comes 4 months before a hearing in federal court on the 
constitutionality of the state's method for executing prisoners, tied to 
another lawsuit filed by members of the Promise of Justice Initiative. In that 
lawsuit, lawyers for death-row inmate Christopher Sepulvado say that current 
death penalty practices violate their client's constitutional protection 
against cruel and unusual punishment.

Sepulvado, who is convicted of killing his stepson by beating him and 
submerging him in scalding water, has won several stays of execution in the 
past 2 years. Recently, a federal judge put all executions on hold until June, 
until the state figures out the best way to kill its death row inmates. 
Regardless of the outcome of the lawsuit filed in state court Tuesday, the 
legislature is unlikely to make any "substantial" changes to death-penalty 
protocols this year, Lopinto told The Lens earlier this month.

Lopinto said it was unlikely that a secrecy bill would emerge again in 
Legislature this session. He also said he hadn't yet weighed all his options 
regarding nitrogen, but that he was sure that any method would continue to 
prompt lawsuits in the future.

"Even if we change to nitrogen, it's not like we're not going to have a legal 
battle," Lopinto said. "We still have a viable option in lethal injection. It's 
the way it's done in other states. We'll have to consider it next year."

(source: govtech.com)

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

Book, play compares death penalty to the crucifixion of Jesus



Sister Helen Prejean compares the death penalty to the crucifixion of Jesus and 
uses the cross to illustrate her argument against it.

"This is a really conflictual, really hard, moral issue - and you have to start 
with the crime," Prejean said. "Somebody in cold blood has taken the life of 
innocent people, and what as a society are we going to do with them?

"How much power do we give our state and our government over lives?" she 
recently asked a group of Baton Rouge Community College student actors 
preparing to perform a theatrical version of her award-winning book, "Dead Man 
Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States."

"There are 2 arms on the cross," the 76-year-old Baton Rouge native says, 
spreading her arms wide as she speaks. "On the one side are the victims and 
their families and all their pain and suffering, and on the other side is the 
perpetrator. But he has a momma and family, too.

"Jesus was killed by the state - by the Romans for being a troublemaker," said 
Prejean, a sister of the Congregation of St. Joseph. "You have to take the 
audience on a complicated journey."

Her own complicated journey began in 1981, while working with the poor in New 
Orleans. She began writing letters to Elmo Patrick Sonnier, convicted of rape 
and murder, awaiting execution on death row at the Louisiana State Penitentiary 
at Angola.

She became Sonnier's spiritual adviser and was a witness to his execution in 
the electric chair in 1984. She then befriended and became spiritual adviser to 
Robert Lee Willie, also convicted of rape and murder, who was electrocuted in 
1985.

The book, written as if she is telling her story to a small group, details her 
relationships with the offenders, the traumatized families of both the 
perpetrators and the victims, and a larger examination of the death penalty 
issue. It has sold more than a half-million copies and is translated into 10 
languages, according to Prejean's website.

Hollywood actor and writer Tim Robbins in 1995 developed the book into a movie 
starring Susan Sarandon as Prejean. Robbins combined and fictionalized the 
stories of Sonnier and Willie into Matthew Poncelet, portrayed by Sean Penn. 
Robbins also fictionalized the families of both Poncelet and the victims to 
distill a 245-page book into a 2-hour movie.

While the book is historically factual, Prejean said, "all the names in the 
film are different except for my name."

The executions are also different. In the book, the men are electrocuted, but 
when the movie was produced in 1995, Louisiana had changed to lethal injection, 
and that is how Poncelet is executed.

A polarizing issue

Nancy Litton, an accomplished local actor who portrays Prejean in the BRCC 
production, said people she talks to either strongly support or strongly oppose 
the death penalty.

"There is not a lot of gray area there. It is a very polarizing thing," Litton 
told Prejean, adding that people have told her they don't even want to see the 
play because it is too disturbing.

"We have to stand with people in the outrage of the crime, but then we have to 
go into what does it mean to tell the state you can kill the person who did 
this," Prejean replied.

Aaron Fontanilla portrays Poncelet and took that role, he said, because he is 
already familiar with a similar character - his stepfather has been serving a 
life sentence since 1988 at Angola for 2nd-degree murder.

"I've been going up there my whole life," Fontanilla said. "Going up there and 
visiting him has made me who I am today."

One of the hardest acting challenges, Fontanilla told Prejean, is to be 
remorseful for what his character has done.

As the execution draws near, Prejean explained, the offender experiences what 
she calls "the God space," when Poncelet expresses remorse for his actions. In 
the book, Sonnier's last words are an apology to the families of his victims. 
Prejean said in her book that Sonnier and his brother, Eddie, abducted a teen 
couple near St. Martinville, on Nov. 4, 1977. They raped Loretta Bourque and 
then shot both her and David LeBlanc multiple times in the back of the head 
with a .22 rifle. Eddie Sonnier died at the age of 57 in Angola, a few days 
before Christmas in 2014. Willie, she said, died unrepentant. He and Joseph 
Vaccaro abducted, raped and stabbed to death Faith Harvey, 18, of Hammond, on 
May 28, 1980, a few days after she graduated from high school. Willie and 
Vaccaro were on an 8-day, drug- and alcohol-fueled crime spree across 4 states 
where they also kidnapped and raped several other girls. Vaccaro was sentenced 
to life.

"The God that I understand, through Jesus, loves us in spite of all we have 
done," Prejean said. "I've been with 6 men at their executions, and their 
families and the victims' families, and everyone is worth more than their worst 
act."

The actors' conflict

Megan Robertson, a 23-year-old BRCC junior from Plaquemine, portrays a guard, a 
member of the Pardon Hearing Board and a member of victim support group the 
Sisters organized in New Orleans.

"I see the death penalty both ways," Robertson said. "I am for and also against 
it."

Lizz Haik, 26, a BRCC senior, portrays the mother of the rape/murder victim, 
and also the nurse who inserts the needle into Poncelet's heavily tattooed arm.

"I couldn't do it (insert the needle). I'm a Catholic so I am against the death 
penalty," Haik said. "But if it was part of the job, I don't know ... The play 
definitely leaves you with an open-ended question, and it even made me call 
into question the way I feel because I can see both sides, I play both sides."

The play has been performed in more than 235 colleges and high schools, 
according to the play's website. "The production does not take sides; rather, 
it seeks to promote discourse and discussion about the death penalty and all 
human rights issues."

Theater professor and director Tony Medlin said there are 21 actors in the 
ensemble and 76 separate scenes and transitions, requiring a large cast and 
lots of technical requirements.

Usually the female actor portraying Prejean narrates transitions, but for this 
production Prejean recorded them herself in the college's recording studio.

"This makes it real. It is actually in her voice," Medlin said. "She is someone 
who has made a great impression on the world and made a very positive change."

Racial justice

Prejean, who lives in New Orleans, said she was glad to be back in Baton Rouge 
and is working toward what she calls racial justice.

"When I was growing up under 'Jim Crow,' the only black people I knew were 
maids," she said. "The race thing is huge for me right now."

She cited state budget crunches and a growing disparity between the poor, 
inner-city public schools and the well-funded, private schools in the area.

"We can see the dividing lines in the schools," Prejean said. "I went to St. 
Joseph's Academy. It is an excellent school, but we need all schools to be 
excellent schools."

"The Gospel of Jesus is about justice and being on the side of people who 
struggle," Prejean said. "We have to work for justice for everybody."

(source: The Acadiana Advocate)








OHIO:

Jury spares life of convicted murderer Daniel Tighe; life sentence without 
parole



The vote to spare the life of convicted murderer Daniel Tighe was "the most 
difficult decision that any of us has ever made," a juror said Friday.

After 8 hours of deliberations over 2 days, the panel of 7 men and 5 women 
unanimously agreed that Tighe, 41, deserved a sentence of life in prison, 
without any chance of parole, for the 2013 slayings of his former girlfriend, 
Wendy Ralston, 31, and their 5-year-old son Peyton.

Juror Deborah Young, 55, a nursing assistant from Cuyahoga Falls, was the only 
member of the panel who agreed to discuss why Tighe was not given a death 
sentence.

"I guess 2 things: the childhood that he led, and the man that he had become - 
and this believe it or not is very important - he would never get out of 
prison. He's never going to be a free man," Young said.

She described the tenor of deliberations - 6 hours of talks into Thursday 
night, followed by sequestration at an area hotel, then 2 more hours Friday 
morning - as "very solemn."

"We wanted to make sure we looked at every single aspect, we understood 
everything, and that everybody got their say so we could hear every single 
point of view," Young said.

In the end, she said the decision came down to what Ohio law demands when a 
death sentence is ruled out - the aggravating factors of the crime, she said, 
did not outweigh the mitigating factors from what Tighe's lawyers had described 
as his "horrendous childhood."

He and his sister were abandoned by their biological mother - literally dropped 
off in the Newton Falls home of a woman the mother barely knew - when Tighe was 
18 months old.

Arthur and Reba McCracken raised the two children there in Mahoning County for 
2 1/2 years. They had been planning to adopt them, but the children were 
"ripped away" from the loving home, attorney Brian Pierce said in his closing 
argument, after the mother contacted the McCrackens out of the blue, in a phone 
call.

Testimony in the penalty phase of Tighe's trial also showed that he suffered 
repeated physical abuse by his father - and more hardships watching the 
unyielding military man slowly die from cancer.

The combined effects of that type of upbringing, according to a clinical 
psychologist who testified Thursday, left Tighe with a volatile personality 
that affected virtually all of his future relationships.

Even his closest family members, Pierce said, "have not spoken to him in 25 or 
30 years."

Tighe, 41, stood at the defense table, his head tilted slightly to the right, 
and showed no outward emotion as the sentencing decision was read by Common 
Pleas Judge Lynne Callahan.

Afterward, a Summit County Victim Services worker said that Marie Ralston, the 
mother of the victim, and others who were with her did not wish to comment on 
the jury's decision.

Pierce said it sent "a message that the death penalty has no place in a 
civilized society, whether it's an individual killing someone else or the state 
of Ohio. It's wrong," he said. "We hope this is another step to the elimination 
of the death penalty in the state of Ohio."

Summit County Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh said what Tighe did was 
"unspeakable." The remains of Ralston and the boy were found buried in the 
woods, in August 2013, behind a Tallmadge duplex they had shared with Tighe.

"To kill his own son, and his son's mother, and then dump their bodies like 
garbage is horrific," Walsh said. She said Tighe has never accepted 
responsibility, nor shown any remorse for the killings, "and deserves to spend 
the rest of his life behind bars."

Walsh thanked the jury "for seeing that justice was done for the Ralston 
family."

(source: Beacon Journal)








NEBRASKA:

Papillion lawmaker proposes using firing squad to carry out Nebraska death 
sentences



A state senator has proposed using a firing squad to carry out death sentences 
in Nebraska.

While 1 lawmaker doubted that it was a legitimate proposal, State Sen. Bill 
Kintner of Papillion said he's dead serious about it.

Kintner, in a text message Friday, said it wouldn't be totally accurate to call 
his proposal "death by firing squad," because the proposal would require the 
condemned inmate to be chemically sedated first.

"My proposal is to put them to sleep so they are out cold, so they will feel no 
pain and then be executed by firing squad," he said.

The proposal comes as several states, including Nebraska, are seriously 
considering alternatives to reactivate their death penalties. In many states, 
capital punishment is on hold because of difficulty in obtaining the drugs 
needed for lethal injections.

In Utah, Gov. Gary Herbert said Thursday he is "leaning toward" signing a bill 
passed by that state's legislature that would bring back the firing squad, 
which was outlawed in that state in 2004.

In neighboring Wyoming, a proposal to reinstate the firing squad passed in the 
Senate but failed in the House earlier this month.

Tennessee last year re-instituted the electric chair as a possible method if 
execution drugs are not available. Oklahoma is exploring use of nitrogen gas.

Lincoln Sen. Colby Coash, a death penalty opponent, said he doubted the 
amendment is serious.

"It's part of a filibuster," Coash said. "It's not unexpected."

An official with ACLU of Nebraska, which supports repeal of the death penalty, 
said she was disappointed by Kintner's proposal.

"Supporters (of repeal) will not be distracted by these antics," said Danielle 
Conrad, the group's executive director and a former state senator.

The Nebraska Legislature is scheduled to debate, possibly next month, a 
proposal that would repeal the death penalty. Omaha Sen. Beau McCoy has already 
filed 8 amendments to the proposal, Legislative Bill 268, which typically 
signals a filibuster. Kintner's amendment is the 9th.

Filibusters are becoming more common in the Nebraska Legislature as a tactic 
for a minority of senators to block a bill from passing. Passing a bill 
normally takes the votes of 25 of the 49 senators. But it requires a 2/3 
majority, or 33 votes, to stop a filibuster - an endless string of amendments - 
and advance a piece of legislation.

Supporters of the death penalty, Coash said, "may be successful in killing the 
(repeal) bill, but they're not going to get the firing squad passed."

Capital punishment in Nebraska has been in limbo since December 2013, when the 
state's supply of sodium thiopental expired. That is the 1st drug used in the 
state's 3-drug lethal injection protocol. Attorney General Doug Peterson 
recently said that the chances of obtaining a new supply were slim and that he 
was exploring alternatives.

Omaha Sen. Ernie Chambers, who has made repeal of the death penalty his main 
objective during his 40-year career, could not be reached immediately for 
comment. He has sponsored a bill that would replace the death penalty with life 
imprisonment without parole.

But Kintner's proposal would likely inflame arguments that a firing squad is 
barbaric and unconstitutional cruel and unusual punishment.

Coash said that even if Kintner were successful in getting his firing squad 
amendment adopted to Chambers' bill ??? which Coash doubts would happen - 
Chambers would immediately move to kill his own bill because of it.

Nebraska has never used a firing squad to carry out an execution.

Hanging was Nebraska's 1st method of carrying out the death penalty. It was 
replaced by electrocution by 1920.

In 2008, the Nebraska Supreme Court declared that use of the electric chair was 
cruel and unusual punishment. That prompted the Legislature, a year later, to 
switch to lethal injection.

The state has not carried out an execution since 1997, when double-murderer 
Robert Williams was executed in the electric chair.

11 men now sit on the state's death row.

(source: omaha.com)