[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, PENN., FLA., KAN., NEB., USA

[Rick Halperin]

May 15



TEXAS:

Texas obtains new supply of pentobarbital for execution use



The Texas Department of Criminal Justice has purchased a new supply of drugs 
that will allow the prison agency to at least carry out 2 executions scheduled 
for June, officials said Thursday.

Derrick Dewayne Charles' lethal injection on Tuesday only left Texas with 
enough pentobarbital to accommodate the execution of inmate Lester Bower set 
for June 3. Another prisoner, Gregory Russeau, is scheduled to die June 15.

Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Jason Clark wouldn't say how much of 
the powerful sedative has been obtained or identify the source.

"The drugs were purchased from a licensed pharmacy that has the ability to 
compound," he said. "We continue to explore all options including the continued 
use of pentobarbital or alternate drugs to use in the lethal injection 
process."

Many death penalty states have turned to compounding pharmacies for execution 
drugs as traditional manufacturers, bowing to pressure from capital punishment 
opponents, have refused to sell their products to corrections departments in 
states that carry out executions.

A Texas judge last year, ruling in a lawsuit from attorneys for some condemned 
inmates, ordered the state to identify its lethal drug provider. That order is 
on hold while the ruling is under appeal.

Charles' execution for a triple slaying in Houston nearly 13 years ago was 
carried out the same day the Texas Senate passed a measure that would allow the 
identity of the state's lethal drug supplier to remain confidential. Texas 
House members are considering a similar measure.

The office of Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton has said that execution 
drug manufacturers won't sell to the state without total confidentiality. 
Suppliers who have reported being threatened by death penalty opponents say 
they won't take the risk.

Last year, The Associated Press reported Texas officials have offered scant 
evidence to support their claim that compounding pharmacies supplying execution 
drugs would be in danger of violence if their identities were made public. The 
AP has found no evidence of any investigations in Texas into threats against 
such pharmacies.

Texas carries out the death penalty more than any other state, and Charles' 
punishment was the 7th in the state this year and 525th since executions 
resumed in 1982. All of the Texas executions have been by injection, including 
the last 43 using pentobarbital as the lone drug.

Bower is set to die next month for the fatal 1983 shootings of 4 men at an 
airplane hangar on a North Texas ranch. Russeau faces execution for the slaying 
of a 75-year-old East Texas man during a robbery in 2001.

(source: Associated Press)








PENNSYLVANIA----new death sentence

Jury Sentences Man Convicted In Girlfriend's Murder To Death Penalty



A jury has sentenced the man convicted of 1st-degree murder in the 2012 
stabbing death of his estranged girlfriend in Washington County to the death 
penalty.

Earlier this week, Jordan Clemons was convicted in the death of Karissa Kunco 
and leaving her body in the woods.

Closing arguments were held Thursday morning, and the jury then deliberated 
over whether or not to sentence Clemons to death.

During closing arguments, prosecutor Chad Schneider told the jury, "Not all 
killings are murder, not all murders deserve the death penalty. This one does. 
Sometimes life in prison is just not enough."

Defense attorney Brian Gorman countered that his history of abuse by his father 
should be taken into consideration.

"Death is for the worst of the worst. You saw the man who raised him. That's 
what he went home to every day. Jordan is not the worst of the worst," Gorman 
said.

During the penalty phase, Robert Clemons told the jury that the anger his son 
had welled up inside of him was the result of physical beatings by him due to 
his own addiction to drugs and alcohol.

1 of the aggravating factors the jurors had to consider is whether Clemons has 
a significant, violent criminal history.

Prosecutors detailed Clemons' juvenile arrest for punching a teacher in 
Delaware County in 2006, as well as convictions for 2 armed robberies in 
Canonsburg in 2009.

Another aggravating factor is the murder happened while the victim was under a 
Protection from Abuse order against him.

The defense offered mitigating circumstances hoping to spare Jordan's life 
including:

He was under extreme mental distress at the time, his capacity to understand 
the criminality of the act was impaired, his age at the time (22) as well as 
evidence of an abusive childhood, a brain injury from playing football, a drug 
history and the loss of his brother in 2011.

(source: CBS news)








FLORIDA:

Avalos will have brain scanned



A man accused of killing his wife, neighbor and a Bradenton pastor will undergo 
medical testing to determine whether he has any mental health issues or brain 
defects.

Andres Avalos appeared in court Thursday for a status conference in which 
Assistant Public Defender Franklin Roberts asked that his client be granted 
transportation for a positron emission tomography, or PET scan. A PET scan is 
an imaging test doctors use to determine how organs and tissues function.

Roberts said the results of the test may be used to show mitigating factors - 
circumstances that could result in a lesser sentence - should this case reach 
the penalty phase.

Avalos is charged with 3 counts of 1st-degree murder for the Dec. 4 deaths of 
his wife, Amber Avalos, neighbor Denise Potter and Bayshore Baptist Church 
pastor James "Tripp" Battle. Prosecutors have advised that they will seek the 
death penalty if Avalos is convicted.

If found guilty by a trial jury, the case would advance to the penalty phase 
during which arguments will be presented by the state for the death penalty and 
by the defense for life in prison. The jury would make a recommendation, but 
the ultimate decision would be made by the judge.

"This is an attempt to discover mitigating factors in this case," Roberts said. 
"I have been assisted by 2 doctors, both of whom tell me Mr. Avalos suffers 
from a mental disease or defect."

Roberts said there are also several witness statements regarding actions of 
Avalos that could be interpreted as exhibition of mental illness.

"I'm also aware of drug use of Mr. Avalos - serious drug use - which I am 
concerned could have caused some cognitive dysfunctions," Roberts said.

Assistant State Attorney Art Brown did not object to the PET scan, but did ask 
to be notified should the findings be used in an insanity defense.

Michelle Hall, attorney for the Manatee County Sheriff's Office, did present 
some concerns regarding Avalos' transport to a medical facility.

It was determined that Roberts could choose which facility will conduct the 
test, but that the Sheriff???s Office will determine the date of the testing. 
Neither Roberts nor Avalos will be made aware in advance of that date.

Hall advised that 29 members of the SWAT unit will be required for safe 
transport of Avalos between the Manatee County jail and medical testing 
facility.

"There is always the risk of retaliation," Hall said. "There is the risk of 
escape, and there is gang affiliation involved."

While this triple slaying is not believed to be gang-related, Avalos does have 
a known history of gang activity.

It will be more than a year before Avalos stands trial.

While Brown said the state would be prepared early next year, Roberts said he 
would need until summer 2016.

Circuit Judge Peter Dubensky set the case for the 2-week trial period in July 
18, 2016.

By setting the trial 14 months from now, Dubensky said there should be no 
reason for it to be postponed.

A status conference will be held in December to make sure the state and defense 
are on track for the July 2016 trial date.

(source: Herald-Tribune)








KANSAS:

Former NC Klan leader tells Kansas judge he wants to die



A former Ku Klux Klan leader from North Carolina said Thursday that he doesn't 
care if a jury sentences him to death for allegedly killing three people last 
year outside Jewish facilities in Overland Park, Kansas.

F. Glenn Miller Jr. fired his attorneys during a court hearing Thursday, 
apparently to give him a forum in court to espouse the anti-Semitic beliefs 
that may have fueled the deadly shooting spree.

Miller demanded that he be allowed to represent himself, despite the advice of 
his lawyers and a reminder from the judge handling the case that he could be 
executed if found guilty.

"It's my life, and I'll do as I please," he said during a hearing Thursday in 
Johnson County District Court. "The death penalty don't bother me."

In fact, Miller, who is 74 and in ill health, said that after he has the chance 
to make his case, "I'll climb up on the gurney and stick the needle in myself."

Miller, also known as Frazier Glenn Cross Jr., was living with his family on a 
Johnston County farm when he founded an organization called the Carolina 
Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in 1980. The group changed names, eventually 
becoming the White Patriot Party as it turned into more of a paramilitary 
group. Miller organized rallies and ran for public office in North Carolina in 
the 1980s to advocate for an "all-white independent Southern republic."

Now Miller is charged with capital murder for the shooting deaths of William 
Corporon and his 14-year-old grandson, Reat Underwood, on April 13, 2014, 
outside the Jewish Community Center. Minutes later, he allegedly killed Terri 
LaManno, 53, outside the Village Shalom care center. All 3 were Christians.

He also is charged with 3 counts of attempted 1st-degree murder, aggravated 
assault and discharging a firearm into an occupied building.

Miller's trial is scheduled to begin Aug. 17. Thursday's hearing was meant to 
take up some of the pretrial motions filed by the three experienced death 
penalty litigators appointed to represent him.

At the start of the hearing, Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe 
discussed plea negotiations that have taken place. Miller's lawyers have made 
offers twice for him to plead guilty and be sentenced to life in prison if the 
state would take the death penalty off the table, Howe said.

The state declined both times, most recently on May 6, Howe said.

Defense attorney Mark Manna then said Miller wished to speak. When District 
Judge Kelly Ryan indicated he wasn't going to allow it, Miller then blurted 
that he wanted to fire his legal team.

Howe said that based on prior court rulings, refusing a defendant's request to 
represent himself could lead to a conviction being overturned on appeal.

Ryan called a recess to allow Miller and his lawyers to confer. Back in court, 
Manna said Miller wanted to act as his own attorney.

Ryan started advising Miller that he would be held to the same standards of 
conduct and rules of trial as a licensed lawyer. Miller kept interrupting the 
judge.

"Can I get out a statement here without you interrupting me?" Ryan asked.

The judge warned Miller that if he acted up during court proceedings he would 
be removed from the courtroom and his attorneys would be reappointed.

Miller said he would behave. When the judge asked Miller if he felt competent 
to represent himself, Miller said he was.

"My IQ is probably higher than yours," he told the judge.

After questioning Miller, the judge said that he found Miller's decision was 
made knowingly and intelligently and he would allow it.

He asked Miller's former attorneys if they would agree to act as "standby 
counsel" to assist Miller. Manna said they would do that.

But Miller will be responsible for filing written motions, making courtroom 
arguments and arranging to call his own experts and witnesses, the judge said.

Miller noted that one witness he plans to call is actor Mel Gibson.

(source: newsobserver.com)








NEBRASKA:

Governor Says Nebraska Has Ordered New Death Penalty Drugs



Nebraska's Republican governor is taking new steps to resume executions in a 
state that hasn't imposed the death penalty since 1997, as lawmakers look 
seriously at abolishing capital punishment.

Gov. Pete Ricketts said Thursday evening that state officials have bought all 3 
drugs required to carry out executions. Nebraska lost its ability to execute 
prisoners when its supply of sodium thiopental, a required lethal injection 
drug, expired in December 2013.

The announcement comes 1 day before lawmakers are scheduled to debate a death 
penalty repeal measure that has gained more support than usual. The bill won 
1st-round approval with a veto-proof majority in April, but 2 more votes are 
required before it goes to Ricketts, a death-penalty supporter.

Some opponents have argued that Nebraska should abolish capital punishment 
because it has only wasted money and created a false promise for victims' 
families. The state hasn't executed anyone since 1997, and some prisoners have 
been on death row for decades.

Nebraska has only carried out 4 executions since 1973, partly because of 
repeated legal challenges.

Ricketts and his corrections director, Scott Frakes, said the state now 
possesses 1 of the 3 lethal injection drugs that state law requires for 
executions and will receive the other 2 in the near future. Nebraska Attorney 
General Doug Peterson has said 3 of Nebraska's 11 death-row inmates have 
exhausted all of their appeals.

"The functionality of the death penalty in Nebraska has been a management issue 
that I have promised to resolve," Ricketts said.

Ricketts said the department has already obtained potassium chloride, a drug 
that stops the heart, and has bought the other 2 drugs - sodium thiopental and 
pancuronium bromide - from a distributor in West Bengal, India. Sodium 
thiopental serves as an anesthetic, and pancuronium bromide is a muscle 
relaxant that induces paralysis.

Ricketts spokesman Taylor Gage said the state ordered the drugs over the past 
few weeks from HarrisPharma, a distributor that has sold to state officials 
before. The last purchase was made this week.

Defense attorneys for Nebraska's death-row inmates have raised legal questions 
about the company before. One lawyer argued that Chris Harris, the company's 
owner, sold drugs that were only meant to be used as testing samples, and was 
not authorized to do so.

Because he was not allowed do so, the defense attorney argued that the drug was 
stolen property and Nebraska shouldn't be allowed to use it in executions.

Nebraska Solicitor General Jim Smith, who handled previous death penalty cases, 
said those arguments were later rejected. The Nebraska Supreme Court ruled that 
the argument wasn't a valid challenge in a death penalty case under state law.

(source: Associated Press)

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

Faith leaders unite to fight against Nebraska death penalty



Faith leaders gathered at the Omaha Press Club Wednesday morning to speak out 
against the death penalty and in favor of legislation to repeal it, LB268, 
introduced by state Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha.

Religious leaders in attendance included Archbishop George J. Lucas of Omaha; 
Bishop Brian Maas of the Nebraska Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church; the 
Rev. Dr. Dan Flanagan, superintendent of the Missouri River District of the 
United Methodist Church; the Rev. Robert Keefer, stated clerk of the Missouri 
River Valley Presbytery; and the Rev. Craig Loya, dean and rector of Trinity 
Cathedral of the Episcopal Diocese of Nebraska.

All spoke on behalf of their denominations and discussed the sacredness of 
human life and reconciliation.

"Practically speaking, there are more-effective and less-expensive alternatives 
for punishing violent criminals and protecting our citizens," Loya said. "The 
death penalty does little or nothing to deter the crimes it punishes, and our 
criminal justice system frequently sentences to death individuals who are later 
proven innocent."

According to a press release from the Nebraskans for Alternatives to the Death 
Penalty, since 1973 there have been 143 people in the United States who have 
been released from death row after a wrongful conviction.

"As a priest, I oppose the death penalty because I believe that killing and 
retribution are always wrong," Loya said. "As a citizen, I oppose it because it 
is ineffective, expensive, often mistaken and used most often on the most 
disenfranchised among us."

There are 11 people on death row in Nebraska. LB268 would repeal the death 
penalty in favor of life in prison. Legislators are expected to vote on the 
bill soon despite Gov. Pete Ricketts' opposition. Ricketts said he would veto 
the bill if it passes in the Legislature.

"We call upon all governments, particularly today as the Nebraska Legislature 
considers doing away with the death penalty in Nebraska, because our value of 
human life and because of the possibility of redemption," Flanagan said.

"We're hopeful," said Lucas, who also was representing the Nebraska Catholic 
Conference, which is the public policy arm of the state's 3 Catholic bishops.

"I look forward to the day when repeal of the death penalty and the promise of 
a more just, compassionate and peaceful society can be one more reason that I 
am deeply proud to be a Nebraskan," Loya said.

(source: Kearney Hub)








USA:

When the criminal justice system doesn't find justice



Imagine that the lies of others led a jury to convict you of a serious crime 
you didn't commit, and it took nine years for the truth to set you free..

That's the predominant circumstance of people whose wrongful convictions have 
been tracked by the National Registry of Exonerations, which since 2012 has 
built an impressive database. Interestingly, in a society where infatuation 
with forensic science has propelled the hit "CSI" television franchise, dogged 
investigation rather than DNA has revealed most of these miscarriages of 
justice.

The registry recently added a new graphic that's pretty interesting - it tracks 
exonerations by the year in which the person was wrongfully convicted. 
According to its May newsletter (which eventually will be posted online here), 
wrongful sexual-assault convictions evened out around 1983 and then dropped off 
after 1991, even as wrongful convictions on other charges increased. (Note: 
These are the tracked exoneration cases, not all cases, which is unknowable). 
>From the newsletter:

"Most rape exonerations are based on post-conviction DNA evidence that proves 
the innocence of defendants who did not have the benefit of pre-trial DNA 
testing. After 1990, pre-trial DNA testing became increasingly common in 
America; by 2000 it was the rule across the country. Judging from the data, 
pre-trial DNA testing has reduced the rates of false convictions and 
exonerations for rape: Rape cases are 20% of exonerations for convictions 
before 2000, but only 9% of exonerations for convictions since 2000; and rape 
exonerations that have occurred since 2000 are overwhelmingly for convictions 
from before 2000."

Separately, the Innocence Project reports that of 329 post-conviction 
exonerations based on DNA evidence, 297 involved sex-crime allegations, and 111 
were homicide (again, often an overlap).

So what does the Registry list as the contributing factors to wrongful 
convictions overall? It varies by type of crime, but witness perjury and 
official misconduct were each involved in more than 60% of wrongful murder 
convictions (cases often have multiple contributing factors, which is why the 
percentages exceed 100). Interestingly, false confessions were involved in one 
in five cases. The data don't measure this, but many recent exonerations of 
intellectually disabled defendants included coerced confessions, which suggests 
a focal point for reform (videorecording of such interviews, which many states 
are adopting, should help address that).

Other data of interest: 91% of the exonerated are men; 47% are African American 
(who account for only 28% of total arrests nationwide) and 11% are Latino; 80% 
were convicted by juries and, remarkably, 12% pleaded guilty (which innocent 
defendants often do to avoid a harsher sentence). Nearly 1/2 - 45% - were 
convicted of murder, though it's likely that reflects the extra focus placed on 
reviewing cases that lead to extensive sentences, or the death penalty.

The upshot of all this: The more we examine cases post-conviction, the more 
problems come to light. We need a fundamental change in how we approach trials 
and justice. With appellate courts deferring to lower courts on matters of fact 
even when the people's lives hang in the balance, and valuing procedure over 
justice when weighing the constitutional application of the death penalty, we 
have a system that focuses on process and winning more than finding truth and 
justice.

(source: Scott Martelle, Los Angeles Times)

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

Fathers Of 2 Murdered Children Weigh Tsarnaev's Possible Death Penalty



Bud Welch and Bob Curley share 1 horrific fact in common: their children were 
murdered. Welch's daughter was 23 years old when she was killed in the Oklahoma 
City Bombing; Curley's son just 10 when he was killed.

Today, both Welch and Curley are outspoken advocates against the death penalty. 
But they did not always share that view.

"After she died I was so full of revenge...I wanted the bastard to fry," Welch 
said. But when his daughter's killer, Timothy McVeigh, was executed by the 
state in 2001, Welch found that the experience didn't ease his pain. "You can't 
go through the healing process when you're living with revenge," he said. "I 
know. I've tried it."

Curley, too, had a similar change of heart, and an extremely public one: 
originally, he led the charge to reinstate the death penalty during the trial 
of his son's killer.

He says now that, in his mind, those looking for closure in a death sentence 
will only be disappointed. "There's no such thing as closure," Curley said. 
"But you have to move on. You have to move on with your life."

Welch and Curley spoke about their experiences and took calls from listeners - 
including Boston Marathon Bombing victim Karen Brassard, who believes Dzhokhar 
Tsarnaev should receive the death penalty for his crimes.

(source: Associated Press)

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

Life vs death: How much will it cost to keep Tsarnaev alive?



On Wednesday, jurors wrapped up their 1st day of deliberations on a sentence 
for the Boston Marathon bomber. Experts said this trial has already cost 
taxpayers millions, and as for the cost of death row verses life in prison, we 
did the math, pored through research and spoke with 2 highly respected local 
legal minds and found an answer that might surprise you.

If jurors decide on life in prison for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, as we've reported, 
he'll likely end up at the federal Supermax in Florence, Colorado.

So how much will it cost taxpayers?

According to CNN, the Supermax costs approximately $32,000 a year, per 
prisoner. Tsarnaev is only 21 years old. Assuming he lives to be at least 78, 
the current average life expectancy, that's 57 years in prison. So it comes to 
$1.824 million to incarcerate Tsarnaev for life and that doesn't even account 
for inflation.

Still, reports we sifted through and experts we spoke with point to that 
actually being far less than the cost of Tsarnaev sitting on death row.

Criminal defense attorney Peter Elikann said 1 reason death row costs more is 
"because today there are many more constitutional safeguards built into the 
appeals process."

And, he said, that can go on for decades.

"There's a variety of expenses. It's not just the housing which is more 
expensive on death row. The trials themselves, every step of the way you have a 
right to numerous lawyers," he said.

And Criminal defense attorney J.W. Carney agrees. He defended Whitey Bulger and 
told FOX25 that it cost the federal government several millions to carry out 
that trial, which was not a capital punishment case.

"In federal court, a lawyer who is handling a death penalty appeal gets paid 50 
percent more than someone who is pursuing an appeal in a life without parole 
type of case," Carney said.

He went on to say, "Lawyers understand if they lose an appeal where life 
imprisonment is the end the client will still be living, but if you lose a 
death penalty case, your client is killed."

Carney also says incarceration is much more expensive for someone who is 
awaiting the death penalty, than someone serving a life sentence. He pointed to 
research that found it's as much as $100,000 more per year.

In Supermax, where Tsarnaev might wind up, he'll be in isolation 23 hours a 
day, and will require less supervision because he won't be able to mingle with 
other inmates.

However, on death row, prisoners are afforded more rights and have more 
freedoms and that costs more money.

(source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution)