[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, NEB., CALIF., USA

[Rick Halperin]

May 25



TEXAS:

Executions, if they must continue, should be transparent in Texas



A federal jury in Massachusetts sentenced Dzhokhar Tsarnaev -- one of the 
bombers in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing -- to death. The federal government 
has only executed 3 men since Massachusetts abolished capital punishment in 
1984, making both the execution and the state of its trial fascinating. In 
Texas, however, capital punishment is so incorporated into the normative 
political and social fabric that it does not receive the scrutiny that would be 
given in the rest of the country. We hope Texans can use the shocking nature of 
the Tsarnaev case as an opportunity to re-examine our own state's enactment of 
and culture surrounding capital punishment.

Texas has a proclivity for capital punishment. There have been 524 executions 
in Texas since 1984, the year Massachusetts abolished the death penalty. This 
year, Texas has already executed 7 inmates, 1/2 of the national total. In the 
period between 1973-2013, Texas had the 2nd highest % of death sentences 
resulting in execution, rather than exoneration or dismissal, at 47 %, which is 
3.5 times higher than the national average of 13% over the same period.

Of course, the numbers keep adding up. On May 12, Texas carried out its last 
execution. The next will take place on June 3.

Though Texas' huge volume of capital punishment is undoubtedly an ethical 
concern, the Texas court system presents a unique challenge to carrying out 
capital punishment justly. Scott Panetti, a schizophrenic man, was nearly 
executed on December 3 because the Texas appellate court denied appeals against 
his execution that demonstrated decades of documented mental illness. However, 
the federal appellate court spared his life with a stay of execution a mere 12 
hours before because of the overwhelming evidence previously denied by the 
Texas courts. Although only one case, his illuminates the widespread 
institutional failures of the Texas courts that so often ruin people's lives, 
or even end them.

However, as Texas recently ran out of lethal injection drugs as pharmaceutical 
industries refuse to allow their products to be used to execute people, the 
main action in the State Legislature appears to be proliferation, rather than 
reduction, of these ethical concerns.

Last year, experimental drugs from compounding pharmacies were used as 
replacements nationwide, resulting in numerous botched lethal injections. As a 
result of these well-documented botches, compounding pharmacies faced rebuke by 
pharmaceutical professional associations. This has forced the state to procure 
the pertinent drugs for executions, namely pentobarbital, by operating with an 
irresponsible lack of transparency. What does it say about capital punishment 
that preparations for it must be carried out in secret, for fear of 
professional sanctions?

Fittingly, a bill protecting and codifying this lack of transparency, despite 
multiple legal challenges against it, is the sole piece of legislation 
regarding capital punishment that passed this session. Senate Bill 1697, by 
state Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, moves to block disclosure of drug 
manufacturers' information from public record through the Texas Public 
Information Act, thereby perpetuating the culture of opacity that characterizes 
capital punishment in Texas.

Texans must engage with our political system, yet proposals like SB 1697 
eliminate ethical means of doing that by minimizing opportunities to shed light 
on and reform the institution. Such behavior is a failure to the ethical 
responsibility expected of Texas lawmakers and courts. If an institution is too 
unpopular or unethical to stand out in the open, perhaps it should not stand at 
all.

(source: The (Univ. Texas) Daily Texas Editorial Board)








NEBRASKA:

Cult killer Michael Ryan dies in prison



Inmates on death row

Here is the status of Nebraska's death row, listing name, date of arrival on 
death row, county in which crime occurred and a brief description.

* Carey Dean Moore, June 20, 1980, Douglas County, killed 2 Omaha cab drivers 
in separate robberies.

* John L. Lotter, Feb. 21, 1996, Richardson, killed prior sexual assault victim 
and 2 bystanders.

* Raymond Mata, June 1, 2000, Scotts Bluff, killed and dismembered 3-year-old 
boy.

* Arthur L. Gales, Nov. 6, 2001, Douglas, raped and murdered 13 year-old girl 
and killed her 7-year-old brother.

* Jorge Galindo, Nov. 10, 2004, Madison, killed 5 people in attempted bank 
robbery.

* Jose Sandoval, Jan. 31, 2005, Madison, killed 5 people in attempted bank 
robbery.

* Jeffrey Hessler, May 18, 2005, Scotts Bluff, kidnapped, raped and murdered 
15-year-old girl.

* Erick F. Vela, Jan. 12, 2007, Madison, killed 5 people in attempted bank 
robbery.

* Roy L. Ellis, Feb. 6, 2009, Douglas, abducted and killed 12-year-old girl.

* Marco E. Torres, Jan. 29, 2010, Hall, shot and killed 2 men.

Death penalty facts

* 32 states have the death penalty; 18 do not.

* A bill to repeal the death penalty in Nebraska passed last week in the 
Nebraska Legislature. Gov. Pete Ricketts has promised to veto it. A bill to 
repeal the death penalty passed in 1979 and was vetoed by then-Gov. Charles 
Thone.

* There hasn't been an execution in Nebraska since Robert Williams was 
electrocuted in 1997.

* Nebraska went to lethal injection after the state Supreme Court ruled in 2008 
that the electric chair amounted to unconstitutionally cruel and unusual 
punishment.

* Omaha Sen. Ernie Chambers has offered a death penalty-related bill 38 times.

* Michael Ryan, who died Sunday, was 1 of 3 of Nebraska's 11 death-row inmates 
who have exhausted all of their appeals.

Michael Ryan died Sunday, according to the Nebraska Department of Correctional 
Services website.

Ryan, 66, was sentenced to death in 1985 in the cult-related torture and 
killings of James Thimm, 26, and Luke Stice, 5, near Rulo.

In January, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the latest appeal effort by the 
death row inmate, 9 months after the Nebraska Supreme Court did the same.

Miriam Thimm Kelle's son was in diapers when Ryan tortured his uncle. Her son 
is grown now and has 2 kids of his own.

That's how long Ryan, convicted of Thimm's murder, had been on death row 
waiting for his sentence to be carried out. Her brother was killed 30 years ago 
next month.

Kelle and 3 others whose loved ones were murdered in the Ryan's cult compound 
near Rulo spoke a few hours before a legislative hearing in March, pushing 
state lawmakers to repeal the death penalty.

During the hearing, Kelle said Ryan had a medical condition that he would 
probably die from this year. The Journal Star was unable to verify Ryan's 
condition at the time.

At the same hearing, State Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha said Ryan had terminal 
brain cancer.

The Department of Correctional Services website did not specify Ryan's cause of 
death.

(source: Lincoln Journal Star)

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

Deserving death



During December 1957 and January 1958, Charles Starkweather, age 19, and Carol 
Fugate, age 14, went on a murder rampage, killing 10 people in and around 
Lincoln and 1 in Wyoming, for a total of 11 people.

I ask you, liberal Democrat and Republican do-gooders, just how many people 
does one have to kill to deserve the death penalty ("Death penalty repeal 
passes legislature, awaits veto," May 20) according to your view of morality? 
You are not in favor of death for guilty sadistic killers, yet most of you 
favor the killing of innocent unborn children.

What hypocrites. Have you no shame?

James Proctor, Lincoln

(source: Letter to the Editor, Lincoln Journal Star)

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

Social media campaign targets senators who want to repeal death penalty



The death of Omaha Police Officer Kerrie Orozco is now part of the death 
penalty debate.

Nebraska senators are on the brink of repealing the state's death penalty and 
Gov. Pete Ricketts will not be able to veto the bill if the vote holds again. 
Last week's officer-involved shooting is providing the motivation for an 
aggressive new advertising campaign on social media.

The "fliers" target Nebraska senators who want to repeal the death penalty. The 
messages suggest they're backing Sen. Ernie Chambers, who said in March that 
police are his ISIS.

Sen. Tommy Garrett said the people behind the campaign are politicizing a 
tragedy.

"Shame on all those people who are implying that we, veterans, somehow support 
the shooting of police officers," Garrett said. "That's absolutely over the 
top, it's off the scale. Shame on them."

The group who made the ads declined an on-camera interview, saying they wish to 
remain anonymous. However, they issued a statement reading, "It is unfortunate 
that the Legislature repealed the death penalty the same day as those tragic 
events, but they did. The timing of this issue was not of our choosing. The 
Omaha Police Officers Association strongly supports keeping the death penalty."

The group encourages Nebraskans to call their senators Tuesday, the same day as 
Orozco's funeral.

(source: KETV news)








CALIFORNIA:

Governor seeks $3.2 million for more death row cells at San Quentin



San Quentin State Prison is on the verge of running out of space for condemned 
inmates, and Gov. Jerry Brown has asked the Legislature for $3.2 million to 
open 97 more cells to accommodate more death row prisoners there.

The governor's request, part of his proposed $113-billion budget proposal, has 
been greeted with a notable lack of enthusiasm by both those who support and 
oppose the death penalty.

"It's not necessary, or at least it wouldn't be necessary, if we had some 
leadership from the Department of Corrections and the governor doing what needs 
to be done to carry out these judgments," said Kent Scheidegger, legal director 
of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, which has sued California in an 
effort to force the state to resume executions.

There have been no executions in California since state and federal courts 
prohibited the use of a 3-drug lethal injection method in 2006.

In a prepared statement, Sen. Loni Hancock, D-Berkeley, who introduced 
legislation in 2011 to eliminate the death penalty and substitute life 
imprisonment, said, "California is in a Catch-22 situation. We are required by 
the courts to address prison overcrowding and we are required by law to provide 
certain minimum conditions for housing death penalty inmates. The Legislature 
can't avoid its responsibilities in these areas, even though the courts are 
currently considering the constitutionality of the death penalty, and I hope 
will agree to end it."

Hancock said she would "balance the need to follow legal and judicial mandates 
with the danger of throwing more money at a dysfunctional system."

When the budget proposal was written earlier this year, San Quentin was housing 
704 condemned male inmates, even though it has only 690 budgeted death row 
cells. 25 of the condemned inmates were being housed at the prison's Central 
Health Services Building, due to mental health needs.

"The reason we need more cells for death row inmates is the death row inmate 
population is growing," said Terry Thornton, a spokeswoman for the Department 
of Corrections

Based on a 6-year average, San Quentin anticipates receiving 20 new condemned 
inmates annually. Given the number of inmates who die or have their sentences 
overturned, the population is expected to increase by about 13 inmates per 
year.

"Due to this rate of sentencing felons to death, San Quentin has run out of 
permanent beds," the governor's budget document stated. "Based on the critical 
nature of the bed shortage, it is not feasible to delay the approval of 
implementation of this proposal."

San Quentin will make room for the additional condemned inmate cells by moving 
general population inmates out of 2 tiers in the Donner Housing Unit. 
Currently, 294 general population inmates share 241 cells in the Donner Housing 
Unit.

Thornton said that after the reshuffle San Quentin will be able to comply with 
a court-ordered limit on the percentage of prisoners sharing cells. San Quentin 
is at 124.3 % of capacity; the limit is 137.5 % of capacity. 100 % of capacity 
would be 1 prisoner per cell; 200 % of capacity would be 2 prisoners in every 
cell.

In 2011, Brown canceled plans, initiated under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, to 
build a new $356 million death row at San Quentin. Since then, new legislation 
and a ballot initiative have reduced the prison population in California.

AB 109, which the Legislature passed in October 2011, reassigned some convicted 
felons from state prison to county jail, and Proposition 47, which was on the 
November 2014 ballot, downgraded most nonviolent property and drug crimes from 
felonies to misdemeanors. The number of inmates at San Quentin has fallen from 
5,151 in 2010 to 3,830 this month.

Thornton said, "That's a huge drop."

(source: Marin Independent Journal)








USA:

Capital Punishment Catharsis



2 weeks ago, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev sat morosely in front of a federal jury as they 
dropped a long-awaited bombshell verdict on him: Tsarnaev, the last remaining 
"Boston Bomber," will be put to death by lethal injection.

Bostonians are hardly dancing in the streets. According to a Boston Globe Poll, 
only 15% of the city supports the death penalty for Tsarnaev. Throughout the 
trial, the family of the youngest victim of the attack, 8-year-old Martin 
Richard, has tearfully plead against capital punishment claiming that a life 
sentence for Tsarnaev would provide better closure and less legal follow-up for 
them. Mourning Bostonians lined up outside the courthouse on the day of 
Tsarnaev's sentencing touting freshly-lettered signs protesting, "Death Penalty 
is Murder." Capital punishment - a penalty designed to bring justice and 
vengeance to those affected by horrific crimes - clearly isn't doing too much 
good for the people it intends to heal.

So where's the disconnect?

Capital punishment doesn't make sense - not for the victims, not for their 
families, not for their communities and not for America as a whole. Lethal 
injection won't put a nation's suffering to rest. The state-sanctioned murder 
of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev won't soothe the scars of Bostonians, and one more death 
won't lift the burden of grief off of anyone's shoulders.

Supporters of the death penalty for Tsarnaev believe that mourners of the 
Boston bombing victims will not have real closure until he's dead. In reality, 
eye-for-an-eye justice in the form of capital punishment is usually more of a 
burden on the bereaved than a life sentence would be.

When a criminal is sentenced to death, the road to their actual execution is 
excruciatingly long and tedious. Death row inmates spend years, sometimes 
decades, waiting for appeal after appeal to go through before they are actually 
put to death. Families of victims are usually closely involved in these trials, 
tying their lives up further in their tragedy. It's impossible to even try to 
move on. If a criminal is given a life sentence instead, the process is a lot 
more cut-and-dry. The sentence goes through, and the family usually has 
comparatively little to do with the case while the criminal spends the rest of 
their lives quietly tucked away in a concrete cell. In most respects, they 
disappear.

When was the last time anyone heard anything significant out of Charles Manson? 
Life in prison is about as out-of-the-spotlight one can get, even for the most 
infamous. Death sentences are an unnecessary media circus.

Bostonians might rest easier knowing that Tsarnaev has faded into a life 
sentence of miserable obscurity, rather than being forced to sit through 
constant coverage of his death row appeals for the next several years. 
Especially for the families of victims forced to relive the tragedy again and 
again, appeal after appeal, spending the next few years involved in the legal 
intricacies of Tsarnaev's death sentence must almost feel like losing their 
lives all over again.

Tsarnaev's barbaric act of terrorism is inexcusable, and he deserves to be 
punished for his crimes - but putting him to death is not the type of 
punishment that will facilitate healing for those affected by his actions.

We cannot defend capital punishment on any kind of moral high ground - as 
horrific as someone's crimes might be, murder is still murder, even when it???s 
state-sanctioned. Violence is not a viable response to violence, especially 
when other alternatives provide better closure to mourners. A life sentence is 
by no means a pardon - in fact, a life spent wasting away in confinement is 
arguably harsher on prisoners than the reprieve of death. A life sentence for 
Tsarnaev would, however, make the mourning process a lot easier for those 
affected by the bombing who just want to try to move forward with their lives.

The entire purpose of capital punishment is emotional catharsis for victims. 
The furious anti-death penalty protests in Boston are proof that death to 
Tsarnaev is not the kind of vengeance victims want - and if the healing of 
victims is what we're really concerned with, something has to give.

(source: Opinion; Megan Cole is a first-year literary journalism major; (Univ. 
Calif., Irvine) New University)

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

Why the death penalty is wrong



I have listened to the Tsarnaev trial reports each morning for months on the 
way to work. I have heard the sentiments of those who favor and those who 
oppose the death penalty. However, I have yet to hear an examined or 
sufficiently coherent argument for or against. After considerable reflection, I 
am against. My reasons follow.

1st, it is very costly - studies have shown that it will cost, on average, more 
than $1 million more to put someone to death, given the many appeals required 
for such a final "solution," than life imprisonment.

2nd, and related to the 1st, more than 150 death row sentences have been 
overturned in the U.S. in the last 10 years when the prisoner was found not 
guilty due to newly produced DNA evidence, sometimes after nearly 40 years in 
prison. Have we fixed that "injustice" yet? So how many innocent people have 
been executed in our name and do we accept that this is just "the cost of doing 
business" for our judicial system? We all share in the guilt for the taking of 
those innocent lives in our name, but what punishment have we borne for that?

3rd, the death penalty has not been proven to be a deterrent. Studies have 
shown that, in order for a punishment to be an effective deterrent, certain 
conditions are necessary. Among them: the punishment needs to be meted out 
swiftly, it needs to be seen as being equally applied to all, i.e. not seen as 
social scapegoating, and the perpetrator must believe that they will be caught. 
Rarely, if ever, are all of these conditions met.

4th, if the death penalty is such a just and effective practice, why is the 
United States the only country among the 82 countries of the Western 
hemisphere, Europe and the old Russian Federation countries to have a death 
penalty on the books? What do we know that they don't?

5th, it is not clear that the victims' families even agree on this issue. We do 
know that, in the Tsarnaev case, closure might come much sooner without the 
death penalty, as life imprisonment would probably have begun already. Instead, 
appeals are expected to last at least another 10 years or more. Some have taken 
nearly 40.

6th, even the "eye for an eye" approach cannot apply in this case. Tsarnaev has 
only 1 life to give, 'though he has taken at least 3 and damaged many more. 
Some argue that "he deserves to die." Yet, deciding what other people "deserve" 
is way above my pay grade. Our government has a Department of Public Safety - 
whose job it is to keep dangerous people away from us until they are no longer 
a threat - and our Department of Correction is established to "correct" 
behavior and to keep people who are unsafe away from us, at least until they 
are "corrected" and pose no discernable threat to us.

7th, on a more philosophical note, I believe that my taking a human life, 
except in self-defense, diminishes me, as does the taking of a life "in my 
name."

8th, and finally, we are all appalled when we hear of a cold blooded murder, 
particularly when the victim was no threat to the perpetrator. Yet, in the case 
of capital punishment, we are strapping a person we have already captured down 
to a gurney and injecting a lethal poison into his arteries while 20 or more 
people and watch him writhe in pain for minutes, sometimes hours, until dead. 
Not in my name, please.

(source: Guest Columnist, David P. Magnani; The Milford Daiy News)