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

[Rick Halperin]

Sept. 16



NEBRASKA:

Judge considers whether Lotter keeps attorneys during death penalty legal limbo


A federal judge hasn't ruled yet on whether a man on Nebraska's death row can 
keep his court-appointed counsel.

But the question isn't whether John Lotter remains under a sentence of death 
despite the Legislature's repeal of the death penalty earlier this year or the 
current legal limbo while the Secretary of State???s office works to verify 
petition signatures expected to put the question to Nebraska voters next year.

Both sides agree he does, for now.

"We believe Mr. Lotter's sentence should be reformed to life imprisonment once 
the repeal bill goes into effect," attorney Rebecca Woodman of the Death 
Penalty Litigation Clinic in Kansas City said at a hearing Tuesday in U.S. 
District Court in Lincoln.

"If it does," Senior U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf said.

A petition drive has presented enough signatures to put the repeal on hold 
before the vote, if enough are found to be valid. That should be known by mid- 
to late October.

The question Kopf seemed more interested in at Tuesday's hearing was whether 
Lotter has a right to counsel for anything but a request for clemency, which he 
hasn't filed in the year and a half he's had attorneys federally appointed to 
represent him.

Kopf ruled previously that Lotter has exhausted all other federal and state 
remedies, but Woodman argued that it's too early for the court to make that 
determination. She said her office needs more time first to investigate other 
constitutional issues that could be raised in the case.

"The question whether those remedies are going to be successful or not remains 
to be seen," Woodman said.

Woodman also asserted that Lotter's execution should be barred, even if the 
petition is put on the ballot in 2016 because Gov. Pete Ricketts "is attempting 
to illegally procure lethal injection drugs."

Under the circumstances, she said, it's imperative that they be allowed to 
continue working on Lotter's behalf.

Assistant Nebraska Attorney General James Smith said the state's position 
remains the same: Regardless of what happens with the death penalty repeal, 
Lotter only is entitled to court-appointed counsel in the case to seek 
clemency.

"Mr. Lotter remains under a penalty of death, and Mr. Lotter will remain under 
a penalty of death," he said.

By law, Smith said, only the Nebraska Board of Pardons can commute a sentence 
from death to life imprisonment.

Kopf asked if, once the petition signatures are verified, the state would seek 
an execution warrant to carry out Lotter's sentence whether death penalty 
supporters have enough to prevent the repeal from going into effect or not.

Smith said if there are enough signatures to stay the repeal, his office still 
would have to show that the state has the drugs to carry it out.

It does not.

Once it does, Smith said, it is the attorney general office's position there 
would be no reason not to seek an execution warrant.

But Woodman said many state and federal claims will arise if a death warrant is 
issued within the next year.

Kopf ended the public portion of the hearing, then went into a closed hearing 
to confer with Lotter's attorneys about budgetary issues.

Outside the courtroom later, Woodman said a lot of questions with the death 
penalty repeal remain unanswered.

"Time will tell about what issues might arise," she said.

Lotter was convicted for killing Teena Brandon, Lisa Lambert and Philip DeVine 
at a rural Humboldt farmhouse in 1993.

At trial, Thomas Nissen testified against Lotter as part of a deal with 
prosecutors, saying he stabbed Brandon but Lotter fired the shots that killed 
all 3.

Nissen got a life sentence, and a 3-judge panel sentenced Lotter to death.

Nissen since has changed his story and said he, not Lotter, fired the fatal 
shots. Lotter appealed, but his appeals were rejected by the Nebraska Supreme 
Court, the U.S. District Court of Nebraska and the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of 
Appeals.

(source: Journal Star)

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

Attorneys debate Neb. death row inmate's legal options ---- Attorneys for John 
Lotter said in federal court Tuesday that there are unanswered legal questions


Attorneys for a Nebraska death row inmate say the state's recent struggle over 
capital punishment has raised new legal questions that they need to explore, 
while a state attorney says the prisoner has exhausted all options except for 
clemency.

Attorneys for John Lotter said in federal court Tuesday that there are 
unanswered legal questions stemming from the Legislature's vote to abolish 
capital punishment, a subsequent ballot measure to reinstate it and the 
governor's efforts to obtain lethal injection drugs.

Lotter and co-defendant Thomas Nissen were convicted in the 1993 slaying of 
Teena Brandon, a 21-year-old woman who lived briefly as a man, and two 
witnesses, Lisa Lambert and Philip DeVine, at a rural Humboldt farmhouse. The 
crime inspired the 1999 movie "Boys Don't Cry."

At trial, Nissen testified against Lotter as part of a deal with prosecutors, 
saying he stabbed Brandon while Lotter fired the shots that killed all 3.

Nissen got a life sentence, and in 1996 Lotter was sentenced to death.

Nissen has since changed his story and said he, not Lotter, shot all 3. Lotter 
appealed, but his appeals were rejected by the Nebraska Supreme Court, the U.S. 
District Court of Nebraska and the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The arguments on Tuesday came during a hearing over whether Lotter, 44, should 
be allowed to keep his court-appointed attorneys for anything other than a 
request for clemency. Lotter was convicted in a state district court but filed 
a legal challenge in federal court arguing that his sentence was unlawful. U.S. 
Senior District Judge Richard Kopf previously ruled that Lotter had exhausted 
all other legal remedies.

"He has significant potential claims that he has to investigate before he can 
present them," said Lotter's attorney, Rebecca Woodman of the Kansas City-based 
Death Penalty Litigation Clinic.

Woodman declined to elaborate after the hearing, but said the repeal law 
creates new legal uncertainty in Lotter's case.

"Time will tell as to what issues might arise," she said.

Woodman argued in court that Gov. Pete Ricketts' efforts to obtain lethal 
injection drugs from a supplier in India are illegal. The U.S. Food and Drug 
Administration has said it won't allow state officials to import 2 required 
drugs, for which the state paid $54,400. Ricketts has said his administration 
is still working with the federal government to bring the drugs to Nebraska.

Assistant Nebraska Attorney General James Smith said the state believes that 
Lotter has run out of all options except to request clemency, and that his 
death sentence remains in effect.

Nebraska lawmakers voted in May to abolish the death penalty over Ricketts' 
veto, triggering a ballot drive to place the issue before voters in 2016. The 
group Nebraskans for the Death Penalty announced last month that it had 
collected nearly 167,000 signatures, which are now being verified to confirm 
whether the issue will appear on the November 2016 ballot.

(source: Associated press)






WYOMING:

Dale Wayne Eaton Will Once Again Have a Death Row Hearing


A state judge has ordered former Wyoming death row inmate Dale Eaton to attend 
a court hearing in Casper next week as prosecutors for the second time seek the 
death penalty against him.

Eaton was convicted in 2004 of the 1988 murder of Lisa Marie Kimmell, 18, of 
Billings, Montana.

U.S. District Judge Alan B. Johnson of Cheyenne last fall overturned Eaton's 
death sentence, ruling he didn't get an adequate defense.

The Casper District Attorney's Office has filed notice that it's seeking the 
death penalty for Eaton again. District Judge Daniel Forgey of Casper has 
ordered Eaton to attend a Sept. 23 hearing.

Johnson is weighing whether the state has lost standing to seek the death 
penalty against Eaton again by waiting too long to appoint defense lawyers.

(source: KGWN TV news)






CALIFORNIA:

New initiative would end California death penalty


Already on life support, California's death penalty would be abolished entirely 
under a proposed ballot initiative.

The proposal would strike death as a possible punishment from the state's Penal 
Code, substituting life imprisonment without parole where state law currently 
allows for the death penalty. Its proponent, actor Mike Farrell, would have 180 
days from when the secretary of state's office enters the measure into 
circulation to collect 365,880 signatures.

California has not executed a death row inmate in nearly a decade, a point 
Farrell's initiative stresses in calling the death penalty an "empty promise" 
that drains public resources.

"The state spends millions of taxpayer dollars providing lawyers for death row 
inmates, only to see the murderers it has sentenced to death by execution die 
of old age in prison," the proposal reads.

It also points to the "fatal mistakes" of innocent people being sentenced to 
death as a reason to end capital punishment in California.

"Wrongful convictions rob innocent people of decades of their lives, waste tax 
dollars, and re-traumatize the victims' families, while the real killers remain 
free to kill again," according to the proposal.

In 2012, California voters rejected a death penalty repeal, Proposition 34, by 
a 52 % to 48 % margin. Polls have consistently shown support for capital 
punishment.

(source: Sacramento Bee)

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

International Human Rights Body Rules in Favor of Prisoner Nearly Executed by 
California


The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IAHCR) ruled that the human 
rights of a former death row prisoner were violated by a flawed trial and 
conviction that at one point resulted in him being hours away from execution.

Kevin Cooper was convicted in 1983 of murdering Douglas and Peggy Ryen, their 
daughter Jessica and houseguest Christopher Hughes in California. The IAHCR 
ruled that Cooper's case was marred by racial discrimination, prosecutorial 
misconduct, ineffective defense counsel and unfair proceedings including 
evidence destruction, evidence tampering and planting of false evidence.

In 2004, Cooper came within 4 hours of being executed. Although a federal court 
ruled last year that the death penalty in California is unconstitutional and 
the state has not executed anyone in nearly a decade, Cooper remains on death 
row.

"Mr. Cooper's case shows that the death penalty system is broken beyond repair, 
and the risk of executing a wrongfully convicted person is very real," said 
James Clark, senior death penalty campaigner for Amnesty International USA.

Since 1973, 155 people have been exonerated from death row in the United 
States.

Although Cooper's conviction was upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 
Ninth Circuit, the 5 dissenting judges expressed serious concern. Judge William 
Fletcher wrote an 82-page dissent that stated "The State of California may be 
about to execute an innocent man."

(source: Amnety International USA)






USA:

Carry out death penalty only if system foolproof: #tellusatoday


The number of people executed in the U.S. fell to 35 last year. Executions 
peaked in 1999, when 98 inmates were put to death. Comments from Facebook are 
edited for clarity and grammar:

It's so sad people are feeling that it is wrong to serve a just punishment for 
murder. It is just if someone takes a life that he should lose his own. I mean, 
how simple does it have to be?

-- Thomas Debaillon

The death penalty should be considered only in the most extreme circumstances, 
with irrefutable hard evidence and heinous crimes. We cannot risk executing an 
innocent person. If we focused on only these extreme cases, I imagine speed and 
costs would both improve.

-- Michael Ulrich

Courts, states put death penalty on life support

There is no perfect system, and no matter what, some innocent people can be 
executed. Until the day you have a perfect system, I will always be against the 
death penalty.

There are many countries that do not have capital punishment. I don't want to 
be in the company of countries such as Iran, China, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Syria 
or Egypt that still have capital punishment.

-- Arnold Indictor

Life without the possibility of parole is a death sentence.

-- George Kubach

Letter to the editor:

It is understandable that some would demand capital punishment for the severest 
of crimes. Vengeance is part of the human emotional makeup.

However, capital punishment does not effectively deter crime. It is costly when 
one considers the appeals process. Perhaps the greatest problem with capital 
punishment is that it forces a defendant???s case to be heard by a jury 
composed of a skewed selection of the community.

Moreover, a life sentence without the possibility of parole is for all 
practical purposes a death penalty. That should satisfy the most vengeful 
proponent of capital punishment.

Execution as a punishment for crime has outlived its usefulness and should be 
done away with.

John L. Indo; Houston

(source: USA Today)