[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----N.C., GA., FLA., OHIO, IDAHO

[Rick Halperin]

Feb. 7




NORTH CAROLINA:

In Orwellian move, NC State Archives blocks access to death penalty photo


In George Orwell's novel "1984," the luckless Winston Smith labors in a 
Ministry of Truth office where he "re-creates" the past by removing or changing 
historical documents to reflect Big Brother's political demands.

Winston doesn't know whether he's changing a fact or a fallacy another worker 
has already introduced. He erases some people entirely after the Party executes 
them.

I couldn't help but think of Smith's grim legacy recently. Last month, I 
requested from the North Carolina State Archives a photograph of the 1st inmate 
executed by lethal gas. I'd first seen Allen Foster's mug shot in a 2004 
edition of the state's authorized history journal and wanted a high-resolution 
copy.

But the Archives - the state agency in charge of safeguarding the primary 
sources of our history - refused my request.

I dug deeper. I discovered that the Archives is blocking access to all 
historical material related to executions. This is especially important at a 
time when we as a state and a nation are engaged in a vital discussion about 
the death penalty. By blocking access to information, the state is harming 
education, stifling debate and undermining free speech.

The photo I sought is 80 years old. 3 conjoined panels depict 20-year-old 
Foster in custody in 1936. Foster allegedly robbed and raped a Hoke County 
woman in 1935. At the time, rape was a capital crime. Foster's mother 
unsuccessfully pleaded with Gov. J.C.B. Ehringhaus to spare his life. On Jan. 
24, 1936, the state executed Foster, an African-American, the 1st in the state 
to die by lethal gas.

At the time, officials considered gas more humane than hanging. Yet Foster died 
horribly. The January cold prevented the gas from working properly. As 
sociologist Trina Seitz described in the North Carolina Historical Review, 
Foster gasped for 3 minutes before losing consciousness. Then "he convulsed 
wildly." In all, it took him 11 minutes to die.

Request denied

In her article, Seitz reproduced the photo I wanted, which she legally obtained 
from the archives more than a decade ago.

I requested the photo as part of work I was doing on a national exhibit on mass 
incarceration, coordinated by the Humanities Action Lab at New York's New 
School. Along with 20 other universities, 16 Duke students, a colleague and I 
were preparing our contribution, a history of the death penalty in North 
Carolina. The students read Seitz's article as well as a UNC-sponsored site 
that reproduces the photo from the NCHR.

Imagine my surprise when the state archivist replied that current 
interpretation of law prevented access. I reached out to other researchers and 
learned that the state archivist is denying access to all historical death 
penalty records.

Among the statutes she cites are GS 148-74 and GS 148-76, in part meant to 
protect prisoner privacy, a worthy goal for living inmates and their families. 
Specifically, GS 148-74 requires the state to "minimize duplication and 
maximize effective use of ... records and materials." My students' project 
achieves both goals. It's an overreach to apply this to a case 8 decades in the 
past.

GS 148-76 is meant to empower the Department of Public Safety to keep records 
that enhance the public's safety, irrelevant in the case of a man executed 
before World War II.

Worthy of Orwell

Claims of confidentiality are equally spurious. Foster's mug shot was public at 
the time of his execution as is the mug shot of every inmate in prison today. 
Just go the offender lookup page on the prison system's website, or peruse The 
Slammer at a gas station.

But it's not just 1 photo or a certain category of records. Suppressing 
historical documents on the death penalty is part of a wider effort by our 
current legislature to restrict or deny public access to information, an effort 
worthy of Big Brother. One new law shields the identity of companies that sell 
death penalty drugs to North Carolina. Another, which took effect Jan. 1, aims 
to silence whistle-blowers. Anyone who secretly gathers information in order to 
uncover and correct abuses can be sued by business owners for bad publicity and 
be required to pay a fine.

Newspapers like this one have and will continue to insist that the state 
release records that we as citizens have a right to. But why should we as 
citizens be content with a system that forces us to fight for every paper - or 
photo?

Foster's execution and his photograph are our history. To deny access is 
tantamount to sending the past down the memory hole for destruction. And the 
only point of that is to suppress what should be robust and informed debate.

(source: Op-Ed; Robin Kirk co-directs the Duke Human Rights Center at the 
Franklin Humanities Institute at Duke University----newsobserver.com)






GEORGIA:

A death for a death solves nothing----Capital punishment isn't humane, no 
matter how it's done, nor does it prevent crime; it simply kills


The state of Georgia killed another one of its citizens last Tuesday.

His name was Brandon Astor Jones. The 72-year-old Jones was killed because in 
1979 he killed Roger Tackett, a Cobb County convenience store manager.

According to the state, what Jones did to Tackett was murder; what it did to 
Jones was a legal execution.

So one killing begat another killing, the latter state-sanctioned.

That makes no sense ethically or morally. The only place it would seem to make 
sense is legally. But even there the legality of state-sanctioned killings - or 
"executions" as they are euphemistically called - is rather fuzzy.

O.C.G.A. 16-5-1, the state statute defining murder and felony murder, reads in 
part: "A person commits the offense of murder when he unlawfully and with 
malice aforethought, either express or implied, causes the death of another 
human being."

It took the state 36 years to kill Jones, which seems to involve a great deal 
of preparation and premeditation.

While the state gets to define what is "lawful" and "unlawful," the difference 
between the 2 when it comes to killing another human being seems to be a rather 
fine line.

There is no question Jones deserved to be punished for his crime. The question 
is whether taking his life because he took another person's life was morally 
and ethically the right thing to do.

I once was an avid supporter of the "kill them all, let God sort them out" 
school of criminal justice. But as I have grown older and a bit wiser, and have 
seen the workings of the criminal justice system up close, it is quite obvious 
that it is neither efficient nor effective, particularly as it pertains to the 
death penalty.

According to the Death Penalty Information Center, Jones was the 61st person 
since 1976 to die at the hands of Georgia officials.

While that may seem a substantial number, it ranks only 6th on the national 
list of executions over the last 40 years, behind Texas (533), Oklahoma (112), 
Virginia (111), Florida (92) and Missouri (86).

Supporters of the death penalty claim it is a deterrent to those contemplating 
murder. But repeated studies have shown that this is simply not true.

According to Hugo Adam Bedau, a professor of philosophy at Tufts University, 
"Most capital crimes are committed during moments of great emotional stress or 
under the influence of drugs or alcohol, when logical thinking has been 
suspended. In such cases, violence is inflicted by persons heedless of the 
consequences to themselves as well as others."

That is an explanation, not an excuse for the crimes.

Proponents of the death penalty in search of religious justification usually 
trot out Old Testament citations from Exodus 21:23-25: "But if there is serious 
injury, you are to take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for 
hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise," 
conveniently ignoring the fact that Jesus countermanded that in Luke in the New 
Testament.

Proponents also say that some crimes are so heinous that they deserve the 
ultimate penalty: death. In fact, there are crimes that are so heinous that 
those who commit them deserve to be removed from society forever. Think Jeffrey 
Dahmer, Timothy McVeigh and John Wayne Gacy.

While some would argue that utilization of the death penalty certainly deters 
those convicted of murder of ever being able to murder again, others argue that 
permanently removing them from society through a life-without-parole sentence 
does the same thing.

In some ways, death is easier; serving extended prison time is not. Just ask 
anyone who has spent time behind bars.

Yet there are cases in which those convicted of murder actually become useful 
members of prison society and, by extension, society as a whole.

Once such case involves Kelly Gissendaner of Gwinnett County. Gissendaner was 
convicted of orchestrating her husband's murder in 1997. Convicted and 
sentenced to death, she underwent a religious conversion in prison and began 
ministering to other women who also were incarcerated. She was credited with 
preventing several suicides among female inmates.

Despite pleas from Pope Francis and Norman S. Fletcher, the former Chief 
Justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia that she be granted clemency and be 
allowed to continue her prison ministry, the Star Chamber that is the Georgia 
Board of Pardons and Paroles refused.

Gissendaner was executed by lethal injection last September, the 1st woman 
killed by the state in 70 years.

Lethal injection is the current method of execution in 33 states, according to 
the Death Penalty Information Center. But the term "humane execution" is an 
oxymoron if ever there was one.

Lethal injection is nothing more than euthanasia; it is not the "eye for an 
eye, tooth for a tooth" of which the Bible speaks. It is simply our way of 
trying to convince ourselves that when the government decides to kill someone, 
it does so in a manner that elevates us above those societies and cultures in 
which the guilty (and sometimes the innocent) were crucified, drawn and 
quartered, stoned, decapitated, burned at the stake or fed to the lions.

We congratulate ourselves for being a humane society because instead of 
actually killing people we just put them to sleep forever.

How is death by lethal injection any more humane than what the Islamic State 
does to its victims by burning them alive or tossing them off rooftops or 
cutting off their heads in front of a camera so the world can see?

One of the unanswerable questions about the death penalty is what does society 
gain from it other than the short-lived satisfaction of revenge and/or 
retribution?

An execution certainly does not restore the victim or victims and their 
families to what they were before the crime was committed. And society 
certainly learns nothing about why these individuals committed crimes in the 
first place.

We would be better served if those convicted of murder and other heinous crimes 
be studied to determine what sort of physiological, psychological or 
sociological flaws caused them to do what they did and try to put measures into 
place to keep others from committing similar crimes.

But to do that, we would need to stop warehousing in our prisons large numbers 
of people for nonviolent crimes and instead focus on those violent criminals or 
those prone to violence.

Even though the death penalty is considered legal justification for killing 
someone, just because something is legal, doesn't mean it is morally or 
ethically right.

The death penalty does not kill violent crime.

All it does is kill another person.

(source: Op-Ed; Ron Martz is a Marine Corps veteran (1965-68), journalist and 
former educator. He lives in Northeast Georgia----Gainesville Times)






FLORIDA:

The conservative case against the death penalty


Last month the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Florida's death penalty statute 
by an 8-1 vote. The court's decision in Hurst v. Florida has once again brought 
the issue of the death penalty to the forefront. I felt this was a good time to 
ask my fellow conservatives who still favor the death penalty to re-think their 
positions.

Most conservatives share a deep and fundamental distrust of "Big Government" 
and its inability to effectively and efficiently carry out even menial tasks. 
The the death penalty process is a prime example of Big Government 
inefficiency. Mistakes happen, and a mistake in imposing the death penalty can 
mean the wrongful killing of an innocent person.

According to the nonpartisan Death Penalty Information Center, 156 people have 
been exonerated from death row since the death penalty was re-enacted following 
the 1972 Furman v. Georgia Supreme Court case, which struck down death penalty 
statutes across the country. Of those 156 exonerations, Florida has led the 
nation with 26. In 2014 alone, 6 death row inmates were exonerated based on 
actual innocence.

Make no mistake, innocent men have been executed. Cameron Todd Willingham was 
executed in Texas in 2004 for allegedly setting fire to his own home, killing 
his 3 daughters. 3 subsequent investigations have shown that the fire was not 
arson, and probably caused by faulty wiring. In 2015, the prosecutor on his 
case was charged with misconduct by the Texas Bar for withholding material 
evidence from Willingham's attorneys.

To some in our justice system, the execution of an innocent man is of no 
concern. Oklahoma County District Attorney Bob Macy, who personally sent 73 
defendants to death row, was quoted by The New York Times as stating that 
executing an innocent person is a sacrifice worth making in order to keep the 
death penalty in the United States. Also, when Louisiana death row inmate Glenn 
Ford was exonerated in 2014, the prosecutor admitted being partly responsible 
for Ford???s wrongful conviction because he was not as interested in justice as 
he was in winning.

>From a taxpayer prospective, the cost of the death penalty far exceeds the cost 
of life without parole. In 2000, the Palm Beach Post reported that the 44 
executions carried out in Florida between 1976 and 2000 cost an average of $24 
million each. Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty 
Information Center, recently testified that Florida spends $51 million a year 
above and beyond what it would cost to punish all first-degree murderers with 
life in prison.

And the exorbitant cost is coming with little return. Florida has executed a 
total of 92 inmates since 1972. There are currently 389 inmates on Florida's 
death row, 13 having been there since the 1970s. At the current rate of 
execution, it would take over 150 years to execute just the inmates currently 
on death row.

Conservatives who have publicly stated their opposition to the death penalty 
include former U.S. Sen. Jack Kemp, Col. Oliver North, columnist Tucker 
Carlson, talk show host Laura Ingraham and George Will.

The United States is the only Western nation that still retains the use of the 
death penalty. Europe rid itself of capital punishment in the early 1980s, and 
the U.S. is now 5th in the world for the greatest number of executions after 
China, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Iraq. Is this the company we wish to keep?

(source: Op-Ed; James S. Purdy has served as public defender of the Seventh 
Judicial Circuit since 2005. As a former assistant attorney general, he argued 
death penalty cases in the Florida Supreme Court on behalf of the state of 
Florida. He served as chairman of the Volusia County Republican Party in 
1999----Ocala Star Banner)






OHIO:

Ohio and its death penalty disparities


7 states have abolished the death penalty during the past decade. 30 states 
either do not have capital punishment or have not conducted an execution the 
past 8 years. Will Ohio follow in their path? The state already has put off 
executions until November of next year. Officials are having difficulty 
securing the necessary drugs to conduct a lethal injection according to 
standards. Drug-makers have balked at participating.

Of late, the complications for the death penalty have deepened. Frank 
Baumgartner, a professor of political science at the University of North 
Carolina, released an analysis reinforcing concerns about racial, gender and 
geographic disparities in applying capital punishment in Ohio. He looked at the 
53 executions in the state from 1976 to 2014. 34 involved white men, and 19 
involved black men.

One striking aspect of the findings is that 65 % of the executions stemmed from 
cases in which the victim was white, even though whites accounted for just 43 % 
homicide victims. In a similar way, just 27 % of homicide victims were women, 
yet 52 % of the executions involved cases in which the victim was a woman.

Baumgartner found that the likelihood of a murder leading to an execution in 
Ohio is 0.53 %. That likelihood changes significantly when the victim is white 
(0.81 %) and when the victim is black (0.29 %). Add the element of gender, and 
things again alter dramatically. The likelihood of an execution climbs to 1.55 
% when the victim is a white female, and falls to 0.25 % when a black man is 
the victim. The likelihood is nearly the same when the victim is a white man or 
a black woman.

All of this resonates more sharply in view of black men making up 44 % of 
homicide victims across the state. Crime statistics show that most homicides 
involve perpetrators and victims of the same race. Yet, as Baumgartner explains 
in assessing the Ohio executions, whites are likely to face the death penalty 
only when the victim is white. Blacks tend to face execution whether the victim 
is white or black.

Geography matters, too, more than 1/2 of the executions taking place in Summit, 
Lucas, Cuyahoga and Hamilton counties. These are higher crime areas, obviously. 
What is noteworthy is the disparity in execution rates. Baumgartner points out 
that the rate in Hamilton is more than double the rate in Cuyahoga and nearly 9 
times the rate in Franklin.

County prosecutors have responded by noting that many factors are at work in 
seeking the death penalty. They have a point. At the same time, Baumgartner 
mostly bolsters previous examinations of capital punishment, the kind that set 
in motion a review of the death penalty in Ohio, pushed by Chief Justice 
Maureen O'Connor. That task force included a wide range of stakeholders and 
arrived at 56 recommendations to improve the process. A handful of the 
proposals have won legislative approval. Those who want to see capital 
punishment endure should be pressing for additional action.

Even then, Ohio should prepare to end the death penalty. As Summit County 
knows, it is expensive. And for what? The Baumgartner analysis further exposes 
the disparities.

(source: Editorial, Akron Beacon Journal)






IDAHO:

Idaho death penalty rarely used


9 people are awaiting execution in Idaho. Only 3 have been executed since 1977 
under Idaho's death penalty.

The issue of capital punishment continues to raise questions nationwide - 
financially and ethically. Those questions are now being asked in Canyon 
County, where prosecutors have filed papers to seek the death penalty against 
Brandon J. Shaw. He is the man accused of fatally stabbing Chelsey Rae Malone 
in November outside her home in the 2700 block of Berlin Place in Nampa. She 
was just 23 years old.

At only 23, Shaw may seem young to potentially sit on death row, but all nine 
inmates currently awaiting execution in Idaho entered prison between the ages 
of 20 and 36.

The oldest inmate currently on death row is 65-year-old Thomas Creech, who has 
been on death row since age 32 after he was convicted of beating an inmate to 
death in Ada County. Creech began his term on death row in January 1983.

The youngest inmate to ever enter Idaho's death row is James Hairston, who was 
convicted and sentenced to death in November 1996 for fatally shooting 2 people 
in Bannock County. Hairston was 20 years old when he entered death row.

Since 1977, the state of Idaho has executed only 3 people, including murderers 
Paul Ezra Rhoades, Richard Leavitt and Keith Wells - a statistic some might say 
is unusual given Idaho's conservative political climate. The state is 1 of 31 
states that permits death as a sentencing option for 1st-degree murder 
convictions.

BRANDON SHAW'S CASE

In the local case of Brandon Shaw, prosecutors filed the notice to seek the 
death penalty against him on Jan. 7, citing aggravating circumstances that made 
the alleged crime eligible for a sentence of death.

The notice stated the suspected "murder was especially heinous, atrocious or 
cruel, manifesting exceptional depravity" and "by the murder, or circumstances 
surrounding its commission, the defendant exhibited utter disregard for human 
life."

Shaw, who has no prior criminal history, is charged with 1st-degree murder with 
an enhancement for the use of a deadly weapon, assault with the intent to 
commit a serious felony and another enhancement for the use of a deadly weapon, 
and 2 counts of burglary.

The Canyon County Prosecuting Attorney Bryan Taylor's office declined to 
comment directly on Shaw's pending case.

"The Canyon County Prosecuting Attorney's Office goes through an intensive 
review each time the death penalty is considered," according to a written 
statement from the office. "This lengthy and detailed process involves the 
solicitation of thoughtful input from the victim's family, the investigating 
officers, the relevant chief (or sheriff), the handling attorneys, and the 
chief deputies of our criminal and civil divisions for the Prosecutor to 
consider. It is a decision fundamentally guided by our commitment to justice 
and the public safety, and, like each exercise of prosecutorial discretion this 
Office is required to make every single day, is not taken lightly.

The office, in general, does not comment on active cases.

"... We especially won't make public comment about the details of a case to 
explain a decision to file a death penalty notice, because those details could 
have a substantial likelihood of heightening public condemnation of the accused 
and interfere with the right to a fair trial," the prosecutor's office said in 
the statement. "That said, we will publicly present our case to a jury at the 
appropriate time, and are confident in the charging decisions that have thus 
far been made in the case."

Shaw's next court appearance is set for 9 a.m. Feb. 26.

DEATH PENALTY EXPENSES

Nationwide statistics have shown the cost of sentencing someone to death 
exceeds the price of sentencing them to life in prison for a variety of 
reasons, including the price of trials, appeals and the execution itself.

In Idaho, a statewide fund is in place to protect counties from taking on the 
full financial burden of a capital punishment case.

Every county in Idaho, except for Jefferson County, utilizes a Capital Crimes 
Defense Fund established in 1998 to help counties pay for trial expenses. In 
2014, the Canyon County Board of Commissioners contributed $66,436 to the 
Capital Crimes Defense Fund.

Pursuant to the fund, counties pay the first $10,000 of trial costs before 
submitting reimbursement claims to the fund, and they must pay the wages of the 
lead defense attorney.

In March 2013, a Joint Legislative Oversight Committee conducted a study 
regarding the state's death penalty statute and expenditures after 2 people 
were executed within 2 years.

According to the Idaho Legislature's 2013 study, 11 counties have been 
reimbursed more than $4 million for defense costs since 1998. In Canyon County, 
since 1998, there have been nine cases that utilized the Capital Crimes Defense 
Fund.

As of 2013 in Canyon County, $450,638 in claims have been paid for cases 
against 9 defendants.

: Part of those expenses come from the use of expert witnesses and the length 
of time it takes to complete adjudication in the process of reaching either a 
guilty verdict or an acquittal is lengthy.

Capital cases in Idaho, between 1998 and 2013, took an average of about 14.5 
months to adjudicate, regardless of whether they went to trial. That's about 
3.1 months longer than it takes to adjudicate non-capital cases, according to 
the state report.

For defendants who did go to trial, between 1998 and 2013, capital cases took 
20.5 months to complete. Non-capital cases took about 7 months less time to 
complete trial. Those state averages were regardless of whether the defendant 
was found guilty or not guilty.

In a Jan. 19 meeting with the Canyon County Board of Commissioners, Chief 
Public Defender Tera Harden addressed Brandon Shaw's case and the financial 
issues surrounding capital punishment cases.

Harden said 3 public defenders will need to be approved and qualified by the 
Supreme Court to work on Shaw's case. Defense attorneys must be death 
penalty-certified to defend a potential capital punishment case and meet 
specific criteria mandated by the Idaho Supreme Court.

Harden also told commissioners that her office has 2 investigators assigned to 
the case and they will be having "enormous costs as it relates to experts" in 
trial.

According to minutes of the meeting, it is Harden's "personal opinion that it 
is the most fiscally irresponsible thing that can be done by anyone in a 
prosecutor's office, and costs will be staggering."

DEATH ROW APPEALS

While initial trials can be pricey for counties, the cost of the multiple 
appeals death row inmates undergo is even greater.

The Idaho Department of Correction pays $88.24 per day to hold a death row 
inmate in custody at a maximum security prison - regardless if the inmate is on 
death row or not.

But that's where many of the similarities end.

The state has an Appellate Public Defender's Office with a capital punishment 
defense unit. From July 1, 2004, to Dec. 21, 2013, the office spent $477,716 on 
death penalty appellate litigation, according to the 2013 report. From 2001 to 
2013, staff at the office spent an estimated 79,178 billable hours on capital 
litigation for 10 defendants sentenced to death - an average of 7,918 hours per 
defendant.

By comparison, during that same time, the office's appellate unit accumulated 
only 16,980 billable hours of litigation for 95 defendants with a life sentence 
- an average of only about 179 hours per defendant, according to the 
legislative report.

NATIONAL CLIMATE

While neighboring states, such as Washington, have ceased carrying out 
executions, states such as Texas continue to perform them regularly.

On Jan. 27, 35-year-old James Freeman was executed by lethal injection for 
fatally shooting a game warden 9 years ago during a shootout after a 90-minute 
chase that began when he was suspected of poaching, according to the Associated 
Press.

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice has at least 8 other inmates set to 
die through July. Last year, 13 convicted killers were put to death in Texas, 
accounting for nearly 1/2 of all the 28 executions carried out nationwide, 
according to the Associated Press.

Many states, including Delaware, have not outlawed the death penalty, but they 
have put a stay on some cases.

In Delaware, at least 8 Kent County capital murder cases were put on hold Feb. 
1 as the Delaware Supreme Court considers whether the state's death penalty 
statute is constitutional after a recent federal ruling.

Superior Court President Judge Jan Jurden issued the order, which affects at 
least 40 cases being handled by the state's Office of Defense Services, 
according to the Delaware State News.

A series of Supreme Court decisions has affected multiple inmates on death row 
this month and last.

On Feb. 2, Florida's highest court delayed the execution of a condemned inmate, 
Michael Lambrix, just weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court found flaws in the way 
the state sentences people to death.

Lambrix was scheduled to be executed Feb. 11 for the murder of 2 people in 1983 
and the jury's death recommendation was not unanimous for either murder, 
according to the AP.

The U.S. Supreme Court found Jan. 12 that Florida sentencing procedure is 
flawed because it allows judges to reach a different decision from that of 
juries. Juries play only an advisory role in recommending death in Florida.

Judges have recommended death against the jury's recommendation in the cases of 
3 of Florida's current death row inmates, state officials said. The last time 
it happened was 1999.

With the 2016 presidential election season in full swing, multiple candidates - 
both Democrats and Republicans - have been publicly questioned on whether to 
outlaw the death penalty, varying widely in their responses.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Democratic presidential candidate, said in a 
recent debate he does not support the death penalty. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, a 
Republican presidential candidate, has said throughout his campaign he is a 
proponent of the death penalty as a potential sentencing option.

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

DEATH ROW INMATES


Inmates on Idaho's death row, according to the Idaho Department of Correction:

--Azad Abdullah, 38, entered prison in November 2004, at the age of 27, for 
1st-degree murder in the arson death of his wife in Ada County.

--David Card, 56, entered prison in September 1989, at age 29, for shooting t2 
people to death in Canyon County.

--Thomas Creech, 65, entered prison in January 1983, at age 32, for beating an 
inmate to death in Ada County.

--Timothy Dunlap, 47, entered prison in April 1992, at age 23, for 1st-degree 
murder of a woman during a bank robbery in Caribou County.

--Zane Fields, 57, entered prison in April 1991, at age 33, for 1st-degree 
murder for a stabbing death in Ada County.

--James Hairston, 39, entered prison in November 1996, at age 20, for 2 
shooting deaths in Bannock County.

--Erick Hall, 44, entered prison in October 2004, at age 33, for 2 counts of 
1st-degree murder for raping and killing 2 women in Ada County in 2000 and 
2003.

--Gerald Pizzuto, 60, entered prison in May 1986, at age 30, for beating two 
people to death in Idaho County.

--Robin Row, 58, entered prison in December 1993, at age 36, for the arson 
deaths of her husband, son and daughter in Ada County.

DEATH ROW HISTORY

Since 1977, Idaho has only executed 3 people convicted of murder. There are 8 
men on Idaho's death row and 1 woman.

In Idaho, 40 offenders have been sentenced to death since 1977. 21 of those 
inmates later received a sentence other than death, such as life in prison with 
or without parole. Since then, 4 died in prison, 4 were released from prison 
and 3 were executed.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice, from 1977 to 2013, 1,359 offenders 
were executed in the United States, 2 of whom were executed by the federal 
government.

Since 1864, Idaho has executed 29 offenders, according to the study.

>From 1998 to 2013, 251 defendants were charged with 1st-degree murder in Idaho, 
and prosecution sought the death penalty in only 42 of the cases. Of those 42, 
7 were sentenced to death.

In Canyon County, from Jan. 1, 1989, to Feb. 5, 2016, there have been 46 
1st-degree murder charges filed in the county.

Of those 46 cases, 25 were convicted, 1 was acquitted, two cases are pending, 
and 16 cases were dismissed. None of those people were sentenced to death. The 
Canyon County Courthouse only had records available for 1st-degree murder cases 
dating back to 1989.

The only death penalty sentence on record to come out of Canyon County was 
56-year-old David Card's case. Card entered prison in September 1989, at age 
29, for shooting 2 people to death in Canyon County on June 5, 1988. Qualifying 
for capital punishment

The proceedings in a jury trial for a capital punishment case are different 
than a standard felony trial, or even a non-capital punishment murder case.

To qualify for the death penalty, a jury must agree there are aggravating 
circumstances in the death without any mitigating circumstances that would 
cause a death sentence to be unjust, and the jury must have a willingness to 
impose a sentence of death.

An aggravating circumstance would include issues such as a previous murder 
conviction or if the murder was especially heinous, atrocious or cruel. A 
mitigating circumstance would include such issues as the absence of violent 
behavior or if the defendant was under extreme duress at the time of the death.

Capital cases have different sentencing procedures from non-capital cases in 
Idaho. The jury plays a significant role in whether a person is sentenced to 
death, whereas in other trials, jurors only declare a verdict.

If the jury finds no aggravating circumstances, the judge may sentence the 
defendant to 10 years to life in prison. If the jury finds at least one 
aggravating circumstance, but also finds mitigating circumstances sufficiently 
compelling to make the death penalty unjust, the judge sentences the defendant 
to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

According to the Idaho Statute, if the defendant is convicted of murder in the 
1st degree, there will then be a separate sentencing hearing. At that hearing, 
additional evidence may be presented and the jury will be given additional 
instructions. Additional information other than just the facts around the 
suspected murder.

At the conclusion of that hearing, the jury will then decide if the defendant 
will be sentenced to death.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Defense attorneys in capital punishment cases

To defend a suspect in a murder case in which the prosecution has announced its 
intent to seek the death penalty, defending attorneys must meet certain 
criteria and be death penalty certified, according to the Idaho Supreme Court.

Lead trial defense attorneys in capital cases must meet the following criteria:

1. Be in good standing with the Idaho State Bar

2. Be experienced and active trial attorneys with at least 5 years of 
experience in criminal defense or prosecution

3. Have served as lead counsel in no less than 4 felony jury trials that were 
tried to completion and served as lead or co-counsel in one case in which the 
death penalty might have been imposed, or served as lead counsel during the 
sentencing of a death penalty case

4. Are familiar with the rules, practice and procedure of the district courts 
in Idaho

5. Are familiar with and experienced in the utilization of expert witnesses and 
evidence, including, but not limited to, psychiatric and forensic evidenc

6. Have attended and successfully completed at least 12 hours of Idaho State 
Bar approved training or educational programs which focus on capital cases 
within the last 2 years

7. Have demonstrated the necessary proficiency and commitment which exemplify 
the quality of representation appropriate to capital cases, according to the 
Idaho Supreme Court

Co-counsel defense attorneys in the cases must meet the following 
qualifications:

1. Be in good standing with the Idaho State Bar

2. Be experienced and active trial attorneys with at least 3 years of 
experience in criminal defense or prosecution

3. Have served as lead counsel in no less than 3 felony jury trials that were 
tried to completion

4. Are familiar with the rules, practice and procedure of the district courts 
in Idaho

5. Have attended and successfully completed at least 6 hours of Idaho State Bar 
approved training or educational programs which focus on capital cases within 
the last 2 years

6. Have demonstrated the necessary proficiency and commitment which exemplify 
the quality of representation appropriate to capital cases, according to the 
Idaho Supreme Court

ADAM DEES CASE

In many 1st-degree murder cases, such as that of Adam Dees in Ada County, a 
defendant may plead guilty in exchange for prosecutors agreeing not to pursue 
the death penalty.

The 22-year-old Nampa man was charged for brutally killing 3 people in their 
Boise foothills home during a robbery. He pleaded guilty to 3 counts of 
1st-degree murder and 1 count of robbery.

Dees admitted to the March murders of 80-year-old Theodore Welp; his 
77-year-old wife, Elaine Welp; and their 52-year-old son, Thomas Welp, who were 
found dead March 10.

Ada County prosecutors said the Welps' family also did not want to undergo a 
lengthy death penalty trial.

Dees was sentenced in September to 3 life sentences plus 25 years without the 
possibility of parole.

CANYON COUNTY CASES

In Canyon County, from Jan. 1, 1989, to Feb. 5, 2016, there have been 46 
1st-degree murder charges filed in the county. Almost all of those cases were 
not death penalty cases, however.

Of those 46 cases, 25 were convicted, 1 was acquitted, 2 cases are pending, and 
16 cases were dismissed. None of those people were sentenced to death. The 
Canyon County Courthouse only had records available for 1st-degree murder cases 
dating back to 1989.

(source: Idaho Press-Tribune)