[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, MO., OKLA., KAN., S. DAK., COLO., UTAH

[Rick Halperin]

Feb. 11



OHIO:

High court upholds decision overturning death sentence for convicted killer of 
YSU student


The Ohio Supreme Court is refusing to reconsider its decision overturning he 
death sentence of a man convicted of killing a Youngstown State University 
student 30 years ago.

The state's high court revealed on Wednesday that it was rejecting the Mahoning 
County Prosecutor's motion to reconsider last year's ruling in the case of 
58-year-old Bennie Adams.

In a 5-2 decision handed down last October, the justices said that the state 
failed to prove that Adams committed aggravated burglary as part of his killing 
of Gina Tenney in 1985. A burglary conviction was needed along with guilty 
verdicts on rape, kidnapping and aggravated robbery charges to qualify Adams 
for the death penalty, according to the ruling.

The prosecution argued that the bottom line is that the jury unanimously agreed 
that Defendant purposely caused the death of Gina Tenney while committing 
aggravated murder.

Prosectuor Paul Gains said that Adams,"essentially stalked his young neighbor 
until he eventually forced his way into her apartment, hit her, raped her, 
strangled her with a cord, tied her wrists, suffocated her, stole her car, 
dumped her body in the river, tried to get money from her bank account, 
returned to her apartment to steal her television, and cleaned up trace 
evidence with her potholder."

The case has been sent back to Mahoning County for re-sentencing, which cannot 
include the death penalty.

Adams was long a suspect in Tenney's killing but was not charged until 2007 
based on newly developed DNA evidence.

(source: WFMJ news)






MISSOURI:

Budget Change Could Defund Death Penalty in MO


A proposed change in the state budget could allow opponents of the death 
penalty to attempt to pull funding for it.

Members of Missouri's execution team are paid in cash to keep their identities 
hidden, per the law - that includes the doctor that administers a lethal 
injection and a compounding pharmacy that makes the pentobarbital used. That 
money has come out of a fund for expenses and equipment in the Department of 
Corrections' budget, so state lawmakers and others looking at the budget didn't 
know how much was spent on executions.

A House subcommittee approved Representative Jeremy LaFaver's (D-Kansas City) 
proposal to create a specific line in the budget for executions.

"Including it in the budget in this fashion I think is going to allow for a 
little better transparency and tracking of this important task that our state 
does," said LaFaver.

If his action stands, legislators who oppose the death penalty could now see 
where it's funded in the budget and by how much, and could propose pulling that 
money. LaFaver wouldn't say if a proposal to pull the money for executions will 
be offered.

The idea passed a mostly-Republican committee chaired by Representative Kathie 
Conway (R-St. Charles), who says she supports the need for transparency as long 
as no identities of execution team members are released. Conway also said there 
is little chance an effort to defund executions would clear the Republican 
legislature.

"From what I heard happened in the Senate [Monday], yes I think that most 
Republicans are [in favor of the death penalty]. Personally, I am," said 
Conway.

On Monday the state Senate debated a proposed repeal of the death penalty. Most 
Republicans spoke against it and the issue was tabled.

The line LaFaver's action created includes a proposed amount of half-a-million 
dollars. Conway expressed concern about tying up that much money with the 
expectation that few executions will be scheduled during the 12 months it 
covers, beginning July 1.

LaFaver agreed to offer an amendment to reduce that amount to more closely 
reflect the execution-related expenses the Corrections Department expects, but 
he also wants additional money to cover potential federal fines. He referred to 
the Corrections Department Director, George Lombardi, last week telling the 
budget committee that the state has not issued federal tax reporting forms, or 
1099s, to members of its execution team going back to the mid 1980s.

LaFaver said money in that line beyond the projected costs of executions, 
"would also allow for the payment of any penalties that would be assessed to 
the state from the IRS for not complying with the federal tax law requirements 
of issuing a 1099."

LaFaver said he will work to come up with a figure more reflective of potential 
execution costs and IRS penalties to propose to the full budget committee when 
it considers the corrections budget.

The full budget committee is the next stop for that bill.

(source: ozarksfirst.com)






OKLAHOMA:

New Oklahoma prisons chief: Facilities crumbling, morale low


A longtime Republican political operative who previously headed the Federal 
Emergency Management Agency has the daunting task of leading Oklahoma's 
overcrowded and underfunded prison system, which has come under scrutiny after 
problematic executions.

Joe Allbaugh said Wednesday that he's made unannounced visits to more than a 
dozen Oklahoma prisons. He says facilities are crumbling and overcrowded, 
guards are underpaid and understaffed, morale is low and the state is 
ill-prepared to handle a projected increase in inmates.

The 63-year-old Oklahoma native was appointed interim director last month and 
says he's still interested in taking the job full time and working to turn 
things around.

He's a death penalty supporter and says he's ready to update the state's 
execution protocols, which are the subject of a grand jury investigation.

(source: Associated Press)






KANSAS:

Bledsoe case good reason to abolish penalty


Jailed wrongly in a 1999 murder case, Floyd Bledsoe spent 16 years behind bars 
before being exonerated in December in Jefferson County.

He is one of many.

Of the 149 exonerations in the U.S. last year, 58 involved homicide cases. On 
average, an exonerated person has spent more than 14 years in prison.

"I think it's starting to be accepted in the general public that mistakes 
happen and the mistakes need to be fixed," Oliver Burnette, executive director 
of the Midwest Innocence Project, recently told the Topeka Capital-Journal. 
"Last year was a blockbuster year for exonerations. Every year is."

The high number of wrongly convicted inmates in our prison system makes it all 
the more urgent to abolish the capital punishment.

While not all of those murder cases were capital cases, some of them were. And 
it's now clear from evidence after past executions that some defendants in this 
country were wrongly put to death.

Bledsoe, now adjusting to life outside of prison, recently testified before the 
Kansas legislative committee, urging them to repeal the state's death penalty 
law. He said it all.

"We must stop the death penalty today. Tomorrow it might be too late for 1 
person."

(source: Ther Marysville Advocate)

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

Repeal the death penalty


It is time to repeal the death penalty. State Representative Steven Becker, 
along with 11 Republican and six Democrat House members, have introduced Bill 
2515 that calls for repeal of the death penalty in Kansas and would replace it 
with a maximum sentence of life without parole.

According to the Kansas Coalition Against the Death Penalty, the bill has a 
good chance of passing IF it can get a committee hearing. Chairman Barker of 
the Judiciary Committee has already said that he will not give the bill a 
hearing. But John Rubin, Chair of the House Corrections and Juvenile Justice 
Committee, has requested that the bill be assigned to his committee for a 
hearing.

So, the important action at this time is to ask Ray Merrick, the House Speaker, 
to give HB 2515 a hearing. This bill deserves discussion and debate, which is 
only possible with a hearing. Contact information for Ray Merrick: 
ray.merrick at house.ks.gov Phone number is (785) 296-2302.

Repealing the death penalty is too important a moral as well as financial issue 
to let this opportunity pass.

Valetta Seymour, Moundridge

(source: Letter to the Editor, The Kansan)






SOUTH DAKOTA:

Attempt To End Death Penalty In SD Fails


A bill to end the death penalty in South Dakota failed in the state 
legislature. State Senator Art Rusch, who spent many years as a prosecutor and 
circuit judge, brought Senate Bill 94 to the House State Affairs Committee 
Wednesday.

Testimony on both sides was often emotional. Lynnette Johnson of Sioux Falls 
lost her husband on his 63rd birthday in 2011. Ronald "RJ" Johnson was attacked 
and killed during an escape attempt by 1 men serving life prison terms. 
Johnson's widow is opposed to repealing executions in the state.

"Can you imagine the pain? Look at his hands, look at his fingers. This is his 
finger; look at it. Look at it. He fought so hard to stay with us - can you 
imagine? Just until his hands couldn't take it anymore. Until his hands 
couldn't take it anymore - he had to drop his hands," Johnson says. "And you 
know what? They didn't have to, because there was certainly nobody around to 
help Ron; he was in this building by himself. But look it. Look what they did 
to my Ron."

Compare Lynnette Johnson's thoughts to those of SuZanne Bosler, whose father 
was stabbed 24 times and died of his wounds. Bosler told the Senate State 
Affairs Committee she had a chance to have her father's killer put to death - 
and didn't.

"I considered, and I learned that James Byrd Campbell's title, like everybody 
else on death row, is 'murderer.' And I felt if I was going to help the 
government plan to kill him, then that would be my title too. And I refuse - I 
refuse to be like him. I refuse to be like him," Bosler says. "I hold onto my 
father's belief in the sanctity of life - his integrity, his true convictions 
on how precious life was - everybody's life was to him."

Attorney General Marty Jackley says he's aware of the strong feelings for and 
against executions in the state. He says his job is to protect innocent lives 
in South Dakota.

"And unfortunately, in our society there are just some individuals that are so 
dangerous, so vile, that in order to protect innocent life, you might have to 
take a life," Jackley says.

The State Affairs Committee defeated a "do pass" motion on the measure; members 
then deferred Senate Bill 94 to the 41st Legislative Day.

(source: sdpb.org)

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

Senate committee rejects measure to repeal death penalty


A Senate committee has defeated a measure that would repeal the death penalty 
in South Dakota.

The Senate State Affairs committee voted 7-2 on Wednesday against the plan.

Republican Sen. Arthur Rusch, a former judge, is the measure's Senate sponsor. 
He says the practice overburdens counties and traumatizes jurors and court 
personnel.

Rusch told the committee that he has personally prosecuted a death penalty case 
and has seen the damaging effects firsthand.

Rusch says death penalty cases are unfairly taxing on county governments and 
have long-term effects on those involved. He also says he doesn't believe the 
punishment is an effective deterrent on crime.

The committee voted down 2 measures to repeal or limit the death penalty last 
session.

(source: Associated Press)


COLORADO:

Bill to make death penalty easier to give fails


A bill that would make it easier for Colorado juries to give the death penalty 
failed Wednesday when a Republican senator joined Democrats in saying that 
unanimous verdicts for capital punishment should stay a requirement.

The measure was inspired by 2 verdicts last year, in which jurors couldn't 
agree on execution for mass murderers and the defendants received life in 
prison.

A Denver jury last summer refused to give the death penalty to a man who 
stabbed 5 people to death in a bar in 2012. A few weeks earlier, suburban 
Denver jurors couldn't agree on execution for theater shooter James Holmes, who 
killed 12 people in 2012.

The life sentence for Holmes in particular showed that Colorado's death penalty 
system is "broken," said Sen. Kevin Lundberg, the bill's sponsor. His measure 
would have changed death verdict requirements from a 12-0 jury vote to 11-1.

"I believe it's tainted the entire process, and we need to address this issue 
that the policy of Colorado of having the death penalty for the most heinous 
crimes is attainable," Lundberg said.

Colorado has executed just 1 person in nearly 1/2 a century, and only 3 people 
sit on its death row.

Sen. Ellen Roberts, the Republican head of the committee that heard the bill, 
helped voted it down. It failed 3-2.

"The death sentence is a very drastic state action. We need to be absolutely 
sure," Roberts of Durango said after the vote.

The hearing attracted a few dozen death penalty opponents, some of whom carried 
signs outside urging Colorado to continue requiring unanimous verdicts for the 
death penalty.

"The decision to impose the sentence of death is probably the most serious 
decision we ask any citizen sitting on a jury to make," said Peter Severson, 
director of the Lutheran Advocacy Ministry-Colorado.

Only 1 witness testified in favor of the change - Tom Sullivan, father of 
theater shooting victim Alex Sullivan. He talked about how upset he was that 
the Holmes jury couldn't agree on execution.

"I thought that the violence of this crime ... would be enough for the verdict 
to be death. I was wrong," Tom Sullivan said.

Roberts said before the vote that she "too was dumbfounded by the result of the 
Holmes trial," adding that she doesn't oppose the death penalty.

(source: Associated Press)

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

Colorado bill to allow death sentence without unanimous vote dies----The bill 
was killed with a 3-2 vote in the Colorado Senate Judiciary Committee


Colorado lawmakers Wednesday killed a bill that would have eliminated the 
requirement that death sentences be unanimous by jurors.

The bill died in the Senate Judiciary Committee on a 3-2 vote.

Originally, the bill sought to allow a death sentence if at least nine of the 
12 jurors voted for it. But the bill's sponsor, Sen. Kevin Lundberg, 
R-Berthoud, amended the bill Wednesday, changing the requirement from nine 
jurors to 11.

10 people testified in opposition to the bill during the packed committee 
hearing, including representatives from the Colorado Public Defender's office, 
religious organizations and anti-death penalty groups.

Richard Dieter of the Death Penalty Information Center said even with the 
amendments, the legislation would make Colorado's death sentencing process 
unlike any other state in the country.

"Standing alone does put you in a target zone," Dieter said.

Tom Sullivan, whose son, Alex, was killed during an attack at an Aurora movie 
theater on July 20, 2012, was the only person to testify in favor of the bill.

James Holmes, the man convicted of killing Sullivan's son and 11 others, was 
sentenced to life after the jury in his case was not unanimous in their final 
vote.

"I'm not sure if justice was served if only one person voted no," Sullivan 
said.

(source: The Denver Post)






UTAH:

Lawmaker unveiling plan to abolish death penalty in Utah


A Republican state lawmaker wants Utah to join 19 states and the District of 
Columbia in abolishing the death penalty, but supporters of the idea 
acknowledge it's a longshot in the conservative state.

The proposal from Sen. Steve Urquhart has not yet bene unveiled. The Republican 
lawmaker from St. George says it would allow executions to go forward for the 9 
people on death row in Utah.

Urquhart said he doesn't want to interfere with those cases out of concern for 
the family members of victims.

But he says the delays and costs associated with executions make it an 
ineffective punishment and he's not sure the government should be in the 
business of killing people.

(source: Associated Press)