[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----GA., FLA., OKLA., UTAH, USA

[Rick Halperin]

Feb. 15



GEORGIA:

Kiwi's friendship with confessed killer, American Earl Lynd


David Perfect hopes the letters he's selling from prisoner Earl Lynd will 
generate debate about the death penalty.

His eyes well up with tears as he talks about the last time he spoke to his 
friend, Earl.

He hasn't been able to bring himself to look at the letters since his pen pal 
was executed in 2008.

Now, David Perfect is selling the correspondence, photos and gifts he received 
from the American murderer on TradeMe.

"Every time I see [the letters and photos], it's just Earl. He's there all the 
time. Earl will always be a part of my life, he will always be a part of my 
family's life."

Perfect's mother died when he was young, through domestic violence. He doesn't 
like talking about it.

He grew up thinking the death penalty was the only way to deal with murderers.

"But, through my own journey, I've realised you have to view both sides of 
everything so you can have a true understanding."

He headed to the library to learn more about capital punishment, which he now 
calls "state-sanctioned murder".

At the back of one of the books was a contact address for those who wanted to 
reach out to prisoners on death row.

"I can't recall exactly what I wrote. I was just asking if there was anybody 
with similar interests.

"I wasn't sure what I would find, the history of that person. I knew it would 
be quite challenging for me, but I felt compelled."

It was 6 months before he received his 1st letter from Earl Lynd, a man who had 
killed his partner and a teacher in Georgia, US, in 1988.

Lynd had been on death row for 15 years. His family had ultimately disowned 
him.

But Perfect embraced Lynd. He discovered Lynd's love for Harley Davidson 
motorcycles and the 2 "just hit it off".

"He was completely up front about it from the get go. He gave me his own 
history of what he had done and gave me a lot of background a lot of people 
weren't privy to."

It's clear Perfect feels some sympathy for Lynd, who told him he was in a 
whirlwind of hardcore drugs at the time.

"He's never denied the things he did - there is no denying that - but the 
justice system leaves a lot to be desired.

"And I believe people who commit a crime should be punished, but not kept in a 
6-by-4 cell for decades.

"We don't even treat animals like that."

But he still had to ask himself if he was writing to Lynd for the right 
reasons, and not due to a macabre curiosity.

"But it wasn't. It was a genuine desire to reach out and touch another human 
being. [Lynd] said many times his relationship with me was very important, but 
it wasn't just me. He'd talk to my son on the phone, have pictures drawn for my 
daughter and he was always asking me about my family.

"He was a very caring, loving guy."

He believes the person Lynd was when he committed the crime was a different one 
that Lynd grew up to be.

"At the end of the day, he's still a human being and he made some horrific 
choices and had an impact on so many lives ... but beneath that all he was 
still a good person once you peeled away the reasons why it had happened."

The pair would talk about once-a-month, a bit less when Lynd's requests for 
appeals were being denied; "He was really struggling with stuff, as you can 
imagine".

They spoke until Lynd was executed for his crimes in 2008.

"That final conversation was pretty hard, pretty tough. I told him how much I 
love him and he said how much he loves me. He wished me and my family all the 
best for the future."

Perfect's eyes fill with tears as he thinks about it inside his Hamilton home.

And now, 8 years after the execution, Perfect has decided to sell the letters, 
photos and gifts Lynd sent to him from jail.

As of 5pm on Monday, the TradeMe listing has attracted 42 bids for a total of 
$98.

And although Perfect knows he can't control what happens to it all once it's 
sold, he hopes it can spark a new debate about the death penalty.

"I thought, maybe, I should just destroy them, but there's no way I could do 
that. But if any good can come from it, I know Earl would be happy about that.

"I've gained my experience with Earl. He enriched my life and I believe I did 
the same for him."

See the listing (number 1029406369) on Trademe.

LYND'S CRIME

William Earl Lynd was convicted of fatally shooting his girlfriend on December 
23, 1988.

He was sentenced to the death penalty in Georgia, US, on February 27, 1990.

On May 6, 2008, the 53-year-old was executed by lethal injection. It took him 
17 minutes to die.

He was the 1st inmate to die by injection since September 1989, when the US 
Supreme Court agreed to consider whether the three-drug combination represented 
cruel and unusual punishment.

According to the Attorney General of Georgia website, CNN reports and the 
Ironton Tribune, Lynd and Ginger Moore were living together in Berrien County, 
Georgia, in 1988. They argued - while the 2 were high on Valium, marijuana and 
alcohol - and Lynd shot Moore in the face. She fell unconscious across the 
waterbed.

As Lynd went outside to smoke a cigarette, Moore managed to stagger to the 
porch where he was sitting. He shot her again and she collapsed.

He put her body into the trunk of Moore's car and drove to an old farmhouse 
before taking a nap. He then heard Moore kicking inside the trunk. Sheriff 
Brogdon testified that Lynd told him, with clinched fists, that he was "tired 
of that goddamn b---- thumping around in the car".

He opened the trunk, and shot Moore for the 3rd and final time.

He buried her body in a shallow grave he dug on a farm near Tifton, Georgia.

Lynd proceeded to drive to Ohio where he flashed his lights at another car.

That car was driven by Leslie Joan Sharkey, a home economics teacher. She was 
driving home early Christmas morning to spend the holidays with her family.

When Sharkey pulled over, Lynd attacked her and shot her 3 times with his 
pistol.

Although the victim managed to drive away and report the attack to the Ohio 
police, Sharkey died a day later.

Then the man-hunt began.

Lynd discarded most of the evidence against him, but turned himself into the 
Berrien County authorities.

Lynd had previously been on trial for various attacks, kidnappings and sexual 
assaults.

He spent 18 years on death row before he was finally executed.

He declined to make a final statement before his death.

(source: stuff.co.nz)






FLORIDA----impending execution

Death Row Inmate Argues To Delay Execution----Florida Supreme Court To Decide 
Whether Executions Can Go ForwardAttorneys for Florida inmate argue for 
execution delay


"That would be a catastrophic (decision), we have almost 400 inmates sentenced 
to death".

Florida's justices provided no reasoning for their decision Tuesday, but 
earlier in the day, they heard arguments from the state and an attorney for 
inmate Michael Lambrix, who told them the U.S. Supreme Court ruling should 
apply to all 390 people on death row.

Florida has an execution set for next week. If Salvador denies that request, 
McClain will be back before the Supreme Court next month asking to delay Asay's 
St. Patrick's Day execution.

Juries in Lambrix's case recommended death by 8-4 and 10 to 2 margins. No one 
should be executed, or sentenced to death, until the court unravels the many 
issues raised by the Hurst opinion. The court on Tuesday said that it would be 
delayed until it issued another order. Every other decision by a jury in a 
Florida court - from a civil contract dispute to a traffic or misdemeanor trial 
--requires unanimity. That leaves a big question.

A Supreme Court ruling on Florida's death penalty could have an impact on a 
local murder case.

Lambrix was sentenced to death for the 1983 slayings of 2 people he met at a 
bar.

The U.S. Supreme Court found Florida's death penalty system flawed because it 
allows judges, not juries, to decide death sentences. That decision led to a 
moratorium on executions whiles states rewrote their laws on capital 
punishment. Juries play only an advisory role in recommending death in Florida.

Florida's "statute is different", McClain said.

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, a Republican, argued in a court filing that 
it did not. "If Ring is not retroactive", prosecutors wrote in their brief, 
"then Hurst can not be retroactive".

Lambrix was scheduled to be executed February 11.

In court documents, Lambrix's lawyers raise a series of arguments that his 
rights were violated, including not being able to conduct DNA tests on the 
victims' clothing and on a tire iron that the state says was the murder weapon.

"Florida's death sentencing scheme has been declared unconstitutional, and 
consequently, everyone on Florida's death row should be given a life sentence", 
she said.

There's another group of people directly affected by the U.S. Supreme Court 
ruling.

Florida's death penalty is in trouble. Eaton says he understands there are more 
than 40 cases like that now. Now is the flawless time to reevaluate Florida's 
death penalty system and make some real changes. "All of those cases in the 
pipeline are going to end up being reversed and life sentences are going to be 
imposed on them", he says.

Some justices appeared conflicted about how to apply the Hurst ruling in 
Florida.

For death penalty opponents, Florida's majority jury provision is likely next 
on the to-do list.

(source: The Lake Andes Wave)






OKLAHOMA:

More than the Richard Glossip case: For the Constitution, for social justice, 
for reasons pragmatic and humane, put the death penalty into mothballs


The execution of Richard Glossip, a resident of death row at the Oklahoma State 
Penitentiary in McAlester for 18 years, has been delayed 4 times. He ordered 3 
"final meals," and ate 2 of them, each time awaiting his date with lethal 
injection.

After nearly 2 decades in prison, Glossip's most recent brush with execution 
(September 30, 2015) saw him pass most of one day in a mysterious form of 
solitary confinement, uncertain why prison officials were not going forward 
with his sentence in a "murder-for-hire" case dating back to 1997.

Scores of intelligent people who have reviewed the case, including this writer, 
believe there is more than room for doubt about his guilt. Many have always 
said there was insufficient evidence for conviction. Regardless, information 
from witnesses never heard by judges or juries has raised serious (and new) 
questions.

New witnesses stand ready to testify that Justin Sneed (the actual murderer) of 
inn-keeper Richard Van Treese has bragged about setting Glossip up to take the 
fall for the killing.

Before all that, many of us reached the conclusion that whatever else it is, 
the Glossip case is Exhibit A for poor defense counsel, and a matter not worthy 
of the Ultimate Sanction.

Glossip's is by far the best-known of the 5 pending Oklahoma executions. Doubts 
about his guilt should be sufficient reason for the state government to step 
away - permanently - from killing him.

The best solution at this point is to take steps needed to convert his sentence 
to life, and prepare for either a new trial or his release after nearly 2 
decades of incarceration. But concerns about executions reach beyond Glossip, 
and the dubious witness of one man given life in exchange for that testimony.

On at least 1 occasion, Oklahoma used the wrong set of deadly drugs to execute 
a man. The term "botched execution" has become a short-hand for the last 3 
scheduled deaths.

Knowledge of shocking procedural errors devastated public confidence in the 
system over the past year. Due to a greater stress on finality of judgment than 
on justice per se, the drug usage error was nearly repeated in the case of 
Glossip.

There are 3 broad categories of opinion in the current debate.

First, there are those who sincerely believe that state killings are immoral. 
(However, there is more to all this than merely the efforts of passionate 
advocates to stop capital punishment in all cases.)

Second, many believe the death penalty is morally permitted and can be 
constitutional, but even many of those people are reeling from the cumulative 
problems.

Third, some Americans believe the system - with 156 exonerations nationwide 
(including 10 in Oklahoma) - is so broken, dysfunctional and riddled with error 
that it is beyond repair.

I reside in the 3rd. The penalty is allowed under the U.S. Constitution and the 
constitutions of many states, but it is time to put it into mothballs.

Months ago, I encouraged a moratorium on executions. But now, I argue that even 
if the penalty remains on the books, it is best to set it aside for reasons 
both practical and moral.

Last fall, state Attorney General Scott Pruitt and Governor Mary Fallin went to 
the courts to gain a kind of moratorium. The state should never violate its own 
process ("protocols," as the rules are called) for the imposition of death.

After months of investigation guided by Pruitt, the multi-county grand jury is 
preparing to release a report - if not this month, at least this year.

3 high-ranking state officials who testified behind closed doors before that 
panel of citizens have resigned their posts and left state employment.

Despite the turmoil, A.G. Pruitt said in recent days he is prepared to start 
the clock ticking on all 5 pending executions - once the Department of 
Corrections is certain its protocol is ready.

But rather than continue to spend millions of dollars litigating individual 
sentences of death, Oklahoma should set the death penalty process aside.

Leaving capital punishment on the books but not in use avoids, as a conscious 
democratic and/or administrative choice, continued litigation and social 
division.

This will not fully satisfy those seeking outright abolition, but it would give 
lawyers who want a decision declaring the death penalty unconstitutional motive 
and opportunity to find another state through which to get their case back to 
the nation's High Court.

"Mothballs" for Oklahoma executions would not satisfy those who believe that 
because the death penalty is permitted under the law, it should be used for at 
least the most heinous cases.

But pursuing both such clear cases and much more dubious ones brought 
unsustainable expense and undermined respect for the rule of law.

It is a conservative value to believe that government should be limited in 
power. Even when the state has a particular power, it should not necessarily be 
exercised if its use becomes destructive of social comity, civil society, human 
relationships and the rule of law.

Let us reason together, changing direction in a democratic matter. Rather than 
insist that one side or another "win" this argument, use resources burned up in 
capital cases for other purposes.

Among those: Hold killers for life without parole, provide better legal counsel 
for murder cases, redirect resources from incarceration of the non-violent 
toward evidence-based programs of diversion, accountability and restitution.

This would square constitutional values with a practical shift toward other 
means for punishment of the guilty, and leave room for individual redemption 
and renewal.

The death penalty in contemporary America is such a broken channel for justice 
that the best thing to do is to step away - sooner, rather than later.

(source: Darla Shelden, The City Sentinel)






UTAH:

Bill Expanding Death Penalty to Human Traffickers In Some Cases Advances


A bill that would expand the death penalty to human traffickers reviewed 
approval from the Utah House Friday.

Sponsored by Representative Paul Ray (Republican - Clearfield), HB 136 - Human 
Trafficking Amendments allows the death penalty to be an option in the event 
that a homicide that occurs while an individual is engaged in human 
trafficking, even if the individual did not commit the homicide themselves. The 
bill originally stated that the death penalty would only apply when trafficking 
children, but Ray substituted it to include the trafficking of adults as well.

"If we are really going to get serious on human trafficking, we need to really 
put our money where our mouth is. We need to have some serious penalties," said 
Ray.

Representative Brian King (Democrat - Salt Lake City) questioned the deterrent 
effect of imposing capital punishment on human traffickers and asked Ray if 
there was any data backing it up from other states that have similar laws. "I 
don't really follow other states when it comes to drafting our legislation, so 
I'm not aware of any," Ray responded.

King finds that troubling. "If we don't have any information to suggest that we 
know that imposing the death penalty for human trafficking is something that is 
going to deter that, I would suggest that we're putting the cart before the 
horse."

King also pointed to the financial implications of further expanding the death 
penalty. "We've got a real problem when we start talking about expanding the 
list of crimes for which we impose the death penalty for purposes of the cost 
alone that is associated with doing that."

Ray believes having the death penalty as an option will make defendants more 
likely to plead guilty in exchange for a life sentence.

"This is a tool in the tool kit for prosecutors. If you have somebody who's 
just that heinous, they have that ability to go after the death penalty, but 
they also have the ability to plead out and allow us to continue on and have 
closure for that family."

This is not Ray's 1st foray into capital punishment. During the 2015 General 
Session, Ray passed HB 11 - Death Penalty Procedure Amendments, which allows 
for death by firing squad to be imposed if the drugs used to carry out a lethal 
injection cannot be obtained 30 or more days prior to the execution date.

The House passed the bill on a 44-28 vote and it now heads to the Senate.

Meanwhile, Senator Steve Urquart (Republican - St. George) is drafting bill 
entitled "Death Penalty Amendments," which would do away with capital 
punishment entirely.

(source: Utah Political Capitol)






USA:

Can we keep it real about Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia?


Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is dead at 79. The influential 
conservative jurist was found dead of apparent natural causes in a West Texas 
resort. And his family and friends should have the space to mourn him. But 
before we hear people sing his praises and suddenly morph Scalia's legacy into 
something we are unable to recognize, let us remember the judge for his record.

And that record was not kind to black people and those who care about civil 
rights and racial justice.

A Reagan appointee, Scalia was the longest serving justice on the court. His 
critics remember him as a polarizing and intolerant figure, and one of the most 
regressive voices in the federal judiciary.

A few years ago, he called the Voting Rights Act an "embedded" form of "racial 
preferment" for black people that discriminates against whites. "Whenever a 
society adopts racial entitlements, it is very difficult to get out of them 
through the normal political processes," Scalia said. "Even the name of it is 
wonderful, the Voting Rights Act. Who's going to vote against that?"

During recent oral arguments for the Fisher vs. University of Texas affirmative 
action case - in which a mediocre white woman shed white tears for not being 
admitted to college - Scalia promoted what is known as "mismatch theory." Used 
by foes of affirmative action, this is the white supremacist notion that 
blacks, who are intellectually inferior, are set up for failure when they 
attend colleges for which they are academically unprepared.

Scalia said "those who contend that it does not benefit African-Americans to 
get them into the University of Texas where they do not do well, as opposed to 
having them go to a less-advanced school - a slower-track school where they do 
well." He added: "One of the briefs pointed out that most of the black 
scientists in this country don't come from schools like the University of Texas 
.... They come from schools where they do not feel that they're being pushed 
ahead in classes that are too fast for them."

Opposing a new trial for death row prisoner Troy Davis in light of evidence 
pointing to his innocence, Scalia chastised his colleagues, arguing that mere 
innocence is no reason not to carry out a death sentence: This Court has never 
held that the Constitution forbids the execution of a convicted defendant who 
has had a full and fair trial but is later able to convince a habeas court that 
he is "actually" innocent. Quite to the contrary, we have repeatedly left that 
question unresolved, while expressing considerable doubt that any claim based 
on alleged "actual innocence' is constitutionally cognizable.

In 1994, Justice Scalia voted against a petition to hear the case of Henry 
McCollum, a black man who, along with his brother, were wrongfully convicted of 
raping and killing an 11-year old girl as a result of coerced confessions and 
no physical evidence. McCollum became the man to serve the longest time on 
North Carolina death row until he was released due to DNA evidence proving his 
innocence in 2014. And yet, Scalia had pointed to McCollum's case as a prime 
reason for having the death penalty, calling a "quiet death by lethal 
injection" an "enviable" fate.

Meanwhile, Scalia's passing is bound to create an epic political battle, in 
this already highly politicized election season. Republicans are now certain to 
make the 2016 presidential election all about the Supreme Court, perhaps even 
threatening to block anyone President Obama nominates. It is no secret the 
president now has the potential to tip the balance of the Supreme Court from a 
conservative majority to a liberal majority.

Obama said he would nominate a successor "in due time," while Senate Majority 
Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) believes the next president should make the call. 
"The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme 
Court Justice," McConnell said. "Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled 
until we have a new President."

"The President can and should send the Senate a nominee right away," said 
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV). "With so many important issues 
pending before the Supreme Court, the Senate has a responsibility to fill 
vacancies as soon as possible. It would be unprecedented in recent history for 
the Supreme Court to go a year with a vacant seat. Failing to fill this vacancy 
would be a shameful abdication of one of the Senate's most essential 
Constitutional responsibilities."

A number of successors to Scalia have been suggested, including Padmanabhan 
Srikanth Srinivasan, a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the 
District of Columbia Circuit, and an Obama nominee. Further, Kamala Harris is 
the 1st African-Americans and the 1st Asian-American state attorney general of 
California. And Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey has also been mentioned as a 
possible pick for the nation's high court.

As people remember the newly deceased Antonin Scalia and reflect on his life 
and career, there will be the temptation among Scalia's supporters to rewrite 
history and give his legacy a makeover. Let's keep it real and judge his record 
for what it was and resist the temptation to whitewash him.

(source: Opinion, David Love, thegrio.com)