[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----FLA., MO., OKLA.

[Rick Halperin]

Jan. 14



FLORIDA----impending execution

Florida asks court to deny inmate's execution-delay request


Florida asked the state's high court on Thursday to reject a condemned inmate's 
request to delay his execution based on the U.S. Supreme Court's finding that 
its procedure for imposing the death penalty is illegal.

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi's office said the U.S. Supreme Court's 
finding should not be applied retroactively to already-settled death penalty 
cases.

Ruling on the Hurst v. Florida case Tuesday, the nation's highest court ruled 
8-1 that Florida's procedure is flawed because it allows judges, not juries, to 
decide death sentences.

Michael Lambrix is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Feb. 11, and 
there are questions about how the Supreme Court's ruling will affect his case 
and those of Florida's 390 death row inmates. Lambrix was sentenced to death 
for the 1983 slayings of 2 people he met at a bar. Prosecutors said he killed 
them after inviting them home for a spaghetti dinner.

Attorneys for Lambrix cited the ruling in their request for a new sentencing 
hearing.

"The potential retroactivity of Hurst ... to Mr. Lambrix's ... case and 
potentially to many, many other cases ... is an issue that demands ... an oral 
argument before this Court," Lambrix's attorney William Hennis wrote.

In its reply, Bondi's office cited a previous U.S. Supreme Court ruling on a 
similar Arizona case to bolster its argument that the court's decisions cannot 
be applied retroactively to condemned inmates who have already exhausted their 
appeals.

"Lambrix's request for a stay should be denied," Bondi's office wrote. "It is 
time for Lambrix's sentence for these brutal murders to be carried out."

It wasn't clear when the court would rule.

(source: Associated Press)






MISSOURI:

Cape Republican co-sponsors bill to end death penalty


State Rep. Kathy Swan wants to see the Missouri Legislature repeal the death 
penalty.

Swan is 1 of 5 Republican lawmakers and one Democratic representative who have 
signed on to the bill.

In addition, the measure would mandate any person sentenced to death before 
Aug. 28, 2016, be given life imprisonment without eligibility for probation or 
parole, except by act of the governor.

The Cape Girardeau Republican said her co-sponsorship of the bill is rooted in 
her pro-life beliefs.

"Pro life doesn't just mean pro-life at conception," said Swan, who is Catholic 
and the only House member from Southeast Missouri to back the bill. The Roman 
Catholic Church repeatedly has come out against the death penalty.

She acknowledged past legislative efforts in the state House have failed to 
garner enough votes to repeal the death penalty. But she said such legislation 
at least has started the "conversation."

She added, "It creates an awareness about this issue."

Swan said, "I am absolutely not soft on crime." But she insisted there is no 
justification for the death penalty, regardless of how horrific the crime.

If this bill, HB 2064, became law, convicted murderer Russell Bucklew would not 
be executed.

Bucklew is on death row for the 1996 killing of a man during a crime spree in 
Southeast Missouri. Bucklew was convicted in 1997 for fatally shooting Michael 
Sanders of Cape Girardeau County in front of his 2 young sons, then kidnapping 
Sanders' girlfriend at gunpoint and raping her.

Bucklew had his death sentence stayed by the U.S. Supreme Court in May 2014. 
Attorneys for Bucklew and fellow Missouri death-row inmate Ernest L. Johnson 
claim medical conditions would make lethal injection too painful and have 
suggested the gas chamber as an alternative way to carry out their death 
sentences.

Bucklew's attorneys also have suggested death by firing squad.

State Rep. T.J. Berry, a Republican from Kearney, is the chief sponsor of the 
bill. Berry, who proposed similar legislation last year, has argued the death 
penalty is not a deterrent to crime when it takes an average of more than 18 
years to execute someone.

(source: Southeast Missourian)






OKLAHOMA:

Pittsburg County Killer nears execution as Federal Court rejects appeal despite 
claims of mental illness


A Pittsburg County Killer will be executed soon as a federal court rejects his 
appeal for habeas relief. Judges said that the man could have avoided death 
penalty if jury learned about his mental illness.

A man from Pittsburg County convicted of double slaying received a death 
penalty and will be executed soon, reported News 9. On Monday, the 10th U.S. 
Circuit Court of Appeals rejected petitions made by James Chandler Ryder, also 
known as Mitch Ryder. Ryder, 53 years old, was pronounced guilty of murdering 
Daisy and Sam Hallum in 1999 in Pittsburg County.

The court maintained the decision to convict Ryder with death penalty. There 
were claims that Ryder's lawyer did not thoroughly probe his mental health and 
ability to undergo trial. Judges claimed that things might have turned out 
differently for Ryder had he mentioned about his mental illness to the jury 
during trial. He could have been sentenced only with life in prison and not 
death penalty, judges said.

In a document stating the court's decision, judges wrote: "about his mental 
disorder."We acknowledge the tragic reality in this case: that Mr. Ryder's 
untreated mental illness may have influenced his decision to withhold 
mitigating evidence from the jury." They added that the evidence Ryder withheld 
regarding his mental disorder could have saved him from execution.

The judges also said that at the time of conviction, Ryder's mental health had 
not "yet deteriorated to the point where he was no longer legally competent to 
make that decision." Thus, they considered him as legally competent based on 
the court's retrospective competency determination, News OK reported. Ryder 
said that he would rather be executed than spend the rest of his life in 
prison.

According to McAlester News-Capital, Ryder was responsible for shooting Sam 
Hallum and bludgeoning to death Daisy Hallum in Longtown on April 9, 1999. The 
bodies were found on the Hallums' property, with Daisy Hallum found 100 yards 
from the house wrapped in a shower curtain.

Authorities believe that Ryder used a shotgun to kill Sam Hallum. It is 
uncertain when executions will resume in Oklahoma following failures by the 
state's Department of Corrections to perform the penalties.

(source: lawyerherald.com)