[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----KY., MO., ARIZ., CALIF., USA

[Rick Halperin]

March 17



KENTUCKY:

Prosecutor right to seek death penalty in Doolin case ---- Suspect innocent 
until proven guilty, but heinous case meets criteria


Like many of Kentucky's laws, the death penalty exists for good reason.

Those who commit the most heinous crimes, such as aggravated or premeditated 
murder, deserve to have the death penalty sought against them.

If a person who has committed murder falls under the statutes that qualify him 
or her for a death penalty prosecution, it should be sought in circumstances 
when the family of the victim and prosecutor are in accord.

In Kentucky, the death penalty isn't sought as often as in other states when it 
pertains to murder. Many times, a prosecutor will consult with the victim's 
family members and law enforcement to determine whether to pursue the death 
penalty. Sometimes surviving family members want the death penalty for the 
person suspected of killing their loved one, and in other cases they ask the 
prosecutor to send the suspect away for life.

The opinions of the family should be respected by the prosecutor, and we 
believe they are in most murder cases in our state.

If any case cries out for death penalty prosecution, it is the case against 
Timothy Wayne Madden of Scottsville, who is accused in the death of 7-year-old 
Gabriella "Gabbi" Doolin. Madden is charged with murder, kidnapping, 1st-degree 
rape and 1st-degree sodomy in the death of Gabbi, whose body was found in a 
creek behind Allen County-Scottsville High School on Nov. 14.

(source: Editorial, Bowling Green Daily News)






MISSOURI:

2 decades after murders, Lake of the Ozarks family still looking for 
justice----Convicted murderer Carmen Deck's continuing existence haunts the 
family of James and Zelma Long as does the push in some quarters to abolish the 
death penalty.


2 decades after the murder of a DeSoto, Mo.,couple with ties to the Lake of the 
Ozarks, their killer is still alive, appealing his death sentence though not 
his guilt.

Convicted murderer Carmen Deck's continuing existence haunts the family of 
James and Zelma Long as does the push in some quarters to abolish the death 
penalty.

On July 8, 1996, James and Zelma Long were killed in DeSoto by Carmen Deck who 
fired 2 gunshots into each of their heads during a burglary of the Longs' home. 
Jim was 69 years old and Zelma, 67.

The Longs had stayed in DeSoto for the weekend for a wedding, according to 
Karen Long, married to Jim and Zelma's son Bill.Bill and Karen are now full 
time residents of Lake Ozark.

Normally, Jim and Zelma would have been at their 2nd home on the Lake of the 
Ozarks. According to Karen, spending weekends at the Lake was the Longs' 
typical routine.

Jim and Zelma had loved Lake life - a balm after the death of their son in a 
car accident in 1972. They each had their own boat and would often go out 
crappie fishing, competing for the best catch. Among their neighborhood, Karen 
said, they were known for their annual holiday fish fries that close to 100 
relatives and friends would attend.

"He knew they were usually gone on the weekends," said Karen.

At the family's Lake home on the weekend of the murder, Karen answered the 
phone to a "terrible whispering" - her sister-in-law (Jim and Zelma's daughter) 
breaking down saying over and over "mom and dad are dead."

Karen gave the phone to Bill who got the awful news that his parents had been 
murdered.

Arrested the same day as the murder, Deck gave full accounts of what happened 
and was convicted in 1998 by a Jefferson County jury of 2 counts of 1st degree 
murder, 2 counts of armed criminal action, 1st degree robbery and 1st degree 
burglary.

On April 27, 1998, Deck received 2 death sentences for the murders, concurrent 
life sentences for the 2 counts of armed criminal action, consecutive sentences 
of 30 years imprisonment for robbery and 15 years for burglary.

He has since been through multiple appeals of his death sentences - 1 going all 
the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The death sentences have been tossed out in 
the appeals process twice based on technical issues during sentencing (1 from a 
missing line in the jury's written instructions that the judge read to the 
jury, and the other that went to the U.S. Supreme Court arguing bias was 
created because Deck was shackled during sentencing). Each time his death 
sentences have been thrown out, Deck has been resentenced to death again, the 
last being in 2008.

"What have we learned in 2 decades? We have learned this murderer is still 
guilty of pressing a gun to the scalp of 2 innocent people and pulling the 
trigger 4 times. Not in all the do-overs since 1996 has one attorney been able 
to say this was not true," wrote Karen in a letter to Lake Media.

According to Karen, in the appeals that went to the U.S. Supreme Court, the 
original jurors were not aware he was even shackled and assumed he was supposed 
to be for their safety.

"The jurors were seated after him; boxes of case files blocked much of their 
view of him. He had a free hand to flip his hair and touch his lawyer and laugh 
at us, the jury, and the entire system," she said.

In a later interview, Karen commented, "It's all a game to them [criminals], 
working the system. But this has destroyed Bill's family. His parents were the 
nucleus of the family."

Now at the federal level in a new appeal, the case has "languished" in the 
United States District Court, District of Missouri Eastern Division, since 
2013.

"While 1 judge sat on it with no deadline, finally recusing from the case and 
causing the case to be assigned to another judge. It still has the 2 more 
courts to go through before being finished," said Karen, who wonders whether he 
will actually be executed for the murders or if he will just die in prison of 
natural causes.

It's important to her and the Long family, she said, that he be executed and 
not just pass away in prison.

"Most of our family had never given the death penalty much thought before that 
time; now we were immersed in it," wrote Karen. "We only knew we wanted justice 
for something so cold, so vile, and so unbelievable that yet today it still 
seems like a nightmare we cannot awake from. However, nearly 20 years later, we 
are still waiting for that wheel of justice to turn. Jim and Zelma's friends 
are nearly gone, as are their siblings; none seeing what they thought would be 
a fulfillment by our judicial system. Their children are now reaching the age 
their parents were when time stopped."

As the 20th anniversary of the murders nears, family members of James and Zelma 
feel that justice has yet to be done with Deck still alive and still appealing.

As time goes on, the family - also victims of Deck's - continues to be hurt by 
a system that drags out the process and remains uncertain, as the case faces 
continual appeals over technicalities and a bill to eliminate the death penalty 
in Missouri is filed every session.

Bill and Karen Long have been advocates of the death penalty since the sentence 
was first issued against Deck. While they used to attend all the appeals 
hearings that they could and testify to the state legislature in favor of the 
death penalty, they've slowed down in the last few years as the system 
continues to cause frustration. 44 at the time of his parents' death, Bill is 
now 64 and not in the best of health.

"I'm tired of being told to forgive. You don't know until it happens to you 
what it's like. This isn't about forgiveness. It's about the law. 3 juries have 
all agreed, and they've picked it apart, picked it apart and picked it apart," 
she said.

In the meantime, Deck has shown no regret or remorse for what he did, said 
Karen, only appealing on technicalities, never disputing his actions.

In her letter, Karen wrote, "They like to say how expensive the death penalty 
is compared to Life in Prison, but they're not sure if they're talking Life 
without parole or just life. They're not sure if there has even been a true 
cost comparison in Missouri, some are not even aware Missouri does not have a 
death row. Please don't even mention colors, we all bleed red - the law is 
black and white. We have been told the public doesn't care if we lose the death 
penalty for the most heinous of crimes, such as in our case, 2 people shot 
execution style in the bedroom they shared for 49 years. They don't believe 
that most family victim members are frozen for decades following and can barely 
become motivated to go to work, complete daily living activities. They are just 
hanging on, unable to advocate for their loved ones."

Karen pointed out that there has never been a full study of the cost of the 
death penalty in Missouri, which does not have a separate death row but houses 
those convicts in general population in the maximum security Potosi 
Correctional Center.

She has become disillusioned, too, with legislators who first sought to use the 
aging case for their agenda but just as often now don't want to deal with a 
topic that is no longer a buzzword in politics - the lives and deaths of Jim 
and Zelma becoming a political football that now has become too messy to touch.

(source: lakenewsonline.com)






ARIZONA:

Court to review ruling that overturned man's death sentence


The Arizona Supreme Court has agreed to review a trial judge's decision that 
threw out a death sentence for a man convicted of killing a prostitute in 
Phoenix in 1993.

The state high court said Tuesday it will schedule oral arguments on 
prosecutors' appeal of a 2015 ruling by now-retired Judge Roberts Gottsfield in 
the case of Darrel Peter Pandeli.

Gottsfield ruled that Pandeli's former attorney was "deficient" in presenting 
evidence during Pandeli's original sentencing and that jurors weren't told the 
defendant suffered from a mental illness that affects his brain function.

The judge ordered a new penalty phase trial.

Pandeli was convicted for the 1993 killing of 43-year-old Holly Iler. She was 
found in an alley with her throat slashed and her breasts cut off.

(source: Associated Press)






CALIFORNIA:

American Bar Association president supports clemency for Chino Hills convicted 
killer Kevin Cooper


The president of the American Bar Association is urging Gov. Jerry Brown to 
grant notorious Chino Hills convicted killer Kevin Cooper, now on death row, 
clemency.

President Paulette Brown cast "considerable doubt" that Cooper received due 
process and constitutional guarantees in his arrest, prosecution and conviction 
in a letter she sent Gov. Brown on Monday.

In March 1985, a jury found Cooper guilty of the June 4, 1983, murders of 
chiropractors Doug and Peggy Ryen, their 10-year-old daughter Jessica Ryen and 
visiting neighbor Chris Hughes, 11. Joshua Ryen, the couple's 8-year-old son 
whose throat was cut, was the sole survivor of an attack that took place in the 
Ryens' home.

The ABA president's letter asserts "Cooper's arrest, prosecution and conviction 
are marred by evidence of racial bias, police misconduct, evidence tampering, 
suppression of exculpatory information, lack of quality defense counsel and a 
hamstrung court system."

A spokesman for the governor said he will not comment at this time on the 
association's plea or Cooper's clemency petition, filed in February.

Paulette Brown's letter says substantiated evidence of bias and misconduct by 
the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department and District Attorney's Office 
point to the possible miscarriage of justice and lack of due process as 
guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and according to bar association policies.

In supporting clemency, the only recourse left to Cooper - who has exhausted 
all other legal avenues before state and federal courts - Brown wrote: "The 
likelihood of injustice in this case is too considerable to allow Mr. Cooper's 
execution to proceed without additional and careful review in the clemency 
process. We request that you grant this reprieve and order a meaningful 
investigation into Mr. Cooper's case to prevent the possibility of a 
miscarriage of justice - one that can never be undone."

In November 2015, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a federal 
district court ruling that declared California's death penalty 
unconstitutional, clearing the way for the state to resume executions.

On Feb. 17, Sacramento attorney Norman C. Hile and Oakland attorney David T. 
Alexander, attorneys for Cooper, submitted a petition for clemency to Gov. 
Brown and additionally requested the governor order all documents, DNA and 
chemical tests and test results, and physical evidence, particularly those 
items withheld or excluded from Cooper's defense teams since June 1983, to now 
be released to Cooper's current attorneys, defense team and the governor's 
office for a more thorough investigation.

The clemency petition - a 235-page document that alleges tampering and 
misconduct in the case - also asks Gov. Brown to authorize a new hearing to 
determine Cooper's guilt or innocence and to investigate violations of his 
legal, civil and human rights by San Bernardino County, state and court law 
enforcement and judicial officials.

Cooper's clemency plea and request for a review hearing are also supported by 
numerous parties, including FBI agents, jurors who originally convicted Cooper 
and recommended the death penalty, expert forensic scientists, eyewitnesses and 
individuals whose information was never revealed to the defense team.

In her letter, the ABA president said the Cooper case has garnered national and 
international attention, including a nearly unanimous conclusion by the 
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights that Cooper's conviction and sentence 
violated his human rights. While the U.S. representative on the commission is 
prohibited from voting on an U.S. case or investigation, all other 
commissioners concluded the Cooper case is "a particularly unique example of a 
criminal justice system falling short at every stage," Paulette Brown wrote.

Her letter is bolstered by a 100-page opinion written by appellate Judge 
William Fletcher, who disagreed with the majority in a federal appellate 
court's refusal to rehear the case before the full judicial panel.

Fletcher's dissent begins: "The state of California may be about to execute an 
innocent man." 5 other judges joined his dissent.

Cooper's claims came to the American Bar Association's attention because they 
"implicate a variety of our policies designed to ensure that, (in death-penalty 
cases), we first have confidence that the process has been fair and all 
compelling claims have been subject to meaningful review," the ABA president 
wrote.

"Specifically," she continued, "the ABA is greatly concerned that although Mr. 
Cooper has exhausted all of his legal appeals, evidence has emerged in the more 
than 30 years since his arrest that continues to cast doubt on his conviction 
and that has never been comprehensively examined by any court."

The U.S. Supreme Court and the bar association consider clemency as a 
"fail-safe" function within the capital-punishment system, Paulette Brown 
wrote.

"Robust review and investigation" is especially needed in the Cooper case, she 
noted, "given the state's admitted mishandling and destruction of forensic 
evidence essential to the accurate resolution of this case."

(source: Daily Bulletin News)

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

Bar association asks for reprieve, review in 1980s murder case

The American Bar Association wants Gov. Jerry Brown to issue an executive 
reprieve and order a review of guilt or innocence for Kevin Cooper, sentenced 
to death in 1985 for the knife-and-hatchet slayings of four people, 2 of them 
children, in Chino Hills.

Cooper has exhausted all of his appeals and is expected to be among the first 
scheduled for San Quentin's death chamber when California resumes lethal 
injections 1983 murders. The last inmate executed in California was in 2006.

The ABA wants the reprieve to be in effect "until the investigation necessary 
to fully evaluate his guilt or innocence is completed," saying that evidence 
has emerged in the last 30 years since Cooper's arrest that "continues to cast 
doubt on his conviction and that has never been comprehensively examined by any 
court," wrote ABA President Paulette Brown.

The bloody June 4, 1983, attack for which Cooper was convicted took the lives 
of Doug and Peggy Ryen; their 10-year-old daughter, Jessica; and neighbor 
Christopher Hughes, 11, who was staying overnight at the Ryens' home.

The boy was a friend of the Ryens' 8-year-old son, Joshua, who survived the 
attack with a slashed throat.

The slayings took place 2 days after Cooper had escaped from the nearby 
California Institution for Men in Chino. Cooper admitted hiding in a vacant 
house near the Ryen home, but he denied killing anyone.

Brown said in her letter while her organization "takes no position on the death 
penalty per se, we have a strong interest in ensuring a fair and accurate 
justice system."

San Bernardino County District Attorney Mike Ramos said he was " disgusted by 
the comments made by the President of the American Bar Association and the fact 
that they show no concern or respect for the victims and their families in this 
case."

The ABA president cited several matters that she said raised questions for the 
ABA, including law enforcement's pursuit of Cooper, who is black, "despite 
considerable evidence pointing to multiple? white or Hispanic perpetrators," 
include Joshua Ryen's initial description of "3 white or Hispanic men" as the 
perpetrators.

She also mentioned other matters that Cooper's attorneys have raised in their 
appeals, including:

- A pair of bloody coveralls that a woman had given police and said they had 
been worn by her boyfriend, a convicted murderer, and might have linked him to 
the slayings. The coveralls were thrown away without any forensic testing.

-A blue shirt, possibly with blood on it, found near the attack and recorded on 
police logs but never handed to Cooper's defense attorneys. Police now say the 
shirt doesn't exist and was likely mistaken for a tan T-shirt also found near 
the scene.

- DNA evidence collected from the T-shirt that the defense has challenged as 
possibly planted, and which the ABA says has not been conclusively resolved, 
along with other DNA issues.

"Mr. Cooper's arrest, prosecution, and conviction are marred by evidence of 
racial bias, police misconduct, evidence tampering, suppression of exculpatory 
information, lack of quality defense counsel, and a hamstrung court system," 
Brown wrote

She said in her letter that the ABA would like Gov. Brown to take action based 
on Cooper's petition for executive clemency, which is now before the governor.

(source: The Press-Enterprise

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

Prosecution Rests Case in Trial of Alleged 'Grim Sleeper' Serial Killer After 
Showing Homemade Sex Tape and Interrogation of Lonnie Franklin


The prosecution rested its case in the Los Angeles trial of Lonnie Franklin, 
the alleged "Grim Sleeper" serial killer, after calling more than 40 witnesses.

Franklin, a 63-year-old married father of 2 and former LAPD mechanic and city 
sanitation worker, is accused of murdering 10 women and attempting to murder 
another. He faces the death penalty for his alleged 23-year murder spree. He 
has pleaded not guilty.

His trial began February 16.

Prosecutors Beth Silverman and Marguerite Rizzo have painted Franklin as an 
opportunistic killer who preyed on vulnerable young women with drug addictions. 
His alleged victims were discovered in alleyways in South Los Angeles starting 
in 1984.

Most of Franklin's alleged victims were shot with a .25-caliber pistol while 
others were strangled. Prosecutors say Franklin is linked to the murders 
through DNA and ballistics evidence.

During the trial, jurors heard testimony from law enforcement personnel who 
were involved in the 3-day search of Franklin's home and garage after his 
arrest in July of 2010.

Genaro Arredondo, an LAPD firearms examiner, testified that he discovered a 
photo of survivor Enietra Washington behind a piece of drywall in Franklin's 
garage.

Washington testified earlier in the trial that Franklin shot her, sexually 
assaulted her, and took a Polaroid picture of her before pushing her out of his 
car 27 years ago.

Also discovered in Franklin's cluttered garage were .25 caliber bullets, over 
$10,000 in cash, a Polaroid camera, bras and panties and a photo of victim 
Janecia Peters, which was tucked inside an envelope in Franklin's refrigerator, 
law enforcement personnel testified.

An undercover detective recounted following Franklin and his girlfriend to a 
pizza restaurant in Buena Vista on July 5, 2010 for a children's birthday 
party. The detective testified that he masqueraded as a busboy so he could 
obtain a DNA sample from Franklin.

DNA taken from a pizza slice and 2 napkins matched the Grim Sleeper's genetic 
profile, prosecutors said.

Yesterday, prosecutors showed a homemade video found inside Franklin's home 
showing Franklin having sex with an unknown woman and taking photos of her.

Later that day, prosecutors played a 40-minute interrogation video taken hours 
after Franklin was arrested.

In the video, LAPD detective Dennis Kilcoyne told Franklin, "You need to man up 
and start talking to us and tell us what in God's name caused you to do this."

Franklin denied that he had anything to do with the murders. He later asked for 
an attorney.

Franklin's defense attorneys will begin their case on Monday.

(source: people.com)

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

O.C. killer's attorney gets more time to fight death penalty verdict


A defense attorney representing convicted murderer Daniel Wozniak will have 
until the end of April to file a brief asking the court to throw out the jury's 
death penalty verdict.

Wozniak was expected to receive his final sentence in Orange County Superior 
Court last week. Instead, Judge John Conley granted public defender Scott 
Sanders additional time to file a court brief, which will seek a ruling 
vacating the verdict and replacing it with life in prison without parole.

Sanders plans ask the judge to grant a new penalty phase of the trial.

"The brief will include a detailed analysis of the trial and the relevant law, 
which the defense believes should be considered before a sentence of death is 
imposed," Sanders wrote in the motion.

Wozniak, 31, a community theater actor from Costa Mesa, was convicted Dec. 16 
of killing Army veteran Sam Herr, 26, and his friend Juri "Julie" Kibuishi, 23.

According to prosecutors, Wozniak was desperate for money to cover his rent and 
fund his upcoming wedding and honeymoon. So he hatched a plot to kill Herr, his 
neighbor, and steal $62,000 that Herr had saved from his military service in 
Afghanistan.

On May 21, 2010, Wozniak shot Herr twice in the head in the attic of a Los 
Alamitos theater, according to testimony from detectives and a videotaped 
confession from Wozniak. He then used Herr's phone to send messages to Kibuishi 
to lure her to Herr's apartment, where he shot her to death.

The next day, Wozniak returned to the apartment and staged Kibuishi's body to 
appear as if Herr had sexually assaulted her and fled.

Wozniak used an ax and saw to remove the head, hands and a tattooed forearm 
from Herr's body before dumping the parts in a Long Beach park.

Police arrested Wozniak days later at his bachelor party in Huntington Beach 
after ATM withdrawals from Herr's account led them to him, authorities said.

Wozniak is expected to appear in court May 20 for final sentencing. The date 
marks almost 6 years since Wozniak shot Herr in the attic of the theater.

Steve Herr, the victim's father, said the significance of the date isn't lost 
on him.

"I'm OK with that date," he said. "On the very last day of the 5th year it's 
time to put this thing to rest."

(source: Los Angeles Times)






USA:

A new team of lawyers could be taking over the federal death penalty appeal of 
a man convicted of killing a University of North Dakota student in 2003


A new team of lawyers could be taking over the federal death penalty appeal of 
a man convicted of killing a University of North Dakota student in 2003, a 
change that could lengthen proceedings that have already run nearly a decade.

2 specially appointed death penalty experts along with lawyers from the 
Minnesota public defender office have been handling the final appeal for 
Alfonso Rodriguez Jr. for nearly 6 years. Now they're asking a judge to 
transfer the case to the Federal Community Defender office in Pennsylvania.

Federal prosecutors declined to comment but are expected to file a response 
within 10 days.

The motion says the switch is needed because of staffing and personnel changes 
in the federal system and the Minnesota office. The Pennsylvania office is 1 of 
2 in the country with resources dedicated to death penalty cases.

The move would "spare the court substantial resources because the (Pennsylvania 
office) would not seek court funding for attorney hours, support services, 
expert expenses, travel, or any other expenses," the motion says.

U.S. District Judge Ralph Erickson in 2010 appointed prominent death penalty 
attorney Joseph Margulies, a Cornell University law professor, to lead 
Rodriguez's defense team. Another death penalty specialist, Michael Wiseman, of 
Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, is also on the case.

Joseph Daly, a professor emeritus at Mitchell Hamline School of Law who has 
followed the Rodriguez case and has participated in death penalty appeals, said 
there will likely be some delay but believes the move is driven by cost.

"I am sure Mr. Margulies is not billing at his usual rates but it is still 
probably much more than the expert lawyers for the Federal Community Defender 
office," Daly said. "That office is set up to do these kinds of cases, so I'm 
sure they will be able to move in quickly."

Rodriguez, 63, of Crookston, Minnesota, was convicted of kidnapping and killing 
21-year-old UND student Dru Sjodin, of Pequot Lakes, Minnesota. Authorities say 
she was raped, beaten and stabbed by Rodriguez, a convicted sex offender.

It was the state's 1st federal death penalty case, tried by then-U.S. Attorney 
Drew Wrigley, who is now North Dakota's lieutenant governor. The case resulted 
in tougher laws, both on the state and federal level, for sex offenders. 
Rodriguez sits on death row in Terre Haute, Indiana.

Hearings in the case are already scheduled into 2017. The next hearing is set 
for Oct. 15 to discuss mental health issues brought up in the appeal.

(source: Associated Press)

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

Hillary Clinton death-penalty shame: While more states move away from capital 
punishment, she refuses ---- Earlier this week, the Democratic frontrunner 
fumbled a question about capital punishment. There's a reason why


At the Democratic town hall on Sunday night, a man named Ricky Jackson, who 
spent ages 18 through 58 on death row for a crime he didn't commit, rose to ask 
former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton a question about the death penalty. 
Clinton, whose opinion on the death penalty has changed over the years, had a 
real chance to come out unequivocally against the death penalty.

Instead, she floundered. After trying to explain to a formerly condemned man 
the distinction between the federal crimes she'd like to use the death penalty 
for and why those situations aren't at all like Jackson's, she ended with this 
word salad:

But what happened to you was a travesty, and I just can't even imagine what you 
went through and how terrible those days and nights must have been for all of 
those years. And I know that all of us are so regretful that you or any person 
has to go through what you did. And I hope that now that you are standing here 
before us that you will have whatever path in life you choose going forward and 
that you will get the support you deserve to have.

It's not hard to see why Sec. Clinton bobbled the question so badly. After all, 
it's not often that presidential candidates are forced to tackle the 
consequences of one of their policy positions head-on. But more clearly, she 
flunked the question because her position is completely indefensible.

The death penalty seems to be one of the only rungs of her criminal justice 
platform that she's not open to re-examining. In the 1990s, the then-First Lady 
lobbied for President Clinton's crime bill, a law that Senator Bernie Sanders 
also supported. Tough-on-crime policies were as common for Democrats as they 
were for Republicans of the era; during the 1992 election, Bill Clinton 
famously flew back to Arkansas to oversee the execution of a mentally ill man 
named Ricky Ray Rector, in order to make a political point that he was "tougher 
on crime" than the Democrats' previous presidential nominee, Michael Dukakis. 
Needless to say, these criminal justice policies were just one area where 
"bipartisan agreement" turned out to be an utter disaster.

Today, Sec. Clinton campaigns on the promise to undo all of the negative 
impacts of the prison system that were exacerbated by the crime bill and other 
'90s-era "bipartisan" policies, ending mass incarceration, committing resources 
to helping inmates re-enter society, ending racial profiling and "encouraging" 
the use of body cameras for police. The death penalty, however, is for some 
reason a bridge too far, even though it's disproportionately used against 
people of color, something that Clinton has failed to mention in her frequent 
references to white privilege.

It's hard to see what Clinton has to lose politically from taking this stance. 
This isn't just a fringe position anymore: 19 states and D.C. have abolished 
the death penalty, the most recent of them being Nebraska, where the mostly 
conservative unicameral Legislature (which is officially nonpartisan) overrode 
the governor's veto.

There are several reasons why why states are starting to dump the death 
penalty. One is that it's becoming more widely accepted that the state 
shouldn't execute its own citizens. And the states that do have the death 
penalty tend to be horrifically bad at administering it.

In an Atlantic cover story last year, Jeffrey Stern recounted the execution of 
Arizona prisoner Clayton Lockett, a man who told his stepmother he didn't want 
her to be present for the execution "because I don't think it's going to be 
very good." Lockett's prediction turned out to be accurate: He went into 
seizure and his groin practically exploded; the procedure was actually stopped 
because the doctor couldn't find another vein and there were no more drugs 
available to administer. It would take 10 more agonizing minutes after the 
doctors stopped pumping drugs into his body for Lockett to die.

Clinton's questioner, Ricky Jackson, could have faced a similar fate. Ohio, 
like Arizona, has had a problem with obtaining lethal injection drugs because 
their European manufacturers refuse to sell to American states who intend to 
use them for capital punishment. Jackson, it's worth repeating, was eventually 
exonerated. But even Lockett, who admitted the crime he was accused of, did not 
deserve the death that an American state subjected him to. Even the parents of 
8-year old Boston bombing victim Martin Richard agreed that Dzhokar Tsarnaev 
didn't deserve the death penalty.

Assuming Clinton doesn't change her position and then wins the White House, it 
is possible that Tsarnaev will be executed sometime during her presidency.

* * *

The United States killed 28 of its citizens in 2015, many of them in Texas, 
Missouri, and Georgia. 33 of the 50 states, plus the federal government and the 
American military, haven't carried out an execution in this decade.

One of those states that has carried out an execution in the last 6 years is 
Delaware. Delaware is a diehard blue state, one whose entire Congressional 
delegation, governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, insurance 
commissioner, and the majorities of both houses of the legislature are 
Democratic, and have been for some time now. The last three governors have been 
a Democrat for a total of 23 years, and it's widely expected that Congressman 
John Carney will continue that trend.

Within the past 4 years, Delaware legislators have tried to repeal the death 
penalty twice, once in 2013 and again this past year. Twice, it's passed the 
Senate and then failed in the House of Representatives, where the speaker, 
Democrat Pete Schwartzkopf, is a retired state trooper. The 1st time, it 
stalled in committee; the 2nd time, the state's governor signed onto the 
effort, but it was voted down in the full House, 23-16.

It's impossible to tell what the support of both of the Democratic candidates 
for president (Sanders is pro-abolition, and has said that the state "shouldn't 
be in the business of killing people") would have done to move the effort along 
in Delaware. It sure as hell wouldn't have hurt, considering many of Delaware's 
Democrats have already endorsed Secretary Clinton for the nomination.

But in an issue like the death penalty, it's as simple as being willing to 
lead, and bringing the rest of the party - and eventually, the nation - with 
you. Clinton may have looked terrible in her answer to Jackson, but her 
decision to continue supporting the use of the death penalty, no matter how 
minimal, may have ramifications for people in his situation for years to come.

(source: Salon.com)

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

Man Who Killed 2 Detectives Released From Death Row


A New York man who killed 2 detectives has been taken off of death row after a 
federal judge found that he is legally considered to be intellectually 
disabled.

Rowell Wilson, 33, was sentenced to death for a March 10, 2003, incident in 
which he shot 2 undercover NYPD detectives, James Nemorin and Rodney Andrews, 
reports WPIX. Both were shot in the back of their heads.

In court in 2006, a prosecutor said Wilson was part of a Staten Island gang 
called the Stapleton Crew. The prosecutor said Wilson may have been trying to 
steal $1,200 from the detectives while they posed as potential gun buyers.

Wilson was convicted by a jury and sentenced to death by lethal injection.

In 2010, the sentence was thrown out by an appeals court due to a jury error. 
In 2013, prosecutors repeated the penalty phase and a jury re-sentenced him to 
death. Wilson has been in a federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, since the 
2013 sentencing.

In 2012, Wilson impregnated a prison guard, Nancy Gonzales while incarcerated 
in New York City. Their child, Justus, was born soon after Gonzales was 
arrested, reports Daily Mail.

Gonzales was sentenced to prison for one year and one day for having relations 
with an inmate.

During a 2012 hearing, a judge found that Wilson's IQ scores may qualify him 
for being considered intellectually disabled.

The Supreme Court ruled in 2014 that IQ score alone was not enough for a judge 
to determine a person to be intellectually disabled.

After reviewing his findings, Wilson was ruled to be intellectually disabled on 
March 15 and was removed from death row. He will serve life in prison without 
parole, reports the Daily Mail.

(source: opposing views.com)