[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----N.C., OHIO, USA

[Rick Halperin]

May 16



NORTH CAROLINA:

Judge: DA can seek death penalty in 2014 beating, burning of Greensboro man


3 aggravating factors have moved the Guilford County District Attorney's Office 
to pursue the death penalty against a Greensboro man for a 2104 slaying.

Garry Joseph Gupton, 27, of 1312 Wiley Lewis Road, is charged with 1st-degree 
murder and 1st-degree arson in the death of Stephen Patrick White, 46, of 1722 
Aftonshire Drive, who died following a fire in a hotel room.

Prosecutor Robert Enochs said in Guilford County Superior Court on Monday that 
he would pursue the death penalty because White's death was especially heinous, 
atrocious and cruel; the crime was committed during the secondary crime of 
arson; and the crime committed a great risk of death to other people, by 
starting a fire in a hotel.

After listening to Enochs, Superior Court Judge David Hall announced there are 
at least 2 aggravating factors in the case and that it qualifies for capital 
punishment. The case was continued to an unspecified date. Gupton remains 
jailed without bail.

Gupton and White met at Chemistry nightclub and gay bar in Greensboro on Nov. 
8, 2014, then went to the Battleground Inn at 1517 Westover Terrace, police 
said.

In court Monday, Enochs said Gupton beat White while he was still alive and 
started a fire in the hotel room with a lighter.

White had burns on more than 1/2 his body, and his right arm below his elbow 
and his left arm below the shoulder were amputated in an effort to save him, 
Enochs said.

White died from his injuries at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center on Nov. 15, 
2014.

Gupton, then an employee with the city of Greensboro, was fired from his job 
the next day.

Gupton, now with closed-cropped hair, showed little reaction during his court 
hearing, other than to greet Hall when he first came into the courtroom.

3 of White's family members attended the hearing but declined to comment.

(source: News & Record)






OHIO:

Death penalty phase continues for serial killer Michael Madison


The death penalty phase of a trial for a man convicted of killing 3 women and 
wrapping their bodies in garbage bags is continuing, with a jury hearing 
testimony.

Monday marks the third day of testimony about whether 38-year-old Michael 
Madison should die by lethal injection or be sentenced to life in prison with 
no parole for killing 38-year-old Angela Deskins, 28-year-old Shetisha Sheeley 
and 18-year-old Shirellda Terry. Their bodies were found in July 2013 near the 
East Cleveland apartment building where Madison lived.

The jury that will make its sentencing recommendation to a Cuyahoga County 
judge convicted Madison of multiple counts of aggravated murder and kidnapping 
earlier this month.

Defense attorneys have argued that Madison shouldn't be sentenced to death 
because he suffered an abusive childhood.

(source: Associated Press)






USA:

Drug sales to American executioners blocked


The world's 2nd largest pharmaceutical firm has now officially withdrawn from 
the lethal injection drug trade, imposing strict distribution controls to 
prevent its drugs reaching execution chambers across the US.

In a strong statement released this afternoon, global giant Pfizer confirmed 
its opposition to the misuse of its medicines in American executions and its 
commitment to block all sales for that purpose.

This is a critical turning point in the history of capital punishment in 
America. From today, all FDA-approved manufacturers of all potential execution 
drugs - a diverse group of 25 global companies - have blocked their sale for 
use in executions.

As the biggest and best-known supplier, Pfizer's announcement cements the 
mainstream pharmaceutical industry position on lethal injection executions. It 
reflects widespread unease about the procedure, and raises fundamental 
questions about the administration of the death penalty in America.

Pfizer's investors played a role in its decision. One major shareholder - the 
New York State's pension fund, the 3rd largest in the US - has repeatedly 
raised fiscal and legal concerns following 'botched' procedures in states like 
Ohio and Oklahoma.

"Pfizer's actions cement the pharmaceutical industry's opposition to the misuse 
of medicines. Over 25 global pharmaceutical companies have taken action to 
prevent the misuse of their medicines in executions; with Pfizer's 
announcement, this will mean that all FDA-approved manufacturers of all 
execution drugs have spoken out against the misuse of medicines in lethal 
injections and taken steps to prevent it.

"Instead of passing secrecy laws intended to undermine the safeguards put in 
place by these companies, executing states should respect the legitimate 
commercial interests of the pharmaceutical industry and agree to stop misusing 
their medicines in lethal injection executions."----Maya Foa, Director of 
Reprieve's Death Penalty Team

(source: reprieve.org)

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

Drug drought----Pfizer's move throws a wrench into America's death-penalty 
machinery


"First, do no harm." Executives of pharmaceutical companies are not subject to 
this guiding principle of the Hippocratic oath - only doctors are. But 
increasingly, drug manufacturers are taking steps to ensure that their 
formulations do not wind up in syringes used for lethal injections of condemned 
prisoners. Last week, Pfizer, 1 of America's largest drug companies, announced 
that it would no longer supply prisons with seven drugs used to impose the 
death penalty. "Pfizer's mission is to apply science and our global resources 
to improve health and well-being at every stage of life", the statement says. 
"Consistent with these values, Pfizer strongly objects to the use of its 
products as lethal injections for capital punishment." The firm will sell the 
drugs "only for medically prescribed patient care and not for any penal 
purposes", and take pains to ensure that the "select group of wholesalers, 
distributors and direct purchasers" who buy these drugs - pancuronium bromide, 
potassium chloride, propofol, midazolam, hydromorphone, rocuronium bromide and 
vecuronium bromide - "will not resell these products to correctional 
institutions".

Pfizer's move will rankle a devoted but diminished swath of America. Though 31 
states still have death-penalty laws on their books, only a handful actually 
follow through. In 2015, a total of 6 states - Florida, Georgia, Missouri, 
Oklahoma, Texas and Virginia - hosted executions. And of the 27 men and 1 woman 
put to death last year (the lowest number since 1984), all but 4 were in the 
execution-leading troika of Georgia, Missouri and Texas. The execution method 
in all 28 cases - and in every application of the death penalty but one over 
the past 4 years (when Virginia electrocuted Robert Charles Gleason, Jr in 
2013) - was lethal injection. Pfizer's decision will exacerbate an already 
difficult situation for states seeking drugs that will reliably kill their 
worst offenders.

If it were not for the Supreme Court's 5-4 decision a year ago in Glossip v 
Gross, the task of sourcing the the deadly cocktails would be even tougher. 
Oklahoma and a few other states had turned to 1 of the drugs on Pfizer's list, 
midazolam, in 2013 when European drug companies opposed to the death penalty 
stopped supplying prisons with sodium thiopental and pentobarbital, 
barbiturates which induce a coma-like state. In Glossip, Richard Glossip and 2 
other Oklahoma inmates challenged their pending executions because they 
believed midazolam carried a risk of torturing them to death. They presented 
the nightmare of Clayton Lockett's execution in April 2014, during which he 
twisted in pain and regained consciousness to blurt out "this shit is fucking 
with my head" before succumbing after 43 minutes of apparent suffering. Along 
with several other horrific botched executions in 2014, Mr Glossip's lawyers 
pointed to Mr Lockett's experience as evidence that relying on midazolam to 
render a prisoner insensate was risky enough to constitute cruel and unusual 
punishment.

Mr Glossip lost his appeal and awaits execution on death row. Justice Samuel 
Alito found that Oklahoma had not made a "clear error" in choosing to use 
midazolam. He also reasoned that as long as the death penalty remains 
constitutional, it follows that there must a constitutional method of carrying 
it out. The Supreme Court gave Oklahoma and its sister death-penalty states the 
go-ahead to use midazolam in execution cocktails. But with Pfizer's 
announcement, it becomes unclear where the states will procure midazolam or a 
similar drug designed to sedate a prisoner before other drugs stop his 
breathing and heart.

The death knell for capital punishment in America has been ringing faintly for 
some time. After the death penalty started up again in 1976 following a 4-year 
hiatus, executions rose for 2 decades, reaching a peak of 98 in 1999. Since 
then, the number has steadily fallen, reflecting increased scepticism about the 
ethics of the death penalty, fewer states where the punishment remains valid 
and less willingness by state officials to implement it. Supporters are 
dwindling even in places where capital punishment is avidly imposed. In 2000, 
41% of people living in Houston, Texas - home to hundreds of executions over 
the last 30 years - said they prefered the death penalty to life imprisonment 
for 1st-degree murder. Today, support has fallen to 27%. With options for 
buying death-penalty drugs significantly narrowed, states face a choice between 
scrounging for surprisingly expensive medications through back channels, 
reverting to older, less sanitised execution methods like the electric chair or 
giving up on a punishment that most of America and nearly all of the 
industrialised world has already abandoned.

(source: The Economist)

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

Judge denies killer's request to move sentencing out of Boston


The new judge overseeing the 2nd sentencing of spree killer Gary Lee Sampson 
has turned down his attorneys' latest attempt to get the case moved out of 
Boston.

Lawyers for Sampson, a former Abington drifter who killed 2 people on the South 
Shore and a 3rd in New Hampshire during a 4-day rampage in 2001, have 
repeatedly argued that the publicity the case has garnered over the last 15 
years would make it impossible to find enough impartial jurors in the Boston 
area. Judge Leo Sorokin, who took over for Judge Mark Wolf earlier this year, 
said in an order issued last week that he didn't see a need to move the 
sentencing but would consider the issue against when attorneys begin choosing 
jurors this fall.

Sampson, 56, was sentenced to death by a federal jury in 2003, but Judge Wolf 
threw out the sentence eight years later after learning that one of the 
sentencing jurors had lied about her background. Sampson is again facing the 
death penalty in his 2nd sentencing trial, which Judge Sorokin has said could 
begin as early as September.

In a motion unsealed last month, Sampson's lawyers argued that it has become 
even more difficult to find impartial jurors in the Boston area because of the 
increased media attention that Sampson's case received during the trial of 
convicted Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who also faced the death 
penalty. Such capital cases are rare in Massachusetts, where the death penalty 
is prohibited under state law but can be imposed for federal crimes.

Sampson's attorneys are particularly concerned about media attention because 
they do not want jurors in the new sentencing trial to learn that Sampson was 
sentenced to death the 1st time around. Judge Wolf had granted a motion barring 
prosecutors from informing jurors about the previous verdict.

In his order denying lawyers' 1st request to move the sentencing trial, Wolf 
raised concerns about the publicity the case had received but concluded that 
Boston offered a large enough pool of potential jurors and that it had been 
long enough since the murders that it would be possible to seat an impartial 
jury. Sorokin said in last week's order that he didn't believe the situation 
had changed since Wolf's earlier ruling despite additional publicity and a 
relevant federal appeals court decision.

Sorokin also denied lawyers' request to have the death penalty taken off the 
table arguing because of Sampson's health, which his lawyers say is so poor 
that he likely won't live long enough to be put to death. Sorokin said the 
lawyers can make that argument to the jury once sentencing begins.

(source: The Patriot Ledger)