[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, KY., OHIO, ARK., NEV., CALIF.

[Rick Halperin]

Oct. 8




TEXAS:

Executions under Greg Abbott, Jan. 21, 2015-present----20

Executions in Texas: Dec. 7, 1982----present-----538

Abbott#--------scheduled execution date-----name------------Tx. #

21---------December 7---------------John Battaglia--------539

22---------January 11---------------Christopher Wilkins----540

23--------January 25-------------Kosoul Chanthakoummane----541

24---------January 26---------------Terry Edwards---------542

25---------February 7---------------Tilon Carter----------543

26---------April 12-----------------Paul Storey-----------544

(sources: TDCJ & Rick Halperin)






KENTUCKY:

More DNA tests requested in Timothy Madden case


Timothy Madden's defense attorney has requested forensic testing on additional 
items. The court document lists 5 DNA tests.

The Commonwealth's reply to this request is due on October 21, 2016.

Madden is accused of raping and killing 7-year-old Gabbi Doolin on the campus 
of Allen County-Scottsville High School on November 14, 2015. He is facing the 
death penalty.

Madden will be back in court on November 9, 2016 at 1:30 pm.

(source: WBKO news)






OHIO:

Ohio adds details on new 3-drug combination for executions


Ohio has laid out the dosages it would use in a new 3-drug combination to be 
administered when the state resumes executions in January.

Rules for the procedure were filed Friday in federal court, formalizing changes 
announced Monday.

Since early 2014, Ohio has been under an unofficial execution moratorium blamed 
on shortages of lethal drugs.

The updated execution policy calls for using 500 milligrams of midazolam, which 
puts the inmate to sleep; 1,000 milligrams of rocuronium bromide, which 
paralyzes the inmate; and 240 milliequivalents of potassium chloride, which 
stops the heart.

Another 500 milligrams of midazolam would be kept in reserve and administered 
if the 1st dose is insufficient. Additional doses could be added to assure the 
inmate is unconscious before the second and third drugs are administered.

(source: Daily Journal)






ARKANSAS:

State justices won't tip hand on death stay ---- Inmates' lawyer asks U.S. for 
more time to file appeal


Arkansas' highest court is not saying if it will accept a hypothetical U.S. 
Supreme Court decision that eight death row inmates need more time to mount an 
appeal of the state's execution law.

The prisoners -- who have had their executions stayed as they mount their case 
-- sought a clarification from the Arkansas Supreme Court if that stay would 
continue should a U.S. justice extend their filing deadline. The Arkansas court 
on Thursday declined to offer its opinion.

After the state court's ruling, Jeff Rosenzweig, the head lawyer for the 8 
prisoners, said he would file an appeal on time.

The law on the 3-drug method of lethal injection used in Arkansas was upheld in 
June by the Arkansas Supreme Court, which also ordered the executions of 
inmates be placed on a 90-day hold, the time in which a normal appeal to the 
U.S. high court must be filed. The stay could be extended, the Arkansas court 
said, "for good cause."

The original deadline to file their case with the U.S. Supreme Court is Oct. 
19, though Rosenzweig has sought a 30-day extension with Justice Samuel Alito, 
who oversees such requests within the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which 
includes Arkansas.

Alito has not said if he will allow an extension. In his motion filed Sept. 23, 
Rosenzweig asked if the Arkansas justices would view a possible extension from 
Alito as "good cause," or if they would leave that determination to themselves.

If the petition is filed and the U.S. Supreme Court decides to take the case, 
the stay on the inmates' executions will remain until the justices decide the 
case.

Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge's office has filed responses with 
Alito and the Arkansas Supreme Court arguing that further delaying the inmates' 
appeal would unfairly limit the state's ability to execute them because one of 
the drugs used in executions expires Jan. 1.

Rutledge asked the Arkansas Supreme Court not to address Rosenzweig's request 
for clarification. She also asked Alito not to allow an extension.

Thursday, the Arkansas court denied Rosenzweig's motion for clarification as 
premature, and did not give a written opinion explaining its decision. Justice 
Paul Danielson was the only member of the court to dissent, though he did not 
say if he would allow an extension or not.

Rosenzweig, a Little Rock attorney who often works on death-penalty cases, 
wrote in his request to the Arkansas court that he is also preparing for an 
unrelated murder trial in November and that other lawyers working with him are 
busy with cases of their own.

In order to ease their burden, Rosenzweig said a Washington, D.C., law firm, 
Venable LLP, has agreed to provide free assistance with the inmates' appeal to 
the U.S. Supreme Court.

"We're going to file [the petition] timely, the question is how much time do we 
have," Rosenzweig said in an interview.

The 8 inmates who were scheduled for execution are Don Davis, Stacey Johnson, 
Jack Jones Jr., Jason McGehee, Terrick Nooner, Bruce Earl Ward, Kenneth 
Williams and Marcel Williams.

Their deaths have been on hold since they filed a lawsuit last year challenging 
a 2015 change to the state's execution law that made the manufacturers of the 
3-drug cocktail exempt from public disclosure.

A 9th death-row inmate, Ledell Lee, has joined the case but has not had his 
execution scheduled.

The state's supply of vecuronium bromide, an anesthetic, expired at the end of 
June, but the Department of Correction was able to obtain a new supply. 
Arkansas' supply of potassium chloride, another drug used in executions, is set 
to expire Jan. 1.

"[The] prisoners concede that they do not need additional time to complete 
their petition for certiorari and any extension would be little more than a 
thinly veiled attempt to extend the stay until after 1 of the drugs used in the 
State of Arkansas's lawful execution protocol expires," Deputy Arkansas 
Solicitor General Nicholas Bronni wrote last month in a response filed with the 
state Supreme Court.

Bronni's response also accuses Rosenzweig and the prisoners of waiting 2 months 
before hiring Venable to assist in the case.

An international firm with 600 lawyers and offices in 9 U.S. cities, Venable 
also employs former U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor of Arkansas. Pryor said in an email to 
a reporter this week he is not involved in the case.

(source: arkansasonline.com)






NEVADA:

Nevada receives no bids from companies to supply lethal-injection drugs


Nevada prison officials said Friday the state will have to explore its options 
to carry out executions after it received no bids from pharmaceutical companies 
to supply drugs for lethal injections.

The state issued 247 requests for proposals on Sept. 2 after its stockpile of 
at least 1 drug used in executions had expired. Not one response was received.

"We are confident the Purchasing Division solicited thoroughly for vendors," 
James Dzurenda, director of the Nevada Department of Corrections, said in a 
statement.

"Now we will work closely with the attorney general, the governor and the 
Legislature to examine our options and decide the best course of action moving 
forward."

Dzurenda in August told the state Board of Prison Commissioners chaired by Gov. 
Brian Sandoval that 1 of 2 drugs needed to execute a condemned inmate by lethal 
injection has expired and the drug company Pfizer refused to provide more 
supplies.

Nevada has used the drugs midazolam and hydromorphone to administer a lethal 
injection. Both are manufactured by Pfizer.

"Pfizer makes its products to enhance and save the lives of the patients we 
serve," the company said in a statement issued earlier this year. "Consistent 
with these values, Pfizer strongly objects to the use of its products as lethal 
injections for capital punishment."

The Nevada Legislature in the 2015 session approved spending $858,000 to build 
a new execution chamber at Ely State Prison, to replace the chamber in the 
now-closed Nevada State Prison in Carson City.

Officials have said that project is scheduled to be completed by Nov. 1 and the 
space will be used for storage and as an attorney-inmate meeting area if no 
executions are scheduled to go forward.

There are 81 inmates on Nevada's death row. No executions are on the immediate 
horizon. Without the supply of drugs, they could not be carried out even if one 
is ordered.

Under state law, Nevada is required to use lethal injection for executions. 
Changing the method Nevada uses to carry out executions would require approval 
by the state Legislature.

It's unknown what "options" Nevada officials might consider if drugs cannot be 
found.

Nevada is not alone in its inability to acquire drugs used to kill condemned 
inmates. In a recent article, Jennifer Horne with the Council of State 
Governments said dozens of states face the same dilemma. Some states are 
changing their protocols to use different drugs and some are trying to obtain 
drugs from foreign suppliers.

"Many states will have to change their method of execution, which means 
regulatory changes that have to be approved and lengthy court challenges," 
Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, 
told Horne. "In many states, this could take months, if not years, delaying 
executions."

The last execution occurred at the Nevada State Prison on April 26, 2006, when 
Daryl Mack was put to death. Mack was executed for the rape and murder of a 
Reno woman, Betty Jane May, in 1988.

(source: Las Vegas Review-Journal)






CALIFORNIA:

Parolee Face Possible Death Penalty in Execution-Style Slaying of Officer ---- 
2 days after a man allegedly murdered an officer, attempted to kill another, 
and took kids hostage, he was charged with capital murder.


A parolee accused of shooting a Lancaster sheriff's sergeant who was responding 
to a burglary call and then firing four additional shots into the veteran 
lawman once he was down was charged today with capital murder.

Trenton Trevon Lovell, 27, of Lancaster, appeared in court in connection with 
Wednesday's execution-style killing of Sgt. Steve Owen, but his arraignment was 
postponed until Nov. 14.

The murder charge includes the special circumstance allegations of murder of a 
peace officer in the performance of his duties and murder for the purpose of 
avoiding or preventing a lawful arrest.

Prosecutors will determine later whether to seek the death penalty against 
Lovell, who is being held without bail.

Lovell is also charged with 1 count each of attempted murder involving another 
sheriff's deputy and possession of a firearm by a felon, along with 2 counts 
each of 1st-degree residential robbery and false imprisonment by violence -- 
the latter charge includes a knife use allegation.

The attempted murder charge includes an allegation that he used a patrol car as 
a deadly and dangerous weapon against a second sheriff's employee who arrived 
at the scene.

The criminal complaint also alleges that Lovell was on parole at the time of 
the crime and that he had been convicted of robbery as a juvenile in 2006 and 
again as an adult in 2009, according to Deputy District Attorney Michael Blake.

Owen, 53, was shot to death as he responded to a young mother's 911 call 
reporting a burglary at her apartment building in the 3200 block of West Avenue 
J-7.

Sheriff Jim McDonnell alleged Thursday that Lovell -- whose name the sheriff 
refused to utter -- shot Owen behind a residence after being confronted by the 
sergeant, who radioed that he had the suspect at gunpoint before he was shot.

"Sergeant Owen approached the suspect in response to a burglary call," 
McDonnell said. "The suspect immediately shot Sergeant Owen. He then stood over 
and executed Sergeant Owen by firing four additional rounds into his body. He 
then unsuccessfully searched the body for the sergeant's weapon with the intent 
to use it to murder the 1st responding deputy."

The 1st responding deputy fired numerous times at Lovell, who had pointed his 
weapon at him, striking the suspect once in the shoulder, the sheriff said.

Lovell allegedly jumped into the sergeant's patrol vehicle while a second 
deputy arrived at the scene, then rammed the deputy's vehicle with Owen's 
patrol car.

"Not only did the suspect want to kill our deputies, he held 2 teenagers 
hostage in a neighboring house until they were rescued by the heroic efforts of 
our Special Enforcement Bureau and our Lancaster Station personnel," McDonnell 
said.

The 2 teens were held at knifepoint, according to prosecutors.

The gunman continued to try to escape and attempted to climb over a wall, but 
he was confronted by deputies and taken into custody, according to Deputy 
Juanita Navarro-Suarez, who added that a firearm was recovered at the scene.

Owen's wife, who is a sheriff's Arson-Explosives detective, made it to the 
hospital before her husband died, according to sheriff's Executive Officer Neal 
Tyler. One of Owen's adult sons and his stepdaughter, as well his mother, also 
were at his bedside, Tyler said.

Owens was a 29-year department veteran who had worked in the Antelope Valley 
for years and was known for his community involvement, especially with area 
youths. He was promoted to sergeant 5 years ago.

Owen received a Meritorious Conduct Medal in 2014, along with five of his 
Lancaster Station colleagues, for their roles in a pursuit and carjacking that 
ended with the capture of the armed suspect and the motorist's rescue.

Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris announced today that he will ask the city council 
to rename Lancaster Community Park as Sergeant Steve Owen Community Park.

"He deserves to always be remembered by the residents of the city of Lancaster 
and the Antelope Valley," the mayor said. "Renaming our community park after a 
true hero is one small step in that direction. Steve was killed in the line of 
duty protecting a community in which he was deeply embedded. Sergeant Steve 
Owen was one of the best-known deputies throughout the entire Antelope Valley 
region."

Owen's alleged killer has been arrested 11 times, first as a juvenile on 
suspicion of selling marijuana, and was jailed or imprisoned twice, according 
to the sheriff.

McDonnell said he believed the death penalty would be an appropriate sentence 
if Lovell is convicted of murdering Owen.

The same sentence was handed down in 2007 to gang member Jose Luis Orozco, who 
was convicted of murdering Deputy Jerry Ortiz on June 24, 2005, in Hawaiian 
Gardens as he was investigating a shooting that had occurred four days earlier. 
Jurors in that case also found true the special circumstance allegations of 
murder of a peace officer, murder to avoid arrest and murder while lying in 
wait. His automatic appeal is still pending.

(source: patch.com)