[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----FLA., TENN., ARK., OKLA., KAN., NEB.

[Rick Halperin]

Oct. 12




FLORIDA:

Death penalty ruling delayed in Sievers case


Mark Sievers, the man accused of planning the murder of his wife Teresa 
Sievers, fought for his life Tuesday in a Lee County courtroom. His lawyer 
asked that the death penalty not be on the table for Sievers's 1st-degree 
murder charge.

Judge Bruce Kyle did not make a ruling on the death penalty, but he did decide 
not to give Sievers' attorneys access to the grand jury testimony. The defense 
argued there are several stories from Curtis Wayne Wright but don't know which 
was taken to the grand jury.

"We have 2 statements prior when Wright says he had no involvement," said 
attorney Mike Mummert. "One where he was outside and one where he had a hammer 
in his hand."

In the motion to strike the death penalty, the defense said the state filed 
late and incomplete documents.

"They're asking to take my client's life," attorney Mike Mummert said. 'If 
they're going to ask that, they need to do so properly."

The state pointed out a recent change in the law that made them unaware of 
requirements. Kyle reserved his ruling on the motion until later.

The ruling on grand jury testimony could be changed later.

(source: WZVN news)

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

Sandra Jaggard, state lawyer who worked most Miami death-penalty cases, dies at 
51


Known for her encyclopedic command of the law, Florida senior assistant 
attorney general Sandra Jaggard helped keep some of Miami's most notorious 
killers on death row.

Jaggard was a unique person with a unique job.

A one-time engineer who worked on the Space Station, Jaggard forged a niche as 
the prosecutorial authority on capital litigation in South Florida, writing 
complex briefs, making concise arguments before judges and earning the trust of 
people whose loved ones had been murdered, sometimes decades before.

Jaggard died unexpectedly Tuesday of a suspected heart attack. She was 51.

Her death stunned colleagues at Miami's criminal courthouse, where Jaggard was 
a fixture not only in arguing appeals but helping prosecutors.

"I always marveled at her legal talents. Sandy was the go-to person if you 
needed a case on point or wanted a sounding board to explore legal arguments," 
said Associate Deputy Attorney General Carolyn Snurkowski, a colleague of more 
than 2 decades.

"She was a brilliant lawyer," said Miami-Dade Assistant State Attorney Penny 
Brill, the head of her office's legal bureau who worked alongside her on 
appeals. "It's such a loss to both offices. She meant so much to us."

Jaggard was born May 2, 1965, in Woodbury, New Jersey. Along with her family, 
she moved to Huntsville, Alabama, and later attended Vanderbilt University, 
earning a degree in biomedical engineering in the early 1980s.

Her father, a physician, died at age 52, also of a heart attack.

After college, Jaggard worked at Boeing, focused on the life-support module for 
the Space Station, according to her family and friends.

Jaggard later moved to South Florida, where she enrolled at the University of 
Miami's law school. She graduated in 1994 and was soon hired at the Florida 
Attorney General's Office.

It was here that she built her reputation working in the complex field of 
capital litigation, working to keep intact convictions and death sentences. She 
could recite minute details from transcripts of a decades-old trial, every sort 
of criminal-court rule and arcane and complex case law.

"She had a phenomenal memory," said Miami-Dade prosecutor Fleur Lobree, her 
best friend and longtime roommate. "She was really an intellectual person. She 
liked the intellectual challenges of the most significant cases."

Jaggard wrote the briefs and did oral arguments in the notorious 1994 torture 
murders of Frank Griga and Krisztina Furton, committed by a crew of Miami 
bodybuilders.

The convictions and death sentences for the killers, Daniel Lugo and Adrian 
Noel Doorbal remain intact. Her work remains the authority on racketeering 
murder cases, said Miami-Dade prosecutor Gail Levine, who tried the case and 
worked often with Jaggard.

"She really felt the pain of Frank and Krisztina," Levine said. "She had a 
passion for what she did. She understood the difference between good and evil."

Jaggard spearheaded the appeals virtually every major death-penalty case in 
Miami-Dade, including Thomas Knight, who murdered a husband-and-wife and a 
prison guard; Manuel Pardo, the ex-Sweetwater cop who became a serial killer, 
and Marshall Lee Gore, a serial rapist and killer. Each man was executed in 
recent years.

"Sandra Jaggard was a tenacious and passionate lawyer who spent her career 
protecting victims and Florida's citizens from the most violent criminals," 
Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi said. "She will be greatly missed."

Before she died, Jaggard was handling 27 capital cases. For the scope of her 
work, she was honored for "outstanding appellate advocacy" by the Association 
of Government Attorneys in Capital Litigation in 2010.

In court, Jaggard had a tough exterior with a wry sense of humor, her 
colleagues remembered - but she never failed to mentor young lawyers.

"Her heart of gold was always just below the surface," Snurkowski said. "She 
prided herself as being tough but in fact was a very warm and caring person."

Outside of court, Jaggard loved cooking and baking, marking every holiday 
season by passing out fudge and other treats to fellow lawyers. She also loved 
to travel. Despite an often-punishing work schedule, Jaggard rarely missed a 
holiday gathering with her siblings and eight nieces and nephews.

"She was a pretty doting aunt, exceptionally so," said her brother, John 
Jaggard.

Jaggard is survived by her siblings: Susan Jaggard-Ottemiller, Cindy 
Jaggard-Everett, Clarence Jaggard Jr. and John Jaggard. Services are pending.

(source: Miami Herald)






TENNESSEE:

State's death penalty process a farce


The last 3 of Tennessee's death row inmates to die, died of old age. On death 
row, being in your 60s is old when you've spent 20 or 30 years sitting around 
letting your arteries harden.The official cause of death is natural causes. 
Death row lawyers need to sue to see if hardening arteries, high cholesterol 
and high blood pressure are constitutionally allowed forms of execution. It 
seems to be only way the death penalty can be administered these days.

The latest issue before the state Supreme Court is deciding which "cocktail" 
for killing the condemned is constitutional. Hey, what do I know? People die of 
heroin overdoses every day, but we can't find a chemical cocktail that can 
constitutionally end a life? Are we afraid they'll get high on their way to 
hell?

Why do we continue to pretend we have a death penalty? We keep inmates on death 
row for 20 or 30 years while we pay extra to house them, pay for lawyers to 
defend them and give them medical care until they kick off. Create a Super Max, 
make it life without parole and forget about it.

We know the death penalty is applied unequally depending on the race of the 
victim and the brutality of the death. We also know that DNA evidence has 
cleared over 150 death row inmates nationwide who were convicted largely on 
faulty eyewitness testimony.

I believe that the death penalty is constitutional. I believe that if the 
populace demands of the Legislature that the death penalty be a form of 
punishment, then the Legislature has a duty to follow the will of the people. 
But I hope the people come to the conclusion that it's not a good idea. 
Sentences are arbitrary. Appeals are endless. It costs many multiples of the 
average cost per prisoner to maintain a person on death row. If it takes 30 
years to kill an inmate, and a natural cause gets him first, can we really say 
we have a death penalty? Or do we just have an elaborate charade where judges 
who are opposed to the death penalty find excuses to delay, delay, delay. And 
those who favor it are often faced with faulty trial court decisions and 
technicalities. Because it shouldn't be easy to decide to take someone's life.

Do district attorneys general argue to keep the death penalty as a bargaining 
chip to extort guilty pleas, making their job easier? Are death sentences only 
handed out when the public is shocked by a heinous crime that gets a lot of 
media attention? Do we have shifting standards on who is a target for the death 
penalty? We certainly get a lot of satisfaction out of a death penalty verdict 
for a particularly terrible murder. We can congratulate ourselves that justice 
was done and forget about it. After all, who wants to keep up with the case for 
the next 20 years except for the grieving family?

We should have a system in which we have confidence that the suspect did it 
(DNA evidence or the like), that we have a uniform system of deciding who gets 
it or not and we expeditiously move to administer the sentence. If we can't do 
all those things, then just lock people up for the rest of their lives.

What we have now is a farce.

(source: Frank Cagle, Knoxville News-Sentinel)






ARKANSAS:

Execution by gas gets Arkansas panel flak


An 11-year hiatus in executions in Arkansas led one lawmaker to propose 
studying the method of gas asphyxiation, but her proposal was criticized Monday 
over fears that it would only add to the state's legal burden of defending 
death-penalty laws.

A self-described opponent of the death penalty, Rep. Mary Broadaway, 
D-Paragould, proposed that the House Judiciary Committee commission a study on 
the "hypoxia" method of death, saying it is the responsibility of the state to 
determine "the least painful solution" if it wants to conduct executions.

There are 34 men on Arkansas' death row. Lethal injection is the method 
currently mandated in state law, but the state has not executed anyone since 
2005, in part because of legal challenges and difficulty obtaining drugs.

Hypoxia executions would be conducted using nitrogen or another inert gas 
devoid of oxygen to asphyxiate the condemned. The method is different from the 
traditional gas chamber, which uses cyanide or another gas to poison the 
prisoner.

According to Andrew Fulkerson of Paragould, a retired prosecutor and judge who 
studied the hypoxia method and approached Broadaway about its use in Arkansas, 
the method has the potential to be less painful than lethal injection.

Oklahoma is the only state to have legalized hypoxia executions, approving the 
practice last year after a botched lethal injection and a nationwide shortage 
of execution drugs. A spokesman with Oklahoma's Department of Corrections said 
nitrogen hypoxia has not yet been put to use and that there is no approved 
protocol for how it would be carried out.

"This is not a referendum on the death penalty; this is about Arkansas having 
chosen to have the death penalty and having problems getting the drugs," 
Broadaway said.

Broadaway's proposal came days after U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito 
denied a request by a group of Arkansas' death-row inmates for more time to 
file their appeal in their challenge to the execution statute. However, Jeff 
Rosenzweig, a lawyer for the prisoners, repeated Monday his earlier assurances 
that he would file their case before the Oct. 19 due date.

The prisoners allege their rights under the U.S. and Arkansas constitutions are 
violated by a provision of a state law, passed in 2015, that exempts the 
suppliers of execution drugs from public disclosure. Eight of nine inmates 
involved in the lawsuit have had their executions scheduled but placed on hold 
as they mount their appeal.

In recent court filings, Attorney General Leslie Rutledge's office has cast the 
prisoners' requests for more time as attempts to push the lawsuit past January, 
when the state's supply of potassium chloride -- 1 of the 3 execution drugs -- 
expires.

Because the current 3-drug-cocktail method of execution has been declared 
constitutional by the state Supreme Court, Rutledge's legislative director, 
Cory Cox, told the Judiciary Committee on Monday that the state should not look 
at approving more methods of execution that could prompt another lawsuit.

Although he said the attorney general's office wouldn't object to a study, he 
asked that lawmakers hold off on taking action on any conclusions that might be 
made.

"We would caution as attorneys for the state anything that might look as 
throwing doubt at what has been declared constitutional by the state Supreme 
Court," Cox said.

At the request of the committee chairman, Rep. Matthew Shepherd, R-El Dorado, 
Broadaway agreed to withdraw her request for the study. Even so, Fulkerson was 
called to testify before lawmakers.

Broadaway told reporters after the meeting that her proposal was not a 
"deliberate" attempt to authorize a new way to execute the inmates, though she 
said it made sense to have a backup. Broadaway added that while she is not 
seeking re-election next month, she will support any attempt to raise the issue 
during the next legislative session, which begins in January.

"If we want to stick our heads in the sand, and we don't want to look at 
anything until we are proven that [the current law] is an unconstitutional 
method which is simply preventing us from implementing our death penalty. ... I 
think we're being very short-sighted," Broadaway said during the meeting.

Oklahoma was the 1st state to develop the 3-drug lethal-injection protocol in 
the 1970s, and it soon became the most popular form of lethal injections. 
However, Fulkerson said in his testimony that Oklahoma failed to research or 
consider the method, which led to trouble obtaining drugs and a botched 
execution in 2014.

Recent botched executions in several states have prompted questions about the 
ethics of the execution method and caused states like Arkansas to clamp down on 
disclosing the source of the drugs.

"[Oklahoma] also introduced hypoxia with a similar lack of in-depth study on 
the issue, so I would encourage [Arkansas] to do that," Fulkerson said.

A spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Correction said in an email that the 
state never used the gas chamber method of execution. Before enacting lethal 
injection, the state used the electric chair, which remains the legal 
alternative if lethal injection is invalidated in court.

Before Fulkerson's testimony, Rep. Laurie Rushing, R-Hot Springs, questioned 
whether it was necessary to find the most humane method of execution.

"If you've ever had a child that was murdered, have you ever had a child that 
was raped, have you ever had a child that was left out, just left out to 
suffer?" Rushing said. "If you have, then you would understand why even if it's 
in the least-humane way, and this way may be more humane, but we have people 
right now that have done those crimes that need to be punished instead of 
wasting taxpayer money."

In a text sent later Monday, Rushing said she was "sticking up" for her 
colleague, Rep. Rebecca Petty, R-Rogers, whose daughter Andi Brewer was 
kidnapped and killed in 1999 by a man who now sits on death row.

"I don't think it is appropriate to ask me what my personal experiences are 
with regard to having a child that's been murdered," Broadaway responded. She 
said adopting a new method would allow the state to carry out executions if the 
current law is declared unconstitutional or the state is unable to replace the 
drugs that expire next year.

The 8 inmates whose executions are on hold are Stacey Johnson, Jason McGehee, 
Terrick Nooner, Don Davis, Bruce Earl Ward, Marcel Williams, Jack Jones Jr. and 
Kenneth Williams. A 9th death-row inmate, Ledell Lee, is involved in the case, 
but his execution has not been set.

If the prisoners file their appeal on time, the stay on their executions will 
remain in place as long as the U.S. Supreme Court is considering their case.

(source: arkansasonline.com)






OKLAHOMA:

Supreme Court vacates Oklahoma inmate's death sentence


The United State Supreme Court vacated an Oklahoma inmate's death sentence, 
remanding it back for further court proceedings, the court announced Tuesday.

Bosse was convicted and given 3 death sentences for the 2010 deaths of 
25-year-old Katrina Griffin, 8-year-old Christian Griffin and 6-year-old 
Chasity Hammer. Bosse was also convicted of arson for burning the family's 
mobile home.

In his appeal Bosse argued that the testimony of 3 of the victim's family 
members recommending the death penalty violated his 8th amendment rights. In a 
1987 case, Booth v. Maryland, the Supreme Court held that a jury cannot 
consider victim impact statements that do not "relate directly to the 
circumstances of the crime." That case was reconsidered by the Court in 1991 in 
Payne v. Tennessee, and reversed itself on parts of its findings, but not all.

In its statement, the Supreme Court said the state court erred in ruling that 
because it reversed part of the Booth decision that all of the case was 
reversed.

"Booth also held that the admission of a victim's family members'
characterizations and opinions about the crime, the defendant, and the 
appropriate sentence violates the Eighth Amendment,' but no such evidence was 
presented in Payne, so the Court had no occasion to reconsider that aspect of 
the decision," the decision reads.

Evidence showed Katrina Griffin and Christian Griffin were stabbed to death and 
Chasity Hammer died of smoke inhalation and burns. Bosse was arrested after 
investigators learned he had pawned items taken from the home. Bosse's appeal 
included claims of improper evidence, prosecutorial misconduct, ineffective 
defense counsel, improper jury instructions and improper admission of photos of 
the victims.

(source: Fox news)

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

Supreme Court overturns death sentence in Oklahoma triple murder


The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday reversed the death penalty of an Oklahoma man 
convicted of killing a woman and her 2 children.The high court ruled that the 
judge in the case should not have allowed relatives of the victims to tell the 
jury a death sentence was proper.

Shaun Michael Bosse was convicted of 3 counts of 1st-degree murder in the 2010 
killings in McClain County of Katrina Griffin and her children, Christian and 
Chastity.

Bosse's attorney objected during the sentencing phase when a prosecutor asked 
Griffin's relatives to recommend a sentence to the jury, according to the 
Supreme Court opinion released Tuesday.

In an unsigned opinion, the justices pointed to a 1987 Supreme Court ruling 
that the Eighth Amendment "prohibits a capital sentencing jury from considering 
victim impact evidence" that does not "relate directly to the circumstances of 
the crime."

(source: Tulsa World)

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

Some death row inmates have been executed despite same error in their cases; 
one resentenced to life


Over and over, Oklahoma death row inmates have raised the same issue.

They've complained about the fairness of their trials, saying relatives of 
murder victims should not have been allowed to ask jurors to impose the death 
penalty.

Over and over, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals has rejected those 
arguments.

Federal judges, though, over and over have agreed with the inmates. One 
murderer won a resentencing in 2013 because of the issue. Other murderers have 
been executed anyway, after federal judges ruled the error to be harmless. A 
few murderers still are hoping for relief on that issue.

Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals 
has been wrong all along. Justices stated such victim impact evidence is banned 
because of the constitutional prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.

Justices admonished the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals, saying the state 
court remains bound by a 1987 ruling prohibiting "characterizations and 
opinions from a victim's family members about the crime, the defendant, and the 
appropriate sentence unless this Court reconsiders that ban."

The ruling means the Court of Criminal Appeals will have to reconsider the 
issue in the case of death row inmate Shaun Michael Bosse.

Bosse, 33, of Blanchard, was convicted of murdering a woman and her two 
children in 2010 inside a mobile home near Dibble. He had briefly dated the 
woman. At his trial, 3 victim impact witnesses, the woman's father, stepmother 
and mother, asked the jury to sentence him to death.

McClain County District Attorney Greg Mashburn said the Court of Criminal 
Appeals, hopefully, will find the error harmless and uphold the death sentence.

"Anytime we've done it, we've been very careful not to expound and let them ... 
run on and on about it," Mashburn said. "The times it has actually become a 
problem is when you've let the victim's family kind of roll on about it."

The prosecutor pointed out that Oklahoma law specifically allows such victim 
impact testimony. He said he won't be asking victim's relatives for their 
opinions on punishment anymore because of the Supreme Court ruling.

"No, there's no way, now that the Supreme Court has specifically addressed it," 
Mashburn said. "Why take the chance? Although I really believe the jury should 
hear that. That's my personal opinion. The jury needs to know. But you've also 
got to follow the law."

New sentencing

Winning a new sentencing on the issue was Rocky Eugene Dodd, who killed his 
next-door neighbors in 1994 in Edmond. The victims' throats were slashed.

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2013 ordered that Dodd be resentenced 
because 7 witnesses had called during his trial for his execution.

"This presentation of victim requests for the death penalty was not a one-off 
or a mere aside. It was a drumbeat," the federal appeals court wrote. "We have 
found 10 decisions in which we decided that such testimony was harmless. ... 
This case is different. It is not just the sheer volume of such testimony. This 
was also a significantly weaker case for the death penalty."

Dodd, now 48, was resentenced by a judge in 2014 to life in prison without the 
possibility of parole. The new sentence was the outcome of an agreement with 
prosecutors which required him not to appeal any further.

Other cases

Among those who were executed despite the same issue was Clayton Lockett, who 
shot a 19-year-old woman and watched as 2 accomplices buried her alive in rural 
Kay County in 1999. The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found victim impact 
testimony at his trial unconstitutional but harmless.

Problems during Lockett's 2014 execution led to national scrutiny and 
widespread criticism of the death penalty process in Oklahoma.

Among those still raising the issue is Kevin Ray Underwood, 36, who is on death 
row for killing a 10-year-old Purcell girl in 2006 because of his cannibalistic 
fantasies.

The grocery store employee admitted that he killed a neighbor, Jamie Rose 
Bolin, tried to have sex with her body and used a dagger to try to remove her 
head. He said he became disgusted with himself and did not eat any of the body.

He told an FBI agent, "I'm going to burn in hell."

The girl's body was found in a large, blue taped-shut plastic tub in the bottom 
of the bedroom closet of Underwood's apartment.

At trial, the girl's parents asked jurors for the death penalty.

(source: The Oklahoman)


KANSAS:

Convicted Kansas serial killer exhausts direct appeals


The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to review the case of a convicted serial 
killer from Kansas - leaving his capital murder conviction and death sentence 
intact, Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt said in a news release.

The high court's denial means John Robinson's conviction and death sentence, 
which previously were affirmed by the Kansas Supreme Court, will stand on 
direct appeal, according to the news release.

Now 14 years since Robinson's conviction, the case will next be returned to the 
Kansas courts for further proceedings under the Kansas death penalty statute, 
Schmidt said in the release.

Robinson was convicted in 2002 in Johnson County District Court of capital 
murder in connection with the serial murders of at least six women, according 
to the release. This is the 1st death penalty case to exhaust direct appeals 
since the Kansas Legislature reinstated the death penalty in 1994, Schmidt's 
office said.

Robinson is 1 of 10 people under sentence of death in Kansas.

Kyle Flack was convicted in March of capital murder and other crimes in a 
quadruple homicide that took place in spring 2013 west of Ottawa. Flack 
received the death penalty.

In addition to Flack, other death penalty cases that remain pending at various 
stages of direct appeals before the Kansas Supreme Court include:

-- Craig Kahler (Osage County)

-- Scott Cheever (Greenwood County)

-- Gary Kleypas (Crawford County)

-- Jonathan Carr (Sedgwick County)

-- Reginald Carr (Sedgwick County)

-- Sydney Gleason (Barton County)

-- Justin Thurber (Cowley County)

-- Frazier Glenn Miller (Johnson County).

In an 11th case, Doug Belt (Sedgwick County), the defendant died in prison, but 
the appeal remains pending and the Kansas Supreme Court heard oral argument 
Sept. 16, according to the release.

Although the U.S. Supreme Court's action marks the end of Robinson's direct 
appeals, under both Kansas and federal law Robinson has remaining options to 
seek further judicial review through collateral proceedings, according to the 
release.

(source: Ottawa Herald)






NEBRASKA:

Hearing sorts out death penalty debate


With the death penalty issue on the November ballot, a public hearing was held 
Tuesday night on the UNO campus.

Nebraska Secretary of State John Gale scheduled these public hearings. By state 
law, the hearings are required to be held in each of Nebraska's congressional 
districts whenever a petition issue is on the general election ballot.

Referendum No. 426 will ask voters to either retain or repeal Legislative Bill 
268. In 2015, state lawmakers voted in favor of LB 268, which abolished the 
death penalty and also set a maximum penalty for a first-degree murder 
conviction at life in prison.

It was clear some people were convinced they'd be voting one way or the other. 
It was also clear a number of Nebraskans haven't made up their minds about the 
death penalty.

Vvian Tuttle's mind is made up. Her daughter was killed by bank robbers and she 
wants them to face what she did. "3 people came in and in 40 seconds they 
killed my daughter and 4 bank employees. So you know I'm here to talk about 
retaining the death penalty."

Tuttle has traveled up and down the state to get petition signatures and wants 
people to vote. "That's her 3-year-old and 5-year-old that never got to see 
their mother after she went to the bank."

A majority attending the hearing did not agree. "The death penalty does not 
bring closure to victim's families," said Vicki Pratt. "Nebraska does not have 
the drugs to carry out an execution."

Some likely voters aren't sure what to make of the tough choice ahead of them. 
"I think there's kind of some things wrong with the justice system that puts 
people on death row in the first place," said Carley Adams.

The purpose of the hearings is to allow the public to voice their side and to 
get answers. "I think that people are becoming much more aware that it's not a 
simple issue," said Secretary Gale. "The death penalty is a very complex 
issue."

The actual wording on the ballot has already been an issue for some. "I didn't 
really know which box I was supposed to mark because the wording on it just 
seemed very confusing to me," said Jacqueline Schumacher.

The state government has already approved a measure that would overturn the 
death penalty. What's left is either choosing to retain the vote to get rid of 
it or repeal the choice and keep the death penalty.

Hearings will also be held at the UNK campus in Kearney on Thursday and at the 
State Capitol in Lincoln next Tuesday.

(source: WOWT news)

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

Ricketts donates another $100,000 to death penalty campaign


Gov. Pete Ricketts has given another $100,000 to a ballot campaign seeking to 
reinstate the death penalty in Nebraska after lawmakers abolished the 
punishment over his veto last year, according to fundraising numbers released 
Tuesday.

The contribution brings the governor's total donation to $300,000 since 
Nebraskans for the Death Penalty launched a statewide ballot drive to overturn 
the Legislature's decision.

The campaign had raised more than $1.2 million as of last week, according to 
its filing with the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission. A group 
working to keep the death penalty off the books collected more than twice as 
much, with nearly $2.7 million.

Ricketts' father, TD Ameritrade founder Joe Ricketts, contributed $100,000 to 
Nebraskans for the Death Penalty last year but has not given since Jan. 1.

"The death penalty remains a critical tool to protect public safety, and this 
will help raise awareness that Nebraskans who support the death penalty will 
need to vote to repeal (the repeal law) to keep the death penalty," the 
governor said in a statement.

Nebraskans for the Death Penalty also reported another $100,000 donation from 
the Judicial Crisis Network, a Washington-based conservative group focused on 
the judiciary. Last year, the group contributed $300,000. The Denver-based 
group Citizens for a Sound Government gave another $50,000 on top of the 
$125,000 it contributed last year.

The death penalty opposition group Retain a Just Nebraska reported donations 
from more than 2,600 people, including $10,000 from the late Democratic 
philanthropist Dick Holland and $500 from actress Susan Sarandon.

"After blanketing the state the past few months, spending hundreds of thousands 
of dollars on statewide television, radio and digital advertising, we are 
confident Nebraskans are understanding the same issues their elected 
representatives did when they voted to end a failed and costly government 
program," said Dan Parsons, spokesman for Retain a Just Nebraska.

Nebraska hasn't executed an inmate since 1997, using the electric chair, and 
has never carried one out using its current lethal injection protocol. 
Opponents argue that the punishment wastes tax dollars because of seemingly 
endless legal and logistical challenges that have kept the state from imposing 
it.

Supporters say the punishment is used judiciously and can be restored once 
state officials obtain the necessary drugs. State officials have floated other 
options, such as changing the state's 3-drug protocol to gain access to drugs 
that are easier to obtain.

Ricketts announced last year that his administration would not move forward 
with any executions until voters have decided whether to overturn the 
Legislature's decision and reinstate the death penalty. Nebraska currently has 
10 men on death row.

(source: Associated Press)