[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----NEB., OKLA., ARIZ., CALIF., ORE., WASH., USA

[Rick Halperin]

Oct. 20




NEBRASKA:

If Nebraska Death Penalty Ban is Repealed, Changes will Need to be Made


If voters repeal the death penalty ban, Nebraska will have to make some changes 
in order to carry out executions. Attorney General Doug Peterson says they are 
already looking at options.

Peterson says when Nebraska switched from the electric chair to lethal 
injection the standard was to use a 3 drug combination. He says now only 1 drug 
is used so that is one issue that will need to be addressed. He says Nebraska 
may also want to consider a shield law where the identity of the person who 
compiles the drug remains unknown to the public.

Peterson says they have been doing their homework and monitoring how other 
states are carry out executions. He says they have provided models as to what 
changes need to be made here.

(source: WNAX news)






OKLAHOMA:

Former warden to give views on death penalty


A former iron hand of the law turned anti-death penalty advocate will share his 
views on the death penalty Friday in Lawton.

Frank Thompson, former Oregon State Penitentiary warden, will be guest speaker 
at the SQ776 Meet & Greet at 9:30 a.m., at the Percolator Coffee House, 605 SW 
E.

State Question 776 on the Nov. 8 ballot in Oklahoma as a legislatively referred 
constitutional amendment regarding the status of the death penalty in the 
state. To vote yes would prevent any changes or challenges to the method of 
administering the death penalty from preventing the death penalty from being 
carried out for death-row inmates.

(source: The Lawton Constitution)






ARIZONA:

Plaintiffs Want More Than A Promise From Arizona On Death Penalty Drug


The plaintiffs in a lawsuit challenging Arizona's death penalty want more than 
a promise that Arizona will never again use a controversial lethal injection 
drug.

Midazolam dominated the discussion during a federal court hearing Wednesday.

Judge Neil V. Wake called the hearing to ponder if Ohio's having recently 
obtained the drug defeats the state's argument that Arizona's inability to get 
more midazolam makes the lawsuit moot.

Lawyers for state followed up with a promise to never use midazolam again.

But lawyers for the plaintiffs said Ohio's plan to resume executions next year 
using midazolam show it's still available. Mississippi, Alabama and Arkansas 
also have midazolam, they said.

A change in Arizona leadership could lead to the state using midazolam again, 
and the plaintiffs need a way to enforce the state's promise to refrain from 
using the drug, said Mark Haddad, an attorney for the plaintiffs.

"That would be very unfair to end this case now without any ability for us to 
stop that change of decision," Haddad said.

Haddad also said he's open to discussions on resolving the case, and he's 
hopeful the sides can come to an agreement.

Attorneys for the state declined to comment.

(source: KJZZ news)

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

Judge questions vow not to use sedative again in executions


A judge presiding over a lawsuit that protests how Arizona carries out the 
death penalty extracted promises in court from the state Wednesday that it 
won't use the sedative midazolam in future executions.

Lawyers for the state are seeking to dismiss the lawsuit's claim that midazolam 
can't ensure that condemned inmates won't feel the pain caused by another drug 
in a three-drug execution protocol. The state said it won't use the sedative in 
the future even if it finds a new supply.

U.S. District Judge Neil Wake said the state's decision to voluntarily end its 
midazolam use in executions could be changed in the future by a state prisons 
director or a governor.

"There is nothing to stop the director or a future director or a future 
governor from saying the world has changed," Wake said, marking the second time 
in recent months that he has questioned the solidity of the state's claim on 
finding midazolam.

Arizona announced nearly 4 months ago that it was eliminating its use of 
midazolam after its supply expired and another supplier couldn't be found 
because of pressure from opponents of the death penalty. Attorneys for the 
state say the lawsuit's midazolam claim is moot because the drug won't be used 
in the future executions.

Wake scheduled the hearing after learning that Ohio now has a supply of 
midazolam and plans to resume executions there in January.

Collin Wedel, an attorney representing the condemned inmates who filed the 
lawsuit, said the state's claim that it can't find the sedative doesn't hold 
water because Ohio, Mississippi, Alabama and Arkansas have already said they 
have a midazolam supply.

Jeffrey Sparks, an attorney representing the state, said the state wasn't 
arguing that there is no midazolam available anywhere, but rather that 
Arizona's prison system simply can't acquire it.

Wake hasn't yet decided whether to dismiss the lawsuit's midazolam claim.

Executions in Arizona will remain on hold until the lawsuit is resolved. They 
were put on hold after the July 2014 death of convicted killer Joseph Rudolph 
Wood, who was given 15 dozes of midazolam and a painkiller and who took nearly 
2 hours to die. His attorney said the execution was botched.

Several of the lawsuit's claims have been dismissed, but lawyers for the 
condemned inmates want to press forward with allegations that the state has 
abused its discretion in the methods and amounts of the drugs used in past 
executions.

Similar challenges to the death penalty are playing out in other parts of the 
country that seek more transparency about where states get their execution 
drugs.

States are struggling to obtain execution drugs because European pharmaceutical 
companies began blocking the use of their products for lethal injections.

(source: Associated Press)






CALIFORNIA:

Exonerees and Faith Leaders Work to End State Death Penalty


Death row exonerees Nate Fields and Sabrina Butler joined a diverse group of 
faith leaders to talk about the importance of ending California's death penalty 
during an interfaith breakfast hosted at Holman United Methodist Church on Oct. 
10.

Fields and Butler were in California to support Prop 62, a statewide initiative 
on the ballot this November.

Most disturbing among all of the failed death penalty's significant problems - 
billions in costs, arbitrary and racially biased application, ineffective crime 
deterrent, an empty promise to victims' families - is the unavoidable risk that 
an innocent person may be executed.

Prop 62 ends that risk by replacing the death penalty in California with life 
in prison without parole. It guarantees that the worst criminals will never be 
released and requires convicted murderers to work and pay restitution to their 
victims' families. Prop 62 will save taxpayers $150 million a year according to 
the Legislative Analyst's Office.

African Americans make up 36 % of the population on California's death row. 
Fields spent 20 years in an Illinois prison, including 11 years on death row, 
for a double homicide he did not commit. The judge who sentenced him was later 
indicted for taking bribes in murder cases, including Fields' case and Fields 
was found innocent after a 2nd trial.

"We're here in California for a very important moment, for a life-or-death 
situation. You can get the death penalty based on the color of your skin. But 
most importantly, you can get the death penalty based on a mistake. The death 
penalty requires perfection, and that will never happen," said Fields. "As we 
stand here today, we know there are innocent people on death row waiting to be 
executed. We know that 4 out of 20 murder convictions are overturned. I'm 
urging people to vote yes on Prop 62 because I don't want anyone else to have 
to go through what me and my family went through."

Butler was a Mississippi teenager wrongly convicted of murder and child abuse 
in the death of her 9-month-old son, Walter. She was exonerated of all 
wrongdoing after spending more than five years in prison, including 33 months 
on death row.

"My case was an overzealous prosecutor that wanted to make a name for himself. 
I had two attorneys. One was drunk to through the whole trial and the other did 
not do investigative work on my case," said Ms. Butler. "The death penalty 
system is deeply flawed and it's not right. So I'm going to tell my story 
wherever I can, and as long as I can, until I can't do it anymore."

"We all have a call on us now, to get the word out about Prop 62. The death 
penalty in the state of California is wrong and we need to end it, said Pastor 
William D. Smart. "Take the message to the people, and make sure they 
understand that now is the time."

Mr. Fields and Ms. Butler are part of Witness to Innocence, the nation's only 
organization dedicated to empowering exonerated death row survivors to be the 
most powerful and effective voice in the struggle to end the death penalty in 
the United States.

(source: LA Sentinel)

***********

The morality of preserving the death penalty


On election day, California voters will decide whether or not the death penalty 
stays or goes as the ultimate form of punishment for the state's most heinous 
killers.

Capital punishment abolitionists are heralding Proposition 62, which would 
replace the death penalty with life in prison without the possibility of 
parole, as the rightful sunset of a barbaric practice. To them, it's a waste of 
taxpayer money and an immoral practice.

I couldn't disagree more. Not only do I think it's a good use of public 
resources, I believe it's the moral answer to society's most immoral people.

On October 1, 1993, 12-year-old Polly Klaas was kidnapped at knife point from 
her Petaluma home and was subsequently sexually molested and strangled to 
death. Her killer, Richard Allen Davis, was convicted of first-degree murder 
and four special circumstances - robbery, burglary, kidnapping and a lewd act 
on a child. He was subsequently sentenced to death.

Davis, who admitted to the murder, remains on death row at San Quentin State 
Prison while his attorneys continue to appeal his conviction.

Marc Klaas, Polly's father and the founder of the Klaas Kids Foundation, told 
me that if Prop. 62 passes, he and his family will continue to be victimized by 
Davis. "The killer [Davis] told psychiatrist Llewelen Jones that he 
'Masturbates twice daily and thinks of tying up female victims of past crimes.' 
>From my perspective that means that he not only sits in his cell on death row 
violating my daughter twice a day, but he will continue to do that until the 
day that he is put down. Polly deserves better than that. She, or her memory, 
will never truly have peace until the killer's vile thoughts and deeds cease to 
exist," he said.

Supporters of Prop. 62 have also admitted that if this initiative were to pass, 
banning life in prison without the possibility of parole would be next on their 
list.

Kent Scheidegger, the legal director of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, 
told the Sacramento Bee, "If the death penalty is abolished on Tuesday, the 
drive to abolish life without parole begins on Wednesday."

This would mean that the family members of murdered people would be forced to 
relive their trauma every time their loved one's killer comes up for a parole 
hearing.

That's exactly what has happened to Debra Tate, whose sister Sharon and her 
unborn child were brutally murdered by the Manson Family in 1969.

Manson, and other members of his "family" were sentenced to death for these 
brutal murders. However, their sentence was reduced to life in prison because 
the death penalty was abolished by the state Supreme Court in the early 1970s.

Now, Tate spends her life trying to keep the Manson killers behind bars. Tate 
told me, "There must be penalties for taking a life. If you're willing to take 
a life you should be willing to forfeit your own. ... The ever changing legal 
system has made it a monumental task to keep up with the amount of parole 
hearings and subsequent appeals by these predatory killers. Parole hearings are 
falling only a few months apart, followed by subsequent appeals."

There are also 2 stats that are important to the conversation and are 
completely irrefutable - the state of California has never executed an innocent 
person and the recidivism rate among those executed is zero.

In other words, the death penalty works. We are executing the right people and 
are preventing them from ever hurting anyone else again.

Marc Klaas believes it's incumbent on those of us who support the death penalty 
to make sure the process works. "Death penalty abolitionists crave the 
execution of an innocent man so that their indignation can run amok, while 
those who favor the death penalty pray that an innocent is never executed so 
that the fragile system of ultimate justice can be preserved," he said.

I'm voting no on Prop. 62 and I'm doing it because the death penalty is moral.

(source: Opinion; John Phillips is a CNN political commentator----OC Register)

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

California's Proposition 62 Can End the Suffering - and the Expense - of the 
Death Penalty


California's death penalty system has failed. We know the death penalty is 
racist in application and is used primarily against the poor and the poorly 
defended. It entraps and kills the innocent along with the guilty and is 
hideously expensive. Any of these facts should be reason enough to do away with 
the death penalty, yet attempts to make it meet constitutional requirements 
have continued for nearly 40 years.

As Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer said last year, "Despite the ... 
Court's hope for fair administration of the death penalty, 40 years of further 
experience make it increasingly clear that the death penalty is imposed 
arbitrarily, i.e., without the 'reasonable consistency' legally necessary to 
reconcile its use with the Constitution's commands."

California's 38-year attempt to make the death penalty constitutional has left 
us with more than 1,000 death verdicts and 13 executions - at a total cost of 
$5 billion. That breaks down to $384 million per execution. California now has 
the largest death-row population in the United States, with almost 750 men and 
women waiting an average of 25 to 30 years for the resolution of their 
constitutionally required appeals. As a result, approximately 10 times as many 
on our state's death row have died of natural causes or suicide than have been 
executed.

A tragic result of this awful, grinding process is the long-term incarceration 
and death of innocents. Ralph Thomas, a homeless African-American man, and 
Dennis Lawley, a diagnosed schizophrenic, both died after years on death row 
before their claims of innocence were verified.

Proposition 62 will replace the death penalty with sentences of life without 
parole. It also will require inmates to work (which they cannot do on death 
row) and pay 60 % of their earnings to a general victims' restitution fund. The 
state's Legislative Analyst's Office says Proposition 62 will save Californians 
$150 million every year.

Currently, family members of victims have to relive the horror of a loved one's 
murder through years of appellate hearings. If Proposition 62 is passed, guilty 
parties will be put behind bars until they die, providing finality and ending 
the torture endured by victims' families. Eliminating the death penalty also 
gives convicts who aren't guilty the chance to prove their innocence.

Proposition 66, on the other hand, is another in a series of lame attempts to 
fix an irreparable death-penalty system. The proposition imposes additional 
levels of appeal, which lengthen the process. It attempts to limit the 
California Supreme Court to 5 years to resolve appeals that now take an average 
of 12, but it contains no provision to enforce such a limit. As Proposition 66 
authors should know, limiting the court's deliberation time simply would mean 
making more mistakes and killing more innocent people.

Our state maintains a list of attorneys willing to accept appointment to handle 
appeals. Some are trained for and willing to accept capital - death penalty - 
appeals while others are not. Proposition 66 requires any of these attorneys, 
whether trained for capital defense or not, to accept death cases or be removed 
from the list. Forcing unwilling or untrained attorneys to handle the complex 
issues involved with capital defense guarantees costly, perhaps fatal, errors 
and ensures further appeals based on "ineffective assistance of counsel." 
Proposition 66 also pretends to save the state money by moving some costs to 
the counties, an unfair burden counties can't afford. Critically, Proposition 
66 has no effect on the federal appellate courts, which already return 60 to 70 
% of all death verdicts to the state for resentencing, retrial or further 
consideration.

Vote yes on 62 and no on 66.

(source: Mike Farrell, truthdig.com)

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

Sierra LaMar murder trial gets firm January start date


More than 4 years after Morgan Hill teen Sierra LaMar disappeared on her way to 
a school bus stop, the Santa Clara County judge handling the capital case set a 
firm start date for the trial of the man suspected of killing her: Jan. 3.

Superior Court Judge Vanessa A. Zecher on Tuesday reminded the lawyers in the 
death-penalty case against Antolin Garcia-Torres, 22, to be ready to give their 
opening statements after the holidays, on the first Tuesday of 2017.

The court already has begun evaluating prospective jurors by having them answer 
a 32-page questionnaire containing 178 questions, so the trial has technically 
begun. But the start date for the so-called evidence portion of the trial, 
which starts with opening statements and then the prosecution's case, was not 
clear until now.

The date comes after many delays, which frustrated LaMar's family and friends, 
as well as the defendant himself. One reason it didn't start sooner was 
Garcia-Torres' lawyers Brian Matthews and Al Lopez were handling other cases. 
The trial is expected to last 4 to 6 months. Prosecutor David Boyd and 
co-counsel Dana Veazey long ago signaled they were ready.

LaMar, 15, vanished on her way to the school bus stop near Morgan Hill on the 
morning of March 16, 2012. Her body has not been found.

Hundreds of prospective jurors are being asked this week to fill out the 
questionnaire. The case is then set to reconvene in early November after 
lawyers for the prosecution and defense review the answers on the 
questionnaires. Questioning of prospective jurors is scheduled to begin Nov. 
14.

One of the biggest challenges will be finding 12 jurors and up to 6 alternates 
willing and able to serve during the whole trial, which could last 6 months.

The lengthy jury questionnaire contains typical inquiries, including whether 
prospective jurors have ever been victims of crime or know the principals 
involved in the case, including the judge.

It also asks whether they belong to a variety of groups, ranging from the 
National Rifle Association to the American Civil Liberties Union. Because 
prosecutors allege Garcia-Torres' DNA was found on her discarded clothing and 
Sierra's DNA throughout his car, including on a rope in his trunk, jurors are 
asked their opinion of DNA evidence.

Prospective jurors are also queried about whether they have ever been a victim 
of a sex crime or known someone who was. Prosecutors believe LaMar may have 
been sexually assaulted. Only the lawyers and judge will review the answers, 
which will not be made public.

They are also asked about their feelings about masturbation. Garcia-Torres told 
authorities that his DNA could have been found on LaMar's clothing, which was 
discarded by the side of the road near Morgan Hill, because he had masturbated 
and threw tissues with his DNA out of his car.

The questionnaire also probes jurors' feelings about imposing the death penalty 
or life without parole.

(source: Mercury News)

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

Suspect charged with murder in fatal hit-and-run in San Leandro


The Alameda County District Attorney's office has charged a Richmond man with 
murder in the course of robbery, punishable by life in prison without the 
possibility of parole.

Kadeem Edwards, 27, of Richmond, was arrested Monday, Oct. 17 in connection 
with a fatal hit-and-run in San Leandro. Kadeem Edwards, 27, of Richmond, was 
arrested Monday, Oct. 17 in connection with a fatal hit-and-run in San Leandro. 
San Leandro Police Department.

The charges make Kadeem Edwards, 27, eligible for the death penalty, although 
Alameda County rarely seeks capital punishment in such cases.

San Leandro police said Edwards parked his white Ford F-250 pickup behind True 
World Foods, 1815 Williams Street in San Leandro, at 11:45 a.m. Monday and was 
in the process of stealing wooden pallets when 54-year-old Takeshi Watanabe ran 
outside and confronted him.

Watanabe, a 23-year employee, stood in front of Edwards' truck with his hands 
on his hood and his legs braced "as if he was preventing the vehicle from 
moving forward," San Leandro police Officer Michael Benz wrote in a 
probable-cause declaration.

Edwards got into the vehicle and drove forward about 15 to 20 feet, pushing 
Watanabe backward, before accelerating and running over him, Benz said.

Watanabe was dragged 100 feet before becoming dislodged from under the truck. 
Paramedics declared him dead at the scene.

The incident was caught on surveillance video, and police said footage and 
employee witness statements were included in an alert sent to local law 
enforcement agencies around 2 p.m. Monday about the truck.

At 5 p.m. Monday, Oakland police officers found the truck near an East Oakland 
pallet recycling facility and tried to make contact with Edwards but he ran 
away, police said. He was arrested a little over an hour later after they found 
him hiding under a vehicle.

Police said Edwards confessed to the killing during his interview.

At True World, officials expressed pain at the loss of a longtime employee and 
praise for law enforcement's swift arrest of a suspect.

"We grieve with his widow and three sons. Personally, I am tremendously moved 
by Takeshi's desire to stop what he saw as a violation of the company," True 
World Group president Robert Bleu said in a statement Wednesday. "I respect his 
courage, yet deeply regret that it cost him his life."

True World operations manager Sebastian Doroski joined in, praising Watanabe's 
volunteering and youth program efforts outside work.

"This is a tragic loss," Doroski said. "Takeshi was a valuable part of our 
team. He was best known for being a truly good-hearted person. He cared about 
his co-workers and they cared about him. Our hearts are heavy today. Our 
condolences are with his family and, of course, with all those who knew him and 
cared about him."

Kadeem did not enter a plea at his arraignment in a Hayward courtroom Wednesday 
afternoon. He is being held without bail and will return to court Nov. 2.

(source: East Bay Times)

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

East Hemet man guilty of murder in deaths of daughter, estranged wife----Johnny 
Lopez is also convicted of trying to kill his girlfriend. A jury will now 
decide whether he gets the death penalty or life in prison.


An East Hemet man who told a sheriff's investigator he had a contract with the 
devil to kill his 5-year-old daughter and estranged wife, and that he tried to 
kill his girlfriend to start a new life, is now facing either life in prison or 
the death penalty after being convicted in those crimes.

A jury found Johnny Lopez, 36, of Hemet, guilty of 2 counts of murder and 1 
each of attempted murder, rape by force, burglary and being a convicted felon 
in possession of a firearm, Riverside County District Attorney's Office 
spokesman John Hall said.

The case will now enter the penalty phase, ending with the same jury 
recommending to the judge whether Lopez should get a life or death sentence.

In an interview with sheriff's investigators 2 days after the attacks, Lopez 
admitted to killing Mia Lopez, 5, and Joanna Barrientos, 36, referred to in 
court papers as Joanna Lopez. She was not Mia's mother but was raising the girl 
as her own.

Lopez told investigators that after he shot them each in the head, he drove 
about 2 blocks away from the Girard Street house, then turned around and came 
back to shoot each of them once more.

"In my mind I had that contract (with the devil). I can't believe I went 
through with it," he said during the interview.

Lopez left and went to a house on Sunset Lane where he sexually assaulted his 
girlfriend, slashed her throat and attempted to choke her with an electrical 
cord.

Lopez said he had been drinking alcohol and using methamphetamine and heroin 
that day.

His public defender, Brian Cosgrove, acknowledged Lopez committed the crime but 
told the jury his client suffered a "psychotic break." He intended to bring in 
experts and witnesses aimed at leniency.

(source: Press-Enterprise)






OREGON:

Governor should push to ban death penalty


Gov. Kate Brown offered elaboration this week regarding her position on capital 
punishment, saying that she would continue a moratorium on the death penalty 
through her 2-year term if she's elected in November.

To her credit, Brown made these comments before the Nov. 8 election; it's an 
extra piece of information voters can use as they weigh the gubernatorial race.

When she assumed office last year after the resignation of John Kitzhaber, 
Brown said she was personally against the death penalty and planned to continue 
the moratorium Kitzhaber had put in place. But she also said then that she 
planned to study the issue in more detail.

Well, apparently that study is over, according to a story this week in The 
Oregonian. A spokesman for Brown, Bryan Hockaday, told the newspaper in an 
email that "Gov. Brown will continue the death penalty moratorium, because 
after thoroughly researching the issues, serious concerns remain about the 
constitutionality and workability of Oregon's capital punishment law."

Hockaday said that reasons for Brown's decision include the "uncertainty of 
Oregon's ability to acquire the necessary execution drugs required by statute." 
(Hockaday declined to immediately release to the newspaper any of the studies 
or other information the governor relied upon to make her decision, but she 
should take pains to do that now and not wait for the inevitable records 
request.)

Hockaday added this note: "Looking nationally, America is on the verge of a sea 
change both by legislation and, more profoundly, through court decisions. The 
past few years have already seen a major shift in the landscape on capital 
punishment law, and Gov. Brown expects more changes are on the horizon."

That's probably a fair assessment. But it leaves work undone in Oregon, and if 
Brown is serious about this issue, she could help to lead that sea change.

The fact remains that the death penalty still is part of Oregon law. (Brown's 
opponent, Bud Pierce, has said he would follow the law and presumably would 
allow executions.)

Oregon voters haven't weighed in on the issue since 1984, when they approved 
the death penalty. Brown is right that a lot has changed in the three decades 
since then. It's possible that the state's voters might have a different view 
of the measure now. But we won't know for sure until we ask them.

Kitzhaber, for whatever reason, was reluctant to use any of his political 
capital to pursue the issue. But Brown should, assuming she wins on Election 
Day (and recent polls show her with a comfortable lead): She could push the 
2017 Legislature to refer the issue to voters. Failing that, she could help 
drive an effort to use the initiative process to place the issue on a future 
ballot.

Even though Oregon still has 34 prisoners on death row, it's conducted only 2 
executions in the last 50 years, and both of those occurred in the 1960s. No 
executions appear to be imminent in the state.

All that means that this would be an excellent time for Brown to show real 
leadership on the issue, instead of just hoping that she won't have the 
occasion to explain again to Oregon voters why she's unwilling to enforce what 
remains the law of the state.

(source: Editorial, Corvallis Gazette-Times)






WASHINGTON:

Gubernatorial debate: Death penalty, Hanford, school funding


Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee and Republican challenger Bill Bryant clashed over 
the death penalty, Hanford lawsuits and their visions of the state in their 3rd 
debate on Wednesday.

The debate, sponsored by the Washington State Debate Coalition, occurred at 
Columbia Basin College in Pasco.

Inslee is a former congressman seeking his 2nd term as governor. He said 
Washington has the nation's best economy and was making progress on a host of 
problems.

"We are a confident and optimistic state," Inslee said. "I believe we ought to 
keep the ball rolling."

Bryant, a former Seattle port commissioner, painted a picture of a state in 
dire straits because of a disengaged governor. He said he would be "an engaged, 
activist governor."

"Is there anyone who thinks we can't do better?" Bryant said.

The candidates were asked if they would support using the death penalty against 
the shooter in the recent mass killings in Burlington.

Inslee said he would continue his moratorium against the use of the death 
penalty, which he said is unfairly applied. Bryant said he would follow state 
laws that allow the use of the death penalty.

"The governor can't ignore the law," he said.

(source: The Herald)






USA:

Are odds stacked against blacks in court?


When it comes to capital punishment in America, blacks are nearly 4 times more 
likely to receive the death penalty than other races.

In 2015, 49 people received death sentences. 21 were black, 16 were white and 
the rest were of other races. In Alabama, 6 death sentences were given, and 4 
defendants were black.

A previous study by the Death Penalty Information Center found that the odds of 
receiving the death penalty are nearly 4 times (3.9) times higher if the 
defendant is black.

The lack of minorities in the legal decision-making process is one argument why 
the death penalty is racially skewed. In the United States, 79 % of prosecutors 
are white men, 16 % are white women; only 4 % of prosecutors are men of color, 
and 1 % are women of color. That makes 95 % of the decision-makers white.

According to the study, prosecutors are key decision-makers in what level of 
charges and sentences are pursued. This can contribute to large racial 
disparities in sentencing.

Who are the decision-makers?

The death penalty could be sought after more than it actually is, particularly 
with other races, but often it is not. One of the likely reasons for this 
discrepancy is that almost all the prosecutors making the key decision about 
whether a person will live or not are white. Only 1 % of the District Attorneys 
in death penalty states are black, and only 1 % are Hispanic. The remaining are 
white, and almost all are men. In Alabama, of 41 district attorneys in the 
state, only 1 is black.

Another problem in prosecution is procedure. When a prosecutor is faced with a 
crime in his community, he often consults with the family of the victim as to 
whether the death penalty should be sought. If the victim's family is 
prominent, white, and likely to support him in his next election, there may be 
a greater chance for the death penalty to take place, according to the study.

Those who die because in these situations are not the individuals who usually 
evoke the public's sympathy. While they have committed horrendous crimes, but 
crimes are no less horrendous by white offenders or against black victims, yet 
those killers are often spared death.

Racism in court

Also, racial slurs aren't a thing of the past in courtrooms. Blatant racism can 
be seen and heard often in courts around the country. According to Deliberate 
Indifference: Judicial Tolerance of Racial Bias in Criminal Justice by Bryan 
Stevenson and Ruth Friedman, a prosecutor in Alabama gave as his reason for 
striking several potential jurors the fact that they associated with Alabama 
State University, an Historically Black University in the state.

In January, Superior Court Judge Roger Bradley of Georgia stepped down after 
being investigated for using a racial slur in open court.

"When I first moved up to this county in 1974, I was actually introduced to a 
fellow who lived right here behind the courthouse and he referred to himself, 
as did everybody else in town, not in a disparaging manner, as (n-word) Bob," 
the judge said.

Severity of crimes

Murder cases become death eligible through certain aggravating factors which 
make one murder "worse than another." The prosecutor is supposed to consider 
the presence of such factors as whether a murder was committed with grave risk 
to the life of others, whether the murder was committed in the course of 
another serious crime such as robbery or rape, whether torture was a factor, or 
whether the defendant had a significant violent history. The jury is similarly 
told to consider those factors when deciding whether the sentence should be 
life or death, once a guilty verdict is decided.

The race of the defendant is not supposed to influence whether a person is 
sentenced to death, but often it is a determining factor in whether a defendant 
will receive the penalty.

Race of the victims

The racial combination was most likely to result in a death sentence if the 
defendant was black and the victim was of another race, regardless of how 
severe the murder was committed, according to the study. Black-on-black crimes 
were less likely to receive a death sentence, followed by crimes of other 
defendants, regardless of the race of their victims. Few defendants of any race 
are likely to get the death penalty in a case involving defendants with no 
prior record and where the killing may have been accidental. The bulk of crimes 
in mid-range severity, blacks who kill non blacks are more likely to receive 
the death penalty than blacks who kill blacks, and they have death sentencing 
rate much larger than the rate for defendants of other races who commit 
similarly severe murders of black victims.

(source: Birmingham Times)