[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----FLA., ALA., OHIO, TENN., NEB., CALIF., USA

[Rick Halperin]

Oct. 22




FLORIDA:

Justices overturn decades-old death sentence


The Florida Supreme Court this week ordered a new trial for a convicted killer 
who has spent more than 4 decades on death row for a racially charged murder 
during civil unrest in the Jacksonville area.

The unanimous decision, a rarity in death penalty cases in which convictions 
are overturned, came amid intense scrutiny of the death penalty in Florida. The 
state's high court last week struck down a portion of a new death penalty law 
as unconstitutional because it does not require unanimous jury recommendations 
for the sentence to be imposed.

Jacob John Dougan, Jr., now 69, was convicted in the 1974 murder of Stephen 
Orlando, an 18-year-old white man, whose body was found in Jacksonville Beach 
accompanied by a note signed by the "Black Revolutionary Army."

Thursday's 58-page opinion upheld a lower court's ruling that Dougan should 
receive a new trial because of "multiple significant problems" in his trial, 
including the false testimony of a key witness who was a co-defendant in the 
case and who had received a plea deal in exchange for testifying against 
Dougan.

The court also found that Dougan's lawyer, Ernest Jackson, had 2 conflicts of 
interest "that adversely affected his performance" during the trial. Jackson 
had an extramarital affair with Dougan's sister and represented 2 other 
co-defendants in their appeals.

The lower court found that Jackson "essentially presented no defense" during 
the guilt phase of Dougan's trial.

Dougan, considered a leader in the black community before his 1975 conviction, 
was resentenced to death 3 times before Thursday's decision ordering a new 
trial.

"Clearly, this is a case of many tragedies. It is tragedy for the family of the 
young man who was murdered. It is a tragedy that over 40 years have passed 
since the murder occurred, of which Dougan has spent most of those years on 
death row. He now faces a retrial where he may be released from death row or 
even acquitted. It is a tragedy that Dougan, a young man with so much 
potential, was possibly involved in this murder that was motivated by racial 
hatred. It would be overly simplistic, however, to characterize this murder and 
trial merely as a byproduct of an earlier time when Jacksonville was dealing 
with deep wounds of past racial discrimination," Justice Barbara Pariente wrote 
in a concurring opinion.

Dougan's sentence should have been reduced to life imprisonment, Pariente 
wrote, agreeing with three dissenters in a 1992 Florida Supreme Court decision 
that upheld his death sentence.

"Justice is at times an elusive word, but by granting Dougan a new trial, we 
restore some small measure of justice to remedy the injustices that occurred at 
the time of his original trial," Pariente concluded.

In a separate ruling Thursday, the Supreme Court ordered an evidentiary hearing 
for seath row inmate Frank Walls, convicted in the 1987 murders of 2 people in 
an Okaloosa County home.

The 5-2 majority opinion ordered the hearing to consider Walls' claim that his 
intellectual disability should make him ineligible for the death penalty.

The new hearing is necessary, the majority decided, because of a seminal U.S. 
Supreme Court ruling in a case known as Hall v. Florida. In that case, the U.S. 
Supreme Court rejected Florida's use of a "rigid" IQ score in determining 
whether defendants should be shielded from execution because they are 
intellectually disabled.

Prior to the decision in Hall, a defendant with an IQ above 70 could not 
present evidence regarding 2 other portions of a 3-pronged test - adaptive 
functioning deficits and manifestation before the age of 18 - used to determine 
whether defendants are intellectually disabled.

The majority in Thursday's Florida Supreme Court ruling relied on what is known 
as the "Witt analysis" to decide whether the Hall decision should be applied 
retroactively to other inmates. Under Witt, a change in the law is applied 
retroactively if it is issued by the Florida or U.S. Supreme courts, is 
constitutional in nature and "constitutes a development of fundamental 
significance," something the majority found the Hall decision accomplished.

"The rejection of the strict IQ score cutoff increases the number of potential 
cases in which the state cannot impose the death penalty, while requiring a 
more holistic review means more defendants may be eligible for relief," the 
majority opinion said.

The judge who sentenced Walls, now 49, found that he had been classified as 
emotionally handicapped, suffers from brain dysfunction and brain damage and 
functions intellectually at the level of a 12-year-old.

But in a stinging dissent Thursday joined by Justice Ricky Polston, Justice 
Charles Canady wrote that the Hall decision should not be applied to Walls' 
case.

Walls is unable to satisfy one of the conditions of the test for intellectual 
disability because his IQ scores were 102 at age 12 and 101 at age 14, Canady 
wrote.

"Based on these IQ scores, Walls could not establish that he met the 3rd prong 
of the test for intellectual disability, which requires that the condition be 
'manifested during the period from conception to age 18,'" he wrote.

The dissenters also argued that the Hall decision should not be applied 
retroactively because it did not result in a "jurisprudential upheaval," but 
instead was an "evolutionary refinement" of Florida's death penalty law.

Applying the Hall ruling retroactively presents an "ongoing threat of major 
disruption to the application of the death penalty" in the state, Canady wrote.

(source: ocala.com)

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

Bondi's office looks for clarity on death penalty----Florida Supreme Court: 
Jury must unanimously agree on death penalty


Attorney General Pam Bondi has asked the Florida Supreme Court to clarify a 
ruling last week that struck down a portion of the state's death-penalty law, 
arguing that failing to do so "will only generate confusion."

In a pair of opinions issued last Friday, the court found that a statute, 
passed in March in response to a U.S. Supreme Court decision in a case known as 
Hurst v. Florida, was unconstitutional "because it requires that only 10 jurors 
recommend death as opposed to the constitutionally required unanimous, 
12-member jury."

Bondi's request for clarification came in the case of Larry Darnell Perry, who 
was convicted in the 2013 murder of his infant son. An appellate court had 
asked the Florida Supreme Court to decide whether the law passed in March 
applied to cases that were already under way.

In last Friday's 5-2 decision in the Perry case, the court said that the law 
was unconstitutional because it did not require unanimous jury recommendations 
and "cannot be applied to pending prosecutions."

The state contends that death penalty prosecutions can continue without a 
change in the law, so long as trial courts require unanimous jury 
recommendations to comply with last week's ruling.

But the Supreme Court majority did not address the issue of "severability," 
which would allow portions of the law that are not deficient to remain intact, 
Senior Assistant Attorney General Carol Dittmar wrote in the 11-page request 
filed Thursday.

"This omission unnecessarily invites continued litigation. The language leaves 
open the possibility that defense attorneys will assert that no valid death 
penalty law exists in Florida, demanding that trial judges strike notices of 
intent to pursue capital cases and refuse to impanel capital juries," she 
wrote.

However, "the state maintains that after severing the constitutional defect, 
current capital prosecutions should still be conducted as long as the trial 
courts ensure that the jury's final recommendation is unanimous," Dittmar 
continued.

The arguments "will no doubt be rejected by some trial courts and accepted by 
others," leading to more litigation in "an already overburdened system," 
Dittmar wrote.

"...This court's finding of a constitutional flaw will only generate confusion, 
absent some clarification as to trial court's authority to cure the legislative 
error," she argued.

But defense lawyers maintain that, a decade ago, the Supreme Court asked the 
Legislature to address the issue of unanimity. They say it's now the 
Legislature's job --- not the court's --- to fix the law.

"It's not clarification to ask the court to rewrite the statute," said Martin 
McClain, who has represented over 200 defendants facing the death penalty.

Like Bondi, legislative leaders and prosecutors --- who pushed for 10-2 jury 
recommendations in death-penalty cases over the repeated warnings of defense 
lawyers --- contend that the statute does not have to be changed immediately 
for prosecutions to move forward.

But an Ocala judge on Monday put on hold the penalty portion of a murder trial, 
saying the court needed direction from the Legislature before proceeding.

Arguing for the state in the request for clarification, Dittmar wrote that the 
flaw in the statute "is easy to fix" through "accurate jury instructions and 
simple interrogatories" and "does not require any substantive rewriting of the 
law."

But defense lawyers say that allowing trials to proceed without changing the 
statute could be even more problematic.

Relying on judges to craft jury instructions in different cases "is a situation 
that will cause havoc," said 5th Judicial Circuit Public Defender Mike Graves, 
whose office represents Kelvin Lee Coleman in the Ocala murder trial and who 
argued Coleman's case Monday. A jury late last week found Coleman guilty of 2 
counts of 1st-degree murder.

"We literally could have dozens and dozens of different procedures, different 
jury instructions on the issue of death in individual cases. That, I think, 
would cause absolutely unnecessary complication in review," Graves said. "I 
don't for the life of me understand what their hurry is."

The state's death penalty has been in limbo since January, when the U.S. 
Supreme Court ruled that Florida's sentencing system was unconstitutional 
because it gave too much power to judges, instead of juries. Following that 
decision, the Florida Supreme Court indefinitely put on hold two executions, 
which are still pending.

Of the 31 states with the death penalty, Florida is 1 of just 3 --- including 
Alabama and Delaware --- that have not required unanimous jury recommendations 
for death to be imposed. Delaware's high court has halted that state's death 
penalty following the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in January in the Hurst 
case.

The Hurst ruling did not address the issue of unanimity, which became a 
flashpoint during this year's legislative session as Florida lawmakers sought 
to repair the state's death penalty sentencing process to comply with the U.S. 
Supreme Court decision.

Defense lawyers repeatedly told lawmakers that Florida's "outlier" status 
regarding unanimity jeopardizes the state's death penalty because the U.S. 
Supreme Court considers "evolving standards of decency" when considering the 
issue.

A Senate proposal originally required unanimous jury recommendations, but 
lawmakers ultimately struck a deal --- backed by Bondi and prosecutors --- in 
which at least 10 jurors were required to favor death for the sentence to be 
imposed.

"Refusing to make a steady, reasoned review of the situation is what led to the 
chaos our court system is now dealing with. Lives are literally at stake. Have 
patience. Take a breath," Pete Mills, an assistant public defender in the 10th 
Judicial Circuit who is chairman of the Florida Public Defender Association's 
death penalty steering committee, said in a telephone interview Friday.

"If the Court attempts to fix this on their own, it could be a violation of the 
separation of powers recognized in our state's Constitution," Mills said. "They 
run the risk of misinterpreting what the Legislature will do. The Legislature 
might have bigger plans."

Incoming Senate President Joe Negron, a Stuart Republican who will take over as 
head of the chamber after the November elections, told The News Service of 
Florida this week that there was "no ambiguity" regarding the need for 
unanimous jury recommendations following the state Supreme Court opinions.

Negron, a lawyer, said that lawmakers could deal with the issue during next 
year's 60-day legislative session, which begins in March.

Bernie McCabe, the state attorney in the 6th Judicial Circuit in Pasco and 
Pinellas counties, said he believes prosecutors can move forward because the 
state Supreme Court, in the decisions last week, "has established the 
procedures necessary if you're going to seek the death penalty."

But McCabe also said that the attorney general's concern about clarification is 
valid.

"We have cases pending that need to be resolved, and there is perhaps confusion 
over the proper mechanism over how to resolve them," he said.

McCabe said he is trying 2 cases in which he is seeking the death penalty that 
are at a critical stage.

"I think we can go ahead. Others will perhaps disagree," he said. "I can see 
where it might be helpful if the Supreme Court just came out and said, OK, 
judges here's what you do, and go ahead and do it."

(source: news4jax.com)






ALABAMA:

Alabama appeals court rules on death penalty cases


The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals is throwing out 1 inmate's death sentence 
and upholding another.

The judges on Friday upheld James Osgood's capital murder conviction and death 
sentence in the slaying of Tracy Brown in Chilton County in 2010. But the court 
threw out the sentence, ruling that a judge gave improper instructions to 
jurors.

Brown was found stabbed to death in her home.

The court separately upheld the conviction and death sentence of Jessie Livell 
Phillips from Marshall County. He was convicted of killing his wife Erica 
Phillips and their unborn child in 2009.

The court previously told a court to prepare a new sentencing order for 
Phillips, and it did. The appeals court says it now agrees with the lower court 
and upheld the sentence.

(source: Associated Press)






OHIO:

Citing aging inmates, Ohio says it will again move death row


Ohio is moving its death row for the 3rd time in little over a decade, this 
time because of the growing number of aging inmates serving death sentences, 
state prison officials said Friday.

Death row will go from Chillicothe in southern Ohio to the Toledo Correctional 
Institution, a trip of more than 3 hours. Toledo's prison is newer and designed 
to handle inmates with physical and mobility limitations, including those in 
wheelchairs, the state said.

The state will relocate 126 death row inmates in the "near future," said 
prisons department spokeswoman JoEllen Smith. She said she couldn't provide 
exact details because of security reasons. 3 other inmates at a medical 
facility in Columbus are being evaluated to see if they are healthy enough to 
be transferred.

The average age of Ohio's death row population is just under 50, with inmates' 
ages ranging from 21 to 75.

Executions still will be carried out at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility 
in Lucasville.

Ohio said earlier this month that it plans to resume executions in January 
following an unofficial moratorium of nearly 3 years that was blamed on 
shortages of lethal drugs.

The state hasn't put anyone to death since January 2014, when Dennis McGuire 
repeatedly gasped and snorted during a 26-minute procedure using a 
never-before-tried 2-drug combo.

Prison officials also hope the switch will help reduce crowding at the 
Chillicothe prison and other sites across the state. Areas now used to hold 
death row inmates in individual cells could be converted to double-bunked cells 
that could house twice as many high-security inmates.

The prison system's total population has increased 15 percent in about the last 
12 years, according to a Correctional Institution Inspection Committee report 
from May. Overcrowding rates also are up. Currently, Ohio has almost 51,000 in 
its prison system.

Death row was moved from the supermax prison in Youngstown, where it had been 
since 2005, to the Chillicothe Correctional Institution at the beginning of 
2012.

The state said the move to Chillicothe would save money by bringing inmates 
facing execution closer to the death house in Lucasville.

The union representing Ohio prison guards and other workers said the shift 
would disrupt the consistency for the staff, the inmates and their families.

"You keep shuffling all these guys around in the system, and it just puts more 
hardships on everyone," said Chris Mabe, president of the Ohio Civil Service 
Employees Association.

The state didn't have a firm estimate on how much the move to Toledo would 
cost. Smith said it wasn't "a fiscal decision" but rather one designed to 
increase safety and security while reducing density at the prisons.

The agency said the decision was made as part of its routine review of how it 
manages its inmate population.

Staffing in Chillicothe isn't expected to change, but more workers will be 
hired in Toledo, the state said.

To make room for death row inmates in Toledo, about the same number of inmates 
will be relocated to other facilities, Smith said.

The move is the 4th overall for Ohio's death row since the state re-enacted 
capital punishment in 1981.

(source: Associated Press)






TENNESSEE:

Convicted cop killer lingering on death row, costly to taxpayers


It has been nearly 12 years since the night a Bristol, Tenn. Police Officer was 
killed responding to the domestic violence call, but the case is far from over.

The convicted killer, Nikolaus Johnson, has appeared in court time and time 
again, trying to avoid the death penalty.

News 5's Kristi O'Connor exposes an enormous expense for taxpayers as the cop 
killer lingers on death row for years.

News 5 calculated hundreds of thousands of dollars in court costs, housing and 
manpower to try him.

But that is just scratching the surface, and the bills are continuing to pile 
up the longer his execution is delayed.

It has been nearly 12 years since Karen Vance heard a knock on her door.

"As soon as I saw 2 police officers at my door, I knew something was wrong," 
Vance said.

She found out her son, 30-year-old Mark Vance, was killed in the line of duty.

Court documents confirm Vance was responding to a domestic disturbance. 
Nikolaus Johnson, 26, had been fighting with his 17-year-old pregnant 
girlfriend, urging her to get an abortion.

When Vance entered the home, Johnson ambushed him with one gunshot to the head. 
Court documents revealed comments he made during his arrest, that prove he had 
no remorse.

"I shot the f****** cop. I shot him in the head. He's dead. Ain't no use in 
going in there," Johnson said, according to the Tennessee Supreme Court opinion 
on the case in April of 2013.

9 years after her son's killer was sentenced to death, Karen Vance is still 
waiting for his execution.

"I would rather see it myself happen while I'm still here to see it," Vance 
said.

But it is likely she will not see justice served anytime soon. Johnson has 
filed for his conviction to be overturned for the 3rd time.

"It shouldn't take that long," Vance said. "I can't even imagine how much money 
they've spent just to keep him up."

News 5 wanted to find out how much it has cost taxpayers. We started with his 
court appointed defense team.

According to documents News 5 obtained from the Administrator of the Court, the 
experts and investigators used in the Sullivan County trial cost nearly 
$118,000. The attorney fees and co-council claims added up to nearly $67,000. 
In total, his indigent defense claim cost more than $184,000.

Sullivan County Circuit Court Clerk Tommy Kerns estimates his office spent at 
the very least $150,000 during the trial. He says $32,000 went toward the 12 
jurors who were sequestered for 17 days.

"We had to provide place for them to stay, food, one time we took them to the 
movie to try to help them to at least exist," Kerns said.

The rest of the money went toward travel expenses for witnesses, manpower to 
document every action involved in the case, meals for the jury and officers and 
the process to select the jury. Kerns says they send out hundreds of summons to 
select the jurors.

"Each time that it comes back to this court, if it's appealed, then we have to 
do the copy of the record. Send the record to the court of appeals. That's my 
clerk doing that," Kerns said.

Next we looked into how expensive it is to house Johnson. When he was in the 
Sullivan County Jail, it cost roughly $37.50 a day to house an inmate. He was 
in the Sheriff's custody for about 2 1/2 years, which adds up to $33,000.

Once he was sentenced to death, he was taken into to the Tennessee Department 
of Corrections custody. It costs $109.41 a day to house a death row inmate, 
compared to about $73 for a state inmate housed in the general population.

The extra cost is mostly because death row inmates are considered maximum 
security offenders, they require extra supervision.

"When a death row offender is being transferred from the facility say to court 
or to the hospital, it requires a minimum of 3 officers and 2 vehicles," TDOC 
Public Information Officer Robert Reburn said.

At $109.41 per day for about 9 years, tax payers have shelled out nearly 
$380,000 to provide for Johnson.

As the appeal continues, court goes on and costs rack up, Karen Vance will 
continue to wait, until justice is served.

"Justice won't be done, until it's completely over. And that's really all we 
want is for it to be over, but we are not sure if it's ever going to be really 
over," Vance said.

In total, we calculated roughly $750,000 have been paid toward Johnson over the 
last 12 years, but that is still leaving out a lot of expenses.

News 5 hit into a road block getting court costs from the Criminal Court of 
Appeals and the Tennessee Supreme Court. State agencies told us they either did 
not have the documents, or the information we requested was not recorded.

There were also expenses we did not track down, such as payment for court 
officers during hearings, officers assigned to guard the jury, transporting 
Johnson from prison to court and his medical care.

(source: WCYB news)






NEBRASKA:

Catholic Church intensifies effort to abolish Nebraska's death penalty


The Catholic Church in Nebraska has stepped up efforts to convince voters to 
reject the death penalty.

The state's 3 bishops and the Nebraska Catholic Conference have joined the 
Catholic Mobilizing Network Nebraska to organize public presentations and an 
online advertising campaign. The group is urging Catholics and non-Catholics to 
vote to retain the Nebraska Legislature's 2015 repeal of the death penalty.

With modern penal systems, the death penalty is no longer necessary to protect 
society, the group argues. The church also encourages moving away from 
vengeance and toward mercy "even for those among us who have committed the most 
heinous of acts," said Alex Kelly, coordinator of the new group.

The group's online ad features the Rev. Craig Loecker, pastor at St. Leo 
Catholic Church in Omaha.

Death penalty proponents, who obtained the signatures needed for the Nov. 8 
referendum, say capital punishment in Nebraska is reserved for a small number 
of killers who deserve to be executed. They also argue it helps protect prison 
officers from violence by inmates who would have nothing left to lose if the 
death penalty were eliminated.

The Catholic group plans to host informational events next week in Omaha, Grand 
Island and Lincoln. The events will feature talks by Joe D'Ambrosio, who 
wrongfully spent 20 years on Ohio's death row, and Marietta Jaeger-Lane of 
Montana, who co-founded a national forgiveness group after her 7-year-old 
daughter was slain by a serial killer in 1973.

(source: World-Herald)






CALIFORNIA:

Defendant wants Ceres death penalty case dismissed


Mark Edward Mesiti, who is legally representing himself, says his right to a 
speedy trial has been violated and he wants a Stanislaus County judge to 
dismiss his death penalty case.

But Mesiti wasn't ready to proceed with his defense motion Friday afternoon 
because, he said, there was sewage flooding near his jail cell.

He is accused of killing his 14-year-old daughter, Alycia Mesiti. On March 25, 
2009, the girl's body was found buried in the backyard of the Ceres home where 
Mesiti lived at the time of her disappearance in August 2006.

Mesiti told the judge that there was sewage flooding Friday afternoon on his 
tier in the central jail in downtown Modesto. He said he had to return to his 
jail cell and move his court documents to prevent them from being damaged.

Sheriff Adam Christianson said floor drains and cell drains in a portion of the 
jail had backed up about 12:30 p.m. Friday. He said maintenance staff quickly 
cleared the drains, and the tier was cleaned.

"As jail flooding goes, this was a minor incident at best," Christianson said. 
"We deal with this issue all the time as the inmates regularly and 
intentionally flush material that clogs the drainage system."

A shift sergeant at the jail spoke to Mesiti as he was taken to court Friday 
afternoon, and Mesiti didn't say anything about fearing damage to property in 
his jail cell, according to the sheriff. He said Mesiti had his personal items 
stacked on his bed before he went to court.

After the hearing, Mesiti told jail staff members that none of his personal 
items were ruined. Christianson said he believes Mesiti was a bit disingenuous 
with the judge and used the situation to his advantage.

Superior Court Judge Dawna Reeves scheduled Mesiti to return to her courtroom 
Oct. 31, when he can argue in support of his motion to dismiss.

Mesiti has argued before that jail officials have violated his constitutional 
rights by keeping his hands in cuffs while he is supposed to be preparing his 
defense. Reeves has rejected that claim, saying the defendant has a legal team 
at these meetings at the jail to assist him in reviewing documents and other 
evidence in his case.

Along with the capital murder charge, Mesiti is charged with more than 40 
counts of sexually abusing his daughter, as well as sexual abuse charges 
involving 2 other girls, according to a criminal grand jury indictment. 
Mesiti's trial is scheduled to start Feb. 6.

(source: Modesto Bee)






USA:

U.S. on track for fewest executions since 1991


With public support for the death penalty at its lowest point in more than 4 
decades, the U.S. is on track for its fewest executions in a quarter century.

So far in 2016, 17 inmates have been executed, according to a database 
maintained by the Death Penalty Information Center. 3 additional executions are 
scheduled for this year. If all 3 proceed as planned, the year's 20 executions 
will be the fewest since 1991, when 14 were recorded. The U.S. has executed at 
least 28 people in each year since 1992.

Just 5 states - Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Missouri and Texas - account for the 
17 completed and 3 scheduled executions this year. This represents the fewest 
states to carry out executions in any year since 1983. In 1999, by comparison, 
20 states conducted executions.

1 reason for the national decline in executions has been a decrease in Texas, 
which is scheduled to execute 8 inmates this year, a 20-year low. Texas has 
long been the nation's leader in executions, carrying out nearly 5 times as 
many as any other state since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated capital 
punishment in 1976. During that span, Texas carried out 538 executions, 
compared with 112 in Oklahoma and 111 in Virginia.

Legal and practical challenges have prevented some states from carrying out 
executions this year. Ohio, for example, has not executed anyone since 2014 
amid difficulties acquiring the drugs needed to conduct lethal injections. The 
state announced this month that it will resume executions next year, using a 
new protocol.

The number of states with the death penalty on the books - currently 30 - also 
could decline this year. Voters in California and Nebraska will decide Nov. 8 
whether to eliminate or retain their capital punishment laws.

In California, which has the nation's largest death row, Proposition 62 would 
eliminate the death penalty and replace it with a maximum penalty of life 
imprisonment without parole. The measure would apply retroactively and, if 
approved, resentence the more than 700 people on death row to life without 
parole. A competing measure, Proposition 66, would retain capital punishment 
but change legal procedures related to death penalty appeals. (If both measures 
pass, the one with more "yes" votes will prevail.)

In Nebraska, voters will revisit a May 2015 decision by the state Legislature 
to abolish capital punishment and replace it with a maximum penalty of life 
without parole for the crime of murder. Referendum 426 asks whether to retain 
or repeal the state law that eliminated the death penalty.

A 3rd state, Oklahoma, will also vote on a proposal related to capital 
punishment. Question 776 would solidify the state's death penalty against legal 
or legislative challenges by adding provisions to the state constitution, 
including a declaration that capital punishment "is not cruel and unusual 
punishment."

A Pew Research Center survey conducted Aug. 23-Sept. 2 found that 49% of 
Americans support the death penalty for those convicted of murder, compared 
with 42% who oppose it. While the share of supporters reached a 4-decade low, 
voters remain divided along party lines. Nearly 3/4 (72%) of Republicans favor 
the death penalty for those convicted of murder, compared with 34% of 
Democrats.

Both major-party presidential candidates, Republican Donald Trump and Democrat 
Hillary Clinton, favor the death penalty. The federal government has not 
executed anyone since 2003, carrying out just 3 executions in the modern era of 
capital punishment.

(source: Pew Research Center)