[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, MO, . OKLA., NEB., CALIF., USA

[Rick Halperin]

Sept. 14



OHIO:

Kasich facing decision


Gov. John Kasich has a decision to make in the relatively near future, and it 
probably won't be an easy one.

Because in a few months, Ohio is supposed to restart lethal injections down at 
the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville.

And as far as we know, prison officials don't have a supplier for the drugs 
used in the process.

I say "as far as we know," because trying to get any information about lethal 
injection drugs from the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction is like 
shouting into a hole.

Ask a straightforward question like, "Do you have any lethal injection drugs?" 
and you'll get crickets in response.

The only thing a prison spokesman will offer is, "DRC continues to seek all 
legal means to obtain the drugs necessary to carry out court ordered 
executions. This process has included multiple options."

Clear as mud, right? There are more than 2 dozen men who have execution dates 
scheduled from January 2017 through September 2020.

There have been no executions since January 2014.

While there have been questions about the process - Dennis McGuire's prolonged 
execution prompted ample debate on how Ohio handles executions - much of the 
discussion has focused on where to obtain the drugs used in lethal injections, 
after manufacturers forbade their use in putting people to death.

State law was changed to allow so-called compounding pharmacies to provide 
supplies without having to disclose their names to the public. But, again, as 
far as we know, the state hasn't found any pharmacies willing to provide the 
product.

The same legislation that covered compounding pharmacies created a legislative 
study committee to consider Ohio's death penalty policies. One of the topics of 
discussion for that group was whether Ohio should move to a different method of 
execution.

There's no on-the-move legislation to switch to hanging or nitrogen or the 
electric chair or any other method.

Lawmakers won't get back to business until after the election, meaning they're 
not likely to act on such issues until weeks before Ronald Phillips is 
scheduled to die.

Phillips, who was convicted in the 1993 rape and murder of a 3-year-old girl in 
Akron, has already had his date postponed several times - notably, Kasich 
offered a temporary reprieve to allow Phillips time to determine whether he 
could donate some of his organs to family members.

DRC denied the request after a couple of months, noting that Phillips hadn't 
moved quickly enough to allow the donation process to proceed.

There are more than 140 people on Ohio's death row. Most are hoping their 
executions won't be carried out.

There are more than 140 victims of their crimes, and many, many other friends 
and family members left behind who are waiting for justice to be served. Some 
have waited decades.

That puts the ball back in Kasich's court.

(source: Marc Kovac, Crescent-News)

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

UC College Of Law's Center For Race, Gender And Social Justice To Screen "Race 
To Execution"


UC College of Law's Center for Race, Gender and Social Justice provides 
experiential learning on issues of race and gender in the law.

University of Cincinnati College of Law's Center for Race, Gender and Social 
Justice provides experiential learning, research and interdisciplinary inquiry 
on issues of race and gender in the law. It allows students to form 
relationships with their communities on a local, national and global scale.

The Center is hosting a screening next Wednesday for the film Race To 
Execution, which depicts the disturbing link between race and the death penalty 
in the United States.

Here to talk about the Center for Race, Gender and Social Justice and the film 
are the center's co-director, Professor Emily Houh, JD; Executive Director of 
the Ohio Justice and Policy Center, David Singleton; Director of Family and 
Community Intervention with the YWCA Greater Cincinnati, Erika Yingling; and 
Race to Execution producer, Rachel Lyon.

(source: WVXU news)






MISSOURI:

Appeals Court to Rehear Missouri Execution Drug Dispute


An appellate panel that ordered Missouri to reveal its supplier of lethal 
injection drugs is giving the state another chance to make its case to shield 
that information.

In a federal lawsuit challenging Mississippi's 3-drug execution protocol, two 
death-row inmates have subpoenaed Missouri for details about the using the 
single sedative, pentobarbital, in executions. Richard Jordan and Ricky Chase 
argue that Mississippi's 3-drug protocol is torturous and unconstitutionally 
cruel.

On Sept. 2, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis unanimously 
rejected Missouri's claim that disclosing how it gets pentobarbital could crimp 
its ability to obtain such chemicals for future executions.

On Tuesday, the court issued a 3-paragraph order granting the rehearing, but 
did not specify its reasons.

(source: Associated Press)






OKLAHOMA:

Oklahoma puts executions on hold after botched attempts----After years of 
controversy over lethal injection failures, US state now plans to execute 
inmates with nitrogen gas.


Oklahoma, a US state with one of the busiest death chambers in the country over 
the past 3 decades, will have at least a 2-year delay in lethal injections 
after officials declined to consider new execution procedures.

The state's Board of Corrections did not take up new execution protocols at a 
regular meeting that Attorney General Scott Pruitt wants in place before 
executions can resume.

After a botched execution in 2014 and drug mix-ups during the last 2 scheduled 
lethal injections in 2015, Pruitt said he wouldn't request any execution dates 
for 5 months after the new protocols are approved and he's confident the death 
penalty can be carried out without any problems.

"I want to assure the victims' families who continue to await justice that this 
review process will continue to be both deliberate and empirical," Pruitt said 
in a statement.

"The protocol is a work in progress," said board spokesman Alex Gerszewski. 
"There currently is no timeline on when anything will be released."

Meanwhile, 5 Oklahoma death row inmates have exhausted all of their appeals and 
are awaiting execution dates.

Oklahoma has executed 112 people since the death penalty was reinstated in 
1976, the highest per-capita rate in the nation and 2nd overall only to Texas, 
where 537 inmates have been put to death over the past 40 years, according to 
the Death Penalty Information Center.

Oklahoma was the 1st American state to authorise lethal injection as a method 
of execution, and capital punishment has strong, bipartisan support in the 
Oklahoma legislature.

After the botched execution of Clayton Lockett in 2014 - who writhed on the 
gurney during a lethal injection that prison officials tried unsuccessfully to 
halt - politicians approved the use of nitrogen gas as an alternative to lethal 
injection.

The legislature also passed a resolution seeking a public vote on whether to 
enshrine the death penalty in the state constitution, making it more difficult 
for future legislators or the courts to end it. That state question will appear 
on the ballot in November.

In September 2015 the state determined that doctors carrying out executions 
there are not obliged to minimise suffering as they are not acting in the 
capacity of a physician.

Representative Mike Christian, a former policeman and staunch advocate for the 
death penalty who sponsored both measures, said he's disappointed prison 
officials have taken so long to develop new procedures and wants them to 
include the use of nitrogen gas as an alternative to lethal injection.

Nitrogen gas has never been used to execute inmates in the US.

"My question is why they don't at least have some kind of protocols established 
for nitrogen hypoxia," said Christian. "It's 2nd in line behind lethal 
injection, and I think lethal injection is on its way out the door."

Still, death penalty opponents voiced concern that Oklahoma appears to be 
moving in the opposite direction of other states, where executions are being 
reconsidered altogether.

"The last thing the state of Oklahoma needs to do is rush back into the 
business of executing people," said Ryan Kiesel, executive director of the 
American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma. "We would prefer that the state get 
out of the business of executing its citizens altogether."

(source: aljazeera.com)

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

OUR VIEW: Thinking twice about SQ 776


A group of people unhappy about what they're calling a sneaky attempt to inject 
the death penalty in the state constitution have created a campaign called 
ThinkTwiceOK that opposes State Question 776, which will appear on the November 
ballot.

To be fair, SQ 776 does seem a bit confusing. It creates, Section 9A or Article 
2, a portion of which would say "... Any method of execution shall be allowed, 
unless prohibited by the United States Constitution. Methods of execution may 
be designated by the Legislature. A sentence of death shall not be reduced on 
the basis that a method of execution is invalid ... The death penalty provided 
for under such statutes shall not be deemed to be, or to constitute, the 
infliction of cruel or unusual punishment ..."

It boils down to creating death penalty language, making sure death sentences 
are carried out even if one method fails and stating that by no means passed by 
Legislature is the death penalty cruel or unusual punishment.

In explaining background for the state question, think tank Oklahoma Policy 
Institute cites the botched executions of Clayton Lockett in 2014 and Charles 
Warner in 2015, which led to questions and criticism in execution protocol. 
According to OKPolicy, "Arguing that Oklahoma's right to carry out the death 
penalty was under threat, lawmakers proposed Senate Joint Resolution 31 in 
2015. The Oklahoma Legislature overwhelmingly passed the measure, sending SQ 
776 to the ballot."

On the surface, it would appear that supporters of SQ 776 are supporters of the 
death penalty. The ThinkTwiceOK campaign is, naturally, made up of individuals 
and organizations that oppose the death penalty.

But this issue should go a little bit deeper. This is yet another attempt of 
Oklahomans trying to protect Oklahoma from future Oklahomans. That isn't 
conservatism, that is close-mindedness. If the federal government struck down 
the death penalty, there would be nothing Oklahoma could do to keep it, so this 
isn't about outside interference. This is about future interference. This is a 
legitimate fear of the next generation.

How many times as Oklahomans have we asked the government to stop trying to 
protect us from ourselves? Aren't we showing the same lack of trust for future 
Oklahomans?

(source: Opinion, Stillwater News Press)






NEBRASKA:

Sides continue to spar over death penalty cost


Groups on both sides of Nebraska's execution debate continued to spar Wednesday 
over exactly how much the death penalty costs the state.

Attorney General Doug Peterson pointed to what he called "serious inaccuracies" 
in a Creighton University economist's analysis showing Nebraska spends about 
$14.6 million per year on the death penalty.

In a press conference, Peterson stopped short of saying there are no additional 
costs associated with capital punishment.

But he noted figures in the economic analysis by Ernie Goss would put 
Nebraska's annual death penalty spending per inmate at 10 times, or even 20 
times the costs incurred by other states.

For example, while Goss' report notes California's death penalty costs an 
estimated $121 million each year, about three times Goss' figure for Nebraska, 
it doesn't mention that California has some 743 inmates on death row - far more 
than the 10 people awaiting capital punishment here.

"That simply does not make sense," Peterson said.

State Sen. Kate Bolz of Lincoln, a death penalty opponent, said Goss' study is 
consistent with others on the subject and that lawmakers have turned to him 
before for analysis of complex economic issues.

"Dr. Goss has given an exact cost to a system that common sense already tells 
us is more expensive," she said.

Attorneys who have represented clients on Nebraska's death row identified at 
least 40 appeals available to only death row defendants, Bolz said. For 
example, "Carey Dean Moore has been on death row and filing appeals more or 
less since I was born."

Peterson dismissed the argument capital cases are by nature more expensive than 
other 1st-degree murder cases.

"The longevity of the trial is not based upon whether the death penalty is 
being sought," Peterson said. "What really drives the cost of any 1st-degree 
murder case is based on the complexity of the case."

The Legislature repealed Nebraska's death penalty in 2015. Voters will decide 
Nov. 8 whether to retain the repeal.

(source: Lincoln Journal Star)

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

Nebraska AG reiterates belief that analysis putting death penalty cost at $14 
million is inaccurate


Attorney General Doug Peterson reiterated Wednesday that he believes a recent 
economic analysis estimating the cost of the death penalty in Nebraska is 
inaccurate.

Peterson held a press conference where he again worked to discredit a recent 
report by Creighton University economist Ernie Goss that pegged the annual cost 
of the death penalty in Nebraska at $14.6 million. Peterson is a strong 
supporter of keeping capital punishment in Nebraska.

On Wednesday, he argued that Goss substantially inflated death penalty defense 
costs along with the time it takes to seat juries and try death penalty cases. 
Peterson also argued Goss incorrectly assumed it costs more to house death row 
inmates in Nebraska than it really does.

In the past, Peterson attacked the study on the ground that it overestimated 
the cost of prosecuting death penalty cases and defending the state against 
inmate appeals.

Peterson also argued that death penalty prosecutions in Nebraska are relatively 
rare compared to other states, and said there are only 10 inmates on death row 
in Nebraska.

Goss was unavailable for comment Wednesday morning, but he has stood behind his 
estimate, saying it was derived using justice cost data supplied by the state 
and counties to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Voters will go to the polls Nov. 8 to decide a referendum on the Nebraska 
Legislature's 2015 repeal of capital punishment.

(source: Omaha World -Herald)






CALIFORNIA:

Back In The Race: No Bono - Do Not Force Lawyers To Accept Death Penalty Cases


Every so often, I read an article about a need for lawyers to do more pro bono 
(or reduced fee) work in order to meet the legal needs for low-income people. 
These articles are usually geared towards solos and small firms since we are 
the first people they turn to for help. While most lawyers are sympathetic to 
the plight of the poor, we have our own issues to deal with. For this reason, 
most lawyers oppose forced pro bono work. Today, I want to discuss a voter 
initiative that if passed would force potentially unqualified attorneys to 
represent clients in their greatest time of need and could end up being 
disastrous for both.

In California, an initiative on the November ballot known as Proposition 66 
proposes to speed up capital punishment cases by restructuring how state habeas 
corpus cases are heard and by setting stricter time limits for submitting 
appeals once a criminal defendant has been sentenced to death. Currently, death 
row inmates typically wait at least 20 years before an execution date is even 
scheduled. Of the 750 inmates currently on death row, only 13 have been 
executed since the Golden State reinstated the death penalty in 1978.

While I won't discuss how Prop 66 plans to speed up the appeals process nor put 
in my two cents on the capital punishment debate, I will discuss 1 section of 
Prop 66 that bothered me. It provides that all qualified appellate attorneys on 
the California Supreme Court's appointment list must accept death penalty cases 
as a condition of remaining on the list.

To be fair, Prop 66 states that these appointed attorneys will get paid 
equivalent to a state public defender with comparable experience. Nevertheless, 
this creates 2 problems.

The 1st is that it may result in death penalty cases being assigned to 
unqualified attorneys if the existing veteran death penalty defense attorneys 
are unable to take new cases. This can result in an increase of Sixth Amendment 
ineffective assistance of counsel claims, which may ironically add more time to 
the death penalty appeals process.

But the 2nd problem is that an underpaid (or unpaid) attorney who takes a case 
by force is less likely to provide the diligence and zealous advocacy that his 
client deserves. This is very serious, since capital cases are time-consuming, 
cost a lot of money, and require meticulous review of the file and evidence in 
order to catch police and prosecutorial errors and misconduct. These cases also 
require a lot of passion and faith on the part of the attorney who will need to 
stand up to prosecutors and judges. And because the client's life is on the 
line, the thought of losing can be emotionally draining.

As a tactical matter, some attorneys may deliberately screw up the appeal in 
order to allow the client to be eligible for an ineffective assistance of 
counsel claim (but not so bad as to trigger a disciplinary investigation from 
the state bar).

At this point, the curmudgeons will stick their noses in and say, "Toughen up, 
buttercup." They will remind us that lawyers are ethically bound to represent 
their clients to the best of their ability. Also, even in other professional 
contexts, we have to accept clients we don't want. Associates have to work on 
assignments given to them by their boss, even if they don't like it. Even solos 
and small firms have to take clients they don't want in order to pay for 
overhead, food, shelter, and student loans.

Of course we have to take clients we don't like. Just like we have to pay bills 
and do chores when we don't want to. That's part of life. And it's also 
irrelevant.

What I have an issue with is laws that attempt to force people into doing 
something they don't want to do by holding their professional licenses hostage. 
These people usually think that lawyers are rich and can afford to give back in 
order to address the access-to-justice problem. Most lawyers in private 
practice tend to not volunteer their time because they are spending it trying 
to generate business and get work done, and when they have free time, to eat 
and sleep. Most solo practitioners, while not impoverished, have to work 
full-time in order to keep their practice profitable.

We already have it bad enough. There is a massive lawyer oversupply in most 
parts of the country, and law schools are just now trying to correct this issue 
by reducing their class sizes. Technology is getting rid of the rote tasks that 
were done in the past by junior associates to gain firsthand experience.

And now a social-justice warrior wants to amend the death penalty appeals 
process through a voter initiative. A lead proponent of Prop 66, Kermit 
Alexander, was a former NFL player whose mother, sister, and 2 nephews were 
brutally murdered in Los Angeles in 1984 - victims of mistaken identity in a 
gang home invasion. While we all sympathize for Alexander's loss and understand 
his desire to ensure that other families do not have to go through what he went 
through, speeding up the process by drafting unwilling attorneys is not the 
right way to do it. Even proponents of the death penalty would agree that death 
row inmates deserve due process, which includes being represented by a lawyer 
who genuinely wants to advocate for him.

Solos and small-firm lawyers have enough to do as it is. We need to be watchful 
of initiatives like Prop 66 and strongly oppose them. The problem is that a lot 
of times, the call for mandatory pro bono work doesn't come from the public. 
The calls come from leaders in the legal profession, and responding to them 
requires a bit more diplomacy. I have a message for these people, but that will 
be saved for a future column.

(source: Shannon Achimalbe was a former solo practitioner for 5 years before 
deciding to sell out and get back on the corporate ladder; abovethelaw.com)

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

California Death Row Inmates Weigh In On Vote, Most Conflicted Over To Keep Or 
Abolish Death Penalty


Voters in California are facing a decision in regards to 2 separate paths the 
state could take on capital punishment. Either the death penalty will be 
abolished entirely, or the process will be made speedier to get inmates to the 
point of execution.

Within the prisons, death row inmates themselves are conflicted with the 
decision that offers either a one-shot appeal system, mandated lawyer 
assignments, and a simplified process to execution as a means to rework the 
system in California that has not seen an execution in a decade, or to simply 
throw the death penalty out altogether. In the place of the death penalty, the 
sentence for crimes which would have warranted the sentence, would instead be 
life without parole.

When the Los Angeles Times interviewed inmates, the response on the issue was, 
as aforementioned, a conflicted one. Scott Pinholster shares that he is "ready 
to go." He is 1 out of 12 inmates who has used up all his legal appeals. It was 
34 years ago that he stabbed two men to death who had arrived on the scene of a 
burglary in a drug house. His hopes to be set free on legal appeals faded 
decades ago, and Pinholster shares that he doubts the view on the death penalty 
has changed since the previous vote in 2012, when the death penalty was upheld 
by voters.

The publication shares the words of the now-57-year-old inmate, who has been 
closed off in solitary confinement for over 3 decades.

"If they start up executions, I'll be in line, but it doesn't matter. After 30 
years, you don't care one way or the other."

At San Quentin, the San Francisco Bay Area prison which is historic and houses 
the state's condemned men, the opinion on the issue is varied. During phone 
interviews and rare tours by the LA Times, inmates both accepted and seemed for 
the repeal of the death penalty and favored faster appeals process, despite the 
fact that this would bring quicker executions. Some also shared about their 
fears should they be lumped in with the regular prison population.

The publication reminds readers of the laws set to be passed which will then 
result in a vote for a final decision as to the law that stands.

"2 measures on the November ballot propose to fix what proponents contend is a 
broken capital punishment system. Proposition 62 would convert death sentences 
to life without parole. Proposition 66 would set time limits on appeals, limit 
challenges to execution methods and allow the state to house condemned men 
outside San Quentin. If both measures pass, the one with more votes would 
become law."

It was as recently as 2012 that voters of California took to the polls to make 
a decision about Proposition 34, which would have replaced the death penalty 
with life without parole. The tensions on death row were so high that inmates 
were put on suicide watch. This time around, the facility workers will also be 
sure to "address the mental needs" of the condemned as the November vote 
approaches.

Inmate Clifton Perry, 47, who was condemned in 1995 for shooting a store clerk 
during a robbery, shared about the anxiety and tension over the issue among 
inmates.

"There's a lot of anxiety building up. Some of them are scared. Me, I don't 
know if I can handle a bunkie after 20 years of living by myself."

Many feel that life in prison is worse, as was the case back in 2010 when an 
inmate hanged himself following a judge converting his death sentence to life.

There are rarely any newcomers and even less departures at San Quentin, with 
only 16 executions taking place since 1978 and none since 2006.

(source: The Inquisitr)






USA:

The Death Penalty Is Finally Dying. Here's Why.


Today, there was supposed to be an execution in Texas. But it was cancelled. In 
fact, the last 10 scheduled executions in Texas have been halted - in Texas.

Since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976, Texas has had 537 
executions - that's over 400 more than any other state. But it has been more 
than 5 months since Texas has had an execution - 161 days to be exact. And 
that's a record worthy of news. There's only 1 other time in the past 2 decades 
that the death chamber has been that quiet in Texas.

But what's happening in Texas reveals something deeper that's happening all 
over the country. The death penalty is dying.

Once again this year, the number of executions will drop: It's the lowest they 
have been in 25 years. And death sentences are already the lowest they've been 
in 40 years. A recent study of "outlier" counties shows that a mere 16 counties 
(in a country with more than 3,000 counties) are driving the use of the death 
penalty in America. So while we can debate whether it is "cruel," it is 
certainly too "unusual" to be fair. A zip code should not determine whether 
someone lives or dies.

This year there have been 15 executions, and all but 3 of those were in just 2 
states (Texas and Georgia). And all 4 of the executions still planned for this 
year are in Texas. Hopefully, Texas will continue its record and cancel these, 
too.

A zip code should not determine whether someone lives or dies.

Most of America has moved on from state-sanctioned killing. But we still have 
some work to do.

In November, the death penalty will be on the ballot in 3 states - California, 
Nebraska, and Oklahoma. We can vote to make the death penalty history. But we 
can do other stuff too.

The medical community has been largely responsible for stopping executions in 
North Carolina by refusing to participate, insisting that it is a violation of 
their oath to "do no harm." It's going to take all of us to stop the wheels of 
death.

We can invite influential leaders and celebrities to "GO PUBLIC" against the 
death penalty - and join folks like Susan Sarandon, Martin Sheen, Danny Glover, 
and so many others.

And we need more pastors and faith leaders to be a prophetic voice against 
execution. Just as Mother Teresa, Pope Francis, and Martin Luther King have 
showed courageous leadership opposing the death penalty, we need a new 
generation of abolitionist clergy to rise up as we give the death penalty a 
final blow.

One of the deeply troubling things I discovered writing my newest book 
Executing Grace is that the death penalty has succeeded in America because of 
Christians, not in spite of us. 85 % of executions in the past 40 years are 
happening in the Bible belt, as we can see evidenced in Texas and Georgia 
leading the way this year.

There are 4 more executions scheduled for 2016, and all of them are in Texas. 
Let's keep praying and working for all of them to be cancelled - and for an end 
to the death penalty in America.

Let's all find a way to get in the way of death - and put our voice, our vote, 
our bodies in the way of the machinery of death until we make the death penalty 
history, once and for all.

(source: Shane Claiborne, Sojourners)

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

Witness lists to be on church shooting jury questionnaire


A federal judge wants the defense and prosecution each to provide a list of 
potential witnesses as jury screening begins in Dylann Roof's trial stemming 
from the Charleston church shootings.

In a Tuesday order, U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel said he wants the lists 
included on a questionnaire to determine if potential jurors know any 
witnesses. The order says attorneys should make the lists available to the 
court but do not have to share them with the other side.

The 22-year-old Roof faces the death penalty in his November federal trial on 
hate crimes and other charges stemming from the June 2015 slayings of nine 
people at Emanuel AME Church.

A pool of 3,000 potential jurors begins reporting to the courthouse later this 
month for initial screening.

(source: Associated Press)