[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----MONT., NEB., S.DAK., COLO., UTAH., MONT., ARIZ.

[Rick Halperin]

Feb. 10



MISSOURI:

Accused Killer Trenton Forster Could Be Up for the Death Penalty


Justice can be slow. St. Louis County prosecutor Bob McCulloch says in the case 
of Trenton Forster, who is charged with killing police officer Blake Snyder, 
there's still work to be done before a trial date can be set, including 
deciding whether or not this will be a death penalty case.

"We will start working, we're gathering all the information, the reports are 
completed, we'll provide ultimately that information to the defense. Everything 
we have, they will get," he says.

This week, Forster was arraigned and last week additional charges were added 
against him for shooting a 2nd officer. McCulloch says a decision on the death 
penalty could come in the next month.

"There's a lot of work that goes into it at that point. We're still considering 
all the evidence and making determinations into whether this is a death penalty 
case. That determination will probably be made in the next month or so," he 
says.

McCulloch was asked if this case is personal, since his father was a police 
officer killed on the job.

"It hits a lot closer to home than most others, but it is something that, when 
we look at the police, that if someone's going to kill a police officer, an 
armed trained police offer, than that's a dangerous person."

McCulloch says there probably won't be a trial date until this time next year. 
That's a long time for Snyder's widow, Elizabeth Snyder, to wait.

"It's incredibly tough, you know, it's a reminder everyday of what happened and 
what we're having to go through and I just look forward to it being over with, 
which it might take awhile, but I look forward to it being done," she says.

(source: KMOX news)






NEBRASKA:

Nebraska State Sen. Kuehn says death penalty opponents have contributed to 
shortages of drugs used in surgeries


Some of the same drugs used in operating rooms also are used in death chambers.

State Sen. John Kuehn of Heartwell said Thursday that intersection has factored 
into shortages of the medicines needed for surgeries. He blamed the protests 
and "harassment" of drug manufacturers by death penalty opponents.

To support his argument, he cited a 2011 letter from the American Society of 
Anesthesiologists that said difficulties in obtaining a common surgical 
anesthetic targeted for its use in executions had jeopardized the safety of 
patients in need of medical procedures.

"How many medical patients will suffer, have less than optimal surgical and 
medical care, or die to protect convicted death row inmates?" Kuehn asked 
Thursday as he testified in support of his bill that would hide the identities 
of those who would supply lethal injection drugs to Nebraska.

Opponents of the secrecy bill said citizens have the right to scrutinize every 
detail and dollar spent when it comes to something of the magnitude of an 
execution. Spike Eickholt, lobbyist for the ACLU of Nebraska, questioned 
whether Nebraskans would support shielding the identify of an abortion drug 
supplier who had a contract with the state.

"In government, nothing good happens in secret," he said.

Legislative Bill 661 would change Nebraska's public records law so state 
officials could legally withhold any information leading to the identity of an 
individual or business that "manufactures, supplies, compounds or prescribes" 
execution drugs.

Members of the Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee heard public 
testimony on the bill Thursday. The committee took no action after the hearing.

Drug secrecy laws are on the books in 15 of the 31 states with the death 
penalty, Kuehn said. Texas and Georgia, the states that led the nation in 
executions last year, both have the shield laws.

The courts have generally ruled against inmates who've challenged the secrecy 
laws. Kuehn said he patterned his bill after the law in Georgia, which was 
upheld by that state's Supreme Court in a 5-2 decision in 2014.

Kuehn referred to the 61 % majority of Nebraska voters who supported the death 
penalty in November by reversing the 2015 repeal of capital punishment by state 
lawmakers. Voters sent a clear message that they want the Legislature to fix 
the death penalty, he said.

Sen. Justin Wayne of Omaha, a member of the Government Committee, questioned 
Kuehn's assertion that death penalty opponents are to blame for drug shortages. 
Was it possible, he asked, that some companies have restricted supplies of 
their products because they ethically oppose executions?

Kuehn acknowledged that it was possible. But he argued that his law would make 
it possible for those willing to supply the state with execution drugs to be 
able to do so without repercussion.

Kuehn also said he has been harassed by death penalty opponents for introducing 
the secrecy legislation.

His bill does not extend secrecy to provisions of the execution protocol that 
requires laboratory testing of any lethal drugs purchased by the state. The lab 
results, along with the identity and quantity of drugs the state intends to 
use, would have to be shared with the inmate well in advance of an execution.

Among the 4 people who testified for the bill was Scott Frakes, director of the 
Department of Correctional Services. Late last year, the department included a 
similar secrecy rule in a draft version of the state's execution protocol but 
decided to remove the provision in the final version. The governor recently 
signed off on the new procedure.

The state currently has a supply of potassium chloride, 1 of the 3 lethal drugs 
required under the previous protocol. But that drug alone cannot be used to 
execute because it does not first render an inmate unconscious.

Frakes said he has just recently started the process of contacting potential 
drug suppliers but has not made a purchase.

He told committee members that it may be possible to obtain drugs without a 
secrecy law but that such a law would remove barriers, making it easier for the 
department to carry out a legal punishment. Currently 10 men are on death row 
in Nebraska, which last carried out an execution 20 years ago.

"I firmly believe this bill is needed to remove a tool that death penalty 
opponents will continue to use to frustrate and stymie the will of the voters," 
Frakes said.

Pierce County Sheriff Rick Eberhardt read the names of some of the victims of 
death row inmates as he testified in support of the bill. He told lawmakers 
that he and other death penalty supporters will be watching the issue closely.

"This is not about vengeance; it's about justice," he said.

11 organizations and people testified against the bill, including Media of 
Nebraska, the League of Women Voters and Nebraskans for Peace.

Lincoln attorney Alan Peterson, who helped draft the public records law in 
1979, said the legal requirement for public disclosure of records related to 
state expenditures and purchases traces back to the territorial days.

Peterson, who also has long represented a death row inmate, predicted lawyers 
for the condemned would use the federal courts to learn the names of the 
state's suppliers. Defense lawyers would be obligated, he said, to make sure 
the manufacturing or business practices of a supplier weren't grounds for a 
stay of execution.

Lancaster County Public Defender Joe Nigro testified on behalf of the Nebraska 
State Bar Association. He stressed that the association takes no position for 
or against the death penalty but opposes the secrecy bill.

"Because the idea of hiding those involved in making the drugs used to execute 
people ... could not be further from the administration of justice," he said.

(source: omaha.com)






SOUTH DAKOTA:

Does death penalty increase violent crime?


Murder rates are higher where there is a death penalty. Judge Glen Severson 
said the year before Elijah Page was executed we had two murders on the court 
schedule and the year after we started executing again we had 7. Now we have 
11. We execute people when they want to get executed. And we delay it when they 
do not. Who rules here? The 2 that killed the prison guard, one tried and did 
well in school, but with little violence on his record, he gets executed first. 
The one that had been a devil since a kid, is still alive. The Governor and 
Attorney General always say that those executed are the worst criminals. But 
the worst one is still alive. Their talk is just a psychological method to try 
to reduce the bad effects of executions.

If the criminals want the death penalty, is it really that bad of a punishment? 
Or, would they be more likely to repent and ask forgiveness if they had to 
think about it longer. I was there the first time Elijah Page was to be 
executed and he was laughing and talking about old times with his girlfriend 
and her brother when he had just a few hours left. She was too upset to talk 
about it. Giving the criminal an easy way out is not necessarily good or 
justice.

Violent crime is going down in America. New York and Los Angeles have murder 
rates going down. St. Louis, Chicago, Sioux Falls, and the state of South 
Dakota have murder and violent crime going up. I do not think cops are violent 
here like St. Louis and Chicago, so I do not see that as the problem. But we 
need to look at the death penalty and anything else that might be the cause of 
this.

Roger L. Elgersma, Pipestone, Minn.

(source: Letter to the Editor, Argus Leader)






COLORADO:

Should Colorado legislators kill the death penalty, or voters?

A bill to abolish Colorado's death penalty will be considered in the 
legislature this session.

Next sat down with 2 Senate Democrats, State Senator Rhonda Fields of Aurora 
and State Senator Lucia Guzman of Denver, who is also the Minority Leader. 
They're on the same party, and not on the same side of this issue. Guzman would 
like to do away with the death penalty in the legislature, while Fields says 
that if anything, it should be made into a ballot measure. Fields does have the 
power to kill the bill before it gets out of committee.

While both Senators disagree, they, and other Senators, have spent hours having 
respectful and thoughtful conversations about the topic.

(source: 9news.com)






UTAH:

Majority of Utahns prefer alternatives to death penalty, according to new poll


A recent poll appears to show the majority of Utahns are not in favor of the 
death penalty.

The Utah Justice Coalition, a criminal justice reform group, released the 
results of a new poll Feb. 9 that asked, "Of the following list of choices, 
which punishment do you prefer for people convicted of murder?"

--9 % of respondents said they prefer life in prison with no possibility of 
parole.

--47 % said they prefer life in prison with no possibility of parole and a 
requirement that the convicted must work while in prison and pay restitution to 
the victims.

--8 % said they prefer life in prison with a possibility of parole after 
serving 40 years.

--29 % said they prefer the death penalty.

--6 % said they were unsure.

The Coalition said in its press release that the 64 percent of participants 
favoring alternatives to the death penalty reflect "changing attitudes toward 
the death penalty by Utah residents." "The death penalty is losing favor in our 
state because it wastes tax dollars, is ineffective in stopping violent crime, 
and risks possibly killing an innocent person, and none of those things align 
with our conservative principles," said said Kevin Greene, Organizing Director 
of Utah Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty, a project of the Utah 
Justice Coalition.

The poll was conducted by Public Policy Polling of Raleigh, North Carolina and 
took place Jan. 13 to 15. Pollsters spoke with 784 Utah voters.

The death penalty in legal in Utah, but only applicable to those found guilty 
of aggravated murder. The death penalty is either administered through lethal 
injection or by firing squad, according to the Utah Department of Corrections.

(source: KUTV news)



MONTANA:

Abolition of the death penalty in Montana


Now is the time for a significant act of righteousness and to put the 
admonition, "thou shalt not kill", into action.

We must act soon to permanently abolish the death penalty in Montana.

Relevant legislation will be introduced to the process in January 2017. Our 
great state would be further distinguished by abolition of this archaic 
practice. The death penalty is not a large numerical issue in Montana since, 
thank God, we have few on "death row." It is, however, big to the few and to 
our moral/ethical consciousness. The death penalty is on legal "hold" in 
Montana as uncertainty about drugs for lethal injection has become and 
continues to be an issue.

The moral/ethical position: Abolish the death penalty because it is the right 
thing to do.

"Thou shalt not kill." We need to put this into action related to the violence 
worldwide. In few instances do we have the power to control killing, but 
abolition of capital punishment is one.

There are rare instances of mistakes. Infrequently persons, who are later shown 
to be innocent, have been on death row awaiting execution. Some have, no doubt, 
been executed and proven innocent later.

Family and loved ones of victims often favor life imprisonment over death and 
find solace in mercy.

The death penalty has not been a deterrent to crime nor is there evidence that 
its abolition promotes or facilitates crime.

Is the person convicted and sentenced the same person who awaits execution 
often many years after sentencing? It's a privilege given mankind to be able to 
change.

Spare the executioner the experience of executing. Imagine such a job.

Another position: Abolish the death penalty because it's the responsible thing 
to do.

It costs society more to carry out a death penalty than to maintain a life 
sentence in terms of monetary costs of appeals, etc. Proposed is no death 
penalty, but life in prison without parole. It would cost less.

Lethal injection is not the merciful means of killing envisioned. About seven 
percent are "botched". The availability of drugs used to kill has been an issue 
for some time and recently Pfizer's refusal to provide drugs it manufactures to 
kill makes a statement.

Not unexpectedly there are pros and cons on these points, but I have chosen the 
position that suits my moral conscience. See deathpenalty.procon.org. for a ten 
point argument.

For your personal reasons please support efforts to abolish capital punishment 
in Montana by: Writing to representatives of your district simply stating your 
support for bills abolishing capital punishment.

If you want more information please contact us. We'll try to help.

(source: Valley Viewpoint; Mary Darby and Blaise Favara----Ravalli Republic)






ARIZONA:

Octavia Rogers, mom accused of murdering 3 boys, will face death penalty


Octavia Rogers, the mother accused of killing her 3 sons, will face the death 
penalty when she goes on trial, the Maricopa County Attorney's office said 
Thursday.

Rogers, 29, allegedly stabbed the 3 boys then dismembered them in June. Police 
then say she stabbed herself at their home near Interstate 17 and Bell Road.

The 3 boys were 8-year-old Jaikare Rahaman, 5-year-old Jeremiah Adams and 
2-month-old Avery Robinson.

The decision was made a status conference.

(source: NBC news)