[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, OHIO, COLO., CALIF., WASH., USA

[Rick Halperin]

Jan. 19




TEXAS----impending execution re-set

Execution of Dallas-Area Real Estate Agent's Killer Reset


Kosoul Chanthakoumanne's execution has been reset for July 19.

Next week's scheduled execution of a North Carolina parolee convicted of 
killing a suburban Dallas real estate agent more than 10 years ago has been 
postponed.

The lethal injection of 36-year-old Kosoul Chanthakoummane has been reset for 
July 19 by State District Judge Ben Smith.

Collin County prosecutors asked the scheduled Jan. 25 date be moved so courts 
had proper time to review new appeals in his case. The inmate's lawyers had 
asked the execution date be completely withdrawn.

Chanthakoummane had been paroled to Dallas to live with relatives after serving 
time for a Charlotte, North Carolina, abduction and robbery when he was 
arrested 2 months after the July 2006 slaying of real estate agent Sarah 
Walker. She was beaten and stabbed at a model home in McKinney.

(source: NBC News)

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

IMPENDING TEXAS EXECUTIONS

Executions under Greg Abbott, Jan. 21, 2015-present----21

Executions in Texas: Dec. 7, 1982----present-----539

Abbott#--------scheduled execution date-----name------------Tx. #

22---------January 26---------------Terry Edwards---------540

23---------February 2---------------John Ramirez----------541

24---------February 7---------------Tilon Carter----------542

25---------March 14-----------------James Bigby-----------543

26---------April 12-----------------Paul Storey-----------544

27---------June 28------------------Steven Long-----------545

28---------July 19-----------------Kosoul Chanthakoummane---546

(sources: TDCJ & Rick Halperin)

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

Death row inmate talks about murder of Corpus Christi father


John Henry Ramirez has been on death row for more than 8 years. In 2004, he 
brutally killed a Corpus Christi father, Pablo Castro, stabbing him 29 times. 
Now Ramirez's execution is scheduled for February 2nd.

In his final days, Ramirez sat down to discuss life on death row and the tragic 
night of the murder.

The 32-year-old is waiting for his upcoming execution in solitary confinement 
in the Polunsky Unit, a top-security prison in Livingston, Texas. He is 1 of 
237 condemned prisoners on death row.

13 years ago, Corpus Christi mourned the tragic loss of Castro.

Ramirez recalls the fateful night on July 19th. He was 20, and says after years 
of abuse as child, he got into a lot of trouble and heavily used drugs.

On a drug-fueled night, Ramirez and 2 women accomplices approached 45-year-old 
Pablo Castro as he was taking out the trash at the convenience store where he 
worked.

Ramirez attacked Castro, and stabbed him 29 times. He escaped with just a $1.25 
from his victim's pockets.

"I was so high on all those drugs and on alcohol, and you know I got so mad I 
guess. It was so, so quick man. And I knew, I knew that I went too far when I 
saw him fall down bleeding," Ramirez said from behind the glass window in the 
prison's visitation center.

While the women accomplices were arrested soon after the murder, Ramirez spent 
the next 4 years on the run. He spent time in Mexico, and had a son who is now 
10-years-old.

"He knows I messed up," Ramirez said. "I say you know, don't be nothing like 
me, man."

In 2008, Ramirez returned to Brownsville and was caught by police. Later that 
year he was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death. At the time he 
asked his attorneys to not fight for his life, but rather to read a Bible verse 
during closing arguments. He says it is because he did not want to re-hash his 
family's history in the courtroom.

8 years on death row have made Ramirez think about what could have gone 
differently.

"I think about certain situations that could have went the other way, and it 
would have totally changed the outcome," he said.

Last year 2 appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court and a lower federal court were 
denied.

Ramirez is against the death penalty, but in 2 weeks he will pay the price for 
Castro's death.

Although his brutal act can never be undone, before his final walk Ramirez 
leaves a message for Castro's family.

"Just to say I'm sorry," he said. "I don't know how I would feel if someone 
killed a loved-one of mine. And I imagine it would be really, really hard to 
truly forgive that person. So I told them I'm not going to ask them to forgive 
me, I'm just going to let them know I'm sorry."

Ramirez will be moved to Huntsville for execution by lethal injection. He is 1 
of 9 condemned Texas prisoners scheduled for execution this year, and will 
become the 17th inmate from Nueces County to be put to death by lethal 
injection since the process began in 1982.

(source: KRIS TV news)

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

News Death Watch: A Future Danger?----Texas' death chamber is only heating up


Kosoul Chanthakoummane is the 2nd Texan to face state-sanctioned death this 
January. With no appeals pending, he is to be executed on Wednesday, Jan. 25.

In Oct. 2007, Chanthakoummane, now 36, was convicted of capital murder for a 
killing that occurred during a botched robbery. McKinney real estate agent 
Sarah Anne Walker was the victim. According to legal documents, Chanthakoummane 
entered a model home where Walker was working in the summer of 2006, struck her 
several times with a planter, then stabbed her repeatedly and bit her neck. 
Collin County prosecutors argued that Chanthakoummane attacked Walker in an 
attempt to steal her jewelry. Chanthakoummane was on parole at the time of the 
attack.

At trial, Chanthakoummane's counsel acknowledged their client's guilt and 
fought to secure him life in prison to no avail. The Texas Court of Criminal 
Appeals affirmed the sentencing in April 2010. Chanthakoummane filed both state 
and federal petitions for relief arguing that because the missing jewelry was 
never recovered, prosecutors failed to prove the murder resulted from a botched 
robbery; that the trial court refused to properly define terms of his "future 
dangerousness"; and that jurors were not briefed on specific laws pertaining to 
the selection of the death penalty. Appeals attorney Carlo D'Angelo claimed 
that his client's right to counsel and right to due process were repeatedly 
violated. Both requests were denied.

Last February, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals denied Chanthakoummane's 
appeal, stating that his requests "failed to raise a debatable question as to 
the effectiveness of either his trial counsel or state habeas counsel." 6 
months later, the U.S. Supreme Court denied his petition for writ of 
certiorari. His execution date was set days later. D'Angelo did not return the 
Chronicle's request for comment. Chanthakoummane will be the 540th Texan 
executed since the state's reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976.

Reasonable Doubts

After 2 stays in 2016, Terry Edwards, 43, is scheduled to follow 
Chanthakoummane to Huntsville's chamber on Thursday, Jan. 26. Edwards was 
convicted of capital murder in 2003. Prosecutors alleged that he shot his 
former Subway co-workers Tommy Walker and Mickell Goodwin during an attempt to 
rob the fast food restaurant with his cousin, Kirk Edwards.

U.S. District Judge Barbara Lynn first denied Edwards' efforts for relief in 
Aug. 2014. The Supreme Court refused to hear his case the following year. In 
April 2016, however, the Dallas County District Attorney's Office agreed to 
stay Edwards' execution (scheduled for that May) because his counsel ended all 
contact with him - without notification - upon receiving the Supreme Court's 
decision. Edwards wrote in a March 2016 letter to Lynn: "My plea to you is that 
you please look into this matter as I believe you and your court could get a 
response where as I can't. Please contact me immediately if you find out 
anything. As of today I have 10 weeks to fight for my life."

In June, new attorneys Jennifer Merrigan and Joseph Perkovich, of the Phillips 
Black Project, were appointed to Edwards' case. 3 months later, Dallas County 
prosecutors delayed Edwards' lethal injection a 2nd time so that his new 
counsel could properly review the trial and court proceedings. Merrigan has 
spent the past 5 weeks in a back-and-forth with the Texas Department of 
Criminal Justice, trying to file an "out of time opposition" for Edwards in 
hopes of getting a forensic expert to review the original findings from the 
case. On Jan. 10, Edwards' counsel filed a 631-page memorandum asking to reopen 
the case. Included is a statement from Edwards' appellate attorney, Richard L. 
Wardroup, acknowledging that 3 months after filing for relief, he accepted a 
full-time position with the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, and 
"generally stopped work on my cases in order to dedicate my time to TCDLA."

The memorandum also expresses concerns with the crime scene and forensics 
reports - most notably, that the State's negative testing for gunshot residue 
on Edwards' hands, taken "minutes" after the shooting, was never presented 
before the jury. Instead, the filing claims that during the trial's 
cross-examination of the trace evidence, the "prosecutor elicited false and 
misleading testimony that he then used against Mr. Edwards."

Also included are statements from Edwards' family and friends - including Tommy 
Walker's ex-girlfriend and mother of his children - defending Edwards' 
character and arguing his innocence. In fact, several family members express 
belief that Edwards' cousin Kirk - who pleaded guilty to robbing the Subway and 
is currently eligible for parole - was responsible for the shootings. Judge 
Lynn has ordered an expedited response from the TDCJ after Merrigan's filing of 
the sizable memorandum. On Jan. 13, Edwards' attorneys filed a motion to stay 
Edwards' execution.

Elsewhere in Livingston ...

-- The U.S. Supreme Court has chosen to hear the case of death row inmate 
Erick Davila and is expected to hold oral arguments by April. Davila, on death 
row for the 2008 double homicide of 47-year-old Annette Stevenson and her 
5-year-old granddaughter, claims that a trial mistake pertaining to improper 
jury instruction, and the subsequent failure of Davila's state appellate lawyer 
to raise the original issue during his state petition for habeas corpus, have 
improperly landed him on death row.

-- Williamson County Judge Donna King approved a defense attorney's request to 
hire DNA and fingerprint analysts for a capital murder case currently pending 
in the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Steven Thomas was convicted of the 
sexual assault and murder of 73-year-old Mildred McKinney in 1980. His 
appellate attorneys are arguing that "the DNA evidence presented at Mr. Thomas' 
trial indicates that at least some of that evidence was false."

(source: Austin Chronicle)






OHIO:

Killers' lawyers seek more info on Ohio's lethal drug supply


Lawyers for condemned inmates are trying to learn more about Ohio's supply of 
execution drugs at a time the state prisons agency is reluctant to give out 
that information.

At issue is whether Ohio has enough drugs for a handful of executions or a 
supply that could greenlight more than 2 dozen procedures over the next 4 
years.

A filing this week on behalf of an inmate scheduled to die in July attempts to 
force the state to say more about the lethal drugs it possesses.

Lawyers for that death row prisoner, Robert Van Hook, asked a federal 
magistrate Tuesday to allow them to challenge the state's new 3-drug execution 
method.

The state said in October it had enough drugs for 3 executions, and then last 
week told a federal magistrate it had enough to put a fourth inmate, Alva 
Campbell, to death in May, the attorneys said in the filing.

Lawyers for Van Hook need time to prepare a challenge of Ohio's new lethal 
injection process, "assuming that the State has execution drugs beyond those 
needed for the execution of Alva Campbell," according to Tuesday's filing.

A response from the state is expected soon. Van Hook was sentenced to die for 
fatally strangling and stabbing David Self, a man he met in a bar in Cincinnati 
in 1985.

Last week, Magistrate Judge Michael Merz ordered the state to say more about 
its execution drug supply. That order came a day after The Associated Press 
reported - based on an open records request - that documents show Ohio has 
enough drugs for dozens of executions.

State attorneys responded by saying the news report of multiple executions 
didn???t take into account expiration dates of the drugs, which the state 
wouldn't previously disclose. The AP has requested those expiration dates.

The state also said without explanation that the prison system's "contingency 
planning" needed to be taken into consideration when looking at how many 
executions Ohio can carry out.

A state law and court rulings allow Ohio to shield most information about its 
drugs, including their manufacturers and how the state obtained them.

Ohio plans to put condemned child killer Ronald Phillips to death next month 
using the new 3-drug method. Lawyers for Phillips and inmates scheduled to die 
in March and April are challenging the method and, in particular, the 1st drug, 
a sedative used in disputed executions in Arizona and Ohio in 2014.

Attorneys argue the sedative, midazolam, won't render inmates fully unconscious 
and will put them at risk of experiencing severe pain and suffering.

The state says the new method is similar to one Ohio used previously to execute 
several inmates. The state also says a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year in a 
case out of Oklahoma allows the use of midazolam.

Merz is expected to rule soon on the competing claims.

(source: therepublic.com)

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

Ohio prisons to receive flumazenil, a reversal drug for lethal injections


Ohio is seeking a new drug for lethal injection executions, state officials 
announced at the beginning of January. However, instead of aiding in the 
execution process, the drug would be used to counteract the first drug in the 
state's current lethal injection method.

The drug, known as flumazenil, will only be given if complications arise from 
the sedative midazolam, the 1st part of Ohio's 3-drug lethal injection 
cocktail.

According to ABC News, Gary Mohr, director of the Department of Rehabilitation 
and Correction, said in a federal court testimony that he is "not confident 
that (Ohio), in fact, can achieve a successful execution. I want to reverse the 
effects of this."

The Death Penalty Information Center reports that 75 of the U.S.'s 1,054 lethal 
injection executions, which first started in 1982, have been botched. Lethal 
injection is the primary method of execution in the U.S currently, but it is 
also the most likely to be botched.

Michael Radelet, contributor for the Death Penalty Information Center, said the 
most recent lethal injection that produced serious issues for the prisoner was 
the Dec. 8, 2016, execution of Ronald Bert Smith, Jr. in Alabama.

"Smith heaved, gasped and coughed while struggling for breath for 13 minutes 
after the lethal drugs were administered, and death was pronounced 34 minutes 
after the execution began," Radelet said.

Dennis McGuire's 2014 execution was Ohio's last. His death made headlines and 
spurred criticism about the state's lethal injection process that relied partly 
on the drug midazolam because McGuire took 26 minutes to die.

Rep. Jay Edwards, R-94th District, believes the drug could be beneficial but 
needs further consideration.

"From my understanding, it is a drug to have on standby. It sounds like a good 
idea, but I have also heard the other argument that the initial problem is not 
the drugs but with the IV's not being done properly," Edwards said. "There 
needs to be more research done on the drug. We do not want to move back; we 
need to move forward."

Mistakes made by people administering the injections, rather than the drugs 
themselves, have resulted in execution problems.

Brandon Jones, Georgia's oldest death row inmate, was executed in February 2016 
by lethal injection. According to Radelet, executioners took almost 30 minutes 
to administer the IV properly. The staff also inserted the IV into his groin, 
probably because they could not find an accessible vein elsewhere. Jones opened 
his eyes 6 minutes after they administered the drugs, the Atlanta 
Journal-Constitution reported.

In an interview with ABC News, Columbus surgeon Jonathan Groner, a lethal 
injection expert, agreed the IV could be the main source of the problems 
executioners are experiencing.

"A reversal drug will not help with that problem and could make it worse - if 
the IV is not in the vein, giving more drugs may cause more pain," Groner said.

Despite these allegations, Ohio's prisons agency is still working to obtain the 
drug for future use in lethal injection executions. The next execution in Ohio 
is scheduled for February.

(source: thenewpolitical.com)






COLORADO:

Democrats launch effort to repeal death penalty in Colorado----Effort won't 
affect those currently on death row


Colorado lawmakers are getting ready to put the death penalty to rest once and 
for all.

Senate Minority Leader Lucia Guzman, D-Denver, introduced a bill late Wednesday 
to repeal capital punishment. Her proposal, SB17-095, would repeal the death 
penalty for offenses on or after July 1, 2017.

"Nothing in this section commutes or alters the sentence of a defendant 
convicted of an offense committed before July 1, 2017," the bill reads.

Stacy Anderson, of Better Priorities Initiative of Colorado, the group 
spearheading the repeal effort, said money is the big reason behind it all.

"We're spending an enormous amount of money on the death penalty and victim's 
services are falling by the wayside," she said. "If we could provide money for 
all victims to have the services they need, that would be better justice for 
all Coloradans."

Anderson told Denver7 that fewer prosecutors are seeking the death penalty and 
that fewer juries are deciding to impose it.

"We had 2 really high profile cases, (Aurora Theater shootings and Fero's Bar 
and Grill stabbings) really awful murders, and jurors were not willing to give 
death penalty sentences in those cases," she said.

There are 3 men currently on death row.

-- Nathan Dunlap murdered 4 people during a robbery at a Chuck E Cheese 
restaurant in Aurora.

-- Sir Mario Owens shot and killed 2 people. One of them was a witness who was 
going to testify in another murder case. The other victim was the witnesses' 
fiancee.

-- Robert Ray ordered the killing of that witness.

Last Execution

Gary Davis was the last person executed in Colorado.

He was put to death in October of 1997 for the 1986 kidnapping, rape and murder 
of a Byer's area housewife.

He shot the victim 14 times.

32 states still have the death penalty. 18 states have repealed it.

4 states, including Colorado, have moratoriums on the death penalty. Their 
governors will not sign death warrants.

(source: thedenverchannel.com)






CALIFORNIA----new female death sentence

Death penalty recommended for tribal shooter


A California jury has recommended the death penalty for a woman convicted of 
killing 4 people during a shooting at a tribal office in Alturas in 2014.

On Jan. 5 a Placer County jury recommended capital punishment for Cherie Lash 
Rhoades, 47, after convicting Rhoades of 1st-degree murder and attempted murder 
Dec. 19, 2016.

Rhoades is scheduled for sentencing April 10 before Judge Patricia Beason and, 
though California law grants Beason the authority to commute Rhoades' sentence 
to life in prison, Modoc County District Attorney Jordan Funk said the death 
penalty is warranted by the facts of the case.

"I think it was wholly justified or I wouldn't have sought the death penalty," 
said Funk.

4 killed

Rhoades was arrested Feb. 20, 2014, following an attack at the Cedarville 
Rancheria Tribal Office and Community Center. Rhoades, a former chairwoman of 
the tribe, killed 4 people including her brother, Rurik Davis, 50; her niece, 
Angel Penn, 19; her nephew, Glenn Calonicco, 30; and tribal administrator 
Sheila Ross, 47, who was not related to Rhoades.

2 others were injured during the attack, which involved 2 handguns and a 
kitchen knife.

Investigators believe the attack was retaliation by Rhoades after she was 
evicted from tribal land for being investigation by federal authorities for 
allegedly embezzling from the tribe.

The Cedarville Rancheria has not issued a statement publicly since Rhoades' 
conviction and has declined to comment on the matter.

'Crime of passion'

During trial, Funk said Rhoades tried to convince the jury the killings were a 
crime of passion rather than a deliberate attack. Funk said Rhoades testified 
she happened to be armed when Davis began mocking her and she shot him, and 
said she had no memory of attacking the others.

Funk said the jury didn't accept this explanation and convicted Rhoades of 
planning the killings, allowing them to impose the death penalty under 
California law. He said the jury's conviction and recommended sentence were "an 
absolutely reasonable and correct result."

Looking toward Rhoades' April 10 hearing, Funk said there is no guarantee her 
death sentence will not be commuted and said prosecutors and the defense will 
have opportunities to argue their case. Funk said Rhoades' lack of a prior 
criminal history will play a role and said it is unusual for such a defendant 
to be sentenced to death, but said the scope of the killings, including her 
relationship with the victims, and Rhoades' lack off remorse will also be 
factors.

"Courts retain the right and the power to see the case as they see it," said 
Funk. "... Who knows what the court will do."

Difficult trial

He said, even if jurors had not reached a guilty verdict, Funk believed their 
service to the court was exemplary despite a difficult trial in the middle of 
the holidays.

"I was extremely impressed with their civic-mindedness and their fidelity to 
their duty," said Funk.

As district attorney for Modoc County, Funk said it is difficult to take pride 
in successfully prosecuting such a case because of those who lost their lives 
and had their lives devastated.

"It's nothing, as a prosecutor, you gloat over," he said. "It's a solemn 
event."

(source: Herald and News)






WASHINGTON:

A Republican argument to ban Washington's death penalty


Rob McKenna spent years grappling with his stance on the death penalty. But 1 
seminal event in the former attorney general's life cemented his view. It came 
with acceptance of the fate given to Gary Ridgway, Washington state's most 
notorious killer.

"While I would have been very satisfied to see Garry Ridgway get the needle or 
the gallows for all the incredibly horrible things he did," McKenna told KTTH's 
Todd Herman. "I find myself satisfied with the idea now that he is rotting in 
solitary confinement 23 hours a day."

"That's a kind of hell," he said. "I don't find myself thinking, 'God, justice 
wasn't served because he's still alive. I know he's gonna die there and he's 
gonna live a miserable existence until that point. And there's some 
satisfaction in that."

Washington's Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced a "bipartisan" agreement 
over eliminating the death penalty Monday. It came with the support of McKenna, 
a longtime public official and former Republican gubernatorial candidate. He 
told Herman about how his stance on the subject changed over the years, in part 
because of a "stalemate" within Washington's criminal justice system and also 
because of Gary Ridgway.

Gary Ridgway and the death penalty

Ridgway, known as the Green River Killer, was convicted of 48 separate murders 
that occurred in the '80s and '90s. He eventually confessed to nearly twice 
that many as part of a plea bargain to keep him off death row. McKenna said he 
supported the death penalty as a King County councilmember during the Ridgway 
investigation and prosecution. As attorney general, McKenna said he had 2 
assistants who did nothing but handle appeals for individuals on death row - 
with at least 1 of those cases advancing up to the Supreme Court.

Despite the efforts, only one execution has been carried out since 2001 - Cal 
Coburn Brown in 2010 by lethal injection after spending 17 years on death row. 
Gov. Jay Inslee issued a moratorium on executions in 2014. There are currently 
8 people on death row in Washington.

"Over time, I've become increasingly convinced that this is a system that just 
doesn't work anymore," McKenna said. "We have essentially fought to stalemate."

With that said, McKenna said he hears the counterpoints, including that 
eliminating the death penalty takes away a bargaining power of a prosecutor. He 
acknowledged that Ridgway presumably cooperated with the state by telling of 
other murders he committed to avoid the death sentence.

McKenna said evidence from both sides related to these issues should be debated 
in the public sphere. That debate includes ethical questions.

"Is it ethical to hold the death penalty over someone's head to persuade them 
to take life without (parole)?" McKenna asked. "Let's say you're innocent as an 
accused suspect but you're terrified that you are going to be put to death so 
yeah, you accept life without. There is no trial. The evidence doesn't come 
out, etc. So what are the ethical questions there?"

Eliminating the death penalty also strips the wishes of some victim's families. 
For example, Warren Clements, a Tacoma man whose step-daughter was recently the 
victim of a gruesome murder. Clements told KIRO Radio's Dori Monson that he 
favors the death penalty. The accused murderer in that case may face the death 
penalty.

McKenna, however, noted that not every victim feels that way and that the law 
can't cherrypick the wishes of certain families.

"We don't make these laws, and we don't impose these sentences and carry out 
these sentences based on the wishes of the victim's families," he said. "I hope 
that doesn't sound harsh ... But nevertheless, this is society's decision, it's 
not something we do for the family. You see what I mean?"

"Because it's the state that carries out the entire process of investigation, 
prosecution, conviction and then carrying out the sentence," McKenna said. "So 
I think the family's views should be taken into consideration but they can't be 
the final word on the subject. We don't do that for any criminal sentencing.:

Although McKenna presented the death penalty bill alongside Ferguson and 
Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee, he doesn't entirely agree with their stances. That 
includes a strong disagreement with Inslee's notion during the press conference 
that no one should get the death penalty because Ridgeway didn't.

"I disagree with that," McKenna said. "At the same time, you have to look at 
the overall system and you have to look at all the cases, and not just the 1 
case. We don't make laws based on 1 case."

"For me, it's been a long, slow evolution and I think I take essentially a 
pragmatic view of this," he said. "I look at the enormous cost involved and I 
look at the endless delays that are bad for the victim's families, bad for 
moreover, for society and how we view our system of justice."

McKenna said the proposed legislation could also be the impetus for putting the 
capital punishment matter to vote. While letting people vote isn't specifically 
included in the bill, he said it does not have an emergency clause that would 
prevent it from being subject to a referendum vote. In other words, if the bill 
passes, if the voters feel strongly enough, they can gather signatures on a 
petition and send it to the ballot and let the voters decide. Legislators could 
also pass and attach a clause that would send it directly to the ballot, 
bypassing the end to get signatures on a ballot, he said.

"If the voters of this state voted against the repeal and in favor of keeping 
the death penalty, then I would say that's good enough for me, that's the final 
word," McKenna said. "But I also think this is an issue that the legislators in 
Olympia ought to be taking up because of the practical issues involved here and 
the issues of justice and ethics."

(source: mynorthwest.com)






USA:

The song remains the same: 40 years later, Mailer's book on capital punishment 
is startlingly relevant


The Executioner's Song By Norman Mailer

Grand Central Publishing

1136 pp; $29

On the 10th of January, 22-year-old white supremacist Dylann Roof was sentenced 
to death for the murder of 9 members of the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, 
S.C., slain during Bible study in June 2015. Roof, who represented himself 
during his sentencing, had confessed to the murders and was convicted of 33 
federal charges in December. With his sentencing, Roof became the 1st American 
to receive the death penalty for a federal hate crime.

It's a capital punishment milestone, and one that takes place alongside the 
anniversary of a similar milestone: 40 years ago this week, Gary Gilmore, with 
his famous last words "let's do it," became the 1st man executed in the United 
States in more than a decade.

The 1st execution in 1977 under the new statutes (which addressed the charges 
of execution being a cruel and unusual punishment and therefore 
unconstitutional) was always going to attract media attention, but Gilmore's 
actions following his conviction resulted in a media frenzy. Gilmore fired his 
lawyers and refused to appeal his sentence. In fact, over the 3 months 
following his trial, Gilmore repeatedly fought for his right to be executed as 
quickly as possible, even as family members, his former lawyers, the ACLU and 
others sought legal means to keep him alive.

Among the media drawn to Utah by the ongoing legal wrangling was Lawrence 
Schiller, a photojournalist and filmmaker who gained exclusive access to 
Gilmore. Several months after Gilmore???s execution, Schiller enlisted Norman 
Mailer to work on what became The Executioner's Song, which would win the 
Pulitzer Prize and be shortlisted for the National Book Award. A cultural 
phenomena as much as a book, the bestseller became the sort of dog-eared 
paperback that seemed to be on every bookshelf through the 1980s.

For all the pages of moral questioning and legal manoeuvrings, The 
Executioner's Song revolves around a single existential question: why do we do 
what we do?

As well regarded as it was upon its publication in 1979, The Executioner's Song 
is even more impressive today, a modern American classic and a unique portrait 
not just of a man, not just of a series of events, but, in critical ways, of 
the country itself.

Despite thousands of hours of interviews, The Executioner's Song has - like 
Truman Capote's In Cold Blood - always been referred to as a novel (its 
Pulitzer came in the fiction category). Rather than embracing journalistic 
conventions, Mailer approached the source material as a novelist, creating a 
voice for the book that is at once a perfect stylistic reflection of its world, 
and steps beyond even the boundaries and conventions of the New Journalism 
which he helped create.

The voice of The Executioner's Song will be familiar to anyone who has spent 
time in the American West, a flat, matter-of-fact tone that is neither coy nor 
reserved but somehow just enough - as if to say more would be wasteful, wrong. 
Early in the book, for example, Mailer describes Gilmore's grandparents' farm: 
"Right outside the door was a lot of open space. Beyond the backyard were 
orchards and fields and then the mountains. A dirt road went past the house and 
up the slope of the valley into the canyon." Rooted in the land itself, the 
culture and the witnesses and interviewees in whose words the story will be 
largely told, this voice serves as an entry into Gilmore's world.

Having been imprisoned for more than 20 of his 35 years (for charges including 
armed robbery and assault), Gilmore was paroled in April, 1976 with the 
assistance of his cousin Brenda, and moved to Provo, Utah where he attempted to 
re-enter society, first working with his uncle at his shoe repair shop, and 
later for an insulation company. But he soon gravitated back toward criminal 
activity, shoplifting beer, stealing guns and attempting to sell them.

He also became involved with 19-year-old Nicole Baker, a widow and divorcee 
with 2 small children. It was a heady, violent relationship, and it was shortly 
after Nicole ended it that Gilmore robbed and killed 2 men, a gas station 
attendant and a hotel clerk. His cousin Brenda assisted the police in capturing 
Gilmore, who stood trial for the 2nd murder. The trial took 2 days.

The story would likely have become little more than historical footnote - a 
batch of headlines and a grim anniversary - were it not for Mailer. Rather than 
focussing on the crimes, The Executioner's Song follows the last 9 months of 
Gilmore's life from his release to his execution with an almost excruciating 
amount of detail, and without any petty moralizing or easy explanations.

The image of Gilmore that emerges is awash in contradictions: he was a 
cold-blooded killer and kind to children. He was a shameless romantic and a 
cynical manipulator (the passages in which he urges Nicole into a suicide pact 
following his conviction are chilling). He was the violent product of a violent 
system and stubbornly resistant to help in breaking that cycle.

The great strength of The Executioner's Song comes not from its journalistic 
depth or Mailer's clear-eyed telling of Gilmore's story, but with the 
willingness to leave the reader with an open question. In fact, for all the 
pages of moral questioning and legal manoeuvrings, The Executioner's Song 
revolves around a single existential question: why do we do what we do? Whether 
it is Gilmore's crimes, Nicole's suicide attempt (despite her children), even 
Schiller's craven pursuit of Gilmore's story, the question is the same: why do 
we do what we do?

It is a question that echoes into the present, into another cold January 
morning - a question we, as individuals, as a culture, cannot escape. It will 
linger long after Dylann Roof's execution: the white supremacist reportedly had 
2nd thoughts about his planned murder, having spent an hour praying with the 
parishioners. In the end, though, he went through with the attack.

Why do we do what we do?

It's a question that cannot be answered, only confronted.

(source: windsorstar.com)

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

Life for a Life: Understanding the Higher Cost Death Penalty


While the death penalty only applies to the most heinous crimes, its existence 
is still considered as a sensitive issue. Research reveals that it has a 
long-term effect towards the victims and the people involved in the case.

Research suggests that an individual who went through a traumatic loss might 
find it hard to allow positive emotions to sink in. A person filled with anger 
and grief is often caught up in negativity, which can be passed on to his/her 
offspring. That being said, parents do not only pass on physical traits, but 
strong emotions as well.

Psychology Today discussed the story of Dylann Roof, a 22-year-old who was 
sentenced to the death penalty on June 2015 after he shot 9 people inside the 
Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. Roof open fired and killed his 
victims with no remorse. He even proclaimed in a statement that he did not feel 
sorry for taking nine lives.

As a result of what Roof did, he was sentenced to death, which turned out to 
have an emotional impact on his victims' families as they too, were filled with 
hate and anger. Some of the family members even voiced out that death was not 
enough to compensate for the crime that he did.

"And no verdict can heal the wounds of the five church members who survived the 
attack or the souls of those who lost loved ones to Roof's callous hand," 
Attorney General Lynch explained during an interview. "But we hope that the 
completion of the prosecution provides the people of Charleston-and the people 
of our nation-with a measure of closure."

The death penalty can still be tagged as a sensitive issue up to this date. 
Oxford Human Rights Hub mentioned that aside from the families of the victims 
and the accused, the lawyers are burdened as well, as they did their part in 
saving the life of the accused. The guards working on the death row are also 
facing the weight of walking into the cells of the prisoners that would soon 
lose their lives.

(source: Counsel & Heal)

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

How Obama Disappointed on the Death Penalty ---- 2 commutations this week was 
less than many had hoped for.


On his way out of office this week, President Barack Obama took the rare step 
of commuting 2 federal death sentences - the 1st time a president has spared 
someone from execution since 2001. Abelardo Ortiz, a Colombian national 
convicted in 2000 of a drug trafficking murder, and Dwight Loving, convicted in 
military court in 1989 of killing 2 cab drivers in Texas, will now serve life 
sentences.

It was a victory for defense attorneys and anti-death penalty activists, but 
there was also disappointment in the air. While Obama could grant more clemency 
petitions in the hours before President-elect Donald Trump takes the oath of 
office on Friday, 2 commutations fell short of what some opponents had hoped 
they might see from a president who not that long ago called capital punishment 
"deeply troubling."

The White House did not respond to requests for comment on why Obama bestowed 
mercy on these particular men. Ortiz's attorney and others said the problems in 
his case weren't much different than those that bedevil many of the other 62 
people still on federal death row - impaired mental capability, substandard 
trial lawyers, and geographic and racial disparities.

At one time, Obama seemed to agree. After high-profile botched executions in 
Oklahoma and Ohio in 2014, he instructed then-Attorney General Eric Holder to 
begin a broad assessment of capital punishment. A year later, Obama told The 
Marshall Project he found the death penalty "deeply troubling," leading some to 
speculate he planned to ramp up clemency.

But there is no indication that the Justice Department review will be finished 
before Obama leaves office, and the department has continued to pursue death 
sentences, most famously against Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and 
Charleston shooter Dylann Roof. (The federal government has carried out only 3 
civilian executions since 1963, and no military executions since 1961. There 
are 5 people on military death row.)

Ortiz's attorney, Amy Donnella, said she was grateful for her client's 
commutation but hoped the president would extend relief to others. "A series of 
lucky coincidences related to Ortiz helped him get relief," Donnella said. 
"Luck shouldn't play a role."

Ortiz was1 of 4 men convicted of killing Julian Colon in Kansas City in 1998. 
All were tied to a network of Colombian cocaine traffickers. The ringleader, 
Edwin Hinestroza, believed that Colon had stolen $240,000 in drug profits and 
enlisted Ortiz and 2 others to recover the money. (The whole tale was reported 
by The Pitch in 2001.)

Either Ortiz or another co-defendant shot at and missed Colon's 17 year-old 
nephew, but neither was in the room when Colon was shot in the head and killed. 
Ortiz told police that he did not expect that anyone would be killed and had no 
direct involvement in Colon's death. 2 of the 4 men, including Hinestroza, were 
sentenced to life in prison; another was sentenced to death but died of a heart 
attack on death row in 2013.

After the Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that the intellectually disabled cannot 
be executed, Ortiz's appellate lawyers sparred with federal prosecutors over 
whether their client suffered from such a disability. A doctor hired by his 
lawyers assessed his IQ as below 60. He was unable to tie his shoes until age 
10, according to his lawyers, and once in prison could not obtain a GED despite 
hundreds of hours of education. A prosecution-hired psychologist concluded that 
he was not disabled, arguing that some of his failures on the psychological 
tests could be explained by his having the "[profile] of an illiterate person, 
a person who comes from a low-socio economic background, a person 
unacculturated."

Ortiz's attorneys also argued that his trial defenders did not sufficiently 
investigate his childhood, which included exposure to brutal violence and 
racism - Ortiz is of African descent - in his hometown of Buenaventura, 
Colombia. The Colombian government, which abolished the death penalty in 1910, 
has supported Ortiz's efforts. Mexico and El Salvador have also aided the 
defense of nationals facing the death penalty in the U.S.

Donnella, Ortiz's attorney, said these factors all appeared to contribute to 
the Justice Department decision to review his claims, and last year, they hired 
a new psychologist, Daniel Martel, who found that Ortiz did in fact suffer from 
severe "intellectual and adaptive deficits." Lawyers from the Department of 
Justice announced in January 2017 that Ortiz was entitled to have his sentence 
reduced.

Donnella and other public defenders say others on federal death row have 
similar issues in their cases. She pointed to Bruce Webster, sentenced to death 
in 1994, who has also made claims of intellectual disability, and Daniel Lee, 
who like Ortiz, received the death penalty while a more culpable co-defendant 
did not.

The victim left behind a widow. Savanah Colon, who was pregnant at the time 
that her husband was killed, said Wednesday that she was not angry about the 
commutation. "I realized a long time ago that there is nothing that can bring 
him back," she said. Still, she supported the death penalty for Ortiz. "I think 
Obama wouldn't do this if it was 1 of his daughters that was murdered."

(source: themarshallproject.org)