[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, PENN., FLA., OHIO, ARIZ., CALIF., USA

[Rick Halperin]

June 13



TEXAS:----new execution date

William Rayford has received an execution date for January 30, 2018; it should 
be considered serious.

Executions under Greg Abbott, Jan. 21, 2015-present----24

Executions in Texas: Dec. 7, 1982----present-----543

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

25---------July 27-----------------Taichin Preyor---------544

26---------Aug. 30-----------------Steven Long------------545

27---------Sept.7------------------Juan Castillo----------546

28---------Oct. 26-----------------Clinton Young----------547

29---------Jan. 30-----------------William Rayford--------548

(sources: TDCJ & Rick Halperin)

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

Forced to Endure Extreme Heat, Prisoners Are Casualties of Texas' Climate 
Denial, Documents Show


On a spring day in May, temperatures in Dallas, Texas, were already in the 90s. 
Sunlight glinted off the barbed wire perimeter outside the Hutchins State Jail, 
located just a mile down down the road from Hutchins High School. The 1st 
blooms of Castilleja, colloquially known here as "prairie fire," seemed to set 
a field across from the prison ablaze.

It was hot outside, but it's nothing compared to the temperatures inside the 
Hutchins Unit, one of 79 state-run prison units still lacking air-conditioning 
in its cellblocks in 2017. Even those temperatures, though, still pale further 
in comparison with the extreme summer heat wave that broiled the jail on July 
28, 2011, pushing the heat index up to about 150 degrees in the cellblocks, 
according to the state's own records, and transforming the jail into an oven 
that slowly baked Hutchins prisoner Larry McCollum alive.

Truthout and Earth Island Journal Investigate America's Toxic PrisonsMcCollum, 
a 58-year-old cab driver from the Waco area, was found having convulsions in 
his top bunk. He was taken to Dallas' Parkland Hospital, where his body 
temperature was measured at 109.4 degrees. McCollum, who was incarcerated for 
writing a bad check, had recently begun serving his 11-month sentence, and was 
eager to get through his time and reunite with his wife and 2 children.

"He was taken from us. He was supposed to go in for 11 months, and he wound up 
with a death sentence," McCollum's daughter, Stephanie Kingrey, said. "It was 
very heartbreaking that he had to sit there and suffer as long as he did before 
they got any help for him or got him to emergency room."

Kingrey said that officials with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice 
(TDCJ) even tried to deny her access to her father during the 7 days he spent 
on life support at Parkland Hospital, eventually relenting as Kingrey and other 
relatives were forced to make the devastating decision to take McCollum off of 
life support.

"They had guards on him 24 hours, like he was just going to jump up and go 
somewhere, and he was handcuffed to the bed the whole time," Kingrey says. "He 
was literally brain dead, and there was nothing he could do. He didn't regain 
consciousness or anything. He wasn't there. He died back in the prison cell."

McCollum is one of 22 heat-related deaths that TDCJ has been forced to 
acknowledge in its prison units after litigation -- 10 of those deaths 
occurring during that same 2011 summer heat wave. But these deaths are likely 
the first few indications of what may be a much larger heat problem.

"[TDCJ] has acknowledged the deaths because we proved we knew about them," said 
Attorney Jeff Edwards, who is representing the McCollum family in an ongoing 
lawsuit against TDCJ, during an interview in his Austin office. "In fact, there 
are far more than [22] deaths because the only deaths that they count are 
confirmed autopsies with a diagnosis of hyperthermia. In order to get that 
diagnosis, you have to have a temperature north of 105 or 106 degrees. So 
unless you find the body and do an autopsy quickly, you're not going to have 
that diagnosis. [TDCJ] also doesn't count the probably 100 or more people who 
suffered heart attacks in the summertime where heat was a contributing factor, 
or people who suffered asthmatic deaths because heat contributed to that."

The medical risk of heat stroke increases significantly when the temperature 
rises to more than 90 degrees, and can lead to other causes of death like heart 
attacks. This is especially true for people with medical conditions such as 
diabetes, high blood pressure and other cardiovascular issues, as well as 
asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The risk rises further still 
for people on medications that inhibit their ability to shed heat or sweat, or 
certain psychiatric medications. There aren't yet full statistics on how many 
prison deaths have involved heat as a significant contributing factor, but the 
number is likely to be much higher than deaths directly attributable to 
hyperthermia.

"1 death is enough to cause concern -- 2, 3, you need to be reacting 
immediately," Edwards says. "What is so frustrating about this is ... you can 
solve the problem of death by heat stroke in the Texas prison system 
instantaneously. All you need to do is lower the temperature and you eliminate 
it.... [TDCJ is] making a choice to have people die in the same way a car 
company makes a choice not to fix a defective product and have some people die. 
It's the exact same cost-benefit analysis."

Internal TDCJ emails obtained by Truthout and Earth Island Journal reveal that 
a database within TDCJ's Health Services Division was developed to track not 
only heat-related deaths in TDCJ prison units, but also the number of instances 
of heat-related illness occurring across particular units. The datasets also 
track other factors contributing to the occurrence of heat-related illness, 
including how many of the prisoners experiencing these illnesses were on 
antipsychotic medications.

According to the records, staffers within the Health Services Division tracked 
a total of 46 heat-related illnesses in TDCJ units in 2010, 48 such illnesses 
between the months of June and July of 2011 alone, and another 59 illnesses 
between August 1 and August 16 of 2011. Health Services Division staffers 
tracked a total of 110 illnesses in 2011 through August 16 of that year, across 
scores of units. The records indicate that in 2011, a majority of prisoners 
were located in their cellblocks at the onset of the heat-related illness, and 
that several of the illnesses involved prisoners taking antipsychotic and other 
medications that make them more vulnerable to heat conditions.

While TDCJ Director of Public Information Jason Clark didn't respond to 
Truthout and Earth Island Journal's request for the total number of instances 
of heat-related illness within TDCJ units tracked by its Health Services 
Division, the records from 2010 and 2011 point to a pervasive heat problem 
within TDCJ cellblock areas. They also reveal that prison officials neglected 
to act: Despite tracking more than 100 instances of heat-related illness, they 
have yet to introduce climate controls in TDCJ cellblocks that currently lack 
them.

Edwards is litigating several other federal lawsuits over heat-related deaths 
inside Texas prisons. He is also working on cases that confront the desperate 
conditions for elderly and other medically vulnerable prisoners who are 
increasingly susceptible to extreme temperatures, including an ongoing 
class-action lawsuit in Houston challenging conditions in the Wallace Pack Unit 
near Navasota, a geriatric prison incarcerating predominantly elderly and 
disabled prisoners who require continuous medical care.

TDCJ officials are currently appealing US District Judge Keith Ellison's 
certification of class status to all current and future prisoners at the Pack 
Unit subjected to extreme temperatures in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Outside the Hutchins State Jail in Dallas, Texas, where, during a summer heat 
wave in July of 2011, prisoner Larry McCollum died of heat stroke. (Photo: 
Candice Bernd) The Hutchins State Jail in Dallas, Texas, still lacks 
air-conditioning in 2017. (Photo: Candice Bernd)"To give you an idea of the 
heat we are talking about: When was the last time you jumped in your car after 
it has set in the sun with windows rolled up on a 90 degree day? Now try to sit 
in it for 20 minutes!!!," writes 63-year-old prisoner John Ford, who is serving 
a 70-year sentence, from the Pack Unit. "The beds and cubicle wall are metal. 
They are hot and can't be laid on or touched, like touching the hood of a car 
that has sit in the sun on a 130-degree day. Most of us try to wet our sheets 
and the cement floor. We lay in the water, put the sheet over us while blowing 
the fan under the sheet, to keep the body temps down."

TDCJ's solution during periods of extreme heat was to tell Pack Unit prisoners 
to simply drink more water, recommending up to two gallons of water a day on 
extremely hot days. There was just one problem: The water at the Pack Unit 
contained between 2.5 to 4.5 times the level of arsenic, a carcinogen, 
permitted by the EPA, according to court documents. Many of the prisoners drank 
thousands of gallons of this arsenic-tainted water for more than 10 years 
before Judge Ellison ordered TDCJ to truck in clean water for the prisoners 
last year. TDCJ installed a modern filtration system in January.

See Truthout and Earth Island Journal's special investigation into pervasive 
water contamination at prisons across the US, including the Pack Unit, in our 
first feature story in this series.

"It used to be where you could take a white wash rag and put it in the sink and 
water would run on it about 10 or 15 minutes, and it would actually turn 
brown," says Keith Cole, 63, a lead plaintiff in the lawsuit who is serving a 
life sentence at the Pack Unit.

It's something the prisoners and their attorney say TDCJ knew about for years. 
"Inmates were breaking out with all kinds of skin issues, and skin cancers that 
still have been denied that it was caused by the water," Ford writes.

Both Ford and Cole, who arrived at the unit in 2015 and 2011, respectively, 
worry about how their prolonged exposure to arsenic may have affected their 
health over the long term, including their specific medical issues. Cole has 
been diagnosed with severe coronary artery disease, type II diabetes, 
hypertension and high cholesterol, and has had two stent implants. Ford has 
seven stent implants in his heart, high blood pressure, and "serious issues" 
with his bladder and kidney that he suspects are "from the chemicals."

They also worry about how their prolonged stress during exposure to periods of 
extreme heat for years may have impacted them long term. Ford says he suffers 
respiratory problems he believes are exacerbated not only by the extreme heat 
in the unit during the summer months, but also by the black mold he alleges to 
be present inside the prison.

A spokesperson with the University of Texas Medical Branch, which manages 
medical care at TDCJ units through its Correctional Managed Care division, 
declined to comment on the heat exposure, citing ongoing lawsuits.

"TDCJ takes precautions to help reduce heat-related illnesses such as providing 
water and ice to staff and offenders in work and housing areas, restricting 
offender activity during the hottest parts of the day, and training staff to 
identify those with heat related illnesses and refer them to medical staff for 
treatment," TDCJ Public Information Director Clark said. He also cited "access 
to respite areas" that are air-conditioned as a system-wide protocol that is 
utilized during periods of extreme heat.

Cole says that while he, personally, is being granted regular access to a 
respite area at the Pack Unit, he believes this is only because he is the 
primary plaintiff in a major ongoing class-action lawsuit. For other prisoners 
at the unit, he says, it is a protocol that exists only on paper.

"Even though [TDCJ] claims they have enough space to put every offender on this 
unit into respite at the same time, if offenders starting using respite on a 
large scale, let's say ... 20 % of the inmates wanted to go to respite, that 
would pretty much shut down the day-to-day operations of this unit," Cole says. 
"So what they do is they find low-visibility ways to discourage offenders from 
using respite."

Cole says that prison officials regularly take Pack Unit prisoners to the 
infirmary, where nurses perform an internal core temperature check by inserting 
a thermometer into prisoners' rectums. "That's the first procedure they do 
before they do anything for you at all," he says. So many prisoners avoid 
asking for respite in the first place.

The Wallace Pack Unit is not the only unit in Texas that lacks air-conditioning 
in its cellblocks. According to Clark, only 29 of 108 TDCJ units have 
air-conditioning in all "offender housing areas," with all units having at 
least some areas that are air-conditioned.

Among the areas that TDCJ chooses to air-condition in its units are its prison 
armories and areas for livestock.

Guidelines from both the American Bar Association and the American Correctional 
Association (ACA) suggest that prison officials should provide adequate 
temperature control in cellblocks, but the ACA continues to accredit units 
lacking climate controls.

At this point, even unions representing prison guards, many of who have also 
experienced heat-related illnesses and injuries while on duty, have been 
supportive of lawsuits over extreme heat in TDCJ units.

Truthout and Earth Island Journal didn't receive any responsive records after 
requesting potential documents outlining TDCJ officials' plans to adapt their 
protocols and procedures in light of ongoing anthropogenic climate disruption 
and expectations for intensifying heat waves across the state in the coming 
decades. The lack of documents indicates that the state's prison officials may 
have no plans, outside TDCJ's current existing heat policies, for mitigating 
temperatures as more heat waves sweep Texas in years to come.

Indeed, periods of intense heat are expected to accelerate in the state, 
according to climate scientists like Linda Mearns.

Mearns is a senior climate scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric 
Research in Boulder, Colorado, and conducted a climate study on the region 
around Navasota, Texas, where the Wallace Pack Unit is located. Analyzing 
datasets from nearby weather stations in the area in order to predict future 
extremes, she not only found that both maximum and minimum average temperatures 
from all six weather stations analyzed are steadily increasing, but that the 
likelihood of extreme summer heat waves is expected to increase dramatically.

"We looked at the likelihood of the recurrence of extreme summer temperatures 
at the level of that summer of 2011 ... and essentially, going out into a 
period, let's say to 2035, we found that there's a 8-fold increase in the 
likelihood of that kind of extreme event repeating itself," Mearns says. "It's 
very clear that temperatures are increasing, that extremes of temperatures are 
increasing [in the region]."

Mearns also looked at trends in the number of days per summer that have 
exceeded certain temperature thresholds that can be dangerous to certain risk 
groups if left exposed. She looked at thresholds of 88, 95 and 100 degrees 
Fahrenheit and found that days exceeding those temperatures have been steadily 
increasing since 1970.

"In terms of the heat index, the major factor is still the temperature, so we 
see very distinct increases in the heat index, which is actually used to 
determine dangerous conditions for human health, and we see increases in those 
thresholds as well, for example, a heat index above 88 or above 95 for a 
particular length of time," Mearns says. According to her research, the median 
value of days with a heat index above 95 or 100 degrees lasting more than four 
hours per day increases to more than 20 days by 2035, and 55 days by 2055 in 
the area around Navasota.

It's the extremes that pose the greatest danger to vulnerable populations such 
as the elderly, or people with health conditions that render them at risk. 
According to Mearns, people for the most part become somewhat adapted to the 
climate that they live in, even as average temperatures increase. Extreme 
temperature changes, however, don't allow enough time for the body to properly 
acclimate -- one reason why nearly half of TDCJ's confirmed hyperthermia deaths 
all occurred during the same 2011 heat wave.

According to Edwards, experts testifying on behalf of TDCJ have acknowledged 
the reality of climate disruption, but, "Internally, they are loathe to answer 
[the climate] question because they are appointees of [the governor], and that 
question is fraught with danger in an oil state like Texas," he says. "They 
want to be looked at as tough on crime, and don't view air-conditioning or 
costs associated with air-conditioning as priorities until the courts tell them 
they have to."

Many of the state's prisons were constructed during the "tough-on-crime" prison 
boom of the 1990s, which hit particularly hard in Texas. "It wasn't as if 
[air-conditioning] was discussed," Michele Deitch, a senior lecturer at the 
University of Texas' Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, says. "The 
prisons were just built."

According to Clark, many of TDCJ's units that were built in the 1980s and 1990s 
didn't include air-conditioning because of the added construction, maintenance 
and utility costs. This lack of air-conditioning persisted, despite the 
far-reaching 1980 court ruling Ruiz v. Estelle, which found that conditions of 
imprisonment within the TDCJ prison system constituted cruel and unusual 
punishment. Although the decision was the result of one of the most 
far-reaching lawsuits on incarceration conditions in US history, it didn't 
include conditions relating to extreme heat. Therefore, TDCJ units lacking 
air-conditioning in cellblocks continued to be approved by federal courts.

"One-hundred-thousand prison beds were constructed in a very crisis-oriented 
atmosphere where the goal was to build them very quickly and as cheaply as 
possible, to get these inmates out of the [county] jails [and into state 
prisons]," Deitch said. "When [the prisons] were constructed, the [state] 
legislature was never inclined to provide money, and the legislature help fund 
the construction of these facilities. They're expensive enough to build, and 
the legislature was not going to give any money to cover the cost of 
air-conditioning. That was just seen as treating prisoners too well."

The harsh sentencing practices of the '90s have left the state with a prison 
population that is now rapidly aging behind bars, and increasingly requiring 
extensive medical care. "In Texas with its super-long sentences ... the 
fastest-growing population is the geriatric population. With all of these 
inmates in un-air-conditioned facilities, I think we're going to be seeing a 
lot more deaths in custody from people who can't handle the heat," Deitch says.

In Texas, the price of politicians and prison officials' climate denial is 
human lives. Not only are the state's aging prisoners being rendered casualties 
of climate change, they are held captive to changing climate conditions, unable 
to adapt to the increasing heat waves, and, in the case of Wallace Pack, forced 
to endure other environmental degradations and injustices -- such as drinking 
arsenic-tainted water for more than 10 years -- to cope.

"Our tough-on-crime mentality about sentencing is bumping up against 
our-tough-on crime mentality in terms of extreme conditions for prisoners, and 
I think it's going to lead to some very tragic consequences, particularly as 
climate change makes the situation even worse," Deitch says.

Indeed, over his 23 years in the TDCJ system, Cole says the summers have become 
more extreme. "It seems to be getting more hotter now. I don't know if I can 
attribute that to the fact that temperatures are worse, or maybe the fact that 
I'm getting older and my diseases are progressing, but I know that the summers 
now are more intense to me than they were 10 years ago when I was in the 
system."

(source: truth-out.org)






PENNSYLVANIA:

PA Supreme Court denies appeal from convicted killer

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld the death sentence imposed on a Bristol 
Township man convicted of killing a 4-year-old girl and her pregnant mother in 
2013.

Marcel Johnson, 24, was appealing his 2015 1st-degree murder convictions in the 
deaths of Ebony Talley, 22, who was 5 months pregnant, and R'Mani Rankins, 4, 
who witnessed her mother's death on Nov. 25, 2013, at the Avalon Court 
apartments on Bristol-Oxford Valley Road in Bristol Township.

Talley suffered 35 stab wounds and was found with a plastic bag tied around her 
head. Rankins was found bleeding from a stab wound to the chest and was 
pronounced dead a short time later. A jury found Johnson guilty of 3rd-degree 
murder for killing the fetus.

He was also convicted of arson for setting the bodies on fire in an attempt to 
destroy evidence.

Bucks County District Attorney Matthew Weintraub on Monday called the murders 
brutal and said his office felt vindicated by the court's decision to uphold 
the convictions and the sentence.

"The jury found that Marcel Johnson should be subject to the death penalty and 
I have no quarrel with that," Weintraub added. "The state Supreme Court 
affirmed that decision was correct and just."

In his appeal filing, which was denied May 25, Johnson argued that several 
areas of the case should have led to his convictions being thrown out and his 
sentence vacated.

Johnson was also initially charged with drug possession before that charge was 
withdrawn. In his appeal, Johnson argued that other people involved in the drug 
trade could have wanted to harm Talley. While he initially confessed to the 
crimes during interviews with police, he claimed in his appeal that he arrived 
at the apartment after it was already set on fire.

He also argued that his statements to police should have been suppressed during 
his trial because he agreed to waive his Miranda rights under the assumption 
that police wanted to question him regarding an arrest warrant for unpaid 
traffic offenses.

But the Supreme Court, in its opinion, sided with Bucks County Court in 
allowing the confession into evidence, arguing that it was clear why Johnson 
was being questioned due to several factors. One of which, the court said, was 
the fact that Johnson was apprehended by several officers with guns drawn as he 
entered Talley's vehicle parked at a nearby apartment complex shortly after the 
crimes.

When reached for comment Monday, Johnson's attorney, John Fiorvanti Jr., said 
he intends to file a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court in the hopes of 
sending the case to the federal level.

Fiorvanti said he was disappointed that certain rulings made during the trial - 
such as evidence of drug abuse, physical abuse, mental illness and neglect 
through several generations of Johnson's family being deemed inadmissible - 
were upheld by the state Supreme Court.

Fiorvanti also said he asked the trial court to instruct the jury to each 
mitigating factor of his "horribly abused and neglected" client separately 
during the penalty phase and listed each one separately on the verdict slip 
rather than grouping several together. That request was denied by the trial 
court - a decision that was upheld in the appeal.

Regarding the overall decision to deny the appeal, Fiorvanti said he was not 
surprised.

"I would frankly have to say that I expected the ruling," he added. "It's just 
the way the cases are and the way our Supreme Court is going. I was hopeful. 
You always hope for the best."

(source: buckscountycouriertimes.com)






FLORIDA:

Trial date set for Markeith Loyd in death of Orlando police officer


A trial date has been set for a Florida man accused of killing his pregnant 
ex-girlfriend and an Orlando police officer.

Orange County Chief Judge Fred Lauten said Monday that the trial for Markeith 
Loyd will begin Sept. 10 in Orlando.

Loyd is accused of gunning down 42-year-old Lt. Debra Clayton in January weeks 
after authorities say he fatally shot 24-year-old Sade Dixon. Loyd eluded 
police for more than a week.

He faces multiple charges, including 1st-degree murder.

The case prompted a legal skirmish between the state attorney in Orlando and 
Florida Gov. Rick Scott.

State Attorney Aramis Ayala announced in March she wouldn't seek the death 
penalty in Loyd's case or any others. Scott responded by transferring almost 2 
dozen death penalty cases, including Loyd's, to another prosecutor.

(source: Associated Press)






OHIO:

Death-penalty trial to begin after tricky process of selecting Franklin County 
jury


When attorneys questioned a 72-year-old man during jury selection for Franklin 
County's 1st death-penalty trial in 3 years, he said there was a time when he 
found himself at odds with his strong opposition to taking a human life.

"When I was a young man, I had some pretty idealistic beliefs," the Northwest 
Side man said. "I told myself I could never take a life under any circumstances 
and so on, and then I was drafted.

"The day I stepped off the airplane on the Vietnamese soil, I said, 'I'll do 
whatever it takes to get back home.' ... I sort of had a letdown of my own 
viewpoint of myself, I guess."

But under no circumstances, he said, could he sign a verdict form to recommend 
a death sentence.

The man was excused from being part of the jury pool.

In all, 17 people were excused during the 1st phase of jury selection for the 
trial of Lincoln S. Rutledge, who is accused of fatally shooting a Columbus 
police officer during a SWAT standoff at his Clintonville apartment 14 months 
ago.

On Friday, the 52 people who made it through the 1st phase were narrowed to 12 
jurors (7 men and 5 women) and 4 alternates.

The trial, which could take as long as 2 weeks, is scheduled to begin with 
opening statements this morning.

Jury selection for a death-penalty case is unique because it requires potential 
jurors to discuss their views on the ultimate punishment before hearing any 
evidence, at a time when the defendant is presumed innocent.

Jefferson Liston, one of Rutledge's attorneys, told potential jurors that the 
process puts the defense in "an uncomfortable position."

The process is necessary to eliminate jurors whose position on the death 
penalty, whether for or against, is so strong that they can't follow Ohio law 
regarding the appropriate use of the penalty.

Under the law, if the jurors convict Rutledge of aggravated murder with death 
specifications in the slaying of Officer Steven Smith, they must participate in 
a sentencing phase during which the defense will present what are called 
mitigating factors.

If the jurors decide that the mitigating factors - such as mental illness or a 
traumatic childhood - outweigh the crime's aggravating circumstances, the law 
instructs them that a death sentence is off the table. At that point, they must 
recommend a life sentence either without the chance of parole or with the 
possibility of parole after 25 or 30 years.

If the aggravating circumstances outweigh the mitigating factors, the law says 
the jurors must recommend death.

A decision must be unanimous.

Assistant Prosecutors Daniel Hogan and Warren Edwards used a chart to explain 
the death-penalty law and the weighing process to prospective jurors, who were 
brought into the courtroom in groups of 6.

"There are people who have strong feelings against the taking of another life," 
said Common Pleas Judge Mark Serrott, who is presiding over the trial, his 1st 
death-penalty case. "You also don't want someone on the jury who would 
automatically impose death for anyone convicted of murder."

Nearly all of the people who were eliminated in the 1st phase were strong 
death-penalty opponents. They included an ordained minister who wrote on a 
questionnaire supplied to the panelists that only God should decide when 
someone dies.

Others, however, were retained after telling the judge and attorneys that, 
despite their strong feelings about the death penalty, they could follow the 
law in deciding whether to impose it. They included a woman who said she is so 
uncomfortable with the death penalty that she probably would be forever 
tormented if she signed a verdict for death.

The judge also allowed a current Columbus police officer and a former Ohio 
state trooper to be retained after the 1st phase, although neither ultimately 
was seated on the jury.

"I think I've been pretty even-handed," Serrott said.

Douglas Berman, a professor at Ohio State University's Moritz College of Law 
and an expert on capital punishment, said there are plenty of concerns about 
finding jurors who truly will follow the death-penalty sentencing process and 
about whether discussing possible punishments in advance is fair to the 
defendant.

"But I struggle to figure out how you can do it any other way," he said.

The act of weighing mitigating factors against aggravating circumstances in 
deciding life or death "doesn't lend itself to an easy or predictable 
adjudication process," Berman said. "It becomes a moral rather than a legal 
judgment."

The potential jurors who sat in Serrott's courtroom last week for questioning 
about the process impressed the judge with what they were willing to share, 
particularly the Vietnam veteran.

"It's what's great about our jury system," the judge said. "You bring strangers 
together from all walks of life to talk about weighty, serious matters that all 
of us should think about.

"I was so impressed with their openness, their candor, their thoughtfulness and 
the seriousness with which they're approaching this."

(source: The Columbus Dispatch)






ARIZONA:

Arizona, prisoners reach deal to settle death penalty suit


Lawyers for a group of condemned prisoners who sued over how Arizona conducts 
executions told a federal judge Monday that they have reached a tentative 
settlement with the state.

The agreement between the state and the prisoners contains a series of 
provisions to address the prisoners' arguments that the state's execution 
procedures violate their constitutional rights to be free from cruel and 
unusual punishment and have due process.

The agreement limits the power of the Department of Corrections' director to 
change execution drugs at the last minute, requires that drugs be tested before 
use and bars the state from using expired drugs. It also increases transparency 
in the execution process.

The Department of Corrections officially published the new execution rules late 
last month, and the settlement would make those provisions binding.

The agreement still needs approval by the prisoners. But 1 of their attorneys, 
Josh Anderson, told U.S. District Judge Neil Wake he expects that to happen as 
soon as next week. If the settlement falls through for some reason, Wake has 
set a bench trial for September.

"That trial will not move - there is no place to move it," Wake told the 
attorneys. "I'm inclined to hold my breath for 10 days."

The state already settled another part of the lawsuit, agreeing not to again 
use a sedative called midazolam.

That drug was used in July 2014 execution of convicted killer Joseph Rudolph 
Wood, who was given 15 doses of midazolam and a painkiller and who took nearly 
2 hours to die. His attorney says the execution was botched.

Wake has blocked executions until the case is finished, and he asked an 
attorney for the state if it had the drugs to restart executions rapidly if the 
case is settled.

"It won't come to a head quickly," Assistant Attorney General Jeff Sparks told 
Wake. "The state doesn't have drugs right now and has no intention of seeking a 
warrant."

States are struggling to obtain execution drugs because European pharmaceutical 
companies began blocking the use of their products for lethal injections. Death 
penalty states refuse to disclose the sources of their drugs, though the 
sources are widely believed - to be compounding pharmacies - organizations that 
make drugs tailored to the needs of a specific client. Those pharmacies do not 
face the same approval process or testing standards of larger pharmaceutical 
companies.

The state's new execution rules replace a 3-drug mixture with a 1-drug 
injection using 1 of 2 barbiturates, pentobarbital or sodium pentothal.

There remains a potential appeal of an earlier ruling by Wake that dismissed 
prisoners' some of the prisoners' claims. Those dismissed claims include a 
request for witnesses and defense lawyers to be able to see and hear the entire 
execution process and to have more information about the source of execution 
drugs.

"We believe that there is under the 9th Circuit precedent, so that would be the 
basis for our appeal," Anderson said.

Separately, a group of news organizations including The Associated Press is 
suing the state to force it to reveal the source of execution drugs and 
qualifications of executioners. The state says releasing those details would 
jeopardize the confidentiality of executioners and would lead suppliers to stop 
providing the drugs if their names were made public. A trial is set next month 
in federal court in Phoenix.

A judge in December ruled in favor of the groups' argument for more access to 
executions, saying the state must allow witnesses to view the entirety of an 
execution.

The lawsuit discussed Monday was filed in 2014 by prisoners that included Wood, 
but was amended after his problematic execution.

Dale Baich, an assistant federal public defender who represents the prisoners, 
said Arizona has an "unfortunate history" of problematic executions and said 
the state is now "taking appropriate steps to decrease the risk that prisoners 
will be tortured to death."

A Department of Corrections spokesman could not be immediately reached for 
comment.

(source: Associated Press)






CALIFORNIA:

Is accused cop killer sleeping through his hearing?


A judge on Monday denied an effort to close a hearing for accused cop killer 
Luis Bracamontes to the press and public, saying the proceedings must remain 
open.

Sacramento Superior Court Judge Steve White rejected the latest motion by 
public defenders for Bracamontes, who argued that pretrial publicity was 
endangering their client's right to a fair trial.

The lawyers are trying to get White to move the trial out of Sacramento because 
of the publicity, and are expected to argue over the next 2 to 3 days that 
coverage of the October 2014 slayings means the trial must be moved.

They also hope to win permission to enter a plea of not guilty by reason of 
insanity.

Bracamontes has not been of much help in their quest. He has at various times 
said he wants to plead guilty, wants to face execution and would like to kill 
his lawyers.

For almost the entire hearing Monday morning, until White called a 15-minute 
recess at 10:30, Bracamontes sat with his head drooped down on his chest or 
cocked backward with his eyes closed.

The only times he opened his eyes through midmorning came when his lawyer got 
up to approach a witness or when the witness accidentally hit the microphone.

Granted, much of the testimony from marketing and public opinion expert 
Jennifer Franz Monday focused on survey techniques, methods for calling 
potential jurors and the like.

But Bracamontes' behavior was markedly different from past hearings, where he 
has seemed alert and, at times, aggressive and profane.

His head has been shaved since his last court appearance, and this marks the 
1st hearing in memory during which he has not made wisecracks or other 
comments.

His demeanor changed somewhat when prosecutor Rod Norgaard, who is trying to 
march him to San Quentin's death chamber, began questioning Franz about a 
survey she conducted for the defense measuring potential jurors' knowledge of 
the case.

Bracamontes began watching Norgaard intently as the prosecutor, who opposes 
moving the case out of Sacramento, began asking Franz about her survey.

Franz said her survey found that 75.7 % of the respondents who were aware of 
the case already had decided Bracamontes is either definitely guilty or 
probably guilty, and 51.5 % think the death penalty is a proper punishment.

Bracamontes, 36, did not speak during the hearing until the lunchtime break, 
when he walked by White and appeared to say, "You're doing good."

Much of Monday's testimony involved questions about the survey of Sacramento 
residents' knowledge of the case, and that topic is expected to continue into 
Tuesday.

Defense attorneys also are expected to push for permission to enter an insanity 
plea on their client's behalf, despite Bracamontes' past insistence that he be 
allowed to plead guilty.

He faces trial in October and could be sentenced to death if convicted in the 
slayings of Sacramento Deputy Danny Oliver and Placer Deputy Michael Davis Jr.

A Mexican citizen who had been deported at least twice and had returned to the 
country illegally, Bracamontes was passing through Sacramento with his wife 
when they allegedly began a daylong rampage at the Motel 6 near Arden Fair 
Mall.

The 2 were arrested in Auburn later that day. Bracamontes faces the death 
penalty; she faces life.

(source: sacbee.com)

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

Prop. 66, which speeds up state death penalty process, is challenged in CA 
Supreme Court


On Tuesday, the California Supreme Court heard arguments over whether a 
voter-approved initiative passed last November to speed up the death penalty 
process is constitutional.

Proposition 66, a ballot initiative titled "Death Penalty Procedures 
Initiatives Statutes," expedites the death penalty process by setting a 5-year 
deadline for death penalty appeals to be heard.

Elisabeth Semel, a professor of law at the UC Berkeley School of Law and 
director of Boalt's Death Penalty Clinic, said she does not believe the 
initiative is a good solution for dealing with the backlog of death row appeals 
the state supreme court has yet to hear. Semel said it takes an average of 15 
years for a direct death row appeal to be decided by the California Supreme 
Court.

"The State Supreme Court currently has a backlog of about 380 death row cases," 
Semel said. "Under the terms of this proposition, the court would have to hear 
these cases about 3 times faster. There's nothing in this initiative (with) a 
game plan to make it possible."

Prop. 66 was 1 of 2 initiatives on state ballots related to the death penalty 
in November 2016 - the 1st, Proposition 62, called for a repeal of the death 
penalty. Prop. 66 passed by a narrow margin of 51.1 % to 48.9 %, whereas Prop. 
62 failed to pass.

Ron Briggs, whose father, former State Sen. John Briggs, authored a 1978 ballot 
initiative to expand the death penalty, and former state Attorney General John 
Van de Kamp filed the petition which challenges the constitutionality of Prop. 
66. The California Supreme Court has 90 days to decide the case.

According to Semel, during oral arguments, the plaintiffs contended the new 
time limits infringe upon the court's authority to manage its own cases - this 
would undermine the state court's authority and violate the separation of 
powers. Semel said plaintiffs also argued the expedited death penalty process 
denies equal protection to death row inmates.

Terry Martin, an attorney for intervenor Californians To Mend, Not End, The 
Death Penalty - No on Prop. 62, Yes on Prop. 66, said the proposition was 
"absolutely constitutional." According to Martin, the 5-year time limit did not 
restrict the court's authority because they were "aspirational" rather than 
"mandatory."

"I'm confident that the Supreme Court will uphold the constitutionality of the 
measure," Martin said. "I expect the court to rule with the people of 
California."

Semel maintained skepticism about both the constitutionality and efficacy of 
Prop. 66.

A both faster and more reliable state death penalty system would "require many 
millions of dollars" to reform, according to Semel - the reforms being proposed 
in Prop. 66 would result in a death penalty system that is only "faster and 
cheaper."

"The system is stuck because we don't have the necessary resources," Semel 
said. "You can have a system that is either faster, cheaper and less accurate, 
or faster, more expensive and more reliable.

(source: The Daily Californian)






USA:

I carried out the death penalty as a governor. I hope others put it to rest.; 
Capital punishment is unfair, ineffective and hurts the states that continue 
the practice.

I've always viewed it a sign of wisdom to demonstrate the ability to change 
your mind - that goes double if you're an elected official. As New Mexico's 
governor in 2009, I changed my mind regarding the death penalty and signed a 
bill to abolish it after having supported it for decades. Empirical evidence 
and common sense convinced me that the death penalty is an ineffective 
deterrent, is unfairly applied and has become increasingly costly for states.

Since 1973, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, the number of 
wrongly sentenced men and women freed from death row has climbed to 159.

A DPIC study found 88 % of criminologists don't believe the death penalty is an 
effective deterrent to crime. Numerous studies suggest the same.

In its 2015 ruling outlawing capital punishment in Connecticut, that state's 
supreme court explained why the death penalty is unfair: "the death penalty has 
been imposed disproportionately on those whom society has marginalized 
socially, politically, and economically: people of color, the poor and 
uneducated, and unpopular immigrant and ethnic groups. It always has been 
easier for us to execute those we see as inferior or less intrinsically 
worthy."

The practice is wrong and I hope it isn't long for this world.

More recently, one method of execution, lethal injection - once seen as "more 
humane" than others - has made the debate not just one about the morality of 
the death penalty, but one about the way that it can lead to a failure of 
governance and damage to a state's reputation.

As the 2nd-poorest state in our nation, Arkansas sorely needs private 
investment to boost growth and employment. It's recent initiative, "Arkansas 
Inc", exists to present the state as a "pro-business environment operating 
leaner, faster and more focused through a streamlined state government." But at 
the same time Arkansas is trying to bolster its image as a well-run state, 
officials rushed to carry out a flurry of executions in April to beat the 
expiration date of Arkansas's supply of 1 of its lethal injection drugs.

Arkansas carried out these lethal injections even though more than 20 firms 
worldwide now oppose the sale of their products for this use, and have taken 
steps to effectively close the market for these drugs. This string of 
executions followed the passage of a law in the state legislature (upheld in 
the state's supreme court) giving officials cover to secretly obtain these 
drugs, whether or not drug makers want to sell them for use in executions.

Several court challenges briefly delayed several of the executions, including 1 
ultimately unsuccessful suit that contended Arkansas purchased the drugs and 
sought to conceal their intended use.

Pharmaceutical distributor McKesson Medical-Surgical, Inc., a subsidiary of the 
country's 5th most successful company, according to Fortune - the type of firm 
Arkansas should be courting, not battling - sued the state for using "false 
pretense, trickery, and bad faith." 2 other companies filed supporting legal 
briefs, arguing the state's actions were not only anti-business but created "a 
public-health risk by undermining the safety and supply of lifesaving 
medicines" that could otherwise be used "to treat 1,800 patients in life-saving 
operations." In their effort to push through these executions, state officials 
needlessly hastened the application of an unjust policy while senselessly 
placing Arkansas at odds with the private sector.

Delaware hasn't seen a similar spate of executions, and last year its supreme 
court struck down the state's death penalty statute as unconstitutional. But 
last month, the state's House of Representatives voted to reinstitute it. As a 
state that has worked successfully for decades to build an international brand 
as America's leading incorporation venue, a major source of its revenue, 
Delaware could lose if the globally disfavored death penalty once again becomes 
law.

In the same way that the private sector responded to anti-LGBT laws passed in 
states such as Indiana and North Carolina, death-penalty states have to 
recognize that our increasingly small world is watching, and organizing against 
wrong-headed public policy by redirecting investment dollars.

Escalating costs of prosecuting death-penalty cases also means a higher burden 
on governments. A report produced for lawmakers in my home state showed it 
would cost as much as $7.2 million to reintroduce capital punishment. Arkansas, 
Delaware and other death-penalty states have a choice. They can pursue a just 
and prudent course, or they can cling to this failed policy even though it 
hurts their citizens.

As a former ambassador to the United Nations and the sole United States 
commissioner on the International Commission Against the Death Penalty, I worry 
about America's isolation on this critical human rights issue. States that 
continue to employ the death penalty will remain isolated from the growing 
international consensus.

The death penalty won't be abolished by a single judicial decision, legislative 
act or election cycle, but there are signs that the tide is turning to end it 
for good. In local elections, notably for district attorney, anti-death penalty 
candidates - Charles Todd Henderson in Jefferson County, Alabama and Jason 
Krasner in Philadelphia - are showing they can win. The results coincide with 
changing public opinion: Last year, Pew Research found public support for the 
death penalty at a 4-decade low.

To effectively represent the interests of citizens, and protect our nation's 
role as a global leader, a new generation of policymakers and politicians must 
put the death penalty to rest once and for all.

(source: Commentary; Bill Richardson is a former governor of New Mexico and a 
former United States ambassador to the United Nations. He is the founder of the 
Richardson Center for Global Engagement----Washington Post)