[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----NEB., ARIZ., NEV., CALIF., USA

[Rick Halperin]

March 29



NEBRASKA:

Respect the voice of the people on death penalty


The people are the 2nd house in Nebraska's unique unicameral Legislature. When 
they speak, the 1st house should listen.

In November, the people spoke emphatically. Nebraskans restored the state's 
death penalty by ballot measure, with 61 % of the vote. They also ousted the 
chairman of the Judiciary Committee and some other legislators who backed 
repeal.

Yet here is State Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha, again proposing repeal.

When the Legislature passed his repeal in 2015, Chambers thought he had 
achieved one of his life's works. This spring, he said he could never step back 
from the principle that the state should not take lives.

But by resurrecting a repeal bill so soon, Chambers is forcing murder victims' 
families to relive the worst moments of their lives, right after they thought 
the issue had been decided.

Consider Christine Tuttle, whose mother, Evonne, was 1 of 5 people gunned down 
in the botched 2002 Norfolk bank robbery. During last week's hearing on 
Legislative Bill 446, Christine described seeing lawmakers react after passing 
a repeal bill in 2015: "I watched you laugh and hug and high-five. You 
celebrated on the pain and sorrow of my family, and we have heard enough."

The death penalty raises legitimate moral issues for supporters and opponents 
alike, and views are strong on both sides. The debate - nationally and in 
Nebraska - is bound to continue.

But the public just spoke, loud and clear. When Nebraska's 2nd house rejects a 
move by its 1st, the Legislature should accept their decision.

(source: Editorial, Omaha World-Herald)

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

Court-ordered evaluation finds Garcia competent for sentencing in death penalty 
case


Based on findings from doctors with the Lincoln Regional Center, District Court 
Judge Gary Randall has concluded that the man convicted of 4 revenge killings 
is competent to be sentenced in the death penalty case. The 3-judge panel will 
meet Thursday at 9 a.m. to decide if Anthony Garcia will receive the death 
penalty.

Garcia was sent for an evaluation 2 weeks ago after he refused to answer 
questions in district court. While District Court Judge Gary Randall asked him 
direct questions, Garcia sat silent.

"Dr. Garcia if you do not respond to me, you leave me with no choice but to 
follow the 3rd thing we discussed at the hearing last week was to have you sent 
to the Lincoln regional center to determine whether or not you're competent," 
Judge Randall said in court.

According to court documents, Garcia's evaluation concluded, "that the 
defendant is competent to participate in the mitigating circumstances phase of 
this proceeding and sentencing."

Judge Gary Randall wrote in a previous order that the hearing on Thursday "is 
expected to last 1 day." Judge Randall will be the presiding judge. The Chief 
Justice of the Nebraska Supreme Court randomly selected the other 2 judges from 
a statewide list. Those 2 judges are District Court Judge Russell Bowie of 
Omaha and District Court Judge Rick Schreiner of Beatrice.

Anthony Garcia had previously refused to come to a procedural hearing and 
Garcia's attorneys argued their client's confinement played a role in his 
current condition. Prior to his most recent evaluation, the prosecution and 
defense both weighed in on Garcia's silence.

"No man awaiting trial should be held in solitary confinement for 3 1/2 years. 
That person will not be able to assist which was evident in our trail in any 
capacity. He slept through half of his trial. A normal person does not sleep 
through their own death penalty case," said Attorney Bob Motta.

"We really believe this is a ploy. You know he hasn't had any problem 
communicating with anyone over at the correctional center. We have written 
letters he sent requesting batteries or a haircut, of cutting back on his 
medication, so when he comes in here and doesn't even respond it's catatonic I 
think that's just what that is," said Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine.

Garcia's attorney had stated previously that Garcia is also refusing to 
communicate with his defense team. Garcia was found guilty of 4 murders in 
October 2016.

(source: WOWT news)






ARIZONA:

Child murder case: Death penalty appeal 30 years later


The case of a child murdered 33 years ago is still in the courts and still 
haunting the family 8 year old Vicki Lynne Hoskinson left behind.

Her remains were found at the end of Ina Road in 1984.

A jury ruled Frank Jarvis Atwood was her killer. He was sentenced to death. 
Atwood has spent the years since trying to escape the death penalty. Now an 
appeals court hearing coming up shows Atwood is running out of options.

The last time her family saw her, Vicki Lynne Hoskinson was riding her pink 
bicycle--heading out to mail a birthday card.

A spot of pink paint on the bumper of Frank Jarvis Atwood's car was one of the 
keys to his murder conviction.

Since he was sentenced to death, Atwood has posed a variety of arguments to try 
to get the death sentence reduced to life.

Atwood claimed sheriff's deputies planted the pink paint on his car. Most 
recently his attorneys argued his 1st lawyer should have told the jury Atwood 
was molested as a child but prosecutors argued raising the molestation claim 
would have revealed Atwood's mental health record, and his history as a 
pedophile.

After years of losing in lower courts, Atwood's fight to escape death has 
reached Federal Appeals Court. In June, 3 judges from the 9th Circuit Court of 
Appeals will spend 30 minutes hearing Atwood's case.

There is still the chance for more years of appeals if the determination Atwood 
has shown so far carries the case to the Supreme Court.

That will mean more pain and uncertainty for Vicki Lynn Hoskinson's family. Her 
sister maintains a website called Love Never Forgets. It remember the little 
girl and traces the years the family has waited for Frank Atwood to pay for her 
death, with his.

(source: KGUN TV news)






NEVADA:

Nevada lawmakers say the death penalty is a 'colossal waste of money'


Nevada lawmakers want to abolish the death penalty because of concerns over 
costs, sparking opposition from prosecutors and some victims' families.

Nevada is among 32 states that allow death as a sentencing option. But no 
inmate has been executed since 2006 and none likely will be any time soon as 
the state struggles to replenish its supply of execution drugs.

Assemblyman James Ohrenschall and state Sen. Tick Segerblom, both Democrats, 
proposed Assembly Bill 237 in late February. The bill would end capital 
punishment and leave life without the possibility of parole as the state's 
strongest punishment.

"We believe the death penalty isn't effective, it isn't a deterrent," Segerblom 
said. "It's a colossal waste of money, and more importantly, no one is ever 
going to be executed given the delays from appeals and other things.

"It's a punishment that's meaningless, but it's costing us a fortune."

'We're spending millions of dollars'

In 2013, state legislators passed a bill mandating a study of the costs 
associated with the death penalty.

An audit report the following year found that the death penalty process, from 
the arrest to the end of incarceration, costs about $532,000 more than 
non-death penalty cases. Most of those costs come from the trial and appeal 
process.

A death penalty case costs about $1.3 million for a defendant who is sentenced 
to death but isn't executed. That includes trial, appeal and incarceration 
costs. If the defendant is executed, then the costs are less.

Cases where prosecutors don't seek the death penalty cost about $775,000, the 
report said.

The report was based on 28 cases from 2000 to 2012 in Washoe and Clark 
counties.

"I know there's a lot of people that are sitting on death row in (Ely State 
Prison), which is a very expensive place to incarcerate people," Segerblom 
said. "And they have to each sit in an individual cell."

Currently, there are 82 death row inmates, according to the Nevada Department 
of Corrections. But the state has only executed 12 prisoners since the death 
penalty was reinstated in 1977.

A bill in the 1977 Legislative Session brought Nevada's death penalty laws in 
compliance with the U.S. Supreme Court guidelines, the report said.

The state also recently spent close to $900,000 creating a new execution 
chamber at Ely State Prison after its old chamber in Carson City fell out of 
compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

But even with an up-to-date execution chamber, the state is unable to carry out 
capital punishment. 1 of the 2 drugs needed to create the lethal injection 
expired. The state has since been unable to find a company willing to restock 
its supply.

"We've tried this over the years," Segerblom said of the bill. "It's very 
difficult. (The bill) can be pulled. Most of the cities support the death 
penalty, and they don't fully appreciate the costs involved."

"It's one of those issues that you have to keep bringing it back and trying to 
explain to voters the reality, which is that it's not something that's going to 
happen (soon)," he said, referring to death penalty executions. "And yet we're 
spending millions of dollars that we could be using for educating kids or for 
giving reparations to crime victims or something beneficial as opposed to 
pouring it down a rat hole."

'Cost is frankly a poor argument'

Support for the death penalty has fallen in the past 2 decades, but Americans 
still favor the death penalty more than they oppose it, according to a 2016 
survey from the Pew Research Center.

The poll found that 49 % favor the death penalty for people convicted of 
murder, and 42 % oppose it.

Washoe County District Attorney Chris Hicks said he believes the system is 
broken.

"I think cost is frankly a poor argument," Hicks said. "Really, the important 
discussion to have over the death penalty is: Does our society believe in it?"

Most of the state's death penalty cases come from Clark County, said Hicks, who 
is also president of Nevada District Attorneys Association.

"My office uses the death penalty very sparingly and judiciously," Hicks said. 
"We reserve it for the very worst offenders. And in the last 10 years, we have 
only sought the death penalty 2 times, although we have likely prosecuted close 
to 100 if not more homicides in that time."

One of those cases involved Tamir Hamilton, who was sentenced to death for the 
rape and murder of 16-year-old Holly Quick in 2006.

The other involved James Biela, who was convicted for the rape and murder of 
19-year-old college student Brianna Denison. Biela was sentenced to death in 
2010 plus 4 consecutive life terms in prison for the rape of 2 other women.

In 2015, he filed a motion for a new trial after he exhausted appeals for his 
conviction. He alleged he had ineffective counseling during his 2010 trial, but 
he was denied a new trial.

His defense attorney previously said the case could go to federal court.

"It's really, in my opinion, alarming how many judicial reviews an inmate 
gets," Hicks said. "Most people think he's convicted and the Supreme Court 
looks at it and either affirms it or reverses it and that???s it."

(source: Reno Gazette-Journal)






CALIFORNIA:

Man confesses to torturing and murdering a mother of 6 in death penalty 
case----Jaime Osuna escapes the death penalty by taking a plea


A remorseless murderer escaped the death penalty today by taking a plea deal in 
the torture and murder of a mother of six. 29-year-old Jaime Osuna pleaded 
guilty to murder, torture, and 3 other felonies relating to the homicide of 
36-year-old Yvette Pena.

Osuna's been very open about the horrific things he did to Pena, who was a 
virtual stranger to him when he decided to kill her in cold blood.

Her family has had to look him in the eye for years in court, listen to his 
outbursts, and look at crime scene photos of their loved one. Today, they got 
their 1st bit of closure.

Jaime Osuna was calm, he smiled, even laughed and chatted about the Oakland 
Raiders, as he signed his life away. Osuna admitted to torturing and murdering 
Yvette Pena at the El Morocco Motel in 2011.

Osuna says he met Pena just 1 night before killing her. She was found with 
knives and a pair of scissors in her back. Pena was a mother of 6, including a 
9 month old baby.

"It's not often, even as somebody who prosecutes murderers for a living, that I 
come across somebody that's just plain evil. If anybody deserves the death 
penalty, Jaime Osuna does", says Nick Lackie, the prosecutor on the case.

Osuna was facing the death penalty because of the brutality of the crime, but 
today he took a plea deal for life without the possibility of parole.

"It's been extremely difficult, it's been torture, it's been awful", says 
Jolene Clement, Pena's lifelong friend.

Pena's friends and family have had to look at Osuna's face for years, with his 
joker smile tattoo and a satanic symbol on his forehead. That's why Lackie 
waived the death penalty, to ease the burden on the family.

"We're just happy it's over with, you know Yvette is always going to be in our 
hearts, and we love her and we're happy she can finally rest in peace", says 
Clement.

Friends and family say they can finally mourn Pena's death and focus on the 
good.

"Her friendship, her beautiful smile, she was just a very loving person", says 
Clement.

Jaime Osuna is scheduled to be sentenced on May 15, which would've been Yvette 
Pena's 42nd birthday. (source: kerngoldenempire.com)






USA:

A cruel, unusual, deadly cocktail: Why lethal injection should be nearing the 
end of its life


There are about 2,900 of death row prisoners in America. Between 20 and 50 of 
them are killed in any given year, at least over the past decade.

In a little more than 2 weeks, the state of Arkansas intends to put 8 prisoners 
to death in the span of 10 days.

It is an unprecedented move, and a moment for people who would rather not think 
about how those executions happen to revisit their chilling, clinical and 
increasingly problematic means.

In America today, prisoners executed by the state typically have their lives 
ended via lethal injection, using what is often described as a "three-part 
cocktail."

The language conjures the mental image of an extremely strong drink.

There are 3 parts to the lethal injection process. First, inmates are injected 
with a barbiturate to sedate them, then pancuronium bromide, to paralyze their 
body, and finally potassium chloride, which stops the heart.

The method was proposed in 1977, alongside a simultaneous proposal for a 
barbiturate-only injection, similar to what vets use to put down animals. 
Though arguably less susceptible to error, this method was rejected for fear of 
that exact comparison.

Compared to the loud violence of a firing squad, the primitive look of a 
hanging, the potential for setting a man on fire via electrocution or watching 
someone resist cyanide asphyxiation in the gas chamber, strapping someone to a 
gurney and giving him an intravenous drip may seem remarkably "humane."

It has taken 40 years for the cracks in the facade to undermine the practice.

The most commonly used barbiturate in lethal injections is a drug called 
midazolam. The use of midazolam is contentious, and the reason why was obvious 
during the 2014 execution of a man named Joseph Wood in Arizona.

For 1 hour and 57 minutes, Wood gasped more than 600 times on the table, as his 
attorney frantically filed an emergency appeal to halt the execution. It was 
denied.

That same year, Clayton Lockett was executed in Oklahoma, writhing and 
screaming. Also in Oklahoma, a man named Michael Wilson's last words on the 
table were, "I feel my whole body burning."

In December 2016, an Alabama inmate named Ronald Bert Smith coughed and moved 
throughout the 30 minutes it took for him to die.

Smith had fought the use of lethal injection in court, calling it the type of 
"cruel and unusual punishment" prohibited under the Eighth Amendment to the 
Constitution and citing the failure of midazolam in these recent high-profile 
executions. He lost.

If midazolam is so unreliable, why is it still in use? Because pharmaceutical 
companies don't want to get their hands dirty either. Pfizer blocked its 
products from being used for lethal injection in mid-2016. The European 
Commission has put strict controls on the exportation of sedatives. Indian 
producer Kayem Pharmaceuticals is refusing to sell to U.S. prisons.

Arkansas' supply of midazolam reportedly expires in April. The Death Penalty 
Information Center suggests the state's rush to execute prisoners is connected 
to the drug's imminent unusability and the difficulty of obtaining more.

Some states have looked for workarounds. Following the disaster of Joseph 
Wood's death, Arizona renounced the use of midazolam. That same year, the state 
attempted to illegally obtain sodium thiopental, a substitute, from India.

In February, the Arizona Corrections Department added a new protocol, stating 
an inmate's attorney may bring "a sedative, pentobarbital or an anesthetic" if 
they can get it from "a certified . . . supplier." This is as illegal as it is 
absurd in its attempt to put the onus for sparing an inmate pain on his legal 
counsel.

Other states have dealt with the drug shortage by contemplating the 
reintroduction of less modish forms of execution. Oklahoma once welcomed the 
gas chamber, Utah the firing squad, Tennessee the electric chair; Mississippi 
legislator Andy Gipson recently introduced a bill to make those methods 
available to his state once more. Mississippi hasn't had an execution since 
2012, and currently holds 47 people on death row.

Gipson blamed the extremes states are being forced to go through to kill people 
on "left-wing liberal radicals," but opposition to the death penalty is a more 
moderate view than ever. A Gallup Poll last year says that support for the 
death penalty is at its lowest level since 1972.

Some legislators recognize that we are in a moment where there's no way to 
disguise what states are doing to their citizens.

On March 7, Arkansas state Rep. Vivian Flowers submitted a bill to abolish the 
death penalty in her state entirely, calling lethal injection "unfair and 
arbitrary." The state's Correction Department is even struggling to find the 6 
to 12 "respectable citizens" required by law to witness the executions.

It's time for society to admit there's no humane way for the government to 
kill, even when that death is quietly administered to a person who can't scream 
that they're in pain.

(source: New York Daily News)