[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, ARK., MO., NEV., IDAHO

[Rick Halperin]

Nov. 8




OHIO----impending execution

Death row inmate wants execution by firing squad, not lethal injection because 
he has weak veins



A death row inmate in Ohio convicted of murdering a teenage boy wants to be 
executed by firing squad instead of lethal injection because he has weak veins.

Lawyers for Alva Campbell - who is scheduled to be executed next month - argue 
that a lethal injection would harm him whereas the firing squad method would 
not require access to his veins. A nurse last month was unable to find veins on 
his arms to insert an IV tube.

A federal judge rejected Campbell's lawyers' firing squad argument on Tuesday, 
saying the inmate during a recent hearing didn't provide sufficient evidence to 
prove why that method was suitable for him.

His lawyers said they were disappointed with the judge's decision and are 
planning to appeal their client's case.

Gov. John Kasich in 2015 ruled out using firing squads for executions.

Mississippi, Oklahoma and Utah are the only states that allow the firing squad 
method, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

The 69-year-old inmate uses a walker, has an external colostomy bag and 
undergoes treatment for his breathing. He also may have lung cancer, his 
lawyers and court records say.

The Ohio Parole Board rejected his request for clemency in October. Kasich has 
the final say.

In 1997, Campbell snatched a Franklin County sheriff deputy's gun while on his 
way to a court hearing on armed robbery charges. He then carjacked and fatally 
shot 18-year-old Charles Dials in the head, court records show.

(source: New York Daily News)








ARKANSAS----impending execution stayed

Arkansas Supreme Court stops execution of Jack Greene



The Arkansas Supreme Court has halted this week's planned execution of an 
inmate whose attorneys say suffers from psychotic delusions.

Justices on Tuesday granted the request for an emergency stay for Jack Greene, 
who had been scheduled to be executed Thursday night. Greene, who's from North 
Carolina, was sentenced to die for the 1991 death of Sidney Burnett, who was 
beaten with a can of hominy, stabbed and shot.

Greene's attorneys had asked for the stay so justices could review a lower 
court's decision to dismiss his challenge of a state law that gives Arkansas' 
top prison official the authority to determine whether he is competent

In response to the ruling, a spokesperson for the Arkansas Attorney General 
Leslie Rutledge said she won't ask the Arkansas Supreme Court to reconsider the 
emergency stay granted to Greene.

Governor Asa Hutchinson said he was "surprised" by the ruling, saying that last 
minute delays "only prolong the justice the Burnett family was promised more 
than 20 years ago."

(source: thv11.com)

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

Emergency stay granted for Arkansas' oldest death row inmate



The execution of the oldest inmate on Arkansas death row is off.

Attorney General Leslie Rutledge has confirmed she will not appeal Tuesday's 
decision of the State Supreme Court granting an emergency stay for Greene.

Rutledge will also not ask for a rehearing in this case.

"With no written order or explanation provided, the Arkansas Supreme Court has 
once again delayed justice for the family of Sidney Burnett. I will continue to 
fight for justice for Sidney Burnett and to give the Burnett family the closure 
they deserve," Rutledge said in reaction to the stay decision.

Governor Asa Hutchinson issued this statement:

"I am surprised by the Arkansas Supreme Court's decision to issue an emergency 
stay of execution for Jack Greene," he said. "Last-minute delays are always 
very difficult and only prolong the justice the Burnett family was promised 
more than 20 years ago.

"This case has been reviewed by the courts on numerous occasions, and the state 
must now await further court action before the penalty given by an Arkansas 
jury is carried out."

(source: KARK news)

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

Poll shows strong support for death penalty in Arkansas



A new poll shows overwhelming support for the death penalty in Arkansas months 
after the state conducted 4 executions over an 8-day period and days before 
another inmate is scheduled to be put to death.

The University of Arkansas' annual Arkansas Poll released Tuesday shows that 72 
% of respondents support the death penalty as punishment for people convicted 
of murder. 17 % of respondents opposed the death penalty, while 11 % didn't 
know or refused to answer.

Arkansas resumed executions in April after a nearly 12-year lull, and the state 
plans to put convicted murderer Jack Greene to death Thursday night.

The poll surveyed 801 Arkansans between Oct. 12 and Oct. 22. The poll has a 
margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 % points.

(source: Associated Press)








MISSOURI:

Jury foreman describes how jurors deadlocked over death penalty for Craig Wood



The 12 people chosen to decide whether Craig Wood should live or die went into 
a room Monday, sat around a table and tried to determine what justice is.

Wood kidnapped, raped and killed 10-year-old Hailey Owens in 2014.

The jurors unanimously agreed last week that Wood was guilty of 1st-degree 
murder.

Next, it was their job to sentence him.

The jurors had listened to 6 days of emotional testimony, read Wood's 
handwritten stories about having sex with girls, and looked at pictures of 
Hailey's lifeless body stuffed in a plastic bin.

"It's something that you're going to carry to your death," said Andy 
Meyerhofer, the foreman of the jury. "The images are seared into your mind."

Meyerhofer described Monday's jury deliberations to the News-Leader. It grew 
heated at times, he said, as some jury members attempted to sway others.

The jury - faced with deciding between life in prison or the death penalty - 
could not make a unanimous choice. The decision now rests in the hands of Judge 
Thomas Mountjoy, who could sentence Wood as early as Jan. 11, when Wood has his 
next hearing.

The jury was brought in from Platte County, north of Kansas City.

Meyerhofer said he moved to Missouri about 2 years ago and was not familiar 
with the case at all.

All the potential jurors had to fill out a lengthy questionnaire with answers 
about their views on the death penalty, religion and politics, Meyerhofer said.

Meyerhofer was told he was a juror on a Friday and sequestered on Sunday, he 
said, and that's when it really hit him.

"This is a very important case," Meyerhofer recalled thinking.

At that point, he still had very few details about the case and said he was 
ready to do his civic duty. Then came the horrific photos.

"(By the end of the trial), you've seen the body of a 10-year-old girl that's 
been shot in the head, sprayed with water that likely contained dog feces, put 
into a box after she's been raped and sodomized," Meyerhofer said.

Jurors were also given 2 handwritten stories about sex with girls that had been 
found in Wood's bedroom.

Meyerhofer said the 1st story was about a girl who was given medication and 
then raped. The 2nd, he said, was about a girl who played truth or dare and 
then willingly had sex.

The girl in the story was "nervous" at first," Meyerhofer said, but excited by 
the end.

To Meyerhofer, the stories showed a progression in Wood's mind: from a 
fictional forced rape to a fictional willing participant to the real abduction 
and rape of Hailey.

Meyerhofer said a unanimous decision to convict Wood of 1st-degree murder was 
swift.

"I really was impressed with how thorough this prosecution did in terms of 
gathering evidence and not cutting any corners," Meyerhofer said. "It was never 
slanted one way or another ... We were forced to process what that meant."

The penalty phase of Wood's trial lasted 3 days. On Monday, the jurors heard 
closing arguments and went to deliberate.

For a jury to sentence someone to death for murder, it must find there was at 
least 1 "aggravating factor" as outlined in state law. The prosecutors 
presented several aggravating factors, including that the murder was "wantonly 
vile" and that Hailey was a random victim.

The jury decided "fairly rapidly," Meyerhofer said, that all the aggravating 
factors applied.

Then came the hard part: A secret poll about whether Wood should be put to 
death.

According to Meyerhofer, 8 jurors voted for the death penalty, 1 for life in 
prison and 3 were undecided.

Jurors were passionate as they argued their opinion, Meyerhofer said, but 
always respectful.

At times, he said, pauses were taken so jurors could cool down.

"A significant amount of time was then spent on discussing - 'moral compass,' I 
think is the phrase that comes to mind," Meyerhofer said. "What was your 
personal, moral compass telling you to do?"

After more than 4 hours of deliberation, Meyerhofer said it was apparent the 
jury was deadlocked.

10 were in favor of death, Meyerhofer said, and 2 were for life in prison.

The mood, he said, was mixed.

"Clearly there were those that felt like justice had not been done for Hailey 
Owens," he said, but others put a lot of weight in the mitigating factors.

Wood's attorneys said the mitigating factors were a family history of 
depression, a loving relationship with his parents and that Wood could have a 
positive impact on his friends' lives - even from behind bars.

Meyerhofer said he voted for death.

"To a degree, I think serving on that jury hardens me a bit," he said. "Human 
life is very important and that is not an easy decision to make. And it changes 
you - it changes how you're going to approach the world with your own 
children."

Meyerhofer is a father of 3 daughters.

"The world I wanna live in," he said, "my kids walk home without being afraid 
of being picked up randomly by someone to be murdered."

Meyerhofer said he was able to compartmentalize this case - to not compare 
Hailey to his daughters.

"This whole thing for us was always about Hailey Owens losing her life," he 
said.

(source: Springfield News-Leader)








NEVADA----impending volunteer execution

Attorneys for Nevada inmate not seeking stay of execution



The 46-year-old condemned Nevada inmate, who wants to be executed, is expected 
to appear via video conference from Ely for Wednesday's proceeding in a Las 
Vegas courtroom. He is scheduled to die less than a week later. Federal public 
defenders representing Dozier have pushed to ensure that his lethal injection 
is carried out humanely, but after more than an hour of argument on Monday, 
they told District Judge Jennifer Togliatti that they were not asking her to 
postpone the execution.

"These issues pose a moral dilemma. That's the best I can say," Assistant 
Federal Public Defender David Anthony said after the hearing. "As a defense 
attorney, I try to help people and save people, and so it creates a moral 
dilemma."

Dr. John DiMuro, the state's chief medical officer who designed the 3-drug 
cocktail for Dozier's execution, resigned last week. The cocktail consists of 
the anxiety drug diazepam, the pain reliever fentanyl and the paralytic 
cisatracurium.

Assistant Solicitor General Jordan Smith told the judge on Monday that DiMuro 
was replaced by a psychiatrist. Another doctor with about 40 years of 
experience will oversee the execution.

Anthony said defense attorneys had an agreement with Dozier that they would not 
pursue a delay of the Nov. 14 execution without his consent. But Anthony added 
that he had not yet talked with Dozier about the new medical officials in place 
at the Nevada Department of Corrections.

"It's not a shame for anyone here if we need to push the pause button," Anthony 
said, adding that the state's lethal injection plan had "no upside but 
unlimited downside."

Smith argued that Dozier's lawyers were pushing for "a de facto stay" and had 
no legal grounds for delaying the execution.

"The state has every interest in making sure this goes correctly," Smith said.

Last week, a Boston anesthesiologist testified that a paralyzing drug, such as 
cisatracurium, could cause "cruel pain and suffering" and lead to a "horrifying 
experience" for a condemned inmate.

Togliatti said she found the defense expert's testimony credible, and the focus 
of her concern centered on the state's lack of experience with executions.

Dozier, who requested last year that his appeals stop, would be the 1st inmate 
executed since 2006.

A Clark County jury convicted Dozier in September 2007 of killing 22-year-old 
Jeremiah Miller at the now-closed La Concha Motel. In 2005, Dozier was 
convicted in Arizona of 2nd-degree murder in another case.

Dozier did not appear in court Monday. For more than a year, Dozier has not 
wavered in his desire for execution.

(source: Las Vegas Review-Journal)

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

Call For A Moratorium On Executions In Nevada (USA: UA 250.17)



The State of Nevada is set to carry out its 1st execution in over 11 years. A 
prisoner who has waived his appeals is due to be executed at 8pm on 14 
November. Amnesty International is calling for a moratorium on executions as a 
1st step towards abolition.

TAKE ACTION

Write a letter, send an email, call, fax or tweet:

Expressing your opposition to the death penalty in all cases, and calling for a 
moratorium on executions in Nevada and for the state administration to work 
with the legislature to abolish the death penalty;

Noting that since Nevada last carried out an execution, six states in the USA 
have abolished the death penalty and a number of others have imposed 
moratoriums on executions, and another 21 countries have abolished the death 
penalty for all or ordinary crimes, with 141 countries now abolitionist in law 
or practice;

Pointing to the repeated resolutions at the UN General Assembly calling for a 
moratorium on executions with a view to abolition of the death penalty.

Contact these 2 officials by 14 November 2017:

Governor Brian Sandoval

State Capitol Building

101 N. Carson Street

Carson City, NV 89701, USA

Email: http://gov.nv.gov/Contact/Email-the-Governor/

Fax: +1 775 684-5683

Salutation: Dear Governor

Attorney General Adam Paul Laxalt

Office of the Attorney General

100 North Carson Street

Carson City, NV 89701, USA

Fax: +1 775-684-1108

Email: aginfo at ag.nv.gov

Salutation: Dear Attorney General

(source: Amnesty International USA)

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

Life and death



Midazolam is supposed to prevent condemned prisoners from suffering while they 
die. But opponents say several problematic executions involving the drug are 
evidence that it doesn't work consistently.

The death penalty should be abolished completely in the states. All humans, 
including criminals, have the right to life.

The death penalty is also not very favorable for us law-abiding, tax-paying 
citizens. It is every expensive. Lastly, the death penalty does not deter crime 
whatsoever. The criminal is going to do the crime no matter what.

The Reno Gazette-Journal reached out to 2 medical experts to help explain how 
each of Nevada's lethal injection drugs (fentanyl, diazepam and cisatracurium) 
work and how they're used in medicine.

The death penalty is a violation of the 14th Amendment. The 14th Amendment 
states that "any State [should not] deprive any person of life, liberty, or 
property." The death penalty does just that by taking the life of the 
criminals.

The death penalty is very expensive for the states and its tax-paying citizens. 
Studies have been done stating that taxpayers in Maryland have paid at least 
$37.2 million per every 5 executions. In Texas, the death penalty costs about 3 
times more than keeping the inmate in their cell.

Lastly, the death penalty does not deter crime. No criminal that has done a 
vicious act ever thinks of the consequences beforehand.

The death penalty should be abolished completely from the United States. It is 
a violation of one's rights, it is costly to all states, and it in no way 
deters crime.

Maile Richardson

St. George

(source: Letter to the Editor, The Spectrum)








IDAHO----new death sentence

Man gets death sentence for killing Idaho police sergeant



A man who prosecutors said was high on methamphetamine when he ambushed and 
killed an Idaho police sergeant was sentenced to death.

District Judge Lansing Haynes imposed the death penalty Monday for Jonathan D. 
Renfro, who was found guilty of 1st-degree murder for killing Coeur d'Alene 
police Sgt. Greg Moore 2 years ago.

"It brings this chapter to a close," Coeur d'Alene Police Chief Lee White said. 
"The difficult part is behind us, we can begin to move forward."

Haynes also ordered an additional sentence of life in prison without parole 
plus 19 years behind bars for convictions for robbery, eluding, taking a police 
officer's firearm, concealing evidence and grand theft, the Coeur d'Alene Press 
reported.

Haynes gave Renfro credit for the 915 days he has been incarcerated since his 
2015 arrest.

Moore was killed while on a routine patrol where he encountered Renfro. 
Prosecutors previously said the convicted felon was high on methamphetamine, 
ambushed Moore, took his firearm and fled.

Family members including Lindy Moore, widow of Sgt. Greg Moore, and ex-wife 
Jennifer Brumley, thanked police and prosecutors for their support and work in 
the case.

"Nothing can bring Greg back, but we feel justice has been served," Lindy Moore 
said.

The defense team has more than a month to start the appeal process.

Because it is a capital case, the Idaho Supreme Court must review the court's 
handling of the case before approving the sentence for Renfro.

White said he hoped Monday's sentencing sends a message to criminals, and that 
he appreciated how the community rallied around the department and Moore's 
family.

"We stay in close contact with them." he said. "Our relationship will continue 
beyond today."

(source: Associated Press)

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

Only 3 death row inmates have been executed in Idaho since 1977



The death sentence is the ultimate punishment for the most heinous crimes.

On Saturday, a North Idaho jury handed Jonathan Renfro that sentence. Renfro 
was convicted of f1st degree murder for killing Coeur d'Alene Police Sergeant 
Greg Moore in 2015.

Renfro will join 8 others on death row in the state of Idaho. KREM 2 learned 
death penalty cases like this are extremely rare and it can be decades before a 
death row inmate's fate is sealed.

A 2014 study done by Office of Performance Evaluations for the Idaho 
Legislature said since 1998 the death penalty was sought in just 22 % of cases 
where people were charged with 1st degree murder. Just 7 of those cases 
resulted in an actual death sentence.

Currently, the state of Idaho has 8 inmates on death row. The inmate who has 
spent the longest time on death row is Thomas Creech, who was incarcerated 34 
years ago. He was convicted of beating an inmate to death.

According to the Death Penalty Information Center there is only 1 death row 
inmate in the federal prison system who was prosecuted in Idaho, convicted 
child killer Joseph Duncan. Duncan was sentenced to death in 2008. He plead 
guilty to a 10-count indictment charging him with multiple crimes related to 
the 2005 kidnapping and murder of a 9-year-old Dylan Groene and the kidnapping 
of 9-year-old Shasta Groene from their home outside Coeur d'Alene.

Since Idaho enacted a new death penalty law in 1977, just 3 inmates have been 
executed. These executions took place in 1994, 2011 and 2012.

It can take decades for a death sentence to actually be carried out. Of the 8 
people sitting on death row, 6 of them have been on death row for more than 20 
years.

Prosecutors said all appeals must be exhausted before that step is taken. The 
Idaho Supreme Court is required by law to review every death sentence whether 
the defendant wants them to or not.

In recent years there has been 2 notable former Idaho death row inmates, who 
used the appeal process and were eventually set free.

In the 1984, Charles Fain was convicted and sentence to die for the murder a 
9-year-old girl in Nampa, Idaho. DNA evidence exonerated him after 18 years on 
death row.

Donald Paradis was accused of murdering a couple in his Spokane home and 
dumping their bodies in Post Falls in the 1980. He was a leader of the biker 
gang Gyspy Jokers. Paradis was acquitted in 1 murder and found guilty in the 
other. Paradis spent 14 years on death row before his sentence was commuted 
after new evidence was found.

(source: KREM-TV news)