[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----VA., N.C., FLA., ALA.

[Rick Halperin]

Sept. 2



VIRGINIA:

There are only 4 inmates on death row in Virginia, down from at least 57 in 
1995



Half of Virginia's death row inmates will have their cases argued before the 
4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals this month, but that should not tax the 
Richmond-based court - there are only 2 of them.

Virginia's death row population peaked in 1995 at 57 or 58 inmates. Today there 
are just 4, the fewest since July 1979, not long after Virginia law was changed 
enabling resumption of the death penalty after it was halted across the country 
by a 1972 U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

Now, after 113 executions, a handful of commutations, court actions, deaths 
while awaiting execution, a steep drop in homicides, the advent of true life 
sentences and other factors, Virginia's death row is the smallest it has been 
in almost 4 decades.

Since the U.S. Supreme Court allowed capital punishment to resume in 1976 under 
re-written state laws, only Texas, with 543, has carried out more executions 
than Virginia. Of 31 states with a death penalty, as of April, only 6 had 
smaller death rows. California has the country's largest, with 744 inmates.

While executions continue to be carried out in Virginia - there were 2 this 
year, Ricky Gray and William Morva - there have been no new faces on Virginia's 
death row in more than 5 years.

Thomas A. Porter, 41, and Anthony Juniper, 45, both sentenced to death in 
Norfolk, are set to argue their appeals on Sept. 12 and 15th respectively. Also 
on death row are Mark Lawlor, 52, sentenced to death in Fairfax County, and 
William Burns, 51, sentenced to death in Shenandoah County, but held to be 
incompetent since 2011.

State Del. Robert B. Bell, R-Albemarle, the chairman of the Virginia State 
Crime Commission, said another reason there are fewer death sentences today is 
because they have become more difficult to obtain.

"The groups opposed to the death penalty have made it such an arduous endeavor 
for prosecutors . . from a resource perspective, to give a case all the time 
and energy that it would require to see through to a successful capital case 
prosecution," said Bell.

Bell said in many smaller localities, "You have prosecutors' offices that have 
3 of 2 people and . . . you'd have to pull off of everything else that 
happens." He said, "I think that's part of the scenario, it's part of what 
drives it."

Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death penalty Information Center and a 
critic of the way the death penalty has been carried out, agrees it is now more 
difficult to win a death sentence in Virginia but for good reason. Among other 
things, he said, Virginia now has regional capital defenders, "which means 
defendants get much better representation than they used to get at trial. That 
has made a big difference."

And Virginia juries are now told that a life sentence means life without 
parole, something that had not been done before September, 1999. That has also 
had an effect, he said. People convicted of capital murder in Virginia can be 
sentenced to death or life in prison.

Also, said Dunham, "Murder rates are near historic lows, so you don't have the 
level of fear and political pandering on crime that you had in 1980s and 
1990s."

Dunham said public support for the death penalty has dropped. A national Gallup 
poll last year found that while 60 % of respondents said they support the death 
penalty and 37 % said the opposed it, the support level was the lowest since 
the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the death penalty in November 1972.

While no new death sentence has been imposed in Virginia for the last 5 years, 
in the preceding 5 years, from 2007 to 2011, 6 death sentences were imposed; 
from 2002 to 2006, 14 death sentences; and from 1997 to 2001, 32 death 
sentences, he said.

Dunham contends, "There has been a complete sea change in attitudes and 
practices during that time."

He said legislators and prosecutors are more committed to upholding existing 
death sentences and carrying out executions of those already sentenced to death 
than they are to committing decades of new resources to obtaining and carrying 
out new death sentences.

"When you add a dwindling death row to the equation, you begin to have a 
political environment in which abolition of capital punishment no longer seems 
like a farfetched notion," said Dunham.

The Virginia Department of Corrections could not confirm that the state's death 
row population peaked at 58 in 1995, as has been reported by the Richmond 
Times-Dispatch. The NAACP's Legal Defense Fund, which had figures at certain 
points each year back to 1981, says Virginia had 57 on death row as of Oct. 31, 
1995, the highest number it recorded in Virginia at any one time.

The Department of Corrections said the last time Virginia had 4 inmates on 
death row was in early July 1979. A 5th was added shortly after.

(source: richmond.com)








NORTH CAROLINA:

New report: How NC sentenced 2 innocent men to death



One of the few bright spots on the North Carolina public policy landscape in 
recent years has been the ongoing hiatus in the application of the death 
penalty. It's been 11 years since the state of North Carolina executed anyone 
and, happily and not surprisingly, the murder rate has actually declined. In 
2007, there were 592 murders in North Carolina. In 2015 (the most recent year 
for which the state published statistics online), there were 559. meanwhile, 
the state population grew by almost 1-million during that period.

Of course, the hiatus does not yet amount to what is actually required - full 
and permanent abolition. On this front, many stubborn and ill-informed 
politicians (see, for example, the very troubled Rep. Justin Burr of Stanly 
County) cling to the flawed notion that the death penalty can still somehow be 
imposed in a fair and constitutional way.

Fortunately (if tragically), compelling evidence continues mount that there is 
no way for the death penalty to be applied fairly - much less constitutionally. 
The latest powerful example is a new report from the Durham-based Center for 
Death Penalty Litigation on the tragic case of Henry McCollum. As the release 
accompanying Saved from the executioner: The unlikely exoneration of Henry 
McCollum explains:

"Of all the men and women on death row in North Carolina, Henry McCollum's 
guilty verdict looked airtight. He had signed a confession full of grisly 
details. Written in crude and unapologetic language, it told the story of 4 
boys, he among them, raping and suffocating11-year-old Sabrina Buie. His 
younger brother, Leon Brown, also admitted involvement in the crime. Both were 
sentenced to death in 1984.

Leon was later resentenced to life in prison. But Henry remained on death row 
for 30 years and became Exhibit A in the defense of the death penalty. U.S. 
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia pointed to the brutality of Henry's crime 
as a reason to continue capital punishment nationwide. During North Carolina 
legislative elections in 2010, Henry's face showed up on political flyers, the 
example of a brutal rapist and child killer who deserved to be executed.

What almost no one saw - not even his top-notch defense attorneys - was that 
Henry McCollum and Leon Brown were innocent. In 2014, both were exonerated by 
DNA evidence and, in 2015, then-Gov. Pat McCrory granted them a rare pardon of 
innocence.

In a new report, the Center for Death Penalty Litigation - which represented 
McCollum for the last 2 decades he spent on death row - tells the story of how 
2 intellectually disabled teenagers were pressured into signing the false 
confessions that sent them to death row and how they were finally able to prove 
their innocence.

Henry and Leon's case is not so much a lesson in how wrongful convictions are 
uncovered as it is a warning of how easily they can be missed entirely. If not 
for a complex and unlikely chain of events that unfolded over decades, Henry 
and Leon would likely have remained in prison for the rest of their lives. 
Henry might have been executed."

Let's hope the new report is widely read and shared. As it notes in the 
conclusion after describing the years of neglect McCollum's case received:

"In 2015, Henry got a different kind of mention from the U.S. Supreme Court. 
Justice Stephen Breyer cited his exoneration as compelling proof that the death 
penalty is not just error-prone, but unconstitutional."

(source: ncpolicywatch.org)

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

3 Years Free after 30 Years of Innocence in Prison



Saturday marks the 3rd anniversary of the biggest exoneration in North Carolina 
history.

Henry McCollum and Leon Brown were declared innocent after serving more than 30 
years in prison for a crime they didn't commit. Their story is chronicled in a 
report released Thursday by the Center for Death Penalty Litigation.

The center's executive director Gretchen Engel explained why it's important for 
their story to be documented and studied.

"30 years on death row; it just exposes all the ways that human error can 
contribute at so many different stages of the capital case and why we shouldn't 
be practicing the death penalty because of human error," Engel said.

McCollum and Brown were arrested as teenagers, and both were classified as 
intellectually disabled. They were accused of the murder and rape of an 
11-year-old girl. DNA evidence later proved that the true culprit was a serial 
rapist who lived next to where the girl's body was found.

Engel said this case is not an isolated incident, and the CDPL has reason to 
believe there are others serving time - some on death row - who were wrongfully 
convicted.

"It's not an anomaly by any stretch of the imagination," she said. "We've done 
other reports on wrongful prosecutions where people are prosecuted with flimsy 
evidence. We can see this is all part of one system where human error infects 
so many different stages of the process."

Biological evidence exists for less than 1/3 of the 144 inmates serving on 
North Carolina's death row. Most of them were tried more than 15 years ago, 
before reforms were implemented to prevent the conviction of the innocent.

Both McCollum and Brown were pardoned by the governor and are seeking financial 
retribution in a civil lawsuit.

(source: themountaineer.com)








FLORIDA----new execution date

Florida quickens pace of its executions, schedules next one for October 
5----Florida is scheduled to execute its next death row inmate next month.



Gov. Rick Scott signed a new death warrant on Friday setting the execution of 
Michael Lambrix for 6 p.m. Oct. 5.

Lambrix was previously set to die in February 2016 but his execution was halted 
amid questions over the constitutionality of Florida's death penalty law.

He has been on death row since 1984 after he was convicted in 1983 of murdering 
Aleisha Bryant and Clarence Moore Jr., following a night of drinking in Glades 
County.

Scott's office described the crime as Lambrix having "lured Moore outside, and 
viciously attacked him with a tire iron, repeatedly hitting him in the head and 
fracturing his skull. Lambrix then called Bryant to come outside, where he 
attacked her, kicking her in the head and strangling her."

But in an interview with the Herald/Times in 2016, Lambrix contended that Moore 
strangled Bryant and that he used a tire iron to fatally batter Moore in 
self-defense. He admitted that he and his girlfriend, Frances Smith, buried 
both victims in a shallow grave and that he refused to call police because he 
was a fugitive from that work detail.

Lambrix's previously scheduled execution in 2016 was halted when the state 
Supreme Court issued a stay. Justices cited the uncertainty of how past cases 
should be handled in the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court decision in January 2016 
- known as Hurst v. Florida - which deemed Florida's sentencing procedures 
unconstitutional.

The Florida Supreme Court in December cemented death sentences for nearly 200 
prisoners - including Lambrix - whose sentences were finalized before a June 
2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling referenced in the Hurst decision.

The Legislature, meanwhile, quickly moved to fix the state's death penalty law 
during the 1st week of the 2017 session this spring. The new procedures require 
a unanimous decision by a jury to sentence a defendant to death.

This is the 3rd death warrant signed for Lambrix. The governor who signed 
Lambrix's 1st death warrant, Bob Martinez, left office in 1991.

The last death row inmate to be executed was Mark James Asay, who was put to 
death just 9 days ago.

Asay's death by lethal injection on Aug. 24 was the 1st time Florida had used a 
new anesthetic drug, etomidate. There were no reported complications.

(source: Miami Herald)

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

Florida prosecutor agrees to seek death penalty in future



A Florida prosecutor who fought and lost a battle with the governor over her 
decision not to seek the death penalty said Friday that she will comply with a 
state Supreme Court decision and seek it in future cases if it is unanimously 
recommended by a panel of her assistant prosecutors.

State Attorney Aramis Ayala made her announcement a day after the state's high 
court upheld Republican Gov. Rick Scott's power to reassign her 1st-degree 
murder cases to another prosecutor.

The Orlando-area state attorney said a 7-member review panel of assistant state 
attorneys in her office will review all 1st-degree murder cases and then 
recommend to her which cases warrant seeking the death penalty.

Ayala said she won't have a say in the decisions the 7 members come up with.

"I have vested my authority into the review panel and I have no intention of 
usurping the authority which I granted," Ayala said from the steps of the 
Orange County Courthouse.

She said that if the review panel, comprised of 6 prosecuting attorneys along 
with the assigned state attorney, reaches a unanimous decision to seek the 
death penalty she will accept their recommendation. She said the panel includes 
attorneys who have sought the death penalty in past cases and are not opposed 
to pursuing capital punishment going forward.

"I have chosen this team of experienced prosecutors who I am extremely 
confident will follow the law," she said. "None of them has either expressed or 
has been confirmed as having no opposition to death penalty."

It's not clear, however, if Scott will go along with the new arrangement.

Ayala and Scott have been entangled in a power struggle since she said in March 
she would not consider seeking the death penalty in any homicide case. That 
prompted Scott to remove more than 25 first-degree murder cases, including the 
upcoming trial of Markeith Loyd from the elected official's office and give 
them to special prosecutor. Loyd is accused of slaying his pregnant 
ex-girlfriend and a policewoman who tried to apprehend him.

Ayala said Friday she will not continue to fight to have those cases already 
taken away returned to her office. But she said she intends to remain over all 
future 1st-degree murder cases.

"I respect the decision and appreciate that the Supreme Court of Florida has 
responded and issued an opinion, outlining its interpretation of the facts and 
circumstances of this case as well as Florida and other state law," Ayala said. 
"This has now set the stage for how I will move forward."

John Tupps, a spokesman for Scott, said the governor will "continue to review" 
the actions of Ayala's office, but added that "the governor must be convinced 
that the death penalty will be sought as outlined in Florida law, when 
appropriate. The governor will always stand with crime victims and their 
families."

(source: Associated Press)








ALABAMA:

19-year-old Madison man charged with capital murder in East Limestone double 
homicide



a 19-year-old from Madison is jailed on charges of capital murder in the 
shooting deaths of 2 men whose bodies were found in an East Limestone driveway.

Jacob Gideon Copeland was booked into the Limestone County Jail without bail 
around 2:15 a.m., records show. Deputies found the bodies of Damian Blake 
Ricketts, 21, of Hazel Green, and Devin Edward Richard, a 22-year-old from 
Huntsville, when they responded to a call on Analicia Drive early Thursday.

Sheriff's spokesman Stephen Young said around 7 a.m., a resident reported 
finding a car in his driveway with 2 young men who had been shot. Richard and 
Ricketts each suffered multiple gunshot wounds. There is no known connection 
between those involved in the homicide and anyone living in the neighborhood.

Investigators began looking at Copeland as a suspect when they learned he was 
the last person with whom the victims had contact, Young said. When 
investigators went to his home on Mill Road in Madison, Copeland ran but was 
quickly caught a couple hundred yards away, Young said.

Deputies along with Madison police and the State Bureau of Investigation served 
a search warrant at Copeland's home and arrested him after an interview at the 
sheriff's office. Other agencies that helped with the investigation include 
Huntsville police and the Madison County sheriff's office.

"The case took 7 Limestone County sheriff's investigators about 18 hours to 
resolve," Young said in a news release. Those investigators are Rodney McAbee, 
Caleb Durden, Chad Harbin, Kristin King, Tim McNeil, and Lts. Jay Stinnett and 
Johnny Morrell.

"I couldn't be more proud of our deputies and investigators who worked 
tirelessly throughout the day and night to solve this case," Sheriff Mike 
Blakely said in a statement. "...the mutual assistance they received from other 
agencies was second to none. The team effort that was on display over the past 
20 hours is just remarkable."

Copeland is charged with 2 counts of capital murder. If convicted, he faces 
either life without parole or the death penalty.

Additional details weren't immediately available. Young told AL.com additional 
information will be released later today.

(source: al.com)

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

Federal court orders new hearings in lethal injection challenge



A federal appeals court Friday ordered new hearings on a group of Alabama death 
row inmates' challenge to the state's execution method.

In a 79-page opinion, the 3-judge panel of the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of 
Appeals said there were factual disputes that should have precluded U.S. 
District Judge Keith Watkins from issuing summary judgment for the Alabama 
Department of Corrections.

The inmates in the case argue that midazolam, a sedative used in Alabama's 
3-drug execution process, cannot render a condemned individual unconscious 
before officials inject 2 more painful and lethal drugs. The appeals court 
wrote that should be the focus of future hearings.

"Whether the ADOC's use of midazolam as the first drug in its execution 
protocol will render the prisoner insensate prior to the administration of the 
2nd and 3rd drugs will require the presentation of expert opinion testimony," 
U.S. Circuit Judge Gerald Tjoflat wrote in an opinion for the panel. "We assume 
that Appellants' counsel is prepared to present such testimony, and that the 
ADOC is prepared to rebut it with expert opinion testimony of its own."

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2015 that condemned inmates challenging their 
methods of execution must present an alternative method of execution. Alabama 
has used midazolam since resuming executions in early 2016. 3 of the 4 that 
have taken place since then took place without visible incident. But Ronald 
Bert Smith, executed last December, gasped and coughed for 13 of the 34 minutes 
it took to execute him.

Midazolam has been present in other botched executions. Critics say its ability 
to render a person unconscious drops when a recipient experiences a high-stress 
event, like his or her execution.

The inmates in the lawsuit suggested single-injection methods of execution, 
involving large doses of drugs like midazolam, pentobarbital or sodium 
thiopental.

The Alabama Department of Corrections argued in the case that it could not 
obtain supplies of sodium thiopental or pentobarbital. Hospira, the maker of 
sodium thiopental, stopped manufacturing it in the United States in 2011 due to 
its use in capital punishment. The state used pentobarbital as a sedative in 
executions but had exhausted its supply by 2014.

DOC also argued that the inmates failed to show that a single large injection 
of midazolam would be less painful than the current method. Watkins agreed, 
saying the plaintiffs did not identify sources of sodium thiopental or 
pentobarbital and did not produce "scientific evidence of record" to prove 
midazolam would be less painful for the condemned.

The appeals court found fault with Watkins' findings. It noted that dozens of 
executions took place involving compounded pentobarbital and that some states 
intended to carry out executions with it.

"From these facts it can reasonably be inferred that compounded pentobarbital 
was available, that executions using the drug as a 1-drug protocol were 
ongoing, and that several States contemplated employing the protocol," Tjoflat 
wrote.

The appeals court also noted testimony from Anne Adams Hill, general counsel 
for the ADOC, that she had contacted other states in the fall of 2015 - a year 
after the state switched to midazolam. Hill said in testimony the department 
wanted to weigh whether pentobarbital was available, and if so, if it might be 
an alternative.

"A factfinder could reasonably infer that her efforts to find a new 
pentobarbital source reflected her or her superiors' doubts about midazolam's 
effectiveness in eliminating pain potassium chloride could cause during 
executions," Tjoflat wrote. "Of course, other inferences from Hill's testimony 
could be drawn, and that is precisely why her testimony should be submitted to 
the trier of fact rather than treated as conclusive on summary judgment."

The appeals court also wrote that the lower court cited testimony from an 
expert witness from the plaintiffs who suggested that the midazolam dosage 
needed to cause death was many times higher than the 500 mg they sought. But 
Tjoflat also wrote that Watkins "overlooked" testimony from an expert from the 
DOC, who said that 500 mg on its own would be enough to cause death.

Tjoflat's opinion told the district court to "first determine what risk the 
current 3-drug protocol - with midazolam as the 1st drug - presents before 
considering the adequacy of Appellants' proposed alternatives, especially since 
it has by now been clearly established that midazolam is available to the 
State."

Watkins' opinion also included angry and sometimes sneering criticism of 
physicians, whose professional code of ethics prevent them from assisting in 
executions. The judge accused doctors of working "on the side of guerrilla 
tactics against a clearly constitutional right of the state to execute 
criminals convicted of vile human desecration and death" while suggesting their 
involvement in executions would lead to more humane methods of execution.

The judge also attacked the U.S. Supreme Court's "evolving standards of 
decency" argument from 1958's Trop v. Dulles, saying it led to "hollow 
arguments from a debased medical community in death penalty cases."

The 11th Circuit did not address Watkins' criticisms of the medical community 
Friday.

(source: Montgomery Advertiser)