[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, DEL., N.C., S.C., , GA., FLA., ALA.

[Rick Halperin]

Feb. 15


TEXAS----new execution date and impending execution

San Antonio lovers' lane killer gets 4th execution date in less than a year



A San Antonio killer this month was handed his 4th execution date in less than 
a year.

Juan Castillo, who was sent to death row for his role in a 2003 lovers' lane 
slaying, is now slated to die by lethal injection on May 16, according to the 
Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Last year, his string of death dates were 
called off for everything from Hurricane Harvey to a witness who recanted.

But before the setting of the most recent date, defense attorneys say they 
never got to weigh in.

Instead, when the appeals court bounced the case back to the trial court in 
November to examine false testimony claims, prosecutors filed a brief - and the 
judge decided against Castillo one day later, according to court filings.

"It's really unusual and strange," said Amanda Marzullo, executive director of 
Texas Defender Services, which is representing Castillo. "It's a clear due 
process violation."

The Bexar County District Attorney's Office did not immediately respond to a 
request for comment.

The 36-year-old condemned man was originally convicted in 2005 of killing 
teenage rapper Tommy Garcia Jr. during a botched robbery.

Castillo's then-girlfriend lured the targeted man to a secluded spot with the 
promise of sex and drugs. But while the 2 were making out in his Camaro, 
Castillo and another man attacked.

Wearing ski masks and carrying weapons, they dragged Garcia from the car - and 
Castillo shot him 7 times in the process.

Castillo was 1 of 4 people convicted in the crime, but the only one hit with a 
capital sentence. During the punishment phase, he represented himself.

He was found guilty on what would have been his victim's 21st birthday.

Last May, he was scheduled for execution, but saw the date cancelled after 
prosecutors failed to give 90 days notice to the defense. In September, he was 
scheduled to die, but the date was pushed back again, this time in light of the 
impacts of Hurricane Harvey.

Then in November, his December execution date was canceled and his case 
remanded to the trial court in light of claims of false testimony from a 
jailhouse snitch.

"I described what Juan Castillo supposedly told me about the capital murder," 
former Bexar County inmate Gerardo Gutierrez wrote in 2013, according to court 
records. "Juan Castillo never told me this information about this capital 
murder case. This testimony was untrue about Juan Castillo. I made up this 
testimony to try to help myself."

Although prosecutors argued that appeals based on the 2013 revelation were 
procedurally barred and not credible, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals 
looked to a 2009 decision mandating that - whether or not it's intentional - 
the use of false testimony violates due process. Accordingly, on Nov. 28, the 
appeals court sent the case back to Bexar County.

There, the trial court on Dec. 1 decided that Gutierrez's testimony wasn't what 
made the difference in Castillo's conviction, as everything he testified to 
matched statements from other witnesses. The decision came one day after the 
judge voluntarily recused himself and was replaced.

Although the prosecution was able to file its recommended findings before the 
court ruled, the defense was not able to do the same.

Now, Castillo's defense has plans to file a motion for reconsideration, 
Marzullo said.

The next scheduled execution in Texas is Thomas "Bart" Whitaker, a Sugar Land 
man convicted in a murder-for-hire plot to kill his own family. If his appeals 
fail, the 38-year-old will be the fourth Texas man executed this year.

(source: Houston Chronicle)

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

Executions under Greg Abbott, Jan. 21, 2015-present----30

Executions in Texas: Dec. 7, 1982----present-----548

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

31----------Feb. 22----------------Thomas Whitaker--------549

32----------Mar. 27----------------Rosendo Rodriguez III--550

33----------Apr. 25----------------Erick Davila-----------551

34----------May 16-----------------Juan Castillo----------552

(sources: TDCJ & Rick Halperin)

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

Death Watch: Justice for Whom?----Kent Whitaker never wanted execution for his 
son



Thomas Whitaker is up for execution next Thursday, Feb. 22. Whitaker, 38, was 
convicted of capital murder for conspiring to kill his brother and parents in 
December of 2003. He had arranged for his family to go out to dinner. When they 
returned home, a gunman was set up in their house. Chris Brashear shot and 
killed Whitaker's mother and brother; his father, Kent, was shot in the chest 
but survived. Fort Bend County prosecutors secured a life sentence for Brashear 
but sought the death penalty for Whitaker, who they said concocted the plan to 
collect on a 7-figure inheritance - a figure Kent Whitaker maintains was 
sharply exaggerated and beside the point; his son had been suffering from 
mental illness.

Whitaker has lived a relatively consequential life in the last 5 years on death 
row. In 2013, he filed a joint lawsuit with Michael Yowell and Perry Williams 
that questioned the purity of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice's 
then-current stock of pentobarbital (the state's execution drug of choice). The 
case was originally dismissed for Whitaker and Williams because neither had 
been issued an execution warrant at the time. (Yowell was also unsuccessful, 
and executed with the state's 1st known dosage of compounded pentobarbital.) 
But in 2015, the Attorney General's Office agreed the state should retest 
Whitaker and Williams' doses shortly before their executions. The next summer, 
Williams saw his execution date withdrawn after the state failed to procure 
test results on his dosage (or that's what the TDCJ told the general public). 
Meanwhile, Whitaker's case is currently pending in the U.S. Supreme Court, 
where justices are set to conference on Feb. 23, 1 day after his scheduled 
execution. Whitaker will request a stay to allow the justices time to 
conference.

Whitaker is currently represented in those efforts by Maurie Levin, and on 
clemency by James Rytting and Austin attorney Keith Hampton. In January, 
Hampton and Rytting filed a request with Gov. Greg Abbott and the Texas Board 
of Pardons and Paroles on the specific grounds that Kent Whitaker never wanted 
his son to be executed (indeed, he lobbied for a life sentence at trial) and 
would not be brought any form of closure, healing, or justice through his 
surviving son's execution.

Texas has already killed 3 people this year, including William Rayford and John 
Battaglia over the past 3 weeks. Whitaker would be the 4th. There are 2 more 
inmates on the Huntsville calendar at this time: Rosendo Rodriguez III on March 
27 and Erick Davila on April 25.

(source: Austin Chronicle)

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

Texas prison system stalls release of public information on 
executions----Earlier this month, defense lawyers claimed Texas was botching 
its executions with old drugs. Now, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice 
has stalled the release of information on how many lethal doses the state has 
and when they expire.



The cloud of secrecy surrounding Texas executions has grown a little darker 
lately.

After death penalty defense lawyers claimed the state's first 2 executions of 
the year were botched because of old lethal injection drugs, the Texas 
Department of Criminal Justice has stalled the release of public information 
regarding the state's supply of lethal doses. Without providing a reason, the 
department told a Texas Tribune reporter last week that it would take an 
estimated 20 business days - until the day before the state's next scheduled 
execution - to provide information on how many lethal doses the state has and 
when they expire.

In the past, the records have been provided in 1/2 the time, and even that 
could be unlawful. The Texas Attorney General's Office handbook on the state's 
public information law says that a governmental body must produce public 
information promptly, without delay. The handbook says it is a "common 
misconception" that agencies can wait 10 business days before releasing the 
information, as the Department of Criminal Justice has regularly done in the 
past regarding execution drugs.

"There's absolutely no excuse," said Joe Larsen, a lawyer who serves on the 
board of the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas. "The only reason 
they're doing it is to cause problems ... to delay the story."

Asked for comment about the prolonged waiting period, TDCJ spokesman Jason 
Clark said Wednesday that the department fully complies with the Texas Public 
Information Act and that inventory logs of execution drugs are expected to be 
released this week, instead of the previously estimated date of Feb. 21. The 
Tribune requested the information Jan. 23.

9 days later, lawyers for death row inmate John Battaglia filed a last-minute 
appeal before his execution claiming that the state's previous 2 executions 
used old, relabeled drugs for the lethal injection that likely caused 1 inmate 
to say he felt burning and the other to jerk on the gurney. Clark denied the 
executions were botched, saying both men lost consciousness almost immediately 
and were pronounced dead 13 minutes after being injected with pentobarbital, 
the drug Texas currently uses in executions.

Battaglia lost the appeal, and during his execution he sighed and said, "Oh, 
here, I feel it," according to The Dallas Morning News.

The defense lawyers said in the appeal that the drugs used this year were more 
than a year past their "beyond-use date," similar to an expiration date. (The 
lawyers also claim the beyond-use dates set by the state are "unscientific" and 
not viable). One batch of drugs was previously set to expire on Jan. 22, but 
more than a month ago, the drugs were re-tested and given a new expiration date 
of November, according to the Battaglia appeal. The TDCJ has said it doesn't 
discuss specifics on the current inventory of its execution drugs, but this 
testing has happened at least one other time in the past year, since it last 
reported a purchase of pentobarbital.

According to TDCJ records received by the Tribune last year, drugs set to 
expire in July were removed from stock, and, on the same day, the same number 
of vials were added back to the inventory with an expiration date set for 
exactly one year in the future.

"They haven't gotten any new drugs, and they just appear to keep extending the 
beyond-use date," said Maurie Levin, one of the lawyers on the Battaglia filing 
who is involved in multiple lawsuits regarding Texas execution drugs. "The 
thinking is they're only getting older; it's only going to get worse."

Now, the public release of information on the drugs has been stalled. For a 
year, the prison system provided inventory logs and expiration dates to the 
Tribune regularly, releasing the information exactly 10 business days after it 
was requested, often just before 5 p.m.

Justin Gordon, head of the attorney general's office's open records division, 
said government bodies can't wait out the clock to release public information. 
Agencies must release the information "promptly," which in most cases is sooner 
than 10 days, he said. He said the most common reasons agencies give for a 
delay is because a large request requires a lot of time and compilation or 
because the department is handling requests chronologically and has not yet 
gotten to a request yet, even if it's straightforward.

Gordon said his division hammers home to those who repeatedly wait until the 
last minute to provide records that they aren't giving good customer service 
and can't expect requesters to cooperate with them. He said an unnecessary 
delay "just ends up backfiring, in our experience."

The Tribune filed a complaint to the Attorney General's Office against TDCJ's 
repeated delays Monday.

State Sen. John Whitmire, a Houston Democrat and chairman of the chamber's 
Criminal Justice Committee, said through his chief of staff that he has 
questioned TDCJ about delays in execution information in the past and that the 
department has cited security reasons.

The chairman of the Texas House Corrections Committee, state Rep. James White, 
R-Hillister, said he has no reason to believe the department would delay the 
release out of hostility or without legal advice.

"I don't see any reason why they would purposefully wait until the 11th hour or 
withhold this unless they have a lawful reason to do it," White said.

A precedent of secrecy

The Tribune has tracked Texas' execution drug supply for about a year while 
states around the country struggle to find lethal doses to carry out 
executions. Though there has not been a shortage of drugs reported in Texas in 
several years, the state is always looking for new doses. The prison system is 
currently embroiled in a legal fight with the federal government over the 
attempted overseas import of another drug used in executions.

In 2015, state legislators passed a law to cement an existing practice of 
shielding the identities of all people involved in executions, from the drug 
supplier to the one who inserts the needle. In lobbying for the law, the 
attorney general's office said suppliers reported being threatened by death 
penalty opponents and wouldn't sell to the state anymore unless their 
identities were kept confidential. The existence of any such threats has been 
disputed.

White opposed the new secrecy law, 1 of only 2 Republicans to do so during the 
2015 session. He said Tuesday that he wasn't known as a cheerleader for the 
press, but transparency in government is important. In a statement in the House 
Journal explaining the reason for his 2015 vote, he said potential threats 
against drug suppliers do not mean the government can butcher accountability 
and transparency.

"What if there is an abortion provider or someone connected to an abortion 
provider doing indigent women's health services that receives threats?" he 
wrote. "Could they also ask for anonymity?"

The state is now appealing to the Texas Supreme Court lower court decisions 
that called for the release of supplier information before the secrecy law was 
enacted. Texas' most recent order of compounded pentobarbital came from an 
unknown supplier last February, and it's unknown how long the same supplier had 
been providing drugs to the department.

The most recent records on Texas' inventory came from legal filings from 
lawyers with clients facing imminent execution. If the drugs set to expire in 
January were all given a new beyond-use date, there would likely be 12 lethal 
doses in the state's supply, more than enough for the 4 executions scheduled 
through May. But that number can't be confirmed because the department has yet 
to provide the inventory logs.

(source: Texas Tribune)








DELAWARE:

Kathy Jennings running for attorney general----Democrat joins growing field for 
soon-to-be-vacant seat



As state prosecutor, in 2013, Kathy Jennings helped then-Attorney General Beau 
Biden craft the 1st draft of a piece of gun legislation that limits access to 
firearms for those who present a danger to themselves or others.

5 years later, Jennings is now 1 of 3 Democrats who have announced their 
candidacy for attorney general and Gov. John Carney is supporting the most 
recent version of the legislation.

"There's no question it's the right bill," Jennings said Jan. 17.

It's still early in the 2018 election cycle, but the race for attorney general 
is shaping up to be the most interesting statewide competition. Attorney 
General Matt Denn, a Democrat, announced in August he would not run for 
re-election in 2018. He has held the position since 2015.

In addition to Jennings, Democrats Timothy Mullaney of Dover and LaKresha 
Roberts and Chris Johnson, both of Wilmington all say they may seek the seat.

Mullaney is a former U.S. marshal and the Department of Justice chief of staff.

Roberts was Delaware chief deputy attorney general before resigning from her 
position a couple of days after Jennings to pursue the soon-to-be vacant seat. 
Johnson is an attorney and voting rights advocate who is running on a platform 
of justice-based reform.

Wilmington Republican Thomas Neuberger has also expressed interest in the seat.

Neuberger is an attorney and is currently representing the widow of Lt. Steven 
Floyd Sr. and 5 other prison staff held hostage during a prisoner siege at the 
James T. Vaughn Correctional Center in February 2017. Floyd was killed during 
the siege.

As of Feb. 8, Mullaney was the only person to file election paperwork, which he 
did Jan. 29.

Jennings, who also served as chief deputy attorney general under former 
Attorney General Charles Oberly, said she welcomes the field of candidates. It 
gives everyone an opportunity to focus on the issues, she said.

Jennings said she is in favor of bail reform, because the current cash-based 
system unfairly targets the poor. She said she's supports House Bill 204, 
modernizes pretrial detention and bail by reducing reliance on monetary 
conditions.

Jennings also said people who are sent to prison need to be equipped to make an 
honest living after their sentence is up.

Jennings said she is not a proponent of the death penalty, but as attorney 
general she would be required to enforce the law if it were reinstated in 
Delaware.

In August 2016, the state Supreme Court ruled Delaware's capital punishment law 
is unenforceable because the law, without a unanimous jury's consent, allows a 
judge to rule a crime's aggravating circumstance justifies a death sentence.

In May 2017, a bill reinstating the death penalty passed through the House. 
House Bill 125 would require that a jury must determine unanimously that at 
least one statutory aggravating circumstance exists before the death penalty 
can be imposed.

If the General Assembly chooses to reinstate the death penalty, Jennings said 
she would recommend narrowly defining what crimes would trigger its use.

"The worst of the worst," she said.

The deadline for candidates to file for a statewide office and all other 
offices is noon, Tuesday, July 10.

The statewide primary election is Thursday, Sept. 6. The deadline to register 
to vote in the primary is Saturday, Aug. 11.

The statewide general election is Tuesday, Nov. 6. The deadline to register to 
vote in the general election is Saturday, Oct. 13.

(source: Associated Press)








NORTH CAROLINA:

Allen hearing focuses on his psychological state



A hearing for death-row inmate Scott Allen continued Tuesday with testimony by 
expert psychologists.

The defense hopes to get Allen's death sentence reduced to life in prison by 
showing that mitigating circumstances presented in the original trial in 2003, 
when he was sentenced by a jury to the death penalty, were inadequate.

Allen was convicted of the July 1999 murder of Chris Gailey on a secluded trail 
in the Uwharrie National Forest. Smith's 1-time girlfriend, Vanessa Smith, had 
been arrested along with Allen, but she testified against him under an 
agreement with the prosecution in exchange for her own murder charge to be 
dropped.

Monday's defense witnesses had attempted to throw doubt on Smith's credibility, 
portraying her as abusive toward Allen, becoming vindictively jealous when he 
began dating another women.

Taking the stand Tuesday during the hearing, presided over by Superior Court 
Judge Brad Long, were Dr. John Warren, an examining psychologist, and Dr. Kris 
Herfkens, a neuropsychologist. Both said their evaluations of Allen showed a 
man with no major mental disorders but who had used poor judgment in some of 
his life decisions.

Warren told Nick Vlahos, assistant N.C. attorney general who heads the 
prosecution in the hearing, that he "didn't have information (on Allen) for a 
nexus between a personality disorder and capital murder." He also described 
Allen as "an average 30-year-old male with no problems with major mental 
disorders. He used poor judgment ... suggested by his history ... (such as) 
drug abuse with cannabis by his history that was in remission by 
incarceration." Warren also ruled out any personality disorder.

Herfkens testified that she found Allen to have ADD (attention deficit 
disorder), which, she said, "can interfere with relationships" and prevent a 
person from achieving his potential. "There was evidence of problems all the 
way through school, developmental problems," she said.

When asked by defense attorney Margaret Lumsden if the factors in Allen's 
history were mitigating factors in sentencing, she said, "Yes."

Lumsden presented Herfkens with affidavits by family and friends of Allen that 
were used as mitigating factors. After each affidavit was read, Lumsden asked 
Herfkens if she thought they were mitigating factors and Herfkens said "yes" to 
almost every one. Then Lumsden asked what the jury had checked beside each 
affidavit and Herfkens said each time, "No."

"Do you see these materials supporting mitigating factors?" Lumsden asked.

"Absolutely," replied Herfkens.

"How did the jury mark them?"

"No."

Lumsden told Long that she had new material to address with Herfkens that would 
be lengthy. So Long decided to adjourn a few minutes early before beginning 
again Wednesday morning.

(source: The Courier-Tribune)








SOUTH CAROLINA:

Here is how firing squads work in the only state to use them in modern history



On June 18, 2010, convicted double-killer Ronnie Lee Gardner was strapped into 
a chair in a special room on the grounds of a Utah state prison with his head 
held by a halo brace while a prison employee pinned a white, circular target 
over his heart.

Minutes later, a firing squad of law-enforcement volunteers let loose a volley 
of .30-caliber Winchester rifle shots from 25 feet away, killing Gardner 
quickly.

He was the last person in the nation to be executed by a firing squad. No other 
state has employed a firing squad in at least 4 decades.

But some lawmakers in South Carolina and elsewhere want to use firing squads 
again. They're determined to bypass the legal and practical logjams that have 
cut off the supply of lethal-injection drugs as well as controversy over 
botched executions.

"At this point, the firing-squad bills seem to be more of an expression of 
frustration by death-penalty proponents at the inability to carry out 
executions," said Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty 
Information Center, which collects data on executions but takes no position on 
capital punishment.

He said firing squads is a "false issue" in this state "because there is nobody 
imminently facing execution."

Yet Rep. Joshua Putnam, an Anderson County Republican, disagrees with that 
notion.

Putnam last week filed a bill to allow the use of a firing squad in South 
Carolina executions, which are currently to be carried out using 
lethal-injection unless an inmate chooses the electric chair.

A bill pending in the Senate would allow the state to use the electric chair if 
lethal injection is not available regardless of the inmates' choice. Another 
pending bill would make secret the source of the drugs used in lethal 
injection, though a judge could open that identity to legal discovery upon a 
finding of good cause.

South Carolina has not executed anyone since 2011 - because of ongoing appeals. 
Officials say the state's supply of lethal-injection drugs have expired and 
they cannot get any more because drug companies have refused to sell them if 
they are to be used in executions.

"A firing squad sounds barbaric - it sounds inhumane, I'm guessing," Putnam 
told The Greenville News last week, "but if you look at the data, it paints a 
whole different picture."

Dunham said firing squads have fewer botched executions than other means but 
they also have been used less in recent decades.

Only 3 states use them as an alternative to lethal injection, according to his 
organization: Utah, Oklahoma and Mississippi. The vast majority of those 
executed in Utah since the 1850s have died from firing squads.

Their initial use in Utah has been traced to a past Mormon belief in blood 
atonement, the spilling of blood to atone for certain heinous crimes. The 
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints no longer accepts such beliefs.

Utah inmates can select a firing squad as their means of execution, though it 
was stopped in 2004 then brought back as an alternative in 2015.

A state manual unearthed by MuckRock.com and confirmed by the state's prisons 
agency lays out the details of how firing squads work there.

A month before the execution, the prison system assembles a planning team and 
selects the 5 firing-squad volunteers plus 2 alternates. Each are 
law-enforcement officers, and each must pass a proficiency test at the rifle 
range, firing at a target of the same size as the one used in executions from a 
minimum of 21 feet. To qualify, the officer must hit the target at least once.

The manual calls for the use of Winchester .30-caliber rifles.

At the time of execution, the condemned inmate is led to a sturdy steel chair 
in a special execution chamber. The chair sits on an elevated platform. Large 
sandbags are piled high on each side of the chair to catch any ricocheting 
bullets. Every part of the platform, including the sandbags, is colored a 
charcoal gray.

The inmate is strapped to the chair, a black hood placed over his face. A halo 
brace holds his head in place. He is asked for any final words and is limited 
to 2 minutes. If he goes over that time or uses foul language, according to the 
manual, the execution proceeds.

Once the warden receives word that any final appeals have been exhausted and 
there are no stays, he directs a supervisor to proceed and a countdown begins.

The firing squad is assembled behind a wall with rifle ports about 25 feet away 
from the chair. Each is given a rifle with 2 rounds. One is given non-lethal 
wax bullets but none of the officers, whose identities are kept secret, knows 
who has the dummy rounds.

A target is pinned over the inmate's heart.

At the end of the countdown, the officers fire.

Officials look for signs of consciousness. If there are some when the medical 
examiner checks for a pulse, a 2nd firing volley can be ordered. If the inmate 
is unconscious but still has a pulse, officials wait for 10 minutes and check 
again. If there still is a pulse, a 2nd volley can be ordered.

Just how lethal a firing squad is has been explained by Gardner's brother, 
Randy, who tried unsuccessfully to persuade Utah lawmakers in 2015 not to bring 
it back as an alternative.

He said he could stick 4 fingers into the hole in his brother's chest where the 
shots went, saying he believed the heart was blown out through his back.

Witnesses to Garner's execution said when an official asked Gardner if he had 
any last words, he said, "No, I do not."

After the volley at 12:15 am, witnesses said they saw his hand clench and then 
loosen. He was pronounced dead a few minutes later.

Gardner was sentenced to death after a 1985 failed courthouse escape attempt 
during which he killed a lawyer. He was in court at the time facing another 
murder charge over a killing at a bar.

"May God grant him the mercy he denied his victims," Utah Attorney General Mark 
Shurtleff said at the time of his execution.

Putnam believes the reliability of a firing squad's work and the speed with 
which the inmate is killed make the method more humane than the current 
lethal-injection process.

But in 2015, YouGov, an international internet-based market research firm, 
conducted a poll asking respondents which execution methods they found to be 
cruel and unusual punishment.

According to the poll, 18 % found lethal-injection cruel and unusual while 53 % 
found a firing squad cruel and unusual. Of other forms, the poll found 54 % 
classified the electric chair as cruel while 67 % used that classification for 
hanging, 52 % for the gas chamber and 81 % for beheading.

"The problem with other methods is the public just doesn't like them," Dunham 
said.

He said what has happened with execution methods in the nation is both a 
paradox and an irony.

"States moved away from methods of execution, especially the electric chair, 
because of the growing public perception that, when done properly, an execution 
in the electric chair is cruel and unusual punishment," he said.

It became worse, he said, after botched executions in Florida. Afterward, state 
supreme courts in Georgia and Nebraska declared electrocution unconstitutional 
under their state constitutions, Dunham said.

"It is likely that any attempt to bring back the electric chair will face very 
substantial constitutional challenges," he said.

There are fewer constitutional challenges to a firing squad, he said.

"The difficulty with a firing squad is one of public perception and public 
taste," Dunham said.

Alternatives to lethal injection are seen as too gruesome by the public, he 
said. Lethal injection had an appearance of peacefulness and civility until 
botched executions.

He said, however, that the image of peacefulness was made possible by drugs 
which caused the body to be sedated and paralyzed, preventing any indication of 
pain. Now that states are using other drug combinations, witnesses are 
reporting indications of pain, and those images are upsetting people, Dunham 
said.

"I think it's paradoxical and ironic that the method of execution that states 
moved to to try and make executions more humane and to try and make them less 
overtly violent is now under attack for being inhumane and tortuous," he said.

(source: Greenville News)








GEORGIA:

Sister Helen Prejean speaks at death penalty event in Atlanta



Sister Helen Prejean will join other faith leaders on Thursday for a forum on 
the death penalty in the United States.

Prejean is the author of "Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death 
Penalty in the United States," which was developed into a movie starring Susan 
Sarandon as Sister Helen and Sean Penn as a death row inmate.

The forum will be followed by a reception and book signing of "A Case for Life: 
Justice, Mercy, and the Death Penalty."

This event will be held at Holy Innocents' Episcopal Church, 805 Mount Vernon 
Highway, N.W.

Doors open at 6 p.m. for registration and book sales.

The event begins at 7 p.m. with Prejean speaking at 7:30 p.m. The panel 
discussion starts at 8:10 p.m.

Panelists include Bishop Robert Wright of the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta; 
Susan Casey, appeals attorney for Kelly Gissendaner; and Justice Norman S. 
Fletcher, retired chief justice, Supreme Court of Georgia.

(source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution)








FLORIDA:

Florida shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz could face death penalty for 17 counts of 
premeditated murder



Nikolas Cruz, the suspect in the mass shooting at a Florida high school on 
Wednesday, could face the death penalty after being charged with 17 counts of 
premeditated murder.

Sheriffs in Broward County, Florida, posted custody records online the morning 
after they arrested Cruz. They listed 17 separate counts of premeditated 
murder, matching the latest casualty figures from officials.

Cruz, at 19, will stand trial as an adult. If found guilty, his alleged attack 
on Majory Stoneman Douglas high school could qualify as a capital crime, as he 
may have knowingly created a great risk of death to many people.

In Florida, if a sentencing jury unanimously recommends the death penalty, the 
judge can impose it.

Between 1973 and 2016, the state of Florida executed 95 individuals, sometimes 
after they had spent decades on death row.

Cruz's lawyer told the Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel that the AR-15 allegedly 
used in the shooting was possessed by Cruz legally.

(source: businessinsider.com)

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

Donald Smith Trial----In his own words: Why Donald Smith wants the death 
penalty; Smith fears he'll be 'raped and murdered' in prison, police report 
shows



>From almost the moment he was arrested, Donald Smith saw his conviction coming 
and feared what might follow.

Smith, 61, wants the death penalty, not a life sentence. He told his mother as 
much when she visited him in jail in July 2013.

He said he couldn't go to prison because he would be "raped and murdered 
there," according to a police report. death row, on the other hand, meant his 
death would be "simple, happy and peaceful."

The decision is not Smith's to make. It will be up to the jurors who found him 
guilty Wednesday of 1st-degree murder, kidnapping and sexual battery in the 
death of 8-year-old Cherish Perrywinkle.

Smith astonished his defense attorneys with instructions not to cross examine 
Cherish's mother, Rayne. His defense stunned observers when they did not call 
any witnesses and skipped closing arguments.

But while those decisions surprised some courtroom observers, details contained 
within a Jacksonville Sheriff's Office informational report indicate that may 
have been part of Smith???s plan all along.

The report shows Smith waffled over whether to hire a high-powered defense 
attorney June 27, 2013, less than a week after his arrest. At first, he told 
police to ask his mother to retain Ann Finnell.

But later the same day, he changed his mind. "Tell my mother don't call Ann 
Finnell. They're going to kill me anyway. There's no sense in spending the 
money," Smith told an officer, according to the report.

(Finnell, who currently represents high-profile murder suspect Ronnie Hyde, is 
widely known in Jacksonville circles for being one of the best criminal defense 
attorneys money can buy.)

Smith made his intentions known to his mother during a July 19, 2013, 
visitation. He said he needed a book -- Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of 
Mental Disorders -- to find out if he qualified for treatment.

"It's a 1-shot deal," he told his mother. "I need to know what I have."

Beyond that, Smith made one thing clear: Death row was the best outcome. The 
jury will return to court on Tuesday to decide if they agree.

(source: news4jax.com)

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

'Walmart Monster' facing death penalty



Harrowing images of the battered body of an 8-year-old girl who was raped and 
brutally killed have left an entire jury traumatised and in tears.

Cherish Perrywinkle was abducted from a Florida Walmart before being sexually 
assaulted and strangled until her eyes bled by a man who convinced her he was 
just a 'good Samaritan', reports The Sun.

Donald Smith, 61, has appeared in court charged with 1st-degree murder, 
kidnapping and rape of the 8-year-old girl in June 2013. He denies the charges. 
He faces the death penalty if convicted.

At his trial, the court was shown video of the moment Smith led the child away 
from her family while out shopping.

The court was also shown graphic images of the state of the child's body, 
leading jury members to gasp in horror and break down in tears.

The images were so disturbing that the medical examiner giving evidence about 
the injuries sustained looked so traumatised that she needed a break in 
proceedings.

Jacksonville chief medical examiner Dr Valerie Rao stopped her testimony as 
images of the child were displayed in the Florida courtroom, saying: "She had 
so much trauma, the anatomy was totally distorted by the injury she suffered.

"She died after she sustained tremendous force on her neck such that she could 
not breathe."

Dr Rao, visibly shaken, then asked the court for a 5-minute break.

Sources from the courtroom claim the man accused of the child's horrific murder 
"turned his back when autopsy pictures were shown". Smith had been released 
from prison just 21 days before he allegedly abducted and murdered the little 
girl and had been on the sex offenders register since 1993. He is seen luring 
the child away from her mother, reportedly offering to take her to McDonald's.

The CCTV footage documents the last time the child was seen alive.

Post-mortem reports found severe injuries and contusions all over her body, and 
concluded that the eight-year-old had been strangled with a piece of clothing 
after being tortured and raped.

Smith was arrested 10 hours after the child was abducted after his vehicle was 
spotted by a police officer.

The little girl's half-naked body was found outside a church the following day.

(source: The Bulletin)


ALABAMA----stay of impending execution lifter; execution re-set

Execution back on for Alabama death row inmate, convicted of killing Cullman 
motel clerk in 1987



The execution for Alabama death row inmate Doyle Lee Hamm is back on after an 
appeals court vacated a lower court's stay. Records show the 11th Circuit Court 
of Appeals granted the state of Alabama's emergency motion to vacate Hamm's 
stay, which was issued earlier this month by U.S. District Judge Karon O 
Bowdre.

"We conclude the district court abused its discretion by staying Hamm's 
execution without making sufficient findings to establish a significant 
possibility of success on the merits," the court wrote in its order issued 
Tuesday afternoon.

The court wrote that the Supreme Court requires a "significant possibility of 
success on the merits" for a stay to be issued; however, the district court 
only stated Hamm showed a "substantial likelihood of success," which isn't 
sufficient.

The 11th Circuit Court also ordered the lower court to immediately appoint an 
independent medical examiner to evaluate Hamm-- whose lawyer says he suffers 
from lymphatic cancer-- and announce the findings no later than February 20 by 
5 p.m. central time.

Hamm's execution is set for Feb. 22 at 6 p.m. at Holman Prison in Atmore.

"Since the district court's findings establish only the existence of genuine 
factual disputes concerning whether, as applied to Hamm, Alabama's method of 
execution carries a significant risk of being ineffective and painful, we 
conclude that the court abused its discretion in granting a stay," the order 
stated.

Hamm, 60, has been on death row since 1987 after being convicted of killing 
Patrick Cunningham-- a Cullman motel clerk.

According to information revealed in court and through records, Hamm was 
diagnosed with cancer in 2014 and underwent treatment. The Alabama Department 
of Corrections said Hamm's cancer went into remission in March 2016, and no 
scans from an oncologist have been performed since. In the spring of 2017, Hamm 
complained of having lumps on his chest and abdomen area. An X-ray was 
preformed, but no PET scans or biopsies were completed. Earlier this month, 
doctors said there was no evidence of cancer in his clavicle, but did not have 
a definitive answer about the other lumps.

In Bowdre's 25-page order granting the stay, she states: "If his current 
medical condition includes compromised peripheral veins, lymphoma untreated for 
3 years, and lymphadenopathy... the injection of fluid could 'blow out' his 
veins with infiltration of drugs into the surrounding tissue; and efforts to 
place a central line could be hindered by enlarged lymph nodes creating a 
higher risk of puncturing a central artery--all resulting in severe and 
unnecessary pain." She also called the scenario "gruesome."

(source: al.com)

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

Court: Execution OK for Inmate Claiming Damaged Veins----A federal appeals 
court overturns stay of lethal injection for Alabama murder convict who says 
his veins are damaged.



A federal appeals court says Alabama, at least for now, can proceed toward the 
execution of an inmate who argues that a lethal injection would be cruel 
because lymphoma and hepatitis C have damaged his veins.

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday overturned a federal judge's 
stay of execution for Doyle Lee Hamm, who is scheduled to be put to death on 
Feb. 22 for the 1987 murder of motel clerk Patrick Cunningham.

The appellate court ruled that a judge prematurely stayed the execution, but 
agreed there are unsettled questions about Hamm's health.

The 3-judge panel said an independent medical expert should review Hamm's 
condition immediately.

(source: Associated Press)

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

Bill to allow execution by nitrogen hypoxia clears committee



A bill to create a 3rd method of execution for death penalty inmates in Alabama 
won approval today in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The bill, by Sen. Trip Pittman, would allow death row inmates to choose 
execution by nitrogen hypoxia.

Current law requires that executions in Alabama be carried out by lethal 
injection unless the condemned inmate chooses electrocution.

Pittman said he believes the death penalty is appropriate for some heinous 
crimes and that nitrogen hypoxia would be a more humane method.

Pittman said Oklahoma has already made nitrogen hypoxia one option for 
execution.

The committee approved the bill by a vote of 11-1, moving it to the Senate 
floor.

Sen. Linda Coleman-Madison, D-Birmingham, said she opposed the death penalty 
but said she believed nitrogen hypoxia would be a more humane method.

Sen. Bobby Singleton, D-Greensboro, voted against the bill.

(source: al.com)