[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----CONN., GA., ALA., MO., USA

[Rick Halperin]

March 19



CONNECTICUT:

The GOP's strange lust for the death penalty



So we're really re-arguing the death penalty? That's what the Republicans' 
nearly unified position against Supreme Court Justice Andrew McDonald is about? 
The 2018 elections are going to be a referendum on capital punishment?

Right. And I would like to sell you some artifacts from another ship that 
already sailed - and sank - nearly 106 years ago: the R.M.S. Titanic.

Yes, there is a level of homophobia in the General Assembly over McDonald's 
sexual orientation. Hatred of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy? Darn tootin'.

Connecticut Republicans, so tantalizingly close to the brink of gaining control 
of the House and Senate, maybe even the Governor's Residence, are essentially 
using a lost argument to cover up their importation of Washington-style 
partisan GOP tactics to Connecticut.

You know what we haven't had to deal with during the 3 years since the 
Connecticut Supreme Court essentially spared 11 death row inmates from lethal 
injections, while condemning them to darkness in forgotten cells until they 
stop breathing? Think about it for a minute.

We haven't seen Russell Peeler's murderous eyes in photographs taken during a 
latest courtroom appearance for ordering the murder of a Bridgeport mother and 
her young son in 1999. He won't be getting day passes for yet another appeals 
session before a judge in a packed courtroom. He is locked away and the next 
time we hear about him, it will be a day or 2 after he dies in prison.

Remember the courtroom circus that surrounded the horrendous Cheshire triple 
murderers in 2010? Every time the thugs Joshua Komisarjevsky and Stephen Hayes 
were taken to court, it required a convoy of security vehicles to drive them 
from the prison to the courthouses. They were the twisted, evil stars in the 
courtroom. Now, they're out of sight. In tiny rooms. For years, paying for 
their crimes, until they breathe their anonymous last.

Even before the 2012 bill, signed by Malloy, ended the death penalty for crimes 
going forward, there was no capital punishment in Connecticut. Instead, it was 
decades of mandatory appeals for death row inmates, for another trip to the 
courthouse for families to relive the horror, to rehash the bloody facts, to 
face the intrusion of press and TV cameras. There was no end in sight. At 
worse, somewhere, way off in the future, was the possibility of a syringe full 
of poison. Why people thought that the state's most-violent criminals should be 
put to sleep like faithful old family pets - after millions of dollars in 
taxpayer-funded appeals - is beyond me. It also made sense for McDonald, on the 
high court in 2015, to join the majority in admitting that if capital 
punishment ends for some, it should end for all.

But listening to one after another lawmaker in the House of Representatives 
last week during the debate on McDonald's nomination for chief justice, it 
seems like the GOP thinks they should run their 2018 election campaigns on 
bringing back the death penalty. I don't think that plays in Connecticut. I 
think at this point we've joined the civilized part of the world that realizes 
that capital punishment makes the state no worse than the criminals themselves.

McDonald's nomination is hanging fire in this partisan moment and if Senate 
Republican Leader Len Fasano of North Haven wants to go nuclear, he'll hold his 
18 members in rejecting McDonald. It sounds easier than it might be, it being 
an election year. There's growing public interest. The state's leading law 
school deans and law firms are warning of legislative meddling with the 
independence of courts. And one Democrat, Sen. Gayle Slossberg of Milford, has 
announced she won't be voting.

"A lot of what it is is petty politics," said Scott McLean, a political science 
professor at Quinnipiac University. "Some want to stick it to Malloy. But it 
would seem to me that we're seeing the politics of Washington, D.C., filter 
down to the state level." He said the attempt to end McDonald's candidacy in 
Malloy's final year is right out of the GOP tactics used at the end of the 
Obama administration.

"All of that stuff is a way for Republicans to sort of normalize the idea that 
the legislature should be scrutinizing every decision made on the Supreme 
Court," McLean said. "The national partisan polarization has infected the 
process here, and we wouldn't see this if the parties weren't as evenly 
divided."

So if McDonald's nomination fails in the state Senate, does he save the state 
Democratic Party?

(source: Ken Dixon, Connecticut Post)








GEORGIA:

Judge sets arraignment date in death penalty case



Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit Superior Court Judge E. Trenton Brown III has set 
April 17 as the date for the arraignment of Donnie Russell Rowe, who is accused 
of shooting to death 2 state corrections officers during a June 13 escape from 
a state transport bus in Putnam County.

Rowe, 44, was 1 of 2 men who escaped from the bus after they shot to death Sgt. 
Curtis Billue and Sgt. Chris Monica, authorities said. Rowe, along with Ricky 
Dubose, were being taken from Baldwin State Prison in Milledgeville to the 
Georgia Classification Prison near Jackson.

Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit District Attorney Stephen A. Bradley is seeking the 
death penalty against Rowe and Dubose in connection with the deaths of the 
corrections officers - both of whom lived in Milledgeville and were assigned to 
the transportation detail at Baldwin State Prison.

The escape happened between Sparta and Eatonton on Ga. Route 16. It triggered a 
nationwide manhunt for the escapees, who later surrendered to authorities in 
Tennessee after 3 days of freedom and other crime sprees.

Rowe and Dubose are being tried separately.

Dubose has appeared several times in Putnam County Superior Court for various 
hearings since being extradited from Tennessee. At his arraignment hearing, he 
pleaded not guilty.

He is scheduled to appear for additional motion hearings in the coming weeks 
before Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit Superior Court Judge Alison T. Burleson.

Meanwhile, Friday morning marked only the 2nd time that Rowe has appeared in 
Putnam County Superior Court since his return to Georgia following the murders 
of the corrections officers and escape.

Rowe was surrounded by heavily-armed Georgia Department of Corrections officers 
in the courtroom, as well as deputies from the Putnam County Sheriff's Office, 
including Sheriff Howard Sills, who sat at a nearby table with the prosecution 
team.

When Rowe appeared before Brown, he was clad in a white outfit with the letters 
Georgia Department of Corrections written across the back of it.

It marked the 1st time that Rowe has met his new defense attorneys, Allan Levin 
and Erin Wallace, both of whom are from Atlanta and are court-appointed.

On several occasions, Rowe could be seen conferring with Wallace as he sat at a 
table across from the prosecution team of Bradley, Chief Assistant District 
Attorney Allison Mauldin and Assistant District Attorney T. Wright Barksdale.

One of the first orders taken up at the hearing involved Brown asking defense 
attorneys a series of questions related to their qualifications to represent 
Rowe in his upcoming death penalty trial.

Both attorneys answered the questions posed to them by the judge under the 
Georgia Unified Appeal proceedings.

"We will follow the Unified Appeal outline in order and then if there are any 
other matters which you all wish to take up with the court, we will do that 
after we have completed the required business," Brown said. "Mr. Bradley, does 
the state intend to seek the death penalty in this matter?

Bradley replied, "We do, your honor, and we filed that notice previously with 
Madam Clerk and I know Madam Clerk has distributed those appropriately." The 
veteran prosecutor was referring to Sheila Perry, who serves as clerk of Putnam 
County Superior Court.

Brown then asked Perry if she had received a copy of the notice on behalf of 
the state to seek the death penalty and if that notice had been delivered to 
the clerk of the Supreme Court of Georgia.

While Bradley will serve as the lead prosecutor, Levin will serve as lead 
counsel for Rowe, whose trial date has yet to be set.

Levin and Wallace were both appointed the new defense attorneys for Rowe Feb. 
1.

Brown later asked Bradley to hand out copies of the outline to each of the 
attorneys involved in the case on both sides in order to protect the rights of 
Rowe.

"The court hereby instructs the defendant and defense counsel and state's 
counsel to read the procedures and adhere to its provisions," Brown said.

He further instructed defense attorneys to understand that the outline had been 
made available to assist them in protecting Rowe's rights.

"However, it remains your responsibility to protect those rights," Brown said.

Copies of the Unified Appeal procedures were also made available to each of the 
attorneys on both sides.

Brown later established April 17 as Rowe???s arraignment date. At that time, 
Rowe must decide to enter a plea of not guilty or guilty to the charges filed 
against him in the Putnam County case.

Currently, Rowe and Dubose are both being held at a state prison near Jackson 
in Butts County.

Like has been the case during the hearings previously held for Dubose, several 
members of the slain officers' families attended Friday's hearing.

(source: The Union-Recorder)








ALABAMA:

Alabama House Committee approves nitrogen execution



Alabama moved closer to allowing death row inmates to be executed with nitrogen 
gas, a method that has never been used to execute someone.

The House Judiciary Committee approved the bill Wednesday. It now moves to the 
full House of Representatives for a possible floor vote.

The bill by Sen. Trip Pittman would allow execution by nitrogen hypoxia if 
lethal injection drugs were unavailable or ruled unconstitutional. The Montrose 
Republican said he believed the method would be humane.

No state has used nitrogen gas in an execution.

The Death Penalty Information Center said 2 states - Oklahoma and Mississippi - 
have voted to conditionally authorize the use of nitrogen gas as a back-up 
method of execution, but it has never been used.

(source: yellowhammernews.com)








MISSOURI----impending execution

Modern system of capital punishment denies real healing



On Tuesday, Russell Bucklew is scheduled to be executed by the state of 
Missouri. This despite the fact that he suffers from a rare medical condition - 
cavernous hemangioma - that causes weakened and malformed blood vessels, as 
well as tumors in his nose and throat, which would make his execution extremely 
painful. In 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court halted Bucklew's previously scheduled 
execution due to his condition.

Just last month, we saw the horror of a botched execution attempt in Alabama of 
Doyle Lee Hamm. Missouri is now facing similar prospects of an exceptionally 
horrific execution.

The death penalty stands as an affront to the God-given dignity of all life, 
and perpetuates a cycle of vengeance. Catholic teaching reminds us that when 
society has the ability to keep itself safe, punishment must align with the 
demands of human dignity. We pray for all those affected by acts of harm while 
recognizing our modern system of capital punishment denies the real healing 
they seek.

Public support of the death penalty has dropped to a historic low, and we 
continue to see a decline in overall usage throughout the country. Pope Francis 
recently said that our use of the death penalty "heavily wounds human dignity." 
People of goodwill have heard the pope's words and know it is long past time to 
move away from death toward life.

The state of Missouri should do the same and stop the execution of Russell 
Bucklew.

Thomas Miller and Marie Kenyon -- Shrewsbury

(source: Letter to the Editor, stlouistoday.com)








USA:

San Diegans sound off on Trump's plan to use death penalty for drug dealers



Part of President Donald Trump's plan to tackle the opioid epidemic in the U.S. 
is to seek the death penalty for high-volume drug dealers.

The President is expected to unveil the plan during his trip to New Hampshire 
Monday.

At a rally earlier this month, President Trump told the crowd that including 
the death penalty for major drug dealers has proved to be effective in other 
countries such as China.

"A drug dealer will kill 2,000, 3,000, 5,000 people during the course of his or 
her life. Thousands of people are killed, or their lives are destroyed. Their 
families are destroyed. So you can kill thousands of people and go to jail for 
30 days," President Trump said during his speech.

The topic has people divided -- and San Diegans offered differing views.

"That is way too harsh for something like that. I think that it should be 
reserved for other, bigger crimes," Arely Esparza said.

But Jason Payne told FOX 5 he thought the idea was worth consideration: "If you 
put something out there where people really have to go, 'Okay, that's too much 
for me to pay. That's too high of a price for me to pay,' then, you know, it 
might divert people from doing such a thing."

FOX 5 Legal Analyst Wendy Patrick said that while the conversation is worth 
having, she feels it would be challenging to impose the death penalty on drug 
dealers.

"It is difficult enough to find jurors that are willing to impose the death 
penalty when you have heinous crimes committed. It might be even more difficult 
to find jurors willing to impose the death penalty for drug dealers," Patrick 
said.

Regardless, she and so many others are curious to hear more of what President 
Trump has to say.

"Clearly, the death penalty, that is a very strict deterrent that would perhaps 
make a lot of people think twice before they committed that particular crime, 
but the administration also has to consider this on a case-by-case basis. There 
are lots of different levels of drug dealers. That`s going to be something we 
continue to talk about," Patrick said.

The Trump administration said his plan will also include prevention and 
education efforts, and improving federal funding for drug treatment.

(source: Fox News)