[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, N.H., PENN., FLA., ALA., OHIO, ARK., OKLA., NEV., USA

[Rick Halperin]

March 24




MARCH 24, 2018:





TEXAS:

Lubbock DA seeks death penalty in Holli Jeffcoat murder case



Lubbock County prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for a 41-year-old 
Idalou man accused of killing his pregnant step daughter 2 years ago.

Sunshine Stanek, the Lubbock County First Assistant District Attorney, advised 
the court during a Friday morning pretrial hearing that the state will be 
seeking the death penalty in James Holland's capital murder trial.

Holland was present during the proceeding before Judge John McClendon in the 
137th District Court. McClendon issued a news media gag order on the case soon 
after Holland was indicted in July 2016.

Holland has been held at the Lubbock County since his March 10, 2016, arrest in 
connection with a Lubbock County Sheriff's Office investigation into the Feb. 
10, 2016, killing of 18-year-old Holli Jeffcoat, a special needs student in 
Idalou. She was found with a slashed throat and burned at her home in Idalou. 
Her uterus was also removed. Investigators believe Jeffcoat's killer burned her 
to hide the evidence.

Prosecutors believe Holland killed Jeffcoat, who was pregnant with his child 
conceived through sexual abuse, according to their Lubbock County arrest 
warrants.

A week before her slaying, Jeffcoat made an outcry to school and police 
officials that her step father had been sexually abusing her for years and that 
her mother, Debbie Holland, allowed it to happen, court documents state.

Holland is also charged with continuous sexual abuse of a child. Jeffcoat's 
mother, Debi Holland is also facing similar charges.

Attorneys are awaiting reports and other information on the case. An official 
trial date has not been set but attorneys discussed a potential date in the 
judge's chambers at the end of the hearing.

(source: Lubbock Avalanche-Journal)








NEW HAMPSHIRE:

Keep the death penalty



To the Editor: I find it unconscionable that the New Hampshire Senate has voted 
to eliminate the death penalty for capital murder in our state. How 
disconcerting that this could happen while we have Michael Addison, a convicted 
cop killer, sitting on death row for the past 7 years, working through appeal 
after appeal after appeal, even though there is absolutely no doubt of his 
guilt.

If this becomes law, this monster will most likely end up being paroled some 
time during his life, even though the people who voted for this are somehow 
guaranteeing that he will, at the least, be sentenced to life without parole. 
Think it can't happen?

Recently, it was announced that terrorist Herman Bell, convicted of killing two 
New York City police officers in 1971, and sentenced to life, has been paroled. 
He and two of his thug friends called in a fake 911 call, and when the 
responding officers arrived, they were killed in a planned ambush. Just months 
later Bell struck again, killing a San Francisco police sergeant in a Black 
Liberation Army assault on a city police station. New York did not, and does 
not now, have the death penalty, and neither does California, so Bell was 
sentenced to life without parole. And by the end of this week he will be a free 
man.

The majority of New Hampshire state senators just turned their backs on the men 
and women who risk their lives every day to protect you and those whom you 
love.

RICHARD DARLING

Milford

(source: Letter to the Editor, Union Leader)








PENNSYLVANIA:

How the solicitor will decide whether to seek death in fatal York Co. cop 
shooting



Sixteenth Circuit Solicitor Kevin Brackett said this week his office is "not 
anywhere near" deciding whether to seek the death penalty against Christian 
McCall, charged in the January shooting of 4 York County law enforcement 
officers. Brackett said his investigation is not complete.

McCall's charges include the fatal shooting of York County deputy Mike Doty.

Legal experts, police and lawyers for McCall agree prosecutors have the 
authority to seek capital punishment because the victim was a law enforcement 
officer.

"South Carolina law has several aggravating factors that can justify a death 
penalty prosecution, and a murder charge where the victim is a law enforcement 
official is one of them," Brackett said.

State law enforcement agents are handling the investigation because the victim 
is a police officer.

Forensic testing and other evidence collection are ongoing, Brackett said.

"We have to review all the materials, all the evidence," Brackett said. "Not 
just some of it. All of it."

Brackett declined to discuss details of the case.

However, he said his office has a process in deciding whether the death penalty 
will be sought.

Once the decision is made, only a jury can sentence a person to death. The jury 
must find the defendant guilty. After that, the same jury must decide whether a 
defendant will spend his life in prison or be sentenced to death.

Brackett said a decision to seek death, for his office, means there must be no 
question the defendant is guilty. Any death penalty case must satisfy for 
Brackett that the defendant's guilt is "for all practical purposes a foregone 
conclusion."

When the SLED investigation is complete, Brackett said McCall and his defense 
lawyers will be given all the investigative materials. That is called 
"discovery" in the legal system and all defendants, including McCall, are 
entitled to it.

"The accused has every right to all the material and will get it," Brackett 
said.

McCall's lawyer is Harry Dest, 16th circuit chief public defender. He said his 
office will conduct its own investigation. He declined to comment on the 
potential death penalty prosecution.

McCall, 47, a former Wells Fargo employee with no other criminal record except 
for a 1994 arrest in Florence, was appointed a public defender on March 16 when 
he was formally charged with murder, 3 counts of attempted murder, four weapons 
charges and domestic violence. Three York County deputies and 1 York city 
officer were shot.

Police were called to McCall's home on Jan. 15. Legal documents say he beat up 
his wife by smashing her head against a brick.

Warrants say McCall then took 2 guns, including a high-powered rifle, and fled 
his home. Early on Jan. 16, warrants say, McCall "did lie in wait" when he 
first shot Sgt. Randy Clinton. Then McCall shot 3 SWAT members, including Doty, 
who died the next day.

When the SLED investigation is complete, Brackett said, he will speak to the 
victims, which include Doty's family and the sheriff's office.

Prosecutors will explain how a a death penalty prosecution could be a 
years-long process, Brackett said.

There have been 2 people sentenced to death in York County in the 1990s. One, 
Mar-Reece Hughes, was sentenced to death in 1995 for the 1992 killing of York 
County deputy Brent McCants.

"The family, the victims, have to understand all of the process," Brackett 
said.

Myra McCants, the deputies mother, said she is frustrated her son's convicted 
killer has not yet been executed but still fully supports the decision by 
prosecutors in 1995 to seek the death penalty.

"My son got the death penalty when he was killed," she said. "The killer should 
get it, too."

Doty's family has declined to comment.

York County Sheriff Kevin Tolson and York Police Department Chief Andy Robinson 
each said they support prosecutors seeking the death penalty.

"This was obviously a horrific act on people who are sworn to protect the 
safety and well-being of the public," Tolson said. "This is an attack not only 
on the officers, but on the rule of law."

Robinson said: "In my opinion there is nothing that can be done to this person 
to equal the devastation that he has caused to so many, but I find comfort in 
the fact that one day God will make him pay for his actions."

Brackett said there is no timeline on when a decision will be made. Brackett 
alone, as the elected solicitor, will make the decision.

If his office decides to seek the death penalty, prosecutors will notify McCall 
and his lawyers in writing that the death penalty will be sought. A court 
hearing will be held to read the notice to McCall.

Brackett said he understands the public wants answers about what happened, but 
that time is not here yet because of the ongoing investigation.

/ "I know people, the public, want to know what happened," Brackett said. 
"Everybody wants to know what happened. But this is a big investigation."

(source: heraldonline.com)








FLORIDA:

Aileen Wuornos' attorney talks about serial killer's last days in new 
documentary



Infamously known as America's 1st female serial killer Aileen Wuornos 
captivated the nation when she confessed to murdering several men in central 
Florida between 1989 and 1990. While the circumstances of the crimes that led 
to her arrest are well-tread territory, a new documentary seeks to shine a 
light on the subsequent trial in an effort to determine whether the notorious 
killer got a fair shot within the justice system.

Wuornos, a self-described "highway prostitute" rose to infamy when she was 
arrested for killing 7 of her clients. She confessed to her crimes, arguing 
that they were in self-defense. This prompted the public to see her as a 
controversial folk figure. Wuornos was even the subject of the movie "Monster," 
for which actress Charlize Theron won an academy award for best actress.

"Snapped: Notorious - Aileen Wuornos" debuts on Oxygen on Sunday.

In it, a myriad of experts on the case say the media attention surrounding her 
crimes made it difficult for the trial to play out in a fair manner. The 
documentary also explores the controversial time in 2002 when Wuornos waived 
her appeals rights and requested to speed up her own execution, calling her 
mental competency into question.

Perhaps none of the experts had more first-hand experience with Wuornos than 
Raag Singhal, who was her final appeals attorney.

Singhal said in the documentary that Wuornos' final moments on October 9, 2002 
impacted him.

"It was a difficult day because, no matter what, she wanted to die."

Singhal was brought onto the case earlier in 2002, after Wuornos had already 
been sentenced to death. In a recent interview, Singhal told us how he entered 
the scene to determine if some complaints Wuornos was making about the prison 
she was in were true.

Before her eventual execution, Wuornos claimed that the guards were mistreating 
her, going as far as to accuse them of tampering with her food. Singhal, a 
seasoned criminal defense lawyer, has seen this kind of behavior before, but 
usually those who want a prison transfer or to delay an execution. Wuornos, 
however, was unique in that she wanted to die.

"If her complaints were valid, if something could be proven, then there's a 
real issue with the prison system," Singhal, now a circuit court judge in 
Broward County, Fla., told Fox News. "If the complaints weren't valid, then 
there's a real issue with her mental state. Either way, something must be 
done."

Ultimately, Singhal was unable to substantiate Wuornos' claims about her stay 
in prison. As a result, he had to seriously entertain the notion that she was 
not mentally fit to call for her own execution or waive her appellate rights.

"I think she had a whole host of mental issues," Singhal said. "If you were to 
kind of look at the totality of the circumstances, her complaints, her 
behavior, some of the things that she would do ... She was someone who, in my 
view, was going in and out of competency, which is somewhat of a normal thing. 
When we talk about competency in the criminal context, we say it's something 
that waxes and wanes. You can have someone who is confident on one day, then 
you meet them 3 days later and they're not. I have no doubt that she had entire 
periods where she was lucid and could converse. There were times I met with her 
when I had no issues with her, then there were times I met with her and she 
clearly had mental issues."

As an example, Singhal recalls Wuornos would occasionally laugh uncontrollably 
for no real reason in meetings with him. But she was the same woman who, in her 
letters to the Florida Supreme Court, was capable of a level of advanced 
penmanship.

Singhal asked former Florida Governor Jeb Bush for a stay of execution noting 
that society has a duty to answer all questions of mental competency prior to 
the carrying out of the death penalty. Bush agreed and granted the stay, but it 
did not last very long after the then-governor asked 3 different doctors to 
check Wuornos for mental competency. All 3 found her mentally fit to make the 
choice she was making. To Singhal, this was a clear example of her waxing and 
waning periods of competence.

"She was definitely someone who had good days and bad days, and rarely were the 
2 consecutive."

The new documentary asks the viewer to question whether or not Wuornos received 
a fair trial. By the time Singhal joined the case, she had already been 
sentenced to execution. However, to this day he wonders if Wuornos' case was 
handled the way another of its kind would be. Specifically, he compares her 
sentence to a fellow infamous Florida-based serial killer Ted Bundy.

"What's interesting in the Wuornos case, and it's a highly unusual case, is if 
you were to talk to the public and say 'This is a serial killer who was 
executed,' I don't think anyone would lose sleep over it. The things the public 
typically looks at are whether they have confidence in the defendant's guilt 
and whether they got due process. The 3rd thing is whether the defendant was 
treated consistently with those who acted similarly," he said. "It's a strange 
concept when you're talking about those who acted similarly and you're talking 
about a serial killer.

"But, when you think about the fact that someone like Ted Bundy was offered 
life in prison while Aileen Wuornos was someone where death seemed to be really 
all that was ever on the table, I think there's a lot of things that come into 
play that make it seem like the level of fairness was a little bit different 
for her."

(source: Fox News)








ALABAMA----impending execution

Convicted Bomber set to die by lethal injection, friends of Savannah alderman 
react



It was one of the most horrific crimes in Savannah's history. A pipe bomb 
exploded inside a building killing civil rights attorney and city alderman 
Robert Robinson.

Now, 30 years later, the man convicted of the crime is scheduled to be put to 
death.

Walter Leroy Moody was sentenced to 7 life terms, plus 400 years in 1991 after 
he was convicted of the crime and another bombing in Alabama. A federal judge 
was killed.

Moody, whose from Rex, Georgia, has been on death row in Alabama since 1997. It 
was December of 1989 when Robinson was working inside his law office. He opened 
a package that exploded. He died hours later.

Robinson, along with former Savannah Mayor Otis Johnson and Floyd Adams, were 
all good friends back in the early 1980's and all served on the city council.

Robinson was also a champion of civil rights. He was an attorney for the 
Savannah NAACP.

His friends believe that's why he was targeted.

"Moody was just what I would call an insane racist. Although I have very mixed 
feelings about the death penalty, I won't be sad when he's executed," says Otis 
Johnson, former Savannah Mayor.

Authorities believe Moody also sent 2 other mail bombs - one to a federal 
courthouse in Atlanta, and also to an NAACP office in Jacksonville, FL.

They were intercepted and defused.

Moody is scheduled to be executed April 21.

Savannah named a park and a parking garage to honor Robinson.

His sister also started a scholarship fund in his memory.

(source: WSAV news)

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

Prattville men accused in barbershop massacre now face capital murder charges



2 Prattville men have been indicted on capital murder charges in connection 
with a triple homicide at a city barber shop this past summer.

Marty Morgan, 35 and Keon Dashon Cain, 19, each face 2 counts of capital murder 
charges for murder in the commission of a robbery and murder resulting in 2 or 
more victims, courthouse records show. Each man also faces 1 count of burglary 
and 7 counts of armed robbery, the indictments read.Morgan and Cain have 
remained in the Autauga Metro Jail under no bonds since their arrests shortly 
after the July 3 incident.

The Autauga County Grand Jury wrapped up deliberations last week. Courthouse 
records show they don't have attorneys on the upgraded charge of capital 
murder.

At the time, Prattville Police Chief Mark Thompson labeled the incident an 
armed robbery gone wrong at the Hook-Up Barber and Style Shop. The business is 
near the intersection of U.S. Highway 82 and Highway 14.

The death penalty is on the table, said District Attorney Randall Houston.

"All murders are brutal, don't get me wrong, but these were especially brutal 
murders," Houston said. "These men were doing nothing wrong, and their murders 
were completely senseless. We feel we have ample evidence to prove that to a 
jury at trial.

"If there ever was a death penalty case, this is the one."

2 of the victims were shot in the head, and the third was shot in the legs, 
Jeremy Thompson, an investigator with the Prattville Police Department told 
Autauga County District Judge Joy Booth, during a preliminary hearing on July 
31.

Morgan allegedly knocked on the door of the shop about 10:40 p.m. He was 
allegedly armed with a small caliber handgun, Thompson said. Cain was allegedly 
right behind him, armed with a pump shotgun and wearing a mask, Thompson said.

Anthony Smith, owner of the business, wouldn't let anyone inside at that time 
of night, unless he knew them, witnesses told police. Smith knew Morgan, 
Thompson said.

"Witnesses said Morgan came in and said 'You know what time it is,' and 'Give 
it up." Thompson testified. "So the witnesses thought it was a robbery."

(source: Montgomery Advertiser)








OHIO:

Ohio man faces death sentence in killing of 2 officers



A man accused of fatally shooting 2 Ohio police officers responding to a 911 
hang-up call has been indicted on charges that carry the possibility of a death 
sentence.

Authorities say 31year-old Quentin Smith fired on the officers from 
Westerville, in suburban Columbus, on Feb. 10. Smith was shot and wounded and 
hospitalized for several days.

Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien announced the indictment Friday on 
aggravated murder charges.

The case is eligible for the death penalty because police officers were killed 
in the line of duty.

39-year-old officer Eric Joering died at the scene, while 54-year-old officer 
Anthony Morelli died at a hospital.

A message was left with Smith's attorney.

(source: Associated Press)




ARKANSAS:

Ark. wants court to dissolve stay for death row inmate----The arguments came in 
the case of Jack Greene, whose November execution was halted by the Arkansas 
Supreme Court



Lawyers for the state of Arkansas argued Friday that the state prison director 
has long had the power to determine a death row inmate's sanity and that now 
isn't the time to change the way it moves the prisoners closer to their 
executions.

The arguments came in the case of Jack Greene, whose November execution was 
halted by the Arkansas Supreme Court so it could review his attorneys' 
arguments that the state correction director, Wendy Kelley, should not be 
deciding whether he is competent enough to be executed.

Greene's lawyers say doctors have found Greene delusional but Kelley has chosen 
to rely on outdated assessments of Greene's mental health in determining 
whether he's eligible to be executed. Greene's lawyers also have argued that 
Kelley shouldn't be making the determination because her boss, Gov. Asa 
Hutchinson, sets execution dates.

In papers filed at the state Supreme Court on Friday, assistant attorney 
general Kathryn Henry wrote that states are entitled to set the guidelines for 
review, as long as there is a "basic fairness." She also claims that, under the 
Arkansas Constitution, Greene cannot sue Kelley.

While previous court decisions didn't define "basic fairness," the presumption 
is that an inmate who is sane at his trial is sane until his execution, Henry 
wrote. "Only after 'a substantial threshold showing of insanity'" can an inmate 
win a review - and that review can be "far less formal than a trial," she 
wrote.

Against his lawyers' advice, Greene has insisted in a number of venues that he 
is not insane. State lawyers say that is reason enough for justices to dissolve 
the stay that was issued shortly before Greene's scheduled execution last Nov. 
9.

A week before the execution date, a circuit judge said she couldn't hold a 
hearing on Greene's competence because, under state law, Kelley had the 
"exclusive authority" to determine whether the inmate was sane enough to be 
executed. The Arkansas Supreme Court later voted 5-2 to issue a stay and take 
Greene's case for review, rejecting state arguments.

Greene was convicted of killing Sidney Burnett in an attack that the Supreme 
Court previously described as "butchery and torture." He bound Burnett, beat 
him with a can of hominy, stomped on him and cut him from his mouth to an ear 
before shooting him in the chest and head.

"I knew what I was doing to him. I couldn't stand what I was doing to him. And 
I put the gun to his head and killed him," Greene told the state Parole Board 
last year. He also said his lawyers were making up stories about his having 
delusions.

Arkansas currently does not have a full supply of execution drugs, as 75 vials 
of vecuronium bromide have expired. The drug is used to stop the inmates' 
breathing while 2 other drugs sedate them and stop their hearts.

(source: Associated Press)








OKLAHOMA:

Remember the victims in the execution debate



Lost in much of the debate around capital punishment are the victims and their 
surviving loved ones. These are people who, in many circumstances, have endured 
public trials and a lengthy appeals process, waiting decades for justice after 
losing a family member or friend.

Their victimization is continuing, haunted by the daily knowledge that they 
will never see their loved ones again, while the individuals responsible for 
taking someone's life go on living, eating, sleeping, watching TV and enjoying 
visits from their families and friends, all at state expense.

On the day we announced the state's plan to move forward with capital 
punishment in Oklahoma through inert gas inhalation (IGI), I scheduled a 
morning conference call with the families and friends of the murder victims of 
the 16 death row inmates who have exhausted their appeals. That 
emotionally-charged phone call was perhaps the most difficult and heartrending 
conversation I have had in all my years of public service.

The participants on the call shared the pain, despair and anguish of not 
knowing if they will ever receive justice for loved ones they lost to the 
consummate act of evil: 1st-degree murder. Rightfully, they were frustrated 
that it has taken so long for the state to advance a plan, but by the end of 
the call, they were supportive and appreciative of our decision.

Opponents of the death penalty have launched an effective campaign against 
capital punishment. Because of their efforts to intimidate and boycott drug 
suppliers, states are struggling to find proper drugs to perform executions by 
lethal injection. This once reliable, effective process has been sabotaged and 
the search for medical professionals who want to carry out executions has 
become increasingly problematic.

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito summed it up best in 2015 during arguments 
in Glossip v. Gross, when he said opponents of capital punishment are waging "a 
guerrilla war against the death penalty," the goal of which is to make it 
impossible for states to obtain execution drugs.

Although I respect the opinions of death penalty opponents, I categorically 
disagree with their position as well as their tactics and believe firmly that 
capital punishment is proportional as a criminal sanction, effective as a 
deterrent and absolutely necessary to achieve justice.

Oklahomans, in particular, overwhelmingly favor capital punishment. In 2016, 
nearly 2/3 of the electorate voted to amend the state constitution to guarantee 
the state's power to impose capital punishment.

At our press conference on March 14, Department of Corrections Director Joe M. 
Allbaugh said that since he arrived at the department he has searched 
tirelessly for execution drugs, calling around the world in an attempt to 
secure them - without success. Accordingly, he advised it was time to move to 
our next option, IGI. This is in accordance with the 2015 state law that makes 
nitrogen hypoxia, i.e. IGI, the primary method of execution if lethal injection 
is ruled unconstitutional or the execution drugs necessary are not available.

Through our research, we have found substantial and persuasive authority to 
support the use of IGI as a safe and effective method of execution. It is 
simple to perform and the nitrogen gas necessary for the procedure is 
inexpensive and commonly available.

The Department of Corrections is identifying and engaging experts in the 
handling and usage of nitrogen. Director Allbaugh is committed to developing 
the expertise, equipment and safeguards necessary to utilize IGI as an 
execution protocol. The experience and use of IGI in states and countries in 
which assisted suicide is legal will provide a significant and well-documented 
set of case studies upon which we can rely to perfect it as a method of 
execution.

Executions are the most profound application of state power. As officials in a 
state allowing capital punishment, it is our obligation to discharge that 
responsibility in an effective, humane manner that adheres to the Eighth 
Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.

The suffering that victims and survivors must endure is something most of us 
cannot or will not ever understand. Last week, as we wrapped up our conference 
call, a mother spoke up, saying she has been waiting more than 25 years for 
closure, after the murder of her daughter. She asked me how much longer she 
would have to wait for justice. I gave her the best answer I could, though it 
was wholly insufficient: "Hopefully, very soon."

As we begin to carefully work to finalize the IGI protocol and seek approval by 
the courts, my promise to that mother will be a daily reminder to me of the 
urgency to see this process through to a successful conclusion. Because I truly 
believe that justice delayed is justice denied.

(source: Mike Hunter is the Oklahoma attorney general. He is a former secretary 
of state and special legal counsel to the governor; former member of the 
Oklahoma House of Representatives for 6 years----thehill.com)








NEVADA:

Ex-Las Vegas police officer could face death penalty in 1997 case



Prosecutors are deciding whether to seek capital punishment for a former Las 
Vegas police officer charged in a woman's 1997 shooting death.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Giancarlo Pesci said the decision could be made 
by the end of the month, after the death penalty review committee at the Clark 
County district attorney's office analyzes the allegations against 51-year-old 
Arthur Sewall Jr.

Sewall, who is being held without bail, has admitted involvement in a May 1997 
sexual encounter and shooting that left a woman dead, according to court 
documents.

Earlier this year, authorities brought Sewall to Las Vegas from Reno, where he 
was arrested after investigators said they discovered DNA evidence that linked 
him to the slaying of 20-year-old Nadia Iverson.

Sewall faces 1 count of murder with a deadly weapon. In January, Sewall told 
police that he paid Iverson money for sex and that she was shot during their 
sexual encounter, according to an arrest warrant.

Iverson's body was found at a construction site near Washington Avenue and 
Martin Luther King Boulevard with a gunshot wound to the head, Las Vegas police 
said.

Her rape kit was not sent for testing until March 2016. Hers was among the 
nearly 6,500 untested kits that had accumulated in Southern Nevada from 1985 
through 2014.

In a February 1997 video surveillance sting operation at the now-closed Del Mar 
Motel, 1411 Las Vegas Blvd. South, Sewall was seen forcing a woman to perform 
sex acts on him while he was on duty, according to Las Vegas Review-Journal 
reports at the time.

Sewall resigned from the force and was sentenced in 1999 to 5 years of 
probation after pleading guilty to 2 counts of oppression under color of law.

After probation violations, Sewall served more than a year in prison, according 
to the Nevada Department of Corrections.

(source: Las Vegas Review-Journal)








USA:

Applying the death penalty for drug offenses degrades the U.S. justice system



President Trump spoke about his plan to address the nation's opioid crisis on 
March 19. Included in his proposed strategy were stronger penalties for drug 
dealers, among which he specifically mentioned the use of the death penalty.

Mr. Trump's suggestion is not necessarily new. Existing federal laws do permit 
the death penalty for certain drug cases, and the Department of Justice has 
procedures for determining whether to seek the death penalty in a particular 
case, which must follow the existing law and the Constitution. These federal 
laws have been in place since 1994 but have not been applied by any previous 
administrations.

Yet to suggest the use of the death penalty as a way to address the opioid 
epidemic ignores what we know already to be true: The death penalty is a flawed 
and broken tool in the practical pursuit of justice. And raising the death 
penalty as a possible response to the opioid epidemic is simply a distraction 
from what we are being called to do as a society to address this tragic 
problem.

Applying the death penalty to specific criminal acts will not help end the 
opioid crisis. We know that the death penalty does not serve as a deterrent to 
crime. Thanks to a newly released study from the Pew Public Safety Performance 
Project, we also know that state drug imprisonment rates have no impact on 
three key indicators of state drug problems: self-reported drug use, drug 
overdose deaths and drug arrests.

The death penalty is a flawed and broken tool in the practical pursuit of 
justice.

Our past experiment in hard responses to the nation's drug problem, the "War on 
Drugs," was a failure by many measures. The war did little to reduce drug 
addiction, but it did initiate an era of mass incarceration that has done 
immeasurable damage to U.S. communities. Removing a drug dealer from the 
streets does not address the issues of poverty and addiction. It just creates a 
job opening that will easily be filled.

The United States remains the only Western country to continue to use the death 
penalty as a way to address acts of grave harm despite its disregard for the 
inherent dignity of the human person. Our modern system of capital punishment 
has proven itself to be an arbitrary and discriminatory system that puts 
innocent lives at risk. In 90 % of the 23 executions in 2017 there were serious 
doubts about the condemned individuals' guilt or those individuals showed 
significant evidence of mental illness, intellectual disability, brain damage 
or severe trauma.

The death penalty is an ill-considered public policy. Rather than keeping 
society safe, it targets some of society's most marginalized people. The fact 
that 161 former death row inmates have been exonerated since 1973 demonstrates 
the brokenness of our capital punishment system. The U.S. error rate in 
applying the death penalty is significant; this is an uncorrectable error.

Responses to social and personal harm should be restorative and allow for the 
flourishing of all people. Our energies and resources should be directed toward 
prevention, rehabilitation and treatment - not retribution and vengeance.

The financial impact of the death penalty is another reason the president's 
proposal should give us pause. More than a dozen states have found that death 
penalty cases are up to 10 times more expensive than comparable 
non-death-penalty cases. Use of the federal death penalty could cost upward of 
a million dollars more per case tried in court.

The funds that would be used to pursue the death penalty in drug-related cases 
should instead be directed toward treatment and care for those caught up in the 
opioid crisis. Those suffering from addiction, their families and their 
communities need healing and restoration. The death penalty does not provide 
either.

Responses to social and personal harm should be restorative and allow for the 
flourishing of all people. Our energies and resources should be directed toward 
prevention, rehabilitation and treatment - not retribution and vengeance.

As a handful of states use every effort possible to continue the inhumane and 
unjust practice of state-sanctioned execution, public support for the death 
penalty has fallen to its lowest level in 45 years. Death sentences and 
executions have similarly fallen to record lows nationally. A majority of the 
American public has come to understand what Pope Francis has consistently 
maintained: The death penalty "heavily wounds human dignity."

Capital punishment is coming to an end. State legislatures in New Hampshire, 
Louisiana, Utah, and Washington have all seriously proposed abolishing the 
death penalty in 2018, and several more states are considering legislation to 
limit their use of the death penalty.

As we near the end of this Lenten season and prepare to observe Good Friday and 
our Lord's state-sanctioned execution, we are encouraged to remember the 
God-given dignity of each human person, a dignity that we are called never to 
diminish.

"A just and necessary punishment must never exclude the dimension of hope and 
the goal of rehabilitation," Pope Francis said in his address to the U.S. 
Congress in 2015. The solution to the opioid crisis is to choose life, not 
death.

(source: Karen Clifton is the executive director of Catholic Mobilizing 
Network, the national Catholic organization working to end the death penalty 
and promote restorative justice----America Magazine)