[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----N.C., LA., OHIO, IND., TENN. S.DAK., ORE., USA

[Rick Halperin]

August 2



NORTH CAROLINA:

On Death Row, There's No Such Thing As Closure -- A man convicted of murder 
reflects on his life, his crime and his punishment.



It is August of the year 2000, and I am cold. I know the sun is shining 
outside, but there are no windows in the courtroom.

The lighting is subdued, darker in the back where spectators sit and lighter in 
the front where tragedies play out—like a theater. The chairs are made of dark 
leather, and the floor is heavily carpeted, muffling sound, creating a somber 
effect.

The prosecutor sits at a table on one side of the aisle, the defendant on the 
other. The jury box is off to the side—closest to the prosecution.

I sit at the defense table, charged with 2 counts of 1st-degree murder.

The term “closure” was used by the prosecutor to justify giving me a death 
sentence, as though me being killed would somehow bring closure to the victims’ 
family members in my case. It made sense at the time, I guess, about as much 
sense as anything else did back then. I was walking through a nightmare—one of 
my own making—that only grew more horrifying, moment by moment.

When anyone addressed me, I gave a greeting in return. The people who held me 
in contempt repudiated me with their eyes, but I wouldn’t look away, not 
immediately. I absorbed the blows like a good boxer, though I never punched 
back. I tried to use my eyes to show contrition, to say that I understood the 
pain I’d caused, and to say that I was sorry.

I tried to maintain as much dignity as I possibly could under the 
circumstances. But my gaze was cast mostly downward, weighted by shame.

I think it was against the rules for anyone to speak to me directly, but that 
didn’t stop them from staring.

In a sea of people, I felt alone, afraid and cold, even in my thick white 
sweater. I was allowed to discard the orange garb of the county jail and wear 
my own clothing for this momentous occasion. Of all the things in my wardrobe, 
that sweater was my favorite. It was thick and warm, the soft cashmere 
caressing my skin. It was big enough to pull the sleeves over my hands; I 
wished I could’ve tucked my whole self inside, like a turtle, and just stayed 
there… It had been sitting in storage for months but still held the scent of 
Egyptian Musk, reminding me of the man I used to be.

I scooched up to the defense table and looked over a document that my attorney 
had given me, and hugged myself.

I did receive encouraging nods from past instructors and co-workers who, in 
spite of everything, still showed up to testify to my good character. I glanced 
up and caught the eye of a woman I didn’t know; she gave a sympathetic smile, 
as if she knew a secret. I acknowledged their kindness with the subtlest of 
nods, not wanting to embarrass them. Those looks of compassion gave me brief 
moments of respite, as the failings of my life were being replayed to my 
condemnation. Small mercies tossed my way like life-preservers.

Maybe there is closure for prosecutors. For them it is truly another case 
closed. But not really. They use death penalty cases again and again as 
political tools to extend—their careers, their reputations. The men they’ve 
sent to death: feathers in their caps. For prosecutors, “closure” is just a 
word, a means to an end.

They say they do it for the victims' families. But even when those families are 
against capital punishment, prosecutors pursue it anyway. The hunt must be seen 
through to its conclusion.

There’s certainly been no closure for my family. The imminent threat of my 
death sentence is something they’ve had to navigate each day for almost 20 
years. For some of them it’s easier not to think about it, to pretend it’s not 
real. For others, it’s easier for them not to think of me at all. And I get it. 
I understand.

The Record

I wish I could forget sometimes myself, but I’m a book still being written. 
There’s nothing like closure for me.

Sights, sounds, even smells decades old are at times as clear as if they were 
right before my face. I can still recall my 1st day of school, and the dread 
that filled my entire being, thinking that Mom had abandoned me—then being 
flooded with joy and relief when I saw her face at the end of the day. Looking 
up at her as we walked home, hand in hand, I felt like the luckiest little boy 
in the world.

All the times I’ve felt scared or uncertain in my life, it was the sound of her 
voice that steadied me. I’ve been away now for more than 2 decades, but that 
sound still has the power to take me home.

My eyes still burn when I think of all the times I’ve disappointed her. Of all 
my sins, breaking her heart is one of the gravest. And that she still loves me 
is my life’s greatest mitigator.

I remember being nervous, having to hold my newborn daughter just so. Her 
spitting up milk on my shirt is another of my life’s highest honors. But having 
to watch her grow up in photographs, that cut bone-deep. She’s a grown woman 
now and, to my chagrin, never misses an opportunity to remind me that I’m an 
old man. But I like to remember when she was fascinated with bubbles and her 
giggles danced on air.

My grandmother died in 2009. I never told her goodbye. The last time I saw her 
was earlier that year.

She had some sort of contraption from her dialysis treatments latched onto her 
chest. I knew she didn’t have much longer to live. But I was damned if I was 
going to say goodbye then, sitting in a dirty visitation booth, squinting 
through scarred plexi-glass. I wouldn’t have said goodbye even if I’d been 
home. I would’ve just loved her.

When she used to laugh, she’d make a big screech then a bunch of cackles. Her 
tummy would shake and her eyes would water. But when she was upset, she’d 
brood. I’d ask her questions to try and get her talking; she’d answer and make 
conversation, but it wasn’t the same. A stranger wouldn’t have been able to 
tell anything was bothering her, but I knew. When she was sad, the house felt 
heavy. I saw her cry once, and it seemed like the world was coming to an end.

I remember my English instructor, Ms. Morgan. She had a way of reading stories 
that transported you right into them. One story I recall in particular was 
“Hills Like White Elephants.” It was a short story about a couple having a 
conversation on a train—and I was there. I could see the mountains, their 
craggy humps and snowy peaks. They appeared to be moving in the opposite 
direction of the train as they sat stoically in the distance.

I could see the snow-covered terrain, feel the motion of the train, and the 
weight of tension in the couple’s words to each other. When Ms. Morgan finished 
the reading, I had goosebumps on my arms, though we were sitting in a warm 
classroom.

I’ve always wanted to travel, but never got around to it. I used my electives 
to take her literature courses, trying to see the world, riding the cadence of 
her voice. I can still hear it. None of that is closed.

I’m not sure that death closes anything. It kills any hope of reconciliation, 
that’s one thing. It destroys all possibilities of redemption. It leaves the 
living with questions unanswered. But death is nothing. Alive, I can recall the 
best of times with sadness. And while my life is ravaged by tragedies, the 
darkest of which I’ve caused myself, I can still smile, sometimes, in the 
reminiscing. Things long gone but that are mine forever. A fusion of joys and 
sorrows, trials and triumph, all woven together in a continuum—for which there 
is no such thing as closure.

(source: Paul Brown, 53, is incarcerated at Central Prison in Raleigh, North 
Carolina, where he is on death row for a 1996 double 
murder----themarshallproject.org)

LOUISIANA:

Natchitoches D.A. to seek death penalty against mother accused in infant son’s 
death



The Natchitoches Parish District Attorney’s Office has filed a notice of intent 
to seek the death penalty in the case of a Natchitoches mother accused in the 
burning death of her infant son.

Hanna Barker, 24, is charged with 1st-degree murder in the July 2018 death of 
Levi Cole Ellerbe, Barker’s 6-month-old son whose body was found near railroad 
tracks after Barker reported he had been kidnapped from her home. Levi suffered 
second- and 3rd-degree burns over 90 % of his body and died the next day at a 
Shreveport hospital.

Barker’s girlfriend, 26-year-old Felicia Smith, is also charged with 1st-degree 
murder in Levi’s death. A notice about possible capital punishment prosecution 
in Smith's case has not been filed.

The notice in Barker's case was filed Thursday, confirmed the clerk of court's 
office.

District Attorney Billy Joe Harrington said he could not comment.

According to court records, Smith confessed to setting Levi on fire, but told 
investigators it was Barker who came up with the plan to kill him.

Barker has denied any involvement and has pleaded not guilty, as has Smith.

1st-degree murder is punishable by the death sentence upon conviction.

(source: KTBS news)








OHIO:

While Ohio Delays Executions, Advocates Call For Death Penalty Reforms



Abraham Bonowitz says the current system is broken. His group, Journey of Hope, 
works with the families of murder victims who say the death penalty doesn’t 
bring them closure.

As Bonowitz explains, a state task force released more than 50 recommendations 
that could change how capital punishment cases are handled.

"We have this road map for how to fix the system and yet nobody's even talked 
about it," says Bonowitz.

Suggestions include using only certified crime labs, not allowing jailhouse 
informant testimony, and requiring recorded interrogations.

Few of these recommendations, which were released in 2014, have been 
implemented.

Bonowitz calls for this change as the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and 
Correction works on creating a new lethal injection protocol. DeWine says the 
state is running into challenges crafting that new procedure, which includes 
obtaining the necessary drugs.

The state's prisons department started working on this new protocol after U.S. 
District Court Judge Michael Merz released an opinion calling Ohio's lethal 
injection process "cruel and unusual."

However, the state is still allowed to carry out the execution of Warren 
Henness because the death row inmate did not show that an alternative means of 
carrying out the execution was available.

(source: WOSU news)

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

Prosecutors seek death penalty in slayings of teen and dad



Prosecutors in Cleveland plan to seek the death penalty against 3 men accused 
of torturing a 14-year-old girl and robbing her father before killing them and 
burning their bodies.

Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O'Malley said his office's capital review 
committee decided to pursue the death penalty based on the facts, circumstances 
and evidence. The bodies of 39-year-old Paul Bradley and 14-year-old Paris 
Bradley were found Oct. 10 in a burning car in East Cleveland.

The men were originally indicted in December on charges including aggravated 
murder. They have pleaded not guilty. A grand jury on Wednesday re-indicted 
them to add specifications that could result in the death penalty if they're 
convicted.

Authorities say the men went to Bradley's Bedford home to rob him and killed 
him and his daughter.

As a result of his tumultuous childhood, the petition states, West developed a 
series of disorders that made it possible for him to disassociate in the face 
of trauma. They argue he did just that the morning the Romines were killed.

Wanda Romines, 51, and Sheila Romines were both stabbed to death while their 
hands were bound behind their backs.

Sheila was stabbed 17 times in the stomach. At trial, a forensic pathologist 
said 14 of those stab wounds were consistent with “torture-type cuts.”

"It is only with the horrible details of abuse and the resulting psychological 
trauma that one can possibly understand Steve’s involvement in this crime, yet 
the jury heard none of it," the petition reads.

West now has deep remorse for his involvement in the crimes, his lawyers said. 
In a statement included with the petition, he says it was "a cowardice move 
that I didn’t help those ladies."

His subsequent dedication to Christianity, and his positive impact on inmates 
and staff at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution, also laid the groundwork 
for mercy, his lawyers said.

The clemency petition includes statements from a nurse who treated West in 
prison, his brother and former jurors in his case who believe West deserves a 
reprieve.

West participates in Men of Valor, a Christian prison ministry focused on 
helping inmates rehabilitate themselves. Lee was a former member of the 
organization's board.

"He has made a positive impact in the lives of others. He still has the 
capacity to do so going forward," West's lawyers wrote to the governor. "Please 
use your unique, constitutionally authorized power to intervene in this case, 
show mercy where no one else could, and correct a manifest injustice."

On Thursday, Lee said he had received the petition and was considering it.

"These decisions are very difficult and deserve a lot of deliberation. And 
that's what we're doing," Lee said. "I wrestle with this very much, because 
it's a very difficult decision. But we're in that process."

(source: Associated Press)








INDIANA:

Man spared death penalty re-sentenced to life in prison



A man convicted of killing a Central Indiana woman and her 4-year-old daughter 
has been sentenced to life in prison after a federal appeals court threw out 
his death sentence.

Circuit Judge Mark Dudley sentenced 47-year-old Fredrick Baer of Indianapolis 
on Thursday to 2 terms of life without parole for the 2004 slayings of Cory 
Clark and her 4-year-old daughter Jenna Clark at their rural Madison County 
home about 25 miles northeast of Indianapolis.

A 3-judge panel of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals threw out Baer's death 
sentence in January 2018, ruling he had received ineffective legal counsel.

(source: theindychannel.com)








TENNESSEE----impendint execution

Lawyers say Stephen Michael West didn't commit killings that put him on death 
row



Days before Stephen Micheal West's scheduled execution, his lawyers pleaded for 
Gov. Bill Lee to spare his life, saying he did not commit the killings that put 
him on death row 33 years ago.

West, 56, was sentenced to death for the 1986 murders of a woman and her 
15-year-old daughter in their Union County home in East Tennessee. He is 
scheduled to die by lethal injection on Aug. 15.

His team of lawyers agrees that he was at the scene and that he raped the 
15-year-old before she died. But they said his co-defendant Ronnie Martin, who 
was 17 at the time of the crime, was the one who stabbed the women to death 
while West stood by, frozen in the face of the carnage.

Martin pleaded guilty to 2 counts of 1st-degree murder in the case, and is 
serving a life sentence — he will be eligible for parole in 2030. Martin was 
not eligible for the death penalty because he was a minor at the time of the 
crime.

West's lawyers cited a recorded jailhouse confession between Martin and his 
cellmate, and a conversation Martin had with an acquaintance as evidence that 
he committed the brutal crime.

Lawyers cite abusive childhood, mental illness

"Steve was not psychologically equipped to deal with the terrible situation he 
found himself in," the lawyers wrote in a 28-page clemency petition submitted 
to Lee's office last month.

"An important question is, if Steve did not intend for either victim to be 
killed, how could he just stand by and watch while Martin did?" the petition 
reads. "The answer to this question lies in Steve’s own tragic background."

Much of the petition focuses on West's traumatic childhood, when his lawyers 
say his parents "either neglected or brutalized him" regularly. The attorneys 
argue that abuse caused or exacerbated a series of severe mental illnesses, 
including schizophrenia and post-traumatic stress disorder.

His mental health was never discussed at trial because his parents paid for his 
lawyers and wouldn't allow it, the petition states. Rules bar federal courts 
from considering West's mental health on appeal.

West's lawyers see Lee as a final option.

West's brother said it seemed like “Satan had returned from hell” when their 
mother wouldn't take her medication. He remembered her beating West 
mercilessly.

West's sister remembers their mother hitting him so hard with a broom that it 
splintered and snapped. His ankles were broken at least seven times as a child, 
according to the petition.

His sisters snuck food to him when his parents wouldn't feed him, according to 
the petition. Sometimes they would mix ketchup with water and give it to him in 
a baby bottle, the petition states.

As a result of his tumultuous childhood, the petition states, West developed a 
series of disorders that made it possible for him to disassociate in the face 
of trauma. They argue he did just that the morning the Romines were killed.

Wanda Romines, 51, and Sheila Romines were both stabbed to death while their 
hands were bound behind their backs.

Sheila was stabbed 17 times in the stomach. At trial, a forensic pathologist 
said 14 of those stab wounds were consistent with “torture-type cuts.”

"It is only with the horrible details of abuse and the resulting psychological 
trauma that one can possibly understand Steve’s involvement in this crime, yet 
the jury heard none of it," the petition reads.

Lawyers: West 'made a positive impact in the lives of others' while in prison

West now has deep remorse for his involvement in the crimes, his lawyers said. 
In a statement included with the petition, he says it was "a cowardice move 
that I didn’t help those ladies."

His subsequent dedication to Christianity, and his positive impact on inmates 
and staff at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution, also laid the groundwork 
for mercy, his lawyers said.

The clemency petition includes statements from a nurse who treated West in 
prison, his brother and former jurors in his case who believe West deserves a 
reprieve.

West participates in Men of Valor, a Christian prison ministry focused on 
helping inmates rehabilitate themselves. Lee was a former member of the 
organization's board.

"He has made a positive impact in the lives of others. He still has the 
capacity to do so going forward," West's lawyers wrote to the governor. "Please 
use your unique, constitutionally authorized power to intervene in this case, 
show mercy where no one else could, and correct a manifest injustice."

On Thursday, Lee said he had received the petition and was considering it.

"These decisions are very difficult and deserve a lot of deliberation. And 
that's what we're doing," Lee said. "I wrestle with this very much, because 
it's a very difficult decision. But we're in that process."

(source: The Tennessean)



SOUTH DAKOTA:

Deadline set for death penalty decision in vehicle murder case



The Pennington County State’s Attorney’s Office will decide by Oct. 1 whether 
it intends to seek the death penalty if a Rapid City woman is convicted of 
murder for allegedly fatally hitting a woman with her car at a Walmart parking 
lot in May.

Lara Roetzel, deputy state's attorney, said in court Thursday that she needs 
more time to make a decision since the family of victim Kimberly Clifford is 
not yet emotionally ready to be consulted on the matter.

Rochelle Seminole, 48, is charged with premeditated 1st-degree murder for 
allegedly purposely killing Clifford by driving her SUV into her at the Walmart 
parking lot on North Lacrosse Street on May 26.

If Roetzel decides to ask for the death penalty and Seminole is convicted, a 
jury would decide whether to sentence Seminole to death or life in prison 
without parole. If capital punishment is not pursued and Seminole is convicted, 
she would spend the rest of her life in prison.

Many witnesses told police they saw Seminole and Clifford fighting in the 
parking lot before Seminole hit or attempted to hit Clifford with a SUV and 
then backed up before plowing into the woman, launching her into the air before 
she landed in a storm drain, according to police reports. Clifford, a 
37-year-old from Rapid City, was found unconscious and bleeding from the mouth 
with a tire track over her body. She died soon after she was taken to the 
hospital.

Seminole also faces 2 DUI-related charges that carry a maximum sentence of 1 
year in jail. Seminole smelled like alcohol and had bloodshot eyes, incoherent 
speech and difficulty walking, the police reports say. A field test found she 
had a .270 blood alcohol content. The legal limit is .08.

Seminole is expected to return to court for a hearing at 10 a.m. on Aug. 29.

(source: rapidcityjournal.com)








OREGON:

Calling Oregon death penalty ‘costly and immoral,’ governor signs bill limiting 
its use



Gov. Kate Brown on Thursday signed a bill that represents the first major 
legislative restriction to Oregon’s death penalty since 1984, when voters 
amended the constitution to include capital punishment.

"Our state’s criminal justice system continues to impose death sentences, and 
send people to death row, even as we know that no one has been executed here in 
a generation," said Brown, according to prepared remarks released by her 
office.

Brown signed Senate Bill 1013 at her ceremonial office at the Oregon State 
Capitol, where according to her remarks, she called the state’s death penalty 
dysfunctional, costly and immoral.

Unlike the signing of a major juvenile justice bill last month, the event was 
closed to the media. The governor’s staff did not issue a news release in 
advance of the signing as it has done with other legislation, including an 
event scheduled for Friday at which she plans to sign bill that ensures ballot 
return envelopes will include pre-paid postage.

It’s been 22 years since Oregon executed anyone. In the past 5 decades, the 
state executed two men, both in the 1990s. They had essentially volunteered for 
the death penalty after waiving their rights to appeal before their deaths.

Currently 31 people are sentenced to death in Oregon, according to the Oregon 
Department of Corrections.

In 2015, Brown extended a moratorium imposed on the death penalty in 2011 by 
then-Gov. John Kitzhaber. Kitzhaber argued that the death penalty isn’t handed 
down fairly: Some inmates on death row have committed similar crimes as those 
who are serving life sentences. He said capital punishment should be replaced 
with a sentence of life without the possibility of parole.

Advocates applauded Oregon’s policy shift, which narrows the crimes eligible 
for the death penalty.

"I am thoroughly convinced that our current system is unworkable and crazy, and 
that this is a responsible, carefully crafted, compromise measure," said Steve 
Kanter, a retired law professor and dean emeritus at Lewis & Clark Law School 
who testified in favor of the bill. "It’s law-making the way it’s supposed to 
be done."

The law narrows the definition of aggravated murder, which is the only crime in 
Oregon eligible for a death sentence. Under the new law, aggravated murder is 
limited to defendants who kill two or more people as an act of organized 
terrorism; intentionally and with premediation kill a child younger than 14; 
kill another person while locked up in jail or prison for a previous murder; or 
kill a police, correctional or probation officer.

Oregon joins Arizona in narrowing its aggravated murder statute this year, 
according to the Death Penalty Information Center, a non-profit that serves as 
a national clearinghouse for analysis and information about capital punishment.

Robert Dunham, the organization’s executive director, said 29 states, including 
Oregon, have the death penalty. 4 of them, like Oregon, have imposed a 
moratorium.

"The death penalty has been disappearing from vast parts of the country,"
he said. "There is nobody left in New England with the death penalty. In the 
West, the death penalty is eroding."

In the past 15 years, 9 states have abolished the death penalty, said Dunham.

Beginning around 2001, the number of people sent to death row around the 
country began to drop, he said. He added that 2019 is on track to see fewer 
than 50 people sentenced to death nationwide for the 5th consecutive year.

Executions also have declined from 98 nationally in 1999 to fewer than 30 in 
each of the last 4 years.

At the same time, said Dunham, public sentiment is shifting. Gallup polling 
shows 80 % of Americans supported the death penalty in 1994; 56 % supported it 
in a poll conducted last year.

Only voters can repeal or abolish Oregon’s death penalty since it’s in the 
state constitution. The Legislature, however, can make changes to which crimes 
are eligible for capital punishment.

Dunham said while Arizona 'was tinkering around the edges' of its death penalty 
law, Oregon "essentially tore down its death penalty law and rebuilt it from 
the bottom up."

"It was a massive overhaul," he said.

Prosecutors, some of whom testified against the bill, on Thursday said the 
changes throw Oregon’s most serious cases into upheaval, likely leading to 
years of litigation and appeals.

"This notion that we are saving money is a false promise," said Patty Perlow, 
district attorney in Lane County. Perlow had urged lawmakers to refer the 
policy change to voters. "All of these things are going to have to be 
litigated."

Katie Suver, a veteran deputy district attorney in Marion County, said the new 
law dusts off the concept of a premeditated crime, which had been removed from 
the criminal code in 1971. The new definition of aggravated murder includes the 
premeditated and intentional murder of a victim under age 14.

Suver said she suspects it was added to make it even more difficult to apply to 
cases involving child killings.

"Why would it make any difference in terms of danger to the community that 
somebody planned it for 10 minutes versus 10 years?" she asked.

The Oregon Justice Resource Center, which has lobbied for reforms to the 
state’s criminal justice system and opposes the death penalty, has previously 
called on Brown to commute the sentences of convicts on death row and give them 
life without parole.

On Thursday, Alice Lundell, a spokeswoman for the organization, said the group 
will renew those calls for Brown to act.

Lundell said Brown should send a message to about the recent decision to resume 
federal executions. According to her written remarks, Brown acknowledged that 
shift, saying "many of us grieved last week’s announcement that the federal 
government will begin executions again."

Said Lundell: "This is potentially a moment for Oregon and for Kate Brown to 
stand up against that type of politicizing of the death penalty that is 
happening at the federal level. It could be a huge statement for her to make if 
she were to address the problems with Oregon’s death penalty by using her 
constitutional powers to commute the row."

Asked if the governor is considering such a move, her spokeswoman Kate Kondayen 
responded via email saying only “there are no pending commutation applications 
from the inmates currently on death row. “

(soruce: The Oregonian)

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

Oregon substantially narrows use of death penalty----Gov. Kate Brown signed a 
law Thursday to restrict capital punishment to apply to only 4 types of crimes.



Oregon Gov. Kate Brown signed a law Thursday narrowing the state's use of the 
death penalty by substantially limiting the crimes apply for capital 
punishment.

Lawmakers have considered it a way to reform the state's use of death row 
without actually taking the issue to the voters. Oregon reinstated the death 
penalty by popular vote in 1984.

The new law comes weeks after the federal government announced that it would 
resume executing death-row inmates for the 1st time since 2003, bringing a 
largely dormant issue back into the national spotlight.

Previously, the death sentence in Oregon could apply to cases of "aggravated 
murder," which includes crimes such as killing on-duty police officers or 
slayings during a rape or robbery. Those crimes under the new law will receive 
sentences of life without the possibility of parole.

Only 4 types of crimes can now be considered grounds for receiving a death 
penalty sentence: killings motivated by terrorism, murders of children 14 or 
younger, killings by an incarcerated person with a previous "aggravated murder" 
sentence, and pre-meditated killings of police or corrections officers.

The law is not retroactive and will not affect the sentencing of the 30 people 
currently on death row.

The death penalty remains legal in 30 states, but only a handful regularly 
conduct executions. Brown extended a 2011 moratorium on the death penalty, and 
the last execution took place in 1997.

Nationwide, over 1,500 people have been executed since 1976.

[MY NOTE----since the death penalty was re-legalized on July 2, 1976, there 
have been exactly 1500 executions in the USA]

Supporters of the change say capital punishment doesn't guarantee justice. 
Nationally, 166 former death row inmates were found innocent of all crimes and 
exonerated, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. The majority of 
those found innocent were black.

"Our system of sentencing people to death is unequal and unfair," then-House 
Majority Leader Jennifer Williamson told last month. "It disproportionally 
applies to poor people and people of color. There are innocent people on death 
row in this country."

Capital punishment can also be costly. The average death penalty case can take 
up to 15 years to reach its conclusion and costs the state $1.4 million, as 
compared to an average cost of $335,000 for a non-death penalty murder case.

"Regardless of how you feel about the death penalty, our system is broken," 
Williamson said.

The U.S. Justice Department announced last month that it would ramp up its use 
of capital punishment when Attorney General William Barr instructed the Bureau 
of Prisons to schedule executions starting in December for 5 men convicted of 
killing children.

President Donald Trump has long been a proponent of the death penalty, 
believing that executions serve as both an effective deterrent and appropriate 
punishment for some crimes, including mass shootings and the killings of police 
officers. He said last year that the death penalty should come "into vogue" in 
response to a shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue last year that left 11 dead.

(source: Associated Press)








USA:

46% of Americans support federal government resuming executions



The federal government recently decided to resume executions of death row 
inmates following a 16-year hiatus.

“Under administrations of both parties, the Department of Justice has sought 
the death penalty against the worst criminals,” Attorney General William P. 
Barr said in a statement. “The Justice Department upholds the rule of law — and 
we owe it to the victims and their families to carry forward the sentence 
imposed by our justice system.”

New data from YouGov finds that 46 % of Americans support the federal 
government’s decision to resume executions.

Republicans are especially likely (86%) to support the government’s decision. 
Close to 1/2 of Independents also support (48%) it, while Democrats (28%) are 
the least likely to support it. <1Men are considerably more likely than women 
to be in favor of the federal government’s decision. While a slight majority 
(53%) of men are in favor, women are almost evenly split: 39 % are in support, 
40 % are opposed.

More than one-third (35%) of independents and a majority of Democrats (55%) are 
opposed to the federal government’s decision to resume executions.

Several Democratic presidential contenders, including Elizabeth Warren, Kamala 
Harris, Cory Booker, and Pete Buttigieg, have taken a position against the 
Justice Department’s decision.

In the past 31 years, the federal government has only executed 3 people. As the 
moratorium lifts, the federal government has announced plans to execute 5 
federal inmates, all of whom have been convicted of murdering children.

According to The New York Times, prosecutors are still seeking the death 
penalty in some federal cases. The gunman who killed nine African-American 
churchgoers in 2015 and the Boston Marathon bomber have both been convicted and 
sentenced to death.

(source: today.yougov.com)

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

The scandal of Barr’s reinstating the death penalty



Attorney General William Barr’s announcement last week that he is lifting the 
Justice Department’s moratorium on federal death penalty executions has again 
raised the issue of whether a Catholic government official who advances policy 
condemned by his church ought to be denied communion. Here at RNS, columnist 
Charles Camosy says yes. He believes that Barr’s bishop, Michael Burbidge of 
the diocese of Arlington, should "ask to sit down with Barr and respectfully 
insist on his faithfulness to the teaching of the church." If Barr doesn’t, 
then the bishop "would be justified" in asking Barr not to show up at the altar 
rail.

Over at U.S. Catholic, retired Catholic University professor Stephen Schneck 
says no. While insisting that Catholics in public life should "bring their 
faith to bear when addressing the laws and policies of the political orders," 
he urges "my fellow American Catholics on all sides in public life to forego 
any new rounds of the Communion Wars. Regarding the sacraments, we are wrong to 
judge and wrong to politicize."

Thus far, Burbidge has made no public statement on the matter, so we can only 
speculate about whether he’s invited Barr for a sit-down. The official 
hierarchical response has come from Bishop Frank J. Dewane, chair of the 
bishops’ Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development.

Dewane cites decades-long papal criticism of the death penalty, culminating in 
Pope Francis’ recently amending of the church’s Catechism to say that capital 
punishment is "inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and 
dignity of the person." He points out that in June the U.S. bishops voted 
"overwhelmingly" to support this position and concludes by urging that "Federal 
officials take this teaching into consideration, as well as the evidence 
showing its unfair and biased application, and abandon the announced plans to 
implement the death penalty once more."

More pointedly, Chicago’s Cardinal Blase Cupich, a leading Francis supporter, 
tweeted: "Today, Attorney General William Barr announced that he was reversing 
a moratorium on the federal death penalty. This decision is gravely injurious 
to the common good, as it effaces the God-given dignity of all human beings, 
even those who have committed terrible crimes."

Neither Dewane nor Cupich, however, suggested that Barr has something to answer 
for as a prominent Catholic layman (a Knight of Columbus and past board member 
of the KoC and the Catholic Information Center of Washington, D.C., among other 
things). Their criticism has, in other words, not been comparable to the way 
some bishops called out Catholic government officials like John Kerry and 
Kathleen Sebelius for their support of abortion rights.

In fact, and in contrast to the abortion issue, there has been pushback in high 
ecclesiastical places against the Vatican’s evolved position on capital 
punishment. Foremost among those pushing back has been Cardinal Raymond Burke, 
the sometime archbishop of St. Louis whom Francis removed as head of the 
Vatican’s highest court in 2014.

On May 31, Burke and four other hierarchs issued an eight-page “Declaration of 
the truths relating to some of the most common errors in the life of the Church 
of our time" that included the assertion that “the Church did not err in 
teaching that the civil power may lawfully exercise capital punishment on 
malefactors where this is truly necessary to preserve the existence or just 
order of societies." This assertion, which Burke reiterated in a keynote 
address at the Napa Institute’s annual gathering last week, was not just a slap 
at the present pope but also at John Paul II, who in his 1995 encyclical 
Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life) called capital punishment impermissible 
"[i]f bloodless means are sufficient to defend human lives against an aggressor 
and to protect public order and the safety of persons."

The authorities cited in the Declaration make clear that what Burke’s 
latter-day Syllabus of Errors means by "just order" is altogether different 
from John Paul’s concern for public safety, and a far cry from Francis’ 
counter-argument that "the dignity of the person is not lost even after the 
commission of very serious crimes."

One is a paragraph in the Catechism of the Council of Trent that calls the 
"just use" of capital punishment "an act of paramount obedience” to the Fifth 
Commandment’s injunction against murder. Another is a 1954 speech by Pope Pius 
XII that assumes the legitimacy of the death penalty and does not exclude 
"vindictive punishment" as a way of reestablishing “the order of the true and 
the good."

Barr’s justification for re-instituting federal executions, set forth in the 
Justice Department’s press release, is of a piece with the Declaration:

"Congress has expressly authorized the death penalty through legislation 
adopted by the people’s representatives in both houses of Congress and signed 
by the President," Attorney General Barr said. "Under Administrations of both 
parties, the Department of Justice has sought the death penalty against the 
worst criminals, including these five murderers, each of whom was convicted by 
a jury of his peers after a full and fair proceeding. The Justice Department 
upholds the rule of law - and we owe it to the victims and their families to 
carry forward the sentence imposed by our justice system."

Today’s Catechism defines scandal as "an attitude or behavior which leads 
another to do evil," adding that it "takes on a particular gravity by reason of 
the authority of those who cause it." Catechetically speaking, it is scandalous 
for Barr to go out of his way to violate church teaching.

I have no interest in encouraging new rounds of the Communion Wars. But it 
seems to me that if Catholic leaders want to defend their church, they 
shouldn’t treat the attorney general as if he were just another government 
official with whom they disagree.

(source: Mark Silk, Religion News Service)