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National News from 2006
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of National News
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excerpts from the years 2000 | 2001 | 2002
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- CA:
California and Florida Suspend Executions
Faced
with grim testimony of poorly trained
executioners operating in cramped, dimly
lit quarters, a federal judge declared
California's execution procedure unconstitutional.
The state's "implementation of lethal
injection is broken, but it can be fixed," U.S.
District Judge Jeremy Fogel ruled Friday
in San Jose, extending a moratorium on
executions in the nation's most populous
state. (12/16/06, ABC News)
- CA: Federal Judge Rules Defendants Can
Confront Sentencing Witnesses
A federal judge presiding over the Aryan
Brotherhood murder trial in Santa Anna,
California, has ruled that the Sixth Amendment
to the U.S. Constitution, which requires
that defendants be given the opportunity
to confront and cross examine witnesses
testifying against them at trial, applies
to at least part of the federal death penalty
sentencing procedure as well. ... "Because
the death penalty is uniquely different
in its finality and severity, increased
scrutiny is required at every step of the
capital process to ensure that death is
the appropriate penalty," Carter
wrote.
(8/28/06, DPIC Update)
- CA:
Execution Postponed After Doctors'
Refusal
SAN QUENTIN, California (AP) -- State
officials on Tuesday postponed indefinitely
the execution of Michael Morales, saying
they would be unable to comply with a
judge's order that a medical professional
administer the lethal injection. ...
The judge's ruling renewed an ethical
debate that has persisted for many years
about the proper role of doctors in executions
and the suitability of the lethal injection
method used in California and 35 other
states. The American Medical Association,
the American Society of Anesthesiologists
and the California Medical Association
all opposed the anesthesiologists' participation
as unethical and unprofessional. ...
The trial judge, Charles McGrath, joined
Morales this month in asking Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger for clemency. McGrath
said he no longer believed a jailhouse
informant whose testimony helped land
Morales on death row. (2/21/06, CNN.com)
- CA:
Plan Spurs Doctors & Death Debate
California's
decision to hire an anesthesiologist
to monitor Michael Morales' execution
next week has rekindled a fierce nationwide
debate over medical ethics. For the first
time, California plans to have an anesthesiologist
at an execution to ensure the prisoner
is unconscious when a paralyzing agent
and heart-stopping drugs are administered
during lethal injection. The decision
was made in response to a federal judge's
ruling. ... Several influential medical
organizations, including the American Medical
Association, the American Society of Anesthesiologists
and the California Medical Association,
have condemned physician involvement
in executions as unethical and unprofessional.
(2/17/06, ABC.com)
- CA:
Judge Seeks Clemency for Man He Sentenced
to Death
More than two decades after Ventura
County Superior Court Judge Charles R.
McGrath condemned Michael Morales to
die, McGrath is asking California Governor
Arnold Schwarzenegger to grant clemency
because the conviction was likely based
on false testimony from a jailhouse informant.
Morales is scheduled to be executed on
February 21. (2/6/06, DPIC Update)
- CA:
Executes Oldest Death Row Inmate
SAN QUENTIN, Calif. -- California executed
its oldest death row inmate early Tuesday,
minutes after his 76th birthday, despite
arguments that putting to death an elderly,
blind and wheelchair-bound man was cruel
and unusual punishment. ... Clarence
Ray Allen, who was blind and mostly deaf,
suffered from diabetes and had a nearly
fatal heart attack in September only
to be revived and returned to death row,
was assisted into the death chamber by
four large correctional officers and
lifted out of his wheelchair. (1/17/06,
ABC.com)
- CA:
Set to Execute Blind & Deaf Elderly
Man
SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP)
-- California's oldest death row inmate
-- a 75-year-old who is legally blind
and nearly deaf -- is asking the U.S.
Supreme Court to do something it has
never done before: block an execution
because of the condemned man's advanced
age and infirmity. ... "The
spectacle of Mr. Allen being wheeled
into the death chamber, unable to walk
and unable to see those who have come
to witness his execution, violates all
standards of decency and would amount
to nothing more than the purposeless
and needless imposition of pain and suffering
prohibited by the Eighth Amendment," said
Annette Carnegie, one of Allen's attorneys.
(1/13/06, CNN.com)
- FL:
Doctors Say Botched FL Execution Methods
Likely Caused Slow, Painful Death
Death penalty foes have warned for years
of the possibility that an inmate being
executed by lethal injection could remain
conscious, experiencing severe pain as
he slowly dies.That day may have arrived.
Angel Nieves Diaz, a career criminal
executed for killing a Miami topless
bar manager 27 years ago, was given a
rare second dose of deadly chemicals
as he took more than twice the usual
time to succumb."It really sounds
like he was tortured to death," said
Jonathan Groner, associate professor
of surgery at the Ohio State Medical
School, a surgeon who opposes the death
penalty and writes frequently about lethal
injection. "My
impression is that it would cause an
extreme amount of pain." (12/16/06,
ABC News)
- FL:
Gov. Bush Suspends Executions After
Botched Execution
Gov. Jeb Bush suspended all executions
in Florida after a medical examiner said
Friday that officials botched the insertion
of the needles during the execution of
a convicted killer earlier this week.
The execution took 34 minutes, twice
as long as normal, because officials
botched the insertion of the needles
that delivered the lethal chemicals,
a medical examiner said Friday. (12/15/06,
ABC News)
- FL:
Two-Dose Execution Sparks Criticism
Death
penalty opponents criticized the execution
of a convicted murderer who took more
than half an hour to die and needed
a rare second dose of lethal chemicals.
Angel Nieves Diaz, 55, convicted of murdering
a Miami topless bar manager 27 years
ago, appeared to grimace before dying
Wednesday, 34 minutes after the first
dose. ... A spokesman for Floridians
for Alternatives to the Death Penalty,
called Diaz's death a botched execution. "They
had to execute him twice," Mark
Elliot said. "If Floridians could
witness the pain and the agony of the
executed man's family, they would end
the death penalty." ... Moments
before his execution, Diaz again denied
killing. (12/14/06, ABC News)
- NC: North Carolina Poised to Establish
Nation's First Innocence Commission
North Carolina is poised to become the first state to establish an Innocence
Inquiry Commission that would review inmates' innocence claims. Legislation to
create the panel recently passed the state Senate by a vote of 48-1, and it passed
last year in the House of Representative by a vote of 80-23. The legislation
now must go before a legislative conference to reconcile differences between
the versions.
(7/17/06, DPIC Update)
- NJ: Governor Signs Bill Suspending Executions
in New Jersey
Trenton -- Governor Richard J. Codey today
signed S-709/A-2347, legislation requiring
an immediate moratorium on all executions
in New Jersey and creating a study commission
that will undertake a comprehensive examination
of the State's current death penalty system.
The bill, which passed the Senate by a vote
of 30-6 on December 15th, was approved Monday
by a vote of 55-21 in the General Assembly.
Codey's action marks the first time in the
nation's history that a State has enacted
legislation imposing a moratorium on its
death penalty. (1/12/06, NJADP)
- NY:
Federal Death Penalty Is Focused on New
York - Almost All Defendants From Minorities
Although New York's death penalty was overturned by the state's high court in
2004, and the legislature has not reinstated it, the federal government has sought
the death penalty more in New York than in any other state except Virginia. However,
none of the federal cases has resulted in a death sentence. Almost all (35 out
of 37, or 95%) of the defendants in the federal death penalty cases in New York
are members of minorities. (8/7/06, DPIC Update)
- OH:
Botched Execution Leads to Ohio Review
A condemned inmate asked prison officials
to find another way to execute him as
they struggled to administer a lethal
injection after an intravenous line failed,
prison records show. "Can you just
give me something by mouth to end this?" convicted
killer Joseph Clark asked during the
90-minute delay, according to accounts
written by members of the execution team
and obtained by The Associated Press.
The May 2 execution was plagued with
problems from the beginning, when team
members struggled for several minutes
to find a vein. After inserting a shunt
in Clark's arm, the vein collapsed, leading
Clark to push himself up and say, "It
don't work." (5/12/06, ABC News)
- TX:
Chicago Tribune: Innocent Man Executed
16 years after Carlos De Luna died by
lethal injection, the Tribune has uncovered
evidence strongly suggesting that the
acquaintance he named, Carlos Hernandez,
was the one who killed Lopez in 1983.
Ending years of silence, Hernandez's
relatives and friends recounted how the
violent felon repeatedly bragged that
De Luna went to Death Row for a murder
Hernandez committed. The newspaper investigation,
involving interviews with dozens of people
and a review of thousands of pages of court
records, shows the case was compromised
by shaky eyewitness identification, sloppy
police work and a failure to thoroughly
pursue Hernandez as a possible suspect.
(6/25/06, Chicago Tribune)
- USA:
Senators Introduce Habeas Corpus Restoration
Act
Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont and
Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania
introduced legislation (S. 4081) to restore
the right to habeas corpus to those deemed
to be enemy combatants and who are facing
trial before military commissions, including
those being detained at the U.S. Guantanamo
prison in Cuba. Habeas corpus provides
an avenue for inmates in detention to
challenge the constitutionality of their
confinement. The roots of this protection
go back to early English law and the
right to habeas corpus is guaranteed
in the U.S. Constitution. The Military
Commissions Act of 2006, passed in September
2006, precluded enemy combatants from
pursuing habeas corpus relief and barred
cases decided by military commissions
from habeas review. Those to be tried
before military commissions could face
the death penalty. (12/11/06, DPIC Update)
- USA:
Federal Judge Deeply Troubled about Inconsistencies
Recently
in Ohio and other states, some inmates
challenging the lethal injection process
in federal courts have been given stays
of executions, while others, similarly
situated, have been denied stays and
have been executed. This inconsistent
application of federal law in capital
cases has raised concerns among a number
of federal judges. A stay was recently
granted to Ohio inmate Jerome Henderson,
but denied to Jeffrey Lundgren. On December
6, U.S. District Court Judge Gregory
Frost denied a stay of execution to Ohio
inmate John Spirko. However, Judge Frost
sharply criticized the lack of any clear
guidance from the Court of Appeals on
this matter, saying it left the lower
courts in a "morass of deadly ambiguity" as
to how to apply the law. (12/11/06, DPIC Update)
- USA: Condemned Inmates Often Get Sedatives
Condemned
killer David Brewer, who went calmly to
his death after acknowledging his guilt,
had a little help with his nerves: an anti-anxiety
drug. At least 19 of the country's 38 death
penalty states offer sedatives and anti-anxiety
drugs to condemned inmates before execution.
It helps keep the inmate calm and we think
that's good, not just for the inmate
but for the staff as well," said
Brian Hauswirth, spokesman for the Missouri
Department of Corrections. (11/6/06, ABC.com)
- USA:
Government Study Finds Over Half of Inmates
Have Mental Problems
According to a Bureau of Justice Statistics
study released September 6, more than
half of all prison and jail inmates,
including 56% of state prisoners, 45%
of federal prisoners, and 64% of local
jail inmates have mental health problems.
The study was based on reporting of symptoms
by inmates rather than through medical
diagnosis. Among state prisoners with
mental problems, 43% had symptoms of
mania, 23% had major depression, and
15% had psychotic disorders. Having mental
health problems was closely correlated
with violence and past criminal activity.
(9/11/06, DPIC Update) - USA:
New Gallup Poll: More Americans Favor
Life Sentences
A May 2006 Gallup Poll examining American
opinion about the death penalty found
that when given a choice between the
sentencing options of life without parole
and the death penalty, only 47% of respondents
chose capital punishment, the lowest
percentage in two decades. Forty-eight
percent favored life without parole for
those convicted of murder. The poll also
revealed that overall support for the
death penalty remains low at 65%, down
significantly from 1994 when 80% supported
capital punishment. When asked whether
the death penalty deters murder, 64% of those
polled stated that it does not; only 34%
believe it does deter. This is a dramatic
shift from the 1980s and early 1990s, when
the majority of Americans still believed
that the death penalty prevented murder.
63% of those polled believe that an innocent
person has been executed in the past
5 years, an increase over previous results.
(6/5/06, DPIC Update)
- USA:
Lone Juror Kept Moussaoui Alive
A
single holdout kept the jury from handing
a death sentence to Zacarias Moussaoui,
the only person charged in this country
in the 9/11 attacks. But that juror never
explained his vote, said the foreman
of the jury that sentenced the confessed
al-Qaida conspirator to life in prison
last week. (5/12/06, ABC News)
- USA:
Human Rights Watch: U.S. Neligent in
Use of Lethal Injections
Incompetence, negligence, and irresponsibility
by U.S. states put condemned prisoners
at needless risk of excruciating pain
during lethal injection executions, Human
Rights Watch said in a report released
today. Lethal injections are used in
37 of the 38 death penalty states in
the United States and by the federal
government. Every execution in 2005 was
by lethal injection. The 65-page report, “So
Long as They Die: Lethal Injections in
the United States,” reveals
the slipshod history of executions by
lethal injection. ... “The U.S.
takes more care killing dogs than people,” said
Jamie Fellner, U.S. program director
at Human Rights Watch and co-author of
the report. “Just
because a prisoner may have killed without
care or conscience does not mean that
the state should follow suit.” (4/24/06, Human
Right Watch)
- USA:
New Government Web Site Promotes DNA
to "Protect
the Innocent"
"Advancing Justice Through DNA
Technology" offers a new resource
from the President's DNA Initiative.
The Web site, www.dna.gov,
includes resources on DNA testing, trainings,
and funding, and a history of forensic
use of DNA. In one section, "Exonerated
by Science," the site provides overviews
of cases in which DNA has played a significant
role in freeing defendants who have been
wrongly convicted, including some who
were exonerated from death row. (4/24/06, DPIC Update)
- USA:
Anesthesiologists Advised to Avoid Lethal
Injections
Dr. Orin Guidry, president of the
40,000-member American Society of Anesthesiologists
(ASA), issued a public statement strongly
urging members to "steer clear" of
any participation in executions by lethal
injection. (7/10/06, DPIC Update)
- Utah:
Life Without Parole Offers Prosecutors,
Jurors, and Victims an Acceptable Alternative
to the Death Penalty
Prosecutors
in Utah have stated that the sentencing
option of life without parole has been
very helpful in giving jurors and family
members of victims a viable alternative
to the death penalty. Salt Lake County
District Attorney David Yocom noted
that life without parole is often a
better option to present to jurors: "It's a tool for juries
as well as prosecutors and defense attorneys,
too," Yocom said. "It's an
alternative to avoid asking a jury of
12 people to make that decision," to
impose the death penalty. (11/20/06, DPIC Update)
- VA:
Jury Says Cop Put Innocent Man on Death
Row
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Virginia (AP) -- A
federal jury on Friday awarded $2.25
million to a Virginia man who claimed
a police investigator fabricated a rape
and murder confession that sent him to
death row. Earl Washington Jr., who came
within nine days of being executed, had sued
the estate of the state police investigator,
Curtis Reese Wilmore, who died in 1994.
Jurors awarded Washington damages upon
finding that Wilmore deliberately fabricated
evidence that led to his conviction and
death sentence. (5/6/06, CNN.com)
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