Did this inmate deserve to be executed?

Last night, Texas executed Robert Lee Thompson, 34, for a fatal robbery that occurred 13 years ago at a Houston convenience store. Thompson didn't actually pull the trigger. His accomplice, who did, got a life sentence in prison while Thompson was sentenced to death. A state parole board said, look, this isn't fair and recommended that he get life, too. The governor, however, declined to intervene.

Thompson did shoot one of the clerks during the robbery -- four times, in fact -- but that man lived. And prosecutors argued that he'd participated in other stickups where people died. (Though it's not clear if he was ever convicted of those crimes.)

Hat Tip: Many thanks, Man in a Mission, Cripjak and Keith G in PV!

Va. inmate chooses to be electrocuted

Larry Bill Elliott, who's set to die tonight, denies that he killed two people back in 2001, but the governor and the U.S. Supreme Court have declined to intervene. Elliott chose to be electrocuted -- a method of execution that most Death Row inmates avoid. Prosecutors say Elliott was trying to win the heart of his new love by killing her ex-husband and his new woman. He says he never met the victims or set foot in their home.

Seven states allow for the electric chair, plus two others who only allow it if lethal injection is considered unconstitutional, the Roanoke paper says.

How do we fix Kansas' death penalty?

Reading through the Eagle's piece this weekend, it's easy to understand why victims' families are frustrated. Kansas reinstated the death penalty in 1994 and has executed prisoners a grand total of zero times since then. In fact, the first person condemned under the renewed death penalty, back in 1996, probably has another 10 years of appeals ahead of him. Officials estimate that a death sentence costs 16 times what it costs to imprison someone for life. Victims' families would like to see the process move faster, but on the other hand, nobody wants to take the risk of accidentally executing an innocent person, either.

A strange kind of mercy

In Somalia, a man was stoned to death by Islamists for the crime of adultery, but they've spared his girlfriend -- until she delivers the baby she's carrying, then she'll be killed, too, BBC News reports.

Hat Tip: Many thanks, cripjak!

Saudi pedophile to be beheaded, then crucified

Well, it's tough but fair. Especially with this joker, who raped five kids between the ages of 3 and 7. He left one of them to die in the desert.

Hat Tip: Many thanks, cripjak!

Calif. jury wants white supremacist's dream to come true

In California, a white supremacist named Billy Joe Johnson had asked FOR execution because he heard things were nicer on Death Row. A jury is giving him the thumbs-up.

Hat Tip: Many thanks, JUNGLE JIM!

White supremacist asks to be on Death Row, please

Billy Joe Johnson is asking an Orange County, Calif., jury to send him to Death Row because he hears the amenities are nicer there. (Better food, I guess?) He's trying to convince them that he killed two other people. He's already serving a life sentence, and it's not like anybody gets executed in California.

Hat Tip: Many thanks, cripjak!

Average wait on Death Row? 13 years

That's the national average. There are more 3,000 people waiting in this particular line. About 40 of them are executed in a typical year.

Only 1 in 10 death sentences get carried out, report says

The Death Penalty Information Center has released a new study questioning whether the death penalty is cost effective. Nationally, we've spent about $2.5 billion over the past 30 years on costs related to the death penalty, but most people who get that sentence AREN'T executed. The report includes a survey of police chiefs, who say the money would be better spent on crime prevention. Kansas, which has considered banning the death penalty simply because of cost concerns, gets mentioned in the study. The Sunflower State, it should be noted, hasn't executed anybody since 1965.

Critics argue that DPIC, which says it's simply a clearinghouse for capital-punishment information, actually has an agenda and wants to ban the death penalty. (Their board does seem to include a lot of people who've argued against execution.)

Did Texas execute innocent man? Nope, governor says

In 2004, Cameron Todd Willingham was put to death in Texas after he was convicted of setting a fire that killed his three young children, but there's been a lot of debate lately whether he actually did it. A forensic expert reviewed the original investigation and said the arson ruling wasn't "scientifically supported."

Yesterday, Gov. Rick Perry called Willingham a monster and said the recent talk was just anti-death-penalty propaganda. He noted the conviction was upheld several times in court, and the prosecutors still believe Willingham was guilty. Perry has been criticized because he replaced members of the Texas Forensic Science Commission, just as they were getting ready to review the Willingham case.

Most Americans support death penalty, survey says

About 65 percent of those surveyed still support the death penalty for people convicted of murder, Gallup reports. That number hasn't really changed in the last 10 years or so, though it's not as high as the 80-percent level of support seen back in the mid-1990s.

Appeals court delays Ohio execution

You probably remember this case from a few weeks ago: convicted killer Lawrence Reynolds Jr. was supposed to be put to death in Ohio, but after two hours, the execution team couldn't find a vein that would work. (Reynolds even tried to help them find one, reports say.) A federal appeals court has officially put a hold on his execution while Reynolds' lawyers get ready for a Nov. 30 court date. They're going to argue that a second execution attempt would be cruel and unusual.

Could Ark. case raise new roadblocks for death penalty in America?

In St. Louis, four Arkansas inmates are arguing in a federal appeals court that, even with new procedures in place, the process of execution could cause suffering and pain -- and thus be a form of cruel and unusual punishment. (The U.S. essentially stopped executing people for several months when another case raised a similar objection.) The AP notes that several people are watching this case. The attorney for Reginald Clemons actually showed up to watch the hearing.

Death penalty upheld for Dru Sjodin's killer

Sjodin was a University of North Dakota student who was abducted from a Grand Forks shopping mall's parking lot, raped and killed back in 2003. Alfonso Rodriguez Jr., the man convicted of her slaying, appealed on several grounds, but an appeals court didn't side with him. Sjodin's death led Minnesota, where Rodriguez had been jailed before the murder, and North Dakota to tighten its rules on sex offenders.

No appeal for convict -- even though judge, prosecutor had affair

In Texas, the state criminal-appeals court is refusing to hear the case of Charles Dean Hood, who was convicted of a double murder back in 1990, the Dallas Morning News reports. He was sentenced to death, and his attorneys want to appeal because the judge and prosecutor in that original case have now admitted they had had a sexual relationship before that trial. Tough toenails, the appeals court said, you should have raised the issue in earlier appeals. The defense says they heard rumors over the years, but couldn't get confirmation of the affair until 2008.

D.C. sniper's execution set for Nov. 10

Mark your calendars!

(AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)

Hat Tip: Many thanks, JUNGLE JIM!

Ohio tries in vein to execute murderer

An Ohio execution has been postponed for a week because officials couldn't find a good vein after two hours of trying.

Convicted killer, 94, might outlast Death Row

Viva Leroy Nash, the oldest Death Row inmate in America, is being held in Arizona. After a long, violent life, he got the death penalty for a murder he committed at age 67. His lawyers are arguing that Nash should be pulled from Death Row because he isn't mentally competent anymore and, thus, can't assist in his own defense.

More about Nash here and here.

Hat Tip: Many thanks, eephus!

Child killer would like to be executed, please

In Nebraska, an inmate named Patrick Ronald Russell has asked to be executed. In 1973, Russell used a phone cord to strangle an 8-year-old boy, Joseph Edmonds. Russell, 17 during the murder, has served about 36 years on a life sentence and, frankly, isn't having a great time, the Omaha World-Herald reports.. You'd think a child killer with a death wish could get that particular itch scratched pretty easily in prison, but officials, concerned for Russell's safety, have removed him from gen pop. Russell asked a judge to intervene. The judge says he doesn't have jurisdiction.

Executed man didn't commit fatal arson, expert tells TX officials

In Texas, they're conducting the first state-sponsored review of a capital punishment case. Specifically, they're looking into the case of Cameron Todd Willingham, who was convicted and executed for setting a house fire that killed his three children. An expert on fire science says there was "no basis" to rule the fire an arson, the Chicago Tribune reports. Snip:

The state fire marshal on the case, Beyler concluded in his report, had "limited understanding" of fire science. The fire marshal "seems to be wholly without any realistic understanding of fires and how fire injuries are created," he wrote.

The marshal's findings, he added, "are nothing more than a collection of personal beliefs that have nothing to do with science-based fire investigation."

Willingham's last words before he was executed?

Yeah. The only statement I want to make is that I am an innocent man - convicted of a crime I did not commit. I have been persecuted for 12 years for something I did not do. From God's dust I came and to dust I will return - so the earth shall become my throne. I gotta go, road dog. I love you Gabby. [Remaining portion of statement omitted due to profanity.]

A Wikipedia entry about the case.

The prosecutor's account.

A 2004 piece from the Tribune that raised questions about the case.

Hat Tip: Many thanks, Keith G in PV!

NC bill would allow race-based defense against death penalty

This is interesting. From the Winston Salem-Journal:

The General Assembly has approved a landmark bill that will allow death-row inmates to challenge the death penalty by arguing that there is systemic racial bias in the way that capital punishment has been applied.

Under the bill, which is expected to be signed into law by Gov. Bev Perdue, an inmate will be able to present statistical evidence showing racial disparities in how the death penalty has been used. If a judge finds the evidence convincing, the judge can overturn that inmate's death sentence and convert it to a sentence of life in prison.

Autistic boy killed in apparent arson -- AL judge insists on death penalty

In Alabama, a woman named Christie Scott has been convicted of setting a fire that killed her son, a 6-year-old boy who had autism. The defense still argues that it was an accident, but it looks bad that she bought a $100,000 life-insurance policy on the boy one day before the fatal fire.

The jury recommended life without parole. The judge, however, insisted on the death penalty, saying the crime was so heinous that execution was required.

Rowan Ford's stepdad fights death-penalty option

Ford, a 9-year-old girl, was kidnapped from her home near Stella, Mo., back in November 2007. She was reportedly raped in one county, then murdered in another. After a weeklong search, her body was found in a sinkhole in McDonald County. Authorities charged her stepdad and one of his buddies. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

The stepdad's attorney wants the death penalty off the table, the Joplin Globe reports. Snip:

Dryden, according to online court records, argued that the circumstance of “wantonly vile, horrible or inhuman” is unconstitutionally vague.

Cox said the motion was one of the “standard motions that are filed in every death penalty case.”

An old KY3 piece about the case.

An earlier CSKC post about Rowan Ford.

MO executions go "on hiatus"

We went a few years without any executions, and now the Show-Me State is back in a holding pattern while Reginald Clemons' attorneys go to court and get assurances that Missouri's execution team won't, you know, forget to put enough anesthesia into Death Row inmates before they're killed.

Joseph Paul Franklin

The Missouri AG wants to set an execution date for Franklin, one of the more notorious killers on our Death Row. Franklin was imprisoned here for killing Gerald Gordon after a bar mitzvah in 1977 near St. Louis, but he's probably better known as the guy who shot Hustler impresario Larry Flynt. (He also shot lawyer Vernon Jordan, aka Bill Clinton's friend, back when Jordan was president of the National Urban League.) By one count, he's killed as many as 20 people.

This isn't his birth name, by the way. James Clayton Vaughn renamed himself after Joseph Paul Goebbels and Benjamin Franklin. (Two figures who naturally go together, right?) He is, as you might have guessed, a white supremacist known for targeting blacks, Jews and mixed-race couples.

From Wikipedia:

Franklin has been linked by either indictment or confession to 20 murders, 6 aggravated assaults, 16 bank robberies and two bombings. He has confessed to eight murders, and has received several life sentences or death sentences for others. He made several confessions in the late 1990s on the condition that he confessed to "an attractive white female investigator."

He also feels that killing Jewish people shouldn't be a crime. Snip from an old Malcolm Gladwell piece:

he respectfully disagreed with the media's description of racially motivated crimes as "hate crimes," since, he said, "every murder is committed out of hate."