Until the defendants' cases can be thoroughly reviewed. Oddly enough, this is something the Bush administration WANTS to see happen, only the Texas justice system has declined. There are about 51 Death Row inmates that could be affected by this, five of whom are supposed to be executed pretty soon, but keep in mind, the World Court has zero enforcement power here.
The case is from northwest Missouri, so the News-Press has an update on it. Apparently, the inmate -- John Middleton -- wants to join a lawsuit challenging how Missouri delivers lethal injections.
Which puts the legal establishment there in a bit of a pickle. Several of their Death Row inmates were sentenced to execution by electric chair -- a punishment that was declared unconstitutional a few months ago.
Sooo ... do these guys automatically get their sentences reduced to life in prison? Or does Nebraska find another way to kill them? (The state is investigating firing squads, hanging and gas chambers.) Snip from the AP:
"If someone tells you with confidence that they know how this will come out, you should get an ounce of what they're smoking," said Bob Schopp, a law professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln who specializes in criminal law and capital punishment.
File Photo: Old Sparky, in happier days.
From The New York Times:
When the Supreme Court ruled last week that the death penalty for raping a child was unconstitutional, the majority noted that a child rapist could face the ultimate penalty in only six states — not in any of the 30 other states that have the death penalty, and not under the jurisdiction of the federal government either.
...It turns out that Justice Kennedy’s confident assertion about the absence of federal law was wrong.
| Sara Shepherd
They've got something like 670 people awaiting execution, and the hold time is about twice the national average, the Los Angeles Times reports. A new commission is recommending a tough choice: Either double what they're spending on attorneys, or change the sentencing law.
Some criminals, for example, could be punished with life and no parole. This is actually cheaper because they don't have access to the very expensive attorneys that come with being on Death Row.
A northern Missouri methamphetamine dealer is set to be the state’s first inmate put to death since October 2005.
The Missouri Supreme Court today set a July 30 execution date for John C. Middleton, who was convicted in Callaway County of killing two people in 1995. Middleton, now 48, also was convicted in a separate case of killing a third person. He also received a death sentence in that case.
Anderson is the woman accused of killing her parents, her brother and his wife, her 5-year-old niece and 3-year-old nephew on Christmas Eve in Washington state. She pleaded not guilty originally, but is now looking for a lawyer who can help her get executed.
Hat Tip: Many thanks, JUNGLE JIM!
Yesterday, the Supremes ruled that executing child rapists isn't constitutional -- a decision that infuriated a lot of lawmakers. They're vowing to write new laws that still make death available in these cases ...
That's according to the Supremes. Somewhere, Matt Blunt's heart is breaking. More here from the New York Times. Kennedy, who wrote the decision, concluded that execution wasn't proportional to the crime of rape, even if the victim is a child.
I like how QuizLaw summed it up:
It makes sense, and I suppose that the punishment is not proportional, since it’s less of an “eye for an eye” thing and more of an “eye for the loss of your childhood and likely life debilitating trauma” thing. So, bully for the Sups.
But on the other hand: If you had to give out the death penalty, wouldn’t it feel good to fry the bastards who raped children? I’m just sayin’, you know?
Hat Tip: Many thanks, Matt!
(AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Morva was sentenced today to death for his slaying of a hospital guard and a sheriff's deputy in Virginia. (Morva, a jailed inmate, broke free during a trip to the hospital -- the two shootings followed.)
(AP Photo/Matt Gentry, Pool)
The U.S. had already agreed to review the cases of Mexican citizens on Death Row, but the Mexican government says that hasn't been done to their satisfaction. That was a really good idea snitching to the United Nations, Mexico. Everybody knows that if the U.N. says jump, the U.S. response is usually "go to Hell."
Charles Dean Hood, a topless-bar bouncer convicted of two murders, was NOT executed last night. The inmate says he deserves a new trial because the judge and prosecutor were allegedly secret lovahs.
Hat Tip: Many thanks, kmb!
Boy, doesn't this sound creepy. From the Houston Chronicle:
Karl Eugene Chamberlain, with a big smile on his face, addressed relatives of his victim, staring directly at the son, parents and brother of Felecia Prechtl as they stood just a few feet away, looking through a glass window.
"I want you all to know I love you with all my heart. I want to thank you for being here," he said. Prechtl's son was 5 when he found his mother's body in their bathroom.
"We are here to honor the life of Felecia Prechtl, a woman I didn't even know, and celebrate my death," he said. "I am so terribly sorry. I wish I could die more than once."
When was Prechtl killed? In 1991.
The Show-Me Supremes say they've got an execution team in place and will set dates for two Death Row prisoners "in due course." Also promised to mow lawn and take out garbage "soon."
For court junkies, here's a good trial story out of Wichita today, with a nifty sidebar.
A jury spared the life of 51-year-old Ted Burnett, who was convicted of killing a 14-year-old girl. Everett Gentry, the father of the girl's unborn child -- who got her pregnant when she was 13 -- testified that he paid Burnett $500 worth of cash and drugs to strangle the girl.
| Sara Shepherd
Not only is the horse out of the barn, it's gotten married, had kids and retired to Boca.
Hat Tip: Many thanks, Keith G in PV!
Taylor is one of two men convicted of murdering Kansas City teenager Ann Harrison back in 1989. She'd been waiting outside her house for the school bus. Tony Rizzo has more here on Taylor's latest setback in avoiding execution, which BTW hasn't been scheduled yet.
File photo: Ann Harrison
The House added the death-penalty language at the last minute to a judiciary bill. But that measure got spiked when the two houses' negotiators got together.
Prosecutors are trying to decide whether they'll still press for the death penalty against Steven Sandstrom, who was convicted of murdering William McCay because McCay was black. Sandstrom's codefendant, Gary Eye, has already dodged execution and gotten life instead.
Just days after he said he wanted to end his death-penalty appeal, D.C. sniper John Allen Muhammad has decided that he would, in fact, NOT like to die.
Georgia resumed executions last night -- the first one in the U.S. in seven months. They'd stopped because the Supremes were considering whether lethal injections were constitutional. (They are.)
The New York Times has a story this morning noting that one of the biggest problems with capital punishment is, well, crummy lawyers. Either the defense doesn't mount a serious case, or the prosecution hides evidence that could help the accused. (The ABA recommends that states with the death penalty have special capital-defense teams, but only a few do.)
North Carolina, for example, has released three inmates in the last six months. All of them were denied information that could have helped their defense.
Hat Tip: Many thanks to the Uncanny Keith G in PV!
Photo of William Earl Lynd, executed last night for the murder of his girlfriend, via The AP.
Meaning that William Earl Lynd, who was convicted of killing his girlfriend, could be put to death at 6 p.m. tonight in Georgia. He'll be the first U.S. prisoner to be executed after several months of delays.
Sorry, but i don't think people like Carlton Turner Jr. deserve any second chances either. Snip from the New York Times:
Mr. Turner was 19 in 1998, when he shot Carlton Turner Sr., 43, and his wife, Tonya, 40, several times in the head in their home near Dallas, and then went on a spending spree, using one of his parents’ credit cards to buy clothes and jewelry.
After that, the defendant put the bodies in the garage before entertaining his friends at the house, prosecutors said. The crime was discovered after neighbors called the police because they had not seen Mr. and Mrs. Turner for days, but had seen Carlton Jr. driving his parents’ cars.
And not in a general, "executing-child-rapists-is-a-longterm-goal-of-mine" manner. Nope, the governor wants the legislature to pass a law this year.
Now that lethal injection has been upheld by the Supremes, Missouri wants to move ahead with its slate of executions. The Missouri AG has sent four more cases to the state Supreme Court, asking them to set execution dates. We still don't have an appointment for Michael Taylor, who was convicted of murdering Ann Harrison.
McClatchy's Washington bureau has a post-mortem from Wednesday's arguments before the Supreme Court. Obviously, it'll be a while before we know the court's decision, but the reporter says the justices seemed to suggest the death penalty might be OK for repeat offenders or particularly gruesome cases. More from the Sex Crimes blog here.
Well, if you're talking about Texas or Alabama, the answer is probably "pretty soon," The New York Times reports. In other states, though, it likely means there'll be more lawsuits and more delays.
Just in: The Supremes say there's no problem with the three-drug-cocktail method of execution, which some Death Row inmates had described as cruel and unusual. This case has essentially frozen executions across the country. Will be curious to see how long it takes before lethal injections get up and running again ...
More to follow ...
Story is from Florida. David Byron Russ, who killed 58-year-old Madeleine Leinen, says he doesn't want his attorneys to present any evidence that might get him a lighter sentence. From the Orlando Sentinel:
"I have a desire to stand before you vulnerable, as should be the case," he said. "I don't want to drag my family and the victim's family through a penalty phase. . . .
"I understand the gravity of what we're doing," Russ said. "The state is seeking the death penalty. I, in fact, support the death penalty."
Hat Tip: Many thanks, FanDanGo!
The Supremes are supposed to hear arguments this week over the death penalty and whether child rapists can be executed. (Historically In the last few decades, the United States has only executed murderers. -- thanks for the correction, V!) It could be a big case -- a lot of states say they'd like to kill child rapists, if they can get an OK from the Supremes.
The always excellent Sex Crimes blog has a post on the case here, as well as a huge archive of briefs, motions, law blogs and other resource material. If you don't have a ton of time, the Washington Post has a solid backgrounder here.
The bill's sponsor, Rep. Bill Deeken, R-Jefferson City, supports the death penalty, but he wants to make sure the system is fair. Snip from the Columbia Missourian:
“If I was on a jury and condemned a person to death, and he was put to death, and I found out five years later that he was not guilty, that would be very hard for me to live with,” Deeken said.
Dennis Fritz, a local guy who was wrongfully convicted in Oklahoma until DNA evidence freed him, spoke in favor of the moratorium. It's sort of a moot point right now since the Supremes have essentially stopped executions nationwide ... until they make their ruling on lethal injection, which could happen later this year.
The Missourian says the new MO measure appears to have bipartisan support.
The U.S. appeals court in Philadelphia didn't knock down his conviction for shooting a police officer, though. They said Abu-Jamal needs a new sentencing hearing or should have his punishment reduced to life without parole. Abu-Jamal became a leading opponent of the death penalty, uh, coincidentally enough after he was sentenced to die.
(AP Photo/Chris Gardner, File)
Because the prosecutor kept all blacks off the jury and referred to the homicide as his "O.J. Simpson case." The Supremes, by a vote of 7-2, seemed to think that injected racial prejudice into the case. The defendant, who is black, will get a new trial.
China's chief justice says the country used the death penalty for only the worst cases last year, though it's not disclosing an exact number. Experts have estimated that China executes as many as 10K prisoners in a typical year. The Dui Hua Foundation thinks the drop last year was about 25 to 30 percent.
Chinese police officers patrol outside the Great Hall of the People just before a plenary session of the National People's Congress continues inside Monday, March 10, 2008. China's Supreme People's Court Chief Justice Xiao Yang said Monday China has restricted the use of the death penalty except for the most serious crimes. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
Montgomery -- who was sentenced to death for killing a northwest Missouri woman and stealing her unborn child -- has asked to be released into the general population. Prosecutors are arguing against this, though, because they fear other inmates will hurt her, Mark Morris reports.
At the top of the list? Khalid Sheik Mohammed, who allegedly bragged about being in charge of the plot. The other defendants are accused of providing money and supplies or supervising training of the hijackers. And though the Pentagon is seeking the death penalty, another Bush official must still give approval to seek execution.
Hat Tip: Many thanks, JUNGLE JIM
Nebraska -- the only state that uses The Chair as its only means of execution -- is going to give up the chair. The Nebraska Supremes call electrocution a form of cruel and unusual punishment, akin to torture. More from the AP:
The high court made the ruling in the case of Raymond Mata Jr., convicted for the 1999 kidnapping and killing of 3-year-old Adam Gomez of Scottsbluff. Parts of the boy's body were found in a freezer and dog bowl at Mata's home. Bone fragments also were recovered from the stomach of Mata's dog.
The court said in its opinion that evidence shows that electrocution inflicts "intense pain and agonizing suffering" and that electrocution "has proven itself to be a dinosaur more befitting the laboratory of Baron Frankenstein than the death chamber" of state prisons.
In Utah, a convicted killer is waiting to hear whether a jury will sentence him to death. His attorneys wanted to argue that his rotten childhood made him less responsible for the killing. But the convict refuses to let them to bring up his family -- he didn't want anything bad said about them.
The lawyers for the inmates have filed suit to get the execution team's names, partly because they don't think the state's background checks are tough enough. The Post-Dispatch has revealed that one of the execution nurses is on probation.
Missouri law makes it illegal to publicly name an executioner -- legislation passed after the P-D named another execution member last year -- but the paper believes the law is unconstitutional.
A Missouri executioner was allowed to carry out his work even though he had a criminal record of his own.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Sunday that the nurse even joined a federal team that executed Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, even though the nurse’s superiors knew he was on probation.
Before McVeigh’s 2001 execution, the Missouri nurse had to get his probation officer’s permission to travel to Indiana as part of the execution team. That request led at least one supervisor to write to an administrator with the Missouri Division of Probation and Parole.
“As I stated to you previously, it seems bizarre to me that we would knowingly allow an offender, on active supervision, to participate in the execution process at any level,” the supervisor wrote in a memo obtained by the Post-Dispatch.
In Arkansas, prison officials don't open the curtain to the execution room until the inmate is strapped down. A group of journalists sued, saying they should be able to watch the process from the time each inmate came into the chamber. A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit.
The Golden State has about 670 convicts on Death Row. As the Mercury News puts it, they'd need to execute a person every day for almost two years to get caught up. The state has executed 13 people since 1978. A state commission is investigating the issue to see what's broken.
The AP has a piece on the Supremes reacting to the oral arguments this morning. Their take? The court is "deeply divided," though we won't how much so until we get a ruling.
It's going before the Supreme Court today. Here's the brief filed for the Death Row inmates, whose lawyers say the three-drug-cocktail method of executing prisoners is too painful and thus cruel and unusual. And here's the response. Also, if you've got just a gob of free time, there are several amicus briefs, too.
Meet Ralph Baze, the Kentucky Death Row inmate whose case has essentially shut down execution in the United States until the Supreme Court hears his case. (His lawyers say the execution method of three drugs is too painful and thus unconstitutional.)
Baze shot and killed two local lawmen when they came to pick him up on warrants. Shot them in the back, no less. The Courier-Journal has an interview with him, where he says he had to shoot them to save his own life.
I'm pretty sure I know what everybody here is going to say, but the big news is the U.S. Supreme Court is going to be talking about the issue, too. They're going to hear arguments about whether it's OK for Louisiana to execute child rapists.
Nobody has been executed for anything but murder in the U.S. since 1964. And a previous decision from the Supremes said that rape wasn't executable offense. A handful of states have passed laws saying that child rape is so heinous that capital punishment is justified in these cases.
The AP has a profile of David Barron, 29, a Kentucky public defender whose appeal for two Death Row inmates is going before the Supreme Court this year. The case -- which argues the three-drug cocktail used to execute inmates is too painful and thus unconstitutional -- is a big reason why executions have come to standstill across the country.
The New York Times' Adam Liptak has an interesting piece about Texas and the death penalty. The headline makes a big deal about Texas accounting for more than 60 percent of the country's executions this year, but the actual number of such cases held steady. And like the rest of the United States, Texas has been sentencing fewer people to death.
The big difference between the Lone Star State and everybody else? The justice system there works pretty hard to carry out the sentence, relatively quickly.
This story has been popping up on a lot of sites today. This year, the U.S. executed 42 people, which is the lowest it's been since 1994, when 31 people were put to death, the Death Penalty Information Center reports.
Obviously, the Supreme Court has played a big role. The court has effectively stopped any executions until it hears arguments on lethal injection next year. Death-penalty opponents say the slowdown is part of a bigger trend away from capital punishment. Folks who support executions, though, note there are fewer murders, thus fewer murderers to kill.
Jesse Timmendequas, 46, raped and killed Megan Kanka, 7, after he lured her to his house by saying he wanted to show her a puppy. Her death inspired Megan's Law.
Gov. Blunt wants to make child rape an executable offense because, well, it's a heinous crime and anybody who does something like that deserves to die. (A few other states have similar laws in place, but it's fairly rare for somebody to get executed over something like this.)
Critics say this could backfire, though:
“I can appreciate why some people are pro-death penalty, but I think one thing they’re not looking at is you’re just encouraging the person to kill the victim,” said Grant Shostak, president of the Missouri Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.
“If you’re going to get the death penalty for doing something, why would you leave any live witnesses? You’re placing the children you’re trying to protect at more risk.”
This isn't new, but I recently read it for the first time and thought I'd share:
Death-row inmate Jarvis Masters -- who published two books and became a Buddhist since he was convicted in connection with the 1985 murder of a prison guard -- melds his death sentence with instructions for making pruno, the fermented potion inmates make with (an in) pretty much whatever they can get their hands on.
In New Jersey, the state Senate just approved legislation that would make it the first state to abolish the death penalty since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated it in 1976.
The measure to replace the death sentence with life without parole would spare the life of a sex offender whose crimes sparked Megan's Law. With the support of the Democrat-controlled Assembly and the Democratic governor, the bill is expected to be signed into law within a month.
Another note from the story: New Jersey has eight men on death row and hasn't executed anyone since 1963.
Hat Tip: Goes to the Golfer!
The Dallas Morning News has a great story about European women who fall madly in love with the condemned on Texas' Death Row. The women send the guys money and pictures of themselves in underwear or swimsuits. In some cases, they even get married.
A motel in Livingston, Texas, says they book about 10 reservations per month for foreign women visiting prisoners. From the inn's clerk:
"They're so gullible, you just want to shake them and say, 'Are you women that stupid?' " she said, eyes wide behind horn-rimmed glasses. "Those guys over there are running a game. They've got 10 to 20 women at a time they're romancing."
The Post-Dispatch has a story about a dyslexic doctor who used to carry out executions in Missouri. A federal judge actually stopped executions in the Show-Me State after learning about the doctor, who has been sued for malpractice more than 20 times.
Missouri DOC agreed to stop using him, but legal filings now allege the doctor is part of federal executions in Indiana, the Post-Dispatch reports.
Rodriguez was one of the Texas 7 -- a group of inmates that escaped in 2000 and killed a police officer while they were on the run. He's dropped his appeals and would very much like to be executed. Only prison officials say they have to wait for the Supreme Court, which is going to hear arguments on lethal injection and whether the process is too painful.
It doesn't sound like Rodriguez really cares.
Interesting story from Newsweek about capital punishment. Executions still enjoy a lot of support among the general public -- about 65 percent PRO, according to one study.
But there are fewer and fewer cases where the defendants are sentenced to death, the magazine reports. We went from 317 death sentences in 1996 to 128 in 2005.
The story lists several possible reasons why. Juries are worried about false convictions, and they have option now of putting prisoners away for life without parole. And states may be finding it cheaper to jail somebody for life than dealing with a series of appeals.
New Jersey's legislature plans to vote next month on a measure that would repeal the death penalty. It's sort of a dead issue (ha,ha) since the state hasn't executed anybody since the 1960s and only has one Death Row inmate. But anti-execution activists hope it'll convince other states to repeal the death penalty.
Forgot to mention this yesterday, but the U.S. Supreme Court stayed a Mississippi inmate's execution on Tuesday, just 19 minutes before the big event. The court hasn't explicitly said to stop all executions, but that's the bottom-line impact.
The American Bar Association -- which doesn't take a stance on capital punishment -- says the U.S. should stop executions in every state because there are too many problems with the system. That's according to a study that looked at the death penalty in eight states.
The problems? The lawyers say they kept fin
