Death Penalty

James Robert Ballard was acquitted unanimously by the Florida Supreme Court after spending three years on death row. The court found that the prosecution did not present enough evidence to prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, even though a jury found him guilty.

From the Miami Herald:

On Thursday, the seven members of the Florida Supreme Court also issued a unanimous verdict: It acquitted Ballard, concluding the state's case against him was so weak the trial judge should have dismissed it on the spot.  The sum total of the evidence against Ballard: a hair and a non-bloody fingerprint.

''We find that the evidence presented is insufficient to support Ballard's conviction,'' the Supreme Court wrote.

Ballard will be the 26th person exonerated from Florida's death row since the reinstatement of capital punishment.  See Supreme Court acquits 3-year death row inmate.

Two bills in two separate states have brought the death penalty to the spotlight among legislators.  In Georgia, State Sen. Vincent Fort introduced a moratorium bill, claiming that his state's death penalty system needed to be studied based on a recent publication by the American Bar Association (see: ABA calls for moratorium in Georgia).  Another bill in Iowa has passed the House Judiciary Committee, calling for a revival of the death penalty for defendants convicted of kidnapping, raping, and killing children.

Neither bill is expected to pass into law, but they are certainly generating debate in their respective states.

See: Democratic lawmaker calls for death penalty moratorium and Death penalty dead in Iowa Senate

The refusal of any licensed medical professionals to assist in the administration of a lethal dose of barbiturates has raised a host of questions about the death penalty. Medical associations have widely condemned the participation of doctors in executions, in any capacity, as violating the exhortation to "do no harm." Judge Fogel's ruling requiring the presence of medical professionals stemmed from accusations that the lethal injection protocol may be cruel and unusual punishment.

From the Chicago Tribune:

Recent studies, including one published last spring in The Lancet, a British medical journal, have cast doubt on whether the first drug in the cocktail effectively prevents the person from feeling pain.

Richard Dieter, director of the Death Penalty Information Center, said the procedure involves the insertion of an intravenous feed and the use of an anesthetic, yet is performed by non-medical personnel.

"The method was developed 30 years ago," said Dieter. "The drugs are outdated and may not be fulfilling their intended function."

...

Dieter believes the technical problems with lethal injection may be solved in the future. "There are probably drugs that the medical profession will say work in a reliable way and can achieve a quick, painless death," he said.

But other experts were not so sure any method would pass constitutional muster.

"There's no reason to believe the procedures used today are any more humane than a sharp knife or a guillotine," said Dr. Linda Emanuel, a physician and neurophysiologist at Northwestern University. "But people don't want to do that because it looks too gory. . . . If we don't have the stomach for rolling heads, we need to ask ourselves why."

For more see: Doctors' stand renews death penalty debate

The execution of Michael Morales, scheduled to occur at 12:01 AM Tuesday morning in San Quentin Prison, has been postponed. The two anesthesiologists who were supposed to oversee the execution refused to participate. Judge Jeremy Fogel had decided that in order for the method of execution to remain unchanged, doctors would need to be present to ensure that the prisoner was not conscious when the drugs that cause death were injected. The doctors claimed that what they were being asked to do violated their code of professional ethics.

From Reuters:

"The district court order that followed the publication of the Ninth Circuit opinion does not sufficiently allay our concerns. While we contemplated a positive role that might enable us to verify a humane execution protocol for Mr. Morales, what is being asked of us now is ethically unacceptable," said a statement from the doctors read by Crittendon.

It was not immediately clear what the language of the ruling was that upset the doctors.

Defense attorneys had claimed last week that the use of the lethal injection was cruel and unusual punishment, barred by the Constitution. This prompted a judge to order prison officials to either alter the composition of the lethal chemicals used or make medical experts available to ensure unnecessary pain was not inflicted during the execution.

The execution is now scheduled to take place at 7:30 PM, using only an overdose of sedatives to execute Morales. Morales has seemingly exhausted his appeals and been denied clemency by Governor Schwarzenegger. The death warrant for Morales' execution is valid for 24 hours, but it might be difficult to get a new one, should it expire, since the original trial judge is now advocating for clemency for Morales.

For more see: Calif. execution delayed as doctors walk out

Steven Staley of Texas was issued a stay of execution on Friday, just six days before his scheduled execution. Judge Wayne Salvant issued the stay after he ruled that Staley was mentally ill and unable to completely understand why he was condemned to die. His execution has been postponed indefinitely.

From the Star-Telegram:

Jack Strickland, who has been Staley's court-appointed lawyer for about seven years, said Monday that his client has been mentally ill for a long time. Staley's execution had been scheduled for Thursday.

"He understands that he's going to be executed, but he doesn't have the slightest idea what for," Strickland said. "He has an awful history. Since he's been on Death Row, he's been hospitalized 15 or 16 times because of mental illness."

This is the second time in 11 months that Staley has been spared from what had been considered a certain execution. In March, Staley had been taken from his cell on Death Row to a holding station just outside the execution chamber when the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals interceded just hours before he was to have been put to death. The stay was granted to give Strickland time to prepare his case that Staley suffers from a mental illness that excludes him from the death penalty.

This stay does not mean Staley will not be executed. If he is later determined to be competent he can be executed. Assistant District Attorney Chuck Mallon has said that the state may file a motion to forcefully medicate him. This could lead to Staley being declared competent for execution.

For more see: Stay issued 6 days before execution

Medical groups, including the California Medical Association and the American Society of Anesthesiologists, spoke out vehemently against the new lethal injection protocol suggested by U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel .  Judge Fogel provided the state of California with two options to pursue the lethal injection of Michael Morales on February 21st: administer only one type of drug in the execution chamber or have medical professionals present to monitor the sedation level of the condemned.  Dissenting medical organizations claim that physicians have no place in the execution chamber.

From the Sacremento Bee:

"Physicians are healers, not executioners," the national anesthesiology group said in a statement Wednesday. "The doctor-patient relationship depends upon the inviolate principle that a doctor uses his or her medical expertise only for the benefit of patients."

"An anesthesiologist who enters the death chamber is clearly violating national and internationally established medical ethics," [Dr. Jonathan I. Groner, a surgery professor at the Ohio State University College of Medicine and Public Health] wrote in a statement. "Not since Nazi physicians supervised the killing of mentally and physically disabled individuals ... have high-ranking physicians become so intimately involved in state-sponsored killing."

Despite this outrage, reportedly the prosecution has already submitted the names of two anesthesiologists who are to be present at Morales' execution.  These individuals and their credentials are remaining anonymous.  The Medical Board of California, responsible for licencing physicians, has stated that they will not investigate nor discipline any participating physician.

See: Execution doctors an ethics issue

U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel ordered yesterday that California must change their injection procedure, otherwise he would delay the execution of Michael Morales.  The judge agreed with Morales' attorneys that there was a risk of extreme pain with the current lethal injection process.  The state has been given two options: use sedatives exclusively or have a medical professional with training in anesthesiology present to ensure the sedation is complete.

While this decision will not necessarily translate into a stay for Michael Morales, some death penalty opponents are still hopeful about its effects.  From the Los Angeles Times:

"This is a historic decision," said Natasha Minsker, director of death penalty policy for the American Civil Liberties Union in Northern California. "This is the first time a federal judge has concluded that there is substantial evidence that people may be suffering pain during the lethal injection process."

"Judge Fogel noted that in six of the past 13 executions something went wrong," she said, "and there is reason to believe that in those six cases, people were suffering."

Michael Morales is scheduled to be executed February 21st for the 1981 rape and murder of Terri Winchell.  See Change in Lethal Injections Ordered.

In an opinion piece published in the Baltimore Sun yesterday, former prosecuter and law professor Stephen Grossman from the University of Baltimore argues that, regardless of whether the death penalty is right or wrong, it is just not worth it for society. 

From the Baltimore Sun:

I don't know the answer as to whether the death penalty is just or just cruel. But I do know that it is not worth the societal effort it requires and the wounds it causes...We have long debated whether capital punishment is just. It is time we ask whether it is worth the price that we pay for it.

For the full article follow the link: Capital punishment may be just, but is it worth the trouble?

The military has asked Bush to allow two military executions to go forward, the first since 1961.  The first two prisoners to be executed will be Ronald A. Gray and Dwight J. Loving, both housed on the military's death row at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas.  The military's spokeswoman did not have a comment as to why the military is pushing for these executions after such a long hiatus from the practice.  There is no deadline for Bush's response and it is unclear when he will issue a statement.

See Military asks Bush to ok executions at Ft. Leavenworth

Robert Neville, Jr. was executed last night in Texas. He was put to death for the murder of 19 yeaR old Amy Robinson in 1998. Before his execution Neville expressed deep contrition to both his family and the family of the victim.

From the Star-Telegram:

Trembling and remorseful, condemned killer Robert Neville went to his death Tuesday evening apologizing to the family of Amy Robinson, the Arlington teen-ager he and an accomplice tortured and killed eight years ago.

"If I see Amy on the other side, I will tell her how much you love and miss her," Neville, 31, said to the slain girl's mother and sisters as he lay with arms outstretched on the gurney in Huntsville's death chamber.

To his own parents, Neville said, "Mom, Dad, I'm sorry for putting you all through this pain and stuff. I love you, and I will see you on the other side."

He was pronounced dead at 6:19 p.m.

The mother of his victim said Neville's contrite tone helped ease the pain of her daughter's death.

Robert Neville, Jr. was the 358th person executed by Texas since it resumed executions in 1982, and the 3rd this year.

For more see "Teen's killer is put to death"

Six jurors from the 1983 jury that sentenced Michael Morales to death have now joined the judge from the trial in asking governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to grant clemency. Both the jurors and the judge, Charles McGrath, now believe that they wrongly sentenced a man to death. The reason for this change of heart is the discovery that a jailhouse informant, Bruce Samuelson, lied during his testimony. He claimed that Morales confided to him in Spanish while in prison. However, a decade after the trial it was discovered that Morales does not speak Spanish.

From the Los Angeles Times:

First McGrath, and on Tuesday the jurors, said they now believe that Samuelson lied and that Morales should be allowed to spend the rest of his life in prison. The jurors' declarations were filed under seal and not available for public viewing, Weston said.

The six jurors — a majority of those still living who heard the case — declared that without the informant's testimony, they never would have returned a verdict of death, Weston said.

The district attorney "cannot avoid this central fact: Because Samuelson could not have obtained the incriminating statements in the manner he claimed, it is indisputable that he did not obtain incriminating information from Mr. Morales at all," Weston said. "His entire testimony at the trial was a lie."

Morales is scheduled to be executed on February 21st in California.

For more see "6 Jurors urge sparing killers' life"

Glenn Benner was executed late yesterday morning for the rape and murders of Cynthia Sedgwick in 1985 and Trina Bowser in 1986.  Benner declined to file a clemency petition, claiming that it was hopeless because Governor Taft did not take into account the possibility rehabilitation while in prison.  Benner asked to speak to the victims' families prior to the lethal injection, apologizing for his crimes.

From Reuters:

The two women he [Benner] killed, he said, "were beautiful girls who did not deserve what happened to them. They are in a better place. I pray that God will grant you peace."

"I have been going over and over in my head trying to think of the words I can say to you that would ease the unimaginable pain that you have been going through for 20 years because of my actions," he added.

"Words seem so futile. All I can say is I'm sorry. May God give you peace," Benner concluded.

Benner was the 20th person executed in Ohio since they resumed executions in 1999.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he will begin moving towards the abolition of the death penalty in Russia. While he said he would do so cautiously, gauging public as well as parliamentary opinion, he claimed that his own stance on the death penalty was unequivocally negative.

From Interfax Russia:

Putin said he believes his personal attitude towards the death penalty is well known. "Any punishment has several goals. They include correction and retribution. There is no correction in the case of the death penalty, only retribution. It is even unclear to whom it applies, since a man whom the state eliminates doesn't feel anything after that," he said.

For more see "Steps may be taken to abolish death penalty - Putin"

This morning, the Maryland Court of Appeals granted a stay to Vernon Evans who was scheduled to be executed this week.  The court agreed to hear arguments in May concerning issues in three separate appeals filed by Evans' attorneys.  The court will hear evidence concerning the racial and geographic fairness of Maryland's death penalty, evidence of abuse in Evans' childhood never presented to the jury, and a claim that the lethal injection process in Maryland was developed without the necessary public input.

From the Baltimore Sun:

"We continue to think that we have strong claims and meritorious appeals, and we're very glad that the court is going to give us a chance to show them that," said A. Stephen Hut Jr., one of the lawyers who has represented Evans in his appeals.

The attorneys said they were still sorting out the appeals court's orders this morning, but that a majority of the judges appeared to grant the lawyers' requests for a stay on each challenge pending before the appeals court.

For more information on Evans' case, see End Execution with Racial Bias Concern, and for more on the stay see Court stays execution of Evans.

Vernon Evans Jr. is scheduled to be executed this week for two 1983 murders. Several prominent appeals for clemency have been submitted on Mr. Evans' behalf, including from civil rights leaders, the Pope, and three Catholic cardinals serving the Maryland area.

From the Baltimore Sun:

Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. received a statement -- signed by religious and civil rights leaders, professors and the author of a state-funded study that found geographic and racial disparities in imposition of capital punishment -- calling for ending executions until the system can be overhauled [see statement here].  Emphasizing their "range of viewpoints" on the death penalty, those who signed the statement asked the governor and legislature to "halt all executions until steps have been taken to assure (1) that the innocent are not sentenced to death, (2) that the death penalty is reserved for only the 'worst of the worst' among the guilty, and (3) that racial bias ... plays no role."...

...In letters yesterday, church leaders with the Maryland Catholic Conference and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops asked Ehrlich to spare Evans' life.  "We are not unmindful of the suffering visited upon the families of Susan Kennedy and Scott Piechowicz, whose murders led to Mr. Evans' conviction," wrote Cardinal William H. Keeler, the archbishop of Baltimore; Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, the archbishop of Washington; and Bishop Michael A. Saltarelli of Wilmington, Del.  "They are in our prayers, especially now, as the publicity surrounding the scheduled execution compels them to experience once again the utter sadness they must have first felt on that day in 1983 when they learned of their losses," the church leaders added. "Had the life-without-parole sentence been available at the time of Evans' trial, their reliving of that terrible time might have been avoided. That sentence is available now and we ask you to apply it as a substitution for execution."

Evans could face execution as early as this evening.  See: Evans waits for word on appeals

In a 6-3 vote on Wednesday, the Supreme Court ordered a stay on the execution of Michael Taylor in Missouri, which was scheduled for the same day. This stay stems from the stay issued by the Supreme Court on the execution of Clarence Hill on January 24th, which claimed that the three drug cocktail administered in lethal injections was potentially cruel and unusual punishment. The court has indicated that it will be holding appeals raising the same issue until it rules on the Hill case.

From Reuters:

Taylor pleaded guilty, along with an accomplice, to kidnapping, raping and murdering 15-year-old Ann Harrison in 1989. The men abducted the girl as she waited for a school bus in front of her home.

He has challenged his death sentence on the grounds that the three-drug cocktail of lethal chemicals used in executions carry the risk of undue suffering, violating the U.S. Constitution's protection against cruel and unusual punishment.

In his first vote on the Supreme Court, Samuel Alito voted for the stay of execution. This decision to part ways with Scalia, Thomas and Roberts came as a surprise to many.

For more see "Alito parts with conservatives on execution"

Vernon Evans Jr. is scheduled to be executed in Maryland during the week of February 6. Questionable key witness testimony and concerns of racial bias in Maryland's death penalty system suggest that Mr. Evans' sentence should be commuted. Tell Governor Ehrlich that you believe he should grant clemency to Vernon Evans Jr.

Help us End an Execution with Racial Bias Concerns

Two days ago the legal team of Vernon Evans sent a DVD to Governor Ehrlich of Maryland pleading with him to grant clemency to Evans. This unusual tactic was designed to convey Evans' humanity more clearly.

From the Baltimore Sun:

A sister talks about beatings he endured as a child. Another relative says he was sexually abused and tried to commit suicide by the age of 10. A college professor talks about the man's "moral insight." His mother tearfully pleads for mercy.

Then, in a video designed to persuade Maryland's governor to grant him clemency, death row inmate Vernon Lee Evans Jr. begins to talk.

"Governor Ehrlich," Evans says, "today I have the opportunity to speak to you."

Evans is scheduled to be executed on the 6th of this month.

For more see "Unusual clemency request aims to display humanity of Evans"

Jaime Elizalde was executed Tuesday by the state of Texas for the 1994 killings of two men after all appeals were denied.  His attorneys argued that further testing was necessary to determine whether Mr. Elizalde was mentally retarded.

From Reuters:

On Tuesday, while strapped to a gurney in the death chamber, Elizalde thanked friends and family for their support while he has been in prison. He also spoke to the 408 Texas prisoners awaiting execution.  "The guys back there waiting, keep the faith and stay strong and put your faith in the Lord," he said.

Texas has 12 more executions already scheduled in 2006.

Arthur Rutherford's execution, also scheduled for January 31, was stayed by the US Supreme Court until it rules on the case of Clarence Hill, another Florida inmate who filed a civil rights appeal stating that the lethal injection process amounted to "cruel and unusual punishment".  The length of the stay is indefinite, as it is unclear when the Supreme Court will address this issue.

See Texas man executed for 1994 double murder and Supreme Court delays another execution