Death Penalty

David Dawson has given up his appeals, and is scheduled to be executed in Montana on August 11, 2006. If the execution goes ahead, it would be the first judicial killing in the state of Montana for more than eight years.

Though state and federal courts have found David Dawson competent to waive his appeals and have granted his request to dismiss his lawyers, the lawyers argued that his decision-making has been influenced by the harsh conditions on Montana's death row and the suicides of two other condemned inmates who hanged themselves in their cells in July 2003 and February 2004.

Learn more and take action against this execution!

Four years after her original trial, in which the prosecutor sought the death penalty for the murder of Yates' five children, a second jury has found Andrea Pia Yates not guilty by reason of insanity.
The original jury found her guilty of first degree murder in 2002 and recommended a sentence of life imprisonment, but the sentence was overturned after it was discovered that the state's psychiatric witness had presented false testimony.
District Judge Belinda Hill has requested a psychiatric evaluation to be presented in 30 days to assess Yates' mental state, and whether or not she presents a danger to herself and others.

From the Houston Chronicle:

"Jurors deliberated for more than 13 hours over three days before finding Yates not guilty by reason of insanity for three of her children's deaths. The former nurse and housewife drowned her five children - ages 7, 5, 3, 2 and 6 months - in a bathtub at her Clear Lake area home on June 20, 2001, after her husband had left for work. Yates, who already had a history of psychiatric hospitalizations and two suicide attempts before the drownings, was later diagnosed with postpartum depression with psychotic features and schizophrenia."

Yates was only directly tried for the murders of three of her five children. The state is still considering whether or not to pursue the case for the other two.

For more, see "Yates could go to mental hospital today"

The European Union under the Presidency of Finland has issued a statement reiterating its opposition to the death penalty in all circumstances, and it urges the United States to adopt a moratorium on executions as the first step towards abolition.
In the statement, the EU expresses concern over the imminent breaches of de-facto moratoria in the state of South Dakota and Montana; South Dakota is set to execute Elijah Page, a volunteer, on August 28 - this would be the first execution in the state since the death penalty was reintroduced in 1977 - and Montana has scheduled the execution of David Dawson, also a volunteer, on August 11. Montana has not executed an individual for eight years. The EU is appealing to authorities in these states to grant clemency to the two inmates, and to establish official moratoria on executions.
Michael Lenz became the 32nd person to be executed this year in the United States, and the 3rd in the state of Virginia. He was convicted for the murder of a fellow inmate during a pagan ritual in 2000.

To look at the full document, go to "EU Policy on the Death Penalty"

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has stayed the execution of Allen Bridgers to allow for the trial court in Smith County to properly address the possibility that Bridgers is mentally handicapped. Bridger's lawyer, Kenneth Nash, believes that old intelligence tests and expert testimony will show that Bridger suffers from mental retardation.
The U.S. Supreme Court decision Atkins v. Virginia ruled that it was unconstitutional to execute those suffering from mental retardation. The definition of exactly what qualifies as mental retardation differs from state to state, although generally the requirement is that the person must have an I.Q of less than 70, and this must have developed before the age of 18. At present Texas has failed to produce its own definition of mental retardation.

For more on the case of Allen Bridgers, read "Texas court delays inmate's execution"

To find out more about the debate on mental illness and the death penalty, have a look at "Execution of the mentally ill"

The Supreme Court in California has approved a $10 hourly pay rise for court-appointed counsel for death penalty appeal defendants in an attempt to attract more qualified attorneys. The state handles between 20 and 40 death penalty cases a year, and with a limited number of attorneys who are qualified to take on capital cases their work load is often stretched too far.
At present 95% of all people sentenced to death in the United States have been unable to afford their own attorney; this makes them dependant on court-appointed representation during their trials and appeals. The quality of representation supplied to them differs from state to state according to the level of pay each state is willing to offer.

From the Bay City News:

‘The $10 hourly pay increase means that for qualified lawyers representing destitute defendants sentenced to death, the hourly rate will increase to $140 for death penalty appeals in the state Supreme Court. The hike would also apply to lawyers appointed to related state hearings on habeas corpus, to determine if an inmate is imprisoned lawfully, and executive clemency, where the governor has the authority to stop an execution. The pay increase aims to ensure that an adequate number of qualified attorneys are willing to serve as court-appointed counsel in death penalty cases. It went into effect July 1 with the state's budget, which included funding for the raise.'

The Andrea Pia Yates Support Coalition will be holding a candlelight vigil in Houston on Sunday July 23rd at 8:15pm Central Time in solidarity with Andrea during her retrial. The exact location is as yet unconfirmed. Those who would like to send a message of solidarity to be read on Sunday should email it to dpatwood@igc.org.

Andrea Yates, who has suffered from mental illness including psychotic and postpartum depression, drowned her 5 children in the bathtub in 2001. At her original trial in Harris County the prosecutor sought to get the death penalty but the jury decided on life imprisonment. Her conviction was later overturned after the chief witness for the prosecution was found to have lied on the witness stand, and she is now being retried. Although the death penalty is not an option for a retrial, the prosecutor is again seeking life imprisonment. The alternative verdict, "not guilty by reason of insanity", would probably result in Andrea being sent to a secure hospital where she could be treated properly for her mental illness.

Please show your support for Andrea Yates and all prisoners being inadequately treated for mental illness by lighting a candle on Sunday!

Thursday night saw the first execution in the electric chair in over two years; Brandon Hedrick had elected to choose electrocution over lethal injection in accordance with death penalty laws in the state of Virginia. Hedrick's attorney, Robert Lee, said that he believed his client's decision to choose electrocution was due to a fear of the possibility of extreme pain during the lethal injection process.

At present every retentionist state excluding Nebraska maintains lethal injection as the primary means of execution. However, seven states offer alternatives - Virginia and South Carolina retain electrocution, California and Missouri use lethal gas, Idaho and Utah use the firing squad and the state of Washington retains hanging.

Most other states retain these forms of execution as an option for those convicted before a certain date, or as alternatives should their primary method of execution be declared unconstitutional.

For more on Brandon Hedrick, see "Va. killer executed by electric chair"

To learn more about the use of capital punishment in the United States, take a look at "Facts and Figures" 

The state of Texas has once again taken the lead on the number of people executed so far in 2006. Of the 28 nationwide executions Texas has been responsible for half, at a total of 14. Following this are North Carolina and Ohio with three executions each; seven other states have staged executions since January.

The South is as usual the most prolific execution region, accounting for 22 of the 28 executions - this is followed by the Midwest, where 4 people have been executed, and the West, where two death sentences have been carried out this year. The Northeast region has yet to execute an individual in 2006. 

Corrections officials in Missouri are currently in a deadlock over the implementation of lethal injection within the state after U.S. District Judge Fernando Gaitan ruled on June 26 that a board certified anesthesiologist must be involved at every execution. Since Gaitan issued the order there have been no anesthesiologists within the state who have come forward as willing to participate in executions - the American Society of Anesthesiologists has urged its 40,000 members to stay clear of active participation in executions - so executions cannot continue in Missouri until the matter is resolved.

From The Seattle Times:

‘In their court papers, Missouri officials said they were submitting a protocol that met "the spirit," if not "the letter," of Gaitan's order. They said that 5 grams of sodium thiopental would be administered and that "standard clinical techniques for assessing consciousness will be used" by "qualified medical personnel." Among the techniques would be "checking for movement, open eyes, eyelash reflex and response to verbal commands and physical stimuli." State officials also said they had a contingency plan to administer an extra dose of sodium thiopental if state personnel determined the condemned inmate was not sufficiently anesthetized.'

The state of Missouri is maintaining that no court has held that participation of an anesthesiologist is constitutionally required, and that Gaitan "legally erred in imposing such a requirement".

To find out more, read "Showdown looming over lethal injection in Missouri"

Carol Byars, a resident of Deer Park, TX, will be remembered as an inspiration to many.  Carol struggled through the murder of her husband and found forgiveness to be the only path towards her own healing; she courageously shared the lessons of her journey in hopes that others would join her. 

We, at Amnesty International, mourn the loss of this amazing woman and express our condolences to her family and friends.

Quotations by Carol Byars:

"When my husband was killed a piece of me died with him, but in time I discovered the only way to heal was to let go of the pain and anger. I chose to honor his memory through compassion and forgiveness, not by creating more victims."

"It is past time for being silent about the death penalty. In Texas, we're executing record numbers each year. Things have gotten so bad because people have all been silent and let things get bad. We are told many times that we are not supposed to forgive - that when people do horrible things to us we should do something just as bad in retribution. Those of us who know better - those of us who know the power of forgiveness - need to speak up. Every chance we get, we need to challenge the mentality that compassion is a weakness. Compassion is the toughest thing of all, but it's the only thing that works to restore peace in our live."

For more on Carol's contributions, see the Journey of Hope site.

The Texas District and County Attorneys Association believes that, due to the Texas Penal Code defining a fetus as "an individual," physicians who perform abortions but do not follow strict protocol could be prosecuted for capital murder.  In Texas, the death penalty is possible if the victim is under six years of age; therefore, an abortion, argue the members of the Attorneys Association, is a new way "of committing capital murder." 

Robert Kepple, executive director of the Texas District and County Association, said, "From what everyone's said, no one [in the state legislature] had the intention that the law read like this.  But it's a pretty clear interpretation."

The Attorneys Association is seeking an opinion on this issue from Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott.  The AG's opinion, however, will not be binding, so prosecutors, regardless of the AG's opinion, will still be able to prosecute doctors to the full extent of the law.

For more on this subject, see "New law could mean death penalty for doctors."

In follow up to last week's information on the three volunteers scheduled for execution this week, one of the three was granted a stay.  Bobby Wilcher of Mississippi had his final meal on July 11th; then 30 minutes after the execution was scheduled to begin, he received a stay of execution from the U.S. Supreme Court.  The Court has not yet decided whether to take the case--an opinion will be issued in October with this decision. 

Wilcher's affidavit, which accompanied his motion  for appeal, read: "I previously submitted a motion to this Court asking that I be permitted to abandon all appeals in my case.  After a hearing on June 8, 2006, the Court granted my request.  Upon further reflection, I now wish to withdraw that motion and proceed with all appeals and other remedies available to me under the law.  I do not want to be executed, and I have instructed my attorneys to do everything in their power to help me avoid execution."

Volunteers for execution are those, like Wilcher, who drop their appeals, thereby virtually guaranteeing execution.  There is a high incidence of mental illness among volunteers--Wilcher has been diagnosed as suffering from bipolar disorder.

Raise your voice against other pending executions. 

Amnesty International's very own State Death Penalty Abolition Coordinator in North Carolina, Scott Langley, was featured last week in the Fort Worth Weekly.  Langley, who grew up and went to college in Texas, first felt the call to work towards abolition during an execution vigil outside of the Walls Unit in Huntsville, Texas.  His faith led him to the conviction that he could not stand by and allow executions to continue.  Most recently, Langley, his wife, and another couple have opened a Catholic Worker home near the Central Prison in Raleigh, North Carolina.  The couples provide a place of refuge for family members visiting loved ones on death row.

From the Fort Worth Weekly:

He's [Langley's] so confident that death-penalty opposition follows from faith in Christ, he hardly acknowledges that very few Christians see the connection. But rather than criticize them, he just takes action.

"When you grow up in the church, being a Christian, it's like it all kind of revolves around the death penalty," Langley said..."If you believe in Jesus and follow Jesus, and he was executed, you know, it's, like, how can you avoid the death-penalty issue, if you're a Christian?"

"Usually, the wording is, you know, ‘Jesus died on the cross' or ‘Jesus died for your sins,'" he said. "It's never really so forward as to say, ‘Jesus was executed by the state,' but that's the reality of it."

 To read the entire article, see "The Good Fight"

On July 11th, Mississippi plans to execute Bobby Glen Wilcher; Rocky Barton is scheduled to die July 12th; and on July 14th, William Downs will be executed by South Carolina.  What do these three men have in common?  They are all volunteers for execution--death row prisoners who have dropped their appeals and "consented" to execution.  These three men have another thing in common:  mental illness.  Each has been diagnosed with some form of serious psychological disease. 

The phenomenon of prisoners "volunteering" for execution is yet another factor contributing to the lottery of the death penalty.  Given the rate of reversible error found in capital cases, if the approximately 120 volunteers executed since 1977 had pursued their appeals, there is a significant possibility that a number of them would have had their death sentences communted to prison terms by appellate courts.

For more information, see "Killing the Willing: 'Volunteers', Suicide, and Competency" by John H. Blume, Cornell Law School.

There has been much litigation concerning lethal injection recently.  Most significantly, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in Hill v. McDonough that death row prisoners can file last-minute challenges to lethal injection as cruel and unusual punishment after they've exhausted their regular appeals.  Additionally, a ruling issued Monday by a federal judge in Kansas City, MO, ordered a halt to executions in Missouri until the state could make major changes to its procedure for executions, including a requirement that an anesthesiologist observe the administration of the drugs and certify that a sufficient amount of anesthetic has been administered.  In response to this ruling and others like it, the president of the American Society of Anesthesiologists, Dr. Orin Guidry, posted a four-page opinion urging anesthesiologists to avoid any participation in executions.

From the L.A. Times:

"Clearly," Dr. Guidry wrote, "an anesthesiologist complying with the Missouri ruling - and despite this court's position on ethical obligations - would be violating the AMA position which ASA has adopted. It is my belief that the court cannot modify physicians' ethical principles to meet its needs."

The American Medical Association (AMA) has prohibited physician involvement in executions since 1980; likewise, the American Nurses Association (ANA) followed suit by prohibiting the involvement of nurses in executions in 1983.

For more, see "Anesthesiologists Advised to Avoid Executions"

Tag:  medical ethics