U.S. Supreme Court Reverses Another Alabama Death Penalty Case

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEmO7Sxl9DNil3OtfIhNzbcg4CS9MmIbPlCY081Za6toTAUDsYKD5Q6FttSoPxVp_51615DOufWFIcLGpNpVHL61I_6HPzHKLWngEf2t-Pcd1avkqpWBc-hg_l1RDk9H83OCrLpE8Aouc/s1600/welcome-alabama.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEmO7Sxl9DNil3OtfIhNzbcg4CS9MmIbPlCY081Za6toTAUDsYKD5Q6FttSoPxVp_51615DOufWFIcLGpNpVHL61I_6HPzHKLWngEf2t-Pcd1avkqpWBc-hg_l1RDk9H83OCrLpE8Aouc/s320/welcome-alabama.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">For the 4th time in 2 months, the United States Supreme Court today overturned an Alabama death penalty case in which EJI challenged the conviction and sentence affirmed by state courts. This time, the Court reversed because of concerns about racial bias in jury selection.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Christopher Floyd was tried by an all-white jury in Houston County, Alabama, where African Americans comprise 27 % of the population. The prosecutor, Doug Valeska, has a documented history of racial discrimination in jury selection. The prosecution marked African American potential jurors with a "B" on its list of jurors to remove, then removed 10 of 11 qualified black prospective jurors.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">1 of the black jurors barred from jury service provided answers to all of the prosecution's questions during jury selection, but the prosecutor said that she did not respond to any questions and so he could not provide a race-neutral reason for removing her. EJI argued on appeal that because the prosecutor's assertion was not true, relief was required. The state courts nonetheless refused to grant relief.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Supreme Court today granted Mr. Floyd's request for review, reversed the state court decision, and ordered the state court to re-examine the case. The Court referred to its recent decision in <i>Foster v. Chatman</i>, in which it held that Georgia prosecutors illegally barred African Americans from serving on Mr. Foster's jury because of their race.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Racial bias has been a longstanding problem in Alabama, where more than 2 dozen cases have been reversed after courts found that prosecutors engaged in intentional racial discrimination during jury selection. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Equal Justice Initiative has long argued that racial bias in jury selection is a serious problem in Alabama, particularly in capital trials, where too few prosecutors have ended the practice of unfairly excluding African Americans.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: Equal Justice Initiative, June 21, 2016</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">SCOTUS demands new look at race of jurors of death penalty conviction in Alabama</span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The U.S. Supreme Court says lower courts in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi must re-examine 3 death penalty convictions for evidence of racial prejudice in jury selection.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The court ruled Monday in the cases of Christopher Floyd of Alabama, Jabari Williams of Louisiana and Curtis Giovanni Flowers of Mississippi.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The brief decisions followed the court's May decision to overturn the conviction and death sentence of a Georgia man because of evidence that prosecutors intentionally excluded black people from the jury.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The May decision broke no new ground in efforts to fight racial discrimination in jury selection, but underscored a 30-year-old high court ruling that took aim at the exclusion of minorities from juries.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Flowers was convicted after 5 previous trials over the slaying of 4 people in a furniture store.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: Associated Press, June 21, 2016</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><br /><b><span style="font-size: large;">US Supreme Court orders Curtis Flowers Hearing</span></b><br /><br />The US Supreme Court orders Mississippi to re-examine Curtis Flowers death penalty conviction for evidence of racial prejudice in jury selection.<br /><br />Curtis Flowers has been on death row in the 1996 killing of Winona furniture store owner Bertha Tardy and 3 of her employees. The US Supreme Court threw out today the Mississippi high court's 2014 decision affirming Flowers conviction and death sentence and told the court to look again at Flowers' claim that African American jurors were excluded from his last trial in 2010 for racial reasons.<br /><br />The decision didn't throw out Flowers conviction and death sentence but ordered the State Supreme Court to re-examine whether African American jurors were purposely excluded from serving on Flowers trial which could win Flowers a new trial.<br /><br />Source: Delta News, June 21, 2016<br /><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">- Report an error, an omission:<a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com" target="_blank"> deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a></span> <span style="font-size: small;"> </span> <span style="font-size: small;"> - Follow us on <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/WebDPN/" target="_blank">Facebook</a> </b>and <b><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank">Twitter</a></b></span></div></div>

African-American Alabama Georgia Jury Louisiana Mississippi Race SCOTUS USA U.S. Supreme Court Reverses Another Alabama Death Penalty Case

For the 4th time in 2 months, the United States Supreme Court today overturned an Alabama death penalty case in which EJI challenged the con...

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Louisiana: Local attorney compares Angola death row to POW hot boxes

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj33TyevC4PdyOe5ymvFv_zN269EpHNppErcB43Lq1XDoQ14EDYU3aiHfkPNRRKOm7mcl1OEsBb31Nja76Mh33lpFYjUd1P88ORcIC9K9S_wG-__mleEjIYC4pMwxf4O8PziaZWbs5TP_Q/s1600/Angola+LA+death+row.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Louisiana death row" border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj33TyevC4PdyOe5ymvFv_zN269EpHNppErcB43Lq1XDoQ14EDYU3aiHfkPNRRKOm7mcl1OEsBb31Nja76Mh33lpFYjUd1P88ORcIC9K9S_wG-__mleEjIYC4pMwxf4O8PziaZWbs5TP_Q/s400/Angola+LA+death+row.jpg" title="Louisiana death row" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Louisiana death row</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">NEW ORLEANS—U.S. District Judge Brian Jackson questions why the state has spent more than $1 million fighting to prevent air conditioning from being installed at Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In 2013, three death row inmates with medical problems filed a lawsuit against the state to get relief from the extreme heat and humidity at the prison. Currently, heat remediation measures consist of one cold shower each day, ice chests in cells and fans outside of cells.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Previously, Jackson ruled that the prison must keep the heat index at or below 88 degrees (31°C), stating it is unconstitutional to keep inmates in a building where the heat exceeds 88 degrees.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">On June 15, Jackson heard testimony about the effectiveness of the measures implemented by the prison to keep prisoners cool. In April 2014, the state spent $29,000 hiring a private firm to monitor heat levels on death row, according to a report by the Associated Press. The total amount spent on the lawsuit so far is $1,067,000, and the case is still in litigation.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Inmates spend 23 hours a day in their cell, under stifling heat and humidity," Peter Russell, managing partner with McBride & Russell Law Firm, LLC recently told the Louisiana Record. "It’s similar to the hot boxes where POWs were held in Vietnam. Louisiana’s death row looks like a throwback to the 1920s.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Russell believes that society has “dehumanized death row inmates, but it’s not a partisan issue.” The tough-on-crime culture created the attitude that the “criminal isn’t deserving of respect.” The reality is that everyone has basic human rights, Russell said. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“The state of Louisiana needs to do the right thing," he said. "It’s just basic human dignity. The governor could order the prison to find money for the AC unit.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Eighth Amendment prohibits cruel and unusual punishment, but Russell explained that the government has protections at both the state and federal levels. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Judges tend to err on the side of government due to limited resources,” he said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG-m_Zu1GhWwWMyBqL9xR6Xb97byVRWz8E9WYytQnnXgaj0-JO2x84xPJZrDixbTPNzPJASm69bntScThO4Vamnr_T9HzCkarKm0DDldZUWuaAuDvPL45PcMl2HThQ2OphE3byWROt02g/s1600/money.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG-m_Zu1GhWwWMyBqL9xR6Xb97byVRWz8E9WYytQnnXgaj0-JO2x84xPJZrDixbTPNzPJASm69bntScThO4Vamnr_T9HzCkarKm0DDldZUWuaAuDvPL45PcMl2HThQ2OphE3byWROt02g/s320/money.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Some prisons in Louisiana have air conditioning and some do not, according to Russell.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Department of Corrections (DOC) insists that the refusal to provide air conditioning isn’t political in nature. The DOC is concerned that this lawsuit could force the state to accommodate other prisoners. According to the Governor’s Executive Fiscal Budget 2016-2017, the Correction Services budget is facing a $94 million budget cut over last year. Louisiana State Penitentiary will lose $26 million from its annual budget.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Jackson is trying to find solutions to keeping prisoners cool. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Both sides have until July 11 to submit memos on other measures that could be implemented to control heat and humidity on death row. Last year, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals determined that any remedy should be limited to the three plaintiffs who filed the suit, not all 85 inmates who currently reside on death row.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In Texas, a federal judge just certified a class-action lawsuit for 1,400 inmates who are suing the state to install air conditioning in prisons to prevent heat-stroke deaths. In 2011, 10 Texas inmates died from heat stroke while at Wallace Pack Unit in Navasota.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: <a href="http://louisianarecord.com/stories/510919815-local-attorney-compares-angola-death-row-to-pow-hot-boxes" target="_blank">Louisiana Record</a>, Dawn Brotherton, June 21, 2016</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">- Report an error, an omission:<a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com" target="_blank"> deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a></span> <span style="font-size: small;"> </span> <span style="font-size: small;"> - Follow us on <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/WebDPN/" target="_blank">Facebook</a> </b>and <b><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank">Twitter</a></b></span></div></div>

Costs Excessive heat Louisiana Texas USA Louisiana: Local attorney compares Angola death row to POW hot boxes

Louisiana death row NEW ORLEANS—U.S. District Judge Brian Jackson questions why the state has spent more than $1 million fighting to prevent...

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'Dangerously hot': Louisiana death row inmates still face health problems from heat years after order to cool it down

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj33TyevC4PdyOe5ymvFv_zN269EpHNppErcB43Lq1XDoQ14EDYU3aiHfkPNRRKOm7mcl1OEsBb31Nja76Mh33lpFYjUd1P88ORcIC9K9S_wG-__mleEjIYC4pMwxf4O8PziaZWbs5TP_Q/s1600/Angola+LA+death+row.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Louisiana Death Row" border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj33TyevC4PdyOe5ymvFv_zN269EpHNppErcB43Lq1XDoQ14EDYU3aiHfkPNRRKOm7mcl1OEsBb31Nja76Mh33lpFYjUd1P88ORcIC9K9S_wG-__mleEjIYC4pMwxf4O8PziaZWbs5TP_Q/s400/Angola+LA+death+row.jpg" title="Louisiana Death Row" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Louisiana Death Row</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">The state has done "little if anything" to keep <a href="http://deathpenaltynews.blogspot.fr/search/label/Excessive%20heat" target="_blank">the sweltering heat on Louisiana's death row below 88°F (31,1°C) degrees</a>, a Baton Rouge federal judge said Wednesday while warning he won't shy away from making a "tough and unpopular" decision to protect the health and safety of 3 ailing condemned killers.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It's been 2 1/2 years since Chief U.S. District Judge Brian Jackson ruled the state is violating the 3 Louisiana State Penitentiary inmates' constitutional right against cruel and unusual punishment and ordered state corrections officials to maintain heat indexes on death row at or below 88 degrees.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">At a hearing he called Wednesday to determine whether the state's 2nd heat remediation plan adequately protects the prisoners from Louisiana's searing summer heat and humidity, Jackson said the plan's measures - once-daily cold showers, chests filled with ice, an extra ice machine and additional fans - have failed to halt heat indexes from topping the 88-degree mark.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Jackson said he won't "sit idly by" while Elzie Ball, Nathaniel Code and James Magee continue to suffer, noting that 14 inmates have died in neighboring Texas from the heat since 2007.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Nobody wants that here in Louisiana. That's what this case is about," the judge said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Jackson will rule sometime after both sides file post-hearing briefs, which are due July 11.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The state's initial court-ordered heat remediation plan included air conditioning, but the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans ruled last summer that while the 3 inmates deserve some relief, they aren't entitled to air-conditioned quarters.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">James Hilburn, an attorney for state corrections officials, argued at Wednesday's hearing that the appellate court did not order the 88-degree threshold, but an agitated Jackson added the appeals court didn't undo it either.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"It's been proven with scientific certainty that (88-plus degrees) is a hazard to their health," the judge said. "I've already ruled. 88 degrees is the standard."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Jackson added that just because a remedy is "costly or inconvenient" doesn't trump the Constitution.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Nilay Vora, 1 of the inmates' attorneys, asked Jackson to order implementation of the state's 1st heat remediation plan. Vora said death row without air conditioning exposes Ball, Code and Magee to "serious risk of substantial harm."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Hilburn defended the state's latest plan, saying, "This was not a flippant plan."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Jackson, who did not rule out ordering "mechanical air" for the inmates, warned he could sanction the state if it doesn't remedy the constitutional violations that he and the 5th Circuit found - that the high heat indexes violate the 3 inmates' Eighth Amendment guarantee against cruel and unusual punishment.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"A court can't simply sit on its hands and allow a constitutional violation to persist," he said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ball, Code and Magee - shackled and dressed in bright orange prison garb - testified in the cool confines of Jackson's courtroom and said they continue to suffer from dizziness, nausea, headaches and profuse sweating due to the unrelenting heat in their cells.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"It ain't got as hot as it's going to get," Ball noted.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Summer doesn't officially begin until Monday.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"It's too hot" on Louisiana's death row, testified Dr. Susi Vassallo, of Texas. "It's dangerously hot."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Vassallo, a medical doctor who specializes in heat-related illnesses, said the components of the state's 2nd heat remediation plan, either considered individually or collectively, do not reduce the substantial risk of serious harm to the 3 inmates. She described the plan's components as comfort rather than safety when dealing with heat indexes exceeding 88 degrees.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"If we set the bar at death, that is too high," she said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Colin Clark, an assistant state attorney general, said in court that the Louisiana Department of Corrections has not had a single heatstroke incident in the last 9 years.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The 5th Circuit last year suggested the state could open the doors to the air-conditioned guard pods and divert cool air into the death-row tiers, but Jimmy Cruze, the death row warden, testified Wednesday the appeals court's suggestion was rejected by the state because it poses a security risk.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"It's a bad security move," he said. "We don't leave doors open."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mechanical engineer Frank Thompson, who designed death row, testified the death-row core is air-conditioned but the death-row tiers are equipped only with cross ventilation and a central heating system. Death row, he said, meets commercial building standards.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Air conditioning is the only plausible way to stop heat indexes from surpassing 88 degrees, Thompson added.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ball is on death row for fatally shooting a beer delivery man during the 1996 armed robbery of a Gretna lounge.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Magee was condemned to die for the 2007 shotgun murders of his estranged wife and their 5-year-old son in a subdivision near Mandeville.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Code received the death penalty for the 1985 murders of 4 people at a house in Shreveport.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: The Advocate, June 16, 2016</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">- Report an error, an omission:<a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com" target="_blank"> deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a></span> <span style="font-size: small;"> </span> <span style="font-size: small;"> - Follow us on <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/WebDPN/" target="_blank">Facebook</a> </b>and <b><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank">Twitter</a></b></span></div></div>

Excessive heat Louisiana Texas USA 'Dangerously hot': Louisiana death row inmates still face health problems from heat years after order to cool it down

Louisiana Death Row The state has done "little if anything" to keep the sweltering heat on Louisiana's death row below 88°F (3...

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State could have put A/C on death row for cost of litigating Angola heat suit

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCvDL4AYprYLsuAwDxfN0jFHuw9Ma6gdvT8KCFqGHdU_RkWQbgjqSwEkWZzRSyHmWUczY-4y9CWMXBYaYhG9XbpYERi2sh2tYPgJ_FHvoGbtZ8VYxSzR2w8g3gX124WArlZdoyOqUN38o/s1600/Louisianas-Angola-prison.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Louisiana death row" border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCvDL4AYprYLsuAwDxfN0jFHuw9Ma6gdvT8KCFqGHdU_RkWQbgjqSwEkWZzRSyHmWUczY-4y9CWMXBYaYhG9XbpYERi2sh2tYPgJ_FHvoGbtZ8VYxSzR2w8g3gX124WArlZdoyOqUN38o/s400/Louisianas-Angola-prison.jpg" title="Louisiana death row" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Louisiana death row</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">The state of Louisiana's refusal to install air conditioning on death row has already cost taxpayers more than $1 million in legal bills, according to records obtained by The Associated Press.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The state could spend roughly the same money — and possibly much less — on an air conditioning system that would satisfy a federal judge's order to protect death-row inmates from dangerous heat and humidity inside Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Instead, the corrections department and attorney general's office have accrued at least $1,067,000 in expenses fighting the 3-year-old lawsuit filed on behalf of three inmates with medical problems. This tally, based on state documents provided in response to the AP's public records requests, is the first public accounting of how much the case has cost taxpayers.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Most of the money has gone to private attorneys on opposing sides of the case, which the judge said could ultimately cost many more millions of dollars.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Expert witnesses and state contractors also have received tens of thousands of dollars. A list of expenses incurred by the prison itself adds up to more than $100,000, including an April 2014 payment of nearly $29,000 to a firm that was monitoring the heat and humidity every 15 minutes.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Airing his frustrations last month, U.S. District Judge Brian Jackson said the bill is "stunning," given the painful cuts lawmakers are making to balance the state budget. He wondered out loud whether the state's refusal to give up the fight is based on prison management concerns, politics or ideology.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Is this really what the state wants to do?" he asked. "It just seems so unnecessary."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Jackson is scheduled to hear testimony Wednesday on whether the state's current heat remediation measures — one cold shower a day, ice chests in their cells and fans outside — are adequately protecting the plaintiffs as Louisiana's sweltering summer approaches.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A plaintiffs' expert has estimated it would cost about $225,000 — not including engineering fees or operating costs — to install air conditioning on death row's six tiers, which house dozens of inmates.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In 2014, an engineer hired by the state said nine air-conditioning units could adequately cool all eight tiers in the 10-year-old building that houses death row. An attorney for the state has said each unit would cost "several thousand dollars."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The state hasn't made public its total estimate. Spokeswomen for the corrections department and attorney general's office said they can't comment on pending litigation.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But the judge cited a state remediation plan in suggesting that the litigation is already more costly than the fix.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"The state itself indicated that they could install mechanical air, fix this problem, end this case, for about -- what was it? About a million dollars," Jackson said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Louisiana's attorneys argue that the consequences would reverberate far beyond Angola's prison walls, spawning more lawsuits from prisoners across the country demanding air-conditioned cells.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"It would be a large burden on the prisons to have to set forth the costs to implement these measures," Grant Guillot, an attorney for the state, said during an appeals court hearing last year.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">One such lawsuit — filed in 2014 in Texas — claims at least 20 prisoners have died of heat-related causes in that state since 1998.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Private attorneys from two law firms have billed the state more than $424,000. Most of that has gone to a Baton Rouge firm with a law partner — E. Wade Shows — who served as campaign treasurer to former Attorney General James "Buddy" Caldwell, who was voted out of office last year.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">That firm — Shows, Cali & Walsh — has billed 2,420 hours at an average of about $140 per hour. The firm and Shows donated a combined $20,000 to Caldwell's campaigns since 2007.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The state also had to cover fees for the inmates' attorneys, from The Promise of Justice Initiative, because Jackson ruled in their favor. Inmates' attorneys received $490,000 through a settlement with Caldwell's successor, Attorney General Jeff Landry.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This case is "another example of elected officials taking a stand as long as the taxpayers pay for it," said Bill Quigley, a Loyola University law professor who runs the New Orleans school's poverty law center. "It's very sad, and it's a waste of money," Quigley said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">More than two years have passed since the judge ruled that Louisiana imposes unconstitutionally cruel and unusual punishment once the heat index exceeds 88 degrees.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The heat index routinely crosses that threshold on death row, and occasionally exceeds 100 degrees. Plaintiff James Magee, confined 23 hours a day in his cell, said it's like a "sauna" in the morning and an "oven" in the afternoon.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Last year, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals partially upheld Jackson's decision, but said any remedy should be limited to the three plaintiffs, not all 85 inmates on death row, and invited the state to provide relief without installing air conditioning.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: AP, Michael Kunzelman, June 14, 2016</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">- Report an error, an omission:<a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com" target="_blank"> deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a></span> <span style="font-size: small;"> </span> <span style="font-size: small;"> - Follow us on <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/Death-Penalty-News-206848499362906/" target="_blank">Facebook</a> </b>and <b><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank">Twitter</a></b></span></div></div>

Costs Excessive heat Louisiana USA State could have put A/C on death row for cost of litigating Angola heat suit

Louisiana death row The state of Louisiana's refusal to install air conditioning on death row has already cost taxpayers more than $1 mi...

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Federal judge to visit Louisiana's death row again over heat issue

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj33TyevC4PdyOe5ymvFv_zN269EpHNppErcB43Lq1XDoQ14EDYU3aiHfkPNRRKOm7mcl1OEsBb31Nja76Mh33lpFYjUd1P88ORcIC9K9S_wG-__mleEjIYC4pMwxf4O8PziaZWbs5TP_Q/s1600/Angola+LA+death+row.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Louisiana's death row" border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj33TyevC4PdyOe5ymvFv_zN269EpHNppErcB43Lq1XDoQ14EDYU3aiHfkPNRRKOm7mcl1OEsBb31Nja76Mh33lpFYjUd1P88ORcIC9K9S_wG-__mleEjIYC4pMwxf4O8PziaZWbs5TP_Q/s400/Angola+LA+death+row.jpg" title="Louisiana's death row" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Louisiana's death row</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">When Chief U.S. District Judge Brian Jackson toured the Louisiana State Penitentiary in the summer of 2013, he ruled several months later that the high heat and humidity on death row violate the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment, and he ordered state corrections officials not to let heat indexes top 88 degrees.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">On the heels of recorded heat indexes already exceeding the 88-degree mark five times between May 12 and May 25 on Angola's death row, Jackson is scheduled to make a return trip to the maximum-security prison Friday.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">His site visit comes as a key federal court hearing looms June 15 in the long-running case of three ailing Louisiana death-row inmates who sued the state in 2013 over extreme heat indexes where they are housed.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Attorneys for the condemned killers contend the state's second court-ordered heat remediation plan has utterly failed -- a contention the state flatly rejects -- and they're asking Jackson to order the state to implement it's original court-ordered plan.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">That first heat remediation plan, which the Baton Rouge federal judge approved in May 2014, included air conditioning, ice chests filled with ice and once-daily cool showers.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans halted the plan's implementation in June 2014 and ruled last July that the three prisoners are entitled to some relief -- such as cool showers, cold drinking water and ice, personal ice containers and individual fans, and more ice machines -- but not air-conditioned quarters.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Lawyers for death-row inmates Elzie Ball, Nathaniel Code and James Magee argue the state has "consistently failed" to effectively remedy the constitutional violation found by both Jackson and the 5th Circuit panel.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Remediation plans to correct constitutional violations must, in fact, correct that violation," the lawyers say in a May 16 court filing asking for Jackson to intervene. "The prison has had nearly three years to consider what remedy other than mechanical cooling could address the extreme heat and humidity and ... resulting health risks, yet it has failed to develop a plan that remedies the constitutional violation."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The state's attorneys, in a May 19 opposition to that request, claim the current heat remediation plan has not failed, that no constitutional violation exists, and that there are no grounds to order the installation of air conditioning on death row.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"An order to control the climate and maintain a heat index at or below 88 degrees is the same as an order to install air conditioning," the state's lawyers argue. "The Fifth Circuit held that air conditioning is not an acceptable remedy for a court to require in this case."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ball was condemned to die for fatally shooting a beer delivery man at a Gretna lounge during a 1996 armed robbery. Magee is on death row for the 2007 shotgun slaying of his estranged wife and their 5-year-old son in Mandeville. Code was sentenced to death for killing four people in a Shreveport house in 1985.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Jackson has ordered the three inmates' attendance at the June 15 hearing. State Department of Public Safety and Corrections Secretary James LeBlanc also will be there.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: <a href="http://www.houmatoday.com/article/20160602/WIRE/160609951" target="_blank">houmatoday.com</a>, Joe Gyan Jr., June 2, 2016</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">- Report an error, an omission:<a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com" target="_blank"> deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a></span> <span style="font-size: small;"> </span> <span style="font-size: small;"> - Follow us on <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/Death-Penalty-News-206848499362906/" target="_blank">Facebook</a> </b>and <b><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank">Twitter</a></b></span></div></div>

A/C Excessive heat Louisiana USA Federal judge to visit Louisiana's death row again over heat issue

Louisiana's death row When Chief U.S. District Judge Brian Jackson toured the Louisiana State Penitentiary in the summer of 2013, he rul...

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Federal Judge OKs Louisiana’s Request For No Executions Until At Least 2018

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihD2tQsvwW9xWMK3kcI9uRu0X_x7vUN75i8k7jzUNg64yRv3AibgHVHqropsIaHJvipBU8-WEIfrJvC3oh2HEKWO9Y9lO6pMxg-ecqK4eQKhutIu6TioINS_nx-A7qzAL3jtXKCcnHmmE/s1600/Louisiana+Death+Chamber.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Louisiana's death chamber" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihD2tQsvwW9xWMK3kcI9uRu0X_x7vUN75i8k7jzUNg64yRv3AibgHVHqropsIaHJvipBU8-WEIfrJvC3oh2HEKWO9Y9lO6pMxg-ecqK4eQKhutIu6TioINS_nx-A7qzAL3jtXKCcnHmmE/s320/Louisiana+Death+Chamber.jpg" title="Louisiana's death chamber" width="301" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Louisiana's death chamber</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Tuesday approved Louisiana officials’ request that a stay on executions in the state be extended into 2018.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The delay was approved by U.S. District Court Judge James J. Brady in ongoing litigation brought by two death row inmates, Jessie Hoffman and Christopher Sepulvado.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The state had filed <a href="https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/2850524/LA-Stay-Request.pdf" target="_blank">the unopposed request</a> earlier in the day on Tuesday. Although Brady’s approval of the order is dated Tuesday, it was not posted on the court’s docket until Wednesday.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Prior to this week’s order, all proceedings in the case had been on hold through July 11, 2016.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Counsel were in agreement that a continuance of the stay for another year was appropriate,” attorneys for the state wrote. However, “given that a twelve month stay would put all parties back in the position of dealing with a legislative session and possible conflicts resulting from same, it would be prudent to extend the stay for eighteen months or until approximately January 8, 2018.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Brady granted the request, extending the stay through Jan. 8, 2018, on which date he scheduled a status conference in the case.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The lawsuit, initially brought in 2012, has been on hold since early 2014, with the stay of the case having been extended several times. In January 2014, Brady had <a href="https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/2850574/LA-Deny-MtD-2014.pdf" target="_blank">denied</a> the state’s motion to dismiss the case, holding that Hoffman and Sepulvado stated several claims in their complaint that, while they might not ultimately succeed, are “plausible on its face.” Brady allowed Eighth Amendment and equal protection claims brought by the inmates regarding the state’s lethal injection protocol and a claim seeking protections giving them access to the courts to proceed to trial.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Louisiana has only held two executions in the past 15 years, the most recent in 2010. As of Jan. 1, however, the state had more than 80 people on death row.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">While the case currently only includes two of those people, others could join the challenge if the state attempted to set an execution date for them.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/chrisgeidner/judge-approves-state-request-for-no-executions-in-louisiana" target="_blank">Buzzfeed</a>, June 2, 2016</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: small;">- Report an error, an omission:<a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com" target="_blank"> deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a></span> <span style="font-size: small;"> </span> <span style="font-size: small;"> - Follow us on <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/Death-Penalty-News-206848499362906/" target="_blank">Facebook</a> </b>and <b><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank">Twitter</a></b></span></div>

lethal injections Louisiana Stay of execution USA Federal Judge OKs Louisiana’s Request For No Executions Until At Least 2018

Louisiana's death chamber WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Tuesday approved Louisiana officials’ request that a stay on executions in the...

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