Al-Qaeda leader threatens "gravest consequences" if Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is executed

<table align="center" 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/AVvXsEh5xaAGR0K-f5LE0sHfK4MykgAAvuOkGoj3xfMgXazJp46Qy6ifAJ-TAFu0kmmDHvDqMrqlj_GqS_Bh4oGQCGLdpse_dJCXdK34bWBcq3uay0hxtBcmxCFjZIrDh-sPsw2rem2pLk6U-H4/s1600/Al+Qaeda+leader+Ayman+al-Zawahri+.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Al-Zawahri:"gravest consequences if Boston marathon bomber is executed."" border="0" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5xaAGR0K-f5LE0sHfK4MykgAAvuOkGoj3xfMgXazJp46Qy6ifAJ-TAFu0kmmDHvDqMrqlj_GqS_Bh4oGQCGLdpse_dJCXdK34bWBcq3uay0hxtBcmxCFjZIrDh-sPsw2rem2pLk6U-H4/s400/Al+Qaeda+leader+Ayman+al-Zawahri+.jpg" title="Al-Zawahri:"gravest consequences if Boston marathon bomber is executed."" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Al-Zawahri:"gravest consequences if Boston marathon bomber is executed." </td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri has warned the United States of the "gravest consequences" if Boston marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev or any other Muslim prisoner is executed.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Tsarnaev, named in a new online <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-boston-qaeda-idUSKCN0ZH4TM" target="_blank">video message from Zawahri</a>, was sentenced last year to death by lethal injection for the 2013 bomb attack, which killed three people and injured more than 260.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“If the U.S. administration kills our brother the hero Dzhokhar Tsarnaev or any Muslim, it ... will bring America’s nationals the gravest consequences,” Zawahri said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Zawahri, who became al Qaeda's leader after U.S. forces killed Osama bin Laden in 2011, urged Muslims to take captive as many Westerners as possible, especially those whose countries had joined the "Crusaders' Campaign led by the United States".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The veteran Egyptian-born Islamist, shown wearing white robes and sitting in front of green velvet drapes, said the Western captives could then be exchanged for Muslim prisoners.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Western powers "are criminals and they only understand the language of force", he added.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The nearly hour-long video, which included images of Tsarnaev, gave no indication of the location of Zawahri, believed to be based close to the Afghan-Pakistan border.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Tsarnaev carried out the Boston bombings along with his older brother Tamerlan, who was killed in a confrontation with police soon after. No organization claimed responsibility.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Tsarnaev is being held at the "Supermax" high-security prison in Florence, Colorado, while his attorneys appeal his death sentence.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Legal wrangling over Tsarnaev's fate could play out for years or even decades. Just three of the 74 people sentenced to death in the United States for federal crimes since 1998 have been executed.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: Reuters, July 1, 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>

Al-Qaida D. Tsarnaev Islamism Terrorism USA Al-Qaeda leader threatens "gravest consequences" if Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is executed

Al-Zawahri:"gravest consequences if Boston marathon bomber is executed." Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri has warned the United St...

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Pablo Ibar seeks release on bond before retrial

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPjpL8peHBtSbIio6l6NvpdaoiRgbAHyMnIq-SWzNgiwkqSDWaauTFCDBM6G4LWX3SP2dXmM3JcQ9Ro9L49Bw3d3N1yGvMxk_CxDRq7J5dlkqf7B-D8EtVLBQtq7jaPrfH4Tw_gJYO5as/s1600/Pablo+Ibar%252C+left%252C+and+defense+lawyer+Fred+Haddad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Pablo Ibar, left, and defense lawyer Fred Haddad" border="0" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPjpL8peHBtSbIio6l6NvpdaoiRgbAHyMnIq-SWzNgiwkqSDWaauTFCDBM6G4LWX3SP2dXmM3JcQ9Ro9L49Bw3d3N1yGvMxk_CxDRq7J5dlkqf7B-D8EtVLBQtq7jaPrfH4Tw_gJYO5as/s400/Pablo+Ibar%252C+left%252C+and+defense+lawyer+Fred+Haddad.jpg" title="Pablo Ibar, left, and defense lawyer Fred Haddad" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pablo Ibar, left, and defense lawyer Fred Haddad.</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">A man who spent 16 years on Death Row for three murders he insists he did not commit went before a Broward judge Friday to ask for a bond so he can leave jail as he and his lawyers prepare for a retrial.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Broward Circuit Judge Raag Singhal said he will need time to review volumes of material provided by both sides and will make a decision July 14 on whether Pablo Ibar, 44, should go free while he awaits trial.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ibar was sentenced to death in 2000 for the murders of Casimir "Butch Casey" Sucharski, the flashy former owner of the Casey's Nickelodeon nightclub, and Sharon Anderson and Marie Rogers, two women he brought home with him early on June 26, 1994, the same morning two men chose to rob Sucharski's Miramar house.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The case has proved one of the most expensive and time consuming in Broward history, with prosecutors going after two co-defendants spanning four trials so far, taking up more than 20 months in front of the juries.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ibar and former co-defendant Seth Penalver first went on trial together in 1997, with the jury deadlocking after eight months of testimony. Penalver's second trial ended in a conviction in 1999 after six months, and Ibar was convicted after a six-week trial the following year.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But Penalver was granted a retrial, which ended with his acquittal in 2012.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Penalver was among more than two dozens supporters and family members who attended Friday's bond hearing before Singhal.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ibar was granted a retrial earlier this year, with the Florida Supreme Court ruling that Ibar's defense lawyer at trial, Kayo Morgan, failed to retain a facial recognition expert to challenge the prosecution's evidence that Ibar was at the scene of the crime. The brutal beating of Sucharski and all three murders were captured on home surveillance video, and the man believed to be Ibar left his face uncovered for part of the video.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ibar is legally entitled to bail unless prosecutors can demonstrate that the evidence against him is stronger than what a jury would require for conviction.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Defense lawyers, led by Benjamin Waxman and Fred Haddad, told Singhal Friday that the Supreme Court's decision granting the retrial contained language showing prosecutors cannot meet that burden. In one place, the ruling described the evidence against Ibar as "scant."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But prosecutor William Sinclair said the case remains strong enough to keep Ibar in custody.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Both sides are pushing for the trial to get underway by this fall, and attorneys told Singhal they expect it to last four months.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: <a href="http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/fl-ibar-bond-hearing-20160701-story.html" target="_blank">Sun Sentinel</a>, Rafael Olmeda, July 1, 2016</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Juez evalúa la petición de libertad condicional para español Pablo Ibar</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">MIAMI -- El juez Raaj Singhal evalúa hoy la petición de libertad condicional presentada por la defensa del español Pablo Ibar, cuya pena de muerte fue anulada en febrero pasado por el Tribunal Supremo de Florida.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">En una audiencia celebrada en un tribunal del condado de Broward, la defensa de Ibar pidió la libertad condicional al considerar que no “se atiene” a la Constitución que el español siga preso.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Sin embargo, la Fiscalía, que ya notificó su intención de solicitar de nuevo la pena capital en la repetición del juicio contra Ibar por el triple asesinato en 1994 por el que fue condenado, rechazó esta moción de la defensa.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Para reforzar su negativa a esta libertad condicional, la Fiscalía presentó ante el juez cuatro cajas con documentos y transcripciones de testimonios.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Tras recibir este material, el juez pidió un receso para analizar el índice del contenido de las cajas.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mientras tanto, la defensa, encabezada por el letrado Benjamin Waxman, calificó esta maniobra como táctica dilatoria por parte de la Fiscalía.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Pablo Ibar, con uniforme de preso común, en color gris con rayas gris oscuro, se mostró durante la vista muy comunicativo y relajado.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">El reo estuvo acompañado por una docena de familiares, entre ellos su esposa, Tanya, su hermano Michael y su padre, Cándido, así como el cónsul español en Miami, Cándido Creis.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ibar, de 45 años y origen vasco, fue condenado en 2000 por el asesinato en 1994 del dueño de un local nocturno y dos bailarinas, y lleva encarcelado casi 22 años, 15 de ellos en el corredor de la muerte, del que fue trasladado a una cárcel común a principios de mes.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Fuente: <a href="http://www.elnuevoherald.com/noticias/sur-de-la-florida/article87123787.html" target="_blank">elnuevoherald.com</a>, Julio 1, 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>

Español Facial recognition Florida Innocence Pablo Ibar Spain USA Pablo Ibar seeks release on bond before retrial

Pablo Ibar, left, and defense lawyer Fred Haddad. A man who spent 16 years on Death Row for three murders he insists he did not commit went ...

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USA: In party platform, Democrats call for end to death penalty

<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/AVvXsEjoiPKhqWAmQ6xbK5yKOfE9zgVW4p4tiI9HXRNpnBZG1fqw8ImsIPAgKcHzz9fc3XG8aNb-A0sqAQGAMBx50kJwc24d4cPmsg7A-i-gUNTuhnVkkKgUCajVZQ781T63x-E-KVGgRVsl0vc/s1600/Hillary+Clinton.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Hillary Clinton" border="0" height="282" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoiPKhqWAmQ6xbK5yKOfE9zgVW4p4tiI9HXRNpnBZG1fqw8ImsIPAgKcHzz9fc3XG8aNb-A0sqAQGAMBx50kJwc24d4cPmsg7A-i-gUNTuhnVkkKgUCajVZQ781T63x-E-KVGgRVsl0vc/s400/Hillary+Clinton.jpg" title="Hillary Clinton" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hillary Clinton</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">Washington (CNN) -- Democrats are calling for an end to capital punishment.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The<a href="https://demconvention.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/2016-DEMOCRATIC-PARTY-PLATFORM-DRAFT-7.1.16.pdf" target="_blank"> latest draft of the party's platform</a>, released Friday, says the death penalty "has proven to be a cruel and unusual form of punishment" that "has no place in the United States of America."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The inclusion of the provision represents a victory of sorts for Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders -- a longtime opponent of the punishment who has said he is remaining in the presidential race in order to fight for progressive causes.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Sanders offered mild praise for the platform Friday evening, tweeting, "The Democratic Platform includes some accomplishments that will begin to move this country in the right direction."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton has supported the death penalty in the past, albeit on a limited basis, suggesting that there could be cases for "very limited use" of the punishment in "horrific" terrorist crimes.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">She was confronted over the issue during a <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/13/politics/clinton-sanders-democratic-town-hall/" target="_blank">CNN-TV One town hall event</a> in May by an exonerated former death row inmate who spent 39 years in jail for a murder he did not commit.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Where I end up is this, and maybe it's a distinction that is hard to support, but at this point, given the choices we face from terrorist activities primarily in our country that end up under federal jurisdiction, for very limited purposes, I think it can still be held in reserve for those," Clinton said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/13/politics/clinton-sanders-democratic-town-hall-duplicate-2/" target="_blank">OPINION: Exonerated death row inmate: Clinton wrong on death penalty</a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">For Sanders supporters, the inclusion of the death penalty provision could be viewed as the latest example of the ways in which the populist candidate has pushed the Democratic Party to the left.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Other provisions in the platform include support for workers earning at least $15 an hour -- though the platform doesn't call for a $15 federal minimum wage, one of Sanders' signature issues -- adopting a tougher tax policy against corporations, expanding Social Security and supporting states that choose to decriminalize marijuana.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Clinton adviser Maya Harris praised the plaform last week, calling it "the most ambitious and progressive platform" the party has seen.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Although Sanders told <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/26/politics/bernie-sanders-democratic-platform/" target="_blank">CNN's Jake Tapper</a> last week that he claimed some "very, very important victories" in the initial draft of the Democratic platform, he also said his camp had "lost some very important fights" on some issues, including trade, a carbon tax and health insurance.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He vowed to "take that fight to Orlando" -- where the committee will meet next week to approve the final draft of the platform -- and said if he doesn't succeed there, he will "certainly take it to the floor of the Democratic convention."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2016/07/01/politics/democrats-death-penalty/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a>, Rachel Chason, July 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/WebDPN/" target="_blank">Facebook</a> </b>and <b><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank">Twitter</a></b></span></div>

2016 US Presidential election Bernie Sanders Hillary Clinton Terrorism USA USA: In party platform, Democrats call for end to death penalty

Hillary Clinton Washington (CNN) -- Democrats are calling for an end to capital punishment. The latest draft of the party's platform , ...

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Waiting for Florida Supreme Court decision that could spare 390 death row inmates

<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/AVvXsEgcV1ApdWbxfmGwf8Gj-QqEC62uhjkH_-BDv2oMJw0Bt7Q-0yOZ1ruAfTkOo7mZvnm_FmCLT1_1WYooJx4DpsX9dNN0k4h-x3SdmlqLg-lZ2pKax819151X5cvj4S8XIV1vt8I0Dkr9EAE/s1600/Florida+death+chamber.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Florida's death chamber" border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcV1ApdWbxfmGwf8Gj-QqEC62uhjkH_-BDv2oMJw0Bt7Q-0yOZ1ruAfTkOo7mZvnm_FmCLT1_1WYooJx4DpsX9dNN0k4h-x3SdmlqLg-lZ2pKax819151X5cvj4S8XIV1vt8I0Dkr9EAE/s400/Florida+death+chamber.jpg" title="Florida's death chamber" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Florida's death chamber</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">With one week left before the Florida Supreme Court goes on its summer recess, the justices have yet to rule on one of the most anticipated and politically charged questions facing them this year: Whether to commute the sentences of 390 death row inmates after the state’s death penalty laws were struck down and rewritten this spring.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In January, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a case called <i>Hurst vs. Florida</i> that the process used to sentence people to death in the state was unconstitutional.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Without a valid death penalty law on the books, the Florida Legislature passed new laws for death sentences that will leave the decision to the jury, which has to find one aggravating circumstance and agree to the death penalty on a 10-2 vote.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">What remains unclear is how the <i>Hurst </i>decision will impact those who have already been sentenced to death.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Defense attorneys for death-row inmates have argued their clients’ sentences should be commuted to life in prison. But the state has stood by the original death sentences.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“If the (Hurst) case were to be remanded (back to a trial court), it would have to be under the new statute,” Assistant Attorney General Carine Mitz said in the Supreme Court in May. “I still don't think we have a problem.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The seven justices don’t have to make up their minds before the summer recess — and given the complexity and controversy of the issue, they may not. But until they do, there’s deep uncertainty on the issue, not just for those convicted and sentenced to death but also within the political and legal worlds.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Gov. Rick Scott has not signed a death warrant since the Florida Supreme Court halted the executions of Michael Lambrix and Mark Asay in February and March.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Some death row lawyers and Supreme Court Justice Barbara Pariente have questioned whether the new law is constitutional because, they say, the requirement that the jury find just one aggravating factor could increase the number of convicted murderers eligible for the death penalty.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">On Thursday, the court issued one death-row opinion that briefly addressed <i>Hurst</i>. Charles Brant, who pled guilty to the 2004 murder of 21-year-old Sara Radfar in Tampa.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Because Brant waived his right to a jury in the penalty phase of his murder trial, the justices wrote that <i>Hurst </i>cannot be applied to his case. They issued a similar decision in a death penalty case earlier this month, writing that a death-row inmate “cannot subvert the right to jury fact finding by waiving that right and then suggesting that a subsequent development in the law has fundamentally undermined his sentence.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The final opinions before the court goes on recess are expected at 11 a.m. July 7.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: <a href="http://www.bradenton.com/news/local/article86892057.html" target="_blank">bradenton.com</a>, Michael Auslen, June 30, 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>

Commutation Florida Hurst v. Florida USA Waiting for Florida Supreme Court decision that could spare 390 death row inmates

Florida's death chamber With one week left before the Florida Supreme Court goes on its summer recess, the justices have yet to rule on ...

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America's deadliest prosecutors: five lawyers, 440 death sentences

<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/AVvXsEjK_Bjrlq_Ew3eBzYQ2XTj0DyYoqz59uXvZ51JrTM0ChWlfTeN5dFYPJZW45Ws7P6vY9e5yGyjOAIo5scV8GvuyYva7U7TcKbobSpD5OypLItONlkdhfe_L_B2elFeAlo3S7W6XRQSD_5k/s1600/Bob+Macy+of+Oklahoma+County.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Bob Macy of Oklahoma County" border="0" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK_Bjrlq_Ew3eBzYQ2XTj0DyYoqz59uXvZ51JrTM0ChWlfTeN5dFYPJZW45Ws7P6vY9e5yGyjOAIo5scV8GvuyYva7U7TcKbobSpD5OypLItONlkdhfe_L_B2elFeAlo3S7W6XRQSD_5k/s400/Bob+Macy+of+Oklahoma+County.jpg" title="Bob Macy of Oklahoma County" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bob Macy of Oklahoma County</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>Harvard report highlights the lion-sized role in modern death penalty of just four men and a woman, and how capital punishment is a ‘personality-driven system’</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">As head prosecutors in their counties, just five individuals have been responsible for putting no fewer than 440 prisoners onto death row. If you compare that number to the 2,943 who are currently awaiting execution in the US, it is equivalent to one out of every seven.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Or express the figure another way: of the 8,038 death sentences handed down since the death penalty was restarted in the modern era 40 years ago this week, some one in 20 of them have been the responsibility of those five district attorneys alone.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The five are profiled in a new report from Harvard Law School’s Fair Punishment Project. Titled America’s Top Five Deadliest Prosecutors, the report highlights the lion-sized role in the modern death penalty of just four men and one woman. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">They are: Joe Freeman Britt of Robeson County, North Carolina; Donnie Myers of Lexington, South Carolina; Bob Macy of Oklahoma County; Lynne Abraham of Philadelphia County; and Johnny Holmes of Harris County, Texas.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Just how extraordinary this elite club of lawyers is can be seen in the biography of Bob Macy. Until his death in 2011, he was known as Cowboy Bob because of his traditional frontier dress sense: he always wore cowboy boots, a large cowboy hat, a black string tie, a black suit and a white shirt.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Over the course of 21 years as the top prosecutor in Oklahoma County, Macy put 54 people on death row. That gave him the distinction of sending more people to their potential deaths than any other district attorney in the nation.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">And many did actually go to their deaths. According to records compiled by the Fair Punishment Project, 30 of those prisoners were executed.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">That might have presented an ethical burden to some, but not to Macy. As he sat beneath his Tombstone poster, he ruminated on the “patriotic duty” of prosecutors to aggressively pursue death sentences. He was proud of having sent a 16-year-old, Sean Sellers, to the death chamber before the US supreme court banned the execution of juveniles in 2005.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jun/29/us-deadliest-prosecutors-death-penalty-five-attorneys-justice-system" target="_blank">Click here to read the full article</a></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: The Guardian, Ed Pilkington, June 30, 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>

H. McCollum L. Brown North Carolina Oklahoma Pennsylvania Prosecution misconduct Texas USA America's deadliest prosecutors: five lawyers, 440 death sentences

Bob Macy of Oklahoma County Harvard report highlights the lion-sized role in modern death penalty of just four men and a woman, and how capi...

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‘El Chapo’ extradition to US halted by Mexico judge over death penalty fears

<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/AVvXsEjm5fBuJoAH_swDnljbi3kqpts8tgqO1HDGSa65uxj2LxcW2vbSmBNPeaDPtIjBRr1HHus0ykYYOLrhjXoQl3WQpaArsglM5P0YA0OK1s2VG_0k-9Wi3ebSfrf4m5vkXAo3IoMsweTLGWw/s1600/Joaquin+El+Chapo+Guzman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt=" Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman" border="0" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm5fBuJoAH_swDnljbi3kqpts8tgqO1HDGSa65uxj2LxcW2vbSmBNPeaDPtIjBRr1HHus0ykYYOLrhjXoQl3WQpaArsglM5P0YA0OK1s2VG_0k-9Wi3ebSfrf4m5vkXAo3IoMsweTLGWw/s400/Joaquin+El+Chapo+Guzman.jpg" title=" Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">A judge in Mexico temporarily blocked the extradition of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman to the US after his lawyers appealed the move over fears that the infamous drug cartel leader might face the death penalty.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Guzman’s extradition request was suspended Tuesday after two injunctions were filed by his lawyers. He is set to face murder and drug smuggling charges in the US.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The judge granted a stay on the drug kingpin’s extradition until appeals can be heard. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">For now, “El Chapo” will be held in a maximum security jail near the US border.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Jose Refugio Rodriguez, one of Guzman’s lawyers, told the Associated Press that the appeals are based on the statute of limitations on some of the charges as well as their contention that some of the accusations against Guzman are based on hearsay rather than direct evidence.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Mexican Foreign Ministry approved Guzman’s extradition when the US guaranteed that Guzman would not face the death penalty. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mexico has abolished capital punishment and will not extradite its citizens if they could face execution.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Guzman was arrested in January following 13 years of evading law enforcement after escaping prison.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: AP, June 29, 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>

Drug trafficking Extradition Mexico USA ‘El Chapo’ extradition to US halted by Mexico judge over death penalty fears

Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman A judge in Mexico temporarily blocked the extradition of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman to the US after his l...

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Guarding Solitary Confinement

<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/AVvXsEiXedosnEnVevuCSuR7FGA0a05RqQxdGHO51jX3RE4m572xRFlpLP4tCHfgfA0m-mgdcd_wMOMu2NdmdHZwSrXhzy8KFzy3OceZ9n1muRQd0gcon4RrwgMqhvjYsk_0AwvVGWeG7BaY780/s1600/Solitary+Confinement.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Solitary confinement cell: Entombed alive" border="0" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXedosnEnVevuCSuR7FGA0a05RqQxdGHO51jX3RE4m572xRFlpLP4tCHfgfA0m-mgdcd_wMOMu2NdmdHZwSrXhzy8KFzy3OceZ9n1muRQd0gcon4RrwgMqhvjYsk_0AwvVGWeG7BaY780/s400/Solitary+Confinement.jpg" title="Solitary confinement cell: Entombed alive" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Solitary confinement cell: Entombed alive</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>Interview with a Former Corrections Officer Who Worked in Prison Isolation Units</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Recently, <i>Solitary Watch</i> had the opportunity to sit down with “X,” a former corrections officer who spent almost two years working on a segregation unit in Pennsylvania. (The guard requested complete anonymity in exchange for the interview). </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">X, now 48, worked for the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections between 2006 and 2009, and in the Special Housing Units (SHU) from 2008-2009. He spoke candidly with journalist Aviva Stahl about what drew him to work “in the hole,” what he saw while he was there, and what he thinks about the growing movement to reform the use of solitary. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This interview has been edited for length and clarity</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">AS: Did you start working in the SHU or did you work in general population first?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">X: It’s always general population first. Always. You don’t work in solitary confinement until you’ve established yourself as a CO. They want to see how you react. How you handle yourself. How you are with the other CO’s, how you interact with inmates. And they take that all… and you get to know your lieutenants, your captains, your majors, and your other staff members, your peers, your other CO’s. Whether or not they can trust you and you can trust them before you’re ever considered for down there, the hole. We used to call it the hole. People want to see what you’re made of.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">AS: Do you remember the kind of people who were there for disciplinary or punishment, do you remember the range of stuff they had done to warrant being put in the hole?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">X: Mm-hm. It could be an offense towards an officer. It could be, any inmates if they got in any kind of a fight or something both of them automatically go down. Normally a couple days, you have a trial, find out what’s going on, bring the officers in that seen it. “Yeah I seen this, the inmate so and so you know initiated it.” So normally the one that didn’t, they’d get released back to general population. They could be down there for, I mean, stealing, whether it had been in the chow hall, from one of the workshops trying to bring things in, offenses that they committed during visiting when they were visiting family and friends during visiting hour. There would be state offenses against officers like spitting, hitting. Anything.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">AS: Did you ever see people go crazy in the SHU?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">X: Oh yeah. Yeah it was, we had one inmate, he was in his 70’s… We had another inmate being transferred from another institution and he said yeah, he would take a cellie. Well, ended up, both celled together. It was the second night together and the younger inmate who was like 24, raped the 77 year old inmate. And I remember when [the 77-year-old] came out of there, the Lieutenant comes out and we had him on a stretcher and I mean this man, we thought he was going to have a heart attack, a stroke or…he was just horrified that this had happened.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">AS: I think you told me you walked in on someone who had hanged himself, right?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">X: We had one inmate, he was dead when we got him. He snapped his neck from hanging himself. Had some that the genitalia, tried to cut it off with a plastic spoon.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">AS: And the people who tried to commit suicide in solitary or who cut themselves, do you think it was because they were in solitary? Do you think it was the solitary that was driving them crazy?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">X: No, I think it was just incarceration. And situations that happen while they were in there, if they had a loved one that died or their spouse or their child or someone you’re going to know what happens when it happens. The inmates don’t take time to tell you. They’ll tell you what happened. But they can’t go on anymore and they’ll tell you they don’t want to live anymore. They’ll write Dear John letters. It’s the same as what happens out here. They start giving away everything, they write a note, they start, they lose all affect for anything. You don’t want to be involved anymore and they withdraw. It’s a norm. [In fact, 50 percent of all prison suicides take place among the approximately 5 percent of prisoners held in solitary.]</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">AS: The other thing I was curious about that we talked about when we met was forced cell extractions. I don’t know if you want to talk about that, what it was like to participate in those or kind of what it looked like.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">X: Basically, where we would be doing, whether it would be a fence, they would grab ahold of one of the nurses, when it was pill-passing time. They would mix up stuff, they would defecate all over their cells, they would paint the windows, so you have to be able to see, no matter what, you have to be able to see to do your count, make sure for the safety of the inmates. You have to be able to see in that cell. And they would cover the windows with feces, it was bad. And man, it stunk. But you don’t know if they were dead or what was going to go on there. If they had something they had made shanks out of. We had one inmate he took towels and kind of strapped his shanks to his hands and he was like “come and get me.” And so you have to go in, that’s just it. So a team assembles and you give them several chances to come to the grill to be cuffed and he comes down there, he’s the one giving the order, and no matter what happens before the cellie’s direction or any sort of pepper spray or anything there’s always a lieutenant there. He’s the one giving the order. I’m ordering you to inmate so and so, I’m giving you a lawful order and you need to come to the pie hole to be handcuffed. “No. Come on and get me.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">If they didn’t want to come out then be cuffed up, you have no other choice but to go in. Or you have to hit them with pepper spray. We had our teams for them with our batons and our pepper spray and everybody has a set of cuffs on them. You used to have to overpower them and take them down. I mean you came out with some bangs and bruises on you but, you got done what had to be done.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">AS: How often would that happen?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">X: Sometimes you may not have a cell extraction for a week or two. But normally it was probably 2 or 3 times a week. Yeah, it happened quite frequently. If you believe somebody had something in their cell, a weapon, and they wouldn’t come out, you’d have to go in and get it.</div><br /><b><a href="http://solitarywatch.com/2016/06/28/guarding-solitary-confinement/" target="_blank">Click here to read the full article</a></b><br /><br />Source: Solitary Watch, Aviva Stahl, June 28, 2016<br /><br /><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/WebDPN/" target="_blank">Facebook</a> </b>and <b><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank">Twitter</a></b></span></div>

Mental Illness Pennsylvania Solitary confinement Suicide USA Guarding Solitary Confinement

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Arkansas judge criticizes secrecy in U.S. executions

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKrWGKnCqVqhI-KEAdf9q_SwmSBsVt0AdJwFaQVBgjcM78MeX08DVRDH3cAA3xpqknQPtdDxCMzLWyJ8fqBBwKqZqxAocd1EQDIwGxB3mgjGdhMU3UVX4aFzTOypxloIwPnDmJHAshyIQ/s1600/Lethal+injections.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKrWGKnCqVqhI-KEAdf9q_SwmSBsVt0AdJwFaQVBgjcM78MeX08DVRDH3cAA3xpqknQPtdDxCMzLWyJ8fqBBwKqZqxAocd1EQDIwGxB3mgjGdhMU3UVX4aFzTOypxloIwPnDmJHAshyIQ/s320/Lethal+injections.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">An Arkansas judge who last year declared unconstitutional a law that allows the state to keep confidential the source of drugs used for execution by lethal injection has lamented a 5-4 decision by the Arkansas Supreme Court reversing his ruling.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In a breakout session on the death penalty at the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship General Assembly June 24, Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen said that since the Supreme Court upheld the use of capital punishment for certain crimes, the death penalty debate has shifted to whether specific execution procedures satisfy the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"How it's being done now is we'll make sure it's nice by making sure it's secret so you don't know how barbaric it is," said Griffen, who also serves as pastor of CBF-affiliated New Millennium Church in Little Rock, Ark. Griffen said legal action surrounding capital punishment now focuses on "seeking to discover the chemicals that are being used to put people to death and discover where they are coming from."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The day before the Arkansas Supreme Court upheld a state law that allows for the type, manufacturers and sellers of drugs used for lethal injections to be kept confidential. The law is designed to ensure the state can find a place to buy the drugs in a market where pharmaceutical companies are rapidly withdrawing from the lethal injection trade.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Not only are inmates on death row not entitled to know who is selling the drugs, Griffen said, they also cannot find out the qualifications of the individuals who will administer them.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"If you want to euthanize your dog, you know that under your state only the people who have certain credentials can put your dog down," Griffen said at the CBF workshop. "If you want to euthanize your neighbor - if you want to kill your neighbor in the name of the state - I 10-time double-dog dare you to find out the qualifications of the person who is doing it."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"As a matter of fact, there is no requirement that the state tell you, and they have an affirmative obligation to not disclose that," the judge continued. "It is amazing. One would call it irony, but it's too nice a word."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Pfizer, the world's 2nd-largest drug company adopted distribution controls in March to prevent its drugs from reaching execution chambers across the United States.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Pfizer makes its products to enhance and save the lives of the patients we serve," the company said in a statement. "Consistent with these values, Pfizer strongly objects to the use of its products as lethal injections for capital punishment."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Reprieve, a New York-based human rights organization, said in May that all 25 FDA-approved manufacturers of potential execution drugs now have blocked their sale for use in capital punishment.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The ruling by the Arkansas high court clears the way for the execution of 8 people on death row whose lives were extended by Griffen's temporary restraining order last Oct. 9. One of the state's execution drugs expires before the Supreme Court decision goes in effect, however, and the supplier has told officials it would not supply any more.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: baptistnews.com, June 27, 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>

Arkansas lethal injections Pfizer Pharmacies USA Arkansas judge criticizes secrecy in U.S. executions

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Penn State researchers analyze death penalty findings

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrkVn_fXp9K-yZSjfNh-qqaojqXfUUSVsnbbvsIaTYDxGoSLc-zpJbrOwfU8LPBe13S2-M3olivI5URk25X5MWdt6WNzptAAvdXnCfKR6DA76BhFOJvayB0t5u-2JQntdH1O4l7AT6jCw/s1600/archives-and-records.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Archives and records" border="0" height="293" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrkVn_fXp9K-yZSjfNh-qqaojqXfUUSVsnbbvsIaTYDxGoSLc-zpJbrOwfU8LPBe13S2-M3olivI5URk25X5MWdt6WNzptAAvdXnCfKR6DA76BhFOJvayB0t5u-2JQntdH1O4l7AT6jCw/s400/archives-and-records.jpg" title="Archives and records" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Penn State researchers studying whether racial bias affects the imposition of the death penalty have begun crunching the data, a move signaling the end of a 4-year saga of waiting on a state report that has officially halted executions in the state.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Penn State findings might be made public before year's end.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">While the analysis is in the early stages, the professor leading the research said he expects similar findings to what the Reading Eagle reported last week on the distribution of death sentences in Pennsylvania.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"I think it'll be a good complement to what you've done, with some details that will flesh out the issues that you've raised," said John Kramer, a retired Penn State criminology professor. "I don't suspect that it will erase the (Eagle's) findings."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In an investigation spanning 5 months, the Eagle found Pennsylvania has sentenced 408 defendants to death since 1978, at a rate of 1.6 death sentences for every 100 homicides. The rate for counties varied from zero to more than 7, indicating wide prosecutorial discretion.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Following the U.S. Supreme Court's 1972 decision in <i>Furman v. Georgia</i> that found capital punishment unconstitutional, states created statutes that were intended to make its application less arbitrary, particularly for black defendants.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Going back to the Furman decision, the question is: Have we controlled that kind of discretion adequately?" Kramer said. "I'm sure we will cite your article when we're reviewing our data."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The meticulous gathering of data on more than 900 first-degree murder cases from 2000 to 2010 in 18 counties has been tedious and painstakingly slow, pushing a state report that was expected 3 years ago back several times.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Kramer's team has been out in the field since 2012 poring over court files in counties stretching from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh to identify charging and sentencing patterns in 1st-degree murder cases. The death penalty is reserved almost exclusively for the crime of murder.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Researchers hope to learn whether race is a factor in who is charged capitally and ultimately sentenced to death in Pennsylvania.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This investigation will be folded into the study state lawmakers called for in 2011. That report, by the Joint State Government Commission, isn't expected until six months after Penn State concludes its study for the Interbranch Commission for Gender, Racial and Ethnic Fairness.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">As directed by lawmakers, the state report will examine 17 issues around the death penalty, including its cost, deterrence and quality of counsel.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The commission's reports often are completed within a year and include recommendations.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Recommendations in the long awaited report, however, will likely relate to data collection, which is sorely lacking. The Joint State Government Commission will not be recommending whether to continue to support or abolish the death penalty, said Glenn Pasewicz, executive director of the Joint State Government Commission.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"From the beginning, it was not the intent that the report would come up with some firm recommendations about what capital punishment should be in Pennsylvania," Pasewicz said. "We're going to leave the big questions to the Legislature itself. We'll provide them with as much information as we can, and they can sort it all out."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">For years, Pennsylvania's death penalty system has been a source of consternation among those on both sides of the issue. Having sentenced hundreds in the modern era and executed only 3, it is widely perceived as dysfunctional.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Another round</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It has been studied before.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In 1999, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court directed a study on whether racial or gender bias influences the judicial system, including the death penalty. In the committee's 550-page report in 2003, it made more than 170 recommendations, including issuing a moratorium on executions. Gov. Tom Wolf issued one last year, saying executions would not resume until the state report is completed.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Based on existing data and studies, the committee concluded that there are strong indications that Pennsylvania's capital justice system does not operate in an evenhanded manner," the group's report said, noting the responsibility of ensuring equal justice under the law cannot fall to a single branch of government.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The committee also took aim at the quality of capital representation, which the Eagle explored last fall, finding nearly 1 in5 inmates sentenced to death in Pennsylvania the past decade were represented by attorneys disciplined for professional misconduct at some point in their careers.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The committee's report said of capital representation, "Unless the poor, among whom minority communities are overrepresented, are provided adequate legal representation, including ample funds for experts and investigators, there cannot be a lasting solution to the issue of racial and ethnic bias in the capital system."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The group also recommended original research to study the issue further.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"It's critical that we do our own studies," said Lisette McCormick, executive director of the Pittsburgh-based Interbranch Commission for Gender, Racial and Ethnic Fairness, which conducted the review at the Supreme Court's direction.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>'There are gaps'</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Established in 2005 by Pennsylvania's three branches of government, the Interbranch Commission for Gender, Racial and Ethnic Fairness is tasked with addressing inequities in the court system.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">McCormick added, noting there is no systematic data collection on Pennsylvania's death penalty: "There are gaps. You cannot conduct a valid study with gaps."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Penn State report - Kramer said an internal draft would be completed next month - was commissioned in part to address this gap. McCormick's group is funding the report at a cost of about $325,000.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Eagle's cost and sentence-distribution findings, McCormick said, were consistent with other studies she's reviewed for the current state study.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The shortage of original research on Pennsylvania's death penalty system, Kramer and McCormick said, is directly related to the difficulty of winnowing out information buried, oftentimes in storage, in hundreds of case boxes across the commonwealth.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Kramer's data collectors could examine, at their quickest pace, a maximum of 5 cases a day and averaged only 3 or 4. And some days, they would sift through case boxes and collect no pertinent data.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"There's just not any data that you can put together to do this study without investing a tremendous amount of time," Kramer said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: Reading Eagle, 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>

Abolition African-American Inadequate counsel Moratorium Pennsylvania Race Racism USA Penn State researchers analyze death penalty findings

Penn State researchers studying whether racial bias affects the imposition of the death penalty have begun crunching the data, a move signal...

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Arizona abandons use of sedative as a lethal-injection drug

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoFigrYakdS66rpfaFLQlxyWrD9DfAV4UzI6OSGga-WV4iPE5bEZJhmrV3-j7TRYHVaSQ8M66WmHyc14Q8kCaan26PyPKL0f3NMCC_BrmT4R2mOKbnxtGCqeUymvO3uzmtedR_gmAIejQ/s1600/Midazolam.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Midazolam" border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoFigrYakdS66rpfaFLQlxyWrD9DfAV4UzI6OSGga-WV4iPE5bEZJhmrV3-j7TRYHVaSQ8M66WmHyc14Q8kCaan26PyPKL0f3NMCC_BrmT4R2mOKbnxtGCqeUymvO3uzmtedR_gmAIejQ/s400/Midazolam.jpeg" title="Midazolam" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The state of Arizona has eliminated its use of the sedative midazolam as one of the drugs it relies on in carrying out executions.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Lawyers for the state said in a court filing Friday that its current supply of midazolam expired on May 31 and that Arizona's sources of the drug have dried up because of pressure from opponents of the death penalty.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">That leaves Arizona with other lethal-drug combinations, but the state's lawyers said they can't currently carry out executions because it has no access to supplies of pentobarbital and sodium thiopental.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The status of the state's lethal-injection drug supplies were revealed Friday in a court filing in a lawsuit that challenges the way Arizona carries out the death penalty.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Executions in Arizona were put on hold after the July 2014 death of convicted killer Joseph Rudolph Wood, who was given 15 doses of midazolam and a painkiller and who took nearly 2 hours to die. His attorney says the execution was botched.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Executions in Arizona remain on hold until the lawsuit is resolved.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A ruling last month by U.S. District Judge Neil Wake dismissed parts of the lawsuit, but other elements of the case remain alive.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The state argued in its filing Friday that the lawsuit is moot now that midazolam is off the table.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Dale Baich, one of the attorneys representing death row prisoners, said that even if the lawsuit's claims involving lethal-injection drugs are dismissed, his clients still have claims that Arizona Department of Corrections Director Charles Ryan has abused his discretion in the methods and amounts of the drugs used in past executions.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"It's our belief that the unlimited discretion that the director has during the execution process violates the Eighth Amendment," which forbids cruel and unusual punishment, Baich said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Similar challenges to the death penalty are playing out in other parts of the country that seek more transparency about where states get their execution drugs.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">States are struggling to obtain execution drugs because European pharmaceutical companies began blocking the use of their products for lethal injections. Death penalty states refuse to disclose the sources of their drugs, though the sources are widely believed to be compounding pharmacies - organizations that make drugs tailored to the needs of a specific client. Those pharmacies do not face the same approval process or testing standards of larger pharmaceutical companies.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: Associated Press, June 24, 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>

Arizona lethal injections Midazolam Pharmacies USA Arizona abandons use of sedative as a lethal-injection drug

The state of Arizona has eliminated its use of the sedative midazolam as one of the drugs it relies on in carrying out executions. Lawyers f...

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Arkansas death penalty drug expiring before use

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2O1EOnM_Xk5Lgh8Bvmeh4sOPdyeBt1m5Fv6ibpGBTlZ4Y_V5L1M0Q14jnXvPpkVNozrbNC6A2KZ2ZZxzaW3Q2IjZfpDBqHO6AjscZhlKSBYR2Hf0z_drJMiVgv9PbNC5ZILNkeN__Vbc/s1600/Lethal+injections.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2O1EOnM_Xk5Lgh8Bvmeh4sOPdyeBt1m5Fv6ibpGBTlZ4Y_V5L1M0Q14jnXvPpkVNozrbNC6A2KZ2ZZxzaW3Q2IjZfpDBqHO6AjscZhlKSBYR2Hf0z_drJMiVgv9PbNC5ZILNkeN__Vbc/s320/Lethal+injections.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>Court OKs execution but requires wait; AG won't ask for a rush</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">1 of Arkansas' execution drugs will expire before a court decision upholding the state's execution law goes into effect, and might be impossible to replace.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A spokesman for Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge said Friday that she will not ask the state's Supreme Court to expedite finalizing its Thursday ruling that upheld Arkansas' execution secrecy law and drug protocol. The executions of 8 people are waiting for that ruling.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Generally, rulings are final 18 days after opinions are issued. Without the attorney general's request, the ruling takes effect July 11 - days after the state's supply of vecuronium bromide, a paralytic the state uses in executions, expires.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"After careful consideration and analysis, the attorney general has decided not to seek an expedited mandate from the court. But once the court issues the mandate, the attorney general is fully prepared to ask the governor to set execution dates to see that justice is served," said Rutledge spokesman Judd Deere.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">After the mandate is issued, the stays on the 8 executions would be lifted. But with 1 of the 3 drugs expiring June 30 and the supplier telling the state it would not provide more, it was unclear when the state could resume executions.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Solomon Graves, spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Correction, said he would not speculate about what will happen after the supply of the paralytic expires. Deere said Thursday that the attorney general's office would not advise the Department of Correction to use expired drugs.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The inmates' attorney, Jeff Rosenzweig, said he did not have a comment on the attorney general's decision. He said he still plans to file a petition with the court asking for a rehearing before the mandate is issued.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The court ruled Thursday in a 4-3 decision that the state's 3-drug protocol and the law that allows Arkansas to keep its source of drugs confidential are constitutional. The inmates had argued that Arkansas' execution secrecy law could lead to cruel and unusual punishment and that the state reneged on a pledge to share information.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But the high court said that a lower court "erred in ruling that public access to the identity of the supplier of the 3 drugs (the Arkansas Department of Correction) has obtained would positively enhance the functioning of executions in Arkansas. As has been well documented, disclosing the information is actually detrimental to the process."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The inmates argued that without disclosure of the source and other information they had no way to determine whether the midazolam, vecuronium bromide or potassium chloride would lead to cruel and unusual punishment.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The inmates also argued that the secrecy law violates a settlement in an earlier lawsuit that guaranteed inmates would be given the information. The court agreed with the state that the agreement is not a binding contract.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Attorneys for the state said at least 5 other courts have ruled that the three drugs used in Arkansas' protocol are acceptable, including the sedative midazolam. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld Oklahoma's use of midazolam last year.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: Associated Press, June 24, 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>

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Court OKs execution but requires wait; AG won't ask for a rush 1 of Arkansas' execution drugs will expire before a court decision up...

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Execution set for July 14 would be the 6th in Georgia this year

<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/AVvXsEilYJrqUa8sDJJMybo_bXkwYKBNDs_oGQ6WV4EBA8nGatvF6QdbotD0LRmURLkiADX8s7NyY1ZE5FUJjK3ObW-FgtusORj3O21pEM5p9U41LJ3TWWApX9JlgoaVfa0v5hDsdvnaHUkYb1g/s1600/John+Wayne+Conner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="John Wayne Conner" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilYJrqUa8sDJJMybo_bXkwYKBNDs_oGQ6WV4EBA8nGatvF6QdbotD0LRmURLkiADX8s7NyY1ZE5FUJjK3ObW-FgtusORj3O21pEM5p9U41LJ3TWWApX9JlgoaVfa0v5hDsdvnaHUkYb1g/s320/John+Wayne+Conner.jpg" title="John Wayne Conner" width="267" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">John Wayne Conner</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>Conner was sentenced to die 34 years ago</i><br /><br />John Wayne Conner was scheduled Friday to become the sixth man executed in Georgia this year - a record number since the death penalty was reinstated here 40 years ago.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The time for his lethal injection for the 1992 murder of a drinking buddy was set for 7 p.m. on July 14.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Conner's scheduled execution comes as the pace of executions in Georgia is increasing. Yet, death sentences are being rendered in Georgia murder trials less often.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">At this time, Conner is the only death row inmate who has exhausted his appeals, though several others are nearing the end of legal recourse.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">On Jan. 9, 198, Conner, Beverly Bates and J.T. White went to a party in Eastman, Ga., but when it was over they weren't ready to call it a night.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">So they returned to Conner's house to keep drinking.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But Conner, then 26, and White, 29, needed more bourbon. They walked to a neighbor's house in hopes of getting a ride to the liquor store but the neighbor refused, so they started walking back to Conner's house.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">On the way, Conner told investigators, White "made a statement about he would like to go to bed with my girlfriend and so I got mad and we got into a fight and fought all the way over to the oak tree and I hit him with a quart bottle."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">White ran and Conner chased him. The fight continued in a ditch by the road.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"He was swinging, trying to get up, or swinging at me to try to hit me," Conner told investigators. "There was a stick right there ... and I grabbed it and went to beating him with it."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Conner left White for dead in a ditch and went home to wake Bates. He told her they had to leave town because he thought he had killed White.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But he also needed to make sure, so they drove back to the ditch where White and Conner had fought.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Bates told investigators she heard a thud moments after Conner disappeared into the woods. He came back to the car, telling her he was sure. "Let's go," he said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Conner, now 60, and Bates were picked up the next day in Butts County, which is where Georgia's death row is located.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The last time Georgia carried out an execution was on April 27, when Daniel Anthony Lucas died by lethal injection 18 years and four days after he murdered Steven Moss and his 2 children in their Jones County home.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This year Georgia has also executed Joshua Bishop, Kenneth Fults, Travis Hittson and Brandon Astor Jones.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The only other time Georgia has put to death as many as 5 people in a year was in 1987.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: myajc.com, June 24, 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>

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John Wayne Conner Conner was sentenced to die 34 years ago John Wayne Conner was scheduled Friday to become the sixth man executed in Georgi...

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State of Florida will ask for the death penalty at Pablo Ibar retrial

<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/AVvXsEhdcad9-F3va0eAgzSIq_HTXL1m7pVDyGc0J8RXO_ulajtDdBLNsyGiWFd3Zf_20X8lSRC3jHuFzV1V_4StAwITS_SYB0BH2Cpp6GWfDIqXgHtkPCvqYxlTzodfUm8brhZYcVxfhCwaQC0/s1600/Pablo+Ibar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Pablo Ibar" border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdcad9-F3va0eAgzSIq_HTXL1m7pVDyGc0J8RXO_ulajtDdBLNsyGiWFd3Zf_20X8lSRC3jHuFzV1V_4StAwITS_SYB0BH2Cpp6GWfDIqXgHtkPCvqYxlTzodfUm8brhZYcVxfhCwaQC0/s320/Pablo+Ibar.jpg" title="Pablo Ibar" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pablo Ibar</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>The Spaniard of Basque descent has already spent 16 years on death row, after a conviction in the 1990s for a triple-homicide</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The State of Florida has announced its decision to ask for capital punishment for Pablo Ibar, despite the Florida Supreme Court having vacated a death penalty sentence from the year 2000 and ordered a new trial.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ibar, a Spanish citizen of Basque descent, was convicted of a 1994 triple homicide of a nightclub owner and 2 models. He has already served 22 years in prison, 16 of them on death row.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Andres Krakenberger, a spokesman for the Pablo Ibar Association Against the Death Penalty, told reporters at a news conference on Tuesday that the defense had received the state's notification. He said the decision was "predictable," though it has caused "profound disappointment," given that the prosecution is pressing charges against someone who has "clear proof of his innocence."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Krakenberger said Ibar was wrongly convicted and has already had to serve 16 years on death row, while the Florida Supreme Court agrees that the "scant" evidence against him is "weak."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The court vacated the conviction in February saying: "Ibar's DNA was not found on a blue t-shirt recovered from the crime scene that was allegedly used to partially cover the face of the perpetrator, whom the state claimed to have been Ibar. [...] Ibar never confessed to the crime as he steadfastly proclaimed his innocence [and] presented an alibi as to his whereabouts."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The spokesman criticized "the coldness" of the notification the defense received. Krakenberger said it shows that capital punishment is seen as a "procedure" in the United States despite the fact that it is "cruel, inhumane and degrading" and "has no place in the 21st century."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Krakenberger told reporters that Ibar, who was transferred from death row to a county jail earlier this month, received the news with "a certain resignation," though he said, speaking broadly, that he was in good spirits because his situation "has improved."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ibar's defense team needs $1.3 million to mount their case. They still need to raise $590,000. The defendant has received $50,000 for his legal fees from the Basque Country government, regional organizations and private individuals who have donated to the cause through the association's website.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: El Pais, June 23, 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>

DNA Facial recognition Florida Innocence Pablo Ibar Spain USA State of Florida will ask for the death penalty at Pablo Ibar retrial

Pablo Ibar The Spaniard of Basque descent has already spent 16 years on death row, after a conviction in the 1990s for a triple-homicide The...

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Texas: New Rodney Reed Filing; Death row inmate's lawyers seek retrial

<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/AVvXsEgJ3njdgd-h0YCk98syBYpK6J05bZI153PqMIZJt2EY-wBGgu4w70TssgEbHUnMUKqkwMZ_dqyEB3x6uZVQdmDbRZ9Z0KHJSvq4XWNFFY2NPqAVHtnFI-CukUW_0oZ53dEtIGxzdpVav2Q/s1600/Texas+DR+Polunsky+Unit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Texas death row, Polusnky Unit, Livingston, TX" border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ3njdgd-h0YCk98syBYpK6J05bZI153PqMIZJt2EY-wBGgu4w70TssgEbHUnMUKqkwMZ_dqyEB3x6uZVQdmDbRZ9Z0KHJSvq4XWNFFY2NPqAVHtnFI-CukUW_0oZ53dEtIGxzdpVav2Q/s400/Texas+DR+Polunsky+Unit.jpg" title="Texas death row, Polusnky Unit, Livingston, TX" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Texas death row, Polusnky Unit, Livingston, TX</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">Attorneys for death row inmate Rodney Reed have filed a supplement to the Feb. 2015 brief seeking a retrial on his death penalty case, arguing that new evidence has come their way that further indicates that Reed is not responsible for the April 1996 murder of Stacey Stites.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The brief, filed June 7 to the Court of Criminal Appeals and Reed's trial court in Bastrop, points to a conflicting detail in the timeline of former Giddings Police Officer Jimmy Fennell, Stites' fiance and the man Reed defenders believe is actually responsible for killing Stites. Since Fennell first gave his official statement to police 2 days after Stites' body was found, the understanding was that he spent the night of April 22 at home with his fiancee - beginning at 8pm or 8:30 - and that he slept through her early morning departure for work at H-E-B. (Fennell testified in court to this chronology, as well.) But according to a recent interview with Curtis L. Davis - a Bastrop County Sheriff's deputy who at the time was one of Fennell's best friends - Fennell told Davis that he spent the night of April 22 drinking beer with fellow police officers by his truck after Little League baseball practice. Davis said Fennell told him the next morning that he didn't return home to Stites until 10 or 11 o'clock that night.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Reed's lead counsel, Innocence Project attorney Bryce Benjet, explained in the 19-page brief that Davis revealed this conflicting detail during an April interview with CNN. The network is currently producing a special for its show Death Row Stories about Reed's case and the efforts to save his life. (Indeed, the Chronicle was in Livingston, where death row inmates are housed, when CNN's crew interviewed Reed.) Benjet wrote that he had not been aware of the interview until one of CNN's producers asked Benjet to comment "about certain statements made by Officer Davis." He said that a producer of the show allowed him and an assistant to view "portions of the interview with Officer Davis and to briefly review a transcript of the entire interview." CNN declined to release a copy of the interview or the transcript for use with the filing. Benjet expects the "relevant portions" of the recording to be part of the special when it airs. A representative for CNN told the Chronicle that there is currently no airdate for the episode.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Benjet argues that Fennell's conflicting chronologies concerning how he spent the evening before Stites' murder further represents evidence of Fennell's consciousness of guilt, and that the notion of his drinking well into the night on April 22 would put him out of his and Stites' apartment at a time that 3 forensic pathologists have concluded was the actual time that Stites was killed. The state's theory holds that Stites was abducted by Reed and killed on her way to work on April 23, around 3am. Reed's Feb. 2015 petition for a retrial was rooted in the scientific conclusion that Stites actually died before midnight, on April 22, and that her body was moved from one location to another after she had been killed. The 2015 filing also notes that Davis accompanied Fennell through much of what the state accepts to be his discovery process of his red pickup truck after the murder, and notes how Davis signed out of a 12-hour work shift on April 22 after only 1 hour because of what he described as a "broken tooth." Davis then spent the next 3 days away from work on leave for a "personal death." The filing further notes how there is no documentation of any attempt by the police to interview Davis or otherwise establish whether he could have driven Jimmy Fennell home after dispensing of Stites and the truck.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The idea that Fennell was providing conflicting statements in the aftermath of Stites' murder aligns with six other instances listed by Benjet in the initial 2015 application for a rehearing. Benjet also implies that Fennell provided false testimony during trial, and that the state's failure to provide this information on trial constitutes a violation of due process under Brady v. Maryland. (Fennell is currently serving a 10-year prison sentence that began in 2008 after he accepted a plea deal on charges that he raped a woman while on duty as a police officer in nearby Georgetown.)</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"In this case, the State failed to disclose Fennell's inconsistent statement as to his whereabouts on the night of April 22, 1996," Benjet wrote. "Even though the trial prosecutors may not have been aware of what Officer Davis learned from Fennell, Officer Davis was a Bastrop County Sheriff's Officer. And the [BCSO] was the lead agency investigating Stacey's murder. Accordingly, Officer Davis' knowledge of what Fennell told him is imputed to the State."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Reed most recently faced an execution date of March 5, 2015, but saw his execution stayed 2 weeks earlier, as the Court of Criminal Appeals sought more time to review the merits of the claims made in his Feb. 2015 filing. There is currently no timetable for advancements in his case.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: Austin Chronicle, June 23, 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>

Innocence Texas USA Texas: New Rodney Reed Filing; Death row inmate's lawyers seek retrial

Texas death row, Polusnky Unit, Livingston, TX Attorneys for death row inmate Rodney Reed have filed a supplement to the Feb. 2015 brief see...

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Oklahoma: Jurors choose death penalty for Oklahoma City man convicted of rapes, murder

<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/AVvXsEizhsxOghf6t_EoulQnD5iQwJ7LVIj-Aj8mpOIUM2avsA_gVKlkW93p43TVsaHOap36Sdov4UqUuSLM8kJOCG25_6L-prDAGo6gH4HEH0kEfo0LORQJ2AwdqtAttbfyjLTlzrfWhVlTMPk/s1600/Oklahoma+death+chamber.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Oklahoma death chamber" border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizhsxOghf6t_EoulQnD5iQwJ7LVIj-Aj8mpOIUM2avsA_gVKlkW93p43TVsaHOap36Sdov4UqUuSLM8kJOCG25_6L-prDAGo6gH4HEH0kEfo0LORQJ2AwdqtAttbfyjLTlzrfWhVlTMPk/s400/Oklahoma+death+chamber.jpg" title="Oklahoma death chamber" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oklahoma death chamber</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">Jurors on Wednesday chose the death penalty as punishment for an Oklahoma City man convicted of raping his girlfriend and her friend before fatally beating the friend.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Oklahoma County jury deliberated less than an hour.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Last week, the jurors found Albert Ray Johnson, 49, guilty of 1 count of 1st-degree murder, 1 count of assault and battery with intent to kill, 2 counts of forcible oral sodomy, 2 counts of 1st-degree rape, 2 counts of forcible anal sodomy, 2 counts of kidnapping and 1 count of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">After convicting Johnson last week, the jury chose life in prison as punishment for each count except the count of murder. Jurors on Wednesday decided the punishment of death for the murder count after listening to closing arguments.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Prosecutors said Johnson forced his girlfriend to invite over a female friend so he could "rape and kill" her. Johnson was accused of threatening to kill his girlfriend and her 8-year-old daughter if she didn't comply with his request.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The former girlfriend testified during the trial and told the jury she was forced to call her friend, Rachel Rogers, 24, to her home in The Village. Prosecutors said the call to Rogers occurred about 1:30 a.m. June 13, 2014.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">When Rogers arrived at the home shortly after the call, Johnson pulled her inside and put a knife to her throat, the girlfriend testified. The victim said Johnson then raped both of them at knifepoint.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">After the rapes, Johnson tied up the women and beat them with metal objects, prosecutors said. Johnson fatally beat Rogers with a dumbbell, "crushing her face," prosecutors said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: The Oklahoman, June 23, 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>

Oklahoma USA Oklahoma: Jurors choose death penalty for Oklahoma City man convicted of rapes, murder

Oklahoma death chamber Jurors on Wednesday chose the death penalty as punishment for an Oklahoma City man convicted of raping his girlfriend...

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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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