Testimony Begins in Jakiem Wilson Trial

News Update 07.01.08

North Carolina

The State has started to present evidence in the trial of Jakiem Wilson, who could face the death penalty if found guilty of first-degree murder. Wilson admits to killing his wife, but asserts that he did so in a fit of rage. Such a crime would constitute second-degree murder. Before opening arguments, the judge suppressed evidence seized from Wilson’s home pursuant to a pathetically insufficient search warrant.

Elsewhere

In Texas, prosecutors are opposing DNA testing for Lester Bower. Bower, who maintains his innocence, has an execution date later this month. The State is also refusing to hear evidence from witnesses who say they know that other men committed the quadruple murder for which Bower is on death row.

Florida is set to execute Mark Dean Schwab tonight. It has been 18 months since Florida conducted its last – botched – execution, and many are concerned that the problems with the state’s lethal injection protocol have not been resolved.

The U.S. Military has announced its intention to seek death against Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, who confessed to having a role in the fatal 2000 bombing of the USS Cole. The CIA has admitted to waterboarding al-Nashiri in 2002, and destroying tapes of the interrogation three years later. Al-Nashiri has said that he only confessed to stop the torture and denies any involvement in al Qaeda. (more here)

Executions – July 2008

1 – Mark Dean Schwab (FL)

10 – Carlton Turner (TX)

10 – Kent Jermaine Jackson (VA)

11 – Eric Hanson (IL – stayed)

14 – Tamir Hamilton (NV – stayed)

15 – Dale Leo Bishop (MS – stayed)

22 – Kevin Young (OK)

22 – Lester Bower (TX)

23 – Derrick Sonnier (TX)

24 – Edward Nathaniel Bell (VA – stayed)

24 – Christopher Scott Emmett (VA)

28 – George Decay (AR – stayed)

30 – John Middleton (MO)

31 – Larry Davis (TX)

31 – Tommy Arthur (AL)

State Seeks Death for Covington and Jackson

News Update 05.20.08

North Carolina

In Guilford County, prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Ronnie Lee Covington, 20, and Keith Lauchon Jackson, 19. Covington and Jackson are accused of the 2007 murder of a gas station clerk. Jackson, who denies involvement in the shooting, asked the judge, “I’m only 19, why are you trying to kill me?”

The Greensboro chapter of People of Faith Against the Death Penalty sponsored a discussion this week: “Religious Traditions and the Death Penalty.” Christians, Jews, and Muslims reflected on their positions on capital punishment, and what executions say about us as a society.

At the Death House Door (which tells the story of a prison chaplain who counseled 95 inmates before their executions) will be showing in the Triangle this week.

• May 20, 7 PM, The Doggett Center, 600 Bilyeu Street, Raleigh
• May 21, 7 PM, First Presbyterian Church, 305 E. Main Street, Durham

Elsewhere

In Kentucky, a judge has ordered the State Police Crime Lab to stop testing the DNA evidence against Brian Keith Moore. Moore would have been the first Kentucky death row inmate to have the opportunity to prove his innocence through DNA testing. Apparently the warden at the prison where Moore is housed would not let prison nurses take a blood sample from Moore, so Moore’s own attorney had to take the sample, using instructions given to him by state police. Now the State is arguing that the sample is not reliable because it wasn’t taken by a state agent. And they accuse defense attorneys of engaging in delay tactics.

Capital Defense Weekly notes that since capital punishment resumed in 1976, 85% of executions have taken place in the states of the Confederacy, plus Oklahoma. The trend is continuing with a vengeance post-Baze, with new executions set in Florida (Mark Dean Schwab) and Georgia (Jack Alderman and Curtis Osborne). Of all the executions scheduled between now and the end of August, only one out of twenty is north of the Mason-Dixon, and a stay is expected in that case.

A federal judge in Delaware recently extended the stay on all executions in that state until the constitutionality of Delaware’s lethal injection protocol has been determined.

North Carolina Reaction to Baze

News Update 04.21.08

North Carolina

The US Supreme Court’s decision last week in Baze v. Rees does not mean that executions will resume immediately here in North Carolina. There are two state-based cases that must be resolved – first, a suit by five inmates who allege that the Council of State acted improperly in approving a new lethal injection protocol, and second, a suit by the Department of Correction against the North Carolina Medical Board, which sought to sanction doctors who participated in executions.

To be sure, courts will be asked to consider whether the differences between the Kentucky and North Carolina protocols are constitutionally significant. The majority opinion spent a good bit of energy applauding Kentucky safeguards that are absent here in the Tarheel State, for example that someone is present in the execution chamber to directly monitor the inmate and his IVs. The BIS monitor briefly reared its ugly head in the majority opinion, only to be quickly dismissed as lacking in scientific and medical support as a means of determining unconsciousness. Wonder what the Council of State will have to say about that. Perhaps Justice Alito’s concurring opinion with regard to forcing doctor participation in lethal injection will have some role to play in the Medical Board case.

The Charlotte Observer urges the State not to rush back to the death chamber until reforms to prevent wrongful convictions and the execution of innocents have been implemented. The News and Observer takes things a step further.

Elsewhere

Blog coverage of the Court’s ruling in Baze v. Rees:

• Amnesty International (overall summary)
• Capital Defense Weekly (initial reaction and additional thoughts)
• SCOTUSBlog (analysis for the legal-minded)
• Sentencing Law and Policy (a more pro-DP view)
• StandDown Texas (initial reaction)
• Various sources as complied by CDW and StandDown

I also note SCOTUSBlog’s follow-up series, which includes a conservative perspective and a liberal perspective on the Baze opinion, and this New York Times piece on Justice Stevens’ conversion to death penalty opponent.

Now that Baze has been decided, executions are sure to begin again in some states. Virginia has the earliest scheduled execution at the moment – Kevin Green on May 27th. New litigation has been filed in Mississippi, arguing that the safeguards applauded by the Court in Kentucky are absent from the Mississippi protocol, and therefore the execution of Earl Wesley Berry cannot proceed under Baze. Meanwhile, Florida has filed a motion to vacate the stay of execution granted to Mark Dean Schwab because it believes its protocol “more than satisf[ies]” the requirements of Baze. This morning, the Supreme Court lifted a number of stays and denied cert in several other cases.

On the same day it announced its ruling in Baze, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Kennedy v. Louisiana, which challenges the implementation of the death penalty for crimes other than murder, in this case, child rape. Reporting from Amnesty International (re: whether executing their attackers is in the best interests of children) and SCOTUSBlog (re: summary of the arguments and insight into the Justices’ likely opinions). Compilation of media coverage by StandDown. You can read the transcript of the argument here.

Like Being Struck By Lightning

News Update 11.15.07

North Carolina

In Cabarrus County, Lisa Greene was in court yesterday, facing the death penalty for allegedly burning her house down with her children inside. Meanwhile in neighboring Mecklenberg County, Gilberto Miranda Cuellar received a life sentence for burning his house down with his children inside. (In Cuellar’s case, the children were shot in the head before the fire was set.)

[For non-lawyers, in Furman v. Georgia, Justice Potter Stewart wrote that "death sentences are cruel and unusual in the way that being struck by lightning is cruel and unusual," which is to say that rather than consistently sentencing the worst offenders to death for the worst crimes, we impose capital punishment in a manner that seems almost random.]

Elsewhere

In Florida, a federal district court judge issued a stay of execution for Mark Dean Schwab yesterday. This morning, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals vacated that stay. The execution is scheduled for 6 PM tonight. The ball is in SCOTUS’s court. (c/o SLAP)

This just in: The Supreme Court has stayed Schwab’s execution.

Capital Defense Weekly notes the latest voyage of Porcine Airlines: the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has commuted Gregory Van Alstyne’s death sentence to life without parole after finding that Van Alstyne is mentally retarded. You can read the flight plan, er, decision here.

In the case of Nevada v. Skolnik, in which the ACLU is arguing that even though a person has volunteered for execution, it is still unconstitutional to execute him using a flawed protocol, the state Supreme Court has issued an order for supplemental briefing. The Court is seeking further information on whether the parties have standing to challenge another person’s execution, what the First Amendment violations are as to the media outlets involved, and the exact nature of the Eighth Amendment argument being made. You can read the ACLU’s opening brief here. (c/o Harmful Error)

Lethalinjection.org, a site run by Boalt (UC-Berkeley) Law School’s Death Penalty Clinic has posted all of the amicus briefs filed thus far in Baze v. Kentucky. Among those weighing in for Mr. Baze: inmates from four other states, doctors and medical ethicists, veterinarians, and human rights groups. Two groups, anesthesiologists and an anesthesia awareness organization, filed neutral briefs. The state of Kentucky’s brief, and briefs in support of their position, are due at a later date.

Slate asks, “If academics, doctors, and prisoners—as well as death-penalty supporters and the guy who invented the protocol—have been criticizing the three-drug protocol for years, why haven’t the states switched methods?”

Hoffman Prosecutors Seek Testimony of Dead Witness

News Update 11.12.07

North Carolina

Jonathan Gregory Hoffman was convicted and sentenced to death in Union County in 1996, based in part upon the testimony of a root doctor who claimed he sold Hoffman a magical charm that would keep him from getting arrested. (For those not from the Deep South, a root doctor or rootworker is a sort of folk healer/magician.) Hoffman was given a new trial in 2004 because prosecutors Kenneth Honeycutt and Scott Brewer failed to reveal that rewards were given to their star witness in exchange for his testimony. That witness has since recanted his testimony, so in retrying Hoffman, prosecutors want to use the old statements of the now-deceased root doctor. Trouble is, prosecutors didn’t turn over evidence that he, too, was seeking a reward.

Editorials on Glen Edward Chapman’s removal from death row here and here.

Upcoming events:

• Parade, a Tony award-winning musical about a man facing the death penalty in the early 1900s, will be performed tonight and tomorrow night at UNC-CH’s Memorial Hall at 7:30 PM.
• St. Francis of Assisi Church in Raleigh is hosting a panel discussion entitled Doctors in the Death Chamber on December 12 at 7:00 PM. The panel will include defense attorneys, prosecutors, medical ethicists, elected officials, and more.

Elsewhere

Florida‘s Mark Dean Schwab has filed his application for cert with the US Supreme Court. Schwab notes that Florida’s three-drug cocktail is identical to the one at issue in Baze, and that his objections to lethal injection have been brought before the Court well in advance of his execution date. The application was filed with Justice Clarence Thomas, and will likely be referred to the full court for review.

Last night, 60 Minutes examined the case of Greg Thompson in Tennessee and asked: if it is unconstitutional to execute the insane, is it constitutional to medicate a person to restore their sanity and eligibility for execution? (c/o CDW)

Death Avoided, Justice Sought

News Update 11.08.07

North Carolina

Defendants in Durham and Jacksonville, as well as two in Monroe, who once faced the death penalty resolved their cases this week. Eddie Whitson, Anthony Rankin, and Michael Neal Decarlo Clark will all spend the rest of their lives in prison. LaToya McGill pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter. She was originally charged with capital murder by Michael Parker, the same DA who handled Floyd Brown‘s case, but when a new prosecutor took over the McGill matter, he felt Parker had gone too far and offered to dismiss the murder charge.

A new website has been launched – ncprosecutorialmisconduct.com – to tell the stories of those victimized by prosecutorial incompetence, corruption, and bias. At present, the site is focused on Floyd Brown, Darryl Hunt, James Johnson, and Terrance Garner, who combined spent almost 40 years behind bars for crimes they did not commit.

Elsewhere

In Florida, the state Supreme Court has denied a stay of execution for Mark Dean Schwab. However, the Court did suggest that states should explore means of execution that are less likely to inflict pain than the current three-drug cocktail. The decision also implied that requests for stays of execution will continue to be passed to the US Supreme Court until that court makes clear its intention to declare a moratorium.

In Texas, a warden who presided over 89 executions reflects on the death penalty, and the widow of Michael Richard has sued the judge who blocked her husband’s access to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, resulting in the only execution since the Baze cert grant.

Executions – November 2007

1 – Jeffrey Timothy Landrigan (AZ – stayed)

6 – Allen Bridgers (TX – stayed)

8 – Don William Davis (AR – stayed)

15 – Ramon Sanchez (PA – stay likely)

15 – Mark Dean Schwab (FL)

27 – Dale Scheanette (TX – stayed)

No executions were carried out in the month of October.

Alabama Execution Blocked, Mississippi Next?

News Update 10.25.07

North Carolina

Nothing to report.

Elsewhere

The 11th Circuit stayed the execution of Alabama’s Daniel Lee Siebert, pending the resolution of Baze. You can read the per curiam decision here. Attorneys are still trying to procure a stay for Earl Wesley Berry of Mississippi. (c/o CDW)

Berry is one of three inmates whose executions are scheduled to go forward by the end of the year. Arkansas’ Don William Davis and Flordia’s Mark Dean Schwab have also not yet received stays of execution.

Murder Victims’ Families for Human Rights was in Massachusetts this week, testifying before the state legislature as it considered a bill to reinstate the death penalty. Among the speakers was Robert Curley, whose son’s brutal murder in 1997 sparked the push to bring capital punishment back to the Bay State. In the decade since his son’s death, Curley has become an opponent of the death penalty due to its disproportionate application to the poor.

The Onion (a satirical newspaper) shows the hidden consequences of a pause in executions: “To all outward appearances, “Kevin” is a typical Southern state governor. He enjoys vetoing bills, attending ribbon-cutting ceremonies, and hanging out with friends. But the recent suspension of lethal injections in 10 states has put Kevin’s political life in serious jeopardy. Unable to wait for the U.S. Supreme Court to determine whether the practice constitutes cruel and unusual punishment, Kevin, like many young governors who find themselves saddled with an unwanted death row inmate, has been forced to take desperate action and obtain an illegal back-alley lethal injection.” (c/o SLAP)

(For the record, this is DeathWatch’s favorite criminal law-related Onion article ever.)