The US Executions / Death Row Thread

Garyvdh said:
There is no simple answer, but death sentences should only be considered in cases where there are multiple independent witnesses (including actual live video evidence) and corroborating DNA evidence.
In other words, for cases where there is no doubt whatsoever as the accused was actually witnessed committing the deed. All other cases should, by legislation, be reduced to prison sentences.
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I'll go with that.

And along with that where the proof is undisputed there should be no appeals process, and no deals option.

Sitting a lifetime on DR because you have good lawyers is nonsense, and so is pleabargains under such conditions.
 
This guy up next Thursday 9 April

Kent William SPROUSE

Classification: Murderer
Characteristics: Under the influence of methamphetamine
Number of victims: 2
Date of murders: October 6, 2002
Date of arrest: Same day (wounded by police)
Date of birth: August 9, 1972
Victims profile: Pedro Moreno / Harry Marvin "Marty" Steinfeldt III, 28 (police officer)
Method of murder: Shooting
Location: Ellis County, Texas, USA
Status: Sentenced to death on March 1, 2004

On 10/6/2002, in Ellis County, Texas, Sprouse was experiencing car trouble at a gas station. He approached a customer and asked for assistance.
When the customer was not able to repair his vehicle, Sprouse shot a hispanic male civilian who was filling his car with gas. The store clerk called the police.
Upon arrival, Sprouse shot the responding 28 year old white male police officer resulting in his death.

sprousekent.jpg
 
For a very long time, I've been an advocate of bringing back the death penalty. But recently, I'm not so sure anymore if that's such a good idea. As we've seen, prosecutors deliberately ignoring evidence that could exonerate those people worry me, a lot.
 
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May 28, 2015

The campaign to save the life of Paula Cooper, who at 16 became the youngest Death Row inmate in Indiana, attracted international attention after she pleaded guilty to murder in 1986.

Her successful appeal eventually led to her June 2013 release after serving 27 years in prison.

But on Tuesday, Cooper's story came to a somber end in Indianapolis. Police say she was found dead, apparently by her own hand.

Cooper, 45, died just after 7:15 a.m. from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head in the 9500 block of Angola Court, according to Indianapolis Metropolitan Police. Marion County coroner's office on Wednesday ruled her death a suicide.

A police report said the responding officer "located the victim lying next to a tree on the west lawn area of the ITT parking lot." A Bryco .380-caliber handgun was in the victim's lap and a black Toyota Corolla registered to Cooper was parked nearby.

"It's an unusual ending to a tragic case," said Indianapolis attorney Jack Crawford, who was the Lake County prosecutor when Cooper was charged. "I've been involved in a lot of cases in my life, and nothing compared to this case."

Cooper became infamous in 1985 when at 15 she was charged with murder in the stabbing of 78-year-old Ruth Pelke during a robbery.
Law enforcement identified Cooper as the ringleader in the slaying. She and three friends went to Pelke's Gary home armed with a 12-inch butcher knife.

An investigation showed Pelke allowed the teens into her home after they said they were interested in Bible study lessons. But the scene turned grisly when they knocked Pelke to the ground and Cooper climbed on top of her.

"Paula Cooper got on top of her and kept saying to her, and this is her own admission, 'Where's the money, bitch?'" Crawford told The Indianapolis Star during a 2013 interview. He said Cooper began slicing Pelke with the butcher knife. The woman's last words were the Lord's Prayer.

The other teens involved were sentenced to lengthy prison terms on robbery or murder charges: 25, 35 and 60 years. But when Cooper was sentenced, the judge invoked capital punishment.

The decision led to an immediate shift in public outrage. Cooper was among only a handful of women in Indiana to receive the death penalty, and she was the youngest in the state's history. At the time of her sentencing, she was also the youngest Death Row inmate in the United States.

The 30th anniversary of the murder was just two weeks ago.

Bill Pelke, a grandson of the slain Bible teacher, told The Star on Tuesday that he forgave Cooper, who said she had been abused as a child. He said he visited her in prison 14 times. They exchanged emails almost weekly the last two years of her incarceration.

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victim Ruth Pelke

http://www.indystar.com/story/news/...indiana-death-row-inmate-found-dead/27971461/
 
Richard Glossip: Oklahoma halts execution 'to check drugs'

A man convicted of ordering his boss's murder has had his execution postponed at the very last minute, due to uncertainty over the lethal drugs.

Richard Glossip looked certain to die by injection in Oklahoma on Wednesday afternoon after the US Supreme Court rejected his appeal.

But Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin has asked for more time to check if the drugs are compliant with state rules.

Pope Francis had urged her to halt the execution.

His archbishop had written to her and urged her to act to commute the sentence, but she said she did not have the authority to do so.

An hour after Glossip was due to be put to death, Ms Fallin announced that she was rescheduling the execution for 6 November.

She said prison officials had received potassium acetate for use in the execution, as one of the three drugs used, but state guidelines only list potassium chloride.

Department of Corrections Director Robert Patton said he requested the stay of execution "out of due diligence".
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More at http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-34405979
 
Arkansas judge blocks lethal injection drug ahead of executions

A judge has blocked Arkansas from using one of three lethal injection drugs the US state planned to use in a series of executions next week.

The Supreme Court of Arkansas has also granted an emergency stay of execution for one of two inmates scheduled to die on Monday.

In an unprecedented move, the state had planned to put seven prisoners to death over an 11-day period.

Lawyers said the state was acting unconstitutionally and recklessly.

Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen issued a temporary restraining order on Friday barring the state from administering one of the drugs used in its lethal injection cocktail.

The suppliers of the muscle relaxant, vecuronium bromide, argued that it had been sold to the prison system on the understanding it would be used solely for medical purposes.

Separately, a stay of execution was granted in the case of Bruce Ward, who was convicted of strangling to death Rebecca Doss, a teenage shop clerk who worked in Little Rock.
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More at: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39604357
 
Outcry after Arkansas judge who stayed executions joins anti-death penalty rally

The judge who on Friday barred Arkansas from executing six prisoners in rapid succession followed his ruling by attending an anti-death penalty rally, where he lay down on a cot and bound himself as though he were a condemned man on a gurney.

Judge Wendell Griffen’s participation in the protest outside the Arkansas governor’s mansion sparked outrage among death penalty supporters, including Republican lawmakers who described it as judicial misconduct and potential grounds for Griffen’s removal from the bench.

Arkansas attorney general Leslie Rutledge on Saturday asked the state’s highest court to vacate Griffen’s ruling and asked for a new judge to be assigned the case.
Griffen, a Pulaski County circuit judge, ruled against the state because of a dispute over how the state obtained one of its execution drugs. In an interview on Saturday, he said he was morally opposed to the death penalty and that his personal beliefs alone should not disqualify him from taking up certain cases.
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More at: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news...s-judge-wendell-griffen-death-penalty-protest
 
Arkansas Supreme Court removes Arkansas judge from death penalty cases after protest

On Friday, Arkansas circuit judge Wendell Griffen granted a temporary restraining order barring the Arkansas Department of Correction from proceeding with any executions using vecuronium bromide as a part of its three-drug lethal injection protocol. Within 24 hours, a federal judge issued a separate order likewise barring Arkansas from proceeding to execute anyone via lethal injection. The state had planned to conduct seven executions in a span of 11 days.

Shortly after issuing his order, Griffen joined an anti-death-penalty protest in front of the Arkansas governor’s mansion. As one local news channel reported:

After barring Arkansas from executing eight inmates in rapid succession because of a dispute over how it obtained one of its execution drugs, Judge Wendell Griffen went to an anti-death penalty rally, where he made a stir by lying down on a cot and binding himself as though he were a condemned man on a gurney. . .

State officials protested Griffen’s conduct, charging that it suggested Griffen was not capable of impartiality in capital cases. It seems the Arkansas Supreme Court agreed.
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More at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...-cases-after-protests/?utm_term=.7e10798ac0c4
 
Arkansas blocked from carrying out scheduled execution after Supreme Court denies la

Despite a late challenge mounted by Arkansas officials hoping to carry out the state’s first execution in 12 years, the U.S. Supreme Court early Tuesday morning declined to step in, preventing the lethal injection from taking place as scheduled.

The high court’s decision not to act, coming with just minutes to spare, leaves in place a stay preventing Arkansas from carrying out an execution that was originally set to be one of eight taking place this month.

The Arkansas Supreme Court on Monday afternoon had stayed two executions scheduled for that night, and state officials quickly challenged one of those two stays, appealing to Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., who is assigned cases from the federal circuit covering Arkansas.

In a one-sentence order released 15 minutes before the execution warrant expired, the court said that Alito referred the application to the full court and that it was then denied. No explanation was given and no dissents were recorded.

Arkansas and death-row inmates have waged multiple legal battles over whether the state’s planned wave of lethal injections will take place as planned. The fights have centered on an unprecedented flurry of executions that have pushed Arkansas to the forefront of the American death penalty at a time when states are increasingly retreating from the practice.

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) scheduled what was initially eight executions over an 11-day window, a pace unmatched in the modern era, which he defended as needed because one of the state’s drugs is expiring this month and no replacement could be guaranteed amid an ongoing shortage.
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More at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...ed-wave-of-executions/?utm_term=.d0b78e9e7092
 
The Latest: Arkansas governor 'disappointed' in delay

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — The Latest on executions scheduled to take place in Arkansas before the end of April (all times local):

11:55 p.m.

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson says he's disappointed after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to lift a stay that would have allowed the state's first execution in 12 years.

But the Republican governor says he was heartened by other court rulings Monday that could pave the way for Arkansas to execute several more inmates before the end of April.

The state's next two executions are scheduled for Thursday night.

Attorney General Leslie Rutledge noted that there are five upcoming executions "with nothing preventing them from occurring." Arkansas originally scheduled eight executions to take place before April 30, when one of its lethal injection drugs expires.
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https://apnews.com/12ff8681f95a4db8b250cdc24b39edb9
 
Arkansas executes Ledell Lee in first death penalty use in 12 years

Arkansas has executed Ledell Lee in the US state's first use of the death penalty in 12 years.

It came after the US Supreme Court rejected a challenge arguing Arkansas was unfairly rushing several executions before its supply of a lethal injection drug expires at the end of April.

On Thursday the state's Supreme Court overturned a ruling blocking the use of a different drug.

Lee was convicted for murder and recently told the BBC he was innocent.

His third request to stay the execution was denied.

He was pronounced dead at 23:56 local time on Thursday (04:56 GMT on Friday) at the state's death chamber in its Cummins Unit prison, a Department of Corrections spokesman said. His death warrant was due to expire at midnight.

Lee did not make a final statement. Instead of a last meal, he asked to receive communion, an official said.

He had been on death row for more than 20 years after he was convicted of beating Debra Reese to death with a tyre iron in 1993.

Her family "had waited 24 years to see justice done", Arkansas Attorney General Deborah Rutledge said in a statement.

"I pray this lawful execution helps bring closure for the Reese family," she said.

Lee told the BBC's Aleem Maqbool in a recent interview that he was innocent, and death row was like a "living nightmare".
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More at: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39662139
 
There's something quite disgusting about how they're rushing to execute someone, including using expired drugs, and refusing to wait for confirmation of guilt when he could be exonerated.
 
Arkansas plans to execute two convicts Monday

The state of Arkansas plans to execute two inmates on Monday evening, which would make it the first U.S. state in 17 years to put a pair of convicts to death on the same day.

A flurry of last-minute legal appeals at both the state and federal level are expected, though their likelihood of success may have diminished with the recent appointment of conservative U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch.

The high court cleared the way last week for Arkansas to hold its first execution in 12 years and the state carried out the death penalty on convicted murderer Ledell Lee.

Jack Jones, sentenced in 1996 for raping and strangling Mary Phillips and attempting to murder her 11-year-old daughter, is scheduled to be put to death at 7 p.m at the Cummins Unit prison, about 75 miles southeast of the state capital of Little Rock. Jones was also convicted of rape and murder in Florida.

At 8:15 p.m., the state is tentatively scheduled to execute Marcel Williams, who was sentenced to death in 1997 for kidnapping, raping and murdering Stacy Errickson. He also abducted and raped two other women.

The last time a state executed two inmates on the same day was 2000 in Texas.
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More at: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-arkansas-execution-idUSKBN17Q0CO
 
Executed Arkansas man 'convulsed and groaned'

Lawyers for a US death row inmate are calling for an inquiry after witnesses said he convulsed and groaned as he was being executed.

Kenneth Williams was the fourth inmate put to death by the state of Arkansas in the past eight days after a dozen years without a single execution.

His attorneys said witness descriptions of the lethal injection procedure were "horrifying".

The United Nations on Friday condemned Arkansas' execution schedule.

"I see no reason for any investigation other than the routine review that is done after every execution," Governor Asa Hutchinson responded during a Friday press conference.

The state had initially planned to put to death eight men in a span of 11 days, but courts issued reprieves in half those cases.

The compressed schedule was because the state's stock of one lethal injection drug, the sedative midazolam, was due to expire at the end of this month, said officials.
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More at: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39751283
 
If they are guilty they deserve each and every painful sensation the world can throw at them... cry me a river...
 
Florida executes inmate using unproven sedative

The state of Florida on Thursday executed its first death row inmate in nearly two years, using a lethal injection cocktail that had never been tried before in the United States.

Mark Asay, 53, was sentenced to death in 1988 for a racially motivated double murder in Jacksonville, Florida a year earlier.

The execution was carried out at 6:22 pm, the Florida Department of Corrections said.

For his last meal, Asay ordered fried pork chops, fried ham, fries, vanilla swirl ice cream and Coca-Cola, authorities said. He did not make a final statement.

Earlier this month, the Florida Supreme Court denied a stay of execution for Asay, who had challenged the state's plan to employ a lethal injection cocktail that includes etomidate, an anesthetic never before used in carrying out an execution in the US.

It replaces another drug, midazolam, which has been the subject of significant legal wrangling.

According to critics, midazolam does not always adequately sedate prisoners, therefore subjecting them to excessive suffering.

Corrections department spokeswoman Ashley Cook told AFP the department "follows the law and carries out the sentence of the court."
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More at: https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/world/2017-08-25-florida-executes-inmate-using-unproven-sedative/
 
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