Ohio Death Penalty Information

Lawyer of executed inmate to sue North Carolina Dept. of Correction over failure to follow court-ordered lethal-injection protocol / News & Observer renews call for moratorium:  Estes Thompson has this AP report, entitled "Lawyer of executed inmate to sue; Plans for suit follow doctor's revelations." 

AP excerpt:
An attorney for the last inmate executed before the death penalty was effectively placed on hold in North Carolina plans to sue the state after learning a doctor didn't fully monitor his client as he was put to death - as expected by a federal judge.

U.S. District Judge Malcolm J. Howard allowed the August execution of Samuel R. Flippen to proceed only after he was satisfied that the state Department of Correction planned to have a doctor and a nurse ensure the convicted child killer was fully unconscious before being killed.

"This shows the courts and the public and the North Carolina legislature cannot trust the North Carolina Department of Correction to follow the law and follow court orders in carrying out executions," said Flippen's attorney, Thomas Loflin. "You now cannot accept that they say it was done properly." ...

Loflin said he is considering filing a wrongful death suit against the state. Other attorneys with clients on the state's death row said Friday they were also examining ways to challenge the state after learning about a 218-page deposition given by Marvin Polk, the warden at the prison in Raleigh where North Carolina puts inmates to death. ...

The North Carolina News & Observer has this editorial, entitled "Fooled him?  A deposition indicates a federal judge's order wasn't followed during two executions last year. The muck grows deeper."

Excerpt:

...This is just another story in the ongoing saga of North Carolina's death penalty, and it's an ugly story, indeed. Inmates on death row have been shown to be disadvantaged by prosecutors' zeal. Some politicians, so afraid of the pro-death penalty forces out there, are determined to proceed with executions even though the death penalty is hopelessly flawed. It is not perfect and cannot be made perfect. Yet it can't be corrected if a mistake is made.

...The questions, quandaries, and moral issues surrounded state-sponsored executions are many and complex -- too complex to just continue with the status quo. Governor Easley and lawmakers should back a two-year moratorium, and sort this out without proceeding with any further executions. At the end of that time, they might be overcome with logic and reason, and abolish the death penalty for good.

(Earlier coverage here.)

Execution team members to be deposed in Kentucky lethal-injection challenge case:  AP reports here on a US district court ruling today in the Brian Moore case that will allow direct questioning of Kentucky execution team members regarding their experience and qualifications.  (Case is 06-0022 in US District Ct. for Eastern KY, Frankfurt Div.)

Excerpt:
Kentucky’s executioners can be questioned about their training and qualifications by attorneys for a death row inmate challenging the use of lethal injection, a federal judge ruled Friday.

The execution team could remain anonymous, but their background, training and experience could be explored, under the ruling by U.S. District Judge Karen Caldwell in Lexington. ...

Toledo Blade editorial on NYC police surveillance practices:  The Toledo Blade has this editorial, entitled "Big Apple, Big Brother," on the recently-uncovered post-9/11 surveillance practices of the New York City police department, including surveillance of anti-death penalty activists in several cities around the U.S.  (Earlier post here.)

Excerpt:

...with increasing frequency, the force is infiltrating, attending meetings, and keeping files on activist groups that pose little or no threat - anti-war, environmental, church, anti-globalization, and the like. In one case, for example, a report was prepared on a group of musicians, Bands Against Bush, which in 2003 planned a series of concerts combined with political protest in major cities.

You don't have to be an American Civil Liberties Union attorney to understand and appreciate that such activity raises serious questions about where the boundary lies between investigating terrorism and incipient Big Brotherism. ...

Emily Bazelon on Kyle Sampson's testimony on US attorney firings:  Emily Bazelon has this piece at Slate.com, entitled "The Reluctant Executioner: Kyle Sampson cuts down his ex-boss, Alberto Gonzales."

Excerpt:
...Sampson was sweaty, nervous, and soft-spoken—nowhere in evidence was the cavalier swagger of the aide who wrote e-mails a few short months ago about replacing one prosecutor without waiting for his "body to cool." And that made his testimony about Gonzales all the more damning for its apparent reluctance. ...

Former NYC and Detroit Police Commissioner Patrick Murphy on Maryland death penalty:  Patrick Murphy has this op-ed in the Baltimore Examiner, entitled "Defending Leonard Hamm, opposing the death penalty," in support of statements by Baltimore City Police Commissioner Leonard Hamm urging repeal of the Maryland death penalty.

Excerpt:
...Leonard Hamm’s critics are wrong.

The state can protect many more officers at a fraction of the cost by adding police, providing the best protective equipment available and implementing effective policing programs known to reduce crime. The death penalty is simply a distraction from the real issues surrounding public safety.

Leonard Hamm is not alone. Many, many police on the streets and in leadership positions know that in the day-to-day, the death penalty is not the most effective way to protect them.

Maryland’s death penalty repeal bill may have deadlocked in committee this year. But there is growing awareness in our state that the system is broken. It’s only a matter of time before it is finally scrapped. When it happens, it won’t be a day too soon.

Court ordered role of execution doctors in past North Carolina executions contradicted by prison warden testimony:  Andrea Weigl has this article in the NC News & Observer, entitled "Doc's execution role: 'Be present'; A deposition by Central Prison's warden raises the possibility that a judge was misled about how executions are monitored."  AP has more here.

News & Observer excerpts:
The warden of Central Prison testified in a deposition in November that a physician did not read a brain-wave machine to monitor inmates' consciousness during the state's past two executions.The revelation in Marvin Polk's deposition raises questions about whether prison officials misled a federal judge. The judge allowed executions to proceed thinking a doctor would ensure that the inmates were fully sedated before being injected with lethal drugs.

...In an order before Brown's April 21 execution, [US District Ct. Judge Malcolm] Howard wrote, "The court is satisfied by the state's plan to use a licensed registered nurse and a licensed physician to monitor the level of the [inmate's] consciousness. ... The court is also satisfied that the licensed registered nurse and licensed physician used by defendants in [the inmate's] execution will be satisfactorily trained and fully capable of reading the BIS monitor and respond appropriately to the data they receive."

Three months after Flippen was executed, Polk, the warden, was deposed in continuing federal litigation about the state's lethal injection procedures and the role of "Team Member 3," the doctor present at the execution.

The lawyer asked Polk, "Can you describe to me what the role is of Team Member 3 under the current execution protocol?"

Polk said, "To be present."

The lawyer asked, "Does this team member have any role in reading the BIS monitor?"

Polk replied, "No."

Prison officials declined to comment about Polk's testimony. "Due to ongoing litigation over the lethal injection process, I am unable to offer any comments on this matter," wrote Keith Acree, a spokesman for the state Department of Correction, in an e-mail message Thursday. ..

NCADP calls for Gonzales resignation:  The National Coalition Against the Death Penalty today called for the resignation of U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.  Press statement is posted to the NCADP's Abolish blog here.

Letters to editor support Plain Dealer call for criminal defense fee increases:  Fred C. Crosby (president of the Cuyahoga County Criminal Defense Lawyers Association), Nancy Margaret Russo (Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Ct. judge), and Laurence A. Turbow (president of the Cuyahoga County Bar Association) have letters to the editor here in today's Cleveland Plain Dealer, in support of this march 22 editorial in the PD calling for fee increases for criminal defense counsel assigned to indigent criminal cases. 

Marc Fisher column on Tim Kaine:  Marc Fisher has this column in the Washington Post, entitled "Tim Kaine and Virginia's Third Rail," on Virginia Governor Kaine's conflicted approach to enforcing Virginia's death penalty despite personal moral opposition - and calling on him to back a Virginia execution moratorium or other means to halt to executions.

Excerpt:

...Should Kaine have gone all the way and said that he would not enforce Virginia's law? During the campaign, I pressed him on this point: If you're really philosophically opposed to the practice, how can you sign a death warrant? He split some hairs and stood by his lawyerly allegiance to the statutes. Well, ok, but doesn't he at least have an obligation to do as O'Malley has and stand up for a moratorium or other effort to halt Virginia's executions?

That's the next step--it's probably a political bridge too far for a Democrat in Virginia right now, but it would be the right thing for Kaine to do.

Kyle Sampson testimony before Senate Judiciary Committee:  Kyle Sampson, former chief of staff to US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, is currently testifying before the US Senate Judiciary Committee regarding the controversy over recent US attorney firings.  Link to live coverage on C-Span 3 is here.

Bush, Gonzales, Sampson:  Why is it that all three of them look and sound like little boys?

Update:  Live coverage resumes at approximately 1:30 PM EDT at the same link.

Some questions that probably won't get answered at the hearing:

1. This guy was chief of staff to the Attorney General of the United States?
2. Alberto Gonzales is Attorney General of the United States?
3. George Bush is President of the United States?