Ohio Death Penalty Information

Abolition around the Globe / Michel Taube: Julio Godoy has this article for the Inter Press News Service, entitled "A Life Defending Lives" with a profile of World Coalition Against the Death Penalty Director Michel Taube, and providing some statistical perspective on the demise of the death penalty around the world.

Excerpt:
..."When France abolished the death penalty in 1981, there were only other 36 countries around the globe which had done the same," Taube recalls. "Today, 25 years later, there are 97 countries which have officially banned the death penalty from their penal systems and there are more than 20 other countries which have ceased to apply it for more than 10 years." ...

Texas case of Cathy Lynn Henderson draws attention as June 13 execution date nears:  In a case based largely on expert medical testimony - recanted on Thursday - that an infant's death was not accidental, all eyes are on the Texas Criminal Court of Appeals as Cathy Lynn Henderson's June 13 execution date draws near.  A growing chorus of excellent blog coverage is drawing attention to the obvious problems in the case, including by Sentencing Law and Policy here, Capital Defense Weekly here, StandDown Texas Project here.  Sr Helen Prejean had this earlier post on her blog in February.  Emmanuella Grinberg has this coverage on the Court TV website, entitled "Condemned woman seeks reprieve based on new ways of analyzing baby's death."  Michale Graczyk has this recent AP coverage. Chuck LIndell had this coverage in the Austin American-Statesman on Friday, entitled "Key witness backs away from Henderson testimony."

Statesman excerpt:
As the doctor who autopsied 3-month-old Brandon Baugh, Robert Bayardo confidently told jurors in 1995 that the child was deliberately killed, not accidentally dropped on his head as baby sitter Cathy Lynn Henderson claimed.

The testimony was instrumental to Henderson's conviction and death sentence.

But on Thursday, with Henderson's execution less than three weeks away, Bayardo backed away from his emphatic testimony, telling a Texas appeals court that recent medical findings have cast doubt on his 12-year-old conclusions.

"Had the new scientific information been available to me in 1995, I would not have been able to testify the way I did," Bayardo said in a signed affidavit provided to a Texas court as part of an appeal filed Thursday on Henderson's behalf. ...

What do states owe the exonerated?:  Amanda Paulson has this article in the Christian Science Monitor, entitled "What do states owe the exonerated?  States' compensation for wrongful imprisonment ranges from zero to millions of dollars," noting the increasing number of inmate exonerations due to DNA testing, and the wide variation in compensation offered by states to exonerees.

(Earlier coverage of compensation awarded by the State of Ohio to death-row exonerees Gary Lamar James and Timothy Howard here and here.)

Former FBI Director William Sessions on DNA testing:  Former FBI Director William Sessions has this op-ed on the Jurist website, entitled "DNA Evidence and the Death Penalty," lauding the recent ruling by the Ohio Supreme Court limiting the power of prosecutors to quash DNA testing in Ohio criminal cases (earlier coverage here), and a recent proposal to expand a DNA database in New York.

Peggy Concilla letter to the editor on Christopher Newton execution:  Upper Arlington resident Peggy Concilla has this letter to the editor in the Columbus Dispatch, entitled "Slaying of cellmate wasn't premeditated."

Strickland:   Apparently, the governor has been getting plenty of feedback about the Christopher Newton execution.  No hard numbers about how many phone calls, etc., he has received, but indications are that there have been a lot.  The after-hours phone message box was full last evening, but no actual numbers on calls received.

Indications are also that none of this will have any effect on the governor.  He has stated on several occasions that he is not interested in what other groups or individuals (including, it seems, those in his inner circle) think about the issue, and does not consider "outside" opinion to be relevant at all.  By most accounts, Strickland is generally stubborn, is quite intent on keeping the death penalty going in Ohio, sees its continuation as part of a formula for gaining support of other components of his political agenda, and is likely to respond to efforts to change his mind on the subject by hunkering down on the issue rather than listening and changing, even to the point of looking like (or indeed being) a fool.  (These are the words of people who have worked with him.).  He sees this kind of resoluteness in the face of political adversity as a key to his success to this point in his political carreer.

• The only good news for those seeking a halt to executions in Ohio is that the governor is indeed taking some heat, especially following what is now generally acknowledged to be to be Ohio's second seriously botched execution, and has some sense of the embarassment it is causing his administration.

(On the Frances front, apparently the new first lady has become friends with Hope Taft.  Hope has been appointed to some sort of governor's mansion garden committee, and occasionally comes over and digs weeds.)

--  No reliable information on the "Bob the Butler" rumors going around.

Dayton Daily News editorial on botched Ohio executions: The Dayton Daily News has this editorial, entitled  "Our view: Don't turn blind eye to botched executions."

Excerpt:
...execution staffs now are instructed to take their time, to remove the "artificial self-imposed time barrier resulting in enormous pressure on the execution team members," to complete "the process in a professional and dignified manner for all parties."

State officials, thus, have substituted self-imposed coolness for self-imposed expediency. And, in the process, they have drawn another curtain to mask a still deeply flawed execution process.

The main objection to lethal injections is not just that things can and do go wrong. Rather, the problem is that the protocol used in Ohio and across the nation appears to be a medical farce: A growing body of evidence reveals that the three-step chemical regimen was adopted without basic research. There is no professional, clinical or ethical oversight of the execution process. As a result, according to a just released study from the University of Miami's medical school, no one can say with certainty whether sedated prisoners are put to death humanely, or whether they are paralyzed but aware as they are chemically asphyxiated.

Some may believe condemned prisoners who committed horrifying crimes deserve no better. But Ohio deserves better — and so do the prison system employees asked to do the state's dirty work.

And Gov. Strickland should not pretend the system is working as it is supposed to.

Ohio Governor Ted Strickland phone number:  614-466-3555

Victim's family member to join in federal lawsuit challenging Joseph Clark lethal injection:  Jim Provance has this article in the Toledo Blade, entitled "Victim's relative sides with killer's kin: Witness says 2006 Clark execution was a violation of Constitution."

Excerpt:
A former Toledo man said yesterday he is cooperating with a federal lawsuit to be filed next month against the state by the family of the man executed last year for murdering his brother, saying the execution he personally witnessed was cruel and unusual punishment.

Michael Manning, a death-penalty supporter, said he also plans to ask Gov. Ted Strickland to enact a moratorium on Ohio executions until problems seen in the execution of Joseph Lewis Clark on May 2, 2006, and Christopher Newton, a Huron, Ohio, native, on Thursday are corrected. In both cases, the executions were delayed while prison personnel struggled to find usable veins through which the lethal cocktail of drugs could flow.

"What happened was cruel and unusual punishment, which is against the Constitution of the United States," said Mr. Manning, now living in Marion, Ohio. "We all heard [Clark] moaning and groaning. ... The executions should be temporarily halted until they come to grips with how to insert the needles for accuracy. I believe I counted 10 to 15 times that Clark was stuck with a needle, and I don't know how many times there were after the curtain was closed."

...Strickland spokesman Keith Dailey said the governor has no plans to issue a moratorium.

"The governor's understanding regarding the Newton execution procedure is that it worked the way it was supposed to," he said. "Out of abundance of caution, as much time as was needed was taken before the execution to ensure there would not be problems similar to that of the Clark case."

...The family of Clark plans to file a federal suit against the state next month.

"There are other witnesses who can confirm what he said," said Alan Konop, the Clarks' attorney.

"He's an important witness. I thought it was quite admirable that he took this position, considering his brother was one of the victims."

Mr. Manning said he didn't speak out immediately after the execution because the administrator of the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction's Office of Victim Services had told the three Manning family witnesses to be consistent in their statements.

Karen Ho, the administrator, said yesterday her role was only to provide a path for family members to be heard through the clemency and execution processes, not to advise them what or what not to say. ...

(More information on the May, 2006, execution of Joseph Clark is here.)

Gabe Pressman commentary on Christopher Newton execution:  WNBC-TV commentator Gabe Pressman has this opinion piece on the WNBC website, entitled "Time To Kill Death Penalty," recognizing last week's bizarre execution of Christopher Newton as one more reason to end the death penalty in Ohio and elsewhere.

Excerpts:
Two botched executions in Ohio make it clear: it's time to end the death penalty. A civilized nation can do no less.

In Ohio last week, Christopher Newton, an overweight inmate, was executed by lethal injection at the state prison in Lucasville. The execution was delayed 90 minutes while prison medical workers tried desperately to find suitable veins in his arms.

Last year, another prisoner, Joseph Clark, died 90 minutes after his scheduled execution in Ohio because the prisoner workers had difficulty finding a vein in his arm.

Botched executions are hardly the exception in the history of this barbaric practice that seems so much a part of American culture. Over the decades there have been failed executions involving electrocutions, lethal injections [the preferred method these days] and hangings. Capital punishment is a horror and, although many Americans, according to polls, still favor using it, this may be a case where a decent respect for humanity should make us ignore public opinion polls.

...In Ohio, at the prison where Christopher Newton was executed, an official told witnesses as the process dragged on: ‘‘we have told the team to take their time. His size is creating a problem.'' Newton was 6 feet tall and weighed 265 pounds.

What a grotesque scene and an embarrassing moment for our society. ...