The StandDown Texas Project

LA Times & Andrew Cohen on Hall v. Florida

Today's Los Angeles Times publishes the editorial, "Should a death row inmate's life hinge on an IQ test?"

Florida, along with several other states, sets its threshold at an IQ test score of 70, though the professional consensus suggests a range of 70 to 75. Hall's score? He was measured at 71 in one test, 72 in another. Yet those tests also have a "standard error of measurement," which means Hall could actually be below Florida's threshold of 70.

Florida says it's satisfied with its "bright line" threshold and wants to put Hall to death despite assertions that he was incapable of cooperating in his own defense, and despite the fact that the professional determination of intellectual disability is based only in part on IQ. According to the American Assn. on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities — and cited by Hall's lawyers — it is "characterized by significant limitations in both intellectual functioning and in adaptive behavior." An IQ test can measure intellectual functioning, but it takes trained professionals to determine the extent of a person's adaptive behavior. In other words, a test score alone doesn't define mental capacity.

Yet Florida says it does. The legal argument before the court is whether Florida can use its rigid statistical cutoff to determine who is ineligible for the death penalty. So it will be a court of the absurd as the justices hear arguments over whether a single IQ test point and a statistical margin of error should determine if someone lives or dies for a criminal act.

Andrew Cohen posts, "Supreme Court Case May Stop States That Still Execute Mentally Disabled," at the Atlantic.

I am sitting in front of the language of the law, and I know that it will be this language that decides this case, but the truth is you don't need to be a lawyer or a legal analyst to understand what this dispute is all about. It's about Florida saying that its rigid test to determine which intellectually disabled people should be executed—a test that arrogantly refuses to acknowledge a standard error of measurement universally embraced by the scientific community—nonetheless deserves the respect of the people and the trust of the courts. It does not.

So this case may be about Freddie Lee Hall, the convicted murderer Florida wants to execute even though its courts concluded long ago that he "was mentally retarded his whole life." But in a symbolic way it's also about Marvin Wilson, the man Texas executed in August 2012 even though he sucked his thumb and could not tell the difference between left and right. And it's about Warren Lee Hill, the man Georgia wants to execute even though no mental health expert who has evaluated him now believes that he is anything other than intellectually disabled.

"SCOTUS for law students: Executing the Mentally Retarded," is by Stephen Wermiel for SCOTUSblog.

In 2002, in Atkins v. Virginia, the Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional to execute persons who were mentally retarded – a condition for which mental health organizations now use the term “intellectually disabled.”  On Monday in the case of Hall v. Florida, the Justices will consider how states should determine when a defendant in a capital case is intellectually disabled.

Although the Court will review the specific practice of only one state, Florida, the decision may have significant practical impact on the definitions in other states that continue to use the death penalty.

Earlier coverage of Hall v. Florida begins at the link.

As I often point out, mental retardation is now generally referred to as a developmental or intellectual disability. 

Because it has a specific meaning with respect to capital cases, I continue to use the older term on the website.  More on Atkins v. Virginia, the Supreme Court's 2002 ruling banning the execution of those with mental retardation, is via Oyez.

Related posts are in the mental retardation category index.

More Questions in the Todd Willingham Case

Today's New York Times reports, "Evidence of Concealed Jailhouse Deal Raises Questions About a Texas Execution," by John Schwartz.  Here's an extended excerpt from the beginning of this must-read:

In the 10 years since Texas executed Cameron Todd Willingham after convicting him on charges of setting his house on fire and murdering his three young daughters, family members and death penalty opponents have argued that he was innocent. Now newly discovered evidence suggests that the prosecutor in the case may have concealed a deal with a jailhouse informant whose testimony was a key part of the execution decision.

The battle to clear Mr. Willingham’s name has symbolic value because it may offer evidence that an innocent man was executed, something opponents of the death penalty believe happens more than occasionally. By contrast, Justice Antonin Scalia wrote seven years ago that he was unaware of “a single case — not one — in which it is clear that a person was executed for a crime he did not commit.”

Mr. Willingham was convicted on charges of setting the 1991 fire in Corsicana, Tex., that killed his three children, and was sentenced to death the next year. The conviction rested on two pillars of evidence: analysis by arson investigators, and the testimony of a jailhouse informant, Johnny Webb, who said that Mr. Willingham had confessed the crime to him.

The arson investigation has since been discredited; serious questions were raised about the quality of the scientific analysis and testimony, which did not measure up to the standard of science even at the time. But the prosecutor who led the case shortly before Mr. Willingham’s execution argued that even though the arson analysis had been questioned, the testimony of Mr. Webb should be enough to deny any attempt for clemency.

In recent weeks, as part of an effort to obtain a posthumous exoneration from the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles and Gov. Rick Perry, lawyers working on Mr. Willingham’s behalf say they have found evidence that Mr. Webb gave his testimony in return for a reduced prison sentence. Evidence of an undisclosed deal could have proved exculpatory during Mr. Willingham’s trial or figured in subsequent appeals, but Mr. Webb and the prosecutor at trial, John Jackson — who would later become a judge — explicitly denied that any deal existed during Mr. Webb’s testimony.

"Lawyers push posthumous pardon in Texas arson case," is by Molly Hennessy-Fiske for the Los Angeles Times.

Attorneys for the family of a man executed in Texas appealed to the governor and state parole board this week to reconsider the case in light of new evidence that he was wrongfully convicted of killing his three young daughters.

“It’s astonishing that 10 years after Todd Willingham was executed we are still uncovering evidence showing what a grave injustice this case represents,” said Barry Scheck, co-director of the New York-based Innocence Project assisting with the appeal. “The Texas clemency system is severely broken and must be fixed.”

The Innocence Project has a Todd Willingham resource page which provides a concise overview of the Willingham case with links to all relevant documents.

David Grann's September 2009 New Yorker article is noted here.    Steve Mills and Maurice Possley first reported on the case in a 2004 Chicago Tribune series on junk science.  The December 9, 2004 report was titled,"Man executed on disproved forensics."

The Beyler report prepared for the Forensic Science Commission is here in Adobe .pdf format.

NBC News Examines LI Secrecy

"Will Courts Lift Veil of Secrecy Around Lethal Injections?" is Pete Williams' report at NBC News.

Despite growing controversy over the use of anonymous pharmacies for lethal injections, the U.S. Supreme Court has thus far declined to block any executions based on 11th-hour appeals challenging the drug connections.

That includes the case of Michael Taylor, a convicted rapist and murderer who was put to death at 12:10 a.m. Wednesday in Missouri after a furious legal battle that stretched into the night.

It's worth nothing, however, that three high court justices wanted to block Taylor's execution and cited the words of an appeals judge who said so little was known about the source of the deadly dose of pentobarbital that it "could be nothing more than a high school chemistry class."

The strongly worded dissent from Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Kermit Bye — echoed by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan — is giving some defense lawyers hope the veil of secrecy will be lifted by the judiciary.

"It seems that the issues raised in Judge Bye's dissent are starting to at least resonate with some members of the Supreme Court," said Allen Bohnert, a federal capital defender from Ohio.

More on the Bye dissent and coverage of Missouri lethal injection issues, at the link.

Pennsylvania's LI Drugs

Philadelphia Public Radio WHYY-FM NewsWorks reports, "Obtaining lethal injection drugs no problem for Pa. DOC." by Mary Wilson.  There is audio at the link.

While other states face a shortage of lethal injection drugs used in executions, Pennsylvania's supply isn't a problem.

A nationwide shortage of lethal injection drugs comes as more pharmacies that mix dosages for clients decided not to provide execution drugs due to negative publicity, as well as legal and ethical concerns.

Pennsylvania has obtained its trio of lethal injection drugs from such pharmacies, and is facing an active federal class-action challenge to its execution protocol.

Still, the drugs remain readily available, according to Sue McNaughton, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Corrections.

And:

The last execution in Pennsylvania was 15 years ago while Tom Ridge was governor. As of Feb. 4, 190 people were listed on death row in the state.

Earlier coverage from Pennsylvania begins at the link.  Related posts are in the compounding pharmacy, department of corrections, and lethal injection category indexes.

More Hall v. Florida Previews

"Upholding the Law and the Constitution," is by Diann Rust-Tierney at the ACS blog.  She's the Executive Director of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.

 On March 3, 2014, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in the case of Hall v. Florida.

The question presented is narrow: Whether Florida’s statutory scheme for identifying defendants with “mental retardation," as interpreted by the Florida Supreme Court, violates the Eighth Amendment prohibition against executing people with intellectual disabilities as articulated in Atkins?

As a note of reference “intellectual disabilities,” adopted since the Court ruled in Atkins, is the preferred clinical term over “mental retardation.”

At stake is whether Florida is obliged to honor the limits imposed by the eighth amendment and refrain from executing a man who falls within the class of people for whom the death penalty is cruel and unusual punishment.  This inquiry goes to the heart of the deal struck in Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U.S. 153 (1976). In Gregg the Supreme Court held that the death penalty could be administered in a manner consistent with the Constitution.  The Court’s ruling was premised on the reasonable expectation that states will work within the framework created by the Court as the final arbiter of constitutional standards for the practice. This premise cannot hold, however, if states continuously seek to circumvent these standards by erecting barriers to the recognition of constitutional rights.

ABA Journal posts, "The death penalty and the mentally disabled," by Erwin Chemerinsky.  He's the founding Dean of the University of California, Irvine School of Law.

Freddie Lee Hall was tried and convicted for a murder that occurred in 1978. At a hearing on whether to impose the death penalty, Hall's lawyers presented evidence that he is mentally retarded. His teachers had identified his mental disabilities and labeled him "mentally retarded." Doctors who examined him concluded that Hall was "extremely impaired psychiatrically, neurologically and intellectually," that he showed signs of "serious brain impairment," and that he "is probably incapable of even the most ... basic living skills which incorporate math and reading." On intelligence tests, his IQ measured at 60, 76, 79, and 80, all in the range of being mentally retarded. Nonetheless, the Florida trial court sentenced him to death.

In 2001, Florida enacted a statute that prohibits the execution of persons with mental retardation. The law defines mental retardation as "significantly sub-average general intellectual functioning" as measured by a "performance that is two or more standard deviations from the mean score on a standardized intelligence test specified in the rules." In 2007, the Florida Supreme Court interpreted this law to mean that only those with an I.Q. score of 70 or below qualify as mentally retarded. Cherry v. State.

 Earlier coverage of Hall v. Florida begins at the link.

As I often point out, mental retardation is now generally referred to as a developmental or intellectual disability. 

Because it has a specific meaning with respect to capital cases, I continue to use the older term on the website.  More on Atkins v. Virginia, the Supreme Court's 2002 ruling banning the execution of those with mental retardation, is via Oyez.

Judge Bye on Missouri Practices

The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit's en banc ruling in Taylor v. Lombardi, with Judge Bye's dissent, is available in Adobe .pdf format.

The Guardian reports, "US judge attacks states' lethal injection methods as 'high school chemistry'," by Ed Pilkington.  Here's the beginning of this must-read:

A federal appeals court judge has issued a scathing attack on the secret use by death penalty states of compounding pharmacies to supply drugs deployed in lethal injections, ridiculing the source of Wednesday morning’s execution in Missouri as possibly “nothing more than a high school chemistry class”.

Kermit Bye, a federal judge on the US court of appeals for the eighth circuit, issued his dissent just hours before Michael Taylor, 47, was executed for the 1989 murder of a 15-year-old girl, Ann Harrison, in Kansas City. Taylor was put to death using a massive dose of the sedative pentobarbital obtained by the department of corrections from a pharmacist whose identity the state refused to disclose.

The eighth circuit declined to award Taylor a stay of execution, as did the US supreme court that cleared the way for the lethal injection to go ahead. But in his dissent, Bye made one of the most impassioned arguments yet from a federal judge decrying the creeping secrecy in the practice of the death penalty in America.

He pointed out that the eighth amendment of the US constitution “prohibits the unnecessary and wanton infliction of pain through torture, barbarous methods, or methods resulting in a lingering death”. Bye then went on to argue that given “the absolute dearth of information Missouri has disclosed to this court, the ‘pharmacy’ on which Missouri relies could be nothing more than a high school chemistry class.”

He added: “I once again fear Missouri elevates the ends over the means in its rush to execute Taylor.”

Smithsonian Magazine posts, "A Drug Company Tried to Block the Use of Pentobarbital in Executions, But U.S. States Are Finding Ways Around the Ban," by Rachel Nuwer.

"Secret Execution Drugs Used Again in Missouri," is by Lauren Galik at Reason.

Also from Missouri, AP reports, "Lawmaker wants more death penalty oversight," via KBIA-FM.

Republican Rep. Eric Burlison said Wednesday that his bill would make Missouri's lethal injection method more transparent and accountable to the public.

The measure would require the state Corrections Department to submit a formal outline of an execution procedure to a legislative panel. The panel could then conduct hearings and take public comment on the proposed execution method. The full Legislature would also be able to veto the proposed method.

"Missouri senator proposes death penalty bill," is another AP filing, also via KBIA-FM.

A Missouri Republican is proposing legislation intended to speed executions of those who kidnapped their murder victims.

The legislation would limit extensions for appeals, and the Missouri Supreme Court would need to hear arguments in a case within six months of submission of the last written argument. The high court would have another six months to issue its decision.

Earlier coverage from Missouri begins at the link.

Developments in Colorado

"Judge rules slain officer's dad cannot ask jury to spare Montour," is the Denver Post report by Jordan Steffen.

A Douglas County judge's ruling on Wednesday bars the father of a slain corrections officer from telling a jury he doesn't want his son's killer executed.

More than 11 years after Edward Montour beat Eric Autobee to death, the Autobee family wants to spare Montour from the death penalty. On Feb. 13, Bob Autobee asked District Court County Judge Richard Caschette to allow him to ask the jury not to sentence Montour to death if he is convicted.

Andrew Cohen provides analysis in, "How a Colorado Judge Just Blocked the Victims' Right Movement," at the Atlantic.  Here's the beginning:

Late Wednesday, a trial judge in Colorado, a former prosecutor, issued a ruling that precludes the parents of a murder victim from telling jurors of their profound opposition to the imposition of a death sentence against the man who killed their son. The "appropriate audience" for the parents' complaints about the prosecution's use of "their son's name in the pursuit of the death penalty," the judge wrote in a footnote, is the prosecutor, who, of course, already has decided that the defendant should be put to death if found guilty.

Here is a link to the ruling by a district court judge that blocks Bob and Lola Autobee from providing jurors with the "victim impact" testimony they wish to provide on behalf of Edward Montour, the man who killed their son, Eric, who was a corrections officer. "The Court is unaware of any binding statutes or case law that would allow" the trial testimony that the Autobees seek, the judge ruled, although he will permit the family to testify as "mitigation witnesses." Specifically, the judge ruled that: "The Autobees may testify about the emotional impact of a death sentence or a life sentence... However, the Autobees will not be allowed to testify about what sentence the jury should impose."

How exactly this will play out in court—with the judge, prosecutor, and defense attorneys parsing what words the Autobees may use—is today impossible to predict. Can the Autobees tell jurors, for example, that a "death sentence" against Montour would have a terrible emotional impact upon them? Can they tell jurors that a life sentence without the possibility of parole for Montour would have made their son happy? By seeking to endorse a compromise here, the judge may have ended up with more trouble than he knows.

 There are other elements to the case today.  The Post also reports, "Judge to rule if death penalty case against Montour will be postponed," by  Steffen.

Less than a week before opening arguments are scheduled to begin in the death penalty case against an inmate who beat a corrections officer to death, prosecutors are asking the judge to eliminate several defense witnesses or postpone the trial.

More than 11 years after Edward Montour killed 23-year-old Eric Autobee, jury selection in his second trial began on Jan. 6. During jury selection, defense attorneys filed a motion asking the judge to hear new evidence they say proves Montour was wrongfully convicted in 1998 of killing his 11-week-old daughter, Taylor.

On Thursday, Douglas County District Court Judge Richard Caschette will hear arguments about Montour's 1998 conviction, whether more than a dozen defense witnesses will be allowed to speak at trial and if the trial will be postponed.

Westword posts, "Edward Montour death penalty trial: Homicide ruling changed in infant death," by Alan Prendergast.

In an unprecedented move, the El Paso County Coroner's Office has amended the death certificate in the 1997 death of a twelve-week-old infant, changing the cause of death from "homicide" to "undetermined" -- dealing yet another blow to prosecution efforts to seek the death penalty for the infant's father, Edward Montour Jr., for the murder of a corrections officer at the Limon prison in 2002. And the man who sent Montour to prison for life for killing his daughter now says that new evidence has convinced him that the death could have been accidental.

There's little doubt surrounding the crime for which Montour is now facing trial: his fatal attack on corrections officer Eric Autobee twelve years ago. He pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, but the Colorado Supreme Court threw out his death sentence in 2007 because it hadn't been imposed by a jury. The prosecution has since been mired in procedural delays, internal conflicts, and a highly public battle with Autobee's father, Bob, who opposes the death penalty and wants to address the jury in the case about why he doesn't think his son's killer should be executed.

Prosecutors hoped to use the fact that Montour was already serving life for a prior homicide as an aggravating factor in his current trial. But earlier this month, Montour's defense team filed a motion that he was wrongfully convicted of beating his daughter Taylor to death and shouldn't have been in prison in the first place.

Earlier coverage of this Colorado case begins at the link.

Oklahoma Lethal Injection Challenge Filed

You can read the lawsuit, Lockett & Warner v. Evans, thanks to the Tulsa World.

"Judge schedules Tuesday hearing on challenge to Oklahoma's death row procedures," is the AP report, via the Greenfield Reporter.

An Oklahoma County judge next week will consider whether to delay the scheduled executions of two death row inmates.

Clayton Lockett and Charles Warner want to know more about drugs administered by the state Department of Corrections during executions. They've asked District Judge Patricia Parrish to delay their executions until the state says how and when it obtained the drugs.

Parrish will hold a hearing Tuesday morning.

Lockett is scheduled to die March 20 and Warner is to die a week later.

An earlier AP report is, "Oklahoma death row inmates sue over drugs' secrecy," by Bailey Elise McBride.

Under state law, no one may disclose who provides Oklahoma with the three drugs it uses to execute condemned prisoners. Lawyers for Charles Warner and Clayton Lockett fear the men could suffer severe pain if Oklahoma is allowed to maintain a "veil of secrecy."

"Plaintiffs have no means to determine the purity of the drug which may be used to execute them, and whether that drug is contaminated with either particulate foreign matter or a microbial biohazard that could lead to a severe allergic reaction upon injection," the lawyers wrote in their state court lawsuit.

"'Cloak of secrecy' on executions alleged in Oklahoma death row inmates' lawsuit," is by Ziva Branstetter for the Tulsa World.

Two Oklahoma inmates who are set to be executed next month have sued the state over its "cloak of secrecy" involving the death penalty.

The suit by attorneys for Clayton Lockett and Charles Warner asks a judge to invalidate a state law barring the release of information about drugs used in executions. It also asks for relief including an injunction against executing Lockett and Warner until details about execution drugs are provided to their attorneys.

The suit was filed Wednesday in Oklahoma County District Court against the Department of Corrections and its director, Edward Evans.

And:

In 2011, a change in state law made the source of drugs used in executions confidential and gave more control to the DOC in how to carry them out. The change occurred after the only FDA-approved manufacturers of two execution drugs blocked their use in U.S. executions.

In 2012, the DOC publicly stated that it had obtained 20 doses of pentobarbital, one of three drugs used in executions.

Since then, the state has executed 11 people, and "plaintiffs have been unable to obtain any information about how many still remain of the 20 doses ... or whether any or all of those doses are expired," the lawsuit states.

The Oklahoman reports, "Two Oklahoma death row inmates sue state Corrections Department over lethal injection secrecy," by Graham Lee Brewe.

Two Oklahoma death row inmates are challenging the constitutionality of the law allowing the state to keep secret its source of lethal injection drugs.

According to the lawsuit filed Wednesday in Oklahoma County District Court, Clayton Lockett and Charles Warner have reason to believe Oklahoma’s execution method carries with it “a substantial risk of inflicting severe pain,” which would violate their constitutional rights against cruel and unusual punishment.

And:

Assistant Federal Public Defender Madeline Cohen, who represents Warner, makes much the same argument attorneys representing a Missouri death row inmate made in recent months, that the policy of secrecy by the state Corrections Department keeps death row inmates from knowing the quality of the drug that will be used to kill them.

Cohen contends Pentobarbital, a barbiturate used in the execution process to render the condemned person unconscious, doesn’t stop the inmate from feeling pain but only works to keep them paralyzed.

“The second drug is basically only used for optics, to make the execution look placid,” Cohen said.

On Jan. 9, Michael Lee Wilson, 38, was put to death by the state for participating in the 1995 murder of Tulsa store clerk Richard Yost. Wilson’s final words were “I feel my whole body burning.” The petition filed Wednesday uses his last words as an example of the uncertainty of the process.

The Los Angeles Times posts, "Condemned Oklahoma inmates sue: What's in the drug that will kill us?"  It's by Molly Hennessy-Fiske.

Oklahoma, Ohio, Missouri and other death penalty states have been scrambling for lethal injection drugs after major manufacturers — many based in Europe with longtime opposition to the death penalty — stopped selling to them.

The issue sparked national controversy last month when relatives of an Ohio inmate who witnessed his execution complained that he took more than 15 minutes to die, appearing to gasp and snort. They have since sued the state and drug makers.

Previously, inmates received a sedative while paralytic drugs killed them. As supplies dried up of the sedative, sodium thiopentol, some states switched to another drug, pentobarbitol, and stopped disclosing information about lethal injections.

Earlier coverage from Oklahoma begins at the link.  Also available, news coverage of a lawsuit against an Oklahoma compounding pharmacy linked to supplying lethal injection drugs.

Florida Executes

"Man executed for killing trooper with pipe bomb," is the AP report by Brendan Farrington.  It's via the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

Paul Augustus Howell, 48, was pronounced dead at 6:32 p.m. following a lethal injection at the Florida State Prison in Starke.

And:

Once the execution began at 6:19 p.m., the microphone was turned off, but Howell spoke rapidly for about a minute. His words then started to slow, and he lost consciousness. Department of Corrections spokeswoman Jessica Cary later said Howell was praying.

The News Service of Florida reports, "State executes killer of Florida highway patrol trooper," via the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

Paul Augustus Howell, who was sent to Death Row for the 1992 murder of a Florida Highway Patrol trooper, was executed Wednesday at Florida State Prison near Stark.

Howell, 48, was pronounced dead at 6:32 p.m., according to the Gov. Rick Scott's office.

Howell, who had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich as his final meal, was the 15th Death Row inmate executed in Florida since Scott took office in 2011.

There were five executions during former Gov. Charlie Crist's single term and 21 during the two terms of former Gov. Jeb Bush.

And:

On Feb. 13 of this year, Circuit Judge Angela Dempsey ruled that a new lethal-injection drug used by the state would not violate Howell's rights.

The hearing, held in Jefferson County Circuit Court at the direction of the Florida Supreme Court, focused on the state's use of midazolam hydrochloride as the first drug in a three-drug cocktail in executions.

Midazolam, which the state began using last year, is supposed to anesthetize prisoners before the other drugs are administered.

It was the 10th execution in an American death penalty state this year; the 1,369th post-Furman execution since 1977.  It was Florida's third execution this year, and it 84th in the modern era.

Earlier coverage of Florida lethal injection issues begins at the link.  Also available, more recent capital news from Florida.

Arizona Death Penalty Expansion Legislation

"Bill making smugglers eligible for death passes," is the AP report, via the Arizona Republic.

An Arizona bill approved by the House could make human smugglers convicted of murder eligible for the death penalty.

The House approved House Bill 2313 by a 35-24 vote Tuesday.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Justin Pierce, R-Mesa, adds to the list of aggravating circumstances whether it is probable that a defendant would commit another crime. It also designates smuggling as a serious offense.

That would make human smugglers who are convicted of murder eligible for the death penalty.

Related posts are in the state legislation category index. Earlier coverage from Arizona begins at the link.

Colorado Death Penalty Files Remain Sealed

"Supreme Court keeps Aurora death penalty case file sealed," is the AP report, via the Aurora Sentinel.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear an appeal by a Colorado death row inmate who argued it is a violation of his First Amendment rights that the court file from his murder case remains sealed six years after his conviction.

Attorneys for Sir Mario Owen had asked the high court to overturn Colorado rulings that maintained his trial judge’s earlier order that both sealed the file and barred them from distributing any documents from the case, even transcripts of testimony during the trial. Owens is one of three people on Colorado’s death row.

He was convicted in 2008 of killing the witness in another murder trial and that man’s girlfriend. Prosecutors had cited that history in asking the trial court to restrict access to court records.

Owens’ attorneys said they wanted to be able to distribute the case records to publicize government misconduct.

The Colorado Supreme Court denied Owens’ request last year. The U.S. Supreme Court denied the appeal Mondau without written comment.

"U.S. Supreme Court won't hear request to unseal Sir Mario Owens case," is by Jordan Steffen of the Denver Post.

Attorney Steve Zansberg, who represents several media organizations including The Denver Post, has filed a motion in Arapahoe County District Court — where the case was originally tried — to unseal the case.

Andrew Cohen writes, "The problem with claiming a 'witness safety' exception to the First Amendment," for the Week.

The concept of a public trial is at the heart of the Bill of Rights. It's right there in the Sixth Amendment, right next to the part about impartial juries. It's right there in the First Amendment, too, right there in the part about the freedom of the press.

And yet, our public trials are often not nearly as public as we think.

For instance, in Colorado, there's a remarkable case that is forcing judges to balance in an unprecedented way the constitutional rights of criminal defendants and media organizations with a much more practical right — the right of witnesses to be protected from violence before and after they testify against alleged murderers.

So far, to the chagrin of First Amendment advocates, the Colorado courts have sided with those witnesses (and prosecutors), blocking from public view the written record of a murder trial that concluded six years ago. Even today, as the post-trial phase of this case wends its way through the courts amid substantial allegations of prosecutorial misconduct, the courts have kept the record sealed.

Earlier coverage of the case begins at the link.

Death Penalty Options Just Get Worse

That's the title of an editorial published in today's edition of the Tennessean.

Members of the Tennessee General Assembly all too often use their lawmaking powers for the wrong reasons: to reward their friends, to score political points before an election. But subverting the laws of the state in order to put people to death might be the worst transgression lawmakers could commit.

And:

Botched lethal injections in other states have drawn legal challenges. So Tennessee lawmakers have a Plan B, and it’s the worst idea yet.

Senate Bill 2580 would require that the state use electrocution if a court struck down lethal injection as an execution method, or if a drug were to become unavailable.

So lawmakers’ solution to the inhumane use of drugs (an Ohio execution by injection last month lasted 26 minutes, more torture than execution) is a more brutal method that has been out of favor for years. A single Tennessee inmate, Daryl Holton, died in the electric chair recently, in 2007, by his choosing.

"Tennessee lawmaker proposes electric chair as death row backup," is by Eric Snyder of the Nashville Business Journal.

A Republican in the Tennessee Senate has proposed a bill that would make the electric chair a backup option in additional death row cases.

Knoxville TV station WBIR reports that Sen. Ken Yager, of Kingston, wants the electric chair to be an option should lethal injection be found to be unconstitutional or if an essential ingredient isn't available.

Earlier coverage from Tennessee begins at the link.  Related posts are in the electric chair category index.

Louisiana Lawmaker Wants Electric Chair Option

Today's New Orleans Times-Picayune reports, "Electric chair should be execution option in Louisiana, state lawmaker says," by Lauren McGaughy.

Louisiana is the latest state seeking to resurrect use of the electric chair, as corrections officials team up with state legislators nationwide to find an alternative in the face of waning lethal injection drug supplies.

House Bill 328, filed this week by state Rep. Joe Lopinto, R-Metairie, expands the execution options available to state correctional officials by adding the electric chair. Lethal injection has been the only allowable form of execution in Louisiana since changes to the law took effect in 1991.

The change comes as states are finding it more and more difficult to locate lethal injection drug supplies. In some cases, the European drug companies that manufactured the original drugs have cut off shipments to areas where states were found to be using them, without the companies' approval, to undertake executions.

And:

The bill could face an uphill battle, however, especially if it reaches the committee of Lopinto's counterpart in the Senate, state Sen. J.P. Morrell. Morrell said Wednesday he would be 110 percent against a bill bringing back the electric chair as a viable method of execution in Louisiana.

"It's completely ridiculous and it makes this state, nationally, look as backwards as possible," Morrell said, adding he didn't think the natural step to mitigate waning drug supplies was to return to "barbaric" practices like the electric chair.

"Bill could bring back Louisiana's electric chair," is the AP report, via the Shreveport Times.

Rep. Joe Lopinto, chairman of the House criminal justice committee, has filed a bill that would let Louisiana's corrections secretary choose between lethal injection and electrocution when carrying out a death sentence.

Lawmakers will consider the bill during the legislative session that begins March 10.

Earlier coverage from Louisiana begins at the link.  Related posts are in the electric chair category index.

Missouri, the New Ground Zero

"'Ground zero' for the death penalty," is by Tal Kopan for Politico.  Here's the beginning:

Missouri executed its fourth inmate in as many months early Wednesday, even as the issue of capital punishment has sparked a new and reshaped political debate in the state and across the country.

The Midwestern state has become a key battleground: As lethal-injection drug supplies have been disrupted, states have been scrambling to adapt, and Missouri lawmakers from both sides of the aisle aren’t happy with what they say is excessive secrecy about the process and questions about whether the sentences are being competently carried out.

The issue crosses party lines. Missouri’s Democratic governor and attorney general are both pro-death penalty, while some bills recently filed to challenge the executive’s approach to executions are sponsored by Republicans who also back capital punishment.

Earlier coverage from Missouri begins with the preceding post.

Missouri Executes

The Supreme Court issued several orders in the case last night.  In one order denying writ of certiorari, Justice Ginsburg, joined by Justices Sotomayor and Kagen, dissented.

For reasons well stated by Judge Bye in his statement calling for Eighth Circuit rehearing en banc, I would grant the stay and consider the petition for certiorari in the ordinary course.

 "Missouri executes man for '89 rape, killing of teen," is the Associated Press report, via the Daily Journal.

A Missouri inmate was executed early Wednesday for abducting, raping and killing a Kansas City teenager as she waited for her school bus in 1989, marking the state’s fourth execution by lethal injection in as many months.

Michael Taylor, 47, was pronounced dead shortly at 12:10 a.m. at the state prison in Bonne Terre. Federal courts and the governor had refused last-minute appeals from his attorneys, who argued that the execution drug purchased from a compounding pharmacy could have caused Taylor inhuman pain and suffering.

Taylor offered no final statement. He mouthed silent words to his parents, two clergymen and other relatives who witnessed his death. As the process began, he took two deep breaths before closing his eyes for the last time. There were no obvious signs of distress.

St. Louis Public Radio posts, "Missouri Executes Second Inmate This Year - First With New Drug Source," by Chris McDaniel.  It's via KBIA-FM.

Taylor was the first Missouri inmate to be executed with a drug made by the state's new (and secret) compounding pharmacy. The previous one bowed out after facing a lawsuit once its identity got out.

Taylor's attorneys argued the supplier was changed at the last minute, taking away any opportunity for oversight. 

"Utterly nothing is known about this pharmacy," his lawyers argued. "Has it been cited for violating federal and state laws more or less often than the previous pharmacy?"

The previous supplier was not licensed to sell in this state. It had also been cited in the past by its own state Board of Pharmacy.

Unlike previous executions, the state did not provide a testing report on the purity and potency of the drug, but said the said the execution would be "rapid" and "painless."

Compounding pharmacies aren't like drug manufacturers. Drug manufacturers are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, while compounding pharmacies are not. Manufactured drugs have a high assurance that the drugs are of a certain quality, while compounding pharmacies' products have a much higher failure rate.

"Michael Taylor executed by Missouri using compounded pentobarbital," is the Guardian report.

In their appeal Taylor’s attorneys questioned Missouri’s use of an unnamed compounding pharmacy to provide pentobarbital. They also cited concerns about the state executing inmates before appeals were complete and argued that Taylor’s original trial attorney was so overworked that she encouraged him to plead guilty.

The Oklahoma-based compounding pharmacy Apothecary Shoppe agreed last week that it would not supply the pentobarbital for Taylor’s execution, which left Missouri to find a new supplier. The attorney general, Chris Koster, later disclosed that a new provider had been found but refused to name the pharmacy, citing the state’s execution protocol that allows for the manufacturer to remain anonymous.

Taylor’s attorneys argued use of the drug from an unspecified source could cause an inmate pain and suffering because no one could check if the maker was legitimate and had a record of producing safe drugs.

The official makers of pentobarbital refuse to sell it for executions.

"Killer of Missouri schoolgirl executed after appeals dismissed," is by Carey Gillam of Reuters.  It's via the Chicago Tribune.

Before his execution, Taylor told Reuters that he had great remorse for his crime and said it was fueled by crack cocaine.

"I hurt for her family... No words can express the pain and anguish that they have lived with through the years. I can only wish them peace, and pray there will come a day when they can forgive me," Taylor said.

And:

Taylor's family had sought for his death sentence to be converted to life in prison.

"It may be a small victory for the State of Missouri but Michael has won in the end," Taylor's family said in a statement.

"He has struggled for years with the guilt of not stopping a horrendous crime, and has dedicated much of his time in prison to the memory of Ann Harrison through his work with hospice, tutoring and mentoring inside and outside the prison walls," the statement said.

It was the ninth execution in an American death penalty state this year; the 1,368th post-Furman execution since 1977.  It was Missouri's second execution this year, and it 72nd in the modern era.

Earlier coverage from Missouri begins at the link.

Another Hall v. Florida Preview

The SCOTUSblog case file for Hall v. Florida contains all briefing.

Today's Los Angeles Times publishes the OpEd, "Intellectually disabled but on death row: The troubling case of Freddie Hall," by Marc J. Tassé.  He is a past president of the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.  Here's the beginning:

Shortly after his birth in 1945, Freddie Hall's family knew that something was different about him. And later, he was slow to learn, to walk and to talk, and it was challenging for his family to understand his speech. He was raised under difficult circumstances in an impoverished and abusive home, the 16th of 17 children, and showed early signs of serious intellectual and developmental delays.

Hall's elementary school teachers also noticed his problems with learning and recommended a special education teacher, as shown in school records dating from the 1950s. His fourth-grade, sixth-grade, seventh-grade and eighth-grade teachers all wrote that he was "mentally retarded." There is no indication that Hall ever received the special educational support that his teachers recommended. After being "socially promoted" through school, Hall dropped out in the 11th grade.

As an adult, Hall is illiterate and cannot perform basic math. Clinicians who have conducted psychological evaluations of him have said that his functioning is comparable to that of a first-grader.

Earlier coverage of Hall v. Florida begins at the link.  The case will be argued at the U.S. Supreme Court next Monday.

ABA Journal Looks at State Secrecy in LI Drug Supply

"States keep mum on where lethal injection drugs are made," is an excellent overview by Wendy N. Davis in the March issue of ABA Journal.  Here's the beginning, which starts in Missouri:

Like other states with the death penalty, Missouri is facing a shortage of the lethal injection drug pentobarbital, primarily because its Danish manufacturer won’t allow it to be used in executions.

So when the state initially set an execution date for convicted serial killer Joseph Paul Franklin, officials announced that they would instead inject Franklin with a lethal dose of propofol, the same anesthetic that killed Michael Jackson.

But after the European Union threatened to limit shipments of propofol to the United States, as a protest against capital punishment, Gov. Jay Nixon had to order the state Department of Corrections to devise a different method of execution. A few weeks later, the state decided to use pentobarbital after all, and to obtain it from a compounding pharmacy, a company that manufactures the drug but without the same level of federal oversight as big manufacturers.

Earlier coverage from Missouri begins with the preceding link.  Also available, more on international pressure; related posts are in the lethal injection category index.

Federal Judge Denies Stay of Execution in Missouri

"Missouri readies for 4th execution in months," is the updated AP report, via the Colubia Missourian.

Missouri corrections officials say they will use a lethal drug provided by a new supplier in the state's fourth execution in four months.

Convicted killer Michael Taylor is scheduled to die at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday. Several court appeals have been filed seeking to spare his life, and Gov. Jay Nixon is weighing a clemency request.

Taylor's attorneys are questioning Missouri's use of the new, unnamed compounding pharmacy to provide the pentobarbital for his execution. They also allege that the state executes men before appeals are complete, and say Taylor's trial attorney was ineffective.

"Judge denies stay of execution for Michael Taylor, killer of KC teen Ann Harrison," is by Tony Rizzo for the Kansas City Star.

A federal judge on Monday denied four motions for a stay of execution filed by a convicted Kansas City killer who is scheduled to be put to death early Wednesday.

The motions filed on behalf of Michael Taylor raised four different issues that defense attorneys said merited a halt to the execution. Taylor is scheduled to die by lethal injection at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday for the 1989 kidnapping, rape and murder of 15-year-old Ann Harrison.

Attorneys for Taylor immediately filed notice Monday morning that they will appeal the rulings to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Later Monday afternoon, they filed a new request with the 8th Circuit for a stay of execution.

Taylor’s lawyers then filed another motion for a stay of execution with the Missouri Supreme Court. The attorneys said that stay request should be granted because Taylor has a pending motion asking the U.S. Supreme Court to consider his case.

St. Louis Public Radio posts, "Despite New Pharmacy, Federal Judge Denies Stay Of Execution For Missouri Inmate," by Chris McDaniel.  It's via KBIA-FM.  There is audio at the link.

A federal judge has said Wednesday's execution may proceed.

District Judge Beth Phillips denied Missouri inmate Michael Taylor's requests for stays of execution early Monday morning. Her ruling has been appealed to a higher court.

"Teen's killer presses appeals as Missouri prepares his execution," is by Carey Gillam of Reuters.

Missouri officials on Tuesday were fending off a flurry of late appeals from convicted killer Michael Taylor as they prepared for his execution by lethal injection shortly after midnight.

Under the state protocol, 47-year-old Taylor will receive his last meal and be dressed in simple gray pants and a T-shirt and socks before being escorted to the death chamber.

The execution would mark Missouri's 72nd since 1976 and the second this year. State officials are under fire for executing other inmates before their last appeals are exhausted.

Additional coverage includes:

MissouriNet posts, "State hopes to execute Michael Taylor," by Bob Priddy.  There is audio at the link.

"Judge Denies Stay of Execution in Missouri Lethal Injection," by Tracy Connor of NBC News.

"Federal judge denies Missouri death row inmate's appeal over drug," by UPI.

Earlier coverage from Missouri begins at the link.

Alabama Ineffective Assistance Ruling May Lead to New Trial

The Supreme Court ruling in Hinton v. Alabama begins at page 33 of the Orders List.

"Alabama Death Row inmate Anthony Ray Hinton could get new trial after U.S. Supreme Court ruling," is the Associated Press report, via AL.com.

An inmate who has been on Alabama's Death Row for 28 years might get a new trial after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that his trial counsel was inadequate.

The court issued an opinion Monday saying that Anthony Ray Hinton had "constitutionally deficient" counsel at his trial. The court cited the defense lawyer's failure to know that funds were available to hire a better ballistics expert to help rebut crucial prosecution evidence. The Supreme Court sent the case back to the state court to determine if Hinton should get a new trial.

And:

The Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences concluded that the four bullets fired during the robberies, and another two from a similar robbery-shooting at a Quincy's restaurant in Bessemer, had all been fired from a revolver found at Hinton's home.

Hinton's defense lawyer wrongly thought he had only $1,000 to hire a ballistics expert to try to rebut the prosecution evidence, according the court opinion. Hinton's lawyer hired the only person willing to take the job at that price even though he had concerns about the expert's credentials.

"Hinton's attorney knew that he needed more funding to present an effective defense, yet he failed to make even the cursory investigation of the state statute providing for defense funding for indigent defendants that would have revealed to him that he could receive reimbursement not just for $1,000 but for "any expenses reasonably incurred," the court wrote.

The trial witness testified the tool marks of the revolver had been corroded away so that it was impossible to say whether a particular bullet had been fired from that gun. However, the witness, a civil engineer who admitted he needed help operating the lab microscope, was discredited during the trial by prosecutors because of his lack of credentials.

During his appeal, Hinton's legal team produced three new experts, including one who had worked at the Federal Bureau of Investigation's forensics laboratory, who determined there was no evidence to support the state's claim that bullets matched Hinton's weapon.

The Los Angeles Times posts, "Supreme Court ruling could mean new trial for Alabama death row inmate," by Timothy M. Phelps.

It's unusual for this Supreme Court to overturn a death penalty conviction, more so without dissents from conservatives Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia.

But Monday all nine justices found a double murder conviction so troubling that without hearing oral arguments they rebuked an Alabama appeals court and sent the case back to consider whether Anthony R. Hinton deserved a new trial.

In three restaurant robberies in Birmingham 29 years ago, two restaurant managers were killed and one injured. The injured manager identified Hinton. But Hinton was charged with the two deaths solely on the strength of ballistics evidence indicating that a .38-caliber revolver found at Hinton’s home was the weapon used in all three shootings.

Hinton’s defense lawyer, and even the trial judge, mistakenly believed the state would pay just $1,000 for an expert witness. The lawyer, who was not identified in the opinion, later testified that he knew the only expert he could afford, Andrew Payne, was not very good, but he hired him anyway.

"Lawyer who didn’t know about permissible expert-witness fee was ineffective, SCOTUS says," by Debra Cassens Weiss for ABA Journal.

 The Supreme Court said the defense lawyer's failure to request more funding constituted deficient performance. “We do not today launch federal courts into examination of the relative qualifications of experts hired and experts that might have been hired,” the opinion said. “The only inadequate assistance of counsel here was the inexcusable mistake of law—the unreasonable failure to understand the resources that state law made available to him—that caused counsel to employ an expert that he himself deemed inadequate.”

"The One-Eyed Witness," is by Jesse Wegman at the New York Times Taking Note blog.

In post-conviction proceedings, Mr. Hinton claimed that his lawyer’s mistake in thinking he had no choice but to hire Mr. Payne constituted ineffective assistance of counsel under the Sixth Amendment. To support this claim he produced three experts who all testified that they could not conclude Mr. Hinton’s gun had fired any of the bullets. The state did not rebut the new evidence, and one of Mr. Hinton’s experts testified that the state’s expert refused to show him how he’d concluded that Mr. Hinton’s gun had been the murder weapon.

The Supreme Court  agreed that the lawyer’s failure very possibly altered the outcome of the case. The jury clearly did not believe Mr. Payne, the Court reasoned, but they well may have believed a qualified expert witness, if only Mr. Hinton’s lawyer had known he’d be reimbursed for hiring one. (Mr. Perhacs wasn’t well-compensated, either. He was paid a total of $1600 for defending Mr. Hinton — or what top corporate lawyers now charge for about 75 minutes of work.)

Bryan Stevenson, Mr. Hinton’s attorney since 1999 and the executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Ala., said that as prosecutors rely increasingly on complex scientific evidence and expert witnesses, the Sixth Amendment’s role in assuring that poor defendants have the ability to mount a proper defense has only grown. “The Sixth Amendment’s requirements are not just formulaic and minimal,” Mr. Stevenson said. “There’s dramatic evidence that he’s been wrongly convicted and no one can credibly assert that a capital defendant can get the assistance he needs for $1000.”

Earlier coverage from Alabama begins at the link.  Related posts are in the ineffective assistance of counsel category index.

News Coverage of the South Dakota Legislative Hearing & Vote

Both of these news articles have extensive coverage of the House committee hearing and vote.

The Sioux Falls Argus Leader reports, "House rejects repeal of death penalty, 7-6," by John Hult.

A state House committee Friday narrowly defeated a proposal to repeal the death penalty in South Dakota.

The panel voted 7-6 to kill the bill after more than two hours of emotional testimony, including calls for a death penalty repeal from two former attorneys general and pleas for support from the families of murder victims.

House Bill 1188 would have left the death penalty in place for the three inmates now on death row.

Rep. Steve Hickey, a Sioux Falls pastor and Republican legislative bill sponsor, told committee members that the punishment does not deter crime. It costs taxpayers more than a life sentence and devalues the sanctity of life.

"Death penalty repeal effort fails in House committee," is by  Meredith Colias of the Rapid City Journal.

The House State Affairs Committee voted 7-6 to reject a measure that would have banned the death penalty in future cases. It sought to leave in place the death sentences of the three convicted murderers on South Dakota's death row, but prosecutors said the bill's language might have allowed those three to avoid execution.

“I think the closeness of the vote reflects what a difficult issue it is,” House Majority Leader David Lust, R-Rapid City, said. “I think people struggle with that issue.”

Lust said he voted in favor of pushing the effort forward that failed, because he did not believe the death penalty was an effective policy.

And:

The three men on South Dakota's death row are Charles Russell Rhines, convicted of the 1992 slaying of Donnivan Schaeffer, 22, during the burglary of a Rapid City doughnut shop; Briley Piper, convicted of the 2000 killing of Chester Allan Poage, 19, near Spearfish; and Rodney Berget, an inmate convicted of the 2011 killing of Sioux Falls prison guard Ronald Johnson during a botched escape attempt.

Earlier coverage of the South Dakota repeal bill begins at the link.

Kansas Appeal Speed-Up Bill Assigned to House Committee

"Kansas death penalty debate shifts to House panel," is the AP report by John Milburn, via the Salina Journal.

Convicted murderers sentenced to death in Kansas would face a shortened appeals process under a proposal a House committee plans to consider this week, but critics of the plan said it needs a much broader review.

The measure creates a 31/2-year time limit for the appeals to be heard and decided by the court. It also sets limits on the length of documents that can be filed in death penalty to appeals to the state court, and requires the appeals to be placed ahead of all other cases pending before the justices. It would not affect any subsequent appeals, including those made to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Supporters have argued that the Kansas death penalty process takes too long to get from a capital murder conviction to an execution. No one has been executed in the state since 1965. Nine men are under death sentences in state prisons, and no execution dates have been set because appeals are still pending in state courts. There are nine men on death row, and no defendant has been executed since the penalty was reinstated in 1994.

The measure passed the Senate on Feb. 13 and was assigned to a conference committee in the House for an organizational hearing this week.

Earlier coverage from Kansas begins at the link.

Race and the Washington State Death Penalty; More on the Moratorium

"UW study: Race a factor in imposing death penalty," is an AP report filed by Gene Johnson, via the Yakima Herald.

Two years ago, when Washington’s Supreme Court was reviewing the death sentence assigned to a black man accused of raping and murdering a 65-year-old woman, Justice Charles Wiggins found himself troubled by numbers.

Juries in the state were more likely to sentence African Americans, Wiggins noted; they did so in 62 percent of cases involving black defendants versus 40 percent for white defendants. In a dissenting opinion, the justice suggested further study was needed to determine whether the trend was statistically significant.

A new report from a University of Washington sociologist aims to answer the question. It finds that while prosecutors have actually been slightly more likely to seek the death penalty against white defendants, jurors have been three times more likely to impose it against black ones, other circumstances being similar.

Expense, differences in application by county, and the high rate of overturned death sentences — rather than racial disparities — were the main reasons Gov. Jay Inslee cited this month when he announced a moratorium on executions under his watch. But if true, the report’s findings echo his worry that capital punsihment is “unequally applied,” even in Washington, a state many consider to have the nation’s most restrictive death-penalty system.

And:

The report, by Professor Katherine Beckett, was commissioned by Lila Silverstein and Neil Fox, attorneys for death row inmate Allen Eugene Gregory, a black man convicted of raping and murdering a white woman in Pierce County in 1996. Silverstein and Fox plan to submit the report to the high court as part of Gregory’s appeal next month.

Washington has executed five defendants under its modern death penalty law, adopted in 1981, and nine are on death row. Beckett reviewed the 285 cases involving adult defendants convicted of aggravated murder since 1981 for which trial reports are available. In 88 of those cases, the death penalty was sought, and in 35 of those, it was imposed. Many later had the sentences overturned.

The Role of Race in Washington State Capital Sentencing, 1981-2012 by Katherine Beckett and Heather Evans of the University of Washington is available courtesy of Professor Beckett.

"Smart Bombs: Death penalty slumber disrupted," is Gary Crooks' latest column in the Spokesman-Review.

Gov. Jay Inslee’s moratorium on executions has sparked a strong reaction from legislative proponents of capital punishment. The key word is “reaction,” because that’s the only action ever seen on this issue.

The political contretemps remind me of a child with a long neglected toy. All is quiet until a sibling is seen playing with it. Then, suddenly, it’s the most fiercely defended possession in the house.

Hate to break the news to death penalty advocates, but sympathetic lawmakers haven’t done much over the years to boost executions, unless you count grandstanding and press releases. The state has killed five people since the death penalty was reinstituted in 1981.

The Seattle Times publishes opposing view OpEds under the heading, "Should Washington state abolish the death penalty?"

"It's wrong for the state to take a life," is by Eldon Vail and Dick Morgan.  Vail is a retired Secretary of the Washington Department of Corrections, and  Morgan retired as the state's Director of Prisons; both men participated in executions.

"Consider the victims and their families," is by Brian Moran, a former prosecutor and Assistant Attorney General in Washington.

Earlier coverage of the Washington Moratorium begins at the link.

An Editorial From Bloomberg News

"Ban the Death Penalty," is the editorial published by Bloomberg News.  It's by David Shipley.

A grisly new consideration may start a necessary debate over capital punishment in the U.S., which is unique among advanced nations in its use of the death penalty. The distinction isn't one to be proud of and should be brought to an end.

Since the 1980s, the use of lethal injection has made executions seem a little more clinical and a little less barbaric. But recently pharmaceutical companies have refused to supply some of the fatal drugs, and some executions have raised doubts that this way of killing is less cruel. Executioners are now preparing to rely on more traditional methods. Firing squads, gas chambers and electric chairs might make Americans queasier about the whole business, and willing to consider the issue afresh.

And:

Let's allow that it would have been right to execute Hitler. But let's also recognize that restricting the death penalty to the few cases where it would be both just and safe is impractical. The best pragmatic course is not to use the death penalty more sparingly but to abolish it outright.

Related posts are in the abolition and editorial category indexes.  You can see proposals to bring back the electric chair, firing squads and the gas chamber at the links.

Supreme Court Will Not Block Justin Wolfe Retrial

"High court won't block Va. capital murder retrial," is the Associated Press report on one case in today's Supreme Court Orders List.

The Supreme Court will not block Virginia from retrying an accused drug dealer, whose earlier capital murder conviction was set aside because of misconduct by prosecutors.

The justices on Monday rejected an appeal by Justin Wolfe, who said the prosecutors' misdeeds were so serious that they precluded a fair second trial.

A federal judge agreed with Wolfe and had ordered his immediate release, but the federal appeals court in Richmond, Va., said the new trial could be held fairly.

Earlier coverage of Justin Wolfe's case begins at the link.

Related posts are in the prosecutorial category index.

Monday

I will be out of the office most of Monday.  Posting will resume as quickly as possible.

South Dakota Repeal Narrowly Fails in Committee Vote

"A bill to end the death penalty in South Dakota dies in committee," is by Mark Russo for KELO-AM-FM.

Choking back tears, Lynette Johnson, whose state prison guard husband, Ron, was murdered by inmates, begged a House Committee Friday not to abolish the death penalty in South Dakota.

And:

But Leonard Eberly of Rapid City, who lost a son to murder, urged lawmakers to end the death penalty. He said he only found peace after he was able to forgive.

Friday's testimony was long, sincere, and often emotional, but in the end the House State Affairs Committee narrowly rejected the bill, 7-6.

Earlier coverage from South Dakota begins at the link. Related posts are in the abolition and state legislation category index.

Mississippi Journalist's Column

"Historic executions prove death penalty has no place in society," is by Jacskson Clarion-Ledger Contribuing Columnist Bill Minor.

Hanging, electric chair, gas chamber and lethal injections — all have been part of Mississippi’s spotty history of administering death penalties for various crimes.

In my long career as a Mississippi journalist, though I never witnessed a hanging or execution by lethal injection, I have watched one man die by the wood-framed electric chair (nicknamed Ole Sparky) and one man die in the gas chamber.

Possibly, I hold some unsavory record for watching the last electric chair execution carried out in the state’s portable electric chair in 1951, and the first one (in 1955) in the ominous glass-enclosed gas chamber at Parchman Penitentiary. Neither method convinced me that capital punishment has any place in a civilized society.

Earlier coverage from Mississippi begins at the link.

Louisiana LI News

The Lens of New Orleans posts, "State wants source of new lethal injection drugs to be kept secret from public," by Della Hassell.

Less than two weeks after a federal judge allowed a Louisiana death-row inmate to find out more information about new drugs the state wants to use to kill him, the state has asked that some of that information be kept secret from the public.

On Feb. 3, convicted child-killer Christopher Sepulvado was granted a 90-day delay in execution, just two days before he was set to be killed with a controversial new mix of drugs.

And:

Brady scheduled a hearing for April regarding the constitutionality of the drug combination. The state recently asked that the information regarding the provider of the drugs be kept under seal.

Further, the state wants to limit its disclosures on some information to just the current case, not its general protocol. That includes the source of the drug, the lot number, the identities of people involved in testing chemicals and any other healthcare professionals involved in execution.

The public would be denied information about who makes and tests the drugs and where the Department of Corrections obtained them.

The motion claims that if the information were made public, those involved could suffer from harassment, loss of business and other “adverse consequences.” Further, it reads, “The disclosure … would effectively prevent DOC from obtaining the drugs in order to meet its obligations under state law to carry out death sentences.

Earlier coverage of Louisiana lethal injection issues begins at the link.

Virginia Adds Midazolam to LI Drug List

"Virginia Department of Corrections OKs new drug for use in executions," is by Markus Schmidt of the Richmond Times-Dispatch.  It's via the Roanoke Times.

The Virginia Department of Corrections announced Thursday that it has added a new drug to the list of chemicals approved for use in lethal injections.

The sedative midazolam — one of the drugs recently used in an Ohio execution that prompted a lawsuit — will serve as an alternative first drug in Virginia’s three-drug protocol.

Virginia’s shortage of chemicals commonly used to sedate the inmate prior to execution prompted the General Assembly this month to consider legislation that would make electrocution the default method of execution if no chemicals are available — even if the inmate had chosen lethal injection.

Midazolam is commonly used for treatment of acute seizures, insomnia and for inducing sedation and amnesia before medical procedures.

The Department of Corrections is adding a choice of a third sedative — the first drug administered in its three-drug lethal injection protocol. The protocol has involved either pentobarbital or thiopental sodium — an anesthetic that renders the inmate unconscious; either pancuronium bromide or rocuronium bromide — a muscle relaxer that stops breathing; and potassium chloride, which stops the heart.

Lisa Kinney, the department’s spokeswoman, said earlier this month that the DOC cannot carry out death sentences by lethal injection because “thiopental sodium hasn’t been available since 2011, and the department’s supply of pentobarbital expired Nov. 30, 2013.”

The Times-Dispatch also reports, "Bill to make electrocution fallback method of execution defeated," by Schmidt.

A Senate panel on Friday defeated a House proposal that would have made electrocution the default method of execution if one of the chemicals used for lethal injection is not available.

The Senate committee for Rehabilitation and Social Services did not vote on the measure today, carrying it over to the 2015 session instead.

The move comes one day after the Virginia Department of Corrections announced that it has added a new drug to the list of chemicals for use in lethal injections.

Earlier coverage from Virginia begins at the link.

In Delaware

Today's Wilmington News Journal posts, "Exonerated death row survivors spread message to halt death penalty," by Nichole Dobo.

Two men who were on death row before being found to be wrongly accused spoke Thursday night in Newark at the invitation of advocates who would like to abolish the death penalty.

Kirk Bloodsworth and Shujaa Graham, members of Witness to Innocent, shared their experiences at the University of Delaware as part of a series of events supported by a group of local religious leaders and the Delaware Repeal Project.

In the coming days 15 members of Witness to Innocent will attend events at Delaware churches and community hubs, including the Delaware Theatre Company in Wilmington, in an effort to promote Senate Bill 19, which would end the death penalty in the state.

On Saturday, a group of local religious leaders plan to gather to call on state leaders to support the measure during an event at Limestone Presbyterian Church, 3201 Limestone Road, in Wilmington. The public is invited to gather at the church at noon Saturday to speak to members of Witness to Innocent, see a presentation and take part in a roundtable discussion.

"Death penalty repeal supporters mobilizing," is by Jen Rini for Delaware Newszap.

Supporters of the death penalty repeal are ramping up outreach events despite a stalemate among state lawmakers.

When Sen. Karen Peterson, D-Stanton, and Rep. Darryl Scott, D-Dover, unveiled Senate Bill 19 nearly a year ago, it was immediately met with strong passions.

The legislation would abolish the death penalty, but keep death penalty sentences for the 18 men currently on Delaware’s death row.

Hours of public hearings and debates characterized the middle of the 147th legislative session. The bill narrowly passed in the Delaware Senate by an 11-10 vote, but it has remained tabled in the House Judiciary Committee since April 30.

Proponents of the repeal, through the Delaware Repeal Project, a coalition of 28 local, state and national organizations working to eliminate Delaware’s death penalty, began outreach in October to spark community interest. Now, they are mobilizing across the state.

"Death row survivors to visit Delaware," is by Chris Flood at the Cape Gazette.

Kirk Bloodsworth spent nine years in jail, two of them on death row.

Bloodsworth was convicted in 1985 of sexual assault, rape, and first-degree premeditated murder for the 1984 rape and murder of a 9-year-old girl in Rosedale, Md.

In 1992, DNA testing proved his innocence. Bloodsworth became the first person in the United States to be exonerated from death row because of DNA testing, and he remains the only person exonerated from death row in Maryland.

Maryland has since repealed the death penalty. Today, Bloodsworth crisscrosses the country trying to convince people in other states the death penalty should be abolished.

WDDE-FM posts, "Advocates renew push to repeal death penalty in Delaware," by Sean Carlson.

Advocates of repealing Delaware’s death penalty law hope they can change some minds this week.

A number of public outreach events this weekend seek to educate the public and politicians throughout the First State about Senate Bill 19, which would roll back capital punishment in Delaware. That bill passed the State Senate early last year, but has remained stuck in the House Judiciary Committee since last April.

Brian Boyle is the campaign director for the Delaware Repeal Project, the group organizing the statewide outreach from Thursday to Sunday. He says he believes the repeal of Delaware’s death penalty is inevitable.

"Death Row Survivors Urge Lawmakers To Repeal Death Penalty," at WMDT-TV.

On February 21, The Delaware Repeal Project, Witness to Innocence, Delaware Citizens Opposed to the Death Penalty, Amnesty International, Murder Victims Families for Reconciliation, and The Delaware Center for Justice will host a reception at the Delaware Theatre Company to welcome exonerees to Delaware. The reception which starts at 6:00 p.m., will be followed by the play The Exonerated at 8:00 p.m.

You can find more at the Delaware Repeal Project and at Witness to Innocence.

Earlier coverage from Delaware begins at the link.  You can jump to coverage of last year's repeal legislation.  Also available, more from Witness to Innocence.

Hall v. Florida Preview

The American Constitution Society posts ,"Hall v. Florida: Florida’s Attempt to Limit Atkins’ Constitutional Protection," by John H. Blume.  He's a professor at Cornell University Law School.  Here's the beginning:

On March 3, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear argument in Hall v. Florida. The narrow but important question the Court must decide is whether persons who have been clinically diagnosed with mental retardation (now commonly referred to as intellectual disability) can nevertheless be put to death if they cannot satisfy the rigid IQ test score cutoff of 70 established by the Florida Supreme Court—a cutoff clearly inconsistent with the commonly agreed upon definition of mental retardation embraced by the Court in its 2002 decision in Atkins v. Virginia which all but a handful of outlier states use.     

In Atkins, the Court recognized that a “national consensus” had developed against executing persons with mental retardation and concluded that the practice is prohibited by the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Prior to Atkins, Florida courts had determined that “Freddie Lee Hall has been mentally retarded his entire life.” One would think this is a simple case. It should be. Yet, Hall is at risk of being executed. How could this be?

The Atkins Court relied upon the clinical definitions developed by the two premier professional organizations in the field: the American Association on Mental Retardation (AAMR), now the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD); and, the American Psychiatric Association (APA). Both definitions have three prongs: significantly subaverage intellectual functioning; adaptive functioning deficits; and onset during the developmental period. Only the first prong is at issue in Hall, and without getting too “deep in the weeds,” significantly subaverage intellectual functioning is understood as an IQ of approximately 70. The question is—at bottom—a simple one: is Florida free—post-Atkins—to adopt a definition of intellectual functioning for capital cases, which is fundamentally inconsistent with the professional consensus regarding the use of IQ tests?

The SCOTUSblog case file for Hall v. Florida contains all briefing in the case. 

Earlier coverage of Hall v. Florida begins at the link.

As I often point out, mental retardation is now generally referred to as a developmental or intellectual disability. 

Because it has a specific meaning with respect to capital cases, I continue to use the older term on the website.  More on Atkins v. Virginia, the Supreme Court's 2002 ruling banning the execution of those with mental retardation, is via Oyez.

The Ghost of Herbert Smulls Haunts Missouri's Death Penalty Plans

That's the title of Andrew Cohen's latest at the Atlantic.  It's subtitled, "It's been just three weeks since Missouri executed Herbert Smulls before his appeals were exhausted. And virtually nothing has gone right for the state in its efforts to implement the death penalty since."

Missouri's problems started almost immediately after Smulls was executed on January 29. On January 30, the Associated Press published a story titled: "Lawyers: Mo. Moving Too Quickly on Executions" in which it was disclosed, for the first time to a national audience, that state officials were executing prisoners before their appeals were exhausted. On February 1, we posted a piece here at The Atlantic titled: "Missouri Executed This Man While His Appeals Was Pending in Court," in which we published emails from Smulls' attorneys to Missouri officials showing that the state was aware that Smulls' appeal was pending at the Supreme Court at the very moment he was being injected with lethal drugs.

Clearly, the justices in Washington were paying close attention to what Missouri had done (killed Smulls) and not done (waited for the justices to tell them they could). On February 3, five days after Smulls' execution, the Clerk of the Court wrote to Missouri officials directing them to file a second response to a petition for certiorari that had been filed on behalf of Smulls and several other death row inmates (who are still alive). The request demonstrated, at the least, that the Court did not consider Smulls' final appeal to be frivolous. Here is the link to that letter. Missouri's response is due March 5. I am curious to know whether state officials reveal any regret for the timing of the Smulls' execution.

Earlier coverage from Missouri begins at the link.

Activism in Texas

The Dallas Morning News has two posts dealing with the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, and it's upcoming annual meeting in Fort Worth this weekend..

"If you see a crowd at the courthouse Friday, it’s those anti-death penalty people calling on the DA," is by Rodger Jones, amember of the editorial board.

This here is a public service announcement on an anti-death penalty observance taking place this weekend in North Texas. It kicks off with a press conference at the Dallas County criminal courthouse, at the office of District Attorney Craig Watkins.

As this newspaper has written before, Watkins, considering his race and background, has become the most unlikeliest of DA’s to lead the state — and probably the nation — in sending people to death row. (An editorial called it the county’s “dubious distinction.”)

Remember, Watkins’ great-grandfather was executed by Texas in 1932 and was buried in the prison cemetery in Huntsville. Watkins has expressed moral opposition to putting people to death, while acknowledging that it’s his sworn duty to uphold the law. Watkins also says there are racial undercurrents in the criminal justice system that can’t be denied.

"Three North Texans to protest death penalty in walk from Dallas to Fort Worth," is by Diane Jennings.

Three North Texas residents will walk from Dallas to Fort Worth Friday as part of a “faithful pilgrimage” to protest the death penalty.

Rev. Jeff Hood,a pastor in Denton, Rev. Wes Magruder of Plano, Chair of the Board of Church and Society for the United Methodist Church’s North Texas Conference and Lynn Walters, executive director of Hope for Peace and Justice, a Dallas non-profit, plan to  walk from the district attorney’s office in Dallas to the district attorney’s office in Fort Worth.

The 35-mile pilgrimage,which will be held in conjunction with the annual Conference of the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty Saturday, was Hood’s idea. The pastor of a group called Prism in Denton,  said when he moved to Texas, “I began to realize the faith community holds the key to overturning the death penalty.”

Related posts are in the activism category index.

Deadlocked: The Sad State of Georgia's Death Penalty

That's the title of a four-part series on capital punishment in the latest issue of Creative Loafing Atlanta.

On Monday, the Georgia Supreme Court heard arguments in the case that has effectively brought the state's death penalty to a halt.

In July, state corrections officials turned off the lights of the death chamber at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson, Ga., roughly 60 miles southeast of Atlanta. Eighty-nine men and one woman there await execution. The freeze wasn't because of faulty equipment or a change of heart by Georgia politicians to bring an end to centuries of executions. It was because the state, in its urgency to keep the death penalty a-hummin', got sloppy trying to kill Warren Lee Hill, who was found guilty in 1991 for his second murder and sentenced to death by lethal injection. Last summer, Hill's lawyers called out state officials for trying to keep secret basic information about the execution process, such as the origin of the drugs that would be used to kill their client. Hill thought he had a right to question the process. But legal debate remained over whether the inmate could challenge his execution because his attorneys and others considered him "mentally retarded" and therefore exempt from the death penalty. Since then, Hill's case has been sitting in legal limbo.

The individual articles are:

"A short history of Georgia's death penalty; Hangings, electrocution, and lethal injections - and the slow change in attitude about executions," by Thomas Wheatley.

"Georgia's long-standing lethal injection controversy; Thirteen years ago, Georgia stopped killing prisoners via the electric chair. But its continued use of deadly drugs hasn't gone so well," by Daniel Beauregard.

"Warren Hill and the future of Georgia's death penalty," by Max Blau.

"Death row's insurmountable burden of proof; For Georgia's death-row inmates, convincing the state of mental disability can be nearly impossible," by Stefan Turkheimer.

Earlier coverage from Georgia begins at the link.

In Colorado

"Judge orders 2nd sanity exam in theater shooting," is the AP report filed by Dan Elliott, via the San Francisco Chronicle.

The man accused of killing 12 people in a Colorado movie theater shooting must undergo a second sanity evaluation by the state mental hospital because the first was "incomplete and inadequate," a judge has ruled.

Wednesday's decision means a months-long delay in James Holmes' case, which has already been in the courts for a year and a half.

The key finding of the first evaluation, whether Holmes was sane at the time of the attack, has not been made public, but prosecutors asked for the second review, claiming the first was flawed. They are seeking the death penalty, and Holmes' fate likely hangs on whether the jury decides he was insane at the time of the shooting.

And:

In his 50-page ruling, District Judge Carlos A. Samour Jr. ruled the first review was based on insufficient data and reached some unsupported conclusions. Much of his explanation was redacted, with all or parts of 26 pages blacked out.

Holmes' first evaluation was conducted last summer. Samour said it took three months and the psychiatrist, Dr. Jeffrey Metzner, interviewed Holmes for 25 hours.

"Judge orders new psychiatric exam for James Holmes," is by John Ingold in the Denver Post.

James Holmes will undergo a second court-ordered psychiatric evaluation, after the judge overseeing the Aurora movie theater murder case ruled that the first exam was "incomplete and inadequate."

In an order issued Wednesday, Arapahoe County District Court Judge Carlos Samour agreed with prosecutors that the psychiatrist who performed the first exam, Dr. Jeffrey Metzner, didn't sufficiently explain how he reached his conclusions about Holmes' sanity on the night of the shooting.

"[A]lthough Dr. Metzner collected and documented a lot of factual information as part of his examination, he offered little rationale for some of his opinions and findings," Samour wrote. "... The bases for Dr. Metzner's opinion regarding the issue of sanity are just as important to the truth-finding process as the opinion itself."

However, Samour rejected the prosecution's request that the new evaluation be conducted by doctors hired by the prosecution. Instead, Samour ordered officials at the Colorado Mental Health Institute, who appointed Metzner to conduct the first evaluation, to pick a new independent doctor for the second evaluation.

Earlier coverage from Colorado begins at the link.  You can also jump to news of the Holmes case.

Progress on Solitary Confinement

Today's New York Times reports, "New York State in Deal to Limit Solitary Confinement," is by Benjamin Weiser.  The entire Agreement Regarding Solitary Confinement is also available.  Here's an extended excerpt from the beginning:

New York State has agreed to sweeping reforms intended to curtail the widespread use of solitary confinement, including prohibiting its use in disciplining prisoners under 18.

In doing so, New York becomes the largest prison system in the United States to prohibit the use of disciplinary confinement for minors, according to the New York Civil Liberties Union, which represented the three prisoners whose lawsuit led to the agreement cited in court papers filed on Wednesday.

State correction officials will also be prohibited from imposing solitary confinement as a disciplinary measure for inmates who are pregnant, and the punishment will be limited to 30 days for those who are developmentally disabled, the court filing says.

The agreement imposes “sentencing guidelines” for all prisoners, specifying the length of punishment allowed for different infractions and, for the first time in all cases, a maximum length that such sentences may run, the civil liberties group said. No such guidelines exist, except in cases involving certain violent and drug-related offenses.

“New York State has done the right thing by committing to comprehensive reform of the way it uses extreme isolation, a harmful and inhumane practice that has for years been used as a punishment of first resort” in prisons, said Donna Lieberman, executive director of the organization.

Several states, including Colorado, Mississippi and Washington, had begun to look into how to reduce the use of solitary confinement; a Senate judiciary subcommittee is holding a hearing next week on the issue.

Related posts are in the incarceration category index.

David Love's Latest at HuffPost

"A Final Farewell to Greg Wilhoit, Who Survived Oklahoma's Death Row," is by David A. Love, the Executive Director of Witness to Innocence.  Here's the beginning:

America's community of death row survivors bids a farewell to another one of its own. Gregory R. Wilhoit, who had spent five years on Oklahoma's death row after being wrongfully convicted for the brutal murder of his wife, died in his sleep on February 13.

Greg had suffered. Suffered a whole lot. He was convicted of killing his wife Kathy -- the mother of his two little daughters, then 4 months and 14 months old -- on June 1, 1985. The case rested on the testimony of dental experts, one of them barely out of dental school, who said the bite mark found on Kathy's body matched Greg's teeth.

But that wasn't all. Greg was a victim of bad lawyering. He hired two lawyers who were incompetent and did not defend him. In fact, Greg's defense counsel came to court drunk and threw up in the judge's chambers. And Greg was convicted in 1987 and sent to Death Row, because after all, somebody had to pay.

You can find more from David Love at HuffPost.  Related posts are in the exoneration and in memoriam category indexes.

From Florida

"Testimony gives rare details of Fla. executions," is by Tamara Lush of Associated Press.  It's via Businessweek.  Here's the beginning:

The state corrections official who stands beside condemned inmates as they take their last breaths in Florida's death chamber recently pulled back the veil on what has largely been a very secretive execution process.

The testimony was given during a Feb. 11 hearing in a lawsuit involving Paul Howell, a death row inmate scheduled to die by lethal injection Feb. 26. Howell is appealing his execution; his lawyers say the first of the injected drugs, midazolam, isn't effective at preventing the pain of the subsequent drugs.

The Florida Supreme court specifically asked the circuit court in Leon County to determine the efficacy of the so called "consciousness check" given to inmates by the execution team leader.

The testimony is notable because it shows that the Department of Corrections has changed its procedures since the state started using a new cocktail of lethal injection drugs. A shortage of execution drugs around the country is becoming worse as more pharmacies conclude that supplying the lethal chemicals is not worth the bad publicity and the legal and ethical risks.

Timothy Cannon, who is the assistant secretary of the Florida Department of Corrections and the team leader present at every execution, told a Leon County court that an additional inmate "consciousness check" is now given due to news media reports and other testimony stemming from the Oct. 15 execution of William Happ.

Earlier coverage from Florida begins at the link.  You can also jump to news reporting of the Happ execution.

The Ohio Drugs

"Ohio got death penalty drugs from Illinois maker that objects to execution use," is the AP report by Andrew Welsh-Huggins.  It's via the Greenfield Reporter.

Ohio's most recent batches of lethal injection drugs were produced by a company that wants states to stop using them for capital punishment, records show.

Lake Forest, Illinois-based Hospira Inc. says it manufactures the drugs, the sedative midazolam and the painkiller hydromophone, to enhance and save the lives of patients it helps treat. The company says it objects to their use in capital punishment.

Hospira's position adds to the state's difficulties obtaining drugs to put condemned inmates to death at a time when several other states, including Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas, face similar challenges obtaining drugs.

Other drug makers have prohibited the use of their drugs in executions, and states are running out of options.

Ohio purchased the Hospira-made drugs in 2012 and 2013 from San Francisco-based drug distributor McKesson, according to invoices and packing slips obtained by The Associated Press through a public records request.

The two drugs are required by Ohio's execution policy. Their first use, in the prolonged execution last month of a pregnant woman's condemned killer, sparked calls for a moratorium on capital punishment.

Earlier coverage from Ohio begins at the link.

Missouri Says It Has New Source for LI Drug

The Missouri court filing is available through St. Louis Public Radio.  "Missouri Has A New Execution Drug Supplier," is by Chris McDaniel.

Although the state's previous drug supplier says it will not supply for the next execution, Missouri says it's found another willing pharmacy.

On Monday, the Apothecary Shoppe in Oklahoma reached a settlement with an inmate who had sued the pharmacy. Although the terms were confidential, the pharmacy agreed to not sell to Missouri for its upcoming execution.

In a court filing Wednesday evening, the state said inmate Michael Taylor was trying to cut off the supply of the state's execution drug.

"But Taylor has failed," assistant Attorney General Michael Spillane wrote. "[We] do not admit nor deny the pharmacy Taylor threatened, then sued, has supplied pentobarbital to Missouri. However, Missouri has now arranged with a pharmacy, that is not the pharmacy Taylor threatened and sued, to supply pentobarbital for Taylor’s execution."

"Missouri says it has a drug supplier for its upcoming execution," is by Tony Rizzo for the Kansas City Star.

Missouri officials said late Wednesday afternoon that they have arranged with an unidentified pharmacy to provide the lethal injection chemical for use in next week’s execution of a Kansas City man.

The state revealed the existence of the supplier of pentobarbital — the drug used in the state’s last three executions — in a federal court filing opposing a stay of execution for Michael Taylor.

Taylor is scheduled to be put to death next Wednesday for the 1989 killing of 15-year-old Ann Harrison.

Wednesday’s court filing does not specify when the state made arrangements with the pharmacy.

NBC News posts, "Missouri: We Found Another Pharmacy to Supply Execution Drugs," by Tracy Connor.

Two days after one compounding pharmacy said it would not sell the drug needed for a Missouri execution, state officials revealed in court papers Wednesday that they have found another supplier for the lethal injection.

Convicted child-killer Michael Taylor applied for a stay of execution after the Apothecary Shoppe in Tulsa, Okla., settled a lawsuit by agreeing not to be the source of pentobarbital or any other chemicals for his scheduled Feb. 26 execution.

His lawyers argued that Missouri should not be allowed to use a backup method — the sedative midazolam and painkiller hydromorphone — because an Ohio execution that relied on the cocktail led to an unusually prolonged death.

Also, AP reports, "Mo. bill would give flexibility on executions," by Jordan Shapiro.  It's via the Southesast Missourian.

A state senator proposed Wednesday to give Missouri prison officials more choices in deciding how they want to execute inmates, as the state is facing increasing scrutiny for its current lethal injection methods.

Sen. Kurt Schaefer introduced legislation that would give the department full discretion in deciding how to put inmates to death. Current state law only permits executions by lethal gas or chemicals. The state doesn't have a functioning gas chamber, leaving lethal injection as the only execution method.

"I don't care what they use," said Schaefer, R-Columbia, and a former prosecutor.

Lethal injections, gas, electrocutions, hanging and firing squads are allowed under U.S. law, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

The measure was introduced on the same day the head of the Corrections Department declined to tell the Senate Appropriations Committee, which Schaefer chairs, whether the state had enough of its execution drug to carry out next week's lethal injection.

And:

While Schaefer's solution would give prison officials greater control over executions, other proposals would give lawmakers more power.

Senate Minority Leader Jolie Justus, D-Kansas City, has introduced legislation to halt executions in Missouri until a special commission can create new procedures. The panel's recommendation would then be subject to legislative oversight.

Earlier coverage from Missouri begins at the link.

The Latest From Missouri

Today's St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports, "Missouri says it's ready to execute murderer – the question is how," by Jeremy Kohler.

The Missouri Department of Corrections said Tuesday that it planned to go ahead with the execution of Michael A. Taylor on Feb. 26, even though its access was cut off to a sedative it had planned to use for the lethal injection.

The unanswered question was how.

An Oklahoma pharmacy agreed Monday not to provide Missouri corrections officials with pentobarbital and acknowledged it had not already provided the drug for the execution. Taylor had sued the pharmacy after attorneys and other death penalty opponents had publicly named the pharmacy as the source of Missouri’s execution drug.

Taylor’s attorneys said in documents filed in federal court that they believed the state had no pentobarbital. But on Tuesday, a spokesman for the Department of Corrections said in an email that Missouri was “prepared to carry out the execution … following the established execution protocol” using pentobarbital.

He would not say directly whether the state had the drug on hand.

"Missouri officials declined comment on execution supply," is the AP report, via the Springfield News-Leader.

The head of the Missouri Corrections Department is remaining silent on whether the state has enough of its execution drug to carry out next week’s scheduled lethal injection.

Director George Lombardi told the Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday that he couldn’t comment on the state’s drug supply. But he did say the state cannot stockpile pentobarbital produced by a compounding pharmacy because of its shelf life.

"Missouri execution of Michael Taylor remains on track, governor says," is the Kansas City Star report by Tony Rizzo and Jason Hancock.

“We will be prepared to move forward with the necessary responsibility to effectuate the ultimate penalty next week,” the governor said.

In their motion for a stay, attorneys for Taylor said any pentobarbital the state previously had stockpiled now would be expired.

And reports that the state may have alternative lethal injection chemicals on hand, if true, would leave Taylor little time to mount a legal challenge, his attorneys argued.

While being questioned during a recent deposition, a Missouri corrections official testified that the state had obtained the drugs midazolam and hydromorphone as a “backup” for use in executions.

But the state’s written lethal injection protocol only specifies the use of pentobarbital. In a written statement released Tuesday afternoon, the Department of Corrections said it was prepared to carry out the execution “following the established execution protocol.”

St. Louis Public Radio posts, "Another Federal Judge Criticizes Missouri For Haste In Carrying Out Executions," by Chris McDaniel.  There is audio at the link.

Missouri's recent executions have sparked controversy lately -- not just for the secrecy and the source of the execution drug but also for the state's speed in carrying them out.

The Department of Corrections has carried out three executions in as many months. In all those cases, the inmate still had appeals pending at the time the state executed him.

It's something legal experts have expressed concern and alarm over. Last week, 8th Circuit Chief Judge William Riley admonished the state for its actions.

"The state of Missouri executed somebody -- which they probably had the right to do -- right in the middle of the petition for rehearing voting," Riley said to Missouri Assistant Attorney General Stephen Hawke. "And I wanted you take back the word [to the attorney general's office] that some of the members did not appreciate that. We were right in the middle of voting on that."

Hawke was appearing before the court in an unrelated case.

Additional coverage includes:

"US state says execution to continue as drug supplier backs out," by AFP.

Courthouse News Service posts, "Drug Questions Won't Derail Missouri Execution," by Joe Harris.

"Missouri says it's ready to execute Taylor following proper protocol," by UPI.

"Missouri scrambles for execution drugs after pharmacy cuts off supply," by Ed Pilkington for the Guardian.

"Missouri Denied Execution Drugs By Pharmacy," by Josh Sanburn for Time.

"Pharmacy agrees not to provide execution drugs," by Meredith Clark of MSNBC.

Reuters posts, "Oklahoma pharmacy agrees not to supply drug for Missouri execution," by Carey Gillam.

"Missouri Execution Stalled Over Lethal Drugs In Short Supply," by Laura Sullivan on yesterday's edition of NPR's All Things Considered.  There is audio and a transcript at the link.

The NPR and WBUR produced, Here & Now interviews St. Louis Public Radio reporter Chris McDaniel, who has done much of the enterprise reporting on th issue in, "Oklahoma Pharmacy Says No To Providing Execution Drug."  Again, there is audio at the link.

"A death penalty dilemma for Missouri as drug supplier backs out," is by Scott Martelle at the Los Angeles Times' Opinion LA blog.

"Missouri Fights to Execute Michael Taylor, Who Is Suing the Maker of Lethal Drug," is by Nick Chiles for Atlanta Black Star.

Earlier coverage of the pending Missouri execution begins at the link.

Lethal Injection Drugs

"Can Europe End the Death Penalty in America?" is by Matt Ford at the Atlantic.

Lethal injection is by far the predominant method of execution in the United States. Before the drug shortage, virtually every lethal-injection protocol used the same three-drug method. A first drug, sodium thiopental, anesthetized the prisoner. Then a second drug, pancuronium bromide, paralyzed the inmate and halted his or her breathing. Finally, an injection of potassium chloride stopped the heart. Jay Chapman, an Oklahoma medical examiner with little pharmacology experience, first proposed the three-drug protocol in 1977. Asked about his qualifications by a New York Times reporter 30 years later, Chapman described himself as “an expert in matters after death but not in getting people that way.”

Texas became the first state to use lethal injection when it executed Charles Brooks, Jr. on December 7, 1982. Since then, U.S. states have executed over 1,000 death-row inmates by lethal injection. By the time the three-drug cocktail's constitutionality came before the U.S. Supreme Court in 2008 in Baze v. Rees, lethal injection had become the preferred method of execution for 36 states and the federal government. Thirty of those states used Chapman’s method. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the three-drug protocol in a 7-2 decision.

The European Union, for its part, makes no secret of its death-penalty stance. EU guidelines call for its “universal abolition” and declare that doing so would “[contribute] to the enhancement of human dignity and the progressive development of human rights.” EU diplomats and leaders frequently petition U.S. governors and state parole boards to halt forthcoming executions. Sometimes, the supranational organization even works in more subtle ways: EU agencies contributed over $4.8 million in donations to U.S. anti-death-penalty organizations between 2009 and 2013.

NBC News posts, "Death by Lethal Injection Faces New Hurdles," by Tracy Connor.

Until about 2010, most death-penalty states used a three-drug cocktail that was upheld as constitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court: the anesthetic sodium thiopental, the paralytic pancuronium bromide, and heart-stopping potassium chloride to stop the heart, causing death.

In 2011, Hospira, the sole U.S. producer of sodium thiopental, stopped making the drug, and the European manufacturer balked at exporting it to the U.S. if it were to be used in executions.

Manufacturers of substitute drugs like pentobarbital have also refused to supply it for executions, forcing states to turn to compounders, who mix specialty drugs from their basic components.

Defense lawyers argue that's illegal, claiming the lack of oversight prevents jailers from guaranteeing an execution won't be agonizing enough to violate the constitutional protection against cruel and unusual punishment.

They have attacked states' attempts to keep the names of the pharmacies secret — Georgia's highest court is set to decide soon whether it's legal — and it's easy to see why.

"Lethal Injection Drug Shortage Becomes More Acute," is by Jim Salter of Associated Press.  It's via HuffPost.

The nation's shortage of execution drugs is becoming increasingly acute as more pharmacies conclude that supplying the lethal chemicals is not worth the bad publicity and the legal and ethical risks.

The scarcity of drugs for lethal injections has forced states to scramble for substitutes. And experts say that whatever alternatives are found will almost certainly face costly court challenges made more complicated by laws that cloak the process in secrecy.

And:

Lethal injection has faced increasing scrutiny over the past decade. Major drug makers, many of them based in Europe with longtime opposition to the death penalty, have stopped selling to prisons and corrections departments. The source of the drugs is moving to the forefront of the death penalty debate.

Compounding pharmacies — which custom-mix prescription drugs for doctors and patients — seemed like the answer. They are generally overseen by state boards, not the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, although a law adopted last year allows larger compounding pharmacies to register with the FDA and submit to federal inspections.

But now, some compounding pharmacies are starting to back away, too.

Experts say they're not surprised, given the limited profit in selling execution drugs, ethical concerns in the medical profession, potential legal costs and unwanted publicity.

"This is not a good business model for compounding pharmacies, to be making drugs for executions, particularly with all the secret ways they're doing it," Fordam Law School professor Deborah Denno said.

Earlier coverage of international pressures and restrictions by pharmaceutical makers, at the link.

Related posts are in the international and lethal injection category indexes.

An Update on Justin Wolfe's Case

"Another Chance for the Justices to Say No to Prosecutorial Misconduct," is Andrew Cohen's latest post at the Atlantic.  Here's the beginning:

Justice Sonia Sotomayor is one of only two* current members of the United States Supreme Court with experience as a prosecutor and she has often said, even as recently as a few weeks ago, that this background pushes her to expect more and better from the prosecutors whose hands are forever dirtied by the cases they handle. If she is serious about this, she will able to demonstrate it Friday morning when she meets in private conference with her colleagues to discuss a Virginia case the Court has been asked to accept for review.

Wolfe v. Clarke is about a murder conviction and death sentence that unraveled under the force of the truth. It is a case about state prosecutors getting caught hiding exculpatory evidence, and getting scolded for it by the federal courts, and then violating the federal court order sanctioning them by threatening a witness and spoiling the retrial of a man they helped to wrongly convict. It is a case where prosecutors did all of this, right up to the brief they filed with the justices, without an evident shred of public contrition for their improper conduct.

All of this makes me think one of two things will likely happen to Wolfe v. Clarke. Either at least four justices will agree that the prosecutorial misconduct that occurred here is so egregious that it merits review, in which case we’ll get an oral argument later this year and a ruling sometime after that. Or the Court will turn its back on this case and we will get a pointed dissent from the denial of certiorari from Justice Sotomayor in which she laments the Court's continuing abdication of its role as guardian of Sixth Amendment rights.

Earlier coverage of Justin Wolfe's case begins at the link.  Related posts are in the prosecutorial category index.  You can find more more by Andrew Cohen at the Atlantic.

North Carolina Profiles

The Asheboro Courier-Tribune has run profiles of two locals with different perspectives on the death penalty.  Each is lengthy profile with lots of detail and nuance.

First was, "Death penalty ‘affirms the value of life’," by Annette Jordan.

Andy Gregson has worked for the District Attorney’s Office for 20 years. He’s the chief assistant district attorney for Judicial District 19 B, which includes Randolph and Montgomery counties.

He has faced Jon Megerian in court many times and has a great deal of respect for the defense attorney.

“Jon is prepared. Jon does a good job. He represents his client well,” Gregson says.

But the two have vastly differing views on the death penalty and its role in serving justice.

Today's installment is, "Life with Jon Megerian: Death penalty foe and doting grandfather, too," also by Jordan.

When he first began practicing law, Jon Megerian didn’t really have a strong opinion on the death penalty either way.

Then he met Michael Ray Quesinberry.

Convicted in 1985 of first-degree murder, for beating local store owner Van Buren Luther to death with a hammer, Quesinberry had been sentenced to die – twice – in the original trial and a resentencing hearing. Another appeal triggered a second resentencing, this one overseen by Megerian and Pete Oldham.

Megerian came to know the defendant, not as the monster most people see, but as a person. He also got an up-close look at the death penalty’s imposition. And that really bothered him.

Earlier coverage from North Carolina begins at the link.

How the Death Penalty Can Bankrupt a County

That's the title of Jonathan Martin's post at Opinion Northwest, the blog of the Seattle Times Editorial Board.  There is an infographic at the link.

At a meeting of Washington state county administrators last year, Jim Jones said one budget-busting scenario provoked the biggest wave of anxiety among the budget officers: a death penalty murder prosecution.

Jones, the Clallam County administrator and then-president of the Washington County Administrative Association, told me that five counties said the same thing: “If we had a death penalty case, and had to pay $1 million (in legal costs), we’d go bankrupt.”

In an editorial calling for the repeal of the death penalty, The Seattle Times editorial board cited the enormous cost of capital punishment. Counties, with the duty of paying for courts, front much of the cost. The most comprehensive study comparing the cost of death and non-death sentence murder cases estimated the difference at $1 million – including the costs of lifetime incarceration. Counties have to pay for multiple top-end, death-penalty-qualified lawyers, experts, investigations and trials that stretch weeks, if not months.

Earlier coverage from Washington State begins at the link.

Alabama OpEd

Today's Montgomery Advertiser publishes the OpEd, "Death penalty should be abolished in Alabama," by Joel Sanders.  Here's the beginning.

Attorney General Luther Strange has proposed that Alabama law be changed to shorten the time involved in appeals of death sentences in Alabama. It comes as no surprise that Alabama’s conservative, Republican-controlled Legislature is moving to adopt Strange’s proposal.

The length of time consumed by appeals and the anguish of victim’s families are cited as reasons for streamlining the process. I urge instead that Mr. Strange and the Legislature move toward abolishing the death penalty altogether.

Employing the death penalty for capital crimes is called into question by the work of The Innocence Project, a national organization that has been reviewing cases of possible wrongful conviction since 1989. During that time, more than 300 prisoners have been exonerated through the use of DNA analysis of original crime scene evidence. Of those exonerated, 18 had served time on death row and another 16 had been sentenced to long terms for capital crimes.

In about half the cases of exoneration, the more likely suspects or the actual perpetrators have been identified. Profoundly sad is the fact that innocent people have almost certainly been executed.

Earlier coverage from Alabama begins at the link.

Federal Judge Overturns Louisiana Conviction & Death Sentence

"Judge overturns Louisiana man's conviction, death sentence," is the AP report, via the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

A federal judge overturned a 20-year-old murder conviction last week from a death penalty case in Natchitoches Parish.

U.S. District Court Judge Dee Drell, sitting in Alexandria, granted the petition from Willard Allen, who was convicted of murdering a night club patron during an armed robbery on Sept. 7, 1993.

Drell found the seating of an admittedly biased juror violated Allen’s Sixth Amendment rights to an impartial jury. Drell also found that the failure of Allen’s attorney to question the juror violated Allen’s rights to effective counsel.

Drell remanded the case to the 10th Judicial District in Natchitoches Parish with instructions to hold a bail hearing within 45 days. The state has 270 days to retry Allen or must release him from prison.

The Shreveport Times reports, "Judge throws out conviction in Natchitoches death penalty case," by Jeff Matthews of Louisiana Gannett.

"We find the state trial court allowed an avowedly biased juror ... to be seated on petitioner's jury," Drell wrote in his ruling, issued last Thursday.

"The juror ... was never otherwise rehabilitated, nor did he ever indicate he would weigh the evidence and/or decide the case fairly and impartially," Drell wrote.

In addition, the court granted Allen's appeal of whether he had adequate assistance of counsel.

Allen's trial attorney, James Calhoun, did not challenge the juror's inclusion either for cause or with one of his peremptory challenges, and the trial court seated him on the jury, the ruling said. "The issue was never considered on appeal, as the appeal was handled by petitioner's trial attorney, who did not raise it," it said.

"Accordingly, we find petitioner's unreliable conviction cannot be the basis for criminal punishment, much less a sentence of death. ... he has met his burden to have that conviction vacated and for a new trial," the ruling states.

Earlier coverage from Louisiana begins at the link.

News Coverage of Georgia Supreme Court Hearing

"State’s lethal-injection secrecy law challenged," is by Bill Rankin for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The state’s highest court on Monday gave no clear indication whether it will decide the constitutionality of a new Georgia law that keeps secret that identities makers and suppliers of Georgia’s lethal-injection drugs.

But a number of the court’s justices expressed concern that the law’s secrecy may prevent a condemned inmate from determining if he faced an execution that could subject him to cruel and unusual punishment.

“For something as critical as life itself, the state is just saying, ‘Trust us, we’ll do the right thing,’” Justice Robert Benham said during the arguments.

The case involves an appeal by the state from an order issued last July by Fulton Superior Court Judge Gail Tusan, who found the law was likely unconstitutional. In her ruling, Tusan halted the execution of Warren Hill so she could more closely examine the secrecy law. The Supreme Court’s ruling, expected in the coming months, will decide whether Tusan gets to conduct that review.

AP coverage is, "Georgia justices hear arguments in death penalty case," by Kate Brumback, via the Augusta Chronicle.

Lawyers for the state and for a Georgia death row inmate sparred Mon­day over whether prisoners awaiting execution should have access to information about where the state gets its death penalty drug.

In July, Fulton County Su­perior Court Judge Gail Tusan issued a stay of execution for Warren Lee Hill after his attorneys challenged the constitutionality of a new state law that classifies certain information about executions, including the source of the drug, as a “confidential state secret.”

Lawyers for the state appealed Tusan’s order to the Geor­gia Supreme Court, which heard oral arguments Monday.

Sabrina Graham, of the state attorney general’s office, asked the high court to rule that Tusan didn’t have the authority to halt the execution and find the law constitutional.

Manoj Varghese, a lawyer for Hill, said the stay was appropriate and that death row inmates need to have information about where the execution drug comes from so they can challenge it if they believe it could cause unnecessary suffering.

"Attorneys Ask Georgia Supreme Court to Strike Down Execution Drug Secrecy Law," is by Lisa George for WABE-FM.  There is audio at the link.

Lawyers for death row inmate Warren Lee Hill, Junior, went before the Supreme Court of Georgia today trying to get the state’s secrecy law about its execution drug ruled unconstitutional.

The law lets state officials withhold all information about the source of the execution drug it plans to use. Hill’s lawyers say they need information to decide whether to mount a claim that the drug might cause needless suffering. The Attorney General’s office argues that the secrecy laws protect the pharmacies.

Presiding Justice P. Harris Hines asked if knowing some information might help, such as state the drug came from, because of Georgia’s history of using compounding pharmacies which are not federally regulated.

Defense attorney Sachin Varghese responded, “This court could certainly find that withholding information from the judiciary is unconstitutional. And that’s precisely the fundamental problem with this statute: is it prevents the judiciary from closely scrutinizing the death penalty in the state of Georgia."

Creative Loafing Atlanta posts, "Georgia's Supreme Court hears oral arguments in Warren Hill appeal," by Max Blau.

Assistant Attorney General Sabrina Graham defended the state's lethal-injection secrecy law's constitutionality. She argued the measure hadn't limited Hill's ability to mount a legal defense in court. The state law, which Gold Dome lawmakers passed last year, allows state officials to conceal details about where Department of Corrections officials obtain execution drugs.

Hill attorney Sachin Varghese called for greater transparency related to how the state conducts its executions. In his client's case, the lack of knowledge regarding who or where the state's lethal-injection supplies comes from makes it difficult to assess if Hill's Eighth Amendment rights, which protect him from cruel and unusual punishment, were violated. If drugs are improperly administered, he argued, the death-row inmate could be subjected to unnecessary suffering in what's supposed to be a relatively painless process.

In addition, both sides debated the importance of compounding pharmacies - labs that create their own drugs and are often unregulated by the Federal Drug Administration - to the current appeal. Varghese argued that the varying degree of state regulations for such pharmacies made it difficult to know the full details needed for a proper legal defense. On the other hand, Graham said no proper case had been made regarding possible cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment.

Earlier coverage of the Georgia case begins at the link.

Apothecary Shoppe Will Not Supply LI Drugs to Missouri

"Okla. pharmacy won't give drug for Mo. execution," is the AP report by Tim Talley and Justin Juozapavicius.  It's also available from ABC News.

An Oklahoma pharmacy will not provide a drug for a scheduled execution next week in Missouri as part of a settlement with the death row inmate's attorneys. But it's unclear whether the agreement will prevent or delay the lethal injection.

A court hearing is scheduled Tuesday in the federal lawsuit filed by inmate Michael Taylor against The Apothecary Shoppe, a compounding pharmacy in Tulsa that his attorneys said was providing a drug that could cause "inhumane pain" during his Feb. 26 execution.

In court documents filed late Monday, his lawyers asked a judge to dismiss the case because the company had agreed not to prepare or provide any drug for use in Taylor's lethal injection. The pharmacy also acknowledged it had not already provided any drug to the Missouri Department of Corrections for the execution, said Taylor's attorney, Matt Hellman.

However, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon indicated last week that the state could move forward with the execution even after the judge issued a temporary restraining order that blocked the company from providing the drug. He did not directly say "yes" or "no" when asked if Missouri had enough drugs for the execution, but he twice stressed that the Department of Corrections was prepared.

A slightly different version of the report is posted at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

According to the documents, the Apothecary Shoppe, of Tulsa, will not prepare or provide pentobarbital or any other drug for use in Michael Taylor’s execution. The documents ask a judge to dismiss the case that Taylor’s lawyers had filed against the pharmacy seeking to stop it from providing the execution drug. A hearing is scheduled for today.

Taylor’s attorney, Matt Hellman, said that as part of the deal, the pharmacy acknowledged it has not already provided any such drug to the Missouri Department of Corrections for the execution, which is scheduled for Feb. 26.

St. Louis Public Radio posts, "Oklahoma Pharmacy Agrees Not To Sell Execution Drug To Missouri," by Chris McDaniel.

Last week, a federal judge ordered the pharmacy to hold off on selling the drug to Missouri until further review. Before that could take place, however, the pharmacy and the inmate came to an agreement.

"The Apothecary Shoppe has agreed that it will not prepare or provide pentobarbital or any other drug for use in the execution of Michael Taylor," Carrie Apfel, Taylor's attorney, said in a written statement. She also said the pharmacy had not sold any drugs to the Department of Corrections for this execution yet.

The Apothecary Shoppe could not be reached for comment.

We reported in December that Missouri had been obtaining its execution drug from a compounding pharmacy not licensed to sell here. The Apothecary Shoppe sold the state compounded pentobarbital for three executions, but it only recently became licensed with the Missouri Board of Pharmacy. A Corrections official had been taking thousands of dollars in cash to the Tulsa pharmacy.

"Oklahoma pharmacy capitulates, won't supply Missouri with execution drug," is by Steve Vockrodt for the Pitch of Kansas City.

On the eve of a court hearing in Oklahoma, on whether to prolong an injunction against the pharmacy from supplying Missouri with pentobarbital, the Apothecary Shoppe reached a deal with Michael Taylor's attorneys to not make the drug for his upcoming execution. Taylor's attorneys succeeded last week in getting a temporary restraining order against the pharmacy's supply chain to the Missouri Department of Corrections while federal courts sorted out the issues surrounding Missouri's death-penalty protocol.

Missouri has made headlines around the country in recent months for its cat-and-mouse execution methods. The state either changes the drugs it uses or cloaks its drug supplier under a broad interpretation of state law that keeps members of its execution team secret. The Apothecary Shoppe did its business with Missouri in secret until The Pitch identified the compounding pharmacy in Tulsa as the likely supplier in January.

At issue is whether Missouri properly obtains its drug and whether it can definitively vouch for the efficacy of that drug. But Missouri's insistence on secrecy as well as troubling revelations about how it gets the drug have cast doubt on the state's promises that it's doing its executions appropriately.

"Missouri execution: pharmacy will not supply compounded pentobarbital," is at the Guardian.

The Apothecary Shoppe has not acknowledged that it supplies a compounded version of pentobarbital to Missouri for use in lethal injections, as Taylor says, and says it can’t because of a Missouri law requiring the identities of those on the state’s execution team to be kept confidential.

In his lawsuit Taylor alleged that Missouri turned to the Apothecary Shoppe to supply compounded pentobarbital because the only licensed manufacturer of the drug refuses to provide it for lethal injections. That company, Illinois-based Akorn Inc, agreed to that condition when it bought the exclusive rights to the drug in January 2012 from a Danish company that had produced it under the trade name Nembutal.
Taylor contends that several recent executions in which compounded pentobarbital was used showed it would likely cause him “severe, unnecessary, lingering and ultimately inhumane pain”.

Earlier coverage from Missouri begins at the link.

The European Impact

"Europe’s moral stand has U.S. states running out of execution drugs, complicating capital punishment," is the AP report by Juergen Baetz, datelined Brussels.  It's via CBS News and is also available from the Springfield News-Leader.  Here's the beginning of this must-read:

There's one big reason why the United States has a dearth of execution drugs so acute that some states are considering solutions such as firing squads and gas chambers: Europe's fierce hostility to capital punishment.

The phenomenon started nine years ago when the EU banned the export of products used for execution, citing its goal to be the "leading institutional actor and largest donor to the fight against the death penalty." But beefed up European rules mean the results are being most strongly felt in the United States now, with shortages becoming chronic and gruesome executions making headlines.

And:

EU nations are notorious for disagreeing on just about everything when it comes to common policy, but they all strongly — and proudly — agree on one thing: abolishing capital punishment.

Europe saw totalitarian regimes abuse the death penalty as recently as the 20th century, and public opinion across the bloc is therefore staunchly opposed to it.

The EU’s uncompromising stance has set off a cat-and-mouse game, with U.S. corrections departments devising new ways to carry out lethal injections only to hit updated export restrictions within months.

“Our political task is to push for an abolition of the death penalty, not facilitate its procedure,” said Barba Lochbihler, chairwoman of the European Parliament’s subcommittee on human rights.

Europe’s tough stance has caused U.S. states to start experimenting with new drug mixtures, even though convicts’ lawyers and activists argue they increase the risk of painful prolonged death and may violate the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

Related posts are in the international and lethal injection category indexes.