The StandDown Texas Project

Denver Post Editorial Calls for Commutation in Dunlap Case

"Sympathy for Nathan Dunlap? No. Clemency? Yes.," is the Denver Post editorial.

Hickenlooper ought to grant the petition, but not because Dunlap is a miscast character caught in bad circumstances, no matter how hard his lawyers have worked hard to portray him in a sympathetic light.

He should spare Dunlap's life and relegate him to spend the rest of his days in prison because the death penalty is fundamentally wrong, and its application in Colorado is arbitrary.

Recently, two law professors at University of Denver studied the outcome of murder cases in Colorado. They examined 544 first-degree cases from 1999 to 2010 and found the death penalty was a punishment option in 92 percent of cases. However, prosecutors pursued the death penalty at trial in only 1 percent of cases.

And:

As recently as December, Hickenlooper expressed mixed feelings about the death penalty. "I wrestle with this, right now, on a pretty much daily basis," he said at the time.

We hope the governor concludes the arbitrary nature of the death penalty in Colorado is a strong enough argument to grant Dunlap clemency. The sporadic taking of life in the name of the state is not justice.

The Boulder Daily Camera publishes an OpEd, "Faith directs us to support clemency for Nathan Dunlap," written by Rabbi Joseph Black and the Rev. Jim Ryan.

For us, as men of God and leaders of our congregations of Colorado faithful, it is deeply troubling that our state may move forward with the execution of Nathan Dunlap. Our calling to serve God involves a responsibility to seek justice, and we must be especially mindful of our role in supporting the poor and the weak, while advocating for fairness for all. Despite his terrible crime and the suffering he caused, we pray that Mr. Dunlap will receive executive clemency and will serve his life in prison without the possibility of parole.

While our faith compels us to reject violence in all forms, we find the death penalty, an act of violence that is premeditated and carried out in our names, particularly abhorrent. We would be remiss in our spiritual commitment if we did not speak out about our belief that Mr. Dunlap's life should be spared.

And:

Our moral responsibility to our congregations and to all our fellow citizens is to strive to live in accordance with our own inner holiness. We work to make our society civilized, just, and merciful. We cannot condone or accept the execution of any person in our names. Such an execution would coarsen us and corrode our civic morality. As men of faith, we are commanded to speak out when we see injustice in our world. Because of this spiritual commitment, we respectfully ask Governor Hickenlooper to commute Nathan Dunlap's sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole. We strongly believe this is the merciful, moral, and just action, which is in accordance with the teachings of our faiths.

KUSA-TV posts, "Family of Chuck E. Cheese killer Nathan Dunlap pleads for clemency," by Will Ripley.

Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper will be reviewing a stack of documents in the Nathan Dunlap case.

Dunlap killed four people at an Aurora Chuck E. Cheese on Dec. 14, 1993 and is set to be executed the week of Aug. 18.

Dunlap's petition for clemency includes never-before-seen interviews with his family.

Dunlap's defense team is trying to make case that years of psychological and sexual abuse led to his mental illness.

"Nathan Dunlap clemency appeal blasted by Arapahoe District Attorney," is by Karen Augé at the Denver Post.

In an impassioned, at times angry, rebuttal to Nathan Dunlap's petition for clemency, Arapahoe District Attorney George Brauchler calls on the governor to "take the courageous step" and reject the condemned killer's appeal.

The appeal, which asserted that Dunlap suffers from severe mental illness and is remorseful, offered no new evidence for saving Dunlap's life, Brauchler wrote in a 32-page response delivered Friday afternoon.

"He took the lives of four Colorado citizens, and justice requires he now pays with his own," Brauchler wrote.

The Boulder Daily Camera posts the AP report, "DA: Colorado governor shouldn't grant clemency to Nathan Dunlap."

The district attorney of the office that prosecuted a death-row inmate who killed four employees at a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant in 1993 is among those asking Gov. John Hickenlooper to take the "courageous step" of rejecting his clemency petition.

Nathan Dunlap's lawyers are seeking clemency while also fighting in court to try to spare him from execution for the Aurora slayings, which happened during a robbery. They say their client had undiagnosed bipolar disorder at the time.

Several letters to Hickenlooper that were released Friday say Dunlap's death sentence should be carried out. They were from Arapahoe County District Attorney George Brauchler and Senior Chief Deputy District Attorney Matt Maillaro; the jury foreman in a separate Colorado death penalty case; and state Rep. Rhonda Fields.

Earlier coverage of Nathan Dunlap's case begins at the link.

Nathan Dunlap Case Developments

The Clemency Petition and all supporting documents are available through the Office of the Federal Public Defender.

The Denver Post reports, "Nathan Dunlap lawyers challenge Colorado execution procedures, secrecy," by Karen Augé.

Attorneys for condemned killer Nathan Dunlap filed a civil lawsuit on Thursday, claiming the state Department of Corrections' execution protocol — at least as much of it as they have had access to — violates state law.

The lawsuit also challenges the DOC's practice of keeping details of its execution procedures secret.

"The protocol is so secret that it defies due process," said James Kilroy, one of the attorneys representing Dunlap in the civil suit.

"We've got lawyers and an inmate who literally don't know how state intends to carry this out."

What they do know about the process comes from a portion of an execution protocol, drafted in 2006, that has been released to Dunlap's attorneys, Kilroy said.

That document has been heavily redacted, but Kilroy said, "it refers to a three-drug protocol, where state statute indicates it should be a single drug."

"Attorneys file new challenge to execution of Nathan Dunlap in 1993 pizza restaurant slayings," is AP coverage by Dan Elliott.  It's via the Republic.

The lawsuit filed Thursday says Colorado's death penalty law, which mandates execution by lethal injection, is too vague because does not specify all the drugs and dosage amounts that can be used.

It also says the law does not list required qualifications for the people who carry out the execution nor include medical safeguards, and that exposes Dunlap to the risk of "conscious and agonizing suffering."

The suit claims the Corrections Department has a "secret protocol" for executions, and that officials plan to use a combination of three execution drugs when the statute calls for using a single drug.

Today's Aurora Sentinel publishes the editorial, "Dunlap’s death sentence can’t lurk in the shadows of doubt."  Here are brief excerpts from this must-read:

Despite the endless and excruciating pain Dunlap caused an exponential number of Aurora victims, none of those dead or wounded, none of those devastated by the deaths of loved ones will be made whole by Dunlap’s death. As much as we, and so many, wish that we could trade the lives of murderers for the murdered, it’s not so. We are not made safer as a community by executing murderers instead of locking them up for all their lives. Nothing we can do to murderers can ever repay or even mitigate the loss of victims. Exhaustive studies have shown repeatedly that the death penalty does not deter murderers from acting. If it were true, places like Texas would be free from homicides. The death penalty is about revenge, and revenge is not justice.

And:

There is simply too much doubt about the effectiveness of the death penalty. There is too much doubt about whether Dunlap drew the sentence because of his race. There is too much doubt about whether Colorado residents have grown to see how barbaric and expensive it is. There is too much doubt about whether Dunlap’s circumstances, rather than his crimes, brought on a death sentence.

We beseech Hickenlooper and all Aurora residents to work to set aside Dunlap’s imminent execution and instead commit him to spend the rest of his life in prison. If not permanently, a stay of execution should be granted until lawmakers and voters have settled where Colorado voters are on the complicated issue of capital punishment.

The NAACP of Colorado has called for a commutation of Dunlap's death sentence.  Rosemary Harris Lytle writes, "Grant Nathan Dunlap clemency from the death penalty."  She's President of the NAACP Colorado/Montana/Wyoming State Conference.  Her comments appear in today's Boulder Daily Camera.

Because of these and other concerns about the application of the death penalty in Colorado, the NAACP has joined with other civil rights activists, faith leaders, former law enforcement officials, educators, victim family members, mental health advocates and others who seek clemency.

Nathan Dunlap must spend the rest of his life in prison.

Westword reports more on Dunlap's clemency petition, "Nathan Dunlap clemency bid: 'No principled reason' to execute quadruple murderer," is by Michael Roberts.

The request begins with criticisms of the death penalty and the way it's utilized in this country. Bishop James Gonia of the Lutheran Evangelical Church believes that "executions harm society by mirroring and reinforcing existing injustice. The death penalty distracts us from our work toward a just society. It deforms our response to violence at the individual, familial, institutional, and systemic levels. It perpetuates cycles of violence." Likewise, Nita Gonzales and Gene Lucero of the Colorado Latino forum maintain that "race and class should not be the consistent determinants of who gets executed."

Then, former Colorado Supreme Court Justice Jean Dubofsky, representing twelve other ex-judges, gets specific about Dunlap.

Earlier coverage of Nathan Dunlap's case begins at the link.

An Update From Delaware

The expanded AP report is, "Bill to repeal Delaware’s death penalty stalls in House committee after narrow Senate passage," by Randall Chase.  It's via the Washington Post.

A bill to repeal Delaware’s death penalty stalled in a House committee Wednesday after barely clearing the Senate last month.

Members of the Judiciary Committee took no action on the measure after it appeared it would fail to win passage.

After a hearing that lasted two hours, the chief House sponsor of the measure, Democratic Rep. Darryl Scott of Dover, moved to table it. The motion failed twice, and the committee adjourned without taking further action.

“We kind of knew that would happen,” said the bill’s prime Sen. Karen Peterson, who began the hearing by urging fellow lawmakers to send the measure to the House floor, rather than have it “bottled up by backroom deals.”

“The police were really putting on pressure on people,” Peterson, D-Stanton, said after the hearing, acknowledging that the bill did not have enough votes to be released.

The measure barely cleared the Senate last month on an 11-10 vote, even though Peterson removed a controversial provision that would have spared the lives of 17 inmates awaiting execution in Delaware.

"Death penalty repeal stymied," is the Wilmington News Journal coverage by Jonathan Starkey.  It's via Delmarva Now.

A move to repeal Delaware’s death penalty stalled in the House on Wednesday, a setback for supporters that appears to make passage of the legislation unlikely this year.

Representatives from law enforcement agencies testified in uniform opposition to the bill during a two-hour committee hearing held in the House chamber, as did family members of Delaware murder victims.

Attorney General Beau Biden, who opposes the bill, sent members of his staff to urge lawmakers to reject the repeal, saying capital punishment is fair and appropriately applied in Delaware.

Five lawmakers on the 11-member House Judiciary Committee, Republicans and Democrats, have made public their opposition to the repeal.

Rep. Melanie George Smith, D-Bear, the panel’s vice-chair, said there were not enough votes to pass the bill Wednesday.

But supporters can forward the measure to the full House if they obtain six signatures supporting it. Another vote in a committee meeting is not necessary.

The House also can vote to suspend the rules by a simple majority to bypass the committee and bring the bill to the floor for a full vote, but that’s more difficult.

Sen. Karen Peterson, a Stanton Democrat, sponsored the bill and says lawmakers have another legislative session next year to reconsider moving it out of committee and on to a vote in the House.

“Obviously I’m disappointed, but it’s far from over,” Peterson said after the committee hearing. “The battle is young.”

Earlier coverage of the Delaware repeal legislation begins at the link.

Delaware Repeal Bill Gets House Hearing Today

"House panel takes up death penalty bill," is the AP report, via WDEL-AM.

A state House committee is considering a bill to repeal Delaware's death penalty.

The measure, to be considered today, barely cleared the Senate last month on an 11-10 vote, even after the sponsor removed a controversial provision that would have spared the lives of 17 inmates awaiting execution in Delaware.

Supporters of the bill argue that the death penalty is morally wrong, racially discriminatory, ineffective as a deterrent to violent crime and far more costly than sentencing killers to life in prison without parole.

Today's Wilmington News Journal publishes the OpEd, "Costs of imposing death penalty outweigh benefits," by Judge Norman Barron, now retired.

At one time in my career, I was referred to as “the hanging judge” due to my willingness to impose death sentences in capital murder cases. I sentenced five defendants to death in Delaware, and two thus far have been executed. (A third had his death sentence reduced on the eve of execution to life in prison without possibility of release based upon a curious recommendation of the Board of Pardons.) I have no doubt these murderers committed the crimes for which they were convicted and that they deserved the sentences which I imposed based upon the law, the evidence and the sentencing recommendation of the jury. Nevertheless, having personally observed the exercise of the death penalty statute over the past two decades, I now conclude that the process under that law is flawed.

I believe the application of the death penalty is quirky and capricious. In other words, it is impossible to justify why some murderers receive the death penalty while others, whose crimes are arguably worse in degree or savagery, do not. Beyond the hit-or-miss reality of the death penalty, an even stronger reason exists, in my mind, for my opposition to its application.

Strictly on a cost-benefit analysis, the costs of imposition of the death penalty far outweigh the benefits of its application. Recent studies in California, Kansas and Maryland have all confirmed that the death penalty costs much more than life imprisonment.

And:

In Delaware, if a convicted murderer in a capital case does not receive a death sentence, he receives an automatic sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole or any type of early release. Such a sentence ensures that the defendant is locked away in a state prison until he dies. There is nothing incompatible with this type of life sentence and being a law-and-order conservative on matters of crime and punishment, which I still consider myself to be.

In this age of shrinking budgets and increased costs, the time has come, in my view, to adopt a more enlightened approach to criminal justice. Therefore, I urge the general assembly to consider favorably the death penalty repeal bill now before it and for the governor to sign it into law this year.

Earlier coverage of the Delaware repeal legislation begins at the link.

Survivor Calls for Justice, Not a Death Penalty

WDSU-TV reports, "Exclusive: Mother of slain woman seeks closure, peace of mind."  there is video at the link.

The mother of a woman whose remains washed ashore in Hancock County, Miss., nearly one year ago is hoping for justice -- but not the deaths of those responsible.

Donna Lockhart told WDSU Northshore reporter Heath Allen that she and other relatives continue to mourn for Jaren Lockhart, the 23-year-old Louisiana native who was killed shortly after she was seen leaving a Bourbon Street club.

Investigators had hoped to present their evidence to the Office of the District Attorney in Hancock County last week, but that meeting was repeatedly postponed. Officials tell WDSU it is still likely to happen in the near future, and a decision will then be made on what -- if any -- charges to pursue.

Donna Lockhart, meanwhile, said the loss weighs heavily on her.

"Mother of Jaren Lockhart wants justice for her daughter's killers, but not death penalty," is the AP report, via the Mississippi Press.

The mother of a woman whose dismembered body washed ashore in Mississippi nearly a year ago wants the killer or killers brought to justice but not executed.

Whoever killed Jaren Lockhart, 22, should get life in prison, Donna Lockhart told WDSU-TV. But she rejected the idea of the death sentence.

"I don't want nobody to take their life because it ain't right," she said.

Related posts are in the victims' issues category index.

Additional Coverage of the Connecticut Oral Arguments

"State Supreme Court To Hear Arguments On Death Penalty's Repeal," is by Daniela Altimari for the Hartford Courant.

The state Supreme Court is set to hear arguments Tuesday on whether Connecticut's controversial prospective repeal of the death penalty is constitutional.

The General Assembly eliminated capital punishment a year ago. But to win passage, lawmakers forged a politically inspired compromise: repeal the death penalty for future cases but maintain it for the 10 men currently on death row, including Cheshire home invasion killers Steven Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsky.

The challenge to the state's closely watched repeal of the death penalty was brought by Eduardo Santiago, who was convicted in a murder-for-hire scheme and sentenced to death in 2005.

Santiago's lawyer, Assistant Public Defender Mark Rademacher, argues that the application of the death penalty after its repeal would constitute cruel and unusual punishment. Arguments in the case are scheduled to be heard before the court, which could strike down portions or all of the act that repealed the death penalty.

"The execution of a handful of men who committed their crimes before repeal fails to achieve the constitutionally required goals of deterrence and retribution,'' Rademacher wrote in a supplemental brief filed on behalf of Santiago. "Their execution would be nothing but the purposeless and needless imposition of pain and suffering. This court should join with other states that reject death sentences when they lack justification as deterrence or retribution."

Several states, including Illinois and New Jersey, have repealed capital punishment in recent years but no state has executed an inmate after repeal, according to a friend of the court brief in support of Santiago filed by Brian W. Stull of the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation.

The Connecticut Law Tribune previews the case in, "Connecticut's High Court To Hear Death Penalty Repeal," by Christian Nolan.

It was around this time last year that lawmakers decided to repeal the death penalty in Connecticut.

Legislators were careful, however, to word the statute in such a way as to ensure the prior convicted members of death row – like the Cheshire home invasion killers- Steven Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsky — were still subject to capital punishment.

But in a challenge to the state Supreme Court this week, death penalty opponents argue, among other things, that retroactive application of capital punishment would constitute cruel and unusual punishment. They say executing a man convicted of murder in 2005 would be a violation of the 8th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

"We believe it's very important for the court to know that these are unchartered waters," said Brian Stull, of the American Civil Liberties Union's Capital Punishment Project in Durham, N.C. Stull submitted an amicus brief arguing that the justices should not allow retroactive application of the death penalty.

The New Haven Register publishes the OpEd, "Victim’s mother grateful death penalty is gone."  It's written by Victoria Coward.

A year ago April 25, the state of Connecticut did away with our death penalty.

I was glad to see that change, and with the death penalty gone, I’ve been able to focus on much more important things.

In 2007, my son Tyler was murdered. I struggled like you can’t believe to keep my sanity and keep my family together. When my son’s case went to trial, I noticed an extreme discrepancy between the treatment of my son’s case and a capital case.

It hurt me to see the energy and attention that was given to capital cases, while I was practically drowning in grief, debt and confusing judicial proceedings. I dug in to learn about the death penalty and found a deeply disturbing picture.

The death penalty — applied freakishly rarely in Connecticut — was justified because it was said to be reserved for the “the worst of the worst.” The unspoken conclusion to that logic is that the vast majority of homicide survivors had lost our beloveds in a “normal” murder.

This notion still makes my blood boil.

I felt compelled to speak out against this system that cruelly divided victims when society should have been stepping up to help all of us. Beyond the painful rhetoric, there were practical consequences. While the state paid millions of dollars to prosecute a single case, caps are placed on counseling for survivors, there are too few victim advocates, and there are many other ways Connecticut victims could use assistance. The money that went to the death penalty would be better invested in victims.

Earlier coverage of Connecticut's repeal begins at the link.

Wilmington City Council Backs Delaware Repeal Legislation

WDEL-AM reports, "Council supports death penalty repeal, group home moratorium."  It's by Tom Lehman.  There is audio at the link.

Wilmington City Council debated whether it should support efforts by state lawmakers to repeal the death penalty and requested the state put a moratorium on group homes within the city limits at Thursday night's meeting.

Councilwoman Sherry Dorsey Walker, who sponsored the resolution in question, says repealing the death penalty would help free up money used to fight the appeals of death row inmates, which could be used to improve public safety

"That money can be going to their departments versus going into the prison system," Dorsey Walker says.

Before a vote took place, the councilwoman said she had originally supported the death penalty after a loved one was killed when she was 11 years old.

"It was like the only way this could be resolved is if the people responsible had to feel like we felt," she said.

She then explained that her views changed upon religious reflection when she grew older and she became involved with Delaware Repeal.

However, Councilman Samuel Prado disagreed that council should support death penalty repeal, especially since he believes it's only reserved for the worst of criminals. He invoked the crimes committed by convicted murderer and rapist Brian Steckel, who was executed in 2005.

"I think we have short memories in this state. There are people who I just...they don't deserve to live," Prado says.

The resolution passed in a 9-2 decision.

   "Murder victims' family members share stories, views on capital punishment," is the Cape Gazette report.

Kristin Froehlich’s brother and four of his friends were murdered in 1995. Judith Elane, who was newly married at the time, remembers the long trip to her brother’s funeral after he was murdered in 1968. Joe Byrne spent years focused on the trials and appeals of the man who was convicted of the kidnap, rape and murder of his wife in 1985, but the closure he expected did not come with the man’s execution.

With decades of perspective on the aftermath of murder, Froehlich, Elane and Byrne spoke at the April meeting of Dining with Progressives at Fish On! restaurant in Lewes.

Elane, Byrne and Froehlich are now members of the national organization Murder Victims' Families for Reconciliation. Their stories are different, yet they all believe the resources and costs of a capital trial would be better used to help victims’ families heal.

Byrne has spoken publicly about the death penalty for decades, but this event was the first time he spoke out against it. “When Sherry’s killer was finally executed in 2003, I was there, and I was ready for the pain to be over,” said Byrne. But the pain did not end, and it is only recently that Byrne realized, “All those years of appeals and waiting just made me put my healing process on hold. Maintaining that anger and the desire for vengeance did nothing to Sherry’s killer, but it really damaged me,” Byrne said. “We can let victims’ families begin their healing process much faster without the uncertainty of the death penalty. I’ve changed my mind. I now believe the ultimate punishment should be life without the possibility of parole.”

Froehlich, a licensed clinical social worker in Wilmington, said she knows many people believe the death penalty is for the victims. “That is not my experience. Grieving and healing are lifelong processes with no shortcuts,” she said.

The event was sponsored by Delaware Repeal, a coalition of organizations, community partners, faith leaders and individuals working to repeal the death penalty in Delaware.

Earlier coverage of the Delaware repeal legislation begins at the link.

Why Conservatives Should Oppose the Death Penalty

That's the title of an OpEd at the Daily Caller, written by former Montana State Senator Roy Brown.  He's a founding member of Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty.

As a conservative Republican, I believe in individual rights, restraints on government power, fiscal responsibility and the right to life. America’s death penalty system violates each of these principles. That’s why I’m one of a growing number of conservatives who want to abolish it.

And:

Conservatives have lots of compelling reasons to question the death penalty. Even many who still support capital punishment in theory are beginning to concede that the system is fatally broken and should be scrapped, with the savings returned to the taxpayers. Conservatives should weigh what we know today against the values and principles that have always defined us.

The time has come for conservatives to take the lead in ending expensive government programs that don’t work. The death penalty system is broken and can’t be fixed. Let’s end it.

Earlier coverage of the conservative case against capital punishment begins at the link.

Kirk Bloodsworth Calls for Kansas Repeal

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports, "Exonerated by DNA, advocate seeks demise of capital punishment."  It's written by Tim Carpenter.

Maryland fisherman Kirk Bloods-worth's journey from death row to freedom is raw material for a cinematic thriller.

"From the moment I was arrested until the moment I was released, I told anyone and everyone I was an innocent man," he said.

The big screen adaptation would begin with his arrest in the middle of the night for the ghastly rape and murder of 9-year-old Dawn Hamilton near Baltimore in 1984. He hadn’t previously been in trouble with the law, but detectives ignored a tantalizing suspect, and the jury rejected trial witnesses who testified Bloodsworth was at home during the slaying.

The sharp clack of a judge's gavel would mark imposition of the harshest of punishment — a trip to the gas chamber.

"The courtroom erupted in applause," Bloodsworth said. "My mother cried. My father tried to object. He was led from the courtroom. I was just mad."

"Exonerated death row survivor fights capital punishment in Kansas," is the Lawrence Journal-World coverage by Ian Cummings.

Kirk Bloodsworth wants the death penalty abolished in Kansas. And in every other state, and in every nation across the world. He’s absolute on that point, and many feel he has a right to be that way.

The death penalty almost killed Bloodsworth in 1985, when he was convicted and sentenced to death for a murder he didn’t commit. The former Marine was exonerated by DNA testing in 1993, and travels the country as the advocacy director for Witness to Innocence, an organization of exonerated death row survivors. Bloodsworth visited Kansas for the first time Monday, at the invitation of Kansas University student groups, and told his story at the Kansas Memorial Union. It’s a frightening story, and Bloodsworth hopes that the more people hear it, the more will agree with him that the death penalty isn’t safe to use.

Some Kansas lawmakers and judges already agree with him, and a bill to abolish the death penalty is awaiting action in the Legislature.

Earlier coverage from Kansas begins at the link.

Pete Earley on the James Holmes Case

Today's Dallas Morning News publishes the OpEd, "Seeking death penalty in Aurora killings is wrong," by Pete Earley.  He's a former journalist and the author of Crazy: A Father’s Search Through America’s Mental Health Madness.

As the father of an adult with a severe mental illness, I am dismayed by a Colorado prosecutor’s decision to seek the death penalty in the Aurora movie theater attack.

Attorneys for gunman James Eagan Holmes offered to have their client plead guilty in return for a life sentence without parole. That was not good enough for Arapahoe County District Attorney George Brauchler.

After consulting with “800 victims and their families” on the July shootings that left 12 dead and dozens wounded, Brauchler declared that for Holmes, “justice is death.”

Only the most egregious cases should merit the death penalty, and despite the monstrosity of these shootings, executing a defendant who was receiving psychiatric care and who appears to have a severe mental illness violates that high standard.

And:

My son got sick when he was 22. Those of us with mentally ill family members have seen how schizophrenia and bipolar disorder can distort our loved ones’ thinking and sometimes cause them to break the law. Their actions are symptoms of their disorders.

Mental illness does not excuse murder — a fact that Holmes’ attorneys readily acknowledged. But murders spawned in psychosis should be adjudicated differently from those for profit, jealousy or revenge.

Our legal system does a poor job of dealing with mentally ill defendants. The standard legal test is whether the defendant knew at the time of the crime the difference between right and wrong and whether he understood the consequences of his actions. But that’s often a fool’s reasoning when applied to an ill person’s mind.

Earlier coverage of the Colorado case begins at the link.  Related posts are in the mental illness category index.

The Montour Case in Colorado

Today's Pueblo Chieftain reports, "‘Capital punishment is hate and death’; Father doesn't want death penalty trial for son's alleged killer."  It's written by Gayle Perez.

A Pueblo man said he's disappointed prosecutors now will be allowed to seek the death penalty for his son's accused killer after a judge agreed Tuesday to withdraw the suspect's guilty plea.

"I totally disagree with the fact they continue to pursue a death penalty," Bob Autobee said Wednesday. "In reality, it doesn't solve anything and obviously, it doesn't deter crime."

Edward Montour Jr., who was already serving a life sentence in the death of his 11-month-old daughter, is accused of killing Autobee's son, Eric, a corrections officer, in 2002.

"Edward Montour guilty plea ruling: David Lane on death penalty, James Holmes, 'bloody 18th,'" is by Michael Roberts at Westword.

At a February hearing, Edward Montour sought to withdraw his guilty plea for a 2002 murder in an effort to avoid the death penalty he'd previously sought. The office of 18th Judicial District DA George Brauchler, who's also seeking death for accused Aurora theater shooter James Holmes, argued against such a move, but a judge has now granted it; see his order below. Montour attorney David Lane sees the ruling as just and uses strong language to criticize capital punishment, Brauchler and what he calls the "bloody 18th."

And:

"What the Aurora theater victims don't understand is that this is the way of the death penalty. If Holmes is given life without parole, he would fade off into oblivion. He'd bounce back and forth between the state mental hospital and prison for their whole lives. But because they're seeking the death penalty, Holmes has no choice but to fight the case, and the victims will never get closure. By the time he's executed, there will be so many appeals, so many times when they have to go back to court and testify and re-live the nightmare. That's why the people in Arizona in the Gabby Giffords case said, 'Give Jared Loughner life without parole and it's over -- and no one has to worry about his conviction being overturned.'"

As Lane sees it, "Montour is illustrative of the problems with the death penalty. The case has probably already cost over a million in taxpayer dollars, and Brauchler is willing to spend any amount of money if that's what it takes to kill him. That's what's shocking about the bloody 18th."

Earlier coverage of the Colorado death penalty cases begins at the link.

Vengeance, Not Justice

That's the title of Richard Cohen's latest syndicated column.  It's via his home paper, the Washington Post.

When it comes to the death penalty, the only thing the United States can do is plead the insanity defense. The rest of the advanced world has moved on, but America resolutely remains among the top five executioners — behind China, Iran and Iraq, and just ahead of Pakistan. In Colorado, prosecutors are seeking the death of James Holmes, the clearly insane young man who dyed his hair a vivid orange, allegedly killed 12 people at a midnight showing of “The Dark Knight Rises” and made no effort to escape. “Justice is death,” declared the prosecutor. The Taliban, I tell you, are among us.

That utterance came from the Arapahoe County district attorney, George Brauchler, who said he decided to go for the max after talking to 60 family members of those murdered. Presumably and understandably, they all favored the death penalty — and I might, too, if someone I loved was murdered. But this is the crime, as heinous as it might be, of a crazy person. Holmes’s execution will not deter anyone else — although sensible gun control might — and so his death, if and when it comes, will amount to vengeance. That’s understandable, but it is not justice.

And:

We did not know what to do about Holmes before his crime and we don’t know what to do with him now. The orange is gone from his hair and he looks, more or less, normal. But he is a deranged young man; since we never knew how to treat him, we will now try to kill him. This may seem barbaric, but rest assured: “Justice is death,” the D.A. said. In the United States — as well as, say, China — we have an abundance of justice.

Today's Silicon Valley Mercury News publishes the editorial, "DA should have accepted Aurora suspect James Holmes' guilty plea."

The way the death penalty is applied in the United States makes no sense, and there is no clearer evidence of this than the decision last week to seek it against James Holmes, the man accused of murdering 12 people and injuring 58 others in an Aurora, Colo., movie theater last summer.

Holmes is guilty. He was arrested outside the theater with a stash of weapons, and his attorneys recently wrote in court papers that he would agree to plead guilty in exchange for a life sentence, without the possibility of parole.

It's an offer the district attorney of Arapahoe County, George Brauchler, should have taken. Instead, the people of Aurora, along with hundreds of surviving victims and family members, will face decades of uncertainty and legal battles. They will pay millions of their tax dollars in court costs that could instead help treat the mentally ill and provide assistance to crime victims.

The death penalty in this country is immoral, costly and arbitrary. It has to end. Until it does, authorities must use common sense, taking into account emotional and financial costs as they decide how to apply it.

Earlier coverage of the James Holmes case begins at the link.

Holmes Prosecutor Responds to Plea Motion

The prosecutor's response in Colorado v. Holmes is at Scribd.

Today's Denver Post publishes the editorial, "Accept plea deal in Holmes trial."

Accused theater shooter James Holmes' offer to plead guilty to murder charges and spend the rest of his life in prison so he may avoid a death sentence would be a just resolution to a horrific case.

It would bring prompt closure for survivors and family members of the dead and wounded.

It would cut years, perhaps decades, from an expensive appeals process. And it would eliminate the issue of the uneven application of the death penalty in Colorado.

We hope George Brauchler, the top prosecutor in the 18th Judicial District, takes the deal — although early indications are that his office may be hostile to it.

"Aurora DA "extremely unlikely" to OK guilty plea by James Holmes," is the Post's news report written by John Ingold.

Prosecutors in the Aurora theater shooting case say they are "extremely unlikely" to accept an offer from suspect James Holmes to plead guilty unless they hear more details from him.

In a court filing Thursday, prosecutors write that after Holmes offered to plead guilty, they asked him and his attorneys to provide "specific access to information that would allow them to fully assess the Defendant and his alleged acts for purposes of determining a just outcome to this case." They say Holmes and his attorneys have repeatedly denied access to that information.

Because of that, prosecutors say Holmes' offer — which his attorneys disclosed in a court filing Wednesday — is not acceptable.

"There is not — and has never been — an actual or unqualified 'offer' to plead guilty," they write in the Thursday filing.

Significantly, the prosecution's filing was signed by 18th Judicial District Attorney George Brauchler and not one of the deputy district attorneys more directly involved in the case.

The AP filing is, "James Holmes Trial: Prosecutors Reject Guilty Plea Offer From Aurora Massacre Suspect," by Dan Elliott and P. Solomon Banda.  It's via Huffington Post.

Prosecutors in the Colorado theater massacre case have rejected an offer from suspect James Holmes to plead guilty in exchange for avoiding the death penalty, saying the proposal can't be considered genuine because the defense has repeatedly refused to give them information needed to evaluate it.

No plea agreement exists, prosecutors said in a scathing court document Thursday, and one "is extremely unlikely based on the present information available to the prosecution."

They also said anyone reading news stories about the offer would inevitably conclude "the defendant knows that he is guilty, the defense attorneys know that he is guilty, and that both of them know that he was not criminally insane."

Neither the defense nor the prosecution immediately returned phone calls Thursday.

Holmes is charged with multiple counts of murder and attempted murder in the July 20 shootings in a packed theater in the Denver suburb of Aurora. Twelve people were killed and 70 were injured.

Holmes' attorneys disclosed in a court filing Wednesday that their client has offered to plead guilty, but only if he wouldn't be executed.

Prosecutors criticized defense attorneys for publicizing the offer, calling it a ploy meant to draw the public and the judge into what should be private plea negotiations.

Earlier coverage of the Colorado case begins at the link.

Delaware Opinion Roundup

Today's Wilmington News Journal publishes the editorial, "Delaware House should vote to end death penalty."

The Delaware Senate has voted to abolish the death penalty. The state House of Representatives should do the same.

The death penalty, as it now stands, is an expensive, somewhat arbitrary system. It takes too long to carry out, placing an additional burden on victims, our criminal justice system and society as a whole. This delay, warranted by both court orders and the public’s belief that no innocent person should be put to death, negates claims that capital punishment serves as a deterrent. In addition, the growing rarity of executions underscores the methods used to kill the prisoners. Each execution raises again the specter of the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

And:

In 2012 the National Academies examined academic studies of the deterrence effect since 1976 when the Supreme Court ended a four-year moratorium on executions. The National Academies found that no research proves or disproves a deterrence effect. The report recommended that claims that say otherwise “should not influence policy judgments about capital punishment.”

For all of these reasons, the House should pass Senate Bill 19, and the governor should sign it.

The News Journal also publishes an OpEd, "Death penalty painful to victims' families," written by Kristin Froehlich.

As the sister of a murder victim, I support repeal of Delaware’s death penalty because it harms victims’ family members.

My younger brother, David, was only 22 when he was murdered along with four of his friends. They were stabbed and their bodies burned beyond recognition. David’s dental records were needed to identify his body. This quintuple homicide shocked and hurt our entire community.

How can we possibly respond to such horror?

My family had no input about whether or not to seek the death penalty. But because the state determined that they would pursue a death sentence, it took more time and money than it would have if it was a regular murder case with a punishment of life in prison without parole.

Going for the death penalty exacted a huge emotional cost on my family as we waited three years for the trial to begin.

The pain of our loss, the waiting and the uncertainty all left us with a profound sense of powerlessness.

It was a relief to have legal finality once prosecutors dropped the death penalty and the killer was sentenced to life without parole. In the years since then, I have chosen to work for repeal of the death penalty because I learned firsthand how the death penalty harms victims’ family members.

Earlier coverage from Delaware begins at the link.

The Aurora, Colorado Theater Shooting Case

The Colorado v. Holmes plea motion is available at Scribd.

"James Holmes offers to plead guilty in Colorado massacre," is by Jenny Deam for the Los Angeles Times.

James E. Holmes, accused of unleashing the Aurora movie theater massacre in July, has offered to plead guilty to killing 12 people and injuring 70 if prosecutors do not seek the death penalty.

In an unusual court filing, defense lawyers revealed Wednesday that they had made the standing offer weeks ago for Holmes to serve life in prison without possibility of parole for the July 20 mass shooting.

So far the prosecution has declined the offer, the document said.

Dist. Atty. George Brauchler of Colorado's 18th Judicial District is to announce Monday whether he will seek the death penalty. Capital punishment is rare in Colorado, with only three people on death row.

Holmes' attorneys have been expected to use an insanity defense, and their latest filing said they could still do so at trial or sentencing. If he is found to be insane or to suffer from a mental defect, he could not be put to death.

Holmes, 25, a former neuroscience doctoral student at the University of Colorado-Denver, is charged with 166 counts of first-degree murder, attempted murder and weapons violations in connection with the massacre in a packed suburban movie theater. The case evoked worldwide horror and became a touchstone in the national gun debate.

Two weeks ago, an impatient Chief Judge William Sylvester entered a not guilty plea on Holmes' behalf after defense lawyers said they were not prepared to do so. The arraignment had been postponed several times, and the judge said the case needed to move forward.

The defense offer was revealed in a routine court scheduling document, making it that much more unusual, said Rick Kornfeld, a former federal prosecutor turned defense attorney who has been closely following the case. Typically, any negotiations between the two sides are kept under wraps until an agreement is reached, he said.

But Kornfeld called it a potentially smart strategic move by the defense because "it is clearly intended to put public pressure on the prosecution to resolve the case immediately." He said a plea would not only offer closure for victims but save the state millions of dollars for a protracted trial.

AP posts, "Ex-prosecutor: Death penalty decision wrenching," by Dan Elliott and P. Solomon Banda.  It's also available from the Times Free Press.

James Holmes is willing to spend the rest of his life in prison if it means there's no chance he'll be executed. Now prosecutors have to decide whether that's a deal they're willing to make with the former graduate student accused in last summer's Colorado movie theater massacre.

For former prosecutor Bob Gallagher, an earlier case involved one of the toughest decisions of his life.

He remembers the case in which defense attorneys came to him with tears in their eyes asking for a plea deal that would spare their client the death penalty.

He turned them down. The 1993 gunshot slayings of four people in a Denver-area Chuck E. Cheese pizzeria were so vicious and the suspect showed so little remorse, Gallagher said, that he believed the death penalty should be an option for the jury.

"That is no doubt one of the toughest decisions I've ever had to make," said Gallagher, the Arapahoe County district attorney at the time. "Am I, the elected DA, qualified to talk about and make up my mind on a moral decision? Should this person be put to death or not?"

Now, as Nathan Dunlap, who was convicted of the murders in 1996 and sentenced to die, waits on death row, Holmes may have a chance to avoid finding himself in the same place.

"Defense in Colorado Killings Seeks Plea Deal," by Dan Frosch at the New York Times.

Defense lawyers for James E. Holmes, who is charged with killing 12 people and wounding dozens more at an Aurora, Colo., movie theater last summer, signaled in court filings on Wednesday that they were willing to have Mr. Holmes plead guilty if he was spared the death penalty.

Mr. Holmes, who faces 166 counts of murder, attempted murder and other charges, would accept a sentence of life in prison without parole if prosecutors consented to the deal, his lawyers stated in the documents that were filed in Arapahoe County District Court.

“Mr. Holmes is currently willing to resolve the case to bring the proceedings to a speedy and definite conclusion for all involved,” his defense lawyers wrote. “It appears the only impediment to a resolution of this case would be if the prosecution chooses to seek the death penalty.”

"Lawyers for accused Colorado theater gunman offer guilty plea," by Keith Coffman and Chris Frantz for ReutersLegal.

In Wednesday's pleading, defense lawyers said that if prosecutors agree to take the death penalty off the table for Holmes the case could be resolved at Monday's hearing.

Attorneys for the former University of Colorado neuroscience graduate student, who surrendered to officers outside the theater minutes after the shooting rampage, had been expected to mount an insanity defense on his behalf at trial.

"As previously stated in court, counsel for Mr. Holmes are still exploring a mental health defense, and counsel will vigorously present and argue any and all appropriate defenses at a trial or sentencing proceeding as necessary," defense lawyers said in the court papers.

"Nevertheless, Mr. Holmes is currently willing to resolve the case to bring the proceedings to a speedy and definite conclusion for all involved," the defense said.

Lawyers for Holmes have said in court filings that their client has been hospitalized twice since his arrest, once after hitting his head against a cell wall.

Holmes was also held in restraints for several days at a psychiatric hospital in November after jail officials determined he was a threat to himself, according to his defense team.

"James Holmes may plead guilty to avoid death penalty, court documents show," is by John Ingold for the Denver Post.

The move swings the spotlight onto prosecutors, who have said they will announce during a court hearing Monday whether they will seek the death penalty. Prosecutors are talking with theater shooting victims and their families to hear their opinions on capital punishment for the case.

Holmes' attorneys wrote in their motion that prosecutors have not accepted the offer. Denver defense attorney Dan Recht said the offer narrows prosecutors' decisions to a single question: Is death the only acceptable punishment in the case?

"Holmes can't offer any more than he is offering," said Recht, who has been following the case. "The choice for the prosecution could not be clearer."

Earlier coverage of the high-visibility Colorado case begins at the link.

North Carolina Legislature on Path to Rescind RJA

AP posts, "NC Senate panel backs execution rule changes."  It's by Gary D. Robertson, via WBNS-TV.

A Senate judiciary panel on Tuesday approved a Republican effort members say will kick-start the resumption of North Carolina executions after more than six years and help end a method for death-row prisoners seeking life sentences on racial bias claims.

The committee voted along party lines in favor of the measure that its chief sponsor says will ensure justice is carried out for those convicted of heinous murders. The full Senate could hear the bill later this week.

No one on North Carolina's death row has been executed since 2006 because of various legal appeals.

Capital punishment "is the law of the land, and it needs to be carried out until or unless the people of North Carolina decide they do not want a death penalty," Sen. Thom Goolsby, R-New Hanover, told the panel. "We have a number of families that continue to suffer. Their dead continue to rot in their graves, and they are waiting for justice in this state."

The bill places in state law mostly technical changes in part to reflect a state Supreme Court ruling that found doctors are required to oversee executions, after a state Medical Board rule barred doctors from doing so. The bill also repeals what's left of the 2009 Racial Justice Act, which already was weakened last year by the Republican-led General Assembly.

The original Racial Justice Act allowed death-row inmates to use statistics and other evidence to persuade a judge that bias influenced their sentences. Successful cases convert their sentences to a life term without parole.

The Wilmington StarNews reports, "Bill to repeal Racial Justice Act easily passes committee," by Molly Parker.

Sen. Thom Goolsby's bill to repeal the Racial Justice Act easily passed a Senate committee Tuesday morning, but not before members heard emotional testimony from individuals on both sides of the death penalty debate.

And:

While the death penalty is legal in North Carolina, the last execution in the state was in 2006.

Goolsby, R-New Hanover, says the Racial Justice Act, passed by the General Assembly in 2009, has resulted in an end run around the death penalty – "the law of our land."

The Racial Justice Act was passed into law on the heels of the exoneration of three black men. It prohibits the seeking of the death penalty on the basis of race and allows defense attorneys to present statistical evidence to uncover patterns of racial bias. It was significantly curtailed by the General Assembly last year, strictly limiting the data that can be presented.

News 14 Carolina, the Time Warner Cable local news outlet, posts, "Bill aimed at restarting executions in NC advanced by Senate committee."

“And it wasn't until the legislature passed a law, another law, that allowed us to put DNA in a database that I was actually freed. But I went through 36 judges, and all of them denied my appeal, even though I was innocent,” said Darryl Hunt.

The full Senate is expected to debate this bill before the end of the week.

Earlier coverage from North Carolina begins at the link.  Later today, I'll be adding additional North Carolina news.  As always, thanks to Gerda Stein for distributing.

Additional Coverage of the Murder of Tom Clements

"Hickenlooper: Tom Clements Slaying Like A 'Nightmare I Couldn't Wake Up From'," is by Matt Ferner at Huffington Post.

Over the weekend, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper dropped by CNN's "State of the Union" and spoke to Candy Crowley about the slaying of Colorado Department of Corrections head Tom Clements at his home last week as well as his longtime friendship to the Ebel family, whose son, Evan Ebel, is the main suspect in the killing and who was also killed after a shootout and high-speed chase in Texas.

"The whole week, I sort of felt like I was in a nightmare that I couldn't wake up from," Hickenlooper said about the killing of Clements last week and as the dots began to connect between all the various parties involved.

Hickenlooper's friend and colleague Tom Clements was gunned down at his home in Monument, Colo. last Tuesday night when he answered a knock at his door. Then as the investigation unfolded, the police named a suspect in the Clements killing -- Evan Ebel, a 28-year-old white supremacist and ex-convict, who is also the son of longtime friend to Hickenloooper, Jack Ebel.

"All these things kept happening to people that I loved and they didn't seem to be connected in anyway," Hickenlooper said to Crowley. "To me the emotional toll has been much deeper than worrying about security."

Hickenlooper also spoke about his friendship with Jack Ebel and their son Evan who, Hickenlooper says, had a "bad streak, a streak of cruelty and anger."

"I've known Evan's father for more than 30 years," Hickenlooper said. "When I first came out as a geologist to work in Colorado in 1981, he and I worked at the same company, we've always stayed friends. He's one of the hardest working, most honorable, honest people I've ever known. Just a wonderful person who from the beginning his son just seemed to have this bad streak, a streak of cruelty and anger. And yet they did everything they could, they worked with Evan again and again but to no avail. He had a bad, bad streak."

Today's Denver Post reports, "Tom Clements' widow: Family will pray for forgiveness for gunman."  It's by Jordan Steffen, Kurtis Lee and Ryan Parker.

Lisa Clements' voice warbled with grief. Before her on Monday sat more than 1,000 people, most in uniform, for the memorial service for her husband, slain Colorado Department of Corrections executive director Tom Clements. Beside her stood the couple's two daughters, wiping tears from their cheeks. As she paused to gather her strength, the only sound was the soft whoosh of the New Life Church's heating system.

"It's a challenge to wrap up all (that) the girls and I want to say about Tom," Lisa Clements said. "The love of my life. My hero. The best father and husband you could ever see.

"But in the end, we want everyone who hears Tom's story to know he lived his life believing in redemption and the ability of the human heart to change. He would want justice, certainly. But moreover, he would want forgiveness."

Even in death — even after last week's death at the hands, police suspect, of an inmate released on parole — mourners at Clements' service Monday wanted to ensure that Tom's message was of championing second chances.

"Weapon used in Texas gunfight also killed Tom Clements," is the KDVR-TV report by Matt Farley and Mark Meredith.

The 9mm handgun Evan Ebel used to shoot a Texas police officer last week is the same weapon that killed Colorado Department of Corrections chief Tom Clements, ballistic analysts concluded Monday afternoon.

The confirmation goes well beyond proving the same caliber and brand of ammunition used and all but guarantees the accuracy of the finding based on microscopic evidence, the Colorado Springs Metro Crime Lab said.

Ebel, who was killed after a wild chase and shootout with police in Decatur, Texas, last week, has not officially been named as a suspect. He was named a person of interest in the murders of both Clements and pizza delivery driver Nathan Leon after ammunition, a Domino’s pizza jacket and a pizza box were found in the 1991 black Cadillac he was driving.

Earlier coverage from Colorado begins at the link; also available, earlier coverage of Tom Clements.

Delaware Senate to Consider Repeal Bill Today

"DELAWARE: Senate to vote today on repealing death penalty," is the AP report, via Delmarva Now.

The state Senate is set to vote on a bill repealing Delaware's death penalty and sparing 17 killers already on death row.

The measure cleared a Senate committee last week and was scheduled for a vote by the full Senate on Tuesday.

Supporters of the bill argue that the death penalty is morally wrong, racially discriminatory, ineffective as a deterrent to violent crime and far more costly than putting killers in prison for life. They also point to cases in other states where condemned killers have later been exonerated.

The Cape Gazette reports, "Senate to consider SB 19, March 26," by Kara Nuzback.

Senate Bill 19 would remove all language related to execution from the Delaware code, ending the death penalty statewide.  Life imprisonment without the possibility of parole would become the ultimate punishment for first-degree murder.

The Senate Executive Committee voted 4-2 to release the bill to the Senate floor, March 20, after two hours of testimony mostly in favor of repeal.  Three of the six committee members – Senate Minority Leader Gary Simpson, R-Milford; Senate Majority Whip Margaret Rose Henry, D-Wilmington East; and Sen. Harris McDowell, D-Wilmington North – are sponsors of the bill.

SB 19 has a total of 17 bipartisan sponsors.

And:

The Senate is scheduled to consider SB 19 Tuesday, March 26.

There are 21 members in the Delaware Senate.

Today's Wilmington News Journal publishes the OpEd, "Why this police officer wants to end death penalty.  It's by James Abbott, West Orange, N.J. police chief, who served on the New Jersey Death Penalty Study Commission.  Here'a an extended excerpt from the beginning:

In 2007, New Jersey’s legislature and governor replaced the death penalty with a sentence of life in prison without parole. No state had legislatively abolished its death penalty in more than 40 years, but since then New Mexico, Illinois and Connecticut followed suit. Our close neighbor Maryland just passed legislation to abandon its death penalty. Now I hear that Delaware is considering a bill to end capital punishment as well.

I want to share the view from where I sit: I am the police chief of West Orange, N.J., an older suburban town adjacent to Newark, where we see our share of violent crime. I am a proud Republican who has long supported the death penalty.

I have dedicated my life to protecting the public and making our streets safer. And I put my life on the line every time I go to work. Believe me, sympathy for killers is nowhere in my vocabulary.

In 2006, the New Jersey Legislature set up a study commission to decide what to do with the death penalty. The capital punishment system was broken; some people wanted to fix it, while others wanted to abolish it.

I was asked to join the commission and help decide what to do. I pledged to keep an open mind, but I always supported the death penalty, and I didn’t expect that to change. If there were fixes we could recommend to make it work better, I figured I could support that.

I was wrong.

I no longer believe you can fix the death penalty. Six months of study opened my eyes to its shocking reality. I learned that the death penalty throws millions of dollars down the drain – money that I could be putting directly to work fighting crime every day – while dragging victims’ families through a long and torturous process that only exacerbates their pain.

I want to share what I learned from the families whose loved ones were lost, because I believe their untold stories are the shameful, hidden secret of the death penalty.

Earlier coverage from Delaware begins at the link.  More on SB 19, via the Delaware General Assembly.  Audio of the Senate session will be available at the Delaware General Assembly website.

Kansas Repeal Legislation to Receive Hearing in Next Session

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports, "Rep's death penalty repeal effort stalled for now."  It's by Andy Marso.

he House gave initial approval Monday to two bills regarding the death penalty — but neither was the one Rep. Steven Becker, R-Buhler, ultimately wants to see come up for a vote.

Becker introduced a bill in early March that would banish capital punishment from Kansas, replacing it with a sentence of life in prison without parole. With the session winding down, Becker said Monday his bill will be staying in the House Federal and State Committee until next year.

"I've been assured it will be given a hearing, but it will be next session," Becker said Monday. "I absolutely have not given up on that. I will be pushing that."

The death penalty has been abolished and reinstated in Kansas three times. No executions have occurred since the penalty was most recently reinstated in 1994.

Becker, a former judge, said he has always been opposed to capital punishment as part of his value system and his religious faith. But he said it was his professional experience that spurred him to take action.

"What triggered my doing something about it is my career in the criminal justice system and seeing how imperfect it is," Becker said. "I can not justify having death as part of an imperfect criminal justice system."

And:

Becker's bill would only apply to crimes committed after June 30, 2013. In addition to ending the death penalty in Kansas, House Bill 2397 would also establish a victim's assistance fund from the savings in decreased judicial costs for capital cases.

The state agency that provides funds for defense attorneys fro Kansans who can not afford them estimates the bill would save $157,000 in staff reductions immediately and savings from fewer appeals could approach $100,000 per year.

Earlier coverage from Kansas includes a case headed for the U.S. Supreme Court, support for repeal, and earlier coverage of Becker before he became a state legislator.

Colorado Legislative Update

Today's Denver Post publishes the editorial, "Hickenlooper should get behind death penalty repeal."

Anyone who witnessed the House Judiciary Committee's marathon hearing Tuesday on a bill to ban the death penalty in Colorado could appreciate the passionate arguments on each side of the issue.

But we hope Gov. John Hickenlooper, who still has not taken a position, sides with supporters of House Bill 1264, which would abolish capital punishment in Colorado.

Another bill would send the issue to voters. We think that's a mistake. Lawmakers, the elected representatives in our republican form of government, have the right and the duty to decide tough questions like this. It should be no different in the case of the death penalty.

We've said it before and will say it again: Reason and morality demand that the death penalty be abolished.

"Colorado Legislature delays debate on death penalty repeal," is the latest AP filing, written by Kristen Wyatt.  It's via the Boulder Daily Camera.

Colorado's debate over repealing the death penalty will stay on hold, for now, after a state House committee decided Wednesday to delay a ballot measure on doing away with the punishment.

The ballot-measure suggestion was the second Democratic death-penalty proposal in as many days to go on ice. On Tuesday, an outright repeal was delayed by a separate committee after nine hours of emotional testimony on both sides.

The sponsor of the death-penalty ballot question, Rep. Rhonda Fields, is a supporter who proposed the ballot measure because she supports the death penalty and believes voters would decide to keep it.

"Bill to have voters weigh-in on death penalty laid over by House committee," is Denver Post coverage by Kurtis Lee.

The debate over Colorado's death penalty returned to the state Capitol on Wednesday, as lawmakers convened in a House committee and decided to delay a vote on a measure that would put the issue on the ballot.

A date for a final committee vote on the measure has not been set.

Sponsored by Rep. Rhonda Fields, D-Aurora, House Bill 1270 would have voters decide in 2014 whether to repeal the death penalty.

Fields' bill is in response to her own party's efforts to have the legislature repeal the state's authority to sentence a person to death.

That measure, House Bill 1264, is sponsored by Rep. Claire Levy, D-Boulder, and Rep. Jovan Melton, D-Aurora. The House Judiciary Committee heard nine hours of testimony Tuesday from opponents and proponents of the bill.

If passed, the bill would remove the death penalty option for prosecutors for offenses committed after July 1.

The Post also reports, "Hickenlooper hints at veto of lawmakers' death-penalty repeal bill," by Kurtis Lee and Lynn Bartels.  It's via the Canon City Daily Record.

Gov. John Hickenlooper has let his fellow Democrats know he has issues with a bill that allows lawmakers to repeal Colorado's death penalty, mentioning a "veto" as the sponsors say they have the votes to get it passed.

Hickenlooper on Tuesday spoke with House Democrats at their regular caucus luncheon in a building across the street from the Capitol, one hour before a committee was scheduled to hear the death-penalty bill.

Rep. Dan Pabon, D-Denver, said it was the first time he has heard the governor use the term "veto."

"He did not say, 'I will definitely, undoubtedly with no question veto this,' " Pabon said. "But he did say that is something he is bouncing around. He used the 'v' word."

And:

"It's no secret the governor has conflicting feelings about the death penalty," Hickenlooper's spokesman, Eric Brown, said via e-mail Wednesday. "Those feelings are still unresolved."

When Hickenlooper ran for office in 2010, he answered a Denver Post question about whether the death penalty should be repealed by saying, "No, but it should be restricted."

Late last year, though, Hickenlooper was less decisive about the death penalty.

"I wrestle with this, right now, on a pretty much daily basis because we are in a position where we have a couple of death-row inmates that are going to come up, and I haven't come to a conclusion," he told The Associated Press.

The Colorado Independent reports, "Colorado Death Penalty Repeal Testimony: ‘Flashbacks Still Haunt Me Today’," by Susan Greene.

Allen Ault worked from 1977 to 1979 under Democratic Governor Dick Lamm and in the 1990s as director of the National Institute of Corrections Academy in Boulder. Ault said he was “blessed” not to have to carry out a death sentence in Colorado but noted that he oversaw five executions later, as commissioner of corrections in Georgia.

“Regardless of the act perpetrated by the condemned, it has an extremely detrimental impact to watch a man die because of your actions,” Ault wrote in a testimony read to the committee by Frank Thompson, a former warden of prisons in Arkansas and Oregon.

“After each execution, we made psychological help available to the ‘execution team.’ I made sure they received this. Eventually, I had to avail myself of the services, but the flashbacks still haunt me today.”

In his statement, Ault referred to evidence from the past 20 years showing that “98 percent of prison deaths have occurred in states with the death penalty.” He dismissed arguments by many law enforcers that capital punishment deters prison violence and that it keeps corrections officials safe.

Earlier coverage of the Colorado repeal legislation begins at the link.  More from Colorado in the next post.

News Coverage of Colorado Repeal Hearing

In addition to last night's nine-hour long hearing, there is also breaking news from Colorado this morning.  The Denver Post reports, "Tom Clements, executive director of Colorado prisons, killed in his home in Monument." As was the case with the Aurora movie theater shootings, it's an event that may have an impact on the repeal debate.

"After 9 hours of testimony, Colorado House panel delays death penalty vote," is Kurtis Lee's report for the Denver Post.

Whether the state of Colorado should be able to sentence people to die came to the forefront Tuesday afternoon as several dozen people crammed into a House committee room for more than nine hours of emotional testimony on a bill to repeal the death penalty.

At the end of the night, the proposal was laid over until later in the session and no vote was taken.

The measure, sponsored by Democratic Reps. Claire Levy of Boulder and Jovan Melton of Aurora, would repeal capital punishment in Colorado for offenses committed after July 1. House Bill 1264 is also co-sponsored by Rep.

Kevin Priola, a Republican from Henderson.

Lawmakers attempted to repeal the death penalty in 2009, but the attempt failed by a single vote.

House Bill 1264 would not impact the three men already on Colorado's death row, or someone charged with a crime committed before the proposal became law. If passed, the death penalty would no longer be an option for prosecutors, only life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The last person the state put to death was Gary Davis in 1997.

The AP coverage is, "Colorado Legislature hears testimony on death penalty repeal measure," by Ivan Moreno.  It's via the Boulder Daily Camera.

A man urging Colorado lawmakers to abolish capital punishment lifted a container holding some of his son's ashes Tuesday and said the death penalty would not bring his son justice.

"My son's life was about love and life ... so please don't saddle my son's name with the death penalty," said Bob Autobee, whose son Eric was a corrections officer who was beaten to death in 2002 by an inmate.

Lawmakers heard hours of emotional testimony on the proposal, which was up for a first vote Tuesday evening in the House Judiciary Committee. Some argued the sentence is unfair and ineffective, while others called it a just punishment.

Moments after Autobee spoke, Maisha Fields-Pollard, whose mother serves in the Colorado Legislature, told lawmakers about her brother Javad Marshall-Fields, who was gunned down along with his fiancée to prevent him from testifying at a murder trial.

"Today I sit before you asking you to not put the justice of my brother at risk," Fields-Pollard said.

KUNC-FM posts, "Long Debate Punctuates First Committee Hearing On Death Penalty Repeal," by Bente Birkeland.

The last time Democrats tried to eliminate the death penalty four years ago they came up one vote short. Representative Ed Vigil (D-Alamosa) was the key swing vote in the house and kept the bill alive in that chamber. He was torn because as a one-time district attorney investigator he once used the death penalty as a threat to solve a homicide, but he also thinks it’s too expensive to prosecute.

“Over the years it’s been a learning experience and you do learn you can change your opinions and feel really good about them. It’s definitely going to be a challenging debate,” he said.

"Death penalty repeal effort sparks nine hours of emotional testimony," is the KDVR-TV report by Eli Stokols.  There is video at the link.

The battle over Colorado’s death penalty began in earnest Tuesday, when a measure to repeal capital punishment in the state drew nine hours of emotional testimony during the bill’s first hearing before lawmakers.

Finally, around 11 p.m., the House Judiciary Committee, at the sponsor’s request, decided to postpone a vote on House Bill 1264, which is still expected to be approved and eventually move to the full House for debate.

The committee’s chairman, Rep. Daniel Kagan, D-Denver, also told reporters the decision to put off the vote made sense because lawmakers shouldn’t be deciding such a weighty issue when they’re exhausted from such a long day of debate.

All afternoon and late into the evening, dozens of people, on both sides of the issue, told compelling personal stories, including Robert Dewey, who was exonerated of a murder charge last year after serving 18 years in prison.

“They talked about the death penalty for my case,” Dewey told the House Judiciary Committee. “If that would have happened, I’d have probably died already for a crime I didn’t do.”

Randy Steidl, who served 12 years including six on death row for a murder DNA later proved he didn’t commit, echoed Dewey’s argument that the death sentence is irreversible and also said that he found life in prison without parole to be a tougher sentence to serve than death.

“Life without parole is a far harsher sentence. It’s an appropriate sentence,” Steidl testified. “And you don’t run the risk of executing an innocent person. You can release an innocent man from prison, but you cannot release him from the grave.”

Earlier coverage of the Colorado repeal legislation begins at the link.

Duane Buck Case Live Chat Today at 12 Noon, CDT/1:00 PM, EDT

"Duane Buck case live chat: what's next for inmate sentenced by race?" will go live in just over an hour, at 12:00 noon (CDT), 1:00 pm (EDT).

Join Ed Pilkington and Christina Swarns, director of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, to discuss Buck's case.

What does his case tell us about the way African Americans are treated generally in the application of the death penalty in America? Join Guardian reporter Ed Pilkington and Christina Swarns, director of the NAACP legal defence and educational fund, to discuss the case from 1 to 2pm ET Wednesday.

Other questions to consider:

• What is the current role of race in US capital punishment?

• Why do his advocates say Buck was sentenced to death because of his race?

• How did Buck's lawyer allow such evidence to be presented in court?

• What is the status of Buck's new sentencing hearing?

Guardian writer Pilkington also posts, "Texas convict's death row sentence challenged over claim of racial bias."

More than 100 prominent civil rights leaders, lawyers, politicians and clergy are calling on the state of Texas to provide a new fair sentencing hearing for Duane Buck, the African American man who was put on death row in 1997 after the jury was told he was a danger to society because he was black.

The Buck case is rapidly becoming a focal point for anxieties that the application of the death penalty across America is riddled with racial discrimination. Last week an appeal was filed in the Buck case that included new research showing that at the time of his sentence black defendants in Houston, Texas – the death penalty capital of the US – were three times more likely to be charged with a capital crime than whites.

The statement put out by 102 national and Texan leaders calls for a new fair sentencing hearing for Buck that would be free from racial bias. "The state of Texas cannot condone any form of racial discrimination in the courtroom. The use of race in sentencing poisons the legal process and breeds cynicism in the judiciary," it says.

The signatories include Linda Geffin, who was one of the prosecutors in the original trial of Buck, as well as Phyllis Taylor who was shot by Buck but survived. The statement says that Taylor has "forgiven Mr Buck and does not wish to see him executed".

Earlier coverage of Duane Buck's case begins at the link.  Related posts are in the race category index.

More News From Colorado

"Colorado lawmakers hear personal stories surrounding death penalty," is the AP report filed by Ivan Moreno.  It's via the Boulder Daily Camera.

A grim coincidence at a Colorado high school. A father's killing at a Texas gas station. A son's shooting death that has driven a mother's political career.

A proposal to abolish Colorado's death penalty will be one of the most emotional issues this legislative session -- in part because lawmakers' own stories are closely connected to the debate.

The three men on Colorado's death row all attended the same high school in suburban Denver at different times. Democratic Rep. John Buckner of Aurora was the high school's principal when each attended.

Aurora Democrat Rhonda Fields' son was gunned down at an intersection to stop him from testifying at a murder trial. Two men convicted in the shooting are on death row.

And Democratic Sen. Lucia Guzman, who is co-sponsoring the bill, believes executions should be abolished, despite her father's gruesome slaying decades ago.

The bill gets its first hearing in coming days. These are the stories of three lawmakers who could be casting crucial votes.

The Sunday Denver Post published opposing OpEds.  "Should Colorado do away with the death penalty? Yes," is by State Rep. Angela Williams.

Colorado is a state of many pleasant surprises. We've made great history, despite the opinions of many who assume we are governed by outdated Rocky Mountain stereotypes. We've transformed ourselves from sleepy rural plains to bustling Gateway to the West, a blossoming tech corridor with a world class airport.

Our largest city has already had not one, but two African-American mayors, a Latino mayor, and two female members of Congress. For the first time in our history, we elected five African-American state representatives to the House. At one point, we boasted a black Senate president and a black House speaker, at the same time. We are now an open arms, open-minded purple state rather than an intolerant, uncompromising red state.

But, when it comes to the death penalty, we have a long way to go.

"Should Colorado do away with the death penalty? No," is by retired broadcast journalist Greg Dobbs.

A bill to repeal the death penalty in Colorado is scheduled to be heard by the House Judiciary Committee this week.

There are many compelling arguments to repeal it: It is inhumane; it is inequitably applied; it doesn't deter murderers; it is outlawed in a growing number of states; it leaves Colorado in a league with distastefully barbarous nations like Iran and North Korea; and, maybe most appalling, it has surely led innocent people to their deaths in other states, if not in Colorado. (The praiseworthy "Innocence Projects" across the country have freed so many wrongly convicted citizens that that fatal flaw with capital punishment cannot be ignored.)

But I'm for it anyway.

Earlier coverage of the Colorado repeal legislation begins at the link.

Developments in North Carolina

At the Charlotte Observer O-pinion site, editorial board member Fannie Flono writes, "Time to rev up N.C.'s executions? No."

It's time to juice up the needle. No more slacking off on sending the N.C. death-row inmates to the death chamber for their lethal injection.

That's the thinking behind a new bill introduced Wednesday by New Hanover Republican senator Thom Goolsby. Goolsby's Senate Bill 306 would repeal the 2009 N.C. Racial Justice Act, a law state Republicans already gutted last year. The changes drastically reduced the ability of judges to use general statistics and data to decide whether a death row inmate was given the death penalty because of his or her race. Goolsby gave his support for that revamped bill lawmakers approved, saying then that he didn't "trust statisticians or people who come in after the fact to find some way to get coldblooded killers off of death row."

But that wasn't good enough and now he's calling for the law's total revocation. His bill also calls for doctors, nurses and pharmacists to participate in executions without fear of punishment from state licensing boards, something the courts have already declared permissible. And it also requires a somewhat ghoulish death watch by lawmakers with mandated updates to the General Assembly on the status of post-conviction death penalty cases, and on the training of executioners.

And:

Instead of trying to restart the state killing industry, North Carolina should join those states abandoning it. It's too often unfairly administered even when race is not a factor.

"Bill seeks to streamline NC execution process," is the AP report filed by Michael Biesecker.  It's via the San Francisco Chronicle.

Legislation introduced Wednesday aims at streamlining the execution process in North Carolina.

The measure by Sen. Thom Goolsby, R-New Hanover, seeks to make several changes to laws governing the administration and appeal of capital punishment. It also includes doing away with the state's Racial Justice Act.

The 2009 law allows those sent to death row to seek having their sentences commuted to life in prison without the possibility of parole if they can convince a judge racial prejudice played a role in their conviction.

Flanked by prosecutors from across the state, Goolsby decried that none of the 152 inmates on North Carolina's death row have been executed since 2006 due to various state and federal legal appeals.

WRAL-TV reports, "Bill seeks to put death penalty back on track."  It's by Mark Binker.

Sen. Thom Goolsby, R-New Hanover, has filed a bill he said will end North Carolina's de facto moratorium on the death penalty. Among other measures, it would wipe away the last vestiges of the Racial Justice Act, a measure that allows death row inmates to challenge their sentences based on statistical evidence.

And:

The measure also:

• Codifies court rulings that allow doctors, nurses and other health professionals to participate in executions without sanction from the North Carolina Medical Board or other licensing bodies.
• Outlines the time line the attorney general and Division of Adult Correction has to follow once an inmate has exhausted his or her appeals.
• Provides ongoing training to execution teams.
• Requires regular reports on the status of death row cases to the General Assembly.

It's unclear how much more quickly executions would happen if Goolsby's bill passes.

"Families of Fayetteville-area murder victims support bill to repeal Racial Justice Act," is the Fayetteville Observer report by Paul Woolverton.

The families of two Fayetteville-area murder victims stood in support of legislation filed Wednesday to repeal North Carolina's Racial Justice Act and end the state's unofficial moratorium on executions.

The Racial Justice Act of 2009 and 2012 provides condemned inmates an opportunity to escape death row if they have evidence that racism was a factor in their prosecutions and convictions. It was a response to concerns of institutional racism in the criminal justice system.

Independently from the Racial Justice Act, all executions in the state were halted in January 2007 by court challenges questioning the legality and constitutionality of North Carolina's execution practices.

"The beginning of the end of that moratorium starts today," said state Sen. Thom Goolsby, a Wilmington Republican and criminal defense lawyer, during a news conference to announce his legislation.

And:

The state is still in litigation over the constitutionality of its execution procedures, whether they violate the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment, said David Weiss, a lawyer with the Center for Death Penalty Litigation. Goolsby's bill would have not have an effect on that case, Weiss said, and until it's resolved, executions will remain on hold in North Carolina.

He thinks it will take at least a year.

The matter is pending before the N.C. Court of Appeals, and from there, it's expected to be heard by the N.C. Supreme Court, Weiss said.

"GOP bill would repeal Racial Justice Act once and for all," is from Raleigh's News & Observer.

SB306, filed by Sen. Thom Goolsby, a Wilmington Republican, would repeal the RJA in its entirety. Goolsby announced the bill at a news conference attended by district attorneys from around the state, and relatives of murder victims.

The bill would apparently not bring an end to the claims that have already been filed under the Racial Justice Act, however.

Goolsby said the bill would "restart the death penalty in North Carolina to ensure justice for the more than 100 families whose loved ones were taken brutally from them."

Tye Hunter, director of the Center for Death Penalty Litigation, in an interview noted that Republican legislators last session insisted they weren’t repealing the Racial Justice Act. “Now the mask is off,” Hunter said.

NC Policy Watch posts, "A return to executions?"  It's by Sarah Ovaska.

North Carolina hasn’t had an execution since 2006, and state Sen. Thom Goolsby wants to change that.

Goolsby, a Wilmington Republican, filed a bill today that seeks to repeal what’s left of the Racial Justice Act and restart executions in North Carolina.

North Carolina’s death row has 152 people on it, and the numbers of people sentenced to death has lessened in recent years. No one was sentenced to death by a North Carolina jury last year, though three people were in 2011. The longest resident of death row, Wayne Laws, has been awaiting execution since 1985.

Earlier coverage from North Carolina begins at the link. You can also jump directly to earlier news of the state's Racial Justice Act.

As always with news from North Carolina, thanks to Gerda Stein for distributing.

Update From Maryland

"Md. Senate keeps death penalty repeal bill intact," is the AP report filed by Michelle Janaye Nealy, via CT Post.

Gov. Martin O' Malley's efforts to repeal the death penalty were buoyed Friday when senators in favor of repeal rebuffed an amendment that would allow execution in certain cases.

In a 27-19 vote, senators rejected a clause to permit the death sentence in cases where a person has been found guilty of heinous crime.

State Sen. Richard Colburn, who introduced the measure, recounted the gruesome details of the 2009 kidnapping of 11-year-old Sarah Foxwell, who was sexually assaulted and killed on Maryland's Eastern Shore.

"Think about what happened to this poor, innocent girl," the Eastern Shore Republican said.

Baltimore City Democrat Sen. Lisa Gladden, who supports the repeal, countered by saying, "What I want for these types of offenders, I want them to sit every day and think about what happened. Then when they get tired of thinking about what happened, I want them to think about it again."

The Senate broke for recess after a three-hour floor session, but is scheduled to take up more amendments Monday. A final vote on the bill could come as early as Tuesday.

"Death penalty repeal clears a key test vote in Senate," by Michael Dresser at the Baltimore Sun.

The Senate paused its debate of a bill that would make Maryland the 18th state in the nation to eliminate the death penalty after advocates of repeal won a key test vote. 

Senators voted 27-19 Friday to reject an amendment that would have created an exception to repeal for especially heinous murders.

Supporters of death penalty repeal expressed confidence that they have enough votes to defeat all the other amendments expected to be offered when the Senate resumes debate Monday. And they expressed confidence they will prevail on the final Senate vote.

"It's clear we have 26 public votes. I don't expect any of them to waver," said Jane Henderson, executive director of Maryland Citizens Against State Executions. It takes 24 votes to pass a bill in the 47-member Senate.

The Annapolis Capital Gazette posts, "Senate begins debate on death penalty repeal bill," by Alex Jackson.

O'Malley's bill, Senate Bill 276, would make Maryland the 18th state to outlaw capital punishment.

The bill is expected to clear the Senate, where a majority support it.

But as many as 10 amendments could be introduced next week to try to alter the bill, said Jane Henderson, executive director of Maryland Citizens Against State Executions. Henderson's group supports the death penalty repeal.

"There's obviously a long way to go," Henderson said. "But we know we have 26 people who have publicly said they would vote for the bill."

The Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee on Feb. 21 voted 6-5 to approve the repeal bill.

Under the proposal, life without parole would become the highest level of punishment.

"Death penalty repeal bill clears early hurdle in Maryland Senate debate," at the Washington Post, by John Wagner.

Sen. Jamie B. Raskin (D-Montgomery), who is shepherding O’Malley’s bill through the chamber, said he considered the vote on the Colburn amendment an “excellent harbinger” of where senators are on the underlying legislation.

The bill requires 24 votes to pass. Twenty-six senators have said publicly that they intend to vote for it. Joining them in opposition to Colburn’s amendment Friday was Sen. Allan H. Kittleman (R-Howard), who said he is continuing to wrestle with how to vote on the bill itself.

During Friday’s floor debate, Raskin acknowledged that there are cases such as Foxwell’s where vengeance is an understandable emotion. But he argued that “death is different” and the state cannot correct a mistake after executing someone.

“With the death penalty, there is no going back,” he said.

Raskin and several other senators made reference to Kirk Bloodsworth, a former death row inmate who was later exonerated by DNA evidence. Bloodsworth watched Friday’s debate from the Senate gallery.

Earlier coverage of the Maryland repeal legislation begins at the link.

Maryland Senate Floor Debate May Come Next Week

Today's Annapolis Capital Gazette reports, "Death penalty repeal vote may not happen until next week," by Alex Jackson.

Gov. Martin O'Malley's bill to repeal the death penalty could wait until next week for a vote by the full Senate.

Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr., D-Calvert, said Senate Bill 276 won't be discussed by the chamber until Thursday afternoon, at the earliest.

With debate continuing on O'Malley's gun-control proposal into Thursday morning, Miller said there most likely wouldn't be time for senators to propose amendments to the bill until Friday. The Senate had originally scheduled the start of debate on the death penalty repeal bill for Wednesday.

The Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee last week voted 6-5 to approve the repeal bill, which would make Maryland the 18th state to outlaw capital punishment.

Twenty-four votes are needed to pass a bill in the Senate The bill has at least 25 supporters.

"Poll: Most Marylanders back O’Malley on gun laws but not on repeal of the death penalty," is by Aaron C. Davis and Peyton M. Craighill for the Washington Post.  Infographics on the polling results are also available from the Post.

Marylanders overwhelmingly support Gov. Martin O’Malley’s plan to force gun buyers to submit to some of the nation’s strictest licensing requirements, including fingerprinting and safety training, according to a new Washington Post poll.

But a majority oppose O’Malley’s bid to abolish the death penalty, despite deep skepticism across the state about whether capital punishment is an effective deterrent, the poll found.

The mixed verdict on two of the governor’s leading priorities comes at a key juncture in the 90-day legislative session for O’Malley (D), who is trying to cement his progressive legacy in Maryland as he eyes a possible run for national office in 2016.

Across the state, fully 85 percent back the governor’s licensing plan — the centerpiece of a broader gun-control bill — and 73 percent do so “strongly,” according to the poll.

On Tuesday, the state Senate opened what promises to be several days of contentious debate on the legislation, which would also ban high-capacity ammunition clips and assault weapons — provisions that also enjoy broad support in the Post poll.

And:

Although a majority of Marylanders continue to support the death penalty, some of the arguments O’Malley is making appear to resonate.

By nearly 2 to 1, those polled say that the death penalty is not a deterrent to murder and does not lower the murder rate. And most who responded that way say they feel strongly about their view.

Moreover, nearly one-third of Marylanders — including nearly half of African Americans — say capital punishment has been applied unfairly in the state. That’s another argument O’Malley has advanced in a state where five men sit on death row but no executions have taken place since 2005.

Yet even when those arguments are stated explicitly — as well as questions that critics have raised about the morality of capital punishment — support for repeal is tepid among the public.

The Post also reports, "In Maryland, five wait on death row," by Theresa Vargas.

Vernon Lee Evans Jr. should have been dead by now. A prosecutor did his best to ensure that when he convinced a Maryland jury that Evans was among the worst of the worst, a killer who deserved a punishment more severe than a life spent in prison. He deserved, the prosecutor argued and the jury agreed, to die at the hands of the state.

That was nearly 30 years ago.

In the years since, the motel where Evans gunned down two employees has been replaced by a Howard Johnson. The star witness in the case, a woman who lost her husband and a sister that day, has died. And Evans, who in his own words has “rebuilt” his character, remains on Maryland’s death row, kept alive in a politically forged purgatory.

“In hindsight, it would have been better if he got life without parole,” David B. Irwin, the former prosecutor who handled the case, said recently. “But it wasn’t obvious to us as young prosecutors back then that this was the way it was going to turn out.”

As the state Senate prepares to vote this week on whether Maryland should abolish capital punishment, the Evans case illustrates what can happen when the death penalty exists but is not enforced.

Unlike Virginia, which has executed more than 100 people since 1976, including one man last month, Maryland has executed five people since it reinstituted the death penalty in 1978, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. No one has been executed in Maryland since 2005.

What is essentially a moratorium on capital punishment has been in place in Maryland since 2006, and since 2009, the state has required DNA evidence, a videotaped crime or a videotaped confession in capital cases.

Earlier coverage from Maryland begins at the link.

Oregon Repeal Legislation Heard

"Death penalty opponents want Oregon vote on repealing capital punishment," is the AP report filed by Jonathan J. Cooper.  It's via the Republic.

Death penalty opponents took their case to Oregon lawmakers Monday, imploring a state House committee to allow the public to vote on outlawing capital punishment.

The House Judiciary Committee took no action on the measure, which would ask voters in 2014 whether to amend the state constitution, making it illegal to execute anyone, including people already on death row.

"My plea today, as a citizen of Oregon, is do not kill in my name," said Aba Gayle of Silverton, whose 19-year-old daughter, Catherine Blount, was murdered in 1980. "And most importantly of all, do not tarnish the name of my beautiful daughter with another senseless killing."

Her daughter's killer, Douglas Mickey, is on death row in California.

Terri Hakim disagrees. She doesn't want to see any benefits for the father and son convicted of planting a bomb that killed her husband, Oregon State Police Senior Trooper Bill Hakim, at a Woodburn Bank in 2008.

The Salem Statesman Journal reports, "Death penalty subject of bill," by Peter Wong.

House Joint Resolution 1 is a proposed constitutional amendment to abolish the death penalty, which Oregon voters reinstated in 1984. If lawmakers refer it and voters approve it in November 2014, the penalty for aggravated murder — the only crime punishable by death — would revert to life imprisonment.

Terri Hakim was the only witness to oppose the measure.

“If these men were allowed back into the general (prison) population, they are ‘heroes’ and will continue to teach their words of prejudice and disregard for human life,” she said, referring to trial testimony about the Turnidges’ anti-government views.

The current debate was prompted by Gov. John Kitzhaber, who on Nov. 22, 2011, issued a reprieve blocking the scheduled execution of Gary Haugen and vowed there would be no executions during his tenure. Haugen is challenging his reprieve in court.

Kitzhaber was en route Monday from a conference in Washington, D.C.

But in a letter to the committee, he said: “Courts are applying stricter standards and continually raising the bar for prosecuting death penalty cases. For a state intent on maintaining a death penalty, the inevitable result will be bigger questions, fewer options and higher costs. It is time for Oregon to consider a different approach.”

Wong also wrote an earlier version, "Gov. Kitzhaber backs measure to end death penalty," which is still available from the Statesman Journal.

Kitzhaber started the current debate back on Nov. 22, 2011, when he granted a temporary reprieve to twice-convicted murderer Gary Haugen, two weeks before Haugen’s scheduled execution at the Oregon State Penitentiary.

Haugen is challenging his reprieve. The Oregon Supreme Court hears the case on March 14.

Like Douglas Franklin Wright and Harry Charles Moore, Haugen waived further rights of appeal. Kitzhaber did not intervene in the two earlier cases, and the executions by lethal injection proceeded in 1996 and 1997, during his first term as governor.

“I have regretted those choices ever since – both because of my own deep personal convictions about capital punishment and also because, in practice, Oregon has an expensive and unworkable system that fails to meet basic standards of justice,” Kitzhaber wrote in his statement.

Kitzhaber’s reprieve applied only to Haugen – he did not commute any of the sentences of the 36 men and one woman on death row – but he also vowed no executions during his current tenure as governor.

The Oregonian reports, "Oregon death penalty 'indefensible,' says man who last carried it out."  It's written by Helen Jung.

The man who oversaw Oregon's last two executions at the Oregon State Penitentiary said the death penalty fails to deter crime, does not make the public any safer and forces prison officials into an untenable position.

"Asking decent men and women to participate in the name of a failed public policy that takes human life is indefensible and rises to a level of immorality," said Frank Thompson, who was superintendent of the penitentiary from 1994 to 1998.

Thompson was one of more than a dozen people to testify in front of the House Judiciary Committee Tuesday. All but one, the widow of an Oregon State Police trooper who was killed in the 2008 Woodburn bank bombing, urged the committee to move forward a resolution asking voters to repeal the death penalty and replace it with a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

But the bill, sponsored by Rep. Mitch Greenlick, D-Portland, faces long odds.

"I don't know if it will progress past this point," said Rep. Jeff Barker, D-Aloha, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee. He conceded that he is "not a big supporter of changing" the law, which allows for capital punishment in aggravated murder cases.

Bills to alter the death penalty have not made it out of committee in recent years.

"Oregon Lawmakers Consider Death Penalty Repeal," is by Chris Lehman for Northwest News Network.  It's via Oregon Public Broadcasting.  There is audio at the link.

More than a year ago, Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber stunned people by enacting a moratorium on the death penalty. It happened just weeks before the scheduled execution of two-time murderer Gary Haugen. At a hearing Tuesday, lawmakers took up the question of whether to ask voters to repeal the death penalty altogether. But it’s not clear whether that will actually happen.

Dan Bryant knows the unique pain of learning a loved one has been murdered. His mother was stabbed to death by a mentally-ill relative in 1998.

"Five years later, her killer died while under the care of the State Hospital," Bryant says. "His death did nothing to bring closure, relief or any sense of justice to me or my family."

Now, the Eugene minister is asking lawmakers to send a repeal of the death penalty to Oregon voters. Ending capital punishment in Oregon would have to be done at the ballot. That's because Oregon voters put it in the state Constitution nearly 30 years ago.

Earlier coverage from Colorado begins at the link.

Maryalnd Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee OKs Repeal

"MARYLAND: Senate committee votes to repeal death penalty," is the AP report by Michelle Janaye Nealy.  It's via Delmarva Now.

Gov. O'Malley's bill to repeal the death penalty inched one step closer to becoming law when a Senate committee passed the measure in a 6-5 vote.

The bill now moves to the full Senate floor, where it also expected to pass.

Sen. Robert Zirkin, a Baltimore County Democrat who was once considered a potential a swing vote, threw his support behind the measure after much soul searching.

"I am forever torn on this issue," Zirkin said. "The practical reality of our death penalty from a legal standpoint is that it just doesn't work."

The senator said commentary from the families of victims guided his vote.

"The victims' families are caught in a system that never executes anybody," Zirkin said. "In most jurisdictions, the state's attorney won't even seek it, and you end up with families who are put through endless appeals and never getting any closure."

The legislation passed with an amendment that eliminates a $500,000 crime fund to aid the families of slaying victims. The language could have prevented the issue from being petitioned to a referendum vote. The Maryland Constitution bans any appropriations bill from being petitioned to voters.

The Baltimore Sun reports, "Senate panel approves death penalty repeal, altered gun bill," by Michael Dresser and Erin Cox.

The Judicial Proceedings vote for repeal was the first for that committee since 1969, when the measure was defeated on the Senate floor, according to the Assembly's library staff. The panel temporarily blocked repeal in 2009, but the measure was brought to the floor in a rarely used parliamentary maneuver. The bill was amended on the floor that year to retain the death penalty but to allow it only in cases where the prosecution could meet one of the highest evidentiary standards in the country.

Besides Zirkin, voting for repeal in committee Thursday were the panel's chairman, Sen. Brian E. Frosh; Sen. Lisa A. Gladden of Baltimore; Sen. C. Anthony Muse of Prince George's; and Sens. Jennie Forehand and Jamie Raskin of Montgomery County. All are Democrats.

Voting against the bill were Democratic Sens. James Brochin and Norman Stone of Baltimore County and Republican Sens. Nancy Jacobs of Harford, Joseph Getty of Carroll and Christopher Shank of Washington County.

And:

Five men, all convicted murderers, remain on death row in Maryland for killings that go back as far as 1983. The state has not executed a prisoner since 2005. The Maryland Court of Appeals imposed a de facto moratorium in 2006 when it threw out the rules under which executions are carried out. Those regulations have not been replaced amid complaints from death penalty supporters that the O'Malley administration has been dragging its feet.

"Md. Senate panel approves measures on death penalty repeal, tighter gun-control," is by John Wagner and Aaron C. Davis in the Washington Post.

Gov. Martin O’Malley’s bill to abolish Maryland’s death penalty cleared a tall hurdle Thursday evening as a key Senate committee approved the measure for the first time and sent it to the full chamber for a vote next week.

The same Senate panel, which voted 6 to 5 for the repeal bill, later signed off on sweeping gun-control legislation, another top O’Malley priority, in a voting session that stretched until nearly midnight.

And:

Maryland, where five prisoners sit on death row, would become the 18th state to outlaw capital punishment. Death sentences would be replaced with life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Ultimately, the issue could be decided by voters. If a repeal passes, opponents have vowed to take advantage of a process in Maryland that allows citizens to petition just-passed laws to the ballot.

The Annapolis Capital Gazette coverage is, "Maryland Senate committee votes in favor of death penalty repeal," by Alex Jackson.

Gov. Martin O'Malley's proposed death penalty repeal is headed to the floor of the state Senate.

After nearly two hours of debate, the Senate's Judicial Proceedings Committee voted 6-5 Thursday evening to send O'Malley's bill to the full Senate, with amendments.

Under the proposal, Senate Bill 276, life without parole would become the highest level of punishment.

And:

The committee deleted a requirement for the governor to allocate $500,000 of savings from the repeal to the Maryland Victims of Crimes Fund. That amendment was proposed by Raskin, D-Montgomery.

If the bill is signed into law, repeal opponents are expected to attempt to petition it onto the ballot, as allowed by the Maryland Constitution and as done for same-sex marriage last year. But laws "making any appropriation" are excluded from this provision.

A letter from the Attorney General's Office last month said it was "more likely than not" that a court would allow a petition effort to go forward regardless of the language in his original bill.

Still, the committee approved Raskin's amendment after he presented a letter from O'Malley saying the governor would provide the funding whether it was required in the bill or not.

Earlier coverage of the Maryland repeal legislation begins at the link.

In Kentucky

"Death Penalty Opponents Sense Momentum, Still Waiting for Action," is by Greg Stotelmyer for Kentucky Public News Service.

More than a month into the 2013 session of the Kentucky General Assembly, bills have been filed in both the Kentucky House (HB 48) and Senate (SB 45) to abolish the death penalty, but neither piece of legislation has received a hearing yet.

Still, those who oppose executing a convicted killer say they still sense that momentum is building. Ben Griffith is among those who want to make life without parole the maximum sentence.

"I think you're on the slippery slope when you're asking the state to do killing for a victim family's closure," he said.

The death penalty remains legal in 33 states, but Kentucky is one of nine states where legislation to abolish executions is under consideration. Maryland lawmakers listened to testimony last week.

Griffith, who lives in Frankfort, has lived the death penalty debate first-hand since his brother, Christopher, was one of four people murdered in Missouri in 1986 by Donald Reese. Reese was executed 11 years later.

Griffith believes life without parole is "healthier" for family members of victims because closure can begin sooner.

And:

Thirty-four men and one woman now sit on death row in Kentucky. There have been three executions since Kentucky reinstated the death penalty in 1976.

Earlier coverage from Kentucky begins at the link.

News Coverage of Montana Repeal Bill Hearing

The Billings Gazette reports, "Bill seeking death penalty abolition inspires emotional testimony," by Charles S. Johnson.  It's also available via the Helena Independent Record and the Montana Standard.

Some families of murder victims lined up opposite side of a bill Thursday to abolish the death penalty in Montana and replace it with life imprisonment with no possibility of parole.

Some religious leaders also were divided on House Bill 370, by Rep. Doug Kary, R-Billings, at a long, emotional hearing before the House Judiciary Committee. The panel took no immediate action the bill.

Kary told the committee it isn’t a debate over whether the death penalty is philosophically or morally an acceptable punishment.

“This is about whether the death penalty is working here in Montana, whether it’s an effective policy,” he said. “I would argue it is not. I would argue it’s broken. If we haven’t executed an innocent person in Montana, it’s out of sheer luck.”

Litigation over appeals by those sentenced to death here is “wasting millions of dollars on less than a handful of cases, while police, courts and prisons beg for more resources, resources that could actually keep our communities safe,” he said.

"Emotions run high in hearing on bill to abolish death penalty," is by John S. Adams for the Great Falls Tribune.

In 1973, Marietta Jager Lane’s 7-year-old daughter, Susie, was abducted in the night from a Montana campground. Over the course of a week, Susie Jager’s captor repeatedly raped her before strangling her and dismembering her body.

In 2000, Rep. Tom Berry’s 17-year-old son was kidnapped, beaten, tortured, and eventually shot in the head six times before his killers twice tried to burn his body.

What Lane and Berry do not share is the same view on the death penalty.

Their stories were among the two hours of heart-wrenching testimony given to members of the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday morning on a bill to end the death penalty in Montana.

The measure, House Bill 370, by Rep. Dough Kary, R-Billings, would replace the death penalty with the sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. Kary told the committee that the death penalty is costly to taxpayer, ineffective as a deterrent and could eventually lead to the state-sanctioned death of an innocent, wrongfully convicted person.

And:

A group of Republican lawmakers opposed to the death penalty submitted a letter to the committee urging members to pass the measure on to the House where it could get a full debate.

Committee chairman Krayton Kerns, R-Laurel, said the committee will take executive action on the bill at the committee’s Feb. 22 meeting.

Earlier coverage from Montana begins at the link.

News Coverage of Maryland Repeal Bill Hearing

"Archbishop Lori, O'Malley among parade of witnesses urging death penalty repeal," is by Timothy B. Wheeler and Michael Dresser in today's Baltimore Sun.

Sensing a real chance to abolish the death penalty in Maryland after years of trying, opponents of capital punishment brought a parade of religious, political and civil rights leaders to Annapolis Thursday to urge lawmakers to do away with the ultimate sanction.

Roman Catholic Archbishop William E. Lori, testifying before a legislative committee for the first time since taking the helm of the Archdiocese of Baltimore last year, said he had come to Annapolis to throw the church's support behind the repeal effort.

"While those who have done terrible harm to others deserve punishment," he said, the church opposes the death penalty because it considers even the lives of criminals sacred — and because of "what it does to all of us as a society."

The Washington Post reports, "Maryland governor appeals to lawmakers to end death penalty," by John Wagner.

Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) pressed lawmakers to abolish the death penalty at a pair of charged hearings on Thursday, invoking morality and fairness while arguing that capital punishment is at odds with “our values as a people.”

Prosecutors and others countered with sometimes graphic detail from some of the state’s most gruesome rapes and murders, saying that executions are a vital law enforcement tool.

“Are we really going to walk away from the death penalty for individuals who commit the most heinous of acts?” Baltimore County State’s Attorney Scott Shellenberger asked, recalling a murderer who taunted his victims’ families during his sentencing hearing.

The legislation, which would replace the death penalty with life in prison without the possibility of parole, is among the most high-profile issues facing the legislature during its 90-day session. With O’Malley’s backing, it has also gained momentum recently in a General Assembly that has balked at previous repeal efforts.

AP coverage is, "Gov. urges death penalty repeal," written by Michelle Janaye Nealy.  It's via the via Cumberland Times-News.

Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley on Thursday urged lawmakers to abolish the death penalty this year, with repeal efforts appearing to be on stronger ground than when he last tried in 2009.

The Democratic governor denounced capital punishment during a Senate committee hearing, calling it inaccurate, costly, racially biased and ineffective in deterring violent criminals. O’Malley, who has made the ban on capital punishment a top legislative priority this session, urged lawmakers to support a measure that makes life without the possibility of parole the state’s most severe punishment.

“The death penalty is expensive, and the overwhelming evidence tells us that it does not work,” O’Malley told the Senate Judiciary Committee. “In 2011, the average murder rate in states where death is a penalty was 4.9 for every 100,000 people. In states without it, the murder rate was lower, at 4.1 per the top 100,000 people.”

"O'Malley urges House and Senate panels to repeal death penalty," by Alex Jackson in the Annapolis Capital Gazette.

The governor kicked off the testimony during two hearings on his legislation (Senate Bill 276 and House Bill 295). About 40 people signed up to testify Thursday for each of the hearings in the Senate Judicial Proceedings and the House Judiciary committees.

“Freedom, justice, the dignity of every individual, equal rights before the law — these are the principles that define our character,” O’Malley said. “The death penalty is inconsistent with these principles.”

O’Malley’s legislation would affect only future cases. Under it, life without parole would become the highest level of punishment.

The legislation would also require the governor to allocate $500,000 of savings from the repeal to the Maryland Victims of Crime Fund, to meet the needs of murder victims’ families.

The Frederick News-Post reports, "Local woman testifies on death penalty," By Bethany Rodgers.

Wearing a red tulip that identified her as a relative of a murder victim, New Market resident Vicki Schieber came before Maryland lawmakers Thursday to say the death penalty brings no peace to families like hers.

Her daughter, Shannon, was brutally murdered in Philadelphia in 1998. Years later, when police charged a man with the killing, Vicki Schieber and her husband decided they did not want him on death row.

Schieber testified before the Maryland House Judiciary Committee that she has taken her story to 22 states as she argues for ending capital punishment. Her experience has shown that the death penalty often delivers distress rather than solace to victims' families.

"I have seen what happens to them when they wait 10, 15, 20 years," she said.

Sitting beside Schieber was Kirk Bloodsworth, who was released from Maryland's death row after DNA exonerated him in 1993. Both urged committee members to end capital punishment in the state.

"O’Malley pleads case for Maryland death penalty repeal," is by Holly Nunn for the Gaithersburg Gazette.

Advocates for and against the bill filled the hearing room Thursday, and many were sent to an overflow room to listen to the testimony.

In 2009, the governor sponsored a similar repeal bill, but it eventually was amended to keep capital punishment but require DNA evidence, a video of the crime or a videotaped confession.

Capital cases cost about $1.9 million to prosecute, while non-capital murder cases cost the state $650,000 on average, according to state legislative analysts.

A state analysis estimated that the repeal will save about $800,000 annually.

The Gaithersburg Gazette's columnist Barry Rascovar writes, "Death penalty repeal is vexing issue."

Death. It’s one of the marquee topics of the current General Assembly session. Abolishing the death penalty is near the top of the liberal social agenda this year — the equivalent of last year’s crusade to legalize same-sex marriage. A great deal of moralizing and hand-wringing were on display in Annapolis this week, as advocates continued their determined drive to ban the state from putting any criminal to death.

Unless you base your attitude on the Old Testament’s an eye-for-an-eye directive, the death penalty is out of place in the ethereal arena of ethics and religious teachings. It is wrong to kill another. Period. It’s what every parent teaches his or her children. Religious leaders call it a mortal sin.

African-American ministers and the NAACP have joined Annapolis advocates in large numbers this year. There’s a racist overtone to the large number of blacks put to death in evangelical, Southern states that is hard to refute. Such a bandwagon is ideal for Gov. Martin O’Malley, who is in national campaign mode this session. He’s a convert to the abolish the death penalty movement, but converts often are the most ardent.

Earlier coverage from Maryland begins at the link.

Maryland Senate Committee to Hear Repeal Bill Today

The Maryland Judicial Proceedings Committee meets today at 1:00 pm (EST)/12:00 noon (CST) to consider Senate Bill 276,  You can listen to the hearing at the link.

"Death penalty debate looms," is by Timothy B. Wheeler for today's Baltimore Sun.

Opponents and supporters of the death penalty are expected to converge on Annapolis today to air their views on the emotional issue, as lawmakers appear closer than ever to abolishing capital punishment in Maryland.

Gov. Martin O'Malley is scheduled to testify before both House and Senate committees hearing bills he is co-sponsoring that would end the death penalty. Among those set to join him in calling for repeal are Catholic Archbishop William E. Lori, NAACP President Benjamin T. Jealous and other religious and civil rights leaders.

Lining up to oppose repeal are prosecutors, including Baltimore County State's Attorney Scott D. Shellenberger, police officials and relatives of murder victims.

And:

If Maryland does abolish the death penalty, it would be the sixth state to do so in recent years, according to advocates.

"Md. governor to testify on capital punishment ban," is the AP report, via the Washington Post.

Gov. Martin O’Malley will testify in Annapolis on a measure to repeal the death penalty in Maryland.

O’Malley is scheduled to speak Thursday before the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee and the House Judiciary Committee.

And:

Since 1976, Maryland has executed five people. Five men remain on death row.

NAACP President Benjamin Jealous, Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown and Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori will be among those testifying.

"Archbishop to testify in favor of death penalty repeal," is from WBAL-TV.

Baltimore Archbishop William Lori will try to convince Maryland House and Senate committees on Thursday to vote for a bill that repeals the controversial practice.

"Certainly, we recognize that people commit heinous crimes and should be punished, but we feel there's a better way than capital punishment, especially because there's life without parole," Lori told 11 News reporter George Lettis.

It's unusual for Baltimore's Catholic leader to get political, but Lori's predecessor, now-Cardinal Edwin O'Brien, testified in 2009 in support of a compromise bill to make capital punishment more restrictive in Maryland.

The current archbishop's passion for the issue stems from the church's pro-life stance.

At the Washington Post's the Fold, there is video, "The governor and mother poised to close Maryland’s death row."

Vicki Schieber didn’t care about the death penalty before her daughter Shannon was raped and murdered. Now she’s working in her memory to end capital punishment and is on the verge of a breakthrough, thanks to Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley.

Earlier coverage from Maryland begins at the link.

Denver Post OpEds

Today's Denver Post publishes two OpEds.  Tim Masters writes, "Death penalty must be repealed, says Tim Masters."

When I was 15 years old, a woman named Peggy Hettrick was brutally murdered and mutilated. Years later, I was sentenced to life imprisonment for her murder. I served 10 years of my sentence before I was proven innocent by DNA, and fully exonerated three years later. I am living proof that our criminal justice system makes terrible mistakes. I add my voice to the chorus calling upon the Colorado General Assembly to pass legislation ending the death penalty. It's the only way we can ensure no innocent man like me is ever executed in Colorado.

The death penalty is and always will be subject to human error, prejudice, politics and the emotions of revenge and anger. The murder of Peggy Hettrick rocked our community. Experienced prosecutors and self-motivated police officers convinced well-meaning citizens that I had done this terrible act. The Colorado Supreme Court, instead of freeing me, affirmed my conviction and left me to a serve a life sentence.

And:

The death penalty needs to be repealed. We can keep our communities safe and punish terrible offenders with life imprisonment, all the while ensuring we never send an innocent man to his grave.

Colorado Attorney General John Suthers and State Representative Rhonda Fields write, "Death penalty's fate should be up to Colorado voters."

The Denver Post editorial on Colorado's death penalty was thoughtful and initiated a constructive dialogue on a controversial issue. We wish to contribute to that conversation by explaining why it is the people of Colorado who should have the final word on this life-and-death matter.

Together, as Colorado's attorney general and state legislator (as well as mother of a murdered son whose executioner currently sits on death row), we share the belief that capital punishment should remain a viable punishment for the most heinous crimes. However, we are even stronger in our belief that it is the people of our state, through the referendum process, and not their elected representatives, who should decide this important public policy matter.

The repeal of the death penalty is a divisive issue that needs to be fully debated and considered. And Coloradans deserve thorough discussion from all sides, especially in light of last year's highly publicized tragedies.

Earlier coverage from Colorado begins at the link.

An Update From Maryland

"Capital punishment already dead in Md., some prosecutors say," is by Julia Maldonado of Capital News Service.  It's via the Daily Record.

A bill that would repeal the death penalty in Maryland appears to have the votes needed to clear the Senate, adding momentum to Gov. Martin O’Malley and proponents’ push for repeal.

But some prosecutors and other death penalty supporters say a repeal would only make official what is already true: Capital punishment doesn’t really exist in Maryland. The state has one of the most restrictive death penalty laws in the country.

Combine that with bureaucratic opposition from the governor and judges’ reluctance to impose the ultimate penalty, and even the most violent criminals are not likely to ever be executed, some say.

“I don’t want them to ever have the opportunity to do it again,” said Sen. Kathleen Klausmeier, D-Baltimore County, a supporter of the death penalty. “But as far as I’m concerned,” she said, “the death penalty doesn’t happen here in Maryland anyway.”

"With brother on death row, a sister waits,"is by Timothy B. Wheeler in the Baltimore Sun.

At the time of her brother's arrest and trial, Patricia Booth-Townes supported the death penalty — "an eye for an eye," as she put it. Even after her brother was sentenced to die, she says, she didn't waver. She just didn't believe he'd committed that heinous crime, despite the evidence presented in court.

But years later, while studying criminal justice at Coppin State University, she found herself researching capital punishment. She almost couldn't avoid it, she said, because her textbook mentioned her brother's case, which set a constitutional precedent for the use of "victim impact statements" in sentencing. She came to believe that the death penalty is unjust.

As lawmakers in Annapolis gear up for another round in the long-running debate over the death penalty in Maryland, Booth-Townes is a case study in how opinions on the issue evolve. While some lawmakers change long-held stances on the policy or reconsider in the face of intense lobbying, she offers a unique perspective. Relatives of Maryland's death row inmates are voices that are almost never heard in the General Assembly.

For nearly three decades, Booth-Townes has endured the anguish, anxiety and shame that's come since her older brother was convicted and sentenced to die for the killing of an elderly Pimlico couple. Now the 53-year-old Randallstown woman wants people to know about her family's pain.

Earlier coverage from Maryland begins at the link.

A Terrible Burden to Victims’ Families

That's the title of Bob Autobee's OpEd in Colorado's Pueblo Chieftain.

I am a veteran corrections officer. No one would ever call me soft on crime. For nearly all of my life, I supported the death penalty.

When my son, corrections officer Eric Autobee, was murdered, I still supported the death penalty and it seemed proper justice that they would seek the ultimate punishment for his offender.

That was the old me, before I learned and experienced how the system really doesn’t work. It has been a nightmare. Given what I know now, I can no longer support Colorado’s broken death penalty system. What’s more, I will work to end it to ensure that our resources are better used and no family ever has to go through what my wife and I have endured.

Justice should be swift. This simply isn’t possible with the death penalty.

Our case is the poster child for this. It has been more than 10 years since Eric was murdered and the case is still being fought. Thousands of hours, millions of dollars, and an unspeakable emotional toll on my family has been poured into the fight for a death sentence.

And:

As a victim’s father who has been trapped in the labyrinth of the death penalty, and after seeing the real misuse of resources, I am begging our elected officials to do away with our broken death penalty system.

Colorado can do better by our corrections officials, and we can do much better by victims.

Earlier coverage of Bob Autobee's change of heart begins at the link.  Also available, the most recent coverage from Colorado.

Marquette University Conference on Restorative Justice to Feature UT Prof

"Restorative justice conference explores death penalty vs. life without parole," is by Annysa Johnson of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

The death penalty vs. life without parole and their effects on victims' families and their communities will be the topic of the 2013 Restorative Justice Conference at Marquette University Law School Feb. 21-22.

Speakers will include Marilyn Peterson Amour, associate professor in the School of Social Work at the University of Texas, who co-authored a 2012 study comparing the impact of sentences meted out in Texas and Minnesota. You can read more on that Marquette Law Review piece here.

The conference explores the effects of both sanctions through the personal stories of survivors, prosecutors, defense lawyers, victims' advocates, and judges. The conference is based on a groundbreaking study by Marilyn Armour of victims' families in Texas (affected by the death penalty) and Minnesota (affected by life without the possibility of parole) and the implications of these punishments for healing.

Marqutte Univesrsity Law School posts, "Restorative Justice Conference: The Death Penalty versus Life Without Parole."  The conference will be held at the Milwaukee campus on February 21st & 22nd.

The death penalty. Life without the possibility of parole. These are society's harshest punishments. But how do they affect the victims' families? Is one more healing than the other? Is there ever closure? And what is the ripple effect on the community?

Marquette Law School's Restorative Justice Conference on February 21–22, 2013, will examine the impact of both sanctions through the personal stories of survivors, prosecutors, defense lawyers, victims' advocates, and judges. The conference is based on a groundbreaking study by Marilyn Armour of victims' families in Texas (affected by the death penalty) and Minnesota (affected by life without the possibility of parole) and the implications of these punishments for healing.
Cost

There is no fee for the Keynote Kickoff event on Thursday. Friday conference fee is $20 per person (includes continental breakfast and lunch on conference day). Marquette University students and employees may attend at no charge but must, like others, register.

The complete conference schedule is at the link.

Related posts are in the restorative justice category index.

A Survivor's View of the Kansas Death Penalty

Neely Goen writes the OpEd, "Costly death penalty isn’t protecting Kansans," in today's Wichita Eagle.

I never met my dad. My mom was pregnant with me when three men murdered my father, Conroy O’Brien, a Kansas state trooper.

What should have been a routine traffic stop near Matfield Green changed the course of many lives.

My mother wasn’t the only one devastated. Many people were outraged that an officer had been murdered in the line of duty. My father’s murder, along with other cases, led people to call for a return of the death penalty, which Kansas eventually reinstated in 1994.

This was fine with me. Having spent my entire life without my dad, I was angry and had wanted his killers executed.

But over time, after I saw how the death penalty system actually works, my feelings on the issue changed.

What I’ve discovered is a legal process that no murder victim’s family should have to endure. We already have been through enough. We deserve better than a system that forces us to go through long trials and endless appeals. The death penalty focuses an incredible amount of attention on the killers, which makes victims’ families relive the painful details of a murder over and over.

And:

It is time for Kansas to re-establish itself as a leader on this issue. The state first repealed capital punishment back on Jan. 30, 1907. It is a good time for lawmakers to re-evaluate the death penalty. They will find a broken, wasteful system that does nothing to protect the people of Kansas and can hurt murder victims’ families.

Earlier coverage from Kansas includes the overturning of a death sentence and a call to repeal the state's death penalty.

Related posts are in the victims' issues index.

In Iowa

"Iowa's death penalty debate heats up again," is the Quad City Times report written by Mike Wiser of Lee Newspapers.

Iowa would become the first state to reintroduce the death penalty since New York did in 1995 if legislation filed last week becomes law.

The abduction and slaying of 8-year-old Elizabeth Collins and her 10-year-old cousin Lyric Cook-Morrissey this summer in Evansdale gave capital punishment advocates the resolve to try, once again, to reintroduce it to Iowa where it was abolished in 1965.

Elizabeth’s parents, Heather and Drew, joined with conservative state Sen. Kent Sorenson, R-Milo, and the parents of other missing and murdered children at a pair of Statehouse news conferences announcing their intention to push for its reinstatement.

They also met with Gov. Terry Branstad, who indicated he would sign a bill that brought the death penalty back in limited circumstances.

But enthusiasm in both the House and the Senate seems muted at best. The majority Senate Democrats said there’s no interest in the bill, and it won’t make it to the floor for a vote. House Speaker Kraig Paulsen, R-Hiawatha, indicated it’s not a top priority for the House if the Senate is not going to act.

Earlier coverage from Iowa begins at the link.

Kirk Bloodsworth in Maryland

Today's New York Times reports, "A Death Penalty Fight Comes Home."  It' written by Scott Shane.

Kirk Noble Bloodsworth, a beefy, crew-cut man
whose blue T-shirt read “Witness to Innocence,” took the microphone in a church hall here and ran through his story of injustice and redemption one more time. Twenty years ago, he walked out of a Maryland prison, the first inmate in the nation to be sentenced to death and then exonerated by DNA.       

About 60 activists against the death penalty listened with rapt attention, preparing to descend on state legislators to press their case. Maryland appears likely in the next few weeks to join the growing list of states that have abolished capital punishment. Some longtime death penalty opponents say no one in the country has done more to advance that cause than Mr. Bloodsworth. But ending executions in Maryland, the state that once was determined to kill him, would be a personal victory for him.       

Even for proponents of capital punishment, Mr. Bloodsworth’s tale is deeply unsettling.

And:

Even after his release, Mr. Bloodsworth could never quite escape the false charges that had threatened him with execution. He tried to return, he said, to “a normal life,” but he was haunted by what he had learned about the justice system.       

“If it could happen to me, it could happen to anybody,” he said. He threw himself into work against capital punishment and for justice reform, first as a volunteer speaker and later as a professional advocate. Last month he began work as the advocacy director for Witness to Innocence, a Philadelphia-based coalition of exonerated death row inmates who push to end capital punishment.       

The movement to end the death penalty has garnered more support from politicians and the public as it has shifted from moral condemnation of capital punishment to a more practical argument: that mistakes by witnesses and the police inevitably mean that innocent people will be executed. While DNA gets the limelight, of 142 prisoners sentenced to death and then exonerated in the last 40 years, just 18 were freed over DNA evidence, according to the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington.

The Times also has this excellent graphic on death sentences and state repeal.

Earlier coverage from Mayland begins at the link.  Earlier coverage of Kirk Bloodsworth's advocacy is also available.

His story is told in Bloodsworth: The True Story of One Man's Triumph over Injustice by Tim Junkin; a must-read.

Maryland Roundup

"Frederick senator says he'll vote for death penalty repeal," is by Michael Dresser in the Baltimore Sun.

Proponents of repeal of the death penalty have picked up a potentially pivotal vote in the Senate with the decision of Sen. Ronald N. Young of Frederick County to support an end to executions in Maryland.

In an interview last night, the previously undecided Young said he had made up his mind to vote for the bill backed by Gov. Martin O'Malley and to resist amendments aimed at thwarting full repeal.

"It's more costly to execute (murderers) than to keep them for life," Young said. He added that prison officials have told him that lifers frequently turn into model prisoners because they depend on the privileges they accumulate.

Young, a freshman Democrat, was identified last week by Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee Chairman Brian E. Frosh as perhaps the critical vote in reaching the 24 needed to pass the repeal bill. Frosh, a Montgomery County Democrat, is a staunch repeal advocate.

Sen. Lisa A. Gladden, the sponsor of repeal bills in previous years, said she believes she will have 27 votes for the bill itself. The Baltimore Democrat said the  challenge for death penalty opponents will be to stave off floor amendments creating various exceptions for certain types of murders.

Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller, who supports keeping the death penalty, has said he would ensure that the bill gets an up-or-down vote if the governor can muster enough support.

The Washington Post reports, "Md. death-penalty repeal bill spending provision raises questions," by John Wagner.

Several leading Maryland lawmakers, including Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert), have said that they expect voters to have the final word on whether the state repeals the death penalty.

But it remains an open question whether the repeal bill sponsored by Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) could be petitioned to referendum if it passes the legislature.

The Maryland Constitution allows citizens to petition just-passed laws to the ballot if they collect enough signatures. But there’s an exception for laws “making any appropriation” — and O’Malley’s bill does propose spending some money.

Besides repealing the death penalty, the bill also directs the governor to put $500,000 a year into a fund for crime victims.

Even so, it is “more likely than not” that a court would allow a petition effort to go forward, according to an advisory letter written last week by a lawyer in the Attorney General’s Office.

And:

If a repeal bill passes, it would be up to the State Board of Elections to determine whether to allow it to be petitioned to the ballot. A challenge could follow in court either way.

"In death penalty debate, Marylanders argue about cost of executions," by Ilana Kowarski for the Maryland Reporter.

As Maryland legislators debate whether to repeal the death penalty, Gov. O’Malley and foes of executions have repeatedly claimed that it costs more to kill a murderer than to let him live.

That is an argument O’Malley made in Wednesday’s State of the State address, as he has before. “The death penalty is expensive and it does not work. It is not a deterrent,” O’Malley said.

That was the verdict of the Maryland Commission on Capital Punishment he appointed, which voted 13-9 to abolish the death penalty. The commission report said “the vast resources that are currently devoted to an uncertain and arbitrary death sentence system could be better utilized to stop homicides and other violent crimes before they occur.”

In its 2008 report, the commission wrote that the average cost of prosecuting and imprisoning a Death Row inmate was $3 million, nearly three times higher than the cost of convicting and sentencing a murderer to life imprisonment.  Of that $3 million, $1.7 million is spent in the courtroom and $1.3 million is spent in a Supermax prison, the commission wrote.

By contrast, when the death penalty is not sought in a murder case, the state spends $1.1 million on each convict, which includes $250,000 for the attorneys’ fees and $870,000 for life imprisonment, according to the commission’s report.  Those costs skyrocket when the state seeks the death penalty, whether its effort is successful or not.

The Urban Institute's 2008 report, The Cost of the Death Penalty in Maryland, is available in Adobe .pdf format.

Earlier coverage of the Maryland Commission on Capital Punishment is from 2008.

The Frederick News-Post reports, "One fight for death penalty’s repeal."  It's by Bethany Rodgers.

Maryland was the birthplace of Vicki Schieber's brilliant, brown-eyed daughter, and it was also her childhood home.

It's not a place where the death penalty should exist, Schieber says.

Schieber, of New Market, is sure her daughter would have forgiven the man who climbed into her Philadelphia apartment in the spring of 1998 and brutally murdered her. This belief guided Schieber as she and her husband resisted capital punishment for Shannon's accused killer. It also has pushed her to the front lines of the death-penalty repeal movement during this session of the Maryland General Assembly.

"Closure doesn't happen for murder victims' families. People ... want to say that when the needle is stuck in the arm, it will help you heal," Schieber said. "But anger only kills the person who is angry."

Earlier coverage from Maryland begins at the link.

Coverage of Arkansas Senate Hearing

"Opponents, supporters discuss death penalty before lawmakers," is by Rob Moritz for the Arkansas News Bureau.  It's the most extensive report on the hearing.

A man who spent 10 years on death row in Arizona before being found innocent and the father of a Trumann police officer slain in 2011 expressed divergent views on the death penalty during a legislative hearing Wednesday.

Testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee did not pertain to particular legislation, although the panel did endorse legislation Wednesday to allow family members of victims to witness an execution of the person convicted of the crime and later will take up a measure to set methods for carrying out the death penalty.

Lawmakers asked few questions during nearly two hours of often poignant testimony on both sides of the issue.

Ray Krone, who was convicted twice for the 1991 slaying of a Phoenix bartender, said he spent more than 10 years on Arizona’s death row before he was freed after DNA evidence proved his innocence. He urged the committee to oppose the death penalty in Arkansas.

The AP has two posts, both titled, "Death penalty opponents seek its abolition in Ark.," written by Jeannie Nuss.  The first is via the San Francisco Chronicle.

Death penalty opponents called on Arkansas lawmakers Wednesday to abolish capital punishment after Gov. Mike Beebe said earlier this month that he would sign legislation outlawing the punishment if it were to reach his desk.

No lawmakers have proposed abolishing the death penalty so far, but Sen. Jeremy Hutchinson, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, said it was important for legislators to hear from both opponents and proponents of the death penalty before discussing how to rewrite the state's lethal injection law that the Arkansas Supreme Court threw out last year.

"I thought it would be appropriate to, before we discuss the methodology of executions, that we discuss the humaneness of the death penalty itself," Hutchinson, R-Benton, said.

Academics, ministers and a former death row inmate spoke out against capital punishment during the judiciary committee meeting before lawmakers heard from a widow and the father of a slain police officer who spoke in favor of the death penalty.

The second version of the AP report is via KTHV-TV.

A man exonerated after spending 10 years on death row spoke out against the death penalty in Arkansas.

He joined other speakers at the capitol Wednesday as lawmakers take up the issue of victim's families in the same room as the inmate's during execution.

"There's now been 142 exonerations in our country," said Ray Krone who was convicted for murder and known as the Snaggle-Tooth Murderer in Arizona." The DNA came back from that case with a match from a man currently in prison for having sex with a child and served a previous sentence for raping a woman.

"I think all the committee members were on the edge of their seats today," said Sen. Robert Thompson (D-Paragould). Thompson said he isn't swayed to abolish the death penalty. "That was an old case from another state."

KATV-TV posts, "Capital Punishment Debated in Senate Committee," by Janelle Lilley.

The Senate Judiciary Committee considered the ethics of capital punishment on Wednesday. Next week, they'll be asked to decide how Arkansas should carry out the punishment.

It was a hearing filled with emotional testimony as activists made their cases for and against the death penalty.

"I have to say, I supported the death penalty. I believed in it, deterrent affect for the worst of the worst. I found out I was wrong, almost dead wrong at the age of 35," testified former Arizona death row inmate Ray Krone.

And:

Next week the Judiciary Committee will consider a bill, effectively allowing executions in the state to be carried out once again. Wednesday, the committee did pass Senate Bill 52 which allows family members of the victim in capital cases to view the execution from behind a glass window. As of now, family can only watch the execution via a closed circuit television.

"Lawmaker Death Penalty Panel: Victims Speak Out," is by Marci Manley for KARK-TV.

A bill that would allow victim's families to view executions inside the chamber viewing area did pass through the committee following the Death Penalty hearing.

The bill was filed by State Senator Bart Hester (R) of Cave Springs.

Current policy allows media, the inmate's attorney and spiritual adviser, along with citizen witnesses inside the viewing area.

Victim's families have the opportunity to watch the execution in a different area on closed circuit television.

Hester's bill would allow up to five of the victim's immediate family members in the chamber to watch the execution.

The bill passed despite protestations from Dina Tyler, with the Arkansas Department of Correction. According to Tyler the space where executions are conducted is extremely small, and placing victim's families in the room with the inmate's advocates could result in outbursts and possibly expose family members to media attention they would not be comfortable with.

Earlier coverage from Arkansas begins at the link.

Bipartisan Repeal Legislation Introduced in Washington State

"Death penalty foes introduce measure in Olympia," is the AP report, via the Seattle Times.

Republican and Democratic lawmakers against the death penalty have introduced a measure eliminating it. But they fully acknowledge that the bill won't go anywhere this year in Olympia.

The House measure eliminates the death penalty from the punishment available for people convicted of aggravated first-degree murder, leaving life in prison without parole as the top conviction.

In a joint statement, Democratic representatives Reuven Carlyle of Seattle and Tina Orwall of Des Moines and Republican Rep. Maureen Walsh of Walla Walla say that the death penalty is "immoral, , unfairly implemented, and appeals to society's most violent instincts rather than love and compassion."

"State Rep. Orwall sponsors bill to repeal death penalty," is by Steve Hunter for the Kent Reporter.

State Rep. Tina Orwall, D-Des Moines, is one of the sponsors of House Bill 1504 to repeal the death penalty in Washington in favor of a sentence of life imprisonment without possibility of release or parole.

Orwall issued a joint statement Tuesday with Reps. Reuven Carlyle, D-Seattle and Maureen Walsh, R-Walla Walla on the bill:

“At a time when our state is striving to come together on major policy issues we feel there is meaningful value in uniting behind our shared conviction that life has value and that the death penalty is below us as a civilized society. We respect and acknowledge the political environment in Olympia does not welcome this issue on the agenda this year. And yet, nonetheless, we feel compelled to stand together, to speak out together, to encourage our colleagues to join us in elevating the dialogue about this profoundly important moral issue.

"We believe the death penalty is immoral, unfairly implemented, and appeals to society's most violent instincts rather than love and compassion. And it is financially draining, as we expend far more on the appeals process for death row inmates than lifetime incarceration. As we weep in pain for victims of horrific, unimaginable crimes, we also hope and pray that one day our state will join a community of states and nations to eliminate this unwise policy."

Senate Bill 5372 is a companion bill to end the death penalty sponsored by several senators, including Sen. Karen Keiser, D-Kent.

Earlier coverage from Washington begins at the link.

Crime Victims Rally for Repeal in Maryland

Today's Annapolis Capital Gazette reports, "Death penalty opponents rally at State House."  It's by Alex Jackson.

Opponents of capital punishment came to Annapolis on Monday, rallying support for Gov. Martin O’Malley’s proposal to repeal the death penalty.

Around 100 people turned out for the rally, which was organized by Maryland Citizens Against State Executions.

“Thousands” of others joined a “virtual lobby day” online, showing their support by signing an open letter delivered to lawmakers Monday evening, according to the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.

Family members of murder victims spoke at the event, which began at Lawyers Mall and moved to St. Anne’s Parish Hall, where participants got food and directions to their legislators’ offices.

According to the bill, all savings from repealing the death penalty would bolster resources for the families of murder victims in the state.

Bonita Spikes, whose husband was murdered at a convenience store in 1994, spoke at the rally about her fight to get help for her son Michael, who had emotional problems after his father’s death.

Spikes, a nurse, said she didn’t have the resources to get her son the depression medication he needed.

“By passing the repeal bill this year we will have the resources needed to get murder victims’ families help,” Spikes said. “Continue to call your legislators ... Stand by us.”

Legislation to repeal the death penalty was introduced in the Senate Jan. 18 as Senate Bill 276, and in the House of Delegates on Jan. 23 as House Bill 295. There will be hearings on both bills on Feb. 14.

"Relatives of murder victims call for repeal of death penalty," is the WTOP-FM post.  There is video at the link.

Relatives of five murder victims are calling for a repeal of Maryland's death penalty.

They joined a rally in Annapolis Monday.

"You start to realize that revenge is taking up space that you need to heal," Erricka Bridgeford of Reisterstown told the group. Bridgeford's brother was murdered in 2007.

"We have learned that one more dead body cannot be justice," Bridgeford said.

Earlier coverage from Maryland begins at the link.

An Update From Maryland

"Senators wrestle with death penalty vote," is Erin Cox's report in today's Baltimore Sun.  It's also available via Huffington Post.  Here's the beginning:

State Sen. Allan Kittleman is torn.

When lobbied by the ACLU and the NAACP to repeal Maryland's death penalty, Kittleman asks how he can ensure the most heinous murderers will never kill again.

When approached by fellow senators or state's attorneys who want to keep capital punishment, Kittleman questions whether there can be a foolproof way to ensure the state doesn't kill an innocent person.

"My mindset on this has always been divided," said Kittleman, a Howard County Republican who hopes to skip his own committee to listen to another panel's death penalty hearings before the legislation reaches the Senate floor. "It really is an issue that I'm struggling with, and I want to make sure I do the right thing."

Like a handful of other publicly undecided senators, Kittleman's internal struggle has made him a target in a behind-the-scenes lobbying press conducted in part by elected officials, prosecutors, religious groups, a Catholic bishop, the wrongly accused and advocates who have strong views on one side or the other.

In a divided chamber considered key to overturning the death penalty, Kittleman and a few other senators may cast the deciding votes on whether to uphold Maryland's narrowly written capital punishment law or to erase it from the books for the first time in 35 years.

The death penalty debate, perhaps the most emotional issue of the General Assembly session, does not break cleanly down party lines as lawmakers choose instead to yield to constituent views, emotion or their moral beliefs.

The Washington Post notes, "Today in D.C.: Four things to watch for," by Maggie Fazeli Fard.

Maryland death penalty repeal effort: Relatives of murder victims are joining a rally in Annapolis this afternoon in favor of repealing the state’s death penalty.

Earlier coverage from Maryland begins at the link.

More Calls for Repeal in Colorado

Today's Canon City Daily Record publishes the editorial, "Colo. must rethink the death penalty."

If any crimes are worth the death penalty, they are the mass slaying at an Aurora movie theater and the gruesome killing of Jessica Ridgeway. Yet Colorado's death penalty did not dissuade either killer from acting.

Should none of these reasons compel the state Legislature from repealing the death penalty, then perhaps practical reasons will. As noted by Boulder County District Attorney Stan Garnett, prosecuting a death penalty case through a verdict can cost the prosecution more than $1 million. That's more than 21 percent of the annual budget of the district attorney's office, which prosecutes 1,900 felonies a year.

Sending away a convicted murderer for life and avoiding the years of appeals that come with a death sentence more quickly makes him dead to society and allows victims to get on with their lives.

Denver attorney David Lane writes the OpEd, "Abolish death penalty in Colo.," in today's Denver Post.

It appears that the Colorado legislature is finally poised to give serious consideration to ending the barbaric, money-sucking relic of bygone years known as the death penalty.

Since 1968, Colorado has executed one person. The article in the Dec. 26 Denver Post noted that the death penalty annually costs Colorado taxpayers $1.5 million. It also quotes Attorney General John Suthers as saying that there are times we need the death penalty "for the safety of the people."

Mr. Suthers never explains how executing one person in the last 45 years, at a cost of approximately $50 million, has made our state safer. Spending tens of millions for one execution seems like the most preposterous waste of money imaginable, especially when one considers the law enforcement programs which could have been funded with those scarce dollars.

Mr. Suthers simply resorts to the time-tested tactic of whipping up hysteria over truly heinous crimes and offering a "solution" to the problem which involves the government spending more millions to kill people.

And:

When Jared Loughner pleaded guilty in Arizona for the Gabby Giffords shootings and was sentenced to life without parole, the nightmare of court appearances ended for all of the remaining victims. They would not be forced to testify at trial, they would not have to endure endless appeals with the fear always lurking in their minds that he would get a new trial and they would once again be forced to relive the nightmare on the witness stand. He will be incarcerated forever, and the victims can focus on healing and not on a court case which will never end.

Nathan Dunlap has been on Colorado's death row for 20 years. Edward Montour's death sentence was reversed and he is back for a new trial 10 years after the crime. Even if he is again sentenced to death, 30 years will have passed between the crime and the punishment and millions of dollars will have been wasted.

Earlier coverage from Colorado begins at the link.

Stacy Rector on Tennessee's Death Penalty

Today's Journal News in Tennessee publishes the OpEd, "New dialogue needed on death penalty," written by the Rev. Stacy Rector.  She's the executive director of Tennesseans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.

In an article in the Jan. 5 Tennessean titled, “State pursues new death penalty drug,” the issue of Tennessee’s problematic lethal injection protocol is revisited.

The article notes that the state’s stock of one of the three drugs used in the current protocol was seized by the federal government over questions about the legality of how the drugs were obtained. Now, the state says it is pursuing alternative drugs but won’t say much more.

As is often the case, the article has a tendency to frame the discussion in terms of simply taking a side, including quotes from me and quotes from those “on the other side.” But this polemical approach to the issue does not get us very far and does not address the concerns that we share.

And:

This new conversation about the death penalty should not be simply about taking a side in a tired debate. Instead, it should be about listening to one another and working together to determine how best to facilitate healing and support for victims’ families after the horror of a homicide has occurred, and how to work together to create smart policies that prevent such tragedies from happening in the first place.

Earlier coverage from Tennessee begins at the link.  More of what Stacy Rector is talking about can be found in the restorative justice and victims' issues category indexes.

Can Forgiveness Play a Role in Criminal Justice?

That's the title of an article by Paul Tullis in the New York Times Sunday Magazine.  Here's the beginning of this must-read:

At 2:15 in the afternoon on March 28, 2010, Conor McBride, a tall, sandy-haired 19-year-old wearing jeans, a T-shirt and New Balance sneakers, walked into the Tallahassee Police Department and approached the desk in the main lobby. Gina Maddox, the officer on duty, noticed that he looked upset and asked him how she could help. “You need to arrest me,” McBride answered. “I just shot my fiancée in the head.” When Maddox, taken aback, didn’t respond right away, McBride added, “This is not a joke.”

Maddox called Lt. Jim Montgomery, the watch commander, to her desk and told him what she had just heard. He asked McBride to sit in his office, where the young man began to weep.

About an hour earlier, at his parents’ house, McBride shot Ann Margaret Grosmaire, his girlfriend of three years. Ann was a tall 19-year-old with long blond hair and, like McBride, a student at Tallahassee Community College. The couple had been fighting for 38 hours in person, by text message and over the phone. They fought about the mundane things that many couples might fight about, but instead of resolving their differences or shaking them off, they kept it up for two nights and two mornings, culminating in the moment that McBride shot Grosmaire, who was on her knees, in the face. Her last words were, “No, don’t!”

Friends couldn’t believe the news. Grosmaire was known as the empathetic listener of her group, the one in whom others would confide their problems, though she didn’t often reveal her own. McBride had been selected for a youth-leadership program through the Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce and was a top student at Leon County High School, where he and Grosmaire met. He had never been in any serious trouble. Rod Durham, who taught Conor and Ann in theater classes and was close to both, told me that when he saw “Conor shot Ann” in a text message, “I was like: ‘What? Is there another Conor and Ann?’ ”

At the police station, Conor gave Montgomery the key to his parents’ house. He had left Ann, certain he had killed her, but she was still alive, though unresponsive, when the county sheriff’s deputies and police arrived.

The work of the National Council on Crime and Delinquency is referenced in the article.

Related posts are in the restorative justice and victims' issues category indexes.

A Roundup of Repeal News Coverage From Colorado

It appears likely that Colorado state legislators will be taking up repeal legislation in their session this year.

"Death penalty: Representative Claire Levy says she is confident a repeal could pass," is Sam Levin's post for Westword.  Here's the beginning:

Before Representative Claire Levy proposes legislation to repeal the death penalty in Colorado, she wants to be sure that it can pass.

And after more discussions with her fellow lawmakers on the topic, she says it seems like the momentum is right to get rid of the death penalty -- even if one of her Democratic colleagues is adamantly opposed to the move.

"I can't say with certainty...but I'm getting more confident," Levy says. "Those of us who are sponsoring it want to be sure we are going to be able to pass it before we introduce it. We are getting in confident in that."

At a pre-legislative forum in December, reporters asked the leaders of the Colorado General Assembly whether it was likely that a proposal to repeal the death penalty would be considered this year. At the time, Democrats said it was a possibility and John Morse, the new president of the Senate, revealed that he would likely support a repeal, which he has opposed in the past.

And though the new legislative session hasn't yet begun, the possibility of a death penalty repeal has since gotten more attention, most recently with reports that Levy, a Democrat who represents Boulder, is exploring the potential for a bill.

Representative Rhonda Fields, an Aurora Democrat, told us last week that she has been and will remain strongly opposed to any efforts to get rid of the death penalty, calling the proposal "an insult to crime victims." For Fields, it is very personal: Two of the three inmates on death row in Colorado were responsible for the death of her son in 2005.

Today's Boulder Daily Camera endorses repeal in its editorial on the coming legislative session, "Colorado, 2013: Challenges and opportunities await." 

Some legislators have been talking about revisiting a bill to abolish the death penalty in Colorado, and such early talk has gotten some high-profile support including from Boulder District Attorney Stan Garnett.

It's more expensive for the state to kill a murderer than to keep him in jail for life. The last time such a move was considered, the money saved from death penalty cases was going to be applied to reviewing cold cases. We agree with the death penalty opponents who argue that the punishment is unevenly applied and politicized; it wastes money and time; and that it doesn't serve as a deterrent to the types of crimes that qualify for it.

Last year, Connecticut became the 17th state to eliminate the death penalty, the fifth state to do so in just five years. Colorado should join that list.

The December 27 issue of the Denver Post also endorsed repeal in the editorial, "Why Colorado should end the death penalty."

Boulder state Rep. Claire Levy is reportedly testing the waters for a possible bill to end the death penalty in Colorado. We hope she takes the plunge. You can't pass legislation unless you try, and the stars may finally be aligned for success on this difficult issue.

As The Denver Post's Jessica Fender pointed out in an article Wednesday, several factors could work in favor of death-penalty opponents. Not only do Democrats control both the House and Senate, but Gov. John Hickenlooper has indicated he might be open to the idea. Although Hickenlooper did not support abolishing the death penalty when he ran for office in 2010, he now says that "capital punishment is another one of those things where I haven't come to rest on a position."

From our perspective, it would be better if the governor favored banning capital punishment outright, but maybe that's not far in the wings. In the meantime, if he's looking for reasons to embrace abolition, we'd be happy to help out.

Start with the fact that capital punishment is nearly extinct in Colorado already as a practical matter, with only one execution occurring in the past 45 years. Admittedly, part of the reason for this long dry spell has to do with court decisions at various times that pushed some inmates off death row. However, the bigger reason is that prosecutors don't often seek the death penalty and juries are reluctant to embrace it when they do.

The Denver Post news article referenced in the editorial is, "Death penalty foes may try to repeal Colorado's ultimate punishment," by Jessica Fender.  It's an excellent primer on the Colorado landscape.

Foes of capital punishment for months have quietly sought advice and support for a campaign to end Colorado's death penalty even as a series of horrific, high-profile murders have unfolded at home and nationwide.

Their adversaries — and some traditional allies — question the timing, saying fresh memories of mass shootings in Aurora and elsewhere, the slaying of 10-year-old Jessica Ridgeway and other grisly crimes could turn lawmakers against potential legislation in 2013.

But those incidents could also strengthen efforts to end capital punishment, said state Rep. Claire Levy, D-Boulder, who pointed out that the death penalty is either unlikely or impossible in many of the state's most recent cases.

"These are horrific crimes, but the death penalty will probably not be imposed. If anything, it reinforces the notion that (the death penalty) is outmoded," Levy said. "Why do we have this law on the books if it doesn't prevent these types of crimes?"

Three years after a prior attempt to end the death penalty failed, the political playing field looks more favorable, and advocates like Levy have added research critical of how the death penalty is applied to their arsenal.

On December 30, the Post reported, "Rep. Fields wants Colorado voters to decide death penalty question," also written by Fender.

A lawmaker who saw her son's killers sentenced to die says Colorado voters — and not 100 lawmakers under the state Capitol's golden dome — should decide whether to abolish the death penalty.

As state Rep. Rhonda Fields' Democratic colleagues attempt to gather support for ending capital punishment through legislation, she has started work on a bill that would put the death-penalty question on the 2014 ballot, she said.

Her counterproposal sets the stage for a political showdown on a traditionally touchy topic at the Capitol, where some key officials' stances against abolishing the death penalty have recently softened.

"Colorado lawmakers should not slam the door on justice for those who commit heinous crimes," Fields said. "I believe that society must be protected, and the voters should decide the fate of capital punishment."Colorado has executed one man since the death penalty was reinstated in Colorado in 1975. Three men currently wait on death row.

"Boulder DA in favor of axing death penalty," is written by Mitchell Byars for the Boulder Daily Camera.

As Colorado lawmakers consider repealing the death penalty, Boulder District Attorney Stan Garnett said he would most likely be in favor of a bill doing away with capital punishment, a stance that is not surprising given Boulder's history -- or lack thereof -- with the practice.

Three years after a previous attempt to end the death penalty failed, some legislators -- including Boulder's Rep. Claire Levy -- have said they are once again looking into doing so. While Garnett said he would have to review the specific language of any proposed legislation to end it, he did say he supported doing away with the punishment.

"As the D.A. in Boulder I want to be a voice for a progressive approach to law enforcement and public safety," Garnett said. "I don't think the death penalty is a tool that is useful or should be a part of law enforcement in Colorado."

Garnett said the problem with the death penalty is a practical one. Very few cases ever meet the criteria to seek the death penalty, and because trials involving the death penalty take longer and often see more appeals, they cost prosecutors more to take to trial.

"If something is not working or not relevant, I tend to say, 'Why do we even have this on the books?'" Garnett said. "It just isn't used very often."

Westword reported on December 27, "Death penalty: As legislators consider repeal, John Morse says he's now supportive."  It's by Sam Levin.

With the new year comes a new legislative session, and there's already talk about a potential effort to repeal the death penalty in Colorado.

And John Morse, a Democrat and the new president of the Senate, says he is likely to support a repeal. This would be a major shift from his previous stance on the matter -- and it will be a personal struggle for him, he says.

And:

Representative Mark Ferrandino, the new speaker in Colorado, told reporters that he has spoken to both interest groups and other legislators about the death penalty, and said his opinion has not changed on the matter. "I voted in favor of a repeal and would continue to be in favor of repealing the death penalty," he said.

Earlier coverage from Colorado begins at the link.  Related posts are in the abolition and state legislation category indexes.

The Iowa Debate

Today's Iowa City Press-Citizen publishes the editorial, "Our View: Iowa shouldn't go back to the death penalty."

But as we Iowans grieve with the families of Elizabeth and Lyric — just like we grieve with the friends and family of the dead in Newtown, Conn. — we also need to make sure these horrific events don’t lead to an emotion-based decision to get rid of the state’s nearly half-century-old ban on capital punishment.

We can understand why these deaths would revive calls for the death penalty in Iowa. We saw similar calls in 2005 and 2006 after the body of 10-year-old Jetseta Gage was found in an abandoned mobile home and Roger Bentley was convicted of her kidnapping and murder.

And Gov. Terry Branstad was right to meet with the families of such victims to hear firsthand their demands for justice.

And:

But Branstad also said he won’t prioritize such a measure during the next legislative session largely for political reasons — even if the proposal were to pass the Iowa House, the Democratic leaders of the Iowa Senate would be unlikely to bring the measure up for debate.

“I like to focus on things that have a realistic chance of being approved,” Branstad told reporters during a Capitol news conference. “Considering the present makeup of te Senate, and Sen. (Mike) Gronstal’s adamant position, we need to focush on things that I can accomplish in the next couple years.”

We’re glad for Branstad’s pragmatism and Gronstal’s opposition because we don’t think Iowa’s law should be changed in the heat of such overwhelming emotion. Instead, we think Iowa’s courtrooms need to remain a site for justice rather than for blood vengeance.

"Parents plead for death penalty," is the Des Moines Register report written by William Petroski.

The parents of four missing or slain Iowa children met with Gov. Terry Branstad on Monday and pleaded with the Iowa Legislature to reinstate the death penalty.

“We are going to fight and we are not going to give up,” said Heather Collins, the mother of Elizabeth Collins, one of two cousins presumed kidnapped and slain this summer.

And:

Branstad, a longtime supporter of capital punishment in limited circumstances, expressed his sympathy for the parents, but he told reporters he won’t make the death penalty a priority in the next legislative session. He said he knows such a bill would be blocked by Democrats who control the Iowa Senate.

Sen. Robert Hogg, D-Cedar Rapids, who will chair the Senate Judiciary Committee during the 2013 legislative session, confirmed Branstad’s political analysis Monday.

“The death penalty is not going to be brought up in the Senate Judiciary Committee for debate,” Hogg said. “Iowa hasn’t had a death penalty since the 1960s. Not in my lifetime have we had a death penalty, and there is just no need for a death penalty.”

The Legislature repealed the death penalty in 1965. Since then, all those convicted of first-degree murder and the most serious cases of kidnapping and rape have been sentenced to life in prison. Currently, 680 inmates are serving life sentences in the state’s prison system, according to the Iowa Department of Corrections.

Earlier coverage from Iowa begins at the link.

Iowa Roundup

Today's Mason City Globe Gazette publishes the editorial, "State does not need to restore death penalty."

Calls to renew capital punishment come easy in the wake of horrible crimes such as the likely murders of the two young Iowa cousins whose bodies were recently recovered after having been missing for five months.

Some legislators have been calling for the state to bring back the death penalty, and Gov. Terry Branstad has said he supports the death penalty in limited circumstances, although he won’t push for it now because he realizes it has little or no chance of making it through the Democratic-controlled Iowa Senate.

In the heat of emotion, we, too, can imagine wanting to kill anyone who could do such a horrible thing as to murder two small girls. A long, torturous death for that person would seem appropriate.

That’s why laws should be made not in the heat of emotion, but in the light of logic and facts.

The facts simply don’t support any justification for capital punishment other than for pure, simple, brutal revenge, and hopefully our society strives for a higher standard than that.

And:

In Iowa, if you are convicted of a capital crime you are sentenced to a long, slow death behind bars. There is no probation and no parole for people sentenced to life in this state. We’re satisfied that’s the way it should remain, and oppose any efforts to try to change it.

Kathie Obradovich posts, "Let’s not honor the dead with more death," at the Des Moines Register's A Better Iowa blog.

It’s difficult to deny urgent requests from well-meaning people who have suffered unimaginable loss.

That’s why some state legislators might be willing to entertain another debate on reinstating the death penalty in Iowa, even though the bill will almost certainly fail.

Gov. Terry Branstad has agreed to meet on Monday with the parents of 8-year-old Elizabeth Collins, an Evansdale girl who with her young cousin was abducted and murdered earlier this year. Drew Collins, Elizabeth’s father, said just after his daughter’s memorial service that he thinks the girls’ abductor — who has yet to be found — might have let them go if Iowa had a death penalty.

The tragic school shootings in Connecticut on Friday will add to Iowans’ fears that the world has become a perilous place for children.

And:

Iowa repealed capital punishment in 1965 and today is one of 15 states without a death penalty. In 2011, Iowa ranked 44th out of 50 states in murders per 100,000 people. That was lower than every state with a death penalty except New Hampshire.

You can find studies and statistics to support whatever argument you want to make about the deterrent effect of capital punishment. I’m more persuaded by those that show state-sanctioned executions do little or nothing to deter crime. Either way, the sorts of crimes that some would seek to avoid with the death penalty happen here so rarely that we still remember the names of the victims years later.

Earlier coverage from Iowa begins at the link.