Judge Timothy Alexander's ruling in Haugen v. Kitzhaber is available via Scribd.
"Judge allows Ore. death-row inmate Gary Haugen to reject governor’s reprieve," is the AP post, via the Washington Post.
A condemned inmate who says he wants to die can reject a reprieve from the death penalty issued by Oregon’s governor, a judge ruled Friday in a case that probes the limits on the governor’s power.
Circuit Court Senior Judge Timothy Alexander ruled that convicted killer Gary Haugen is not required to accept clemency from Gov. John Kitzhaber. The governor’s office says an appeal to a higher court is likely.
Last year, Haugen said he would voluntarily waive legal appeals that could delay his execution for years and fought to speed his punishment in protest of a criminal justice system that he says is broken.
But Kitzhaber, who opposes capital punishment, said no executions would occur while he is governor. Weeks before Haugen was scheduled to die by lethal injection last December, Kitzhaber issued an order preventing the execution for the rest of his time in office.
“We are confident that the governor’s authority will be upheld,” Kitzhaber spokeswoman Amy Wojcicki said. “We are currently reviewing the case and will likely appeal.”
Alexander, the judge, said a hearing will be set to establish an execution date “as soon as this decision is final.” In his ruling, he said that he agrees with many of Kitzhaber’s concerns about the death penalty but that precedents from higher courts support Haugen’s argument.
“My decision...is not intended to be a criticism of Governor Kitzhaber or the views he has expressed...” Alexander wrote. But, he added, “I’m required to set aside my personal views and decide this case on its merits and the law.”
The case raises the question of how much power the governor has under the Oregon Constitution to grant clemency. Lawyers for Kitzhaber argued that his authority is “broad and virtually unfettered.”
"Judge rules inmate Gary Haugen, seeking execution, has right to reject governor's reprieve," by Bryan Denson for the Oregonian.
Alexander, a state senior judge handling the case in Marion County, wrote that he put his personal feelings aside, ruling on legal precedent and the facts of the case. He took the unusual step of writing that his decision wasn't intended as criticism of Kitzhaber or the views the governor expressed when he issued the reprieve in November.
"In fact," Alexander wrote, "I agree with many of the concerns expressed by the governor, and share his hope that the Legislature will be receptive to modifying and improving Oregon laws regarding sentencing for aggravated murder.
"Many Oregon judges with experience presiding over death penalty cases would concur that the current law requires spending extraordinary sums of tax dollars that could be better used for other purposes to enforce a system that rarely if ever result in executions."
Alexander's opinion says that Kitzhaber can give Haugen a reprieve until he leaves office, but Haugen is not obliged to accept it.
"Because (Haugen) has unequivocally rejected the reprieve, it is therefore ineffective," the judge wrote.
"Judge rules in favor of Haugen," by Peter Wong in the Salem Statesman Journal.
Death row inmate Gary Haugen won the first round Friday in his legal battle with Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber.
But Haugen’s execution by lethal injection at the Oregon State Penitentiary isn’t imminent.
A judge ruled that Haugen has a legal right to reject the reprieve Kitzhaber ordered, but a separate hearing is required to set a new date for an execution. That hearing has yet to be set.
Haugen’s lawyer, Harrison Latto of Portland, was still reviewing the decision by Judge Timothy Alexander, a senior judge from Washington County assigned to hear the case.
“No reaction, but it seems likely that the governor will pursue an appeal,” Latto wrote in an email to the Statesman Journal.
Minutes after Alexander released his decision, Kitzhaber indicated his intention to do just that.
“We are confident that the governor’s authority will be upheld,” said Amy Wojcicki, a spokeswoman for the governor. “We are currently reviewing the case and will likely appeal.”
The governor is represented in this proceeding by the Oregon Department of Justice.
Because it is a civil lawsuit by Haugen against Kitzhaber, an appeal would have to be filed with the Oregon Court of Appeals 30 days after Alexander’s decision becomes official. The appeals court does not have a deadline to hear the case, and it would seek written arguments first.
It technically is not an appeal of a conviction carrying the death penalty. Those cases generally go directly to the Oregon Supreme Court for review.
Even when a new execution date is set, it’s unlikely the courts would let Haugen be put to death until the conclusion of the civil lawsuit.
Back in 1958, the most recent instance in which a governor granted a reprieve, the courts and then-Gov. Robert Holmes delayed an execution of a death warrant for convicted murderer Billy Junior Nunn. Holmes commuted Nunn’s sentence to life in prison five days before he left office in 1959, and a few weeks after the Supreme Court upheld his authority to do so.
Earlier coverage from Oregon begins at the link.
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