The StandDown Texas Project

Oregon Death Sentence Upheld

The Oregon Supreme Court ruling in State v. McAnulty is available in Adobe .pdf format.

"Oregon Supreme Court upholds sentence for only woman on state's death row," is by Steven DuBois of Associated Press, via the Greenfield Daily Reporter.

The only woman on Oregon's death row will remain there.

The Oregon Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the conviction and sentence of Angela McAnulty, who tortured and killed her teenage daughter in 2009.

The Eugene woman pleaded guilty on the day her trial was set to begin in 2011. A Lane County jury then sentenced her to death.

In its ruling, the high court said the trial judge should have granted a motion to suppress some statements McAnulty made to investigators after invoking her right to remain silent. But the justices decided the admission of those statements during the penalty phase was a "harmless error," and the high court maintained the conviction and sentence.

Earlier coverage from Oregon begins at the link.  Related posts are in the female and post-conviction review category indexes.

Oregon currently has a moratorium on executions, imposed by Governor John Kitzhaber.

 

Texas Executes Lisa Coleman

Texas carried out its ninth execution of 2014, last night in Huntsville.  It was the state's 517th post-Furman executions since 1982.  There have been 30 executions in American death penalty states this year; a total of 1,389 post-Furman executions since 1977.

The Supreme Court order, denying a stay of execution, in Coleman v. Stephens is available in Adobe .pdf format.

"Arlington woman executed for abused boy’s death," is the AP report filed by Michael Graczyk, via the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Lisa Coleman, an Arlington woman convicted of starving and torturing her girlfriend’s 9-year-old son to death a decade ago, was executed Wednesday evening.

Coleman, 38, received a lethal injection of pentobarbital about an hour after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a last-day appeal.

Coleman smiled and nodded to several friends and an aunt who watched through a window, thanking them and expressing her love. She also said she loved the other women on Death Row and urged them to “keep their heads up.”

“I’m all right,” she said. “Tell them I finished strong. God is good.”

The Guardian posts, "Lisa Coleman executed by lethal injection after final appeal rejected," by Tom Dart.

Lisa Coleman became the fifteenth American woman to be executed since 1976 when she was given a lethal injection in Texas on Wednesday evening for her role in the starvation death and torture of her partner's nine-year-old son.

The US supreme court rejected Coleman's final appeal for a stay earlier in the day. That cleared the path for the 38-year-old to be put to death using compounded pentobarbital from a supplier that Texas has refused to disclose, amid questions about its expiration date and quality.

Nearly 1,400 people have been executed in the US since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976. Even though women commit about 10% of all homicides they comprise 1% of inmates put to death, according to figures from the Death Penalty Information Centre. Only seven states – Texas, Florida, Oklahoma, Alabama, North Carolina, Arkansas and Virginia – have executed female prisoners in the past three decades.

Additional coverage includes:

"Texas Executes Woman for Murder of 9-Year-Old," by Elizabeth Barber for Time.

"Lisa Coleman Becomes The Sixth Woman Executed By Texas Since 1982," by Tasneem Nashrulla and Claudia Koerner of BuzzFeed.

According to TDCJ, Texas state district courts have set two additional execution dates for this year, in October.  Seven execution dates have already been set for 2015.

Texas Execution Set for Wednesday

Texas is set to carry out its ninth execution of 2014, tonight in Huntsville.  It would be the state's 517th post-Furman executions since 1982.  There have been 29 executions in American death penalty states this year; a total of 1,388 post-Furman executions since 1977.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegam reports, "Arlington woman’s execution set for Wednesday," by Mitch Mitchell.

An Arlington woman who abused and starved the 9-year-old son of her live-in girlfriend is set to be executed Wednesday, the first Tarrant County woman to be put to death since executions resumed in Texas in 1982.

Lisa Ann Coleman, 38, was convicted in 2006 in the death of Davontae Williams, one of three children of Marcella Williams.

And:

Initially, both Coleman and Williams were charged with capital murder.

Coleman’s appellate attorney, John Stickels, filed a clemency application on Aug. 27, arguing that Coleman is not guilty of capital murder and requesting that Gov. Rick Perry commute her sentence to life in prison. The board voted unanimously on Monday not to recommend commutation or a reprieve of Coleman’s sentence.

The clemency petition states that Coleman may be guilty of causing Devontae’s death but not guilty of capital murder.

Stickels said Coleman was punished with death because she had the temerity to take her case to a jury. Prosecutors never offered Coleman a plea bargain as they later did Williams, Stickels said.

"Texas set to execute Lisa Coleman for gruesome murder of child," is by Tom Dart for the Guardian.

Coleman will be the third American woman given a lethal injection since September 2010, when Virginia caused an outcry by putting Teresa Lewis to death for hiring hitmen to kill her husband and stepson for an insurance payout. Lewis was only narrowly above the intellectual disability threshold, while the two gunmen were given life sentences. Since then, 159 men have been executed.

Last year, Texas executed Kimberly McCarthy, who had the dubious distinction of being the 500th prisoner put to death by the Lone Star state since it resumed the practice in 1982. Suzanne Basso followed last February, also at the state penitentiary in Huntsville, 70 miles north of Houston.

Only 10.5% of homicides from 1980-2008 were committed by women, according to US Department of Justice statistics. Less than 3% of current Texas death row inmates are female: eight out of 275 people.

Houston's KPFT-FM will host Execution Watch on the web and its HD radio broadcast signal beginning at 6:00 p.m. (CDT), this evening.

Earlier coverage of Lisa Coleman's case begins at the link.  Related posts are in the female category index.

The Next Scheduled Texas Execution

"The Capital Aggrevation Question: Does Lisa Ann Coleman deserve to die?," is by Chase Hoffberger in the current issue of the Austin Chronicle.

On Friday, Sept. 5, the Office of Capital Writs (the state agency charged with representing inmates appealing a death sentence) filed an application for retrial with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on behalf of Lisa Ann Coleman, a 38-year-old Arlington woman found guilty in the July 2004 kidnapping and subsequent starvation death of 9-year-old Davontae Williams.

And:

Should Coleman's execution take place, she will become the ninth woman put to death in Texas since the mid-1800s, the ninth inmate executed this year, and the 517th since the 1976 reinstatement of the death penalty in Texas.

Related posts are in the female category index.

In Iowa

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit ruling in USA v. Johnson is available in Adobe .pdf format.

"Appeals court broadens scope of death penalty retrial for Iowa woman who killed 5 in 1993," is the AP report filed by Ryan J. Floey, via the Daily Journal.  Here's an extended excerpt from the beginning:

The death penalty retrial for an Iowa woman convicted of helping kill five people in 1993 will be broader than the trial judge wanted, a federal appeals court ruled Monday.

Jurors will first decide whether Johnson is eligible for the death penalty, and, if so, whether that punishment should be imposed in each death, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled. The retrial is scheduled for March.

The 2-1 ruling is a victory for federal prosecutors because it allows them to present evidence that would have been excluded in the narrower retrial previously ordered by U.S. District Judge Mark Bennett.

Johnson was sentenced to death in 2005 for her role in the execution-style slayings of three adults and two children in northern Iowa in 1993, becoming the first woman to land on federal death row in decades. Prosecutors say she helped her boyfriend, methamphetamine kingpin Dustin Honken, carry out the killings to thwart a federal investigation into their drug enterprise. Honken was convicted separately and is on death row.

Johnson remains convicted and imprisoned. But Bennett ordered her a new sentencing hearing in 2012, saying that her defense was inadequate during that phase of the trial. In particular, the judge said her attorneys failed to present evidence about Johnson's mental state that may have convinced jurors to spare her life.

Earlier coverage of Angela Johnson's case begins at the link.

Related posts are in the federal death penalty and female category indexes.

Mississippi Supreme Court Will Not Set Byrom Execution Date

"Court refuses to set Byrom's execution date," is the AP report filed by Jack Elliott Jr., via the Commerical Dispatch.

The Mississippi Supreme Court refused Thursday to set execution date for death row inmate Michelle Byrom, whose attorneys say they have discovered new evidence in her case.

Byrom was convicted of murder and sentenced to death in 2000 in Tishomingo County in the killing of her husband, Edward "Eddie" Byrom Sr., and for recruiting her son in the plot. Byrom Sr. was fatally shot on June 4, 1999, at the couple's home in Iuka.

State Attorney General Jim Hood asked in February for the court to set Byrom's execution for Thursday. The one-page order in the Byrom case was signed by Mississippi Justice Josiah D. Coleman and gave no explanation for the court's decision.

The Jackson Clarion-Ledger reports, "Supreme Court: No execution date for Michelle Byrom at this time," by Therese Apel.

Byrom, 57, was convicted of hiring a hit man to shoot her husband, Edward Byrom Sr., in 1999.

The wording on the order states, “Having duly considered the motion and Byrom’s response, the court finds that the Motion to Reset Execution Date is not well taken and should be denied.”

“That means that the court is not going to set a date at this time,” said spokesperson Beverly Kraft, adding that there are other motions pending before the court in that case.

The Attorney General’s office had requested Thursday be her execution date, but the court had not signed off on it.

Byrom argued in documents filed with the Mississippi Supreme Court that she has new evidence that her son killed her husband and that she had never hired a hitman as he told prosecutors.

"Mississippi's Michelle Byrom won't be executed Thursday," is by Marlena Baldacci for CNN.

During Michelle Byrom's original trial, prosecutors said she plotted to kill her husband, Edward Byrom Sr. He was fatally shot in his home in Iuka, Mississippi, in 1999 while Michelle was in the hospital receiving treatment for double pneumonia, but a jury convicted her based on evidence and testimony, saying she was the mastermind.

Byrom Jr. admitted in jailhouse letters that he committed the murder on his own after growing tired of his father's physical and verbal abuse, and a court-appointed psychologist has said that Byrom Jr. gave him a similar story.

On the stand, Byrom Jr. pinned the murder on one of his friends, whom he said his mother hired for $15,000.

Following her attorney's advice, Michelle Byrom waived her right to a jury sentencing, allowing the judge to decide her fate. He sentenced her to death.

"Court delays Mississippi's first execution of female inmate in 70 years," is by Emily Le Coz of Thomson Reuters, via GlobalPost.

Byrom says she suffered years of physical, sexual and emotional abuse by her husband and was hospitalized with pneumonia the day he died in what prosecutors alleged was a murder-for-hire scheme to collect insurance money.

Defense attorneys hope the court will consider evidence that Byrom's son was responsible for the murder.

"It appears they are looking deeply into the issues raised," said Jackson defense attorney David Voisin, who is consulting with Byrom's legal team on her case. "We are cautiously optimistic at this point."

It is relatively rare for women to be executed in the United States. In February, a Texas woman became the 14th female inmate put to death in the country since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, compared to about 1,400 men executed in that time.

The Jackson Free Press posts, "Attorneys Allege Lethal Drugs Violate Michelle Byrom's Constitutional Rights," a verbatim statement from Vanessa Carroll, an attorney for Byrom.  Here's the beginning of the statement:

Mississippi uses three drugs for lethal injection: pentobarbital, vecuronium bromide, and potassium chloride. The first drug, pentobarbital, acts as an anesthetic to ensure that the condemned prisoner is unconscious and does not feel the effects of the second and third drugs, which stop the prisoner’s lungs and heart. Without an effective dosage of pentobarbital, the second two drugs cause excruciating pain similar to death by suffocation and then cardiac arrest. The prisoner would be paralyzed and unable to speak.

States that use the death penalty have had an increasingly difficult time obtaining pentobarbital since the manufacturer put controls in place that prohibit it from being used in executions. As an alternative, some states have turned to “compounding pharmacies” to make non-FDA-approved copies of pentobarbital.

Earlier this month, the Roderick & Solange MacArthur Justice Center sued MDOC for refusing to reveal the identity of the state’s supplier of lethal injection drugs. While the lawsuit was pending, it was discovered that H&W Compounding/Brister Brothers Pharmacy has supplied MDOC with the raw components necessary to make pentobarbital. Further investigation revealed that Brister Brothers Pharmacy most likely does not have the facilities and equipment necessary to compound a narcotic like pentobarbital from the raw materials.

Earlier coverage of Michelle Byrom's case begins at the link.

Controversial Mississippi Case Getting Attention

USA Today posts, "Planned execution of Miss. woman sparks debate," by Therese Apel of the Jackson Clarion-Ledger.

Michelle Byrom, 56, is one of two women on death row in Mississippi. The other 48 inmates are men.

Byrom was convicted of firing the shots that killed her husband, Edward Byrom Sr., who by many accounts was abusive to her and his family. If her day comes, she would be the first woman executed in the state since 1944.

The case itself has many twists and turns, with evidence, even confessions, kept from the jury. Byrom's only admittance of guilt was when the sheriff asked her if she was going to leave her son, Edward Byron Jr., to take the blame for the murder, and she replied, "No, he's not going to. I wouldn't let him. ... I will take all the responsibility. I'll do it."

"Mississippi Moves to Execute First Female Convict in 7 Decades," is by Nate Rawlings for Time.

Byrom, who is one of two women on death row in Mississippi, was convicted of killing her husband, who was, according to many accounts, abusive to her and her family. But according to the Jackson, Miss. Clarion-Ledger, Byrom only admitted guilt when the sheriff asked if she was going to allow her son to take the rap for the murder. “No, he’s not going to. I wouldn’t let him. … I will take all the responsibility,” she said, according to the paper.

Byrom’s son, Edward Byrom Jr., confessed to killing his abusive father four times – in three letters smuggled to his mother in jail, and once to a court-appointed psychologist – CNN reports. Byrom’s attorneys, who were trying their first capital murder case, never had the confessions entered into evidence, and Byrom Jr. took a plea deal for a reduced sentence.

The son’s reported confessions are among the chief reasons Byrom’s advocates believe she deserves a stay of execution. The fact that a jury never heard any of Byrom Jr.’s confessions is a “perversion of American jurisprudence,” according to Warren Yoder, executive director of the Public Policy Center of Mississippi.

"Michelle Byrom Did Not Get a Fair Trial," is an OpEd written by Oliver E. Diaz Jr. in the Jackson Free Press.  Diaz served on the Mississippi Supreme Court from 2000 through 2008.

In this case, everyone agrees that errors were made. Every appellate judge to review the case of Michelle Byrom has agreed that the trial was riddled with errors. The Mississippi Supreme Court stated in its majority opinion, “we have found in this case that during this trial, there were instances of error committed by the trial court.” The dissenters at the Supreme Court agreed, detailing the numerous errors that occurred at trial. The Supreme Court majority looked at these errors and found them to be harmless. However, in death penalty cases no error can be harmless.

I, unlike most judges, know from personal experience what it is like to be wrongfully prosecuted. In 2003 when this case was before the Mississippi Supreme Court, I was facing my own prosecution at the hands of an overzealous prosecutor. Because of my own wrongful prosecution I was not able to add my voice to the record, and I was not allowed to vote to reverse the conviction of Michelle Byrom.

The Jackson Free Press also publishes a column, "Protect the Innocent: End the Death Penalty," by Donna Ladd.

You can't make it up. A husband horribly abuses his mentally ill wife and his son for years, even forcing her to have sex with others to videotape.

Someone then kills the abuser. A nightmare of legal maneuvering then follows with her accused of paying another man to kill her husband, even as her son confesses to the murder several times, as does she once while under the influence of mind-altering drugs. The judge doesn't allow the jury to see evidence that might have helped her.

Meantime, neither the son nor the supposed hit man goes to prison for murder, and a newspaper quotes the prosecutor saying the alleged contract killer didn't actually do it.

The woman ends up on death row because, as often happens to poor people, her crappy attorneys can't figure out how to keep her from being executed.

"Troubling debate as wife convicted of killing reportedly abusive husband faces execution: Stay or stay the course?" is John Luciew's column in the Harrisburg Patriot-News in Pennsylvania.

Earlier coverage of Michelle Byrom's case begins at the link.

Mississippi Press Examines Michelle Byrom's Case

"Byrom death sentence: What the jury didn't hear," is by Jerry Mitchell for the Jackson Clarion-Ledger.

As the state Supreme Court weighs a motion to set an execution date for Michelle Byrom, it also is being asked to consider her son’s letter confessing to the crime that put her on death row.

And:

Attorney General Jim Hood’s office wants to execute the 57-year-old woman on Thursday, but the state Supreme Court has not ruled on the request.

Earlier coverage of the Byrom case begins at the link.

Andrew Cohen Looks at the Byrom Case in Mississippi

"Why Does Mississippi Want to Execute Michelle Byrom?" is Andrew Cohen's post this afternoon at the Atlantic.

I don't know which Byrom confession I believe but it doesn't matter. The woman Mississippi wants to execute this week did not get anything close to a constitutionally fair trial. The execution of this woman, in these circumstances, would send a series of chilling message from Mississippi to the rest of the world. It would say the state's justice system still won't acknowledge the import of domestic abuse. It would say that the constitutional right to effective counsel is meaningless. And it would say that the justice system is more interested in protecting its own than in seeking the truth about what really happened to this wretched family.

Earlier coverage from Mississippi begins at the link.

An Update From Mississppi

"Parties: Dismiss suit over details on execution drug," is the AP reporet by Jack Elliott Jr., via the Jackson Clarion-Ledger.

The Mississippi Department of Corrections and attorneys for a death row inmate have agreed to dismiss a lawsuit over release of information on execution drugs and suppliers.

The decision to dismiss was made after the attorney general’s office and the agency provided information sought about the drugs, attorneys for Michelle Byrom said in a statement.

Special Assistant Attorney General Paul Barnes said in court documents filed this week that the Corrections Department erred in not providing the information sought by Byrom and has now done so.

Byrom and her attorneys had asked Hinds County Chancery Judge William Singletary to hold the agency in violation of Mississippi’s public records law for failing to provide information on whether the drugs are safe and reliable or whether they may have been tainted, expired, counterfeited or compromised in some way.

And:

Vanessa Carroll, an attorney with the New Orleans office of the MacArthur Justice Center, said the center has determined the Corrections Department is buying the lethal injection drugs from a compounding pharmacy in the state and that the center has determined the identity of the pharmacy.

Earlier coverage from Mississippi begins at the link.

The Mississippi Lethal Injection Challenge

"Miss. inmate sues over execution drug info," is the AP report filed by Jack Elliott Jr., via the Washington Times.

The Mississippi Department of Corrections is asking a state judge to rule that information on execution drugs and suppliers is confidential and exempt from the state’s Public Records Act.

The motion came in its response to a lawsuit filed by lawyers for a woman who faces the death penalty for killing her husband. Attorneys for Michelle Byrom say the state is providing no information on whether the drugs are safe and reliable or whether they are tainted, expired, counterfeited or compromised in some way.

The corrections agency said it has provided essentially everything requested except for the drug maker’s identity.

Byrom and her attorneys asked Hinds County Chancery Judge William Singletary to hold the agency in violation of Mississippi’s public records law.

Earlier coverage of the Mississippi lethal injection challenge begins at the link.

Also, today, the Jackson Free Press posts, "An Innocent Woman? Michelle Byrom vs. Mississippi," by Ronni Mott.  Case documents are at the link.

Michelle is now down to what could be her final appeal.

On Feb. 24, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case, and Jim Hood, Mississippi's attorney general, requested an execution date: March 27.

If Mississippi executes Michelle, now 56, she will be the first woman the state has put to death in 70 years. It may also be a horrible injustice.

"John Grisham couldn't write this story," said Warren Yoder, executive director of the Public Policy Center of Mississippi, in an interview with the Jackson Free Press.

"In any reasonable world, this would be a short story by Flannery O'Connor," Yoder wrote in an email. "Instead, it is happening now in our Mississippi."

Junior's confession isn't the only evidence the jury did not get to see.

Texas Execution Scheduled for Wednesday

Texas is set to carry out its second execution of 2014, Wednesday night in Huntsville.  It would be the 510th post-Furman Texas execution since 1982. Texas is responsible for more than 37% of the nation's post-Furman executions.

 "Woman facing execution in Texas," is by Michael Graczyk of AP.  It's via the San Francisco Chronicle.

On Wednesday, Suzanne Basso, 59, is scheduled to be put to death for the 1998 slaying of 59-year-old Louis "Buddy" Musso.

Executions of women are rare. Basso would be only the 14th woman executed in the U.S. and the fifth in Texas since the Supreme Court in 1976 allowed the death penalty to resume. Since then, nearly 1,400 male inmates have been put to death nationwide, 505 of them in Texas.

Basso's lawyer argued that she is not mentally competent enough to face execution because she suffers from delusions, and that the state statute governing competency was unconstitutionally flawed. He also challenged the legality of a medical examiner's testimony.

There have been six executions by American death penalty states this year; a total of 1,365 post-Furman executions since 1977.

Houston's KPFT-FM will host Execution Watch on the web and its HD radio broadcast signal beginning at 6:00 p.m. (CST), Wednesday evening.

According to TDCJ, Texas state district courts have already set seven additional execution dates.

Arizona Woman Released on Bail after 20+ Years on Death Row

"Debra Milke to be released pending retrial," is by Michael Kiefer for the Arizona Republic.

After nearly 24 years in custody, Debra Milke will step back into the real world, probably today, until the murder charge against her is settled one way or another.

But the prosecution has hurdles to overcome before taking Milke back to trial. A judge must decide whether a contested confession can be admitted into evidence. And the Phoenix detective who allegedly obtained the confession has to agree to testify.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Rosa Mroz ruled Thursday morning that Milke, 49, can be released on a secured bond of $250,000, pending her retrial. 

And:

Debra Milke and two accomplices, James Styers, the suspected shooter, and Roger Scott, were sent to Arizona death row for the December 1989 murder of Milke’s 4-year-old son, Christopher. They told the boy that they were taking him to see Santa Claus at the mall and instead took him to the desert and shot him in the head.

But in March, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals threw out her conviction and death sentence, because the prosecution had failed to turn over evidence about the Phoenix police detective who claimed that Milke confessed.

Milke denied confessing; the detective, Armando Saldate, had not recorded the confession and there were no witnesses to confirm it took place.

Prosecutor Vince Imbordino asked the court to ignore the 9th Circuit decision. Mroz said she would not. Mroz noted that the withheld evidence “casts serious doubt on the validity of the defendant’s alleged confession.”

“The existing information does not make it ‘plain and clear’ ... that the defendant committed the crimes,” Mroz wrote. “The court finds that the proof is not evident or presumption great that the defendant committed the crimes charged in the indictment.”

"Judge allows release of Ariz. woman in son's death," is an updated AP report, via the Arizona Daily Star.

Judge Rosa Mroz of Maricopa County Superior Court set bond for Debra Milke at $250,000.

The judge's order Thursday says there's no direct evidence linking Milke with the death of her 4-year-old son other than a purported confession, and that the validity of that confession is in doubt.

A federal appeals court overturned Milke's conviction, ruling that the prosecution should've disclosed information about the truthfulness of the since-retired detective who testified that Milke confessed.

An earlier AP filing is, "Arizona woman on death row awaits release, retrial," by Bob Christie and Brian Skoloff, via the San Francisco Chronicle.

An Arizona woman who has spent more than two decades on death row awaited her release Friday, a day after a judge ruled that there was no direct evidence linking her to her son's death other than a purported confession to a detective whose honesty has been questioned.

Debra Milke has not been exonerated, but a judge granted her a $250,000 bond Thursday, meaning she could go free while preparing for a new trial in the case that made her one of Arizona's most reviled inmates.

Milke was convicted in the death of her 4-year-old son, Christopher, who was allegedly killed for a $5,000 insurance payout. His mother was accused of dressing the boy in his favorite outfit in December 1989 and telling him he was going to see Santa Claus at a mall before handing him over to two men who took the child into the desert and shot him. She has been imprisoned since 1990.

And:

Milke was a 25-year-old insurance company clerk when her son was killed. Now 49, she has maintained her innocence, saying she had nothing to do with the slaying.

The two men convicted in the case both remain on death row. Neither Roger Scott nor former Milke roommate James Styers testified at Milke's trial. Scott confessed during a police interrogation and led detectives to the boy's body.

Maricopa County prosecutors are still seeking the death penalty against Milke at her retrial, tentatively set for Sept. 30, and her alleged confession is at the heart of the case against her.

Police detective Armando Saldate Jr. testified that she confessed to him in a closed interrogation room. But the confession was not recorded, and doubts about Saldate's honesty arose during Milke's appeals. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals concluded in March that prosecutors' failure to turn over evidence related to Saldate's credibility deprived Milke's attorneys of the chance to question his truthfulness before jurors.

"No civilized system of justice should have to depend on such flimsy evidence, quite possibly tainted by dishonesty or overzealousness, to decide whether to take someone's life or liberty," Chief Judge Alex Kozinski wrote for the court.

The court noted four cases in which judges threw out confessions or indictments because Saldate lied under oath and four instances in which cases were tossed out or confessions excluded because Saldate violated the suspect's constitutional rights.

Earlier coverage of Debra Milke's case begins at the link.

Texas Conducts 500th Post-Furman Execution

Texas carried out its eighth execution of 2013; the 500th post-Furman Texas execution since 1982. Texas is responsible for more than 37% of the nation's post-Furman executions.

"Texas carries out its 500th execution since 1982," is the AP report on the execution of Kimberly McCarthy filed by Juan A. Lozano.

She was pronounced dead at 6:37 p.m. CDT, 20 minutes after Texas prison officials began administering a single lethal dose of pentobarbital.

In her final statement, McCarthy did not mention her status as the 500th inmate to be executed or acknowledge Booth or her family.

"This is not a loss. This is a win. You know where I'm going. I'm going home to be with Jesus. Keep the faith. I love you all," she said, while looking toward her witnesses - her attorney, her spiritual adviser and her ex-husband, New Black Panther Party founder Aaron Michaels.

As the drug started to take effect, McCarthy said, "God is great," before closing her eyes. She took hard, raspy, loud breaths for several seconds before becoming quiet. Then, her chest moved up and down for another minute before she stopped breathing.

Friends and family of Booth told reporters after the execution that they were not conscious that Texas had carried out its 500th execution since 1982. They said their only focus was on Booth's brutal murder.

Five-hundred is "just a number. It doesn't really mean very much," said Randall Browning, who was Booth's godson. "'We're just thinking about the justice that was promised to us by the state of Texas."

And:

In a statement, Maurie Levin, McCarthy's attorney, said "500 is 500 too many. I look forward to the day when we recognize that this pointless and barbaric practice, imposed almost exclusively on those who are poor and disproportionately on people of color, has no place in a civilized society."

Outside the prison, about 40 protesters gathered, carrying signs saying "Death Penalty: Racist and Anti-Poor," "Stop All Executions Now" and "Stop Killing to Stop Killings." As the hour for the execution approached, protesters began chanting and sang the old Negro spiritual "Wade in the Water."

The AP report also noted:

Executions of women are infrequent. McCarthy was the 13th woman put to death in the U.S. and the fourth in Texas, the nation's busiest death penalty state, since the Supreme Court in 1976 allowed capital punishment to resume. In that same period, more than 1,300 male inmates have been executed nationwide, 496 of them in Texas. Virginia is a distant second, nearly 400 executions behind.

It was the 18th execution in an American death penalty state this year.  To date there have been a total of 1,338 post-Furman executions since 1977.

Earlier coverage of Kimberly McCarthy's case begins with the preceding post.

I'll have a roundup of additional coverage tomorrow.

Texas' 500th Execution Scheduled for Wednesday

Texas is set to carry out its eighth execution of 2013; the 500th post-Furman Texas execution since 1982. Texas is responsible for more than 37% of the nation's  post-Furman executions.

"Texas woman set to be 500th execution in state," is the Associated Press report filed by Juan A. Lozano.

Texas, the nation's busiest death penalty state, is set to mark a solemn moment in criminal justice Wednesday with the execution of convicted killer Kimberly McCarthy.

If McCarthy is put to death in Huntsville as planned, she would become the 500th person executed in Texas since the state resumed carrying out the death penalty in 1982. The 52-year-old also would be the first woman executed in the U.S. since 2010.

McCarthy's attorney, Maurie Levin, said she has exhausted all efforts to block the execution, after denials by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

"If there was something to appeal, I would," said Levin.

Texas has carried out nearly 40 percent of the more than 1,300 executions in U.S. since the Supreme Court allowed capital punishment to resume in 1976. The state's standing stems from its size as the nation's second most populous state as well as its tradition of tough justice for killers.

With increased debate in recent years over wrongful convictions, some states have halted the practice entirely. However, 32 states have the death penalty on the books. Still, it's clear the debate over capital punishment has touched Texas, with lawmakers providing more sentencing options for juries and courts narrowing the cases for which death can be sought.

Houston's KPFT-FM will host Execution Watch on the web and its HD radio broadcast signal beginning at 6:00 p.m. (CDT), this evening.

According to TDCJ, seven additional executions have been scheduled by Texas state district court, including one in January 2014.

Earlier coverage of Kimberly McCarthy's case begins at the link.

Update with additional coverage.  The Guadian posts, "It hardly feels like 'ultimate justice' as Texas is set to execute 500th prisoner," by Sadhbh Walshe.

On Tuesday evening, the Texas court of criminal appeals denied Kimberly McCarthy's motion to stay her execution paving the way for the African American woman to become the 500th person the state puts to death. Although Texas has long been the most execution prone state in the union, there has been some encouraging signs in the recent past that it is growing less comfortable with this dubious distinction. This decision by the court to deny McCarthy's appeal is a victory for those who support "ultimate justice" at any cost, however, and a major setback for those who believe that justice served with a racist tinge, is no justice at all.

In addition to becoming the 500th person the state will execute, McCarthy will also be the 185th black person. This is significant because it means that in a state where African Americans make up just 12.2% of the population, they account for around 37% of those who are executed. This is disturbing of itself, but all the more so because McCarthy's application for a stay was based on claims that her conviction and death sentence were the result of a process that was infected by racial discrimination.

"Texas prepares for 500th execution since high court revived death penalty," is an AP report, via the Washington Post, examining 31 years of Texas executions.

Over the years, the Texas execution list has provided a portrait of violent crime in a state where many people are armed, both good and bad, and juries have little tolerance for murderers.

Those executed have ranged from relatively common cases — robbers who killed store clerks, drug users who killed other drug users, spouses killing each other — to the bizarre and sensational. Ronald Clark O’Bryan, nicknamed the “Candy Man,” poisoned his son’s Halloween candy to collect on an insurance policy. Angel Resendez, a serial killer, rode the rails, stopping along the way to murder strangers. Lawrence Russell Brewer dragged a black man behind a pickup truck in a racist killing.

In the prison town of Huntsville, executions have become a well-worn ritual.

For more than 20 years, Dennis Longmire has been a fixture outside the fortress-like prison on execution evenings, holding a lit candle on a street corner. Hundreds of demonstrators once gathered there, but interest has long since subsided.

“Texas continues to march to a different beat,” as other states drop the death penalty, says Longmire, a criminal justice professor at nearby Sam Houston State University. He calls the execution total “staggering.”

AP also posts the sidebar, "A history of capital punishment in Texas." It's via the Bryan-College Station Eagle. Another AP sidebar is, "10 key Texas executions," via the Corpus Christi Caller Times.

Thomas Cahill on Capital Punishment

Best-selling author Thomas Cahill writes, "Why do we keep executing people?" for CNN.  Here's an extended excerpt from the beginning of this must-read:

Killing people by lethal injection will soon be as distant a memory as burning heretics at the stake and stoning adulterers -- at least throughout the civilized world. No country that employs the death penalty can be admitted to the European Union, and the practice dwindles daily.

But despite the growing worldwide revulsion against this lethal form of punishment, Texas and a handful of other states continue to take their places among such paragons as North Korea, China, Yemen and Iran in the club of those who attempt to administer the death penalty as a form of "justice."

Indeed, Texas is way ahead of all other states in the administering of such justice. At the end of this month, under the leadership of Gov. Rick Perry, the state is expected -- if all appeals fail -- to celebrate its 500th judicial killing since our Supreme Court in 1976 reinstated the death penalty as a legitimate form of "justice," despite the fact that an earlier court had determined that the death penalty was "cruel and unusual punishment."

No one doubts that the woman who is scheduled to be executed on Wednesday, Kimberly McCarthy, is guilty of the 1997 murder of her neighbor, a 71-year-old woman and a retired college professor. Although we know that upwards of 10% of all death row prisoners are later exonerated for the crimes for which they have been convicted, Kimberly McCarthy will not be one of them. So, why shouldn't we kill her?

For the same reason Warden R.F. Coleman gave to reporters on February 8, 1924, the day the official Texas Death House was inaugurated with the electrocution of five African-American men. Said Coleman then, "It just couldn't be done, boys. A warden can't be a warden and a killer, too. The penitentiary is a place to reform a man, not to kill him."

Warden Coleman resigned rather than pull the switch. Sadly, so many others have failed in the many years since then to follow his heroic example.

And let's not equivocate: Often, and in every age, doing the right thing requires heroism.

In addition to his best-selling histories, Cahill is the author of A Saint on Death Row, published in 2009.  Earlier coverage of Saint begins at the link.

Earlier coverage of Kimberly McCarthy's case begins in the preceding post.

Texas Reaches Death Penalty Milestone

That's the title of Lincoln Caplan's post at the New York Times Taking Note blog.

On Wednesday, Texas is scheduled to execute its 500^th death-row inmate since the Supreme Court restored capital punishment in 1976. The state has executed nearly five times as many people as Virginia, the second state on the list.

Texas’s death penalty system is notorious for its high tolerance of ineffective counsel for defendants, overly zealous prosecutors, and racial discrimination in jury selection. The case of Kimberly McCarthy, the woman scheduled for execution, seems tainted by all three.

Ms. McCarthy is an African-American who was sentenced to death in 2002 for murdering a white woman. That’s not surprising: In Texas as well as other states, a black person who murders a white person is more likely to receive the death penalty than when the victim is black.

The 12-person jury that convicted and sentenced Ms. McCarthy included only one person who wasn’t white, after prosecutors used their peremptory, or automatic, challenges to strike three other non-whites. That was in apparent violation of a Supreme Court ruling against purposeful exclusion of minorities from a jury when a minority is the defendant.

The defense counsel did not challenge these apparently unconstitutional race-based strikes or request the kind of hearing for doing so that the Supreme Court allows. The lawyer did not raise the issue on appeal. A different counsel did not raise the issue in the defendant’s later challenge through a writ of habeas corpus.

Because of these failures, no court has ever reviewed the merits of Ms. McCarthy’s claims about racial discrimination.

"Request to stop Texas woman's execution denied," is the AP report, via KDFW-TV.

Texas' highest criminal court has denied a request to block a Dallas County woman's execution this week.

Kimberly McCarthy's execution would be the 500th in Texas since the state resumed carrying out the death penalty in 1982. She contends black jurors were improperly excluded from her trial by Dallas County prosecutors and this wasn't challenged by her lawyers.

But the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in Austin denied McCarthy's request on Monday. The court said it didn't consider the merits of McCarthy's appeal because she should have raised her claims previously.

Maurie Levin, McCarthy's attorney, says she is "reviewing the order and considering our options."

Earlier coverage of Kimberly McCarthy's case, and the Texas execution milestone, begins at the link.

LA Times Interview with Jim Willett

"As Texas nears 500th execution, ex-warden reflects on prison system," is the Los Angeles Times report by Molly Hennessy-Fiske.

Next week, Texas is scheduled to execute its 500th prisoner since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. Barring stays or reprieves, the 500th execution is due to occur Wednesday — and the inmate is a woman.Kimberly McCarthy, 52, a former occupational therapist, was convicted and sentenced to death in 1998 in connection with the beating and stabbing death of her 71-year-old neighbor during a robbery. She was originally scheduled to be put to death Jan. 29, but received a stay until April, and then saw her execution postponed again. Her attorneys recently appealed again to halt the execution, but there has been no decision yet.

McCarthy would be the 13th woman executed in the U.S. and the fourth in Texas since the Supreme Court allowed capital punishment to resume in 1976. During that time, more than 1,300 men have been executed nationwide.

Texas has enforced the death penalty more regularly than any other state, executing more people than the next six states combined (Virginia, Oklahoma, Florida, Missouri, Alabama and Georgia).

And:

To learn more about the history of executions in Texas, which are carried out at the Walls Unit at Huntsville Prison, about 70 miles north of Houston, we talked to the director at the local Texas Prison Museum, Jim Willett, a former warden.

Earlier coverage of the sceheduled execution begins at the link.

Trevino-Based Appeal Filed in Texas Case of Kimberly McCarthy

The Houston Chronicle reports, "Appeal filed for woman set become state's 500th executed killer."  It's by Allan Turner.

Lawyers for a Dallas woman scheduled to become Texas' 500 execution since the death penalty was reinstated have filed an appeal, claiming blacks were improperly excluded from her jury and her previous attorneys did nothing about it.

Kimberly McCarthy, 52, an African-American woman convicted of murdering her 71-year-old Anglo neighbor during a 1997 robbery to raise money to buy drugs, is scheduled to be executed next Wednesday for the July 1997 murder of Dorothy Booth. She would be the 500th killer executed in Texas since executions were resumed in 1982, and the fourth woman to be executed by lethal injection.

Maurie Levin of the University of Texas Capital Punishment Clinic filed the appeal to the Dallas trial court and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals late Tuesday.

In it she asserts that Dallas County prosecutors inappropriately eliminated three African-Americans from serving on McCarthy's jury. Only one black sat on the jury that sentenced her to death. Two of the three prosecutors, Levin charges, were trained under former Dallas County District Attorney Henry Wade, a prosecutor whose three-decade tenure was criticized for discriminating against minorities.

The appeal cites a 2005 Dallas Morning News study that "being black was the most important trait affecting which jurors prosecutors rejected."

The appeal argues that McCarthy's trial lawyer was ineffective in not challenging the elimination of blacks, and that her first state appeals lawyer also was ineffective for not raising the issue.

"Appeal seeks halt to Texas woman's execution," is the AP filing, via KTRK-TV.

McCarthy's appeal, filed Tuesday to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, contends black jurors improperly were excluded from her trial by Dallas County prosecutors and her lawyers should have challenged the exclusions both at the trial and in early appeals. McCarthy is black; her victim white. Of the 12 jurors at her trial, one was not white.

Maurie Levin, a University of Texas law professor representing McCarthy, said the punishment should be stopped and McCarthy's case reviewed in light of a 5-4 U.S. Supreme Court decision three weeks ago that backed another Texas prisoner who raised similar arguments about deficient legal help.

"I do think her case does present some of the topical issues of this decade," Levin said Wednesday, referring to a "pervasive influence of race in administration of the death penalty and the inadequacy of counsel -- a longstanding issue here."

The failings of McCarthy's earlier appellate help means no court ever has looked at McCarthy's claims, she said.

Jordan Smith writes, "Texas Poised to Hit 500th Execution," for the Austin Chronicle.

McCarthy was first slated to be executed in January, but that date with death was halted by a Dallas County judge in order to consider a claim that minority potential jurors were improperly struck by prosecutors from serving in McCarthy's trial (it was actually her second trial; her initial 1998 conviction was overturned after the courts found that the state improperly included into evidence a statement McCarthy made to police after she had "unambiguously" invoked her right to counsel). In a letter to Dallas County District Attorney Craig Wat­kins, McCarthy's attorney Maurie Levin pointed out that at the time of McCarthy's trial racial discrimination "pervaded" the county's jury selection process. Levin also noted that Watkins had told The Dallas Morning News that he would advocate during the recently concluded 83rd Legislature for passage of the Texas Racial Justice Act, which would allow death row inmates to appeal based on claims that racism played a role in their conviction.

McCarthy's execution was postponed until April 3 and then again, to June 26, on Watkins' request, in order to afford the Legislature time to consider whether to pass a racial justice law – either Dallas Sen. Royce West's Senate Bill 1270 or Houston Rep. Senfronia Thompson's House Bill 2458. Neither bill was successful. Thomp­son's bill received a hearing in the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee, but was not called up for a vote; West's measure wasn't even given a hearing. Those bills were fashioned after the landmark Racial Justice Act passed by North Carolina; in early June, the Republican-led legislature there repealed the RJA.

Nonetheless, litigation is expected to continue as McCarthy's date draws nearer. Indeed, an appeal filed June 18 again raises claims related to racial bias. A separate filed motion seeks also to recuse CCA Presiding Judge Sharon Keller and Judge Michael Keasler from considering McCarthy's appeals based on the fact that both judges once served as prosecutors in Dallas where McCarthy's case – and racial bias claims – originated.

"Texas poised to execute 500th prisoner as lawyers fight to save her life," is Guardian coverage by Ed Pilkington, reporting from New York.

Lawyers in Texas are fighting to save the life of a female prisoner scheduled to become the 500th person to be executed by the state since the death penalty was reinstated in America in 1976.

Barring a last-minute stay, Kimberly McCarthy, 52, will face lethal injection next Wednesday for the 1997 murder of her neighbour. Should the execution be carried out, she would be the 500th person put to death by Texas, a state that has shown more enthusiasm in modern times for capital punishment than any other.

The next seven days will be the culmination of an emotional and legal rollercoaster for McCarthy. This is her third appointment with the death chamber in the space of five months.

"She is a very spiritual person. She believes what's meant to be is meant to be, and it's all in God's hands," said Maurie Levin, McCarthy's legal counsel since January.

Now Levin has filed a new motion to stay execution with the Texas court of criminal appeals. The filing argues that McCarthy has suffered from two fundamental flaws that persistently crop up in death penalty cases.

The basis for the appeal is the Supreme Court's May ruling in Trevino v. Thaler, that an earlier high court ruling on standards for review of ineffective assistance of counsel claims applied in Texas cases.  News coverage and commentary on Trevino begins at the link.

Earlier coverage of Kimberly McCarthy's case begins at the link.  Related posts are in the female and race category indexes.

Texas' 500th Post-Furman Execution Looming

"Woman will be 500th execution since Texas resumed death penalty," is Allan Turner's report for the Houston Chronicle.  Here's the beginning:

The illuminated clock set in red-brick facade of the Walls Unit may be the most dreaded timepiece in Texas. Minute by minute, it ticks away dreary years behind bars. On some days - 15 times last year, 40 times in 2000 - its black hands signal another criminal justice milestone.

Six o'clock, the hands say. Another killer will be dead and gone.

Barring a last-minute stay, Kimberly McCarthy on June 26 will become the 500th Texas killer to be executed since the state re-activated the death penalty in 1976. Texas leads the nation's 33 death penalty states in executions, killing more than the next five most active states combined.

Virginia, with 110 executions, places second.

Minutes before the killing hour, McCarthy, 52, condemned for the 1997 murder-robbery of a 70-year-old Dallas County woman, will be strapped to a gurney in a room deep within the 164-year-old prison. Then, as a warden and chaplain stand silently nearby, she will be injected with a lethal dose of a drug commonly used to euthanize cats and dogs.

McCarthy, a one-time occupational therapist and home health care worker, will be the fourth woman in Texas executed by injection.

Related posts are in the execution date and execution category indexes.

Earlier coverage of Kimberly McCarthy's case begins at the link.

More From Bill Pelke

Bill Pelke is the founder of the Journey of Hope.  He appeared on Democracy Now, earlier today.  Video of, "Sister Helen Prejean & Bill Pelke on Freeing the Death Row Prisoner Who Killed Pelke’s Grandmother," is available at the link.

In a remarkable story on the journey from grief to forgiveness, Bill Pelke joins us along with renowned activist and "Dead Man Walking" author Sister Helen Prejean to discuss the latest victory for the movement against the death penalty.

On Monday, the state of Indiana freed Paula Cooper, the Indiana woman convicted for the 1985 murder of Pelke’s grandmother, elderly bible school teacher Ruth Pelke, in Gary, Indiana. At the time Cooper became the youngest person on death row. She had been the victim of child abuse and had attended 10 different schools by the time of her arrest. Her case galvanized human rights activists and death penalty opponents around the world, including Bill Pelke himself.

Partnering with Sister Helen, he campaigned against the death penalty and plead for Cooper to be granted clemency.

"I became convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that my grandmother would have been appalled by the fact that this girl was on death row," Pelke recalls. "I was convinced she would have had love for Paula Cooper and her family. I felt she wanted some of my family to have that same sort of love and compassion."

Earlier coverage of Paula Cooper's release begins at the link.

Paula Cooper's Path to Rehabilitation

"Ind. woman sentenced to death at 16 to leave prison," is by Tim Evans of the Indianapolis Star and Gannett News. Here's the beginning:

Paula Cooper was 16 when she was sentenced to death for killing an elderly Bible study teacher.

That made the Gary, Ind., teen the youngest person ever in the state to face the death penalty. At the time in 1986, she also was the youngest Death Row inmate in the United States.

To many, Cooper was a monster beyond rehabilitation. But others saw her as a victim of an abusive childhood and racist criminal justice system.

A legal challenge and international campaign to overturn her death sentence, which included an appeal from Pope John Paul II, saved Cooper's life.

The Indiana Supreme Court commuted the death sentence in 1989 and sent her to prison for 60 years. For the past 24 years, she has lived in relative obscurity.

On Monday, Cooper will try to put all of that behind her when she walks out of the Rockville Correctional Facility.

It will be the 43-year-old's first taste of freedom since her arrest in 1985.

Cooper was 15 when she was charged with murder in the grisly stabbing of 78-year-old Ruth Pelke during a robbery. Three other co-defendants - also teenage girls at the time - went to prison but have been released.

"Paula Cooper Released: Ind. Woman Sentenced To Die At 16 To Walk Free," is the AP report by Charles Wilson, via Huffington Post.

Cooper's sister, Rhonda Labroi, said she hopes people will see Paula as more than a killer. After getting in trouble 23 times during her time in prison, Paula Cooper turned to education, earning a bachelor's degree in 2001.

"She was just a child at the time that happened, and now she is an adult and people should wait and see and give her a chance," Labroi said. "Give her an opportunity. Maybe she'll do some wonderful things for children who are growing up and aren't so fortunate, like she was.

"There are second chances," she said. "It seems like God has given her another chance. I think if people give her a second chance, she'll do fine."

Bill Pelke, Ruth's grandson, is a leader in the death penalty abolition movement and the founder of the Journey of Hope.

Kimberly McCarthy Execution Date Reset for June

"Judge Delays Execution Of Texas Women’s Death Row Inmate," is the AP report, via KWTX-TV.

State District Judge Larry Mitchell Monday delayed the execution of convicted killer Kimberly McCarthy, 51, who’s held on women’s death row in Gatesville and who was originally scheduled to die Wednesday in Huntsville for the murder of a retired college professor.

Mitchell's order resetting the execution date for June 26 formalized an agreement last week between Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins and McCarthy's attorney to put off the lethal injection until the fate of death penalty-related bills now in the Texas Legislature is determined.

Lawmakers are about halfway through their six-month session.

McCarthy, who avoided execution with a last-day reprieve in January, asked Mitchell in a court filing two weeks ago to delay her execution until the fate of a bill related to issues in her case that was introduced March 6 in the Texas Legislature is determined.

The bill proposed by Sen. Royce West and Rep. Eric Johnson, both Dallas Democrats, would bar racial discrimination in capital case prosecution.

Attorney Maurie Levin contends McCarthy's 1998 trial jury may have been unfairly selected on the basis of race.

The Dallas Morning News reports, "Execution date moved for woman who killed elderly Lancaster neighbor," by Jennifer Emily.

Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins requested the change Friday to see if any of the six bills pending in the Texas Legislature pass. The DA’s office would then determine if they impact McCarthy, who killed Booth in 1997.

Watkins has said he has no doubt that McCarthy is guilty and will be executed. He said the delay is more about the process of death penalty cases in Texas than McCarthy’s individual case.

The six pending bills look at issues ranging from whether race was a factor in the prosecution or sentence to whether police interrogations were videotaped.

Earlier coverage of Kimberly McCarthy's case begins at the link.

According to TDCJ, eight Texas executions are currently scheduled during the seven week period between April 9 and May 21.

Dallas DA Agrees to Stay in Case of Kimberly McCarthy

KWTX-TV posts, "Texas Prosecutor Agrees To Execution Stay For Women’s Death Row Inmate."

Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins will announce Friday that he’s agreed to a stay of execution for convicted killer Kimberly McCarthy, who’s held on women’s death row in Gatesville and who’s now scheduled for execution next Wednesday.

A statement from Watkins' office says he agreed to the delay of McCarthy's execution because of proposed legislation that would improve the fairness of the death penalty.

Watkins' agreement moves McCarthy's execution to June 26.

McCarthy, who avoided execution with a last-day reprieve in January, asked State District Judge Larry Mitchell in a court filing last week to put off the April 3 lethal injection until the fate of a bill related to issues in her case that was introduced March 6 in the Texas Legislature is determined.

Attorney Maurie Levin contends McCarthy's 1998 trial jury may have been unfairly selected on the basis of race.

A bill proposed by Sen. Royce West and Rep. Eric Johnson, both Dallas Democrats, would bar racial discrimination in capital case prosecution.

Levin argues that McCarthy, who’s black, was the subject of racial discrimination by the jury of 11 whites and only one black that convicted her.

"Dallas County DA Craig Watkins makes rare public appearance to call for stay of execution, refuses to discuss misconduct allegations," is the Dallas Morning News report by Jennifer Emily.

Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins appeared at a hearing this morning asking for a temporary stay of execution for a woman sentenced to death in the slaying of an elderly Lancaster woman.

After the hearing, Watkins refused to answer any questions about allegations of prosecutorial misconduct against him or the contempt of court charge he faces after refusing to testify in the case.

It was a rare pubic appearance for Watkins, who has not often been seen since at least Valentine’s Day when he refused to show up at a hearing where he was supposed to testify about allegations of misconduct against him. His staff at first argued the hearing was improper and then said Watkins was too sick to attend. The hearing was reset.

Earlier coverage of McCarthy's case begins at the link.  Also available, Craig Watkins' proposal for a Texas Racial Justice Commission.

Texas Execution Scheduled for Tuesday

Texas is scheduled to carry out its first execution of 2013, Tuesday night in Huntsville.  It would be the 493rd post-Furman Texas execution since 1982, and the 254th execution conducted under the administration of Governor Rick Perry.  Texas has the nation's most active death chamber and accounts for more than 37% of the  executions in America's death penalty states.

"Woman set to die for 1997 Lancaster murder loses clemency bid," is the Dallas Morning News report.

The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles has unanimously refused a clemency request from a Dallas County woman set to die next week for the slaying and robbery of a retired 71-year-old college psychology professor at her home.

Attorneys for Kimberly McCarthy had sought a 120-day reprieve from her scheduled Tuesday execution and that her sentence be commuted to life in prison.

The seven-member board Friday turned her down.

And:

McCarthy would be the fourth woman executed in Texas in modern times.

To date, there has been one execution in American death penalty states this year; a total of 1,321 post-Furman executions since 1977.

Houston's KPFT-FM will host Execution Watch on the web and it's HD radio broadcast signal beginning at 6:00 p.m. (CST), Tuesday.

According to TDCJ, seven additional execution dates have been set for 2013. More will be added.

Lawyers in Iowa Death Penalty Case Seek Data on Jurors

That's the title of an AP report  by Ryan J. Foley, via the Cedar Rapids Gazette.  It's subtitled, "Angela Johnson convicted in 1993 execution-style slayings."

Lawyers for an Iowa woman facing a second death penalty trial for her role in the execution-style killings of five people in 1993 are planning to challenge the process used to select juries, saying it may discriminate against women and minorities.

Attorneys for Angela Johnson filed a motion Friday asking for years of data and other documents so they can analyze the racial and gender makeup of grand juries and trial juries in the federal district that covers the northern half of Iowa. They say they intend to challenge the constitutionality of the system, arguing minorities may be underrepresented by the way federal officials create the pool of potential jurors and women could be discriminated against in the selection of forepersons.

“The importance of a representative grand and trial jury to the fair administration of justice cannot be overstated, particularly in a capital case,” they wrote.

Johnson is set to go on trial next year to determine whether she will be sent back to federal death row, where she was the first woman in decades after her original conviction in 2005 on four counts of capital murder. U.S. District Judge Mark Bennett overturned her death sentence last year, ruling that her lawyers failed to present evidence about her mental state that could have convinced jurors to spare her life. Bennett ordered a new trial to determine her sentence, not her guilt or innocence.

And:

Judge Bennett gave federal prosecutors the option to convert Johnson’s sentence to life in prison in his March ruling, but they declined and sought another death penalty trial. Johnson was only one of two women on federal death row when she was removed earlier this year after Bennett found “shockingly numerous and disturbing constitutional deficiencies in the performance of Johnson’s alarmingly dysfunctional trial team.”

Defense attorney Marcia Morrissey of Santa Monica, Calif., said the data being sought will help determine whether disparities exist in the number of blacks, Latinos, Asians and other ethnic minorities who serve on juries compared to their population in northern Iowa. She said the district’s system of using voter registration and motor vehicle ownership data tends to discriminate against those groups, who are more mobile than whites, particularly since the lists are only required to be updated every four years.

Defense lawyers also want records that would show how often women are selected to serve as forepersons and documents related to persons who were disqualified or excused from jury service in the last 18 months.

Assistant U.S. Attorney C.J. Williams said he was in the process of reviewing the request, and would file a response.

Related posts are in the federal death penalty index.

Federal Death Penalty Roundup

There is news from Iowa and Rhode Island on federal death penalty cases.

"State won't help feds try again for death penalty, is the Iowa AP report, via the Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier.

The Iowa Attorney General's Office won't help federal prosecutors in their second attempt to seek the death penalty against Angela Johnson, the woman convicted in the 1993 slayings of five people in northern Iowa.

Assistant Attorney General Thomas H. Miller worked with the U.S. attorney's office to prosecute her in 2005, when she was convicted in the drug-related killings of three adults and two children and received the death sentence.

A judge in March threw out Johnson's death sentence after finding flaws with her original hearing.

Rather than appeal or convert Johnson's sentence to life in prison, federal prosecutors decided to again seek the death penalty at a new sentencing hearing next year.

Miller withdrew from the case Tuesday. A spokesman said Iowa prosecutors are no longer involved in the case but didn't say why.

Rhode Island's Providence Journal reports, "Stanford Law School professor to help defend accused killer Pleau."  It's written by Katie Mulvaney.

A lawyer who got the death penalty overturned in child-rape cases will help defend accused killer Jason Pleau before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Jeffrey Fisher, co-director of the Supreme Court litigation clinic at Stanford Law School, has been enlisted to assist Pleau's lawyers in asking the high court to uphold Governor Chafee's right to refuse to surrender Pleau to federal custody. Chafee had refused to relinquish Pleau because it could expose him to the death penalty.

An appeals court ruled in May that Chafee must surrender Pleau. Federal prosecutors then announced their intention to seek the death penalty.

Earlier coverage of the Iowa and Rhode Island cases begins at the link.  Related posts are in the federal death penalty category index.

More on the Cathy Lynn Henderson Case

"Engineer enlisted scientific advances to aid Texas woman on death row," is the title of Chuck Lindell's report for the Sunday edition of the Austin American-Statesman.  It's a must-read for its reporting on advances in scientific analysis of this and other cases.

Cathy Lynn Henderson was out of appeals and seven weeks from an April 2007 execution date when an unexpected phone call from a retired mechanical engineer changed everything, offering the former Travis County resident a potential path off death row.

Engineer Edwin Newberg was troubled when the Kansas City Star, serving Henderson's former hometown, published a front-page story about her capital murder conviction for the death of an infant in her care, 3-month-old Brandon Baugh.

Prosecution experts said Brandon's head injuries were too extensive to support Henderson's claim that she accidentally dropped the child about 4½ feet onto the concrete and tile floor of her Pflugerville-area home in 1994.

Newberg tracked down the defense lawyer quoted in the story, George Cumming of San Francisco, to explain that Henderson's alibi could be reinforced by biomechanics, an emerging field of study that measures the effect outside forces have on the human body.

"From an engineering viewpoint and from the damage that I heard about," it seemed possible that Henderson was not a murderer, Newberg recalled recently.

Intrigued, Cumming and the rest of Henderson's legal team — assembled by Sister Helen Prejean of "Dead Man Walking" fame and working without charge — found a leading expert in biomechanics and secured a hastily prepared affidavit asserting that even short falls can be fatal to infants.

The information prompted state District Judge Jon Wisser to delay Henderson's execution by 60 days to give defense lawyers time to more fully explore biomechanics for a new appeal, which they filed three weeks before the June 13, 2007, execution date.

With two days to spare — just as Brandon Baugh's parents were packing to witness the execution, hoping for closure — the state's highest criminal court stayed Henderson's lethal injection and directed Wisser to examine the new claims.

And:

But last month, more than three years after the last hearing, Wisser sent his findings to the Court of Criminal Appeals, recommending that Henderson's conviction be thrown out and a new trial be ordered. Deprived of Bayardo's emphatic testimony that the boy had been murdered, no reasonable juror would have voted to convict Henderson of capital murder, Wisser said.

In essence, Wisser determined that prosecutors at Henderson's 1995 trial had an unfair advantage, presenting credible evidence that could not then be refuted — but could be challenged today because scientific advances have produced a deeper understanding of pediatric head injuries.

Like other recent cases of reconsidered science, biomechanics cannot prove Henderson's innocence.

Earlier coverage of Cathy Lynn Henderson's case begins at the link.  Related posts are in the forensics index.

Trial Judge Recommends Reversal of Cathy Lynn Henderson Convcition

Today's Austin American-Statesman reports, "Judge: New evidence should overturn Henderson's capital murder conviction."  It's by Chuck Lindell.

The state's highest criminal court should overturn the capital murder conviction of Cathy Lynn Henderson, once two days from execution for the 1994 death of an infant she was baby-sitting, a Travis County judge has recommended.

District Judge Jon Wisser said scientific discoveries into the causes of head trauma similar to the injury suffered by 3-month-old Brandon Baugh — and a change of heart from the prosecution's star witness, former medical examiner Roberto Bayardo — mean no reasonable juror would convict Henderson if presented with the new evidence at trial.

"Testimony of the state's chief experts was, at bottom, scientifically flawed," Wisser wrote in findings dated May 14 and delivered Tuesday to the Court of Criminal Appeals.

After reviewing evidence via testimony and briefs, Wisser recommended that the appeals court dismiss Henderson's conviction and return her case to Travis County, where she may face "any indictment or charges" that prosecutors choose to pursue in the child's death.

The appeals court will determine whether to accept Wisser's recommendation. It can rule on his submission, request further briefing or schedule oral arguments. A decision on Henderson's fate is likely to be months away.

And:

Henderson, 55, had claimed that Brandon died after slipping from her arms and falling about four feet to the concrete floor of her Pflugerville-area home. She said she panicked, then buried the boy's body in a Bell County field before fleeing to Missouri, where she was found and arrested 11 days later.

The search for the boy's body and hunt for Henderson dominated headlines in February 1994.

At Henderson's trial a year later, Bayardo testified that it was "impossible" to attribute the boy's extensive head injury to an accidental fall. The only explanation, he said, was a deliberate and forceful blow struck by Henderson, adding that Brandon would have had to fall from "higher than a two-story building" to sustain a similar injury.

But in an affidavit included in Henderson's 2007 appeal, Bayardo said advancements in the understanding of pediatric head injuries indicate that relatively short falls onto a hard surface could produce injuries similar to those he discovered during Brandon's 1994 autopsy.

"I cannot determine with a reasonable degree of medical certainty whether Brandon Baugh's injuries resulted from an intentional act or an accidental fall," Bayardo said.

Dr. John Plunkett, one of five defense experts to testify before Wisser, said doctors were commonly taught that short falls could not cause serious injury or death in infants. However, scientific studies since 2001 have shown that falls of less than four feet can be lethal, producing complex skull fractures and other damage, said Plunkett, a Minnesota forensic pathologist who studied fatal playground accidents.

Plunkett concluded that no expert could prove that Brandon's death was an accident. "However, because of the new scientific information and analysis now available ... neither may anyone prove that Ms. Henderson intentionally caused it," he said in an affidavit to Wisser.

Also:

Henderson was two days from a June 13, 2007 execution date when the Court of Criminal Appeals ruled 5-3 to halt proceedings — directing Wisser, who had presided over Henderson's trial, to examine testimony from defense experts and Bayardo's recantation.

It is unclear how Wisser's conclusions will be received by the appeals court, an all-Republican nine-member body known as a tough venue for defense lawyers.

Three judges would not have delayed Henderson's execution in 2007— Sharon Keller, Barbara Hervey and Michael Keasler — saying defense lawyers did not meet criteria for a second appeal.

The AP filing is, "Judge: Condemned woman should have verdict nixed," by Nomaan Merchant.  It's via the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Henderson maintained that she accidentally dropped the boy onto a concrete floor in her home in Pflugerville, north of Austin. During her trial, the chief medical examiner in Travis County argued that the boy could not have been so badly injured in a short fall. Dr. Roberto Bayardo said Brandon would have had to fall from a height taller than a two-story building.

But Bayardo, now retired, changed his mind more than a decade later. He submitted an affidavit in 2007, saying new information about pediatric head trauma showed that his conclusion was incorrect and that a short fall could have caused the boy's injuries.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals halted Henderson's execution that June, two days before she was scheduled to die. She has remained on death row ever since.

And:

"The court finds that if Dr. Bayardo's re-evaluation had been presented to the jury in 1995, no rational juror could have or would have convicted (Henderson) of capital murder beyond a reasonable doubt in light of this new evidence," Wisser wrote.

Earlier coverage of the Cathy Lynn Henderson case begins at the link.  Related posts are in the forensics index.  Several notable older posts include:

• Autopsy Errors One More Troubling Trend
• Yamil Berard's Five-Part Medical Examiner Series Concludes
• Yamil Berard on Texas Autopsy Controversies
• The Case of Cynthia Case - More Bad Forensics

Life Sentence in Angelina County Capital Trial

Today's Lufkin Daily News reports, "Jury sentences Saenz to life in prison for killing patients with bleach."  It's written by Jessica Cooley who has covered the month-long trial daily.

After being sentenced to life in prison without parole, Kimberly Saenz was addressed by family members of the DaVita Dialysis patients she killed by injecting them with bleach in April 2008.

And:

In the sentencing phase, jurors heard testimony from a series of character witnesses to help them determine if the 38-year-old Pollok woman should be sentenced to life in prison without parole or death by lethal injection. She leaned her head to one side, listening intently as criminal defense attorney consultant Frank Aubuchon outlined for the jury what prison life will be like for Saenz. Aubuchon, a 26-year Texas Department of Criminal Justice retiree, said she will become one of 28 women serving life in prison without parole. Defense attorney Steve Taylor said the only way Saenz is coming out of prison is in a box, as Aubuchon nodded in agreement.

As a highly supervised inmate on a maximum security unit, Saenz will share a cell with another woman serving at least 60 years. There are also restrictions on what type of prison job she can have, Aubuchon said, adding she can only work in the kitchen, laundry or industrial factory.

"Life in prison for ex-nurse in 5 bleach deaths," is the AP filing by Michael Graczyk.  It's via the Dallas Morning News.

"She's never getting out no matter what you do," Saenz's lawyer, Steve Taylor, said in his closing remarks, urging jurors to choose a life sentence. "Society is protected. You will never see her again."

Prosecutors failed to show Saenz would present a future danger for violence, one of the questions they must answer in deciding the death penalty, Taylor said. He reminded jurors she'd been free since her arrest and indictment and during trial.

"Kimberly Saenz has been out of jail for the last one, two, three, four years," Taylor said. "You've passed her on the stairs. ... If there was any possibility to create a future criminal act, the state would have her butt in jail. In the last four years, she has behaved herself."

Saenz's lead attorney, Ryan Deaton, indicated in court he would file for a new trial and seek appeals.

Earlier coverage of the case begins at the link.  Related posts are in the trial index.

Federal Death Sentence of Female Overturned

AP reports, "Judge removes 1 of 2 women on federal death row."  It's written by Ryan J. Foley, via the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

A judge removed one of the two women on federal death row Friday, saying lawyers for the Iowa woman convicted in the 1993 execution-style murders of five people failed to present evidence about her troubled mental state that could have spared her from capital punishment.

In a 448-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Mark Bennett threw out Angela Johnson's death sentence, saying her defense lawyers were "alarmingly dysfunctional" during the 2005 trial that made her the first woman to be sentenced to death in the federal system since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the punishment in 1976.

Attorney General Eric Holder and aides must determine within 60 days whether to appeal or continue seeking the death penalty for the 48-year-old mother of two, said assistant U.S. Attorney C.J. Williams, who prosecuted the case. If they do not appeal, there will be a trial to determine whether Johnson will be sentenced to death. In that trial, her lawyers would be allowed to present evidence about her mental health that was omitted in 2005. If they decline to seek the death penalty, Bennett could sentence Johnson to life in prison without parole.

Bennett's ruling doesn't throw out her convictions _ he said evidence of her guilt was overwhelming.

"Judge: Iowan may not belong on death row," is by Jeff Eckhoff for the Des Moines Register.

Government lawyers could appeal Bennett’s ruling, make a second push for the death penalty or drop the effort to execute Johnson and leave her with a life sentence in prison.

Iowa does not have the death penalty. However, Johnson and Honken were tried in a federal court, and the U.S. allows the death penalty in certain types of cases.

Johnson, who now resides in a Texas prison hospital, was the first woman sentenced to death after the federal government began seeking capital punishment in 1988. Until Thursday, she had been waiting with Skidmore, Mo., resident Lisa Montgomery to see who would become the first woman put to death by the U.S. government since 1953.

A January report by retired Ohio Northern University law professor Victor Streib shows a total of 58 women were on death row across the country at the end of 2011, 18 of them in California, which hasn’t executed a woman since 1962.

"Judge throws out death sentence," by Nick Hytre in the Quad City Times.

Assistant U.S. Attorney C.J. Williams, who prosecuted both Johnson and Honken, said Friday the decision on how to proceed in the case will be made by Department of Justice officials in Washington, D.C.

Honken, 44, of Britt was convicted in a separate trial and also sentenced to death and is incarcerated in Terre Haute, Ind.

Johnson had filed 64 claims for postconviction relief of her death sentence. Evidence on the motion was heard in four phases of hearings in 2011 that included 19 days of testimony from 58 witnesses and thousands of pages of legal briefs.

Bennett found four instances in which decisions made by Johnson’s defense team were prejudicial, involving errors regarding psychological evidence of Johnson’s mental health.

Related posts are in the federal death penalty and female indexes.  Law Professor Victor Streib's latest edition of Death Penalty for Female Offenders is available at the link in Adobe .pdf format.  It was updated earlier this year.

Innocence at Issue in Angelina County Case

"TX nurse faces death penalty for patient deaths," is the AP post, via KTRK-TV.

Paramedics were making so many trips to a dialysis clinic in the East Texas city of Lufkin, a top fire department official wrote an anonymous letter to state health department inspectors pleading for somebody to take a look at the place.

"In the last two weeks, we have transported 16 patients," the mid-April 2008 note said. "This seems a little abnormal and disturbing to my med crews. Could these calls be investigated by you?"

State medical surveyors within days showed up at the DaVita Dialysis clinic in the Texas Piney Woods community about 125 miles northeast of Houston. By then, EMS had been called as many as 30 times that month, including seven for cardiac problems, and made at least 19 runs. Four people had died. Over the previous 15 months, there had been two calls, according to the Texas Department of Health Services.

On Monday, Kimberly Saenz, a 38-year-old nurse who worked at the clinic, was set to face trial for one count of capital murder that accuses her of killing as many as five patients and five counts of aggravated assault for injuring five others.

And:

She has pleaded not guilty and has been free on bail.

A motive was unclear.

"She has no motive to kill anyone," one of her lawyers, T. Ryan Deaton, has said.

All parties involved in the case were under a gag order from State District Judge Barry Bryan that blocks them from speaking about it outside the courtroom.

I cannot think of another Texas case in which death was sought and the defendant remained free on bail pending trial.

"Former nurse facing capital murder charges in deaths of five to begin trial," is by Jessica Cooley for the Lufkin Daily News.

A nurse accused of injecting 10 dialysis patients with bleach, a defense attorney claiming she is the scapegoat for a business with deadly practices, and a prosecutor looking to prove her guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Those are all elements in play at the Angelina County Courthouse this week as former Davita Dialysis nurse Kimberly Saenz, 37, is tried on five charges of capital murder.

During the next three weeks, 12 jurors will hear evidence from both sides before determining if Saenz knowingly injected bleach-filled syringes into 10 dialysis patients, resulting in the deaths of at least five. If found guilty, she faces life in prison or death by lethal injection.

Since the allegations came to light in April 2008, Deaton has maintained that his client is a scapegoat for DaVita Dialysis, where she worked for eight months.

Federal health officials became involved in a massive health investigation in late April 2008 after a series of patient deaths and illnesses at the Lufkin dialysis center. The center closed for nearly two months as investigators combed through patient documents and preserved dialysis equipment for forensic testing.

Texas Observer on the Linda Carty Case

Alex Hannaford takes a lengthy examination in the current issue of the Texas Observer, "Did Death Row Inmate Linda Carty Get a Fair Trial?"  Here's the introduction:

Trafalgar Square, just a stone’s throw from the very center of the British capital, is an expanse of paved sidewalk, pretty fountains and, most notably, five statues. The central statue is of Admiral Lord Nelson, after whose infamous 1805 sea battle the square is named; King George IV stands in one corner; two historical army generals in the others. The 'fourth plinth', as it's known, remained empty for 150 years, but for the last decade or so it has been used to showcase a series of artworks. For one day in September 2009, though, it carried a cardboard cut-out of an African-American woman, while beneath it, a portable PA system broadcast her voice — calm, and with a slight Caribbean lilt — to passers-by.

“Hello Trafalgar Square,” she said. “My name is Linda Carty and I'm speaking to you from death row in Texas in the United States.”

Her name will mean little to most Texans: the arrests, charges and then sentences in the case were reported locally -- but briefly -- in the Houston Chronicle and a longer piece appeared in the same paper in 2010 following the Supreme Court's refusal to review Carty's case. But the British press had been on it for a long time. In fact, over the last eight years, thanks to news reports (in everything from broadsheets like the Independent and Guardian to tabloids like the Daily Mail and Express), magazine features, a prime time television documentary and a sustained campaign by a London-based human rights group, Carty has become something of a cause célèbre in the UK — and not just for those opposed to capital punishment. Many feel that, irrelevant of her guilt or innocence, Carty simply didn’t get a fair trial.

From the Trafalgar Square plinth, Carty’s disembodied voice continued: “I'm sorry I sound like a desperate woman but I am desperate. The British people may be my last hope. If they ask for my life to be spared, maybe Texas will listen.”

But why has a little-known inmate on Texas’s death row — one of 10 women and 311 men — got the British all a fluster?

Carty was born on the Caribbean island of St. Kitts when it was still a British colony. As such, Carty holds British citizenship, and under the terms of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, when she was first arrested, the British consulate in Houston should have been informed. But it wasn’t.

Earlier coverage of Linday Carty's case begins at the link.

Support Is Waning for Death Penalty

That's the title of an OpEd in today's Richmond Times-Dispatch written by two noted conservatives, Richard  Viguerie and Brent Bozell.  LINK

We lifelong conservatives and Tea Party supporters recently urged the death sentence for Teresa Lewis in Virginia be commuted to life in prison without parole instead.

We are among a growing number of conservatives who have questions and reservations about the death penalty, believe it is no longer a necessary form of punishment based on either Lockean or biblical principles, or oppose it outright.

Around the country death sentences are dropping, and support for the death penalty is waning. This trend is not limited to bleeding-heart liberals and criminal coddlers.

We urge our fellow conservatives to at least consider some issues when contemplating the death penalty.

The Old Testament required the death penalty for certain sins and a litany of offenses. In John 8 of the New Testament, the Pharisees confronted Jesus about a woman ready to be stoned for adultery. Jesus, sensing a trap they laid on a conflict between the Old Testament and Roman law, said: Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.

We believe John 8 of the New Testament shows that Jesus did not consider the death penalty mandatory punishment for sins, and certainly not unless the process complied with God's law. Deuteronomy 17:6 requires more than one witness to convict.

We also believe conservative Lockean principles do not compel the death penalty.

John Locke's Second Treatise on Government offers a justification of the State's taking the life of someone who is guilty of a heinous crime. Locke, on whose principles conservatism is built, believed the death penalty was a justifiable punishment for two reasons: protecting society (self-preservation) and deterrence.

And:

We now, however, have maximum security prisons that were incapable of being built in Locke's time. Society may protect itself without putting a human to death as it would a wild animal. Since we believe each person has a soul, and is capable of achieving salvation, life in prison is now an alternative to the death penalty.

Under Locke's other reason, deterrence, punishment should be severe enough to discourage criminal acts. We certainly agree. However, some data show the death penalty does not act as deterrence.

In fact, the data seem to indicate murder and other heinous crimes may be lower in jurisdictions that do not have the death penalty. That's not proof, of course, but we believe death penalty proponents bear the burden of proof that the ultimate punishment is in fact a deterrence.

From our conservative perspective, there are other reasons we oppose the death penalty. It is an expensive government program with the power to kill people. Conservatives don't trust the government is always capable, competent, or fair with far lighter tasks.

In a news article by Frank Green and Reed Williams, the Times-Dispatch reports, "Many factors figure in death-penalty cases."

A smiling Sam McCroskey was led from Prince Edward County Circuit Court last month after a plea deal won for him a life sentence instead of execution for bludgeoning four people to death -- three while they slept.

Three days later, Teresa Lewis, a Pittsylvania County grandmother, was executed by injection for a double murder-for-hire in which she did not pull the trigger.

The different outcomes were the latest to confound and upset Virginians who support or oppose the death penalty.

Experts say many factors, not all of them apparent, figure in death cases, including the sentiments of jurors in the 120 jurisdictions that elect commonwealth's attorneys, the wishes of the victims' families, the strength of evidence, and the abilities of the prosecutor and defense lawyers.

From the initial decision by a prosecutor to seek the ultimate sanction to the 11th-hour call by a governor on whether to intervene, discretion plays a huge role.

And:

Even geography is a factor. A capital murder on one side of a county or city line can result in a death sentence and, on the other, life in prison.

In 2001, the General Assembly's Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission studied 215 capital punishment-eligible cases in Virginia from 1995 to 1999.

In that study, suburban prosecutors sought the death penalty in 45 percent of the cases, while city prosecutors sought execution in 16 percent. In rural areas, the death penalty was sought in 34 percent of the cases.

Howard said it is not surprising that in a federal system of government, some states have the death penalty and some do not.

"But it comes as a little more of a jolt when you find that statistically, the prosecuting decision to ask for the death penalty varies quite substantially from one county or one city from another within a state," he said.

"I'm not sure that makes it unconstitutional, but it adds one more, if you like, arbitrary element to the mix -- the same taking of life in two different places but quite disparate decisions."

The quote above is from A.E. Dick Howard, a University of Virginia law professor and constitutional scholar.

 

Virginia Executes Teresa Lewis

There is a great deal of national and international press on the Virginia execution of Teresa Lewis, last night.

"Va. puts woman to death; rare US female execution," is the AP report via Google News.  It's written by Steve Szkotak. 

Lewis appeared fearful, her jaw clenched, as she was escorted into the death chamber. She glanced tensely around at 14 assembled corrections officials before being bound to a gurney with heavy leather straps.

Moments before her execution, Lewis asked if her husband's daughter — her stepdaughter — was near. She was. Kathy Clifton was in an adjacent witness room blocked from the inmate's view by a two-way mirror.

"I want Kathy to know that I love her and I'm very sorry," Lewis said.

Then, as the drugs flowed into her body, her feet bobbed but she otherwise remained motionless. A guard lightly tapped her on the shoulder reassuringly as she slipped into death.

More than 7,300 appeals to stop the execution had been made to the governor in a state second only to Texas in the number of people it executes.2

Texas held the most recent U.S. execution of a woman in 2005. Out of more than 1,200 people put to death since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976, only 11 have been women.

Carol Williams writes, "Virginia's execution of a woman may signal shift in national thinking," for today's Los Angeles Times.  Here's an extended excerpt:

Virginia put to death a 41-year-old woman Thursday night, the first execution of a female in the country in five years and the first in that state for nearly a century.

The lethal-injection death of Teresa Lewis, convicted of the 2002 contract killing of her husband and stepson, broke with a tradition of societal "queasiness" about executing women, one legal expert said. It could also psychologically clear the way to carrying out death sentences on others among the 60 condemned women in the nation — including 18 in California, according to some capital punishment observers.

Lewis' death sentence was only the 12th carried out against a woman prisoner in the 34 years since capital punishment was restored as a sentencing option. In that same period, 1,214 men have been put to death.

Legal scholars attribute the "gender bias" in executions to women's lower propensity to kill and the tendency of those who do to kill a husband, lover or child in the heat of emotion, seldom with the "aggravating factors" states require for a death sentence. Lewis pleaded guilty to having arranged the killings to collect $250,000 in insurance money on her stepson.

"The way capital punishment statutes are written inadvertently favor women. They make it a worse crime if a homicide is committed during a felony, like robbery or rape, which are rarely involved in women's homicides," said Victor Streib, a Northern Ohio University law professor who has spent 30 years researching condemned women. "It's also easier to convince a jury that women suffer emotional distress or other emotional problems more than men."

Still, Streib added, "there are some cases that can't be explained by anything except a queasiness at executing women. We just seem to be reluctant to do that."

Lewis was the first woman to be executed in Virginia since 1912, when a 17-year-old African American maid named Virginia Christian was sent to the electric chair for killing her employer after being accused of stealing a locket.

Lewis was the only woman on death row in a state that is second in the number of executions since 1976, with 107 compared with Texas' 463.

Texas carried out the last female execution in the United States on Sept. 14, 2005. Frances Newton was put to death by lethal injection for the murders of her husband and two children. Prosecutors said she wanted to collect $100,000 in insurance money.

A British national convicted in Texas of hiring men to kill a neighbor and steal the victim's newborn son also is likely to face execution this year. The U.S. Supreme Court has denied review of the conviction of 51-year-old Linda Carty, despite appeals by the British government to spare her life.

California has the nation's largest death row, with 708 condemned inmates. Nationally, there were 61 condemned women at the start of this year, compared with more than 3,200 men, according to the Death Penalty Information Center database.

University of New Mexico law professor Elizabeth Rapaport explains the death-sentence disparity with the kinds of crimes women tend to commit.

"Two thirds of the homicide crimes by women are domestic," she said, usually committed in the heat of argument or under impairment by drugs or alcohol, seldom with the premeditation or other aggravating circumstances that draw capital charges.

The New York Times carries, "Woman, 41, Is Executed in Virginia," by Anahad O'Connor.

Ms. Lewis received support from an unlikely cast. The novelist John Grisham published an op-ed piece calling for leniency, and the European Union sent a letter to Robert F. McDonnell, the governor of Virginia, asking him to commute Ms. Lewis’s sentence to life because of her mental capacities. The case was also cited by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a speech to Islamic clerics during a visit to New York this week.

Shortly after her execution, a lawyer for Ms. Lewis, Jim Rocap, called her death "a tragic loss."

“Tonight, the machinery of death in Virginia extinguished the beautiful, childlike and loving human spirit of Teresa Lewis," he said. "Teresa asked that I send her thanks and love to all of those who have supported her in this fight for her life. In her words, ’It’s just awesome.’ It is our hope that Teresa’s death will cause a re-examination of the badly broken system of justice that could allow something as wrong and unjust as this to happen.”

Maria Glod reports, "Virginia executes Teresa Lewis for role in slayings of husband, stepson in 2002," for the Washington Post.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch has, "Teresa Lewis executed for 2002 slayings of husband, stepson," by Frank Green and Zachary Reid.

The European Union's U.S. delegation, concerned about Lewis' mental capacity, sent a letter this month to Gov. Bob McDonnell asking that he commute the sentence to life. Iranian officials, stung by criticism over a woman convicted of adultery there and sentenced to death by stoning, blasted the West this week for hypocrisy.

The governor's office had no comment.

Earlier coverage of her case begins here.