Here is an excellent article on former Illinois Governor George Ryan and his quest to end the death penalty. There are some good quotes from the former governor. I like this one on lethal injection in particular:

"Think of the evolution of the death penalty. No hanging. No shooting. No electrocution. That makes it more culturally acceptable? A prisoner injected with a drug before a theater of witnesses ... So there is no blood, no catching on fire, no feet dangling and twitching. Then society thinks it's not too bad?"

Life's quest-Former Gov. George Ryan continues to push for end of death penalty

Todd Charles Boggess

North Carolina death row inmate Todd Charles Boggess was awarded a new trial by the North Carolina Supreme Court on Friday. According to the Supreme Court, there were problems with Boggess's jury from day one when the lower court allowed a juror on the panel who knew the victim's mother to remain. In addition, the Supreme Court found error with a jury instruction which implied to the jury that if they chose life in prison, Boggess might be paroled at some point. In North Carolina, a life prison term for a convicted first degree murder is automatically life without possibility of parole. This jury instruction issue is VERY similar to the issue which the New York Court of Appeals found improper. The instruction was different, but essentially, the effect was the same: the jury may be choosing death because they fear if they don't the defendant will someday be released on parole.

Man on death row gets new trial

Terry Jess Dennis - Nevada

Terry Jess Dennis was executed by the State of Nevada last night. Dennis had volunteered for execution and had vehemently waived all of his appeals. However, there are serious questions about Dennis' competence to choose execution. He had attempted suicide several times over the course of his incarceration and readily admitted he did not want to live.

Nevada death row inmate executed for 1999 Reno strangling

The New York State Senate voted on Wednesday to adopt the bill proposed by Governor Pataki to "fix" the New York death penalty.

Senate passes Pataki Bill

James Vernon Allridge III

Supporters of Texas death row inmate James Vernon Allridge III including his attorneys and family are asking the state Board of Pardons and Paroles to recommend life in prison. As of today, Allridge is scheduled to be executed on August 26th.

Allridge is, by all accounts, rehabilitated. He is not asking for absolution or for release but rather to be allowed to live his life out behind bars. I have more information on Allridge below in a previous post and I'm sure will be posting more about him as the next couple of weeks play out.

Supporters seek life for Death Row artist

Larry Eugene Hall

The South Carolina Supreme Court has overturned the death sentence of Larry Eugene Hall. Hall has served 12 years on death row for the murders of two teenage girls in the early 1990s. The Supreme Court found comments made by the solicitor during closing arguments to be improper because he asked the jury to weigh the life of Hall against the lives of the two victims.

Convicted Killer's Death Sentence Tossed

James Reid

The United States Supreme Court has overturned the stay of execution the United States Court of Appeals had granted James Reid this past December. Four of the Justices dissented.

Supreme Court vacates stay of execution

Nicholas Yarris

Nicholas Yarris was released from Pennsylvania's death row in January of this year when DNA evidence cleared him (DNA under the victim's fingernails, on her undergarmets, and in the killer's gloves belongs to a different man). Yarris announced today that he will sue Delaware County for damages for the 20 years he spent behind bars contemplating his own death.

Cleared by DNA, death row con will sue Delco

New York's governor, George Pataki, has introduced a bill in the New York legislature to "fix the flaw" in the New York death penalty. Pataki's proposed measures would give juries more options and would require a sentence of life without parole in cases where juries deadlocked. While this provision will give juries another option (instead of forcing them to choose death because they know if they remain deadlocked a judge will give out only a 25 year sentence), it will also negate the New York Court of Appeals ruling in June which essentially ended the death penalty in the State of New York. New Yorkers, now is the time to call your local legislators!

Pataki Introduces Bill to Restore Death Penalty

Ryan Matthews

After more than seven years on Louisiana's death row, Ryan Matthews has been exonerated. Today, a hearing was held that officially dropped the charges against Matthews. Matthews was on death row for the 1997 robbery and murder of Tommy Vanhoose. Matthews has always maintained his innocence and says he never gave up hope. DNA evidence ultimately vindicated Matthews when hair from a ski mask thrown from the getaway car was matched to that of another Louisiana inmate, Rondell Love. There have also been reports that Love has bragged about killing Vanhoose.

DNA evidence frees La. death row inmate

James Adams

This article from Sunday's Miami Herald is a moving account of the story of James Adams who was electrocuted by the State of Florida in 1984 for the murder of Edgar Brown. Twenty years after Adams' execution there remain serious doubts about his guilt. The entire case was built on circumstantial evidence. Furthermore, according to the article, for every piece of circumstantial evidence pointing at Adams' guilt there was a piece of countering circumstantial evidence that argued for his innocence.

Read the account, I'm sure you'll find the handling of the evidence and the prosecution of the case disturbing. Of course I feel that Adams should not have been executed even if he was guilty. However, the very idea that he might have been innocent makes me extremely angry and fills my heart with true sorrow and regret. Not only might an innocent man have lost his life, somewhere out there is a murderer who watched another man die on his behalf. He's responsible for two murders as far as I'm concerned: Edgar Brown and James Adams.

20 years after a man's execution, doubts over his guilt haunt case

Terry Dennis

The Nevada Coalition Against the Death Penalty is holding a candlelight vigil before the execution of Terry Dennis on Thursday. Dennis has waived his appeals and asked to be executed. The candlelight vigil will take place outside the Nevada State Prison in Carson City from 7:30 to 9:00 on Thursday evening. Dennis is scheduled to be executed at 9:00.

Las Vegas SUN: News briefs for August 9, 2004

This link is to a very interesting column in the Houston Chronicle about the standard applied when attempting to prove a wrongful conviction. The article is particularly focused on Texas, but it also addresses how federal courts deal with the same question. I guess I was never aware of what a wrongfully convicted prisoner faces in getting himself or herself released. The column discusses one case in particular where it appears the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals left a man to his prison sentence even though the DNA on the rape victim was not his. The Court apparently did not even order a new trial. To convict someone, a prosecutor must prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt. According to this column, once that guilt beyond reasonable doubt has attached, it nearly impossible to overcome. In the State of Texas, you must prove actual innocence beyond a reasonable doubt. This, in a jurisdiction that has killed three times as many inmates as the state with the next highest execution total.

Law tough on wrongly convicted

Here is another article on the upcoming ABC News series "In the Jury Room" wherein ABC will broadcast edited footage of the jury deliberations in the death penalty case of Mark Ducic.

In the Jury Room

James Barney Hubbard - Alabama

Well, they killed him. The State of Alabama executed 74 year old James Hubbard tonight. After 25 years on death row, Hubbard was pronounced dead at 6:36 pm tonight. Hubbard reportedly had colon cancer, prostate cancer and dementia. According to his lawyers, he was hardly able to stand. Still, the State insisted on killing him before his body laid down and died on its own. What purpose does that serve I wonder? From what I understand, there was likely no question Hubbard was guilty, but this one isn't about whether the Justice system got it right. This one is about human dignity. The purpose certainly isn't deterrence. I highly doubt any potential murderers out there are going to shudder in their shoes when thinking about Hubbard's execution. He spent 25 years on death row. That's over one third of his life. Is it retribution? The man was dying anyway. He had spent most of his life in a prison. How does this pay back society? Perhaps it is meant to be punishment, but frankly I think the real person punished was Hubbard's daughter.

I wish the Supreme Court dissenters had drafted an opinion. I would have liked to read what they had to say. I think its unfortunate that the majority doesn't have to issue an opinion on the question presented. I suppose though that by denying a stay, the Court is really saying that 74 is not too old. Here's hoping that this decision is not a sign of what may come with Roper and the execution of juveniles.

Alabama Executes 74-Year-Old James Hubbard

James Hubbard take II

Here's another article on the Hubbard execution scheduled for today. This one is more detailed. Once again, it includes some good quotes from our friend David Elliot of NCADP.

Execution Plan Draws Pleas for Killer, Ailing and 74

This article seems a bit biased, but I wanted to post it anyway. The article briefly discusses a greeting card business that Texas death row inmate, James Vernon Allridge III has started. The focus of the article is on a lawsuit being filed by the Victims Rights Office of the city of Houston. Apparently, there is a law in Texas known as the "murderabilia" law which arguably allows the State of Texas to confiscate any profits made by an inmate from their "ill gotten notoriety." In the article, Director of the Victims' Rights Office, Andy Kahan, expresses bafflement at the fact that actress Susan Sarandon visited Mr. Allridge and purchased some of his greeting cards. Mr. Kahan finds it difficult to understand why Ms. Sarandon would participate in supporting Mr. Allridge instead of making the same efforts to support the victims' families. What Mr. Kahan may fail to understand is that abolitionists like Ms. Sarandon and myself (I certainly am not trying to speak for Ms. Sarandon, but rather am hypothesizing her opinions) see the men and women on death row as additional victims. What makes it even more difficult to swallow is that the murder of those men and women is planned and executed (for lack of a better term) by our government...by our GOVERNMENT. Yes, most of those awaiting their deaths in our nation's death houses committed horrific crimes. Their victims certainly deserve nurturing and support. However, for those of us who believe that the death penalty is a moral outrage, those inmates who await their deaths need nurturing as well. They have become additional victims. Moreover, their families have become victims who now must deal with the murder of child, sibling or parent. Why do we need to create MORE heartache in the name of retribution, deterrence and finality? It certainly does not achieve justice. Why does the almighty state think that killing another human being creates closure? Does a victim's pain and anguish go away after he watches his loved one's killer filled with poison? Something tells me its not that easily relieved.

Texas Death Row Inmate's Greeting Cards Stir Controversy

James Hubbard

James Hubbard is scheduled to be executed by the State of Alabama on Thursday, August 5th. Hubbard is 74 years old and has been on death row for 25 years. He is one of the oldest awaiting execution in the nation. Hubbard's lawyers have asked an appeals court to block Hubbard's execution and have asked the Governor of Alabama to have mercy on their client. Hubbard suffers from several medical conditions including dementia. His lawyers contend that, in addition to his age and the length of time he's been awaiting execution, these conditions make him incompetent to be executed.

My problem with Hubbard's execution is less his age and more the time he has awaited execution. Now, granted, I am grateful that he's been allowed to live for 25 years. However, I think it is cruel and unusual punishment to force someone to sit on death row for a third of their lifespan only to then finally kill them when they are in their 70s. I have to admit, it appears as though perhaps Hubbard just finally became too much to care for. Is that skeptical of me? Perhaps. Why now, though? What has sparked the need to kill Hubbard now? What purpose does it serve? Isn't it punishment enough that he's sat in a prison cell alone for 25 years contemplating his own murder? Isn't it enough that he has had to sit and remember why he's there? That kind of mental anguish is cruel and unusual. What a catch 22. You can stay alive, but you have to be tortured mentally until you are in your 70s. Then, we'll decide we're ready to put you out of your misery.

Incidentally, there is a great quote from David Elliott in this article. David is the spokesperson for the Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. He is also a reader of this Blog. If you get a moment, take a look at David's abolition Blog. You'll find it in my list of links to the right.

Pending Execution of 74 year old James Hubbard

Roper v. Simmons

For those of you interested in the upcoming United States Supreme Court case Roper v. Simmons, which will address the Constitutionality of the execution of juvenile offenders, the American Bar Association is hosting a website with links to many of the briefs and amicus briefs filed before the Court.

Amicus Briefs - Juvenile Death Penalty

Does this disturb anyone else? Apparently, ABC will air a documentary on August 10th and 11th which documents the jury deliberation process in a death case. The film makers gained permission of all parties involved including the defendant and the Ohio Supreme Court. Still, I wonder how those cameras might have changed the jurors attitudes and altered the process. This is a man's life we're talking about. I'm all for showing the public what happens when people have someone's life in their hands, but I am also concerned that our quest to show this process could alter someone's destiny.

Cameras Report, the Jury Decides