Happy Saturnalia, Kwanzaa, Soyaluna, DongZhi, Hanukah, Christmas (or, whatever floats your boat).

Ohio governor spares obese killer Ronald Post from execution

Gov. John Kasich's decision to grant clemency to Post mirrored the recommendation of mercy by the state parole board, which said it didn't doubt Post's guilt but said there were too many problems with how he was represented 30 years ago

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The governor on Monday sidestepped a decision about whether a condemned inmate was too fat to be humanely executed by sparing the prisoner on the grounds that he had poor legal representation.
Gov. John Kasich's decision to grant clemency to Ronald Post mirrored the recommendation of mercy by the state parole board, which said it didn't doubt Post's guilt but said there were too many problems with how he was represented 30 years ago.

Post, who weighs 450 pounds, never raised the issue of his size with the board. And Kaisch, who commuted Post's sentence to life with no chance of parole, didn't mention Post's obesity claim in his statement. Kasich spokesman Rob Nichols said the governor didn't consider Post's obesity claim.
The governor said all criminal defendants, regardless of the heinousness of the crimes, deserve an adequate defense.

AT 450 POUNDS, OHIO KILLER RONALD POST FIGHTS TO DELAY EXECUTION BECAUSE OF HIS WEIGHT

"This decision should not be viewed by anyone as diminishing this awful crime or the pain it has caused," Kasich said.

Post's attorneys applauded the decision.

The parole board and Kasich "rightly recognized that, in cases in which the state seeks to execute one of its citizens, our justice system simply must work better than it did in Mr. Post's case," said public defenders Joe Wilhelm and Rachel Troutman.

In its Friday decision, the parole board rejected arguments made by Post's attorneys that he deserves mercy because of lingering doubts about his "legal and moral guilt" in a woman's death, but it said it couldn't ignore perceived missteps by his lawyers.

Post was scheduled to die Jan. 16 for killing Elyria motel clerk Helen Vantz in a 1983 robbery.

"Post took Vantz's life, devastating the lives of her loved ones in the process," the board said in its 5-3 decision. But it said a majority of its members agreed his sentence should be commuted to life in prison without chance of parole because of omissions, missed opportunities and questionable decisions made by his previous attorneys and because that legal representation didn't meet expectations for a death penalty case.
Dissenting parole board members said it was clear Post killed Vantz and that questionable moves by his attorneys don't outweigh the circumstances of the case.

Separately, Post had argued in federal court that executing him would amount to cruel and unusual punishment. His attorneys said he would suffer "a torturous and lingering death" as executioners tried to find a vein or use a backup method where lethal drugs are injected directly into muscle.

I'M TOO FAT TO EXECUTE: CONVICTED OHIO KILLER WANTS LETHAL INJECTION DELAYED

Vantz's sons, William and Michael, have said they believe in Post's guilt. William Vantz characterized Post's obesity claim as "another way for a coward to try and get out of what debt he owes to society."
The long-held presumption that Post confessed to the murder to several people has been falsely exaggerated, Post's attorneys have argued. Post admitted involvement in the crime as the getaway driver to a police informant but didn't admit to the killing.

"Sure ain't no murderer," Post told that informant, according to Post's clemency filing.
Post's attorneys argued that prosecutors misrepresented to the judge that Post had confessed to sole involvement in Vantz's death.

"The death penalty should be reserved for cases where proof of guilt is reliable and the legal system produced a just result," the defense had said. "Neither criteria is met in this case."

480 POUND OHIO INMATE SAYS HE'LL FACT 'TORTUROUS AND LINGERING DEATH' IF EXECUTED BECAUSE OF HIS WEIGHT

Lorain County prosecutor Dennis Will had pointed to the written no contest plea, in which Post acknowledged responsibility, as "a compelling reason" to reject clemency. A message was left seeking comment Monday.
Ohio's next execution is March 6, when Frederick Treesh of Lake County is scheduled to die for the 1994 shooting death of an adult bookstore security guard during a robbery.


Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ohio-governor-spares-obese-killer-execution-article-1.1222141#ixzz2FN2ue8VT

http://newsok.com/texas-to-use-single-execution-drug-for-1st-time/article/feed/405415?custom_click=pod_headline_usnational-news

Texas executes its 1st inmate using single drug
 
Published: July 18, 2012      0
HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — Texas has executed its first prisoner under a lethal injection procedure that uses one drug instead of three.
Yokamon Hearn was sentenced to death in the 1998 carjacking and slaying of a suburban Dallas stockbroker. The 33-year-old Hearn's execution Wednesday was the state's first using a single dose of the sedative pentobarbital.
Texas prison officials last week announced they were modifying the three-drug method they've used since 1982.
Hearn's execution came about 3½ hours after the U.S. Supreme Court refused appeals from his attorneys.
Hearn was convicted in the killing of 23-year-old Frank Meziere, who was slain after being abducted from a Dallas car wash.
Hearn showed no apparent unusual reaction to the drug as his execution began. He was pronounced dead at 6:37 p.m.


Read more: http://newsok.com/texas-executes-its-1st-inmate-using-single-drug/article/feed/405415#ixzz211NsBEXt

Problems with current methods"

Electrocution
Takes multiple jolts
Can set executed prisoner on fire
"Painful"

Firing Squad
Should be head shots vs. heart shots
Chance for missed shots
Brain activity can continue after heart shot causing for potential of perceived "pain"

Lethal injection
Drugs are:
     Expensive
     Subject to boycott
     In short supply
Veins may be difficult to find 2° habitual IV drug use
Need skilled workers to insert IV's properly
Pain with IV insertion and possible with drugs

Inert Gas Asphyxiation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrogen_asphyxiation
Cheap
Abundant
Can be administered by nonprofessionals
Death is guaranteed
Executed is unaware they are dying
No pain
Nothing to appeal on the basis of "pain" or "questionable sources for drug". Nitrogen is nitrogen anywhere on earth.
Could be consistent method, nationwide

I wonder if that @#%!-eating grin will still be there when he's strapped in and the juice starts flowing.

They whine about pain during an execution that makes sure you are sound asleep before you die, then inflict serious pain to themselves trying to leave this earth.

Thank-you. I thought that maybe I was the only one who could not follow this logic. 

http://www.statesmanjournal.com/article/20111122/UPDATE/111122018/Gov-Kitzhaber-halts-Haugen-execution-won-t-allow-any-executions-while-office?odyssey=mod|breaking|text|Home

Gov. John Kitzhaber announced today that he is halting the scheduled Dec. 6 execution of Gary Haugen and won’t allow any executions to occur while he is governor.

Kitzhaber’s bombshell came the day after the Oregon Supreme Court said that it would allow the lethal injection execution of the twice-convicted murderer to go forward.

In slamming the brakes on Oregon’s first execution in 14 years, the Democrat governor said the state’s death penalty system is “broken” and he vowed to push for reforms in the 2013 legislative session.

“It is time for this state to consider a different approach,” Kitzhaber said. “I refuse to be a part of a compromised and inequitable system any longer; and I will not allow further executions to take place while I am governor.”

Under Oregon’s constitution, governors have sweeping power to grant reprieves, commutations and pardons for those convicted of crimes.

Kitzhaber said he was exercising his authority to issue a temporary reprieve for Haugen, lasting “for the duration of my term in office.”

“I could have commuted Mr. Haugen’s sentence, and indeed the sentences of all those on death row, to life in prison without the possibility of parole,” he said. “I did not do that because the policy of this state on capital punishment is not mine alone to decide. It is a matter for all Oregonians to decide. And it is my hope — indeed my intention — that my action today will bring about a long overdue re-evaluation of our current policy and our system of capital punishment.”

Kitzhaber allowed two executions to proceed, in 1996 and 1997, during his first term as governor.

Speaking this afternoon at a press conference in his ceremonial office, the governor said he has “regretted those choices ever since — both because of my own deep personal convictions about capital punishment and also because in practice Oregon has an expensive and unworkable system that fails to meet basic standards of justice. Twenty-seven years after voters reinstated the death penalty it is clear the system is broken.”

Haugen, 49, has waived his legal appeals and repeatedly declared his desire to be executed.

On Friday, Marion County Circuit Judge Joseph Guimond signed his death warrant, authorizing the Dec. 6 execution.

In voluntarily dropping his appeals, Haugen followed in the footsteps of the last two executed inmates — serial killer Douglas Wright in 1996 and Salem double killer Harry Moore in 1997. Both abandoned their appeals.

Kitzhaber said he agonized over whether he should stop the executions of Wright and Moore, describing them “as the most agonizing and difficult decisions I have made as governor and I have revisited and questioned them over and over again during the past 14 years.”

Kitzhaber’s decision to derail Haugen’s execution prompted jaw-dropping reactions.
“It’s pretty incredible,” said Steve Gorham, one of Haugen’s attorneys.
Gorham predicted that Haugen would be shocked and disappointed.

“It’s going to rock his world,” he said.

http://www.statesmanjournal.com/article/20111122/NEWS/111220327/Execution-given-go-ahead-by-split-court?odyssey=nav%7Chead

Execution given go-ahead by split court

Petition for new competency hearing denied
12:01 AM, Nov. 22, 2011

A divided Oregon Supreme Court issued a decision Monday that green lights the Dec. 6 execution of twice-convicted murderer Gary Haugen.

By a 4-3 decision, the court rejected a petition filed by an anti-death penalty legal center seeking a new mental competency hearing for the condemned inmate.

Barring intervention by Gov. John Kitzhaber, who has the power to stop the execution or a decision by Haugen to call it off and reactivate his appeals, Oregon's first execution in 14 years is on track to occur at 7 p.m. Dec. 6 at the state penitentiary in Salem.

Haugen, 49, voluntarily dropped his appeals. He has repeatedly stated his preference to die rather than languish on Oregon's death row, which houses 37 condemned killers. He also has said he waived his appeals to protest the legal system and "the arbitrary and vindictive nature of the death penalty."

The state Supreme Court majority concluded that no legal errors were committed by Marion County Circuit Court Judge Joseph Guimond, who found Haugen mentally competent to drop his appeals and legally sane to be executed.

The court majority also determined that Guimond complied with the terms of an earlier Supreme Court order that set forth marching orders for the judge to follow in assessing Haugen's competency.

"Our conclusion that Judge Guimond complied with the writ, of course, does not make this case any less fraught or sobering," says the court's majority opinion. "We agree with the dissenting opinions that, as this court and the United States Supreme Court have said, 'death is different.' And we agree that the procedures established by the legislature that can lead to an execution must be followed scrupulously."

The majority opinion adds, "We share the dissenters' premise that every death penalty case raises the most profound issues of morality and social justice. The record before us, however, demonstrates no legal error in Judge Guimond's conduct of the proceedings to determine Haugen's competence, nor any failure on his part to comply with the terms of our writ."

However, Chief Justice Paul DeMuniz, writing in a dissenting opinion, agreed with the petition's core complaint — that Guimond "ignored" potential evidence that cast doubt on Haugen's competency.

DeMuniz noted that Guimond excluded from consideration an affidavit issued by Portland neuropsychologist Muriel Lezak, who visited Haugen and asserted that he suffers from delusions and cognitive problems.

"The trial court was entitled to give Dr. Lezak's testimony and her opinions as much or as little weight as they deserved, and it was certainly within the trial court's authority to allow Haugen to discharge his lawyers after that evidence was taken," the chief justice wrote. "The trial court, however, was not authorized to simply ignore evidence relevant to Haugen's competence to be executed, whether that was Haugen's wish or not."

DeMuniz also took the court majority to task, writing: "Haugen has repeatedly expressed his desire to be executed, and he may well be legally competent to receive that penalty for his horrible crimes. His desire to be put to death, however, does not excuse this court's failure to require strict adherence to the legislature's mandated procedures in this, and every other, death penalty proceeding."

Jeff Ellis, head of the Oregon Capital Resource Center, which filed the petition asking the high court to order a new competency hearing for Haugen, said he was "very disappointed" by the majority decision.

"I remain profoundly concerned that Mr. Haugen was found competent to be executed after a hearing where evidence of his incompetence was excluded and not considered by the court," Ellis wrote in an e-mail to the Statesman Journal. "The Constitution requires more. It requires that a judge hear and consider all of the relevant evidence.

"The Oregon Supreme Court's majority decision repeated this error by focusing too closely at the language of its earlier writ and not close enough at the requirements of the constitution."

Monday's 4-3 Supreme Court decision came on the heels of Friday's signing of Haugen's death warrant by Guimond.

agustafs@StatesmanJournal.com, (503) 399-6709, or follow at twitter.com/agustafs1

Online

Go to StatesmanJournal.com/deathrow to read the majority opinion issued Monday by the Oregon Supreme
Court and two dissenting opinions. The court voted 4-3 to reject a petition seeking a new competency hearing for condemned inmate Gary Haugen.

Story so far

Gary Haugen was sentenced to die in 2007 for killing a fellow inmate at the Oregon State Penitentiary in 2003. At the time, he was serving a life sentence with the possibility of parole for fatally beating the mother of his ex-girlfriend in 1981 in Portland.

Haugen, 49, has dropped his legal challenges and has said repeatedly that he wants to be put to death.
In May, Marion County Circuit Judge Joseph Guimond allowed the death row inmate to waive his appeals and set an Aug. 16 execution date. But the two attorneys representing Haugen at the time argued that he was not mentally competent, citing an opinion given by Portland neuropsychologist Muriel Lezak, who visited Haugen and deemed him delusional.

In late June, the state Supreme Court stepped in, ordering Guimond to cancel the execution, schedule a full psychological evaluation of Haugen and conduct a new competency hearing.

The new competency hearing was held Sept. 27. Clinical psychologist Richard Hulteng, who met with Haugen for 10 hours over two days, outlined his evaluation of Haugen and testified that he is not mentally ill or delusional.

Guimond ruled Oct. 7 that Haugen was mentally fit to waive his legal appeals and legally sane to be executed, as required by law. Guimond announced a tentative Dec. 6 execution date and said he expected to sign a death warrant in the near future. As of Friday, the judge had not signed the death warrant.

An anti-death penalty lawyer with the Oregon Capital Resource Center filed a petition Oct. 17 with the Supreme Court, asking the high court to order another competency hearing and block Guimond from signing Haugen's death warrant.

The petition claimed that the competency hearing held in September was flawed because Guimond relied on Hulteng's evaluation of the inmate and excluded Lezak's opinion.

In response to the OCRC petition, Haugen's current lawyers and attorneys for the state Department of Justice separately submitted legal briefs to the Supreme Court defending the previous mental competency evaluation and hearing.

Four anti-death penalty groups submitted a separate petition Nov. 7 to Gov. John Kitzhaber asking him to indefinitely delay the execution, pending a comprehensive study of the death penalty system in Oregon. Kitzhaber does not intend to publicly comment on the petition until the court process has run its course, according to a spokesman in his office.

Friday, prison officials briefed reporters on preparations for the looming Dec. 6 execution and led them on a tour of the execution room at the Oregon State Penitentiary.

Monday, a 4-3 decision by the state Supreme Court green lighted Haugen's execution by denying the OCRC's request for a new competency hearing.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/73422668/Oregon-Supreme-Court-Haugen-Opinion

Look at the garbage he spewed out in the last moments:

Quote

Rhoades accepted blame for his role in the killing of Susan Michelbacher, an Idaho Falls school teacher. His role, implying he did not act alone in her abduction, rape and shooting. He said police need to keep looking for the killer of Stacy Dawn Baldwin and Nolan Haddon

Rhoades managed to say he forgave the state workers who were about to inject him with a cocktail of lethal drugs. His mercy, still, never extended to the families of his victims. Even in his final, hurtful moments.

Read more:http://voices.idahostatesman.com/2011/11/18/krichert/the_rhoades_execution_final_words#ixzz1e5Mk2Xaj

For anyone who still believes that the death penalty should be abolished and that these "people" have "changed" need not look any farther than this last statement. This scum-sucking piece of maggot droppings still won't accept that what he did was wrong. Well...too late sucker. Tell your lies to Lucifer!

@#%!

Rhoades contends the state's policy doesn't include enough safeguards to ensure that he is adequately anesthetized and doesn't experience excruciating pain during the execution.

Here's the deal...I have a medical background and will test for painful stimulus http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasgow_Coma_Scale#Best_eye_response_.28E.29. No response? Hit the juice! Response? More juice. I'll pay for my own gas to get there and it won't cost the state a dime. Easy peasy...

He is already under 24-hour suicide watch in anticipation of the event.

Uhmmm...WHY? Let him "off" himself and save the State all of the (wasted) legal expenses, and most of all, the emotional trauma for the families that this piece of pond scum caused. I will personally buy him a good quality rope. At the very least, I'm sure that everyone on this forum would be pleased to donate to the cause...

"In his appeals, Johnson argued his trial lawyers were ineffective because they failed to bring up evidence of his childhood struggles, including his father's abandonment of him when he was 15."

As usual, what the hell has that got to do with it? He is still a sadistic murderer.

He might as well state that he fell off his potty at two years old.

If I was sitting on that jury and his attorney had brought up that song 'n' dance, I woulda laughed so hard I would have shot milk outta my nose! According to government statistics, over 58% of marriages in the United States end in divorce. So, using this POS's logic, a little over half of the population should be incarcerated for murdering someone. Give me a freaking break.

A Florida man convicted of killing a police officer during a traffic stop 33 years ago has been executed at the Florida State Prison.

The governor's office said Manuel Valle was pronounced dead at 7:14 p.m. Wednesday. He was the first Florida prisoner to be executed with a new mix of lethal drugs.

http://www.news-press.com/article/20110928/CRIME/110928005/Stay-of-execution-denied-for-Manuel-Valle?odyssey=tab|mostpopular|text|FRONTPAGE

HUNTSVILLE, Texas — A 38-year-old Mexican man has been executed in Texas for the rape-slaying of a San Antonio teenager after White House-backed appeals to spare him were rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Humberto Leal received lethal injection Thursday evening in Huntsville.
His punishment capped a flurry of appeals that argued he deserved additional court review of his case because authorities didn't tell him he could seek legal help from the Mexican government when he was arrested for the murder of 16-year-old Adria Sauceda in 1994.
President Barack Obama's administration had joined with Leal's attorneys, arguing a delay was warranted so legislation covering cases like his could work its way through Congress.
Lawyers for the state of Texas opposed the appeals, saying un-passed legislation was not law.


Read more: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/top/all/7643941.html#ixzz1RSwLm5bL