Virginia Death Penalty News

[AnneTheBelgian]

http://www2.insidenova.com/news/2011/may/10/virginia-switch-execution-drugs-ar-1028549/

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Virginia to switch execution drugs

By ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: May 10, 2011

Virginia will join other states that are switching the sedative used in lethal injections because of a nationwide shortage of the drug, officials said Monday.

The Virginia Department of Corrections will substitute pentobarbital for sodium thiopental, whose sole U.S. manufacturer announced in January it would no longer make the drug.

The announcement sent the nation's 34 death penalty states scrambling to find a new supplier. Some canceled executions, while others obtained the drug from England, but then had it confiscated by federal agents amid questions they circumvented the law to obtain it because that country has banned the drug's export for executions.

It is not clear whether Virginia purchased sodium thiopental from overseas, and if so whether the Drug Enforcement Administration also seized its supply.

Department of Corrections spokesman Larry Traylor referred all questions to the attorney general's office, which refused to answer questions about whether Virginia had obtained sodium thiopental from overseas.

Virginia will continue to use a three-drug cocktail, only substituting the sedative drugs, said Brian Gottstein, a spokesman for the attorney general's office. The first drug sedates the inmate, while a second stops his breathing and the third stops the heart.

“The Virginia protocol for lethal injection has been litigated and has been found to be constitutionally acceptable by every court in Virginia that has looked at it … and we are confident that the change to allow the drug pentobarbital to be substituted for sodium thiopental in the protocol will be found to be constitutionally acceptable, as well,” Gottstein said.

Pentobarbital has survived legal challenges in other states and has been used for recent executions in Oklahoma, Ohio and South Carolina.

Virginia is home to the nation's second-busiest death chamber, behind Texas. There currently are no scheduled executions
















Anne

[AnneTheBelgian]

http://www.wvec.com/home/Va-death-row-inmates-seek-enhanced-visitation-124584044.html

Va. death row inmates seek contact visits

Associated Press

Posted on June 27, 2011 at 6:12 AM

Updated today at 6:18 AM

RICHMOND (AP) -- Inmates on Virginia's death row are asking for the chance to hug their family and friends.

At least two of the 11 inmates on death row tell the AP they have asked the Department of Corrections to change its visitation policy so they can have contact visits. They also want visits from friends rather than only family.

The department banned contact visits in 2008 amid concerns outsiders could smuggle cell phones or other contraband to those on death row.

Some victims' families object to the contact visits, saying they no longer get to hug their loved ones either.

All death row visits are done in booths separated by a glass partition, with both parties speaking through telephones.

"I have never stated that I don't deserve to be in prison. I took a life, so I deserve to be in prison," said Thomas Porter, who was sentenced to death for killing Norfolk Police Officer Stanley Reaves in 2005. "But it's making my family a victim."

Porter wants to hug his mother and wife.

The department allows visits from family members, but friends and others are prohibited.

Jerry Jackson, 29, wants to see three longtime female friends before he is executed for raping and murdering 88-year-old Ruth Phillips, a widow in Williamsburg, in 2001.

"I just want to see them one last time just to thank them for being there for me," Jackson said of his friends.

Of the nation's 34 death penalty states, Virginia and 22 others allow only visits through glass partition while 10 allow visits in the same room where offenders and visitors can touch. In Ohio, visitors are separated by glass, but there is a slot that allows inmates and visitors to hold hands.

Both Jackson and Porter, who talked to the AP via telephone, have asked officials for expanded visits. Jackson said he and others asked department director Harold Clarke, who took over the agency in November, to change the policy when he visited death row a few months ago, but nothing changed. Inmates' family members also have asked the department to change the policy.

"Director Clarke is aware of this issue and understands the concerns of the inmates," department spokesman Larry Traylor said.

Traylor said the policy allows inmates to request a contact visit, which is to be viewed on a case-by-case basis. Since 2008, a handful of inmates have done so but none have been granted, he said.

Jackson and Porter complained that no rules were broken by death row inmates that resulted in the policy change. Yet they say there have been instances in which general population inmates received contraband during contact visits, but the visits weren't taken away for all general population offenders.

Traylor said the policy is meant to avoid the issues on death row before they occur. He pointed to instances in Texas, where several cell phones were confiscated from death row inmates in 2008. One of them was taken from a condemned inmate who made threatening calls to a legislator.

"It comes down to illegal contraband such as cell phones, weapons, drugs, etc. entering the secure environment," he said. "This policy completely eliminates that possibility."

Traylor said the department also must take into account the feelings of victims' family members, some of whom have complained that inmates get to visit with their family the day they are executed.

"I don't get to hug my mother, either," said Richard Phillips, who found his mother Ruth dead after going to check on her when she failed to show up for church.

"Prison is not a pleasant place. It's not the idea that it's a country club," he said. "It's too bad that these people do things that get themselves in trouble, but that's the way it is."

Mikhaela Payden-Travers, a friend of Jackson's who wants to visit him, said she understands why victims' family members would feel that way, but that it's "never OK to not let someone say goodbye."

"Being on death row, it's a very difficult place to be. It's a place to despair," she said. "Most people are coming to terms with themselves, what they've done with their lives. ... In order for men on the row to be able to grow, they need to have contact with their friends and family and the people who are going to support them and dealing with all those emotions."

Payden-Travers started writing to Jackson several years ago when she was working for Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. She now lives in San Diego, and tries to keep in touch with her friend through letters and the occasional $50 phone call.

She wants to see him one more time before he's put to death.

"What's hard is that I've come to care for him like a brother, and I won't be able to say goodbye," she said.

Of the nation's 34 death penalty states, 20 have policies similar to Virginia's.

















Anne

[JeffB]

"But it's making my family a victim."

No Thomas - YOU did... 

[Elric of Melnibone]

They already have all the contact they need.  They can write and talk through glass and use the phone.  They do not need more than that.

[JTiscool]

So he can attempt to kill someone while in this contact visit? Yeah....no.

If you wanted to be right with your family then you should never have murdered anyone.

[AnneTheBelgian]

http://www.sungazette.net/arlington/news/opponents-of-death-penalty-expect-to-play-defense-in-session/article_de803544-15d4-11e1-8d5a-001cc4c002e0.html

Opponents of Death Penalty Expect to Play Defense in 2012 Session

Posted: Wednesday, November 23, 2011 8:12 am

Updated: 8:31 am, Wed Nov 23, 2011.

by SCOTT McCAFFREY, Staff Writer

Brian Trompeter contributed to this story.

Advocates for ending the commonwealth’s death-penalty statute acknowledge they will be playing defense in the 2012 General Assembly session, trying to fend off efforts to increase the number of crimes that would be eligible for capital punishment.

Virginia, which has conducted executions for 403 years dating nearly to the founding of Jamestown, “is not yet ready for an abolition movement,” said Stephen Northup, executive director of Charlottesville-based Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (VADP).

“Our main objective has been to defeat efforts to expand the death penalty,” Northup said in an interview.

In recent General Assembly sessions, efforts to expand opportunities for prosecutors to seek the death penalty in murder cases were vetoed by then-Gov. Tim Kaine and, in the last two sessions, were stopped in the state Senate. Gov. McDonnell has promised to sign legislation expanding the capital-punishment statute if it gets to his desk.

(While Kaine blocked expansion of death-penalty statutes and was personally opposed to capital punishment, he promised voters he would enforce the law, and his four years in office saw 11 executions. There have been four executions during the first two years of the McDonnell administration.)

VADP will host a strategy session on Dec. 6 at 7 p.m. at Sherwood Library in Alexandria to discuss the abolition movement and the upcoming General Assembly session.

The issue of the death penalty was of little importance in most legislative races across the commonwealth this year, although it did come up in the Democratic primary for commonwealth’s attorney in Arlington.

In the middle of that race, David Deane came out strongly against the death penalty, criticizing Theo Stamos for her support of capital punishment.

The tactic didn’t gain much traction, as Stamos won about 80 percent of the vote and then went on to be unopposed in the general election. She will succeed current Commonwealth’s Attorney Richard Trodden in January.

Queried by the Sun Gazette, Stamos made no apologies for her position, but said she would tackle every potential capital case on its own merits.

“I was straightforward in my support for the death penalty authorized under Virginia law throughout my campaign,” she said. “That said, as a prosecutor’s office, we always look for acceptable alternatives, depending on the nature and context of the crime. I look forward to continuing our work in applying swift, fair and appropriate justice in every case we touch.”

Northup said that while Virginia isn’t yet primed to consider the idea of abolishing the death penalty, other generally conservative states – such as Montana and Missouri – have been. His long-term goal in Virginia is to convince a bipartisan coalition of legislators of the merits of doing away with capital punishment.

“Sooner or later, we’re going to have some Republicans to help us. It’s just a matter of time,” he said. “We need to convince them there are smarter ways to be tough on crime.”

But they also have to convince some Democrats, too.

“I support the death penalty as an option for juries in the most heinous homicide cases – premeditated cases and things of that nature” said state Sen. Chap Petersen (D-34th), a Fairfax attorney who sits on the Senate Courts of Justice Committee.

Despite his general support, Petersen said he was unlikely to favor expansion of the death penalty in the coming session.

“We need to keep it related to specific crimes, and not for every single murder or manslaughter that occurs,” he said.

Since 1608, the death penalty has been carried out nearly 1,400 times in Virginia, the largest total of any jurisdiction in the U.S. But it has been significantly narrowed in scope; at one time, crimes ranging from burglary to horse rustling made defendants eligible for the gallows, while today only murder, and only in certain circumstances, can result in a death sentence.

Until 1994, executions in Virginia were carried out via the electric chair. Since 1995, condemned prisoners have had the choice between that option and lethal injection.

























Anne

[Grinning Grim Reaper]

STUDIES: Virginia Leads the Country in Death Sentences Resulting in Executions


According to a recent study by the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Virginia executes the highest proportion of people sentenced to death of any state in the country. Of the 149 death sentences handed down through 2010, 108 have resulted in an execution, a rate of about 72 percent. 

Virginia is second to Texas in the total number of executions carried out since 1976, but Texas has executed less than half of those sentenced to death.  In many states, less than 1 in 10 death sentences have resulted in an execution. 

Inmates in Virginia also spend the shortest time on death row prior to execution--on average, just 7.1 years--compared to a national average of just over 14 years for those executed in 2009. 

From the mid-1970s to 1995, just 18% of Virginia death cases were reversed by appeals courts. Nationally, 68% of death cases were reversed in the same time period. 

According to Richard J. Bonnie, director of the Institute of Law, Psychiatry and Public Policy at the University of Virginia, "almost from the beginning, Virginia has basically tried to expedite the process of state post-conviction review and reduce the kinds of claims that can be raised in state courts."

As a result, most of the post-conviction review occurs in federal court, particularly the 4th Circuit, which Bonnie described as "reluctant to set aside death sentences."

www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/news/past/17/2011

[AnneTheBelgian]

God bless Virginia














Anne

[Grinning Grim Reaper]

God bless Virginia

Amen Sister! 

[turboprinz]

Gang members could face the death penalty for 2007 murder

11 October 2012

Two MS-13 gang members could face the death penalty after a federal grand jury in Alexandria indicted them Thursday for the 2007 death of a rival gang member.
 
The two Springfield men; Oscar Omar Lobo-Lopez, also known as AJoker,

age 29, and Sergio Gerardo Amador, also known as ADado, age 28, were indicted on charges of conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering activity, murder in aid of racketeering activity and use of a firearm during a crime of violence causing death. Lobo-Lopez and Amador each face a maximum penalty of death.

According to the indictment, Lobo-Lopez and Amador, members of Mara Salvatrucha or MS-13, fatally shot Melvin Reyes, also known as APelon, on May 5, 2007.
 
The two MS-13 gang members killed Reyes because they believed that he was a member of the rival 18th Street gang. The rules of MS-13 require its members to attack and/or kill rival gang members.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Fairfax County Police Department, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. We will aggressively root out gang violence at its source, and arrest and prosecute those who engage in gang violence, said United States Attorney Chuck Rosenberg, who prosecuted the case.

Last year, Congress approved $1.5 million in gang task force funding for Department of Justice efforts in Northern Virginia. While much of the money, about $700,000, was directed towards a regional drug task force operating in the northern Shenandoah Valley, the rest of the funding was directed toward the gang effort and toward combating the spread of meth and other drugs, according to Rep. Frank Wolf (R-10th).

The level of cooperation across jurisdictional lines and between law enforcement officials on all levels of government is what has made these task forces so successful, said Wolf, citing news reports saying that the international street gang MS-13 is unifying its violent members across the U.S., including the D.C. area, attempting to strengthen its criminal organization by creating a single organization.

Wolf has led the effort to secure federal funding for the task forces, which operate in 14 counties and cities from Alexandria west to Winchester. Wolf also credited the work of area social service departments, school systems and civic organizations and volunteer organizations.

There is more to dealing with this problem than arresting people, he said.  Suppression is a big part, but it has to be combined with education and prevention components or it wont work.  Everyone involved in the task forces understands that is what has made them so successful.

http://alextimes.com/2012/10/gang-members-could-face-the-death-penalty-for-2007-2/

[turboprinz]

Wolfe again seeks end to death-penalty retrial
By MATTHEW BARAKAT, Associated Press
Updated 2:37 p.m., Friday, November 30, 2012



MANASSAS, Va. (AP) — A key witness who recanted his testimony in a death-penalty case was told by prosecutors that he could face the same punishment himself if he does not go back to his original story, according to defense lawyers.

The allegation about witness Owen Barber is contained in a motion that seeks to dismiss the capital retrial of Justin Wolfe, whose original conviction and death sentence were overturned after a decade on death row on accusations of prosecutorial misconduct.

The motion contains details of a jailhouse discussion in September between prosecutors and Barber, their one-time star witness who avoided the death penalty by testifying against Wolfe in 2001. Initially, Barber, the triggerman in the shooting of rival drug dealer Daniel Petrole, said he was acting on behalf of Wolfe. Barber later recanted, leading a federal judge to overturn the conviction.

In court papers, Wolfe's defense lawyers describe parts of the jailhouse conversation. They say that Barber maintained that his original testimony implicating Wolfe was false. Prosecutors then tell Barber that the case is back at "square one" and that Barber himself could face death penalty charges if he failed to uphold his original testimony, according to the motion.

"Perhaps most importantly, however, the Commonwealth discussed with Mr. Barber the fact that the reversal of Mr. Wolfe's case has had personal repercussions for them, and the fact that their reputations have been harmed," defense lawyers write in the motion.

Defense lawyers said that under the circumstances, the conversation amounts to improper coercion of a witness.

The defense obtained an audio recording of the jailhouse conversation as part of the discovery in the case. In a separate motion, they say that parts of the conversation are inaudible, and they are asking the judge for funds to have the quality of the recording enhanced.

Prosecutor Paul Ebert, who recused himself from the case in favor of a special prosecutor, declined to comment Friday on his conversation with Barber.

More broadly, the defense argues that the retrial amounts to a vindictive prosecution because the new charges are harsher than those originally filed against Wolfe, including an additional death-penalty count based on an allegation of a "continuing criminal enterprise."

"It is constitutionally impermissible to add new charges against someone who's been declared innocent by a federal court," said defense lawyer Edward MacMahon.

A judge will likely hold a hearing on the motion in coming weeks.

Lawyers are also seeking to have the case tossed out in federal court, arguing that state prosecutors failed to follow a federal judge's order to either retry Wolfe in 120 days or grant his unconditional release.

http://www.sfgate.com/news/crime/article/Wolfe-again-seeks-death-penalty-retrial-dismissal-4081611.php

[turboprinz]

Virginia Supreme Court upholds death sentence in Fairfax County murder
Published: January 10, 2013

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - The Virginia Supreme Court has upheld a Fairfax County death row inmate's convictions and sentence.
   
The justices on Thursday unanimously rejected several claims raised by Mark E. Lawlor. He was sentenced to death for the 2008 sexual assault and murder of a woman in the apartment complex where he worked as a leasing agent.
   
Lawlor used a key to enter 29-year-old Genevieve Orange's apartment. An autopsy showed he beat her with a hammer and then sexually assaulted her. DNA evidence at the scene implicated Lawlor.
   
On appeal, Lawlor raised constitutional challenges as well as issues related to jury selection, jury instructions, denial of defense motions and the exclusion of certain evidence.

http://www2.wsls.com/news/2013/jan/10/virginia-supreme-court-upholds-death-sentence-fair-ar-2458542/

[turboprinz]

Virginia's death row population down to 8
March 8, 2013

RICHMOND, Va. (AP)—

Virginia's death row population has dwindled to eight from a peak of 57 in 1995, and it's not just because of the state's efficiency in carrying out capital punishment.

A couple of death sentences have been erased recently -- one because of the inmate's mental health issues, another because a star witness changed his story and prosecutors withheld key evidence. Another inmate's innocence claim based on recanted testimony was revived last year by an appellate court and is in a judge's hands.

But another major reason for the declining death row population is that fewer death sentences are being handed down. David Bruck of the Virginia Capital Case Clearinghouse at Washington and Lee University School of Law says death row has received only two new inmates in nearly five years.

http://www.wdbj7.com/news/wdbj7-virginias-death-row-population-down-to-8-20130308,0,4738083.story

[turboprinz]

March 24, 2013
West Virginia delegate fighting to reinstate death penalty

CHARLESTON (AP) — With neighboring Maryland about to become the sixth state in as many years to abolish the death penalty, one West Virginia delegate is on a quixotic quest to resume executions in his state for the first time in a half-century.

This year marks the 27th in a row that Republican Del. John Overington has introduced a bill to reinstate capital punishment. It has rarely progressed far and is unlikely to pass this year, even with the minority GOP steadily making gains in the legislature. Still, Overington said he will continue pushing such bills because he thinks the state would be better served if it could execute convicted murderers.

“You want to live in a just society that is fair, and capital punishment, if somebody is murdered, I think there’s a perception that you have fairness if that person is put to death,” Overington said. “It sort of adds to the fairness of our society and helps make it work. If you feel that our justice system is fair, it helps you believe in it.”

Since 2007, New Jersey, New York, New Mexico, Illinois and Connecticut have abolished the death penalty. In Maryland, the legislature has passed a bill repealing the death penalty, and the governor has promised to sign it. There are official moratoriums on the death penalty in California and Oregon, and there are legislative efforts to repeal the death penalty in at least 14 other states.

West Virginia abolished the death penalty in 1965 and has not executed a prisoner since 1959.

Overington isn’t worried about bucking that trend because he says the public supports capital punishment. He proudly points to faded newspaper clippings in his office with poll results showing majorities of West Virginians favoring capital punishment. And every year, Overington sends everyone in his district a “citizens’ poll” soliciting their opinions on current issues — he said capital punishment always gets overwhelming support.

He said his interest in bringing back the death penalty goes back to the case of Ron Williams, who killed a police officer in Beckley in 1975. Four years later, he orchestrated a mass escape from the prison in Moundsville and killed an off-duty police officer. He killed another person in Arizona in 1981 before being caught in a gunfight with federal agents in 1984.

“So if we had had capital punishment for that first killing in cold blood in Beckley, we’d have another policeman that would be alive today,” Overington said.

Other than Maryland, all of West Virginia’s neighbors still have the death penalty — and Overington said he fears that West Virginia invites killers by not having capital punishment as a deterrent. However, West Virginia’s homicide rate for the past 10 years is lower than that of all neighboring states, according to FBI data.

There have been many studies both touting and discounting the death penalty’s role as a deterrent. In 2012, a National Research Council report concluded that none of those studies — either for or against capital punishment — was statistically sound enough to be useful.

“That was a pretty definitive review of these studies,” said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, an anti-death penalty advocacy group. “Ultimately it may be impossible to know if deterrence occurs, but we haven’t proven it.”

Overington, with 29 years in the House, is the longest-serving member of the chamber. And Republicans have made steady gains in the House, now just five seats shy of a majority. Nonetheless, his measure stands little chance of passing.

Republican Del. Ron Walters said his party would be misguided to risk their electoral gains by pushing controversial social issues like the death penalty. And the bill has been assigned to the Senate Judiciary Commit-tee, where Chairman Tim Miley said it is unlikely to proceed.

The bill has one Democratic co-sponsor, Del. Rupert Philips, who said that people he’s talked to while campaigning seem to support it.

“When’s enough enough? We’re wasting tax dollars trying to prosecute them,” Philips said. “An eye for an eye.”

However, most studies show that death penalty prosecutions are far more expensive than sentencing someone to life in prison. That’s because states often spend years fighting inmates’ appeals, sometimes all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Miley also said many people are hesitant to reinstate the death penalty to avoid executing someone who was falsely convicted, citing the example of a West Virginia state police crime lab technician who was found to have falsified evidence in at least 134 cases that led to convictions.

Since 2009, 14 prisoners nationally who spent time on death row have been exonerated, many of them as a result of DNA testing. The first man ever exonerated from death row by DNA evidence, Kirk Bloodsworth, has become both a rallying call and a key lobbyist in the effort to repeal Maryland’s death penalty. 

Still, Overington said he’s determined to make attempt No. 28 next year if his bill fails yet again.

“Some bills I’ve pushed I get passed the first year and some the second or third year and some take a little longer,” Overington said. “But it is my intention to try again next year.”

http://bdtonline.com/wvstate/x765745162/West-Virginia-delegate-fighting-to-reinstate-death-penalty