Missouri Death Penalty News

[JeffB]

Right now Missouri has only one execution scheduled: 47-year old Martin Link is set to be executed on Feb. 9.

Fortunately they will have enough viable sleepy juice to cater ol` Marty's Feb. 9th bon voyage party..   

[AnneTheBelgian]

http://www.koamtv.com/story/15277478/federal-judge-sides-with-mo-in-death-penalty-case

Federal judge sides with Mo. in death penalty case

Posted: Aug 16, 2011 9:05 PM Updated: Aug 16, 2011 9:05 PM

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - A federal judge has rejected a challenge by Missouri prison inmates to the state's execution procedure.

The inmates' lawsuit argued that Missouri does not get valid medical prescriptions for the drugs used to put prisoners to death. The lawsuit cited the state's use of non-medical personnel to administer the chemicals intravenously.

In a ruling Monday, U.S. District Judge Nanette Laughrey said the inmates' lawsuit failed to show actual harm to anyone.

Missouri's execution process has been the subject of legal wrangling for several years.















Anne

[AnneTheBelgian]

http://www.themaneater.com/stories/2012/2/28/bill-seeks-repeal-capital-punishment-missouri/

Bill seeks to repeal capital punishment in Missouri

The bill would also order re-sentencing of current death row inmates.

By Jeremy Truitt

Published Feb. 28, 2012

A new House bill being brought forth by Rep. Penny Hubbard, D-District 58, seeks to repeal the death penalty in Missouri as well as allow re-sentencing for all inmates currently on death row in the state.

The bill aims to restructure the sentencing of offenders of capital offenses and instead offer a maximum term of life in prison without the possibility of parole, Hubbard's legislative assistant Blair Henry said.

Hubbard has been an opponent of capital punishment and is now bringing this bill forward as a means to put action to a movement to repeal the death penalty in Missouri, Henry said.

“I think it was something that Penny has always supported so she is carrying it forth at this point,” Henry said.

Missouri has multiple death row inmates housed at the Potosi Correctional Center, which is about an hour southwest of St. Louis, according to the Missouri Department of Corrections.

Shortly before execution, they are transferred to a separate correctional facility in Bonne Terre where the execution is formally carried out, according to the Missouri Department of Corrections.

Opponents of the death penalty argue that it is not a deterrent to violent crime and the financial burdens far outweigh the benefits of implementing capital punishment, according to Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.

Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty is a grassroots, non-profit organization that advocates the abolition of the death penalty and has been involved in facilitating the legislation to repeal capital punishment, according to its website.

The organization states that Missouri has spent more than $93 million extra on cases where the death penalty was sought, a cost they argue can be directed to more useful areas.

“That money could be going to victims, it could be going to law enforcement to fight cold cases and it could go toward education,” said Kathleen Holmes, Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty state coordinator.

Additionally, the possibility of executing innocent inmates is a concern. In the last several years, three inmates have been exonerated through the appeals process and released from death row, something which would not have been possible had they been executed, Holmes said.

“We’re certainly not saying ‘Let them out,’ Holmes said. "We’re just saying that the money that death row costs should go to law enforcement, education and victims.”

Gov. Jay Nixon is a supporter of the death penalty and fought numerous times to uphold it during his 16-year career as the Missouri attorney general, Nixon's spokesman Scott Holste said.

Nixon believes capital punishment is a necessary punishment in certain circumstances, and it should be utilized when the courts deem it necessary, Holste said. He also said Nixon believes in upholding lower court decisions, regardless of the severity of the sentence, but the governor is not always in support of the death penalty.

Last year, Nixon lessened the sentence of convicted murderer Richard Clay. In a news release, Nixon said he had no doubt of Clay’s involvement but decided to exercise his constitutional authority to re-sentence him to life in prison without parole, based on his individual case.

“Governor Nixon believes that (capital punishment) is an appropriate punishment to have available under certain circumstances," Holste said. "It is asked for sparingly, handed down sparingly and administered sparingly."




Follow this link (Graphic from Feb. 28, 2012) : http://www.themaneater.com/graphics/2012/2/28/2625/





Anne

[AnneTheBelgian]

http://www.newspressnow.com/localnews/30585120/detail.html

Report: Missouri has too many grounds for death penalty

Results of 2-year study released Thursday

Associated PressPOSTED: 9:56 pm CST March 1, 2012

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Missouri has too many reasons for which prosecutors can pursue the death penalty against murder suspects and needs to do a better job of preserving forensic evidence such as DNA samples, according to a report released Thursday.

The report is the result of a two-year study sponsored by the American Bar Association that was conducted by a panel of law professors, private-sector attorneys and federal judges nominated to the bench by Republican and Democratic presidents.

The study notes Missouri has 17 “aggravating circumstances” that give prosecutors wide discretion by which they can argue to jurors that someone should be sentenced to death. One justification, for example, is that the murder was “wantonly vile.” The result is that the circumstances “are so broadly drafted as to qualify virtually any intentional homicide as a death penalty case,” the report says.

The report recommends narrowing the law so only the most serious murder cases are eligible for the death penalty.

“If we’re going to have a death penalty, we need to do it right — it needs to be fair, it needs to be consistent,” said Douglas Copeland, a St. Louis attorney who was part of the eight-person study panel.

The American Bar Association applied for a grant from the European Union, which opposes the death penalty, to help finance its study in Missouri and other states. But the European Union had no influence over the study, said Sarah Turberville, director of the bar association’s Death Penalty Moratorium Implementation Project.

Paring back Missouri’s grounds for the death penalty would require legislative approval. The suggestion was praised by Cat Kelly, director of the Missouri State Public Defender System, who said prosecutors in some places pursue the death penalty more often than others because of the wide discretion.

Platte County Prosecutor Eric Zahnd, the president-elect of the Missouri Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, rejected the assertion that almost any murder can qualify for the death penalty. In more than nine years in office, Zahnd said he has yet to pursue the death penalty in any of the roughly 15 murder cases he’s handled.

The report also Missouri should do a better job of preserving biological evidence in death penalty cases for as long as the inmate remains behind bars. In some cases, biological evidence that does not lead to a conviction has been destroyed, leaving the inmate with little opportunity to pursue new tests if technology advances. Missouri also needs to boost funding for crime labs, study members said.

“Crime labs in many places, including Missouri, have large backlogs,” said panel member Rodney Uphoff, a law professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia. “Sometimes evidence doesn’t get collected properly, analyzed properly. And that’s an issue not only that can lead to the conviction of the wrong person, but it limits the ability of the system to go after people who really have committed crimes.”

Missouri law currently allows prisoners to seek DNA testing to try to prove their innocence, but only of materials secured at the time they were charged. The report recommends the law be changed to allow DNA testing of newly discovered evidence or of old evidence when testing procedures have improved.

The report is not entirely critical of Missouri’s death penalty system. It praises the state for having a state-run public defender’s system, crime labs that are accredited and for maintaining an independent judiciary. Judges on Missouri’s appellate courts and urban trial courts are appointed by the governor after being nominated by special panels while circuit judges in other areas run under partisan labels.

Among other findings, the report says Missouri should increase training for law enforcement officers in handling eye-witness identification and establish a state entity to investigate misconduct by prosecutors and defense attorneys. It recommends Missouri ban the death penalty for people with dementia, traumatic brain injuries or mental illnesses that significantly impair their ability to act rationally or appreciate the consequences of their actions.

Although Missouri has curtailed the number of executions carried out in recent years, it ranks fifth nationally in executions since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976.





Anne

[AnneTheBelgian]

http://www.kansascity.com/2012/03/14/3490505/missouri-must-get-death-penalty.html

Posted on Wed, Mar. 14, 2012 11:36 AM

Missouri must get death penalty right

By Douglas A. Copeland, Harold L. Lowenstein and Paul Litton

Special to The Kansas City Star

Over the past two years, our team of judges, lawyers, former prosecutors, defense attorneys and law professors undertook the most comprehensive examination of the death penalty ever conducted in Missouri. While members of our team have varied opinions on capital punishment, we did not consider whether Missouri should retain the death penalty. Our 400-page report, sponsored by the American Bar Association and released earlier this month, makes a number of recommendations on the administration of the death penalty in Missouri to ensure fairness and to reduce, to the extent possible, the risk of executing the innocent. Regardless of one’s views on capital punishment, we can all agree that we must get it right every time.

Our comprehensive analysis and recommendations for reform address all stages of the process, including the investigation and prosecution of capital cases, appeals, and clemency proceedings.

Our study finds that several persons in Missouri have been wrongfully convicted of murder and other serious crimes due to eyewitness misidentifications, false confessions and untruthful jailhouse informant testimony. Studies demonstrate that certain ways of conducting police lineups and showups significantly reduce the risk of eyewitness misidentifications, and Missouri should require law enforcement agencies to adopt these best practices. To enhance the reliability of confessions, Missouri should amend its interrogation recording statute to require officers, except in emergency circumstances, to video record all custodial interrogations of persons suspected of committing or attempting murder.

Moreover, Missouri does not require law enforcement to preserve biological evidence in a capital case for as long as the inmate remains incarcerated. Innocent inmates may not be able to prove their innocence if evidence in their case is missing or destroyed. These are preventable miscarriages of justice, and we recommend fixes to guard against wrongful convictions and to ensure that evidence is properly maintained.

Some simple trial reforms can address juror confusion. A study of Missouri capital jurors found significant misunderstanding regarding the law and the meaning of a life sentence without parole. Among those asked how long an offender would remain incarcerated upon receiving a life sentence without parole, their median estimate was twenty years. The truth is that life without parole effectively means the offender will die in prison, and jury instructions should convey that fact.

Furthermore, Missouri’s death penalty statute should be amended. According to the U.S. Supreme Court, the Constitution requires that the death penalty be reserved for a “narrow category” of the most culpable murderers to ensure that it is applied in a rational, non-arbitrary manner. Under Missouri’s current statute, however, the aggravating circumstances—the circumstances that make a case death penalty-eligible—are so broad that virtually any murder case could qualify for the death penalty. These circumstances should be revised to provide a meaningful basis for distinguishing those who are eligible to receive the death penalty and who are not.

While there are problems with Missouri’s death penalty system, we found areas of strength. For instance, Missouri has established a public defender system that represents most capital defendants. A statewide entity dedicated to the representation of capital defendants and death row inmates helps to ensure the fairness of death penalty proceedings. Also, our legislature, organized bar, and other interested parties thoughtfully evaluate and debate the merits of Missouri’s judicial selection process, and the Missouri Bar is committed to educating the public on the importance of an impartial judiciary.

Our Missouri Death Penalty Assessment Team took its job very seriously, and began its investigation with no preconceived notions about the report’s outcome. Members were Attorney Douglas Copland (St. Louis), former prosecutor Dee Joyce-Hayes (St. Louis), Judge Nanette K. Laughrey (Columbia), Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh, Jr. (Cape Girardeau), law professor Paul Litton (Columbia), Judge Harold L. Lowenstein (Kansas City), law professor Stephen C. Thaman (St. Louis) and law professor Rodney J. Uphoff (Columbia). Even with different views on the death penalty, we unanimously approved the report and strongly encourage adoption of the recommendations found therein.

Strong opinions on both sides of the death penalty too often prevent thoughtful, fact-based dialog on the issue. With the release of this extensive study, we hope that Missourians of all viewpoints can agree that, as former ABA President Jack Curtin once said, “A system that takes life must first give justice.”



Douglas A. Copeland, of the St. Louis firm Copeland Thompson Farris, is a former president of the Missouri Bar. Harold L. Lowenstein is a retired judge in the Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District. Paul Litton is an associate professor of law at the University of Missouri School of Law, Columbia.










Photo : Attorney Douglas A. Copeland






Anne

[AnneTheBelgian]

http://stlouisreview.com/article/2012-04-18/vote-sought-state

Vote sought in state Senate for bill examining death-penalty costs

Submitted on April 18, 2012

Joseph Kenny | jkenny@archstl.org

Supporters are hoping that the Missouri Senate soon will give consideration to a bill that would examine the costs related to the death penalty.

The Missouri Senate Governmental Accountability Committee voted last month to pass the bill and send it to the full Senate. Sponsored by Sen. Joe Keaveny, D-St. Louis, SB 786 would require the state auditor to examine the costs incurred by counties, prosecutors, public defenders, the Department of Corrections and the Supreme Court for at least 10 death cases and non-death penalty cases. The auditor would submit a report of his findings to the governor and the general assembly.

The Missouri Catholic Conference reported that in voting for the bill, some of the committee members who support the death penalty stated that this bill was worthy of consideration by the full Senate.

Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty has urged people to contact Sen. Bob Mayer, president pro tem of the Senate, to place the bill on the Senate calendar for debate. The organization called the bill responsible public policy. "This bill represents government being a good steward of public funds; how people feel morally about the death penalty is immaterial," it stated in an email message.

Several states have conducted similar studies, but this type of research has never been done in Missouri since the death penalty was reinstated more than 30 years ago.

Keaveny said that when Kansas conducted a cost study they found that capital cases were 70 percent more expensive than comparable non-death penalty cases.

In testifying for the bill, State Public Defender Dan Gralike noted that a major part of the expense comes in post-conviction proceedings, including direct appeals.

"These cases are so carefully scrutinized that the slightest error in cases will result in a reversal and require a new trial and these costs will be repeated," Gralike said. He gave the example of one death penalty prosecution in Missouri that has been retried five times since 1992.

In supporting the bill, Rita Linhardt of the Missouri Catholic Conference said taxpayers of Missouri have a right to know where their money is going. "This bill is not a matter of whether one supports or opposes the death penalty," Linhardt said. "It is a matter of fiscal responsibility and knowing what a public policy costs."

Sen. Jim Lembke, R-St. Louis County, chair of the committee, noted that he thinks that government's most important role is to be good fiscal stewards of the people's money and that if Missouri is spending more money on the death penalty than life without parole then the state is not being a good steward.

On March 1, the American Bar Association (ABA) released a report on the fairness and accuracy of the death penalty in Missouri. The report was the result of a two-year study conducted by a panel of Missouri law professors, private-sector attorneys and federal judges appointed to the bench by Republican and Democratic presidents. Missouri is one of 12 states whose laws, procedures and practices relating to the death penalty system the ABA is examining.

"If we're going to have a death penalty, we need to do it right -- it needs to be fair, it needs to be consistent," said Douglas Copeland, a St. Louis attorney who was part of the eight-person panel who presented the findings at a press conference.

The report did not take a moral stand on the death penalty or recommend any halt to executions in the state. The group had varying perspectives on capital punishment, Copeland said.

The report noted that one of the major problems with the current system is that Missouri has 17 "aggravating circumstances" that give prosecutors wide discretion by which they can argue to jurors that someone should be sentenced to death.

"The result is that the circumstances are so broadly drafted as to qualify virtually any intentional homicide as a death penalty case," Copeland noted.

The report recommended that the law be narrowed so that only the most serious murder cases are eligible for the death penalty.

Henry J. Waters III, editor and publisher emeritus of the Columbia Daily Tribune, referred to the Bar Association study in writing that it is time for Missouri to end the use of the death penalty. He wrote:

"If lower cost is not a factor, the only reason for the death penalty is to impose societal revenge. Some believe this is adequate, but when the state kills a person, we all take a moral risk. Occasionally a condemned person later is found innocent. Even if guilt is certain, what have we gained by killing the offender instead of locking him or her up for life, particularly if life in prison is cheaper?

"So, if the cost of life in prison is lower than imposing death, life removes the awful chance the state is killing an innocent person, and life simply is a more humane punishment ..."

Information on testimony on the bill and background on the ABA study was provided by the Missouri Catholic Conference.

"Very few of us would impose the death penalty if we had to do the deed ourselves. Instead, we send surrogates to perform the murder out of our sight and mind, and apparently we spend more in the bargain."

According to Linhardt of the Missouri Catholic Conference, the recent emphasis at the state capitol on the death penalty is significant and highlights different concerns about capital punishment.

"The ABA study showed serious flaws in our death penalty system. We cannot be sure that our system in Missouri is fair and will prevent an innocent person from being executed," Linhardt said. "The two committee hearings show that we don't know what the death penalty is costing our state and that capital punishment does not address the needs of murder victim family members."





Links : 1. http://www.senate.mo.gov/12info/BTS_Web/Bill.aspx?SessionType=R&BillID=1826402

           2. http://www.mocatholic.org/

           3. http://www.madpmo.org/

           4. http://www.americanbar.org/groups/individual_rights/projects/death_penalty_moratorium_implementation_project/death_penalty_assessments/missouriassessment.html




Anne

[k"KKK"hirschkorn]

Why do these ass hats always looks at just the cost. Its more then money  look at what the lifer cost's over 50+ years.. Look at how much money they spend in tax dollars on suing and fighting there charge's.  And most DR inmates have Pro Bono law firm's..

[Simpleaim]

Corrections Department adopts new drug for lethal injections
May 17, 2012 By Mike Lear
The state Department of Corrections has approved a new drug for use in lethal injections to carry out the death penalty.

In a statement, the Department says it has adopted a one-drug protocol [download PDF] using propofol, otherwise known as Diprovan. This replaces a three-drug method used previously.

The state had to look for a new method for lethal injections after the only company that made one of the three drugs used in that procedure stopped producing it. Sodium thiopental was used to put the subject of an execution to sleep before two other drugs were injected to stop breathing and the pumping of the heart.

[Simpleaim]

Koster to Supreme Court:
May 17, 2012 By Jessica Machetta
Attorney General Chris Koster is urging the State Supreme Court to set a date of death by execution for 19 death row inmates.


A motion was filed to set an execution date for death row inmate Jeffrey Ferguson more than six years ago. Koster says it's time for the courts to move forward on this and 18 other executions.
Koster says these are inmates who can no longer appeal, no stays are in effect, and no legal impediment exists.

“Right now ther are 19 individuals who are on Death Row in the State of Missouri, about ten of them have already been before the Supreme Court to get execution dates, but the Supreme Court has taken a very long time in responding to these requests, sometimes as much as 1800 days — so, three, four, five years without an answer from the supreme court. We placed nine more names in front of the court, and raised the issue that we feel that it’s incumbent upon the court to begin to answer these requests beacuse there is no other way for these cases to proceed without court action.”

On behalf of the State, Koster has expressly requested this Court to set execution dates for the following ten individuals:

Defendant
 Date Motion Filed
 Days Motion Pending
 
Jeffrey Ferguson April 14, 2006
 2225
 
John Middleton June 8, 2007
 1805
 
William Rousan June 8, 2007
 1805
 
Michael Taylor June 8, 2007
 1805
John Winfield June 8, 2007
 1805
 
Russell Bucklew June 8, 2007
 1805
 
Earl Ringo April 17, 2008
 1491
 
Mark Christeson April 17, 2008
 1491
 
Joseph Franklin1 June 16, 2009
 1066
 
Allen Nicklasson January 26, 2010
 842
 

In addition to the ten defendants identified above, nine additional individuals now have final convictions for capital murder, with no stay in effect:

Defendant
 Date Conviction Final
 
Cecil Clayton November 3, 2008
 
Herbert Smulls April 6, 2009
 
David Barnett October 5, 2009
 
Leon Taylor June 21, 2010
 
Walter Storey February 28, 2011
 
Andre Cole October 3, 2011
 
Michael Worthington November 28, 2011
 
Paul Goodwin February 21, 2012
 
David Zink March 26, 2012
 

Meanwhile, the problem that has effectively stopped executions for two years in Missouri has been solved by the Missouri Department of Corrections. When the drug sodium thiopental was taken off the market, our state and many others were forced to find a new lethal injection drug. That drug has been procured. See this story for more.

[AnneTheBelgian]

http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/a73eb08c380a4930b8fedc527b99497d/MO--Missouri-Executions/

Missouri attorney general urges state Supreme Court to schedule executions or explain why not

JIM SALTER  Associated Press
   
First Posted: May 18, 2012 - 2:10 pm
   
Last Updated: May 18, 2012 - 2:13 pm

ST. LOUIS — Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster is urging the state Supreme Court to move forward with the execution of several condemned killers or explain why it won't.

Koster filed a motion on Thursday seeking execution dates for nine men. The motion also questions why the court has not set execution dates for 10 others whose execution dates were previously requested.

"Silence is not an option in this matter any longer," Koster said in an interview on Friday. "The court needs to give us the word that we can move forward with these, or they need to articulate why not."

Beth Riggert, spokeswoman for the Missouri Supreme Court, declined to speculate on why execution dates have not been set for the 10 earlier inmates. As for the nine new ones, she said each has five business days to respond to Koster's call for execution dates.

"The court will rule when it deems it appropriate," she said.

Meanwhile, Missouri's next execution will apparently use a new process. Previously, the state used a three-drug protocol. But a shortage of one of those drugs, sodium thiopental, has prompted the state to go to a single-drug method.

Between 1989, when executions resumed in Missouri, and 2005, the state put to death 66 convicted killers. But in the seven years since then, only two men have been executed — Dennis Skillicorn in 2009 and Martin Link last year.

Other states have seen similar reductions. Nationwide, there were 98 executions in 1999, but just 43 in 2011, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. So far in 2012 there have been 18.

In Missouri, the attorney general typically requests an execution date after traditional court appeals are exhausted. In years past, the state Supreme Court would then establish a date, setting in motion last-minute court appeals as well as a clemency request before the governor.

But it has been six years since Koster's predecessor, now Gov. Jay Nixon, requested an execution date for Jeffrey Ferguson. Execution dates for five inmates have been pending since 2007.

Koster acknowledged that two issues may have made the Supreme Court reluctant to move forward.

Death penalty opponents have filed several claims that lethal injection violates a constitutional guarantee against cruel and unusual punishment, saying it potentially causes extreme pain that the drug-induced inmate cannot articulate. A 2010 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the use of the drugs.

Then a shortage of one of the three drugs emerged. Some states halted executions because of the inability to obtain sodium thiopental, which renders the inmate unconscious. After that pancuronium bromide is administered to stop breathing and potassium chloride to stop the heart.

Missouri has revised its protocol and will now use just one drug, propofol (marketed as Diprovan), which will be administered intravenously, Dave Dormire, director of the Missouri Department of Correction's Division of Adult Institutions, said in a statement on Friday. Corrections officials did not say when the new protocol was adopted.

Koster also noted that there has been a change in "political sentiment" toward the death penalty, with an increasing number of states reluctant to carry it out and prosecutors becoming more reluctant to seek it. Still, he said that as long as it is law in Missouri, there is an obligation to move forward with executions.

"The political world doesn't affect the carrying out of these sentences until legislatures act," Koster said. "I have an obligation to strictly follow the letter of the law. The Supreme Court does as well."

Kathleen Holmes, state coordinator of Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, said Missouri should stop executions and "focus resources instead on solving more cases of violent crime, taking violent offenders off the streets and providing meaningful support for victims and their families."





Anne

[Rick4404]

It will be interesting to see how this plays out, given Missouri's intention of using a single drug protocol, using propofol.  This is the same anaesthetic which is blamed for the death of entertainer Michael Jackson at the hands of his personal physician.

Propofol has not bee used in an execution, so it will be interesting to see if it is as effective or more effective than pentobarbital or sodium thiopental were.