Category: Death Penalty

Supreme Court Takes Up Law Enforcement Related Cases

by Kent Scheidegger · Oct 4, 2024 10:19 am

The U.S. Supreme Court issued a short orders list from Monday’s pre-term conference, adding 15 cases to the docket for the October 2024 Term. A much longer list of cases turned down will likely be issued next Monday at the formal opening of the term.

Continuing the high court’s frustrating lack of interest in criminal law, the list includes only one actual criminal case, Thompson v. United States, No. 23-1095. This case raises the question of whether the federal law against false statements to financial institutions and federal agencies extends to misleading half truths. An aspect of the case that increases its media profile is the fact that defendant Patrick Daley Thompson is the grandson of Chicago’s notoriously corrupt mayor Richard J. Daley and the nephew of later mayor Richard M. Daley.

There are also several law-enforcement-related civil cases, a category that gets more interest from SCOTUS:

Gutierrez v. Saenz, No. 23-7809, is a federal civil rights suit regarding a Texas capital case. It presents somewhat complex issues regarding DNA testing, standing, and distinctions between innocence claims and sentencing claims.

Barnes v. Felix, No. 23-1239, is a police use-of-force case involving the “moment of threat doctrine.” As described by the petitioner (i.e., the plaintiff suing the police officer), this approach “evaluates the reasonableness of an officer’s actions only in the narrow window when the officer’s safety was threatened, and not based on events that precede the moment of the threat.” In the Fifth Circuit, Judge Higginbotham wrote a concurrence to his own majority opinion asking the Supreme Court to resolve the circuit split on this issue. Continue reading . . .

Multiple Murderer Executed in Texas

by Kent Scheidegger · Oct 3, 2024 8:58 am

A man convicted of murdering two teenaged girls in 1988 was executed yesterday, Juan Lozano and Michael Graczyx report for AP. Garcia White killed five people altogether. The appeals dragged on for well over three decades despite the lack of any doubt of guilt.

Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg, who witnessed White’s death, lamented that it took some 30 years to carry out the jury’s death verdict as multiple appeals in White’s case worked through the courts.

“The suffering of surviving (victims’) family members is just unspeakable,” she said. “At least it’s over.” Continue reading . . .

Alabama Nitrogen Execution Case Settled/Dismissed

by Kent Scheidegger · Aug 7, 2024 2:24 pm

Following the nitrogen hypoxia execution of Kenneth Smith earlier this year, Alabama murderer Alan Miller sued the state to change its execution protocol, despite having sued previously to demand that the state use nitrogen. The case filed in March was Miller v. Marshall, 2:24-cv-00197-RAH (USDC MD Ala.) On Monday, Alabama AG Marshall issued a press release announcing the case had been settled. “The two sides had spent months in discovery, anticipating a major hearing on August 6, but after reviewing key documents and deposing the State’s witnesses, Miller agreed to settle with the State. The terms of the settlement remain confidential, but the result will be the dismissal of Miller’s lawsuit with prejudice.”

Due to the confidentiality of the settlement, the federal district court record on PACER contains only a stipulation of dismissal, not disclosing the terms, and a dismissal order.

I have not been able to find anything from the other side, but the fact that the case is settled with the execution date intact tends to confirm the AG’s claim that the settlement is a capitulation after the plaintiff’s attorneys found they had no case. The lack of any information on the anti-death-penalty Death Penalty Information Center also tends to corroborate this conclusion. The DPIC’s modus operandi is to carefully curate information on the death penalty, presenting only information that supports opponents and burying information that supports proponents. Continue reading . . .

Just Deserts in Alabama

by Kent Scheidegger · Jul 19, 2024 12:59 pm

“Mercy to the guilty is cruelty to the innocent.” — Adam Smith

Keith Gavin was convicted of murder in Illinois in 1982. Although sentenced to 34 years in prison, he was paroled in only half that time. The next month after his release, he shot and killed William Clayton during a robbery in Centre, Alabama.

Gavin did not get off so easy the second time. The U.S. Supreme Court denied his stay request yesterday, and he was executed about 6:00 pm. Continue reading . . .

Unconnected Mitigation Evidence in Capital Cases

by Kent Scheidegger · May 30, 2024 4:35 pm

Today the U.S. Supreme Court reversed a decision of the Ninth Circuit in a capital case, Thornell v. Jones. All but one of the Justices agreed that the panel decision was wrong. The Ninth Circuit itself refused to rehear this rogue decision over the dissents of ten of its judges. This is such a common occurrence it is hardly even news. The most newsworthy aspect of the case is that a solid majority of the Supreme Court is finally showing skepticism about the value of “background” mitigating evidence that has nothing to do with the crime. This is a most welcome development, even if over 40 years late.

Claims of ineffective assistance of counsel are the weapon of choice for capital defense lawyers who want to retry their state-court cases in federal court. The most common line of attack is to find something about the defendant’s background that the trial lawyer did not present, proclaim it to be critical evidence that would have turned the whole case around, and denounce the trial lawyer as incompetent because he did not present it. The evidence need not have any substantial weight if the murderer wins the judge selection lottery and draws judges who approach every capital case as an exercise in searching for an excuse to overturn the sentence. Continue reading . . .

Georgia Resumes Executions

by Kent Scheidegger · Mar 21, 2024 10:08 am

In 1993, Alicia Lynn Yarbrough died in a nightmare scenario. The ex-boyfriend who wouldn’t go away broke into her home with two accomplices and abducted her at gunpoint, leaving her baby unattended in the house. The three men later gang-raped her, forced her back into the car, and drove to another location. Willie James Pye then forced her to lie face down and shot her three times. There is no doubt of guilt. The accomplice’s confession is confirmed by DNA. Long overdue justice was finally carried out last night, the first execution in Georgia since the pandemic. Continue reading . . .

Creech Execution Update

by Kent Scheidegger · Feb 28, 2024 11:13 am

Update to yesterday’s post.The U.S. Supreme Court denied Thomas Creech’s three petitions without noted dissent. However, at 11 am MST, the Idaho Dept. of Corrections announced:

At approximately 11am, Director Tewalt, after consulting with the medical team leader, determined that the medical team could not establish an IV line, rendering the execution unable to proceed. Mr. Creech will be returned to his cell and witnesses will be escorted out of the facility. As a result, the death warrant will expire at 11:59 p.m.. The State will consider next steps. Director Tewalt and State witnesses, to include the media, will be arriving in the media center shortly for a brief press conference.

Continue reading . . .

The Problem With Execution by Nitrogen Gas

by Michael Rushford · Feb 1, 2024 2:57 pm

In a press release earlier this week The United Nations Office on Human Rights condemned the execution of convicted hitman Kenneth Smith by nitrogen gas as “outrageous” and amounted to “State sanctioned torture.” The U.N “experts” noted that:

“Smith reportedly took over 20 minutes to die. Witnesses to the execution said that Smith remained conscious for several minutes as he writhed and convulsed on the gurney, gasping for air and pulling on the restraints, shaking violently in prolonged agony.”

Based on that description, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Friday that the White House found the the use of nitrogen gas “very troubling.” She added that President Joe Biden has “broad concern about the death penalty.” Not so broad one guesses to prevent his Attorney General from seeking the death penalty for Payton Gendron, who murdered ten people at a Buffalo Grocery Store in 2022. Smith only beat and stabbed a woman to death for $1,000.

Continue reading . . .

First Nitrogen Hypoxia Execution Completed

by Kent Scheidegger · Jan 26, 2024 9:04 am

The first execution by nitrogen hypoxia was completed yesterday, as Alabama finally executed paid hit-man Kenneth Smith for the murder of Elizabeth Sennett 35 years ago. The hit men stabbed Mrs. Sennett and beat her with a fireplace tool in her home in Colbert County, Alabama. See this story at al.com, published in 2022 and updated yesterday. They had been hired by her husband, who self-executed before he could be charged.

As I have noted several times on this blog, hypoxia is painless, as I know from personal experience in Air Force flight training. Unconsciousness would normally be quick, but one thing we cannot control is the inmate’s resistance by holding his breath. That is apparently what happened yesterday. The AP reporter who witnessed the execution reports that Smith shook the gurney for about two minutes. Some of this was likely voluntary movement while conscious, and some may have been involuntary movement while unconscious. This was followed by several minutes of heavy breathing.*

The WSJ has this story, with video clips from Alabama DOC Commissioner John Hamm and Jeff Hood, identified as Smith’s “spiritual advisor.” Continue reading . . .

Be Careful What You Ask For

by Kent Scheidegger · Oct 4, 2023 1:55 pm

From August last year until last month, Alabama murderer Kenneth Eugene Smith waged a legal battle to require the state to use nitrogen hypoxia, not lethal injection, to execute him. He won. The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama issued this order on September 20.

The order notes, “In no fewer than two hearings before this Court, Plaintiff has confirmed that nitrogen hypoxia is his chosen and preferred method of execution.” The order says, “Defendants … are permanently ENJOINED from executing Kenneth Eugene Smith by lethal injection. Sanctions will be swift and serious if this injunction is violated.” Because Alabama intends to carry out the execution by Smith’s preferred method, the court dismissed the case except for any proceedings to enforce the injunction.

So, the Alabama AG goes to the Alabama Supreme Court with a motion to set an execution date. You know what happens next, right? Continue reading . . .