Virginia: Federal judge declines to delay execution over drug controversy

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy4msNTBH5ch86442X1hdULbc8riaS_Wvputth-3rruWx3FCMQQ9-es0sF6Q2bK6pqrIfrrZh3M9t7c3jzJLNIsQOZCMQ7YbMrWfIQDjyY0-aFd7tbOl1OOtPrN2-QxfpDpr9N9YB_Wv8/s1600/Death+Penalty+News.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy4msNTBH5ch86442X1hdULbc8riaS_Wvputth-3rruWx3FCMQQ9-es0sF6Q2bK6pqrIfrrZh3M9t7c3jzJLNIsQOZCMQ7YbMrWfIQDjyY0-aFd7tbOl1OOtPrN2-QxfpDpr9N9YB_Wv8/s400/Death+Penalty+News.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A judge for the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia on Tuesday declined to delay the execution of convicted killer Ricky Gray, which is scheduled to take place January 18. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Gray's attorneys argued in December that the drugs to be used during the execution were untested and potentially torturous. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Judge Henry Hudson concluded that "any discomfort experienced by Gray in the execution process is unlikely to cause serious pain or suffering." He also concluded that the possibility of pain was outweighed by the harm done if the execution was delayed. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Gray's attorney, Lisa Fried, stated that "it is unconstitutional ... to carry out an execution that risk chemically torturing a prisoner to death." No other state has used the mixture of drugs to be used at Gray's execution. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">His attorneys plan to appeal.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Capital punishment remains a controversial issue in the US and worldwide. Last Wednesday the Florida Supreme Court issued a 1-paragraph order informing judges and prosecutors that the state's death penalty procedure is unconstitutional, marking the 2nd such order in 3 months. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In October the US Supreme Court vacated the death sentence of an Oklahoma man convicted of killing his girlfriend and her 2 children in a case where the trial judge permitted family members to recommend the sentence to the jury. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In May a Miami judge ruled that Florida's revamped death penalty law is unconstitutional because it does not require a unanimous agreement among jurors to approve executions. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In April Virginia's General Assembly voted to keep secret the identities of suppliers of lethal injection drugs. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In 2002 the Supreme Court held in Atkins v. Virginia that the Eighth Amendment's proscription on cruel and unusual punishment makes the execution of individuals with intellectual disability unconstitutional, which was considered in the Moore v. Texas case. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In November, Oklahoma became the 1st state to have the death penalty explicitly added to their state constitution as legal. According to a report by the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC), only 5 out of 31 states that have the death penalty held executions in 2016.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: jurist.org, January 12, 2017</div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">⚑ | Report an error, an omission; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: <a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com">deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a>.</div><br /><table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="4" style="background-color: white; border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid rgb(255, 204, 0); color: black; text-align: center; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr> <td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/WebDPN/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL4sspwgGptzvuHVklum5TwxKppRN-lIC5TN8RLZFq_B4ZOtBrX1ssXPNKQ6XpSyQFRJRtVQN45HMkpt3VX0JtOW0TovwxZAurG-AV6gh98IAXo7Ip6QlpkZr9WrM3_m943Mwy-gGxBAY/s1600/Find+us+Facebook.jpg" /></a></div></td> <td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiULIPEaT_P6oIauxAZd17XRRxljesDLS7iIjdQXT7Xct99uHeohx4IYmiAB6S044gTjMDGSy50sL2vDzOyPZ-3vJj9zwcYQ2rgzJh9v1-QDiunKAQtLLLqJ83s38qN3HABxGIC8GsIOD0/s1600/Find+us+twitter.jpg" /></a><span id="goog_1427852018"></span><span id="goog_1427852019"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a></div></td> </tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><b>Opposed to Capital Punishment? 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Virginia: Federal judge declines to delay execution over drug controversy

A judge for the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia on Tuesday declined to delay the execution of convicted killer Ricky ...

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Ohio obtains hundreds of vials of lethal drugs

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSkkpFCGqjmIPN4lj4W02kAS1qMbe05Z8CooL7Z1mVBrEpBR78cXBUsHkXQ7aDpHQPvJ893H4uep8vgv3XP_9lIs6Z8pIRiEm0B33Io2r8Nq4PE6f0SEIh_k_HGt0HT6LxcUYVL4M2Yi0/s1600/Midazolam.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSkkpFCGqjmIPN4lj4W02kAS1qMbe05Z8CooL7Z1mVBrEpBR78cXBUsHkXQ7aDpHQPvJ893H4uep8vgv3XP_9lIs6Z8pIRiEm0B33Io2r8Nq4PE6f0SEIh_k_HGt0HT6LxcUYVL4M2Yi0/s400/Midazolam.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio has obtained hundreds of vials of lethal injection drugs, allowing it to put a condemned child killer to death next month and conduct multiple executions after it, records show.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Inventory logs obtained by The Associated Press through a public records request show the state received supplies three times in September and October for the first drug used in the process, a sedative called midazolam that’s been at the center of several lawsuits over lethal injection.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The records show the state obtained supplies twice in September and October for the second drug used in the process and three times in September for the third drug.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The state has said the drugs it plans to use on the first three executions this year are standard drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration, though it won’t say where they came from. Attorneys for death row inmates have raised concerns the state may have to resort to drugs from compounding pharmacies, which produce specialty batches and aren’t subject to the same type of federal regulation as FDA-approved drugs.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Attorneys have been unable to identify the suppliers or producers because of the 2015 law and because recent federal court rulings bar them from obtaining the information through usual evidence channels.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The logs show the state could conceivably carry out dozens of executions with these supplies. What’s unclear is the drugs’ expiration dates — information not provided on the logs — which could control whether they’re available for future executions.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">JoEllen Smith, a spokeswoman for the Ohio prisons agency, declined to comment.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The state plans to execute Ronald Phillips on Feb. 15 for the 1993 rape and murder of his girlfriend’s 3-year-old daughter in Akron. Seven other executions are also scheduled this year.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The logs obtained by the AP show:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">— The Department of Rehabilitation and Correction received 750 vials of midazolam on Sept. 9; 750 vials again on Oct. 3; and 100 vials on Oct. 27. That could be enough for as many as 40 executions.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">— The state received 150 vials of rocuronium bromide, a paralytic drug and the second drug administered, on Sept. 9; and 80 vials of the drug on Sept. 30. Ten of those vials would be enough for one execution.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">— The state received 12 vials of potassium chloride, a drug that stops the heart and the last drug administered, on Sept. 9; 12 vials on Sept. 23; and 150 vials on Sept. 30. That could be enough for dozens of executions.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ohio and other states have struggled to find legal supplies of execution drugs.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Drugmakers have by and large put their drugs off-limits for executions. Last year, Pfizer put seven drugs off-limits, including the three drugs to be used by Ohio. But drugs like midazolam are widespread, found everywhere from dental offices to veterinary clinics, making it difficult to trace the origin.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Executions have been on hold in Ohio since January 2014, when Dennis McGuire gasped and snorted during the 26 minutes it took him to die, the longest execution since the state resumed putting prisoners to death in 1999.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The state used a two-drug method with McGuire, starting with midazolam, its first use for executions in the country.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Attorneys challenging Ohio’s new three-drug method say midazolam is unlikely to relieve an inmate’s pain. The drug, which is meant to sedate inmates, was also used in a problematic 2014 execution in Arizona. But last year, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the use of midazolam in a case out of Oklahoma.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The state says the method is similar to Ohio’s past execution process, which survived court challenges. State attorneys also say the Supreme Court ruling last year makes clear that the use of midazolam is allowable.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A trial challenging the state’s execution method was wrapping up Monday in federal court in Dayton. Testifying for the state last week, a member of the execution team that put McGuire to death said he was puzzled by McGuire’s reaction and “was wondering what was going on.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Another execution team member testified he didn’t believe McGuire suffered.</div><br />Source: The Associated Press, January 9, 2017<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">⚑ | Report an error, an omission; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: <a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com">deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a>.</div><br /><table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="4" style="background-color: white; border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid rgb(255, 204, 0); color: black; text-align: center; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr> <td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/WebDPN/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL4sspwgGptzvuHVklum5TwxKppRN-lIC5TN8RLZFq_B4ZOtBrX1ssXPNKQ6XpSyQFRJRtVQN45HMkpt3VX0JtOW0TovwxZAurG-AV6gh98IAXo7Ip6QlpkZr9WrM3_m943Mwy-gGxBAY/s1600/Find+us+Facebook.jpg" /></a></div></td> <td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiULIPEaT_P6oIauxAZd17XRRxljesDLS7iIjdQXT7Xct99uHeohx4IYmiAB6S044gTjMDGSy50sL2vDzOyPZ-3vJj9zwcYQ2rgzJh9v1-QDiunKAQtLLLqJ83s38qN3HABxGIC8GsIOD0/s1600/Find+us+twitter.jpg" /></a><span id="goog_1427852018"></span><span id="goog_1427852019"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a></div></td> </tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><b>Opposed to Capital Punishment? 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Ohio obtains hundreds of vials of lethal drugs

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio has obtained hundreds of vials of lethal injection drugs, allowing it to put a condemned child killer to death next mo...

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Missouri Execution Drug Purchases Revealed

<div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcmc65p-rakhwiBVT5OV_nMf65_XnW3TUicF5_snfVKMiQGaIIUDHttYXQ6px4Fs0EBfbqU2_GYgsa-Mfs3xdHGI0BMp79FPGYhm1BybDvMvIRUsJW1ScdnyfgnHXO9kCoDhrkSLxY1F8/s1600/The+apothecary+shoppe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="The Apothecary Shoppe " border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcmc65p-rakhwiBVT5OV_nMf65_XnW3TUicF5_snfVKMiQGaIIUDHttYXQ6px4Fs0EBfbqU2_GYgsa-Mfs3xdHGI0BMp79FPGYhm1BybDvMvIRUsJW1ScdnyfgnHXO9kCoDhrkSLxY1F8/s400/The+apothecary+shoppe.jpg" title="The Apothecary Shoppe " width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Death row inmates spent years fighting over Missouri's use of compounded pentobarbital. A sealed court filing obtained by BuzzFeed News says they may have been fighting the wrong thing.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Missouri purchased manufactured drugs for use in recent executions that were made by a company that enacted stringent measures to prevent any state from doing so, BuzzFeed News has learned.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A sealed court document obtained by BuzzFeed News shows that the state had, at least sometimes in the past 6 years, bought manufactured pentobarbital - as opposed to the compounded version of the drug inmates spent years fighting over in court - for use in its executions.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">For years, Missouri death row inmates have waged a legal battle with the state over the use of compounded pentobarbital. Manufactured drugs are subject to Food and Drug Administration regulation, while compounded drugs - which have a significantly higher failure rate - are regulated largely by the states.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But a discussion between Attorney General Chris Koster's office and a federal judge in a sealed courtroom indicates that the state previously purchased a manufactured version of the drug. The sole FDA-approved manufacturer of the drug Missouri uses, pentobarbital, is Akorn. Akorn has stringent measures in place in an attempt to keep it out of the hands of executioners, making companies that wish to sell their drug sign an agreement that it will not go to death penalty states. Despite those efforts, it appears the state has been able to obtain some anyway.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Akorn did not respond to a request for comment.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The revelation comes months after Mississippi death row inmates attempted to subpoena records from the Missouri Department of Corrections, in an effort to discover a better method of execution than used in Mississippi. Missouri successfully quashed the subpoena after the supplier said it would no longer sell the drugs if its identity were revealed.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In a July court hearing, lawyers with Attorney General Koster's office argued that even acknowledging they had documents on some of the requests in the subpoena would reveal too much information about its supplier.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"I'm going to order a sealed proceeding and banish anyone from the courtroom who is not a party or counsel," Judge Stephen Bough said. "And order confidential restrictions not to discuss or file with the clients or in any other way the information that's discussed in this proceeding, subject to contempt order."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">After the court was cleared, an attorney with the Attorney General's office laid out his concerns with revealing whether the state had the documents.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"I'm primarily focused on request number 2 for documents about pentobarbital," Assistant Attorney General Greg Goodwin said, according to an excerpt in a later court filing.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"If [we] identified whether or not there is a responsive document to that request, that answers the question of whether it is or is not manufactured or compounded pentobarbital because manufactured pentobarbital has that information, and compounded pentobarbital does not have a package insert."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"So by merely saying that there exists a document that proves it's manufactured or proves that it's compounded, that answers the question does Missouri use compounded or manufactured pentobarbital," Goodwin said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The judge then stated that there were 3 responsive documents to that request, according to the court filing.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The court filing was marked that it should be sealed, but for some reason was available on the federal courts' website, PACER. Shortly after BuzzFeed News approached an attorney representing the execution drug supplier, the filing became sealed.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The now-sealed court filing does not identify the supplier of the drug. When Missouri first began using pentobarbital in Nov. 2013, the state bought the drug from an out-of-state compounding pharmacy called the Apothecary Shoppe. The pharmacy was not licensed to sell in Missouri, which under normal circumstances could be a felony.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">After its identity was revealed, a death row inmate sued the pharmacy in early 2014. The pharmacy settled out of court, agreeing to no longer sell execution drugs. BuzzFeed News later revealed that the pharmacy had admitted to committing more than 1,000 pharmaceutical violations.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">When the Apothecary Shoppe dropped out, Missouri discovered a new supplier that it has referred to only by the pseudonym "M7," and has attempted to keep all information about the supplier secret.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Under M7, the state has mysteriously built up a considerable stockpile of execution drugs, something that does not fit with using compounded drugs. Compounded drugs have a shelf-life measured in weeks, while manufactured drugs can last for years.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Using pentobarbital from the Apothecary Shoppe and M7, Missouri has executed 19 death row inmates. The leadership that oversaw those executions - Gov. Jay Nixon, Attorney General Chris Koster, and Director of Department of Corrections George Lombardi - are on their way out.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Nixon was term-limited out, Koster lost his bid to replace him as governor, and both leave office on Monday. Additionally, Lombardi announced his resignation after accusations that his employees retaliated against women who alleged they were sexually harassed by superiors.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The 3 offices did not return a request for comment.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Missouri is scheduled to carry out another execution at the end of the month.</div><br />Source: BuzzFeedNews, January 9, 2017<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">⚑ | Report an error, an omission; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: <a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com">deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a>.</div><br /><table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="4" style="background-color: white; border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid rgb(255, 204, 0); color: black; text-align: center; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr> <td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/WebDPN/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL4sspwgGptzvuHVklum5TwxKppRN-lIC5TN8RLZFq_B4ZOtBrX1ssXPNKQ6XpSyQFRJRtVQN45HMkpt3VX0JtOW0TovwxZAurG-AV6gh98IAXo7Ip6QlpkZr9WrM3_m943Mwy-gGxBAY/s1600/Find+us+Facebook.jpg" /></a></div></td> <td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiULIPEaT_P6oIauxAZd17XRRxljesDLS7iIjdQXT7Xct99uHeohx4IYmiAB6S044gTjMDGSy50sL2vDzOyPZ-3vJj9zwcYQ2rgzJh9v1-QDiunKAQtLLLqJ83s38qN3HABxGIC8GsIOD0/s1600/Find+us+twitter.jpg" /></a><span id="goog_1427852018"></span><span id="goog_1427852019"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a></div></td> </tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><b>Opposed to Capital Punishment? 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Missouri Execution Drug Purchases Revealed

Death row inmates spent years fighting over Missouri's use of compounded pentobarbital. A sealed court filing obtained by BuzzFeed News ...

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Bill aims to send death penalty appeals straight to Tennessee Supreme Court

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghCL9NGXPrm4vltkBBsi-qQZIz5flBcmpCAYklc6TKVdlUfs2bJ3x2O9yg3Vac5rFJXrrw_JUGlf0JL9R_NvlQGHUyxt8UxEPfW9hqmnsfwRe3ksdJFqM22mltZJqeQ6boo2jRpBOKYj8/s1600/Waiting+For+The+Next+Execution.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghCL9NGXPrm4vltkBBsi-qQZIz5flBcmpCAYklc6TKVdlUfs2bJ3x2O9yg3Vac5rFJXrrw_JUGlf0JL9R_NvlQGHUyxt8UxEPfW9hqmnsfwRe3ksdJFqM22mltZJqeQ6boo2jRpBOKYj8/s400/Waiting+For+The+Next+Execution.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A bill filed Friday in the state House aims to eliminate a step in death penalty appeals, sending cases directly to the Tennessee Supreme Court.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Rep. William Lamberth, R-Cottontown, filed the bill that, if passed, could expedite death sentence appeals. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Lamberth said Tennessee is 1 of fewer than 5 states in the country that requires midlevel or intermediate state appellate courts to hear death penalty cases.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"To me, if all these other states seem to feel like this is a good and just process, then I think it would very well for Tennessee as well," he said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">People who receive a death sentence here have automatic appeals to the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals and then a mandatory review at the Tennessee Supreme Court. Because of that process, a decision on the sentence is not final until the state's top court hears the case, Lamberth said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">There also are federal appeals, on which the bill would have no impact. Together the appeals process can extend for years or decades.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"I think it's just more fair to the defendants and the victims' families to get a decision from that top court as soon as possible," Lamberth said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Lamberth said he "couldn't promise" that the new process would shorten the time between conviction and execution. It also has the potential, he said, to more quickly exonerate defendants who were wrongly convicted or allow new trials to happen sooner.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">There are 63 people on death row, according to the Department of Correction, only 1 of whom is a woman.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Tennessee allows the death penalty via lethal injection and a secondary method, the electric chair. The last execution was in 2009 and since then carrying it out has been on hold because of legal challenges.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Tennessee Supreme Court is now considering whether the state's single drug lethal injection protocol is constitutional. At oral arguments in October the justices had questions about better alternatives, but lawyers for the inmates said they did not have to provide one.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The court has not yet ruled on the issue. If it upholds the current law, it could green-light executions to resume in Tennessee.</div><br />Source: The Tennessean, January 6, 2017<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">⚑ | Report an error, an omission; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: <a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com">deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a>.</div><br /><table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="4" style="background-color: white; border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid rgb(255, 204, 0); color: black; text-align: center; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr> <td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/WebDPN/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL4sspwgGptzvuHVklum5TwxKppRN-lIC5TN8RLZFq_B4ZOtBrX1ssXPNKQ6XpSyQFRJRtVQN45HMkpt3VX0JtOW0TovwxZAurG-AV6gh98IAXo7Ip6QlpkZr9WrM3_m943Mwy-gGxBAY/s1600/Find+us+Facebook.jpg" /></a></div></td> <td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiULIPEaT_P6oIauxAZd17XRRxljesDLS7iIjdQXT7Xct99uHeohx4IYmiAB6S044gTjMDGSy50sL2vDzOyPZ-3vJj9zwcYQ2rgzJh9v1-QDiunKAQtLLLqJ83s38qN3HABxGIC8GsIOD0/s1600/Find+us+twitter.jpg" /></a><span id="goog_1427852018"></span><span id="goog_1427852019"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a></div></td> </tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><b>Opposed to Capital Punishment? 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Bill aims to send death penalty appeals straight to Tennessee Supreme Court

A bill filed Friday in the state House aims to eliminate a step in death penalty appeals, sending cases directly to the Tennessee Supreme Co...

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Orlando senator files bill to bring back death penalty

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidiqAIhF-SpqDKygL7KuCvlLKMfbmKl8mtpwRJbjgECCLr7I4pAM18jzub6nwXBwK2keiIkLFlwou9T3vw7kx6tHsfw0dQlIUT61Lb9OCF5eb-qD7MSsRQ5QXOLVfbj-fRR7m0g1ZkHFk/s1600/Death+Penalty+News+deathpenaltynews.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidiqAIhF-SpqDKygL7KuCvlLKMfbmKl8mtpwRJbjgECCLr7I4pAM18jzub6nwXBwK2keiIkLFlwou9T3vw7kx6tHsfw0dQlIUT61Lb9OCF5eb-qD7MSsRQ5QXOLVfbj-fRR7m0g1ZkHFk/s400/Death+Penalty+News+deathpenaltynews.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Hoping to reinstate the death penalty in Florida, a Democratic state senator from Orlando filed a bill Friday that would require juries to be unanimous in condemning a killer.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">If approved, the measure (SB 280) by Sen. Randolph Bracy could end delayed trials and confusion over a Florida Supreme Court ruling in October that struck down the state's capital punishment law.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Lawmakers last year tried to fix the death penalty law by requiring a 10-2 jury vote for death sentences, but the court's ruling said a 12-0 vote was needed. The Senate preferred a unanimous jury, but the House and state prosecutors wanted more leeway.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"The Supreme Court has kind of set the direction that we need to go in, so I think there'll be more buy-in from the House," said Bracy, chairman of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">No bill has been filed in the House yet, but House Judiciary Committee chairman Rep. Chris Sprowls, R-Palm Harbor, said his panel will hold hearings on the issue next week. He wants to look at the entire death penalty statute for possible changes, not just the unanimous jury provision.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"There's a pronged analysis that goes into every death penalty case," said Sprowls, a former prosecutor who has tried capital murder cases. "We're going to view each one of those independently and collaboratively and figure out the best scheme to serve Floridians."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Lawmakers say the issue is among their top priorities and that delays of murder trials are plaguing the courts. Senate President Joe Negron, R-Stuart, said about 200 cases are affected by the death penalty's status in limbo.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"I think its paramount for the victims' families for cases to be fairly adjudicated without delay," Negron said. He added that he hopes for a Senate vote soon after the legislative session that begins March 7.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The issue stretches back to January 2016, when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Florida's death penalty law because it allowed a judge to issue a death sentence after taking into account a jury's recommendation. Under the old law, a 7-5 majority recommendation was enough to recommend death.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Except for Alabama and Florida, all of the 32 states with capital punishment require a unanimous vote for death. Florida was one of five states that executed a prisoner in 2016.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Legislature responded by passing the 10-2 jury vote law. That was then declared unconstitutional as well by the Florida Supreme Court's October ruling.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But even if lawmakers pass a new law this year, courts could be grappling with the fallout in the future. The court's October ruling didn't specify what should happen to ongoing capital murder cases or whether those on death row who weren't sentenced by a unanimous jury have grounds for an appeal of their sentence.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Bracy said he believes the Legislature should declare the unanimous jury provision to apply retroactively, but he hasn't included it in his bill. That would give every prisoner on death row sentenced to death by a split jury the grounds to appeal for a life sentence.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The state's highest court compounded the confusion this week when it issued an order telling prosecutors they couldn't seek the death penalty in ongoing murder trials, only to vacate the order hours later. A court spokesman later said the order was "prematurely issued."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The episode came a day after a judge for Brevard and Seminole counties empaneled a jury for the sentencing phase of a murder trial, thinking he could move forward by telling the jury a death sentence had to be unanimous.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Sprowls said the ambiguity of the law is causing "paralysis" in the trial courts. Judges are typically allowed to issue alternate jury instructions to comply with a court order that updates existing laws, he said, but it doesn't seem like the Florida Supreme Court will allow that to happen in this case.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"I think that you have a court that is clearly demonstrating a systematic hostility towards the death penalty in general," Sprowls said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Gov. Rick Scott, who signed the death warrants and oversaw the executions of 23 prisoners since he took office in 2011 - the most of any governor since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, isn't pressing lawmakers for an answer to the situation.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A spokeswoman for Scott said his office is still reviewing the Florida Supreme Court ruling, but wouldn't say if he has a preference for how the law should be fixed.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Meanwhile, the families of murder victims, the 384 prisoners on death row, prosecutors, defense attorneys and judges are waiting on a resolution. Groups that oppose the death penalty are also awaiting the outcome, but are pleased the courts are moving toward making it harder to get the death penalty.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It's also put a de facto moratorium on executions, as Scott hasn't signed a death warrant since the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling last year.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ingrid Delgado of the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops noted that Saturday marks one year since the last prisoner, Oscar Ray Bolin Jr., was executed.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"This is another reminder that executions are not needed to keep society safe," Delgado said.</div><br />Source: Orlando Sentinel, January 7, 2017<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">⚑ | Report an error, an omission; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: <a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com">deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a>.</div><br /><table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="4" style="background-color: white; border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid rgb(255, 204, 0); color: black; text-align: center; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr> <td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/WebDPN/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL4sspwgGptzvuHVklum5TwxKppRN-lIC5TN8RLZFq_B4ZOtBrX1ssXPNKQ6XpSyQFRJRtVQN45HMkpt3VX0JtOW0TovwxZAurG-AV6gh98IAXo7Ip6QlpkZr9WrM3_m943Mwy-gGxBAY/s1600/Find+us+Facebook.jpg" /></a></div></td> <td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiULIPEaT_P6oIauxAZd17XRRxljesDLS7iIjdQXT7Xct99uHeohx4IYmiAB6S044gTjMDGSy50sL2vDzOyPZ-3vJj9zwcYQ2rgzJh9v1-QDiunKAQtLLLqJ83s38qN3HABxGIC8GsIOD0/s1600/Find+us+twitter.jpg" /></a><span id="goog_1427852018"></span><span id="goog_1427852019"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a></div></td> </tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><b>Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! <a href="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=JBVXEBZLP3WKW" target="_blank">DONATE!</a></b></div><form action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post" target="_blank"><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://www.paypalobjects.com/fr_FR/i/scr/pixel.gif" width="1" /></div></form><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div>

Orlando senator files bill to bring back death penalty

Hoping to reinstate the death penalty in Florida, a Democratic state senator from Orlando filed a bill Friday that would require juries to b...

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Florida changes lethal injection drugs

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdqWramXsOQ3sGhuXO2KPBzbbct9GtHpLNsqgCSs0xh7eQbDTeymcTaZeIf4Q931FS4W5TDCmfhUMLXJj6I8XKB4SLL-ZLltJ7t3kcxULPERdaXjQjejf5VSTwp9IMo7CekO2KzsTdYcQ/s1600/lethal+injection+lab.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="273" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdqWramXsOQ3sGhuXO2KPBzbbct9GtHpLNsqgCSs0xh7eQbDTeymcTaZeIf4Q931FS4W5TDCmfhUMLXJj6I8XKB4SLL-ZLltJ7t3kcxULPERdaXjQjejf5VSTwp9IMo7CekO2KzsTdYcQ/s400/lethal+injection+lab.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">'The new triple-drug cocktail is the only one of its kind.'</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - In the midst of a major upheaval involving Florida's death-penalty laws, state corrections officials have adopted a new lethal-injection procedure that includes a drug never before used for executions and another used only by accident.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The move is almost certain to spur more litigation over the state's already-embattled death penalty, in limbo for nearly a year in the aftermath of a U.S. Supreme Court decision last January that struck down as unconstitutional Florida's capital sentencing system because it gave too much power to judges, instead of juries.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Department of Corrections posted the revised three-drug lethal injection protocol on its website Thursday, a day after Secretary Julie Jones signed the new procedure.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The new triple-drug cocktail is the only one of its kind among the states that rely on similar procedures and incorporates a sedative never before used in executions, along with a killing agent used only once --- when Oklahoma executioners used it by accident.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"It's certainly troubling that the state of Florida is continuing to use experimental protocols in lethal injection," said Maria DeLiberato, a lawyer who represents Death Row prisoners, including inmate Dane Abdool.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Abdool is one of five Death Row inmates who are plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit challenging Florida's lethal-injection protocol.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"We'll have to review the protocol, discuss with appropriate experts and make a determination regarding any litigation," DeLiberato said in a telephone interview Thursday.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The News Service of Florida first reported in December that the corrections agency may be considering a new drug protocol, based on records related to a lawsuit filed by Arizona Death Row inmates. The records revealed that Florida has run out of the sedative midazolam hydrochloride, will soon run out of potassium chloride --- the final drug in the triple-drug lethal injection cocktail --- and spent $12,000 last year stockpiling three new drugs.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Department of Corrections spokeswoman Michelle Glady said in an interview Thursday the agency did not know whether the protocol has ever been used elsewhere.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">States have been scrambling to obtain lethal injection drugs after manufacturers have refused to sell the substances to corrections agencies for execution purposes.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In its new protocol, Florida is substituting etomidate for midazolam as the critical first drug, used to sedate prisoners before injecting them with a paralytic and then a drug used to stop prisoners' hearts.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Midazolam, still in use by some states, is the focus of the Arizona lawsuit, filed after convicted killer Joseph Wood took two hours to die in 2014. Arizona corrections officials have tried to get the lawsuit dismissed as moot because they contend they have run out of the drug and it is no longer available. At least four other states claim they have supplies of midazolam.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Concerns about midazolam also prompted the Florida Supreme Court last year to halt the execution of Jerry William Correll, pending the outcome of a lawsuit filed by Oklahoma prisoners over the drug's use. In June 2015, a sharply divided U.S. Supreme Court rejected the challenge in the landmark case, known as Glossip v. Gross.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Etomidate, also known by its brand name "Amidate," has never been used before as part of the three-drug execution procedure in the U.S., according to Megan McCracken, a lawyer with the Death Penalty Clinic at the University of California, Berkeley Law School.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The constitutionality of any state's three-drug execution procedure hinges on the first of the drugs used in the process, McCracken said in a telephone interview. Ensuring that prisoners are properly sedated is critical to guaranteeing that the lethal-injection procedure does not violate Eighth Amendment prohibitions on cruel and unusual punishments, she said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The new protocol also replaces potassium chloride, the drug used to make prisoners' hearts stop beating, with potassium acetate. According to records obtained by the News Service, the state has a small supply of potassium chloride that will expire next month and began purchasing potassium acetate in March.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtqp4wmluH0IvF8sYN-ll0zl2yrwEo-z3uNQvBXr0cUr4aa6-09LXuG7h1QzRalYtLF3G9fJT9Qzm5FakgjCe8XOp4J6m6heq-OH310RKQ5gYJC-iLKqOl4AG64NkM7B5Lez6sP9Lszcw/s1600/Potassium+Chloride+Potassium+Acetate.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Potassium acetate" border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtqp4wmluH0IvF8sYN-ll0zl2yrwEo-z3uNQvBXr0cUr4aa6-09LXuG7h1QzRalYtLF3G9fJT9Qzm5FakgjCe8XOp4J6m6heq-OH310RKQ5gYJC-iLKqOl4AG64NkM7B5Lez6sP9Lszcw/s400/Potassium+Chloride+Potassium+Acetate.jpg" title="Potassium acetate" width="400" /></a>Potassium acetate has only been used once before, according to death penalty experts.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Last year, Oklahoma corrections officials admitted they mistakenly used potassium acetate in the execution of Charles Warner, although the state's protocol requires the use of potassium chloride.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In her letter to Gov. Rick Scott in which she certifies the new protocol, Jones wrote that the new procedure "will not involve unnecessary lingering or wanton infliction of pain and suffering."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But McCracken said it is unknown what studies or data --- if any --- the state is relying on to support its new protocol.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"What we see now is a mistake and an accident from an execution in Oklahoma codified as the new execution procedure in Florida," McCracken said. "The novel aspect of the drug formula and the experimental nature of the protocol is extraordinarily concerning."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The state's death penalty has been in flux since the January 2016 U.S. Supreme Court decision, in a case known as Hurst v. Florida, and a series of subsequent court rulings on the issue.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Shortly after the January ruling, the Florida Supreme Court put on hold two executions ordered by Gov. Rick Scott.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The court late last month, however, lifted a stay of execution in the case of Mark James Asay.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But the court's ruling in Asay's case may not mean that lethal injections will again be underway anytime soon, especially given the new protocol.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Corrections officials expect litigation in response to the new drugs, Glady said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"That's very typical," she said.</div><br />Source: News Service of Florida, Dara Kam, January 5, 2017<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">⚑ | Report an error, an omission; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: <a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com">deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a>.</div><br /><table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="4" style="background-color: white; border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid rgb(255, 204, 0); color: black; text-align: center; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr> <td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/WebDPN/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL4sspwgGptzvuHVklum5TwxKppRN-lIC5TN8RLZFq_B4ZOtBrX1ssXPNKQ6XpSyQFRJRtVQN45HMkpt3VX0JtOW0TovwxZAurG-AV6gh98IAXo7Ip6QlpkZr9WrM3_m943Mwy-gGxBAY/s1600/Find+us+Facebook.jpg" /></a></div></td> <td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiULIPEaT_P6oIauxAZd17XRRxljesDLS7iIjdQXT7Xct99uHeohx4IYmiAB6S044gTjMDGSy50sL2vDzOyPZ-3vJj9zwcYQ2rgzJh9v1-QDiunKAQtLLLqJ83s38qN3HABxGIC8GsIOD0/s1600/Find+us+twitter.jpg" /></a><span id="goog_1427852018"></span><span id="goog_1427852019"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a></div></td> </tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><b>Opposed to Capital Punishment? 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Florida changes lethal injection drugs

'The new triple-drug cocktail is the only one of its kind.' TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - In the midst of a major upheaval involving Florida...

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Abolition of the death penalty in Montana

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFBx83ETv0V3LBOmIuz86823h6AX-xLxwjtAFjjh8wV-Vf_CReuBIIhYjZec76YGNm7i1IWxd52gyFtKCYmbfiRlB6rwMOOxsFFohr4_1QJ6CM-tCgB-hOaArEi1HU9WUwDYXFnh0hsEY/s1600/welcome+to+Montana.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Welcome to Montana" border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFBx83ETv0V3LBOmIuz86823h6AX-xLxwjtAFjjh8wV-Vf_CReuBIIhYjZec76YGNm7i1IWxd52gyFtKCYmbfiRlB6rwMOOxsFFohr4_1QJ6CM-tCgB-hOaArEi1HU9WUwDYXFnh0hsEY/s400/welcome+to+Montana.jpg" title="Welcome to Montana" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Now is the time for a significant act of righteousness – the time to put the admonition “thou shalt not kill” into action.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">We must act soon to permanently abolish the death penalty in Montana.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Relevant bills to do so will be introduced when the Montana Legislature convenes in January 2017. Our great state would be further distinguished by abolition of this archaic practice. The death penalty is not a large numerical issue in Montana, since, thank God, we have few on “death row.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It is, however, big to the few and to our moral/ethical conscience. The death penalty is on legal “hold” in Montana, as uncertainty about drugs for lethal injection has become and continues to be an issue.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The moral/ethical position against capital punishment: Abolish the death penalty because it is the right thing to do.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">• “Thou shalt not kill.” We need to put this into action related to violence worldwide. In few instances do we have the power to control killing, but abolition of capital punishment is one such instance.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">• Mistakes are made in some cases. Infrequently, persons, who are later shown to be innocent, have been on death row awaiting execution. Some have, no doubt, been executed and later been proven innocent.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">• Family and loved ones of victims often favor life imprisonment over death and find solace in mercy.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">• The death penalty has not been a deterrent to crime, nor is there evidence that its abolition promotes or facilitates crime.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">• Is the person convicted and sentenced the same person who awaits execution, often many years after sentencing? Or has that person changed? It’s a privilege given humankind to be able to change.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">• Spare the executioner the experience of executing. Imagine such a job.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Another position: Abolish the death penalty because it’s the responsible thing to do.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It costs society more to carry out a death penalty sentence than to maintain a life sentence, in terms of monetary costs of appeals, etc. Anti-death penalty legislation proposes life in prison without possibility of parole. It would cost less.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Lethal injection is not the merciful means of killing envisioned. About 7 percent of such executions are “botched.” The availability of drugs used to kill has been an issue for some time, and recently the pharmaceutical company Pfizer refused to provide its drugs for lethal injection. This makes a statement.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Not unexpectedly, there are pros and cons about these points, but we have chosen the position that suits our individual moral consciences. See <a href="http://deathpenalty.procon.org/" target="_blank">deathpenalty.procon.org</a> for a ten-point argument.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Whatever your personal reasons, please support efforts to abolish capital punishment in Montana by writing to representatives of your district, simply stating your support for bills abolishing capital punishment.</div><br />Source: <a href="http://ravallirepublic.com/news/opinion/viewpoint/article_224d054c-d3c4-11e6-9670-3704ae1d69bd.html" target="_blank">Ravalli Republic</a>, Guest Column, Mary Darby and Blaise Favara, January 6, 2017<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">⚑ | Report an error, an omission; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: <a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com">deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a>.</div><br /><table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="4" style="background-color: white; border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid rgb(255, 204, 0); color: black; text-align: center; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr> <td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/WebDPN/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL4sspwgGptzvuHVklum5TwxKppRN-lIC5TN8RLZFq_B4ZOtBrX1ssXPNKQ6XpSyQFRJRtVQN45HMkpt3VX0JtOW0TovwxZAurG-AV6gh98IAXo7Ip6QlpkZr9WrM3_m943Mwy-gGxBAY/s1600/Find+us+Facebook.jpg" /></a></div></td> <td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiULIPEaT_P6oIauxAZd17XRRxljesDLS7iIjdQXT7Xct99uHeohx4IYmiAB6S044gTjMDGSy50sL2vDzOyPZ-3vJj9zwcYQ2rgzJh9v1-QDiunKAQtLLLqJ83s38qN3HABxGIC8GsIOD0/s1600/Find+us+twitter.jpg" /></a><span id="goog_1427852018"></span><span id="goog_1427852019"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a></div></td> </tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><b>Opposed to Capital Punishment? 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Abolition of the death penalty in Montana

Now is the time for a significant act of righteousness – the time to put the admonition “thou shalt not kill” into action. We must act soon ...

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Efforts to revive death penalty in California dealt another blow

<div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtEuQVjkOcE0ExTqYKJM05HKJABjJrl0_Eo-ADN6dqwnYTZca4TAKvW9N2Dq5j0HCdixVHF25-U58F907C1Iai8p0boPVBQHh-Rmys0xKkv3suhg5qAq9KyqjIKlK5DoF3gaL3uq80vWs/s1600/lethal+injection+room+01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="San Quentin's death chamber" border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtEuQVjkOcE0ExTqYKJM05HKJABjJrl0_Eo-ADN6dqwnYTZca4TAKvW9N2Dq5j0HCdixVHF25-U58F907C1Iai8p0boPVBQHh-Rmys0xKkv3suhg5qAq9KyqjIKlK5DoF3gaL3uq80vWs/s400/lethal+injection+room+01.jpg" title="San Quentin's death chamber" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">San Quentin's death chamber</td></tr></tbody></table><i>California rejects proposed new death penalty rules</i><br /><br />Efforts to revive the death penalty in California were dealt another blow late last month when a state agency tasked with reviewing regulatory changes rejected a proposed new lethal injection protocol.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The decision by the Office of Administrative Law came one day after the California Supreme Court blocked <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article122056059.html" target="_blank">implementation</a> of Proposition 66, an initiative passed by voters in November to expedite capital punishment, pending the outcome of a lawsuit.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In a 25-page decision of disapproval released on Dec. 28, the OAL cited inconsistencies and ambiguities in the protocol, insufficient justification for some regulations and a need for further response to public comments.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has four months to resubmit its proposal. Spokeswoman Terry Thornton said the department plans to fix the issues identified by the OAL.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Executions were halted in 2006 because of legal challenges alleging that California’s lethal injection method violated the constitutional prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The corrections department began <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article56086860.html" target="_blank">developing a new protocol</a> last year that replaced its old three-drug cocktail with a 7.5-gram, single-drug dose of one of four barbiturates: amobarbital, pentobarbital, secobarbital or thiopental.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Among the questions raised by the OAL was why inmates would be injected with 7.5 grams of a barbiturate when corrections officials acknowledged 5 grams is a sufficiently lethal dose. It also asked for additional explanations on a $50 limit for inmates’ last meals and why inmates would be offered the option of taking a sedative before the execution begins.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The majority of the decision focused on ambiguities in the protocol that the OAL said needed to be clarified. These included the timeline for steps taken in the days and hours leading up to an execution, how to proceed if an inmate does not immediately die, what sedative options are available and who must administer them, what proposed monthly “security and operational inspections” of the execution chamber would entail, and under what conditions a warden should raise inquiry into an inmate’s sanity.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article124564724.html" target="_blank">The Sacramento Bee</a>, Alexei Koseff, January 4, 2017</div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">⚑ | Report an error, an omission; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: <a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com">deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a>.</div><br /><table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="4" style="background-color: white; border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid rgb(255, 204, 0); color: black; text-align: center; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr> <td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/WebDPN/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL4sspwgGptzvuHVklum5TwxKppRN-lIC5TN8RLZFq_B4ZOtBrX1ssXPNKQ6XpSyQFRJRtVQN45HMkpt3VX0JtOW0TovwxZAurG-AV6gh98IAXo7Ip6QlpkZr9WrM3_m943Mwy-gGxBAY/s1600/Find+us+Facebook.jpg" /></a></div></td> <td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiULIPEaT_P6oIauxAZd17XRRxljesDLS7iIjdQXT7Xct99uHeohx4IYmiAB6S044gTjMDGSy50sL2vDzOyPZ-3vJj9zwcYQ2rgzJh9v1-QDiunKAQtLLLqJ83s38qN3HABxGIC8GsIOD0/s1600/Find+us+twitter.jpg" /></a><span id="goog_1427852018"></span><span id="goog_1427852019"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a></div></td> </tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><b>Opposed to Capital Punishment? 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Efforts to revive death penalty in California dealt another blow

San Quentin's death chamber California rejects proposed new death penalty rules Efforts to revive the death penalty in California were d...

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Challenge to Ohio's Newest Execution Method Goes to Trial

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4prr7Lix0XC23ycAmNCJuJkzYXJYXiePE4smMSGe5vosalehmnwtc9Jo8oYWmyQnAaciin4Qdm6ty2ck4n5dUlIZ4s1R4DB4n-tHCt2qQCabrWmjm77ni1DdkNEASCOlkVnn1sSHJ0xw/s1600/Ohio+Death+Chamber.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Ohio's death chamber" border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4prr7Lix0XC23ycAmNCJuJkzYXJYXiePE4smMSGe5vosalehmnwtc9Jo8oYWmyQnAaciin4Qdm6ty2ck4n5dUlIZ4s1R4DB4n-tHCt2qQCabrWmjm77ni1DdkNEASCOlkVnn1sSHJ0xw/s400/Ohio+Death+Chamber.jpg" title="Ohio's death chamber" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ohio's death chamber</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">Ohio's newest execution method is either a legal approach to putting condemned killers to death or a process akin to burning inmates at the stake, according to arguments in the latest challenge to capital punishment in the state.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A 4-day trial that began Tuesday in federal court in Dayton focuses on Ohio's updated execution system and a new 3-drug method similar to one used several years ago.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Executions have been on hold in Ohio since January 2014, when death row inmate Dennis McGuire gasped and snorted during the 26 minutes it took him to die.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The state plans to execute Ronald Phillips on Feb. 15 for the rape and death of his girlfriend's 3-year-old daughter in Akron in 1993.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Witnesses before Magistrate Judge Michael Merz will include members of the state execution team, who will not be named and will answer questions while sitting behind courtroom screens.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Lawyers for death row inmates say a 3-drug method, announced last year, is worse than a similar procedure used years ago. They say multiple problems remain with the way the state prepares and carries out executions.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In a court filing, the attorneys say the 1st drug in the process - midazolam - is unlikely to relieve an inmate's pain. The drug, which is meant to sedate inmates, was used in executions in Arizona and Ohio in 2014 that turned out to be problematic. But last year, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the use of midazolam in a case out of Oklahoma.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">According to the filing, because <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midazolam" target="_blank">midazolam is not a barbiturate and cannot relieve pain</a>, inmates are likely to experience "severe physical pain," mental suffering and anguish. As a result, "such an execution would be inhuman and barbarous, akin in its level of pain and suffering to being buried alive, burning at the stake, and other primitive methods long since abandoned by civilized society," the filing last fall said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The state used a 2-drug method with McGuire, beginning with midazolam, but then discontinued it. Afterward, Ohio struggled to find new supplies of drugs since they were placed off limits for executions by drugmakers.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The prisons agency now says it will use midazolam; rocuronium bromide, which causes paralysis; and potassium chloride, which stops the heart. But the state hasn't said where it got the drugs.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The state says the method is similar to Ohio's past execution process, which all survived court challenges. State attorneys also say the U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year makes clear that the use of midazolam is allowable.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"The Eighth Amendment does not prevent Ohio from adopting a new method of execution, or returning to a previously used one, particularly when changes in the availability of drugs necessitate such a change," state attorneys said in a filing last fall.</div><br />Source: Associated Press, January 4, 2017<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">⚑ | Report an error, an omission; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: <a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com">deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a>.</div><br /><table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="4" style="background-color: white; border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid rgb(255, 204, 0); color: black; text-align: center; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr> <td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/WebDPN/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL4sspwgGptzvuHVklum5TwxKppRN-lIC5TN8RLZFq_B4ZOtBrX1ssXPNKQ6XpSyQFRJRtVQN45HMkpt3VX0JtOW0TovwxZAurG-AV6gh98IAXo7Ip6QlpkZr9WrM3_m943Mwy-gGxBAY/s1600/Find+us+Facebook.jpg" /></a></div></td> <td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiULIPEaT_P6oIauxAZd17XRRxljesDLS7iIjdQXT7Xct99uHeohx4IYmiAB6S044gTjMDGSy50sL2vDzOyPZ-3vJj9zwcYQ2rgzJh9v1-QDiunKAQtLLLqJ83s38qN3HABxGIC8GsIOD0/s1600/Find+us+twitter.jpg" /></a><span id="goog_1427852018"></span><span id="goog_1427852019"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a></div></td> </tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><b>Opposed to Capital Punishment? 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Challenge to Ohio's Newest Execution Method Goes to Trial

Ohio's death chamber Ohio's newest execution method is either a legal approach to putting condemned killers to death or a process ak...

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Virginia: Decision on delaying Ricky Gray's Jan. 18 execution to come no later than next week

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSkkpFCGqjmIPN4lj4W02kAS1qMbe05Z8CooL7Z1mVBrEpBR78cXBUsHkXQ7aDpHQPvJ893H4uep8vgv3XP_9lIs6Z8pIRiEm0B33Io2r8Nq4PE6f0SEIh_k_HGt0HT6LxcUYVL4M2Yi0/s1600/Midazolam.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Midazolam" border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSkkpFCGqjmIPN4lj4W02kAS1qMbe05Z8CooL7Z1mVBrEpBR78cXBUsHkXQ7aDpHQPvJ893H4uep8vgv3XP_9lIs6Z8pIRiEm0B33Io2r8Nq4PE6f0SEIh_k_HGt0HT6LxcUYVL4M2Yi0/s400/Midazolam.jpg" title="Midazolam" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A federal judge on Tuesday said he will decide within a week whether to delay Ricky Javon Gray's scheduled Jan. 18 execution over concerns about drugs the state intends to use if Gray dies by injection.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midazolam" target="_blank">Midazolam</a>, a sedative, and potassium chloride, which stops the heart, are the 1st and 3rd drugs used in Virginia's 3-drug procedure. The drugs were made by a compounding pharmacy and not by pharmaceutical manufacturers, which no longer provide drugs to states for executions.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The state strongly disputes that the compounded drugs - tested by a state laboratory and made by a licensed Virginia pharmacy and pharmacist - are anything less than suitable for use in an execution. The alleged problems are "wholly speculative," said Margaret Hoehl O'Shea with the state Attorney General's Office.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Under state law, Gray must choose execution by injection or electrocution by 15 days prior to the execution date. If he refuses to select a method, state law makes lethal injection the default method.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Virginia Department of Corrections did not immediately respond Tuesday when asked if Gray had made a choice.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Gray's lawyers also contend death in the state's electric chair is cruel and unusual punishment. And they claim the use of compounded drugs have contributed to botched executions elsewhere and unnecessarily increase the risk of "chemical torture."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">They are asking U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson - who heard more than 4 hours of testimony and argument Tuesday - to delay the execution so they can better make their case.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">An expert testified for Gray on Tuesday that execution by firing squad presents less risk of cruel and unusual punishment than Virginia's proposed injection procedure.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Gray was sentenced to die for the New Year's Day 2006 slayings of sisters Ruby Harvey, 4, and Stella Harvey, 9. He also killed their parents, Bryan Harvey, 49, and Kathryn Harvey, 39, in their South Richmond home, which was set on fire.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Less than a week later, Gray and accomplice Ray Dandridge, 39, killed Ashley Baskerville, 21, who had been a lookout when Gray killed the Harveys; Baskerville's mother, Mary Tucker, 47; and stepfather, Percyell Tucker, 55, in their Richmond home.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">O'Shea, in her closing argument, told the judge that what Gray did was a nightmare for the community, the Harvey family and the 2 little girls.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Lisa Fried, 1 of Gray's lawyers, asked the judge not to call off the execution, but to delay it so Gray's concerns can be fully aired.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In response to a question from Hudson, Fried conceded the Constitution does not require a pain-free execution. But she said that while the public has an interest in seeing that sentences are carried out, everyone in the state has an interest in making sure executions are carried out constitutionally.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">An expert, pharmacist Larry Sasich, testified that the testing performed by the state on the compounded drugs - to identify them and ascertain their potency - was inadequate. They should also been tested for sterility, acidity, and to see if there are any particulates in the solutions, which are injected into the inmate via an intravenous line.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Asked by Fried how likely it was that the use of a compounded drug would lead to pain and suffering, Sasich said, "It is more likely compared to the use of an FDA-approved product."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">However, a state expert pharmacist, Daniel Buffington, said the compounding of such drugs by pharmacies is common in the industry. "It's done routinely," he said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Buffington said he was not aware of any botched execution caused by midazolam. He said the problems that he was aware of were caused by the drug's administration.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Dr. Jonathan Groner testified there was less risk of pain in an execution by firing squad, which would be almost instantaneous if done properly, than in one using midazolam. Virginia has not used the firing squad, although Utah has twice since the death penalty was allowed to resume in 1976.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A Department of Corrections official testified that no employees were trained to conduct a firing squad, there was no facility in which to do so, and the General Assembly would have to change the law to permit that form of execution. He conceded under cross-examination that prison employees are trained in the use of firearms.</div><br />Source: The Roanoke Times, January 3, 2017<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">⚑ | Report an error, an omission; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: <a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com">deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a>.</div><br /><table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="4" style="background-color: white; border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid rgb(255, 204, 0); color: black; text-align: center; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr> <td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/WebDPN/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL4sspwgGptzvuHVklum5TwxKppRN-lIC5TN8RLZFq_B4ZOtBrX1ssXPNKQ6XpSyQFRJRtVQN45HMkpt3VX0JtOW0TovwxZAurG-AV6gh98IAXo7Ip6QlpkZr9WrM3_m943Mwy-gGxBAY/s1600/Find+us+Facebook.jpg" /></a></div></td> <td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiULIPEaT_P6oIauxAZd17XRRxljesDLS7iIjdQXT7Xct99uHeohx4IYmiAB6S044gTjMDGSy50sL2vDzOyPZ-3vJj9zwcYQ2rgzJh9v1-QDiunKAQtLLLqJ83s38qN3HABxGIC8GsIOD0/s1600/Find+us+twitter.jpg" /></a><span id="goog_1427852018"></span><span id="goog_1427852019"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a></div></td> </tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><b>Opposed to Capital Punishment? 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Virginia: Decision on delaying Ricky Gray's Jan. 18 execution to come no later than next week

A federal judge on Tuesday said he will decide within a week whether to delay Ricky Javon Gray's scheduled Jan. 18 execution over concer...

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Problems Remain in China’s Death-Penalty System Even After Reforms

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipBLE0Ug4Rfnnz6Yqs197-3pi8iISWLeqJuAH5jDdKjETU-j2vNl7wWe1lMmgTVy4XMgi1ae5Ut_-g8RBdsCZfLVSf6ag5yU5m5jy8K_20bArHZiQbTwK1CVRbJoXcYHOG5uVgMkC9crA/s1600/executing+drug+trafickers+in+China.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Chinese death-row inmates" border="0" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipBLE0Ug4Rfnnz6Yqs197-3pi8iISWLeqJuAH5jDdKjETU-j2vNl7wWe1lMmgTVy4XMgi1ae5Ut_-g8RBdsCZfLVSf6ag5yU5m5jy8K_20bArHZiQbTwK1CVRbJoXcYHOG5uVgMkC9crA/s400/executing+drug+trafickers+in+China.jpg" title="Chinese death-row inmates" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chinese death-row inmates are marched to a nearby execution ground<br />where they will be put to death by firing squad.</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">(Beijing) — Lai Changxing, the kingpin of a multibillion-dollar smuggling ring in the coastal city of Xiamen and once dubbed “China’s most-wanted fugitive” by state media, was given only a life sentence by a Chinese court in 2012, although more than a dozen of his accomplices had been executed by firing squad a decade earlier.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Lai's network smuggled products as diverse as cigarettes, cars, oil and textiles. But the 58-year-old was able to literally dodge a bullet after Chinese authorities agreed to drop the death sentence in his case after a 12-year-long extradition battle with Canada.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Critics say Lai’s sentencing highlights the uneven implementation of the death penalty, which is used by government-controlled courts as a means to deter crime — often at the expense of justice.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Amid mounting international pressure and rising public discontent at home over its widespread use of the death penalty, China’s top court has taken a series of steps to reform the system of capital punishment in the past decade.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Chinese academics estimate the number of death sentences handed down has dropped sharply since 2007, after the Supreme People’s Court took over the system of reviewing these verdicts that was earlier left in the hands of provincial-level courts. Yet legal reformists say more changes are needed to avoid possible wrongful convictions. They point out that the review happens behind closed doors, often without the presence of defense lawyers, and so are calling for open court-style hearings instead of allowing a small group of Supreme People’s Court judges to have the final say.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“The defense lawyer’s voice must be heard during these reviews because they can make or break a life,” said Zhang Qingsong, a founding partner at Beijing’s Shangquan Law Office.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Under the current system, a person who is sentenced to death by a local court can appeal the verdict to a high court at the provincial or regional level. A death sentence upheld by a high court is then referred to the Supreme People’s Court for review.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This review process works as follows: A judge from a lower court wanting to give out a death sentence must first file an application with a three-judge panel at the Supreme People’s Court, and the panel then produces a review report either approving the verdict or disapproving it. This is then referred to a deputy president of the Supreme People’s Court for approval. Next it is submitted to an internal trial committee for the final decision, explained a Supreme People’s Court official who asked not to be named.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The public does not have access to information about the workings of this internal trial committee, which is composed of an unknown number of Supreme Court judges.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Once a death sentence is upheld, the president of the Supreme Court will issue an execution order that has to be carried out by a lower court within seven days.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But despite its lack of transparency, the current review process is a far cry from the system that existed before 2007.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: justify;">'Strike Hard'</h3><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">China’s top legislature, the National People’s Congress, had decentralized the review system in the 1980s, allowing provincial and regional high courts to have a final say on cases involving capital punishment.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The move was part of the “strike hard” anti-crime campaign launched nationwide amid a noticeable uptick in serious felonies such as murder, rape, armed robberies and arson attacks in the earlier years of the country’s reform and opening-up.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">During this period, judges — many of them former police officers or demobilized soldiers without legal training — were ordered by the Communist Party to be severe. They were often told to expedite trials or to give harsh punishments, well above those prescribed in the penal code, for the sake of “maintaining social order.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The decision to decentralize reviews had eroded the credibility of the review system and the public no longer trusted it as the last resort to address potential miscarriages of justice, according to legal experts, including Li Hongjiang, a Supreme Court judge.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">During this period, “the review system was made meaningless and toothless because a provincial or regional high court is unlikely to change a death sentence it had already upheld in a subsequent review,” Li wrote in 2007, in an article published by the People’s Judicature, a journal affiliated to the Supreme Court.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The string of death sentences overturned and pronounced as wrongful convictions in recent years were all reviewed and given the green light by provincial or regional courts in the 1980s and ’90s.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmXXPzXUGrbie2ljiPK4S3QD1liVYSwNhewhrmHe750Z43rTSvVTURHdFbaOrJa4RlYmyTQxwyadTdLWPDVaCb_VLPSPP-uTZkIMDCs-4nSeiy4cGFY2BQvcQ3dHrOyOItu15e_WtBtgU/s1600/Nie+Shubin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Nie Shubin" border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmXXPzXUGrbie2ljiPK4S3QD1liVYSwNhewhrmHe750Z43rTSvVTURHdFbaOrJa4RlYmyTQxwyadTdLWPDVaCb_VLPSPP-uTZkIMDCs-4nSeiy4cGFY2BQvcQ3dHrOyOItu15e_WtBtgU/s400/Nie+Shubin.jpg" title="Nie Shubin" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Exonerated Nie Shubin, "hastily executed" during the "strike hard" campaign</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">The latest example is <a href="http://deathpenaltynews.blogspot.fr/search/label/Nie%20Shubin" target="_blank">the exoneration of Nie Shubin</a>, 21, from Hebei province, who was executed after being convicted of the rape and murder of a young woman in 1995.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Nie was arrested, given a death sentence and hastily executed, largely based on evidence extracted via a forced confession when the “strike hard” campaign was in full force, court documents show.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But after an alleged serial rapist, arrested over a similar crime in the central province of Henan a decade later, confessed to killing the victim in Nie’s case, the previous verdict was put into doubt.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It took Nie’s family another 10 years to petition various judicial authorities and courts before a retrial was granted by the Supreme Court in June, and Nie’s name was cleared in early December 2016.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Hebei Provincial People’s High Court, which upheld Nie’s death sentence during an appeal on April 25, 1995, was also in charge of the final review on the verdict. It gave the go-ahead to the execution in a review completed just two days after the appeal.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The number on death row in China is a closely guarded state secret. But the number of death sentences given out has dropped sharply after the Supreme Court took charge of all reviews in 2007, down from tens of thousands to several thousand, according to estimates by Chinese academics.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The number of executions each year has also declined from five-digit figures to a several thousand as a result.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Chinese government had previously argued that the number on death row was small given China’s large population. But fewer than 40 people are sentenced to death every year in India, a country with a comparable population, according to Zhao Bingzhi, president of the College for Criminal Law Science at Beijing Normal University.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In 2016, 30 people were sentenced to death in the United States as of November, one-tenth of the 315 capital punishment verdicts in 1996, according to Washington-based rights group Death Penalty Information Center. There were only 20 executions in the U.S. in 2016.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">China's widespread use of capital punishment remains a stumbling block when the country negotiates bilateral extradition treaties with many Western nations such as the U.S and Canada, where most Chinese fugitives are in hiding. This has hampered the anti-corruption campaign launched by President Xi Jinping in 2012.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Only a handful of developed nations, including Spain and France, are among the approximately 40 countries that have signed extradition treaties with China, government data showed.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: justify;">Going Easy on the Noose</h3><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In addition to the decision to centralize the review process in 2007 by making the Supreme Court in Beijing the sole body to green light death sentences, the court also removed 22 crimes from the list of 68 capital offenses, including many white-collar financial crimes, in 2011 and 2014.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In a document the court released in August 2007, lower courts were also told to “exercise caution” when giving death sentences to people who have killed a spouse over a marital dispute or in confrontations with neighbors, if they have shown remorse and adequately compensated the other party.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This stealthy reform process has cut down the number of death sentences by half and even two-thirds in some regions, according to professor Chen Guangzhong at China University for Political Science and Law.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivDOwEFCDym47e6kBZW1IF5_W27LjCSXEG57Nm23SZCEvxh3HYnYboBP2WIe0w9Cyeh7gtd3jbI2JABoxyrbshVuydim-ao2Z1_0ujSuireItiLvDokpSct4h1OwbEYXwqkcr0oRaiUDES/s1600/chine_ex%25C3%25A9cution.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Execution in China" border="0" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivDOwEFCDym47e6kBZW1IF5_W27LjCSXEG57Nm23SZCEvxh3HYnYboBP2WIe0w9Cyeh7gtd3jbI2JABoxyrbshVuydim-ao2Z1_0ujSuireItiLvDokpSct4h1OwbEYXwqkcr0oRaiUDES/s400/chine_ex%25C3%25A9cution.jpg" title="Execution in China" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Liver transplants in China  primarily relied on organs harvested<br />from executed inmates." Execution by firing squad in China.</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">“We are now more cautious when imposing the death sentences as the Supreme Court has significantly tightened the review process,” said a president of an intermediate court in a western region who asked not to be named.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Why should we bother if our applications for a death penalty won’t pass the reviews by the top court?”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Over 95% of the death sentences imposed since 2007 have been limited to those who committed serious crimes such as murder, drug trafficking and robberies that result in deaths, according to Zhao from Beijing Normal University, who also serves a director of criminal law research unit under the government-backed China Law Society.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">China has also gradually changed the method of execution in most cases from firing squad to lethal injection. In 2015, the country dropped the controversial practice of harvesting organs from executed criminals for use in transplant operations.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But given the lack of official data on people on death row, the number of livers harvested served as an indicator of the number of executions in the country for several years.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The number of liver transplants, which primarily relied on organs harvested from executed inmates, dropped by one-third from 2006 to 1,822 in 2007 when the Supreme Court began to take charge of death sentence reviews, according to the China Liver Transplant Registry, an online liver transplant database backed by the Health Commission.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Despite the progress made over the last decade, the death penalty review system is still plagued by a lack of transparency, according to critics.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A search of China Judgment Online, a database affiliated with the Supreme Court, by Zhang Peng, a postgraduate student at the China University of Political Science and Law, found 320 cases between Jan.1, 2014, to Aug. 31, 2016, where review documents showed the Supreme Court had upheld the death penalty. But only 28 of the documents, or less than 9% of cases, said that a defense lawyer was involved in the final review.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Some academics said that it might be impossible to add another layer of court trials to replace the review system, but the Supreme Court can turn these reviews into open hearings, which allows for greater public scrutiny.</div><br />Source: <a href="http://www.caixinglobal.com/2017-01-03/101032821.html" target="_blank">Caixin</a>, Shan Yuxiao, Wang Yiyin and Li Rongde, January 3, 2017<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">⚑ | Report an error, an omission; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: <a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com">deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a>.</div><br /><table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="4" style="background-color: white; border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid rgb(255, 204, 0); color: black; text-align: center; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr> <td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/WebDPN/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL4sspwgGptzvuHVklum5TwxKppRN-lIC5TN8RLZFq_B4ZOtBrX1ssXPNKQ6XpSyQFRJRtVQN45HMkpt3VX0JtOW0TovwxZAurG-AV6gh98IAXo7Ip6QlpkZr9WrM3_m943Mwy-gGxBAY/s1600/Find+us+Facebook.jpg" /></a></div></td> <td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiULIPEaT_P6oIauxAZd17XRRxljesDLS7iIjdQXT7Xct99uHeohx4IYmiAB6S044gTjMDGSy50sL2vDzOyPZ-3vJj9zwcYQ2rgzJh9v1-QDiunKAQtLLLqJ83s38qN3HABxGIC8GsIOD0/s1600/Find+us+twitter.jpg" /></a><span id="goog_1427852018"></span><span id="goog_1427852019"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a></div></td> </tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><b>Opposed to Capital Punishment? 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Problems Remain in China’s Death-Penalty System Even After Reforms

Chinese death-row inmates are marched to a nearby execution ground where they will be put to death by firing squad. (Beijing) — Lai Changxin...

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Texas AG sues FDA for delaying import of death penalty drug

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4eBEUDKn7jC_gbbXo4_1WVg-feZQna8nMihXzUd6ApqMrnVtuVwhDgs1GEqLupZAzz-f2PAzwWXHZWSmPY3hr_5ROcx0AaAdz2xpTv7jOId8pWSM7eMKmQNYKmzMwqJS3Z3pt9Psq8Qk/s1600/FDA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4eBEUDKn7jC_gbbXo4_1WVg-feZQna8nMihXzUd6ApqMrnVtuVwhDgs1GEqLupZAzz-f2PAzwWXHZWSmPY3hr_5ROcx0AaAdz2xpTv7jOId8pWSM7eMKmQNYKmzMwqJS3Z3pt9Psq8Qk/s400/FDA.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">AUSTIN (KXAN) — Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Tuesday his office has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for delaying the state’s importation of a drug used in capital punishment.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The lawsuit argues the FDA’s claimed legal grounds for refusing the drugs’ entry into the United States are invalid, citing an FDA exemption for law enforcement purposes.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Thiopental sodium, also known as Sodium thiopental, is part of the three-drug cocktail used in lethal injections.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In its December newsletter, the Council of State Governments said, while Texas has 317 inmates on death row, it only has enough of a key lethal injection drug to execute two of them, stemming from a nationwide shortage of the drug.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Attorney General’s Office is asking the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas to declare the FDA’s delay unlawful and compel the agency to make a final decision on the admissibility of the drug, which was detained by the FDA 17 months ago.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“There are only two reasons why the FDA would take 17 months to make a final decision on Texas’ importation of thiopental sodium: gross incompetence or willful obstruction,” said Attorney General Paxton. “The FDA has an obligation to fulfill its responsibilities faithfully and in a timely manner. My office will not allow the FDA to sit on its hands and thereby impair Texas’ responsibility to carry out its law enforcement duties.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In April 2016, the FDA <a href="http://kxan.com/2016/04/21/texas-under-fire-for-importing-lethal-injection-drugs/" target="_blank">blocked an appeal to bring in Sodium thiopental</a> from India. Experts in the FDA said there is not a legal use for the drug in the U.S.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Texas Department of Criminal Justice previously used the drug as part of a three-drug cocktail for executions. Since 2012, Texas has used a large dose of a single powerful sedative to carry out executions.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The maker of the drug made it off limits to sell to the government for execution purposes. Texas has been using compounding pharmacies to make the drugs needed for executions..</div><br />Source: <a href="http://kxan.com/2017/01/03/paxton-sues-fda-for-delaying-import-of-death-penalty-drug/" target="_blank">KXAN</a>, Andy Jechow, January 3, 2017<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">⚑ | Report an error, an omission; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: <a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com">deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a>.</div><br /><table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="4" style="background-color: white; border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid rgb(255, 204, 0); color: black; text-align: center; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr> <td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/WebDPN/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL4sspwgGptzvuHVklum5TwxKppRN-lIC5TN8RLZFq_B4ZOtBrX1ssXPNKQ6XpSyQFRJRtVQN45HMkpt3VX0JtOW0TovwxZAurG-AV6gh98IAXo7Ip6QlpkZr9WrM3_m943Mwy-gGxBAY/s1600/Find+us+Facebook.jpg" /></a></div></td> <td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiULIPEaT_P6oIauxAZd17XRRxljesDLS7iIjdQXT7Xct99uHeohx4IYmiAB6S044gTjMDGSy50sL2vDzOyPZ-3vJj9zwcYQ2rgzJh9v1-QDiunKAQtLLLqJ83s38qN3HABxGIC8GsIOD0/s1600/Find+us+twitter.jpg" /></a><span id="goog_1427852018"></span><span id="goog_1427852019"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a></div></td> </tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><b>Opposed to Capital Punishment? 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Texas AG sues FDA for delaying import of death penalty drug

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Tuesday his office has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (...

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