Arizona update 5/25 (Maricopa County sets $4 mil for death penalty appeals)

From the Arizona Republic Maricopa County sets $4 mil for death penalty appeals

The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has unanimously agreed to spend up to $4 million to pay for post-conviction appeals for defendants in local death-penalty cases.

The board voted Wednesday to dedicate the money from the general fund to the county Office of Public Defender, which pays for post-conviction relief appeals of death-penalty cases.

The Arizona Supreme Court’s recent decision to reduce the required number of attorneys in post-conviction relief appellate cases from two to one allowed more cases to move through the appeals process, said Cari Gerchick, county spokeswoman.

In addition, Maricopa County currently has a high number of death-penalty cases that could result in post-conviction appeals, many from former County Attorney Andrew Thomas’ term in office from 2005 to April 2010,Gerchick said. The county attorney has statutory power to seek the death penalty.

“We saw that during the Andrew Thomas years, he charged a number of people and said he had wanted the death penalty. So, there was an unprecedented spike of death-penalty cases during his time in office,” Gerchick said.

The county Public Defender’s Office will use the money to pay for representation of defendants sentenced to death, anticipating more cases will begin moving through the post-conviction appeals process.

Idaho update 5/25 (Execution Lawsuit Heads To Mediation)

From Boise State Public Radio Execution Lawsuit Heads To Mediation

A lawsuit on viewing Idaho prisoner executions from start to finish is headed to mediation.  Federal judge Edward Lodge today set the negotiating session for June 1st.

News agencies sued Idaho officials to allow reporters to observe and report any complications during lethal injections.  State officials say they can’t do that.  They want to protect the identity of those who prepare inmates for execution.

Idaho and 31 other states limit access to reporters during lethal injections.  Death row inmate Richard Leavitt is scheduled for execution June 12th.

Read more here.

• Idaho update 5/23 (AP, news groups sue Idaho over execution access)
• 5 Western US states shielding part of executions
• Idaho update 5/21 (Idaho switches execution protocol to single-drug lethal injection)
• Idaho switches execution protocol to single-drug lethal injection
• One Drug Injection For Idaho’s Next Execution
• Idaho update 5/17 (Man Convicted Of 1984 Blackfoot Murder To Be Executed)
• Idaho Update (4/10/12) 4 death row inmates sue over Idaho’s newest lethal injection procedures
• Another execution this year?
• Idaho killer Lacey Sivak faces new death penalty hearing
• The state of the death penalty (Idaho Edition)
• UPDATE: Idaho has executed Paul Ezra Rhoades
• The last hours of Paul Ezra Rhoades
• UPDATE: Supreme Court refuses to block Idaho execution scheduled for tomorrow
• Ninth Circuit affirms denial of Rhoades stay while the ACLU of Idaho says Idaho execution procedure violates 2002 Ninth Circuit ruling
• Federal judge denies stay for Rhoades
• Idaho’s Catholic Governor stands by the death penalty in lead-up to the state’s first execution since ’94
• Federal Judge will try to rule by Monday on Idaho lethal injection protocol with Rhoades’ execution date looming
• Idaho corrections officials continue to ready themselves to execute Rhoades as his family calls for mercy
• Idaho commission clears the way for state’s first execution since 1994
• Idaho Attorney General Death Penalty Case Status Update
• Idaho Department of Correction Death Row Page
• Death Penalty Information Center Idaho Page

Idaho update 5/23 (AP, news groups sue Idaho over execution access)

From the AP AP, news groups sue Idaho over execution access

The Associated Press and 16 other organizations sued the state of Idaho on Tuesday to force officials to let witnesses watch executions from start to finish, arguing that the media has a First Amendment right to view all steps of a lethal injection execution.

The group asked a U.S. District Court judge to require the state to increase witness access to its executions, starting with the upcoming execution of Richard A. Leavitt, a convicted killer scheduled to be put to death on June 12.

The AP was joined in the lawsuit by the Idaho Press Club, Idahoans for Openness in Government, the Idaho Statesman, The Times-News, Lewiston Tribune, Moscow-Pullman Daily News and The Spokesman-Review.

Also joining was Pioneer Newspapers, which owns several newspapers including the Idaho Press-Tribune, the Idaho State Journal, the Rexburg Standard Journal and others.

Idaho, like most states with lethal injection, bars witnesses from watching as a condemned inmate is brought into the execution chamber, strapped to the table and has IVs inserted into his or her arms. The news organizations say reporters must be able to view executions from start to finish so they can accurately report the events — and any complications that may emerge — to the public.

Some death row inmates have challenged the constitutionality of lethal injection executions in court, contending that the insertion of the IVs can be easily botched, causing severe pain for the condemned.

“This lawsuit is really all about obtaining access to the entire execution process for viewing purposes. It’s very important in a society such as ours to have full transparency in regards to the exercise of government authority,” said Chuck Brown, the attorney representing the news organizations.

Arizona update 5/23 (Media asks to witness Arizona lethal-injection preparation)

From AZ Central Media asks to witness Arizona lethal-injection preparation

Last week, a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judge questioned why the press had not demanded to bear witness to how Arizona corrections officials prepare death row prisoners for execution, and on Tuesday, a media association rose to the challenge.

The First Amendment Coalition filed a motion in federal court to intervene in a federal lawsuit filed by several Arizona death row prisoners challenging the state’s lethal injection procedures.

One of those prisoners, Samuel Lopez, faces execution next month. He was supposed to be executed on May 16, but the Arizona Supreme Court stayed the execution because three members of the state’s clemency board had not yet undergone sufficient training to hear the Lopez case.

At issue, as the 9th Circuit judge wrote, is that “the state insists upon extreme secrecy” in its executions. Attorneys for Lopez and the other defendants have repeatedly detailed how the state’s executioners have struggled to insert the catheters that carry the lethal drugs into prisoners’ arms, and usually end up surgically implanting a catheter in the prisoners’ femoral veins, located in their groin areas.

Last week in capital punishment 5/15 – 5/21

Stories from the  week 5/15 – 5/21

• **The National Registry of Exonerations**
• How America’s death penalty murders innocents (5/21)
• Idaho update 5/21 (Idaho switches execution protocol to single-drug lethal injection) (5/21)
• Montana update 5/21 (Mont. Board: No Clemency for Canadian on Death Row)  (5/21)
• States urge feds to help import lethal injection drugs (5/21)
• Wrongful Convictions: A New Exoneration Registry Tests Stubborn Judges (5/21)

• Yes on the SAFE California Act (5/20)
• Use of death penalty spikes (Criticized study also alleges racial disparity) (5/20)

• Inmates: State failed to publicize new lethal drug (5/19)
• Missouri executions may restart with drug propofol (5/19)
• Cameron Todd Willingham Exoneration Was Written But Never Filed By Texas Judge (5/19)

• Convicted NM deputy killer avoids death penalty (5/18)
• Texas has enough lethal drugs for 23 executions, officials say (5/18)
• Missouri attorney general urges state Supreme Court to schedule executions or explain why not (5/18)

• Sign the Pharmaceutical Hippocratic Oath – Reprieve (5/17)
• Prisons system ordered to release details on execution drugs (5/17)
• Arizona update 5/17 (Clemency board is now a charade; Arizona top court stays execution over clemency hearing) (5/17)
• The Death Penalty is the Tip of America’s Human Rights Iceberg (5/17)
• Idaho update 5/17 (Man Convicted Of 1984 Blackfoot Murder To Be Executed) (5/17)
• Ohio death penalty review committee meets again (5/17)

• Since When Don’t We Put a Price Tag on Justice? (5/16)
• Death as bargaining chip? Ohio prosecutor slammed (5/16)
• Video: TT Interview James Liebman (5/16)
• 10 Shocking Bits From Book About How Texas Executed an Innocent Man (5/16)

• Steven Staley capital case reveals another glaring flaw in Texas death penalty (5/15)
• Arizona top court stays execution over clemency hearing (5/15)
• Washington update 5/15 (Tacoma jury reinstates death penalty decision) (5/15)
• Arizona Update 5/15 (Appeals court refuses to block Arizona execution) (5/15)
• Rhode Island’s Rightful Stand Against the Federal Government (5/15)
• Exhibit on anti-death penalty activist opens at DePaul (5/15)