Idaho update 7/10 (Under court order, Idaho updates execution policy)

From the AP Under court order, Idaho updates execution policy

State officials and news organizations in Idaho have agreed on wording of a new policy that will ensure witnesses to executions will always be allowed to view the entire procedure.

The agreement, filed with Boise’s U.S. District Court on Monday, says the Idaho Department of Corrections will modify its procedures to allow witnesses to view the entire execution from the moment the condemned inmate enters the chamber until his final heartbeat.

The state was ordered to make the change by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals after 17 news organizations including The Associated Press sued earlier this year, contending prison officials were violating the First Amendment and ignoring a 2002 appellate court ruling by preventing media witnesses from viewing lethal injection executions until after the catheters have been inserted into the veins of the condemned inmates.

The 9th Circuit Court agreed, finding that the public, through the news media, must be able to view executions start to finish so that people can accurately decide if capital punishment meets societies’ evolving standard of decency.

“Nearly a decade ago, we held in the clearest possible terms that ‘the public enjoys a First Amendment right to view executions from the moment the condemned is escorted into the execution chamber,” the appellate panel wrote in their June 8 ruling. “The State of Idaho has had ample opportunity for the past decade to adopt an execution procedure that reflects this settled law.”

Because of the ruling, the Idaho Department of Correction for the first time allowed journalists selected as witnesses to the June 12 execution of Richard Albert Leavitt to view the entire procedure. The witnesses reported that the lethal injection process appeared to be carried out in accordance with the departments’ policies.

Still, the news organizations and the state had to agree on wording for a permanent execution access rule for the lawsuit to come to a formal end. Attorneys on both sides agreed to the following:

“The Idaho Department of Corrections, and responsible parties associated therewith, are hereby ordered to modify their procedures to allow the witnesses to the execution of a condemned inmate to observe the entire execution from the moment the inmate enters the execution chamber through, to and including, the time the inmate is declared dead.”

The state also agreed to pay the news organizations’ attorney fees and costs, a bill totaling more than $29,000. The news organizations joining the AP in the lawsuit include The Idaho Statesman, Boise Weekly, Lewiston Tribune, Moscow-Pullman Daily News, The Idaho Press Club, Idahoans for Openness in Government, The Times-News, Spokesman-Review and the Pioneer Newspaper group, including the Idaho Press-Tribune and Idaho State Journal.

The appellate court ruling prompted state officials in Arizona, which is under the 9th Circuit’s jurisdiction, to change state policy to allow increased witness access to executions. Officials in Washington and Montana, meanwhile, have said they have no immediate plans to change their respective states’ policies because neither state has an execution scheduled at this time.

Read more:

• Media wins execution access case, state pays fees
• Idaho, media settle execution lawsuit
• Idaho Changes Execution Witness Policy Following Media Lawsuit
• Idaho executes Richard Leavitt
• Idaho to execute Richard Leavitt by lethal injection at 10 a.m MDT
• Storify: Idaho Ready To Execute Second Inmate In Seven Months
• Demonstrators decry pending execution
• Idaho News Media Will Watch Entire Execution
• Protesters: ‘Appalled that this killing is being done in our name’
• Richard Leavitt execution set today
• Inmate Calm, Meeting with Lawyers before Execution
• Idaho prison officials make final preparations for scheduled execution of Richard Leavitt
• US Supreme Court denies Leavitt’s motion for stay of execution
• Idaho to execute Richard Leavitt by lethal injection Tuesday
• Idaho update 6/9 ( Court sides with AP, news groups over execution)
• Idaho update 6/8 (Final preps underway for Leavitt execution)
• Idaho update 6/8 (News organizations appeal Idaho execution case)
• Idaho update 6/6 (Idaho death row inmate denied clemency hearing)
• Idaho update 6/6 (Judge denies injunction in execution case)
• News groups denied injunction in execution case
• Idaho update 6/5 (Idaho has long history of execution witnesses)
• Idaho update 5/31 (State: Privacy of executioners trumps media access)
• Idaho update 5/25 (Execution Lawsuit Heads To Mediation)
• 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