http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org The Death Penalty Information Center is a non-profit organization serving the media and the public with analysis and information on issues concerning capital punishment. The Center was founded in 1990 and prepares in-depth reports, issues press releases, conducts briefings for journalists, and serves as a resource to those working on this issue. The Center is widely quoted and consulted by all those concerned with the death penalty. http://deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=2781 An inmate in Alabama came within hours of execution despite the fact that serious doubts arose about whether he had even committed the crime that put him on death row. Thomas Arthur had been scheduled to die in Alabama on July 31, but the Alabama Supreme Court voted 5-4 on July 30 to stay his execution after another inmate confessed to the murder for which Arthur had been sentenced to death. In a sworn statement, Bobby Ray Gilbert confessed to killing Troy Wicker Jr. more than 26 years ago. Gilbert is serving life in prison for another murder. The stay marked the third time Arthur has been spared on the eve of his execution date. The court did not give a reason for its stay, but Arthur had been requesting DNA testing related to the crime for some time. Apparently, some of the DNA evidence from the case has been reported missing. Thu, 07 Aug 2008 18:00:35 EST http://deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=2780 In a 4-3 vote, the Arkansas Parole Board recommended that Frank Williams' death sentence be commuted to life without parole. The Board had received petitions for clemency from 13 state, national, and international organizations and developmental disabilities experts raising the prospect that Williams suffers from mental retardation as indicated by a series of IQ tests. The requests for clemency emphasized the fact that executing a mentally retarded person is unconstitutional based on both Arkansas’ 1993 statutory ban and the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2002 ruling in Atkins v. Virginia. The prosecutor in the case, Brent Hattom, denied allegations that he had rushed the trial and sentencing of Williams to beat the decision from the U.S. Supreme Court that deemed executions of mentally retarded people unconstitutional. The recommendation for clemency now goes to Governor Mike Beebe, who will decide whether to accept the Board's recommendation or allow the execution to go forward as scheduled on September 9th. Wed, 06 Aug 2008 10:56:29 EST http://deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=2779 Professor Celestine Richards McConville explores the plight of inmates on Alabama's death row who face execution despite being denied adequate representation for key parts of their appeal in her law review article, "The Meaninglessness of Delayed Appointments and Discretionary Grants of Capital Postconviction Counsel.” The article is part of a University of Tulsa Law Review symposium issue on "The Death Penalty and the Question of Actual Innocence." The article points out that Alabama’s courts will not grant counsel to a death row inmate in post-conviction appeals until after the petitioner files the petition and survives a challenge from the state for summary dismissal of the appeal. Prof. McConville argues that those are two very difficult tasks to accomplish without representation. Fri, 01 Aug 2008 16:59:34 EST http://deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=2778 On July 30th, Arkansas’ leading advocacy organization for people with mental retardation, Arc Arkansas, delivered a letter to Governor Mike Beebe and the Arkansas Parole board urging clemency for Frank Williams, Jr. Williams is a mentally retarded man scheduled for execution on September 9th and the Arkansas Parole Board is holding a clemency hearing on his case on Monday, August 4th. The letter highlights how executing a mentally retarded person is unconstitutional based on both Arkansas’ 1993 statutory ban and the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2002 ruling. Williams, with an IQ of 75, was held back in school three times before dropping out in the 10th grade. Arc Arkansas’ Chief Operating Officer, Cynthia Stone, wrote, “It would be a great injustice and a violation of our own state laws to execute Frank Williams, Jr., who is a person with lifelong mental retardation.” She added, “The Parole Board should recommend and Governor Beebe should grant clemency for Mr. Williams in order to prevent this terrible injustice.” Fri, 01 Aug 2008 09:12:25 EST http://deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=2777 Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry commuted the death sentence of Kevin Young to life in prison without parole on July 24th. Henry stated, "This was a very difficult decision and one that I did not take lightly." He explained that, "after reviewing all of the evidence and hearing from both prosecutors and defense attorneys, I decided the Pardon and Parole Board made a proper recommendation to provide clemency and commute the death sentence." This is only the second time the Governor has granted clemency since taking office. Tue, 29 Jul 2008 16:59:11 EST http://deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=2776 The same doctor who was banned from executions in Missouri has been discovered as a participant in Arizona’s most recent execution. Dr. Alan Doerhoff’s signature is at the bottom of executed Robert Comer’s EKG tape, eight months after he was prohibited from further Missouri executions “because of questions about his standards and competence.” Doerhoff had assisted in more than 54 executions in Missouri, developed procedures, inserted catheters, and monitored prisoner’s consciousness in Indiana's federal executions. According to 2006 court records, he admitted under oath to being dyslexic, that “he ‘improvised’ the dosages of the drugs (partly because of how conveniently or inconveniently they were packaged), had no set protocol and kept no records of procedures.” The hearing’s judge prohibited Doerhoff from participating “in any manner, at any level” in Missouri’s lethal-injection process. Prior to this ruling, Doerhoff had been sued for malpractice 20 times, paid several settlements, and was “officially reprimanded by the Missouri Board of Healing Arts for not disclosing malpractice suits to a hospital where he practiced and was subsequently barred from some hospitals.” Mon, 28 Jul 2008 17:17:05 EST http://deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=2775 A new Houston editorial from Senator Rodney Ellis and law professor Craig Jackson argues that Gov. Perry and the Texas Board of Pardons should follow the International Court of Justice’s order to stay the executions of the Mexican citizens in Texas. They believe the World Court’s decision was the “right thing to do” and Gov. Perry “would do well to consider how defiance of the World Court ruling will affect the safety of Americans abroad who rely on the same treaty protections that Texas violated in these cases.” The World Court argues that the U.S. is in violation of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations agreement that law enforcement would ensure that foreigner arrests would be quickly reported to their nations’ consulates. The reason the U.S. entered into that treaty was to ensure that American citizens would have access to American consular officials if arrested abroad. Fri, 25 Jul 2008 16:30:09 EST http://deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=2773 The Pennsylvania Supreme Court recently ruled that the state can force two death row inmates to take anti-psychotic medication so they are mentally competent enough to proceed with their appeals and be executed. The two inmates were sentenced to death but were found incompetent to participate in the appeals filed on their behalf. The U.S. Supreme Court has held that mentally incompetent inmates may not be executed. The Pennsylvania court overturned lower court decisions and directed them “to order that appellee be administered, involuntarily if necessary, anti-psychotic medication to render him competent.” Thu, 24 Jul 2008 11:35:23 EST