Does anybody remember Clayton D. Lockett? No, of course not. Allow me to refresh your memory. Mr. Lockett was brutally murdered by our own federal government on April 29,2014 in a botched execution. Lockett was administered an untested mixture of drugs that had not previously been used for executions in the United States. Although the […]
MIAMI — Florida prosecutors say they will seek the death penalty against school shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz in the fatal shooting of 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
The office of Broward County State Attorney Michael Satz filed the formal notice Tuesday. The 19-year-old Cruz is scheduled for formal arraignment Wednesday on a 34-count indictment, including 17 first-degree murder charges.
Cruz’s attorneys have said he would plead guilty if the death penalty was not pursued in the Valentine’s Day massacre. The action by prosecutors Tuesday does not necessarily mean a plea deal will not be reached.
The only other penalty option for Cruz is life in prison with no possibility of parole.
via Florida prosecutors seeking death penalty in school shooting — Chicago Sun-Times
Personally, I don’t believe in the death penalty. As this case illustrates, killing people who kill people to teach that killing is wrong does not work.
Dylann Roof, found guilty of the murder of nine people, and sentenced to death.
The jury began their deliberations early this afternoon. It did not take them long to decide that Dylann Roof, the murderer of nine people, receive the death penalty.
At closing argument, Roof reminded the jury that its decision must be unanimous. Apparently, he was looking to impress upon just one juror not to sentence him to death.
Also during his closing argument, Roof told the jury, “I still feel like I had to do it.”
It is reported that every member of the jury looked directly at Roof as he spoke for about 5 minutes.
The prosecutor’s closing argument included;
“They welcomed a 13th person that night … with a kind word, a Bible, a handout and a chair,” Richardson said during his closing argument. “He had come with a hateful heart and a Glock .45.”
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Yahtzeebutterfly has written a piece for Black American History for the month of May. My goal is to get it published by tomorrow. Also, I am working on accepting two blog awards that we have been graced for nomination and hope to have the acceptances posted by this weekend.
Last night as I was watching the Democratic Town Hall hosted by CNN, a man named Ricky Jackson took the mic. Ricky said that he spent 39 years in prison, part of it on death row, for a murder he didn’t commit. He emotionally confronted Hillary Clinton about her position on the death penalty.
The tiny bit of his story caught my interest so I looked up information about his case. Here is Ricky’s story.
Ricky Jackson then and now
Ricky Jackson is an Ohio man who, in 1975, was accused of murdering Harold Franks, a Cleveland area money order salesman. Jackson was 19-years old. Without a witness, the state had no case. Some reports say that the witness was 12-years old and other reports say that the witness was 13-years old. Edward Vernon was the reason why the state charged Ricky as the trigger-man who killed Harold Franks. Ricky was sentenced to death.
Ricky’s death sentence was vacated because of a technical error. Two others who were convicted along with Ricky were also sentenced to death. They are commonly referred to as the Bridgeman brothers and they remained on death row until 1978 when the Supreme Court declared that Ohio’s death penalty was unconstitutional. One of the Bridgman brothers came within 20 days of execution. Read the rest of this entry
Juries, not judges, must decide whether ultimate penalty is justified. I am opposed to the killing of humans, and that includes the government sanctioned death penalty. Yesterday, Richard Wolf of USA Today reported that the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that judges deciding on the death penalty rather than juries, is unconstitutional.
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down Florida’s system of letting judges, not juries, decide whether convicted criminals deserve the death penalty.
The 8-1 ruling is significant because Florida has about 400 prisoners on death row, second only to California — and unlike California, it conducts executions regularly. However, most of the state’s prisoners are not likely to be affected because their appeals have run out or their convictions were based on indisputable aggravating circumstances.
In Florida, judges can impose the death penalty even if the jury has not ruled unanimously or agreed on any aggravating circumstance. If the jury has issued a recommendation, the judge doesn’t have to follow it. No other state gives judges such discretion.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote the decision for the nearly unanimous court, with Justice Samuel Alito dissenting.
“We hold this sentencing scheme unconstitutional,” Sotomayor said. “The 6th Amendment requires a jury, not a judge, to find each fact necessary to impose a sentence of death. A jury’s mere recommendation is not enough.”
Alito disagreed, contending that past Supreme Court rulings allow judges to establish the facts leading to a death sentence. Even so, he said, “under the Florida system, the jury plays a critically important role.”
The case was brought before SCOTUS by Timothy Hurst, a death row prisoner in Florida. In 2002, the Supreme Court ruled that juries, not judges, must determine whether the necessary facts exist to justify a death sentence. In Hurst’s case, the jury voted 7 – 5, and it was not clear what the majority voted.
Gov. Pete Ricketts, a first-term Republican, had vetoed legislation to repeal Nebraska’s death row. Today, Nebraska became the first conservative state in more than 40 years to abolish the death penalty when lawmakers boldly voted 30-19 to override the governor’s veto.
Nebraska has not executed anyone since 1997, and one of the 11 inmates on its death row died this week in prison, bringing those on death row in Nebraska to 10. Prisoner, Michael Ryan, had spent 30 years Nebraska’s death row, convicted for the 1985 cult killings of two people.
The news comes at a time when the U.S. Supreme Court is in position to issue a major decision on capital punishment by lethal injection. The lethal injection has been used, and botched, and those states trying to get the concoction are having problems obtaining it. Read the rest of this entry
Kent Sprouse
Kent Sprouse, 42, was the fifth convicted killer executed this year in Texas. In 2002, Sprouse killed Ennis Police officer Harry Marvin “Marty” Steinfeldt III, who was 28-years-old, and 38-year old Pedro Moreno. Although charged in Moreno’s death, Sprouse was not tried for it.
Sprouse, a meth addict, had used the drug and other drugs 48 hours before the shoot-out that took place at the Ferris Food Mart. Jim Jenkins, who was Sprouse’s lead lawyer at his trial said Sprouse suffered from the effects of methamphetamine addiction.
“He just didn’t know what he was doing, but the jury has to buy that. It’s sort of like being drunk and killing somebody. That’s really not a defense, not a legal defense. … The whole thing is extremely sad.”
Thursday, Sprouse was given the drug pentobarbital intravenously. He took several deep breaths and was pronounced dead 22 minutes later.
Associated Press reports:
Texas Department of Criminal Justice officials said a recent purchase of pentobarbital means they have enough of the sedative to carry out three other executions set for this month, including one next week. But at least three more are set for May and June, meaning they would have to find a new supply or switch to a different drug to carry out those executions on schedule.
Death penalty states have found it increasingly difficult to acquire execution drugs because traditional manufacturers now refuse to sell their drugs for use in executions. States now rely on compounding pharmacies for their made-to-order execution drugs.
In three weeks, the Supreme Court of the United States will consider a challenge from three death row inmates to Oklahoma’s lethal injection method. A ruling against the use of midazolam, a sedative that lacks the knockout punch of pentobarbital, is part of a three-drug cocktail. Read the rest of this entry
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2018
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