San Franicisco Chronicle reporter Kevin Fagan was a witness at the California execution of James Beardslee this week. Here's his account. Fagan reports the execution took 11 minutes. He says Beardslee slipped quietly into death, but how does he know when one of the drugs paralyzes and prevents the injectee from making any sounds or movements or response?

After 12:21 he didn't twitch a muscle. At 12:29 it was over.

One of Beardslee's last unsuccessful grounds for appeal was that the particular drugs administered amounted to a violation of his first amendment right to scream in agony should he feel it.

Then there was this, according to the reporter, " one slight hitch":

Donald Beardslee was executed in California last night, following Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's denial of clemency.

In the nearly quarter-century that he waited in San Mateo County Jail and on San Quentin's death row, Beardslee is reported to have become a model prisoner. According to testimony read at Friday's clemency hearing, he even assisted corrections officials on prison security.

Former San Quentin Warden Daniel Vasquez described Beardslee as a rare inmate with no discipline record. "Killing him would be a shame," Vasquez said.

But Schwarzenegger was not swayed by the good behavior argument. "I expect no less," he said.

Now that Governor Arnold has denied clemency to Donald Beardslee, it appears certain the execution will occur on schedule. Here are the protest sites around the state, if you want to join in:

Tuesday, January 18th

San Quentin State Prison
RALLY BEGINS AT 8:00PM
EAST GATE OF SAN QUENTIN
You can park on Francisco Blvd. E. but expect to walk 1-1.5 Miles to
get to the East Gate of San Quentin.
Contact: stefanie@deathpenalty.org or 415-243-0143

Los Angeles
RALLY AT 7:00 P.M.
WESTWOOD FEDERAL BUILDING
11000 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90024 (Corner of Veteran)
MARCH AT 8:30 P.M. to ST. ALBANS CHURCH for a VIGIL (580 Hilgard
Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024)
Contact: rohdevictr@aol.com

by TChris

The South Bend Tribune today called upon Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels to do two things. First, follow the advice of former Gov. Joe Kernan to "examine whether the sentencing system is fair in Indiana death penalty cases." Second, until that review has been completed, impose a moratorium on the imposition of the death penalty.

Kernan granted clemency to two individuals who had been sentenced to death -- "the only two times in the 48 years since the death penalty was reinstated that an Indiana governor has stepped in to spare the lives of condemned prisoners."

That fact may say something about Kernan's willingness to take the chance of being labeled soft on crime. More than that, it speaks to his willingness to take a new, objective look at the clemency petitions before him. What he found ought to shake anyone's confidence in Indiana's application of capital penalties.

In Kernan's words, "I now have encountered two cases where doubt about an offender's personal responsibility and the quality of the legal process leading to the capital sentence has led me to grant clemency. These instances should cause us to take a hard look at how Indiana administers and reviews capital sentences."

As the Tribune points out, even the strongest supporters of the death penalty should not accept a flawed system for dispensing the ultimate penalty.

Update: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger denies clemency. According to the New York Times,

Mr. Schwarzenegger agreed that Mr. Beardslee "suffers from a mental impairment" but said he was not "disconnected from the events of that fateful night."

California is set to have its first execution in three years at 12:01 am Wednesday morning. It's a controversial execution because prisoner Donald Beardslee allegedly is severely brain-damaged from childhood accidents and at the time of his trial in the 80's, there was no brain imaging technology to demonstrate this to the jury.

A clemency request to change the death sentence into one of life without possibility of parole is pending before Gov. Arnold. I hope he does the right thing and commutes the sentence, but speculation is that he will not because Beardslee does not claim to be innocent. The Supreme Court is expected to take its final action today.

The 9th circuit has denied Beardslee's claim that California's lethal injection method violates his first amendment right to free speech because it prevents him from screaming in pain.

The San Francisco Chronicle opposes the execution. So does the Los Angeles Times. His lawyers are arguing:

Laurence argued that Beardslee's life should be spared because jurors who considered his case did not have access to scientific evidence about the effects of brain damage that Beardslee suffered as a child and young man. A former juror, Robert Martinez, has said he might not have agreed to the death penalty if he had had more information about Beardslee's purported brain damage. Laurence also presented testimony that Beardslee has been a model prisoner for 21 years on San Quentin's death row.

The debate continues over the execution of Cameron Todd Willingham last February. Chicago Trib reporters Maurice Possley and Steve Mills outlined the case and its disputed forensics last month.

...trapped to a gurney in Texas' death chamber earlier this year, just moments from his execution for setting a fire that killed his three daughters, Cameron Todd Willingham declared his innocence one last time. "I am an innocent man, convicted of a crime I did not commit," Willingham said angrily. "I have been persecuted for 12 years for something I did not do."

While Texas authorities dismissed his protests, a Tribune investigation of his case shows that Willingham was prosecuted and convicted based primarily on arson theories that have since been repudiated by scientific advances. According to four fire experts consulted by the Tribune, the original investigation was flawed and it is even possible the fire was accidental.

Today a Chicago Tribune editorial focuses on the errors in the Willingham case to make the point:

That's what passes for justice in Texas. The Willingham case undermines the notion that we execute only those we know to be guilty "beyond a reasonable doubt." It should send a shiver across the nation.

by TChris

Defendants who face the death penalty often have an incentive to plead guilty in exchange for a sentence of life imprisonment. Even the innocent might want to make that deal rather than risking death.

Deborah Green made that deal, but it turns out that she may not have benefitted from it. The Kansas Supreme Court ruled that the state's death penalty statute is unconstitutional. Since she could not have been put to death even if convicted in a trial, should she be entitled to withdraw her plea so she can have her day in court?

[A]ttorneys for the former Prairie Village doctor say she should be allowed to withdraw those pleas. "As a result of this decision, Ms. Green received no benefit from her bargain with the state, and allowing her plea to stand in light of this decision would result in a manifest injustice and violation of due process of law," attorneys Angela Keck and Jessica Travis asserted in a motion filed this week in Johnson County District Court.

Green is accused of setting a fire that destroyed her home and caused the death of her two children. She's also "challenging the validity of her pleas based on new scientific methods of arson investigation."

There are 71 juvenile offenders on death row in the U.S. - 71 persons who were under 18 at the time of their crimes. The Supreme Court is expected to issue an opinion on the validity of the death penalty for these youthful offenders shortly. It will be the first time since 1989 that the Court addresses the issue. The case is Rogers v. Simmons. You can read about Christopher Simmons here . The amicus briefs are here, and a resource page is available here.

The U.S. stands in impressive (not) company on the issue. Since 1990, the only other countries that have executed juvenile offenders are China, Democratic Republic of Congo, Iran, Pakistan, Yemen, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia.

The New York Times today outlines the issues and the case. South Carolina's The State has more. Yesterday, the Roanoke Times published this editorial calling upon Virginia to put an end to the execution of juvenile offenders.

An editorial in today's Washington Post is titled The Year in Death, examining national trends on the use of the death penalty. After noting the decline in the number of executions America in recent years, it gives Texas a well-deserved kick in the butt:

Texas as usual has the dubious honor of leading the nation in death -- by a country mile. The Lone Star State killed 23 people, more than three times the seven executions that second-place Ohio carried out.

It concludes:

Capital punishment in this country is not going to be abolished overnight. And it is surely premature to venture the prediction that the past five years are the beginning of its final decay. It is not, however, too soon to venture that hope.

This being the New Year, I'd like to once again thank Rev. Mr. George W. Brooks, JD, Director of Advocacy, Kolbe House, Chicago. Every morning, there are at least five and usually more news articles on the death panalty sitting in my email box when I turn on the computer. Many of them are regional articles I would not have seen but for Rev. Brooks. He does an incredible job of scouring the news for these articles, and he makes the task of bringing them to TalkLeft readers much easier.

If you only have time for one article today, please read the New York Times in-depth profile of Judge Jed Rakoff, the federal judge in the Southern District of New York, who believes the death penalty violates due process because prisoners cannot pursue innocence claims after they are dead.

In 2002, Judge Rakoff became the first federal judge to declare the death penalty unconstitutional on due process grounds, because our system is so fallible, but he was reversed by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.

The article offers a rare opportunity to hear Judge Rakoff speak about his views and the issue:

In more than six hours of interviews, he offered a relatively rare and candid look at the private thinking of a federal judge taking on one of the most prominent and divisive legal issues of the day.

And among the things Judge Rakoff disclosed was that he himself had suffered the kind of devastating personal loss that many victims often accuse judges in death penalty cases of being insensitive to: the grisly murder of his older brother.

We need more federal Judges like Judge Rakoff. Instead, we are saddled with those George Bush is nominating. This is one of the more unfortunate consequences of the 2004 election.

Update: Fafblog is great on Romney's plan.

Mass. Governor Mitt Romney is dreaming. He thinks he has an innocence-proof death penalty bill. He's trying to get it passed in his state which does not have a death penalty.

The Mass. legislature is controlled by Dems. It looks like Romney will have a tough time getting his bill through.

"I don't believe it's possible to be 100 percent certain no matter what you do. Humans are fallible," said state Rep. Elizabeth Malia, a Democrat.

Rep. Michael Festa, a Democrat, said Romney should focus on crimefighting tactics that work, like a proposal to support community-based drug treatment programs. A member of the Criminal Justice Committee, he said he hopes Romney's death penalty bill makes it to the floor of the House for a vote - so it can be defeated.

"I think we should stand up as lawmakers and say we don't want this in our state," he said.

Bianca Jagger has an op-ed in today's Miami Herald on William "Tommy" Ziegler who has spent 29 Christmases on Florida's death row despite substantial proof of his factual innocence.

Now DNA evidence offers Zeigler the hope of a very different future Christmas. DNA evidence has played a significant role in 14 of the 117 exonerations from U.S. Death Rows. Such evidence is vital, especially in Florida, which -- according to the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, D.C. -- has had 21 people found innocent on its Death Row, more than any other state.

Lawson Lamar, the state attorney in Zeigler's death-penalty case, fought for years to prevent DNA testing of the crime-scene blood. In August 2001, the court ordered the tests. The results, which were reported in June 2002, hopelessly devastate the state's theory of Zeigler's culpability. The results completely support Zeigler's innocence.

Yet, the state still refuses to agree to a new trial. Bianca, who has been a committed human rights activist for years, writes: