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    Don William Davis - Arkansas Death Row


    Jane Daniel




    Facts of the Crime:

    Davis was sentenced to death in 1992 for the October 12, 1990 slaying of Jane Daniel of Rogers.

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    July 10, 2007

    Appeals Court Lifts Execution Stay Against Man----Victim's stepson, Rogers officer wait for execution

    A ruling from the 8th Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals may pave the way for the execution of Don William Davis, convicted in the 1990 murder of Jane Daniel of Rogers.

    The judges on Monday lifted a stay of execution entered last July by U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright.

    Davis, now 44, was set to be executed in 2006 but claimed death by lethal injection was unconstitutional because of the potential that he might not die quickly enough and therefore would suffer pain.

    Daniel's survivors remain skeptical about Davis' eventual death, as the family traveled to Pine Bluff, near Varner, for Davis' scheduled July 5, 2006, execution.

    Davis is in the Varner Supermax unit of the Arkansas Department of Correction.

    "We just need to see where it leads. It has kind of started the process again. We have been through it before," said Larry Daniel of Rogers, Jane Daniel's stepson, of Monday's ruling.

    "It gets very emotional. You kind of relive everything. It's one of those things that you want to get it done, so you can put it behind you and move forward," Larry Daniel said. "We are still waiting for the orders of the court to be carried out."

    Gov. Mike Beebe's office is aware the 8th Circuit 3-judge panel lifted the stay against Davis, according to Matt DeCample, Beebe's spokesman.

    If Davis has no more appeals, the attorney general's office will request Beebe to set Davis' execution date, DeCample said.

    Alvin Schay of Little Rock, Davis' attorney since about 2000, said Davis has at least three more chances to avoid the death penalty.

    Schay said he has 14 days to file a petition for a rehearing with all the 8th Circuit judges. If that is denied, Schay would file a writ of certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court.

    A writ of certiorari is an order from a higher court asking the lower court to send all documents in a case for review. The U.S. Supreme Court grants writs at its discretion and only when at least 3 justices believe the case involves a significant federal question in the public interest.

    If the Supreme Court denies a writ of certiorari, the lower court decision stands.

    Davis also could ask Beebe for clemency, Schay said.

    Davis killed Jane Daniel at her Twin Lakes Estates home on Oct. 12, 1990. Davis shot her execution-style with a .44 Magnum and stole items from the home, including jewelry.

    Davis was convicted in 1992, filed an unsuccessful appeal in 1994 and was scheduled for execution by lethal injection on Nov. 22, 1999.

    However, the Supreme Court stayed Davis' 1999 execution to consider pending appeals.

    Davis in June 2001 claimed he did not want to appeal his death sentence after the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled Davis did not have an ineffective attorney at trial and denied his request for a new trial.

    Wright issued a stay of execution last year after Davis appealed again. Davis' appeal came after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a Florida case that an appeal could be heard on the grounds the drug combination used in that state could cause pain, constituting cruel and unusual punishment.

    After Monday's 8th Circuit ruling, a detective who investigated Daniel's murder said it was time for Davis' death.

    "Last year's execution date was well past the time justice should been carried out. Now it is certainly time for justice to be done," said Capt. Ron Largent of the Rogers Police Department.

    "I am taking a wait-and-see attitude," said Capt. Mike Jones of the Benton County Sheriff's Office. The former Rogers police chief directed the murder investigation.

    "It should have already been taken care of," Jones said of Davis' execution. "I never cease to be amazed at the tricks some people can pull out of their hats."

    Betsey Wright, a Rogers resident opposed to the death penalty, said the ultimate punishment is unfairly administered. There are no statewide standards on who gets the death penalty and who is allowed to live, she said.

    "There are many people not on death row who committed murders identical to those that some who are on death row have committed," she said.

    The death penalty also runs contrary to Christian values and the values of democracy, Wright said, but she doesn't hold out hope for Davis.

    "I'm not optimistic that I can prevent his death," she said.

    (Source: The Morning News)

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    Marcel Wayne Williams v Ray Hobbs

    A federal appeals court has upheld the dismissal of lawsuits by death-row inmates that challenged the way Arkansas conducts executions.

    The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday denied the appeals on grounds that the lawsuits only speculated about possible problems and didn't identify constitutional violations.

    Marcel Wayne Williams filed one lawsuit and seven other condemned inmates joined in a similar court action.

    The inmates argued that the state shouldn't be allowed to change its lethal injection procedures without proper notice and that the uncertainty heightened their anxiety about suffering as they are being killed.

    The state has no scheduled executions.

    http://www.therepublic.com/view/stor...eals-Arkansas/

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    Inmates ask Arkansas court to void orders setting execution dates

    Attorneys for eight Arkansas death row inmates scheduled to be put to death next month are asking the state's highest court to invalidate the proclamations scheduling their executions, arguing that a stay is still in place.

    The inmates asked the state Supreme Court on Wednesday to void Gov. Asa Hutchinson's orders setting their execution dates. Hutchinson on Monday set four double executions during a 10-day period in April, though the state is lacking one of the drugs needed to put them to death.

    The inmates' attorneys say a stay blocking the executions is still in place while an amended complaint challenging Arkansas' lethal injection law is pending in a Pulaski County court. The state Monday asked the state to clarify that the stay on executions had been lifted.

    http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2...=news-arkansas
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    Mother's Killer Will Finally Be Put to Death After More Than Two Decades

    ROGERS -- It's been 27 years since Daniel was gunned down and her family will finally receive a sense of closure next month when Davis is put to death.

    After more than two decades of waiting, Susan Taylor Khani, daughter of Jane Daniel, will finally see her mother's killer put to death. Khani says it's been a long time coming but that doesn't make it any easier.

    "What he put her through? I just can't imagine. This is the third or fourth time so... I hope this time it goes through. Been waiting for 25 years," said Khani.

    Don Davis was sentenced to death on March 6, 1992 for the murder of Jane Daniel. He'll finally be put to death on April 17th, 2017. He shot and killed her, execution style, in the back of the head after robbing the house. More than anything, Khani said this will bring closure to her years of suffering.

    "I've been living with this for a long time. It was something that the state promised. I'm just ready for it to be over. I forgave him back when he was accused. But now i don't have to deal with this anymore. It'll be done and he won't be able to say my mom's name anymore," said Khani.

    Khani thinks the reason it's taken so long for Davis to receive the death penalty is the opposition to the death penalty. Even after all of these years, Khani hasn't changed her mind about Davis.

    "Her life was cut short. She never met my son. My son never had a grandmother. He took that away from my mom and from me. He's a very cruel person. He needs to be put to death," said Khani.

    While the pain of losing her mom will never fade, Khani says she is grateful for the closure she has received.

    "He was found guilty. The evidence was huge. A lot of families don't have the closure that i have," said Khani.

    Khani is not happy but relieved this part of her life will finally be put to rest with Davis' death. She will attend his execution in Pine Bluff on April 17th.

    http://www.nwahomepage.com/news/moth...ades/671423042

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    October 5, 2007

    Nov. 8 execution date set for Benton County death-row inmate

    Gov. Mike Beebe on Thursday set a Nov. 8 execution date for death-row inmate Don William Davis, despite the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision to consider a Kentucky case challenging lethal injection, the same method used in Arkansas.

    Davis was sentenced to death for the 1990 slaying of Jane Daniel of Rogers.

    Beebe said this week he planned to continue to set execution dates and would let the courts decide whether a stay should be issued.

    The governor has already set an Oct. 16 execution date for Jack Harold Jones Jr., sentenced to death in the 1991 rape and strangulation of a Bald Knob bookkeeper whose daughter also was severely beaten in the attack.

    U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright has denied Jones' request for a stay and he has appealed her decision to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis.

    Earlier this year, the governor set a Sept. 18 execution date for Terrick Nooner, sentenced to death in the 1993 shooting death of a 22-year-old college student, but a federal appeals court issued a stay.

    The legal challenge by two Kentucky death-row inmates is similar to a legal challenge in Arkansas federal court filed by Jones and joined by Nooner, Davis and death-row inmate Frank Williams Jr.

    Williams was sentenced to death in the 1992 slaying of a Bradley man while he was on a work-release program for the Department of Correction.

    Jones' attorney Jeff Rosenzweig said the lawsuit argues that the fatal 3-drug cocktail used in Arkansas is unconstitutional because the person is paralyzed "and put in extreme pain" before the drugs take effect and end the person's life.

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    With new lethal injection law in place, Arkansas AG wants execution stays lifted for 6 inmates

    The Arkansas attorney general's office has filed a motion to lift stays of execution in place for six death-row inmates who have challenged the constitutionality of the state's lethal injection law.

    The motion, filed last week in the Arkansas Supreme Court, wants stays lifted for Jack Jones, Marcel Williams, Jason McGhee, Don Davis, Bruce Ward and Stacey Johnson. The inmates have all exhausted their appeals.

    Last year, the Arkansas Supreme Court struck down the state's execution law. The Legislature enacted a new death penalty law last month.

    The new law spells out in greater detail the procedures the state must follow in carrying out executions. It says the state must use a lethal dose of a barbiturate, but leaves it up to Department of Correction to determine which one.

    http://www.therepublic.com/view/stor...nalty-Arkansas
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    November 1, 2007

    Nov. 8 execution of convicted killer Davis called off

    The execution of death-row inmate Don William Davis will not go forward as planned after a federal judge granted a stay and the state attorney general decided Wednesday not to appeal, while a Kentucky case challenging lethal injection is pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.

    Gov. Mike Beebe agreed with Attorney General Dustin McDaniel's decision, and will allow his order setting the Nov. 8 execution date for Davis to expire, Beebe spokesman Matt DeCample said.

    "We agree with the attorney general's office interpretation of recent legal events," DeCample said.

    Davis was the 3rd death-row inmate in Arkansas whose scheduled execution this fall was stayed because of the Kentucky case and a similar lawsuit filed by Arkansas death-row prisoner Terrick Nooner. Both Davis and death-row inmate Jack Harold Jones Jr. have signed on to Nooner's lawsuit.

    Nationwide, at least a dozen states using lethal injection have put executions on hold because of legal challenges to the procedure.

    U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright on Tuesday granted Davis' request for a stay, saying in her written order that it would not make sense to deny the request when a federal appeals court has already allowed a stay of Jones's Oct. 16 execution.

    "The Court finds no rational basis for granting a stay of execution for Jones and denying the same for Davis. Accordingly, the Court finds that Davis's motion should be granted," Webber said.

    Gabe Holmstrom, a spokesman for McDaniel, noted in announcing that the office would not appeal Wright's ruling that the U.S. Supreme Court stayed a Mississippi execution with an hour to spare on Tuesday.

    "Although the Supreme Court still has not specifically said so, the attorney general believes that ruling sends the clear signal that the majority of the Court intends to stay all executions until the Kentucky case is decided. Accordingly, the attorney general does not believe an appeal of the stay is warranted," Holmstrom said.

    Holmstrom said McDaniel would not seek to lift any of the other Arkansas stays until the Supreme Court rules in the Kentucky case.

    In the Supreme Court case, 2 Kentucky death-row inmates claim the mix of drugs used in many of the 36 states that perform lethal injections violates the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

    Nooner's suit involves the 3 drugs used in Arkansas - an anesthetic, a muscle paralyzer and a substance to stop the heart. The suit claims that, if a condemned prisoner is not given enough anesthetic, he can suffer "excruciating pain" without being able to cry out.

    Nooner was to be executed Sept. 18 for the March 16, 1993, shooting death of Scot Stobaugh, 22, a student at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

    But while a state appeal was pending on a federal court decision granting a stay, Beebe called off the execution. Beebe also halted preparations for Jones' scheduled execution while the state appealed a stay he won in the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

    Jones was convicted of the 1991 rape and slaying of Bald Knob bookkeeper Mary Phillips and an attack on her 11-year-old daughter. Prosecutors accused him of strangling Phillips 1st with his hands and later with a cord of a nearby coffee maker during the June 6, 1995, attack.

    Davis was convicted in the 1990 execution-style slaying of Jane Daniel of Rogers. Prosecutors said Davis broke into a home next door to Daniel's on Oct. 12, 1990, and stole a variety of items, including a .44-caliber Redhawk Magnum revolver.

    (Source: The Associated Press)

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    Jones, Williams, McGehee, Davis, Ward, and Johnson v Hobbs

    Opinion Date: April 11, 2013

    Court: Arkansas Supreme Court

    In Hobbs v. Jones, Petitioners challenged Arkansas's method-of-execution statute (the statute). Prior to submission, Petitioners filed renewed motions for stays of execution during the pendency of their appeal, which the Supreme Court granted. In Hobbs, the Court held that the statute violated the Arkansas Constitution's separation-of-powers doctrine. The mandate issued on July 11, 2012. The General Assembly subsequently enacted Act 139 or 2013, which amended the statute. On March 8, 2013, the Arkansas Department of Correction and its director (collectively, Respondents) filed a motion to lift the stays of execution. On March 18, 2013, Petitioners opposed lifting the stays and filed a motion to take the matter as a case, claiming that the Court must now determine whether Act 139 passed constitutional muster. The Supreme Court (1) declared moot Respondents' motion to lift the stays of execution, as the stays of execution dissolved upon the issuance of the Court's mandate on July 11, 2012; and (2) denied Petitioners' request to take the matter as a case, as the Court did not have original jurisdiction of the matter.
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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    McDaniel seeks executions for 7 felons

    Arkansas' attorney general is asking the state's governor to set execution dates for seven death-row inmates.

    Attorney General Dustin McDaniel sent seven letters to Gov. Mike Beebe late Thursday requesting that execution dates be set for Don Davis, Stacey Johnson, Jack Jones, Jason McGehee, Bruce Ward, Kenneth Williams and Marcel Williams.

    McDaniel noted in the letters that six of the seven inmates — all but Davis — are challenging the state's new lethal injection law. Arkansas is changing the drugs it uses to put inmates to death.

    Despite the challenge, McDaniel said there aren't any court orders in place preventing the executions.

    Arkansas currently doesn't have any pending executions. The state last executed an inmate in 2005.

    http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2...ions-7-felons/

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