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Thread: Bruce Earl Ward - Arkansas Death Row

  1. #41
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    Arkansas to seek 'immediate review' of state court decision that halted 2 executions set for Monday

    LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas to seek 'immediate review' of state court decision that halted 2 executions set for Monday.

    http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/a...tions-46850514

  2. #42
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    Federal appeals court says Arkansas executions can proceed, but they're still blocked by state court

    LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - Federal appeals court says Arkansas executions can proceed, but they're still blocked by state court.

    http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/f...state-46850699

  3. #43
    Administrator Aaron's Avatar
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    Leslie Rutledge will appeal stay for Ward and Davis to SCOTUS.

    https://twitter.com/AGRutledge/statu...97335479144450
    Don't ask questions, just consume product and then get excited for next products.

    "They will hurt you. They will hurt your grandma, these people. The root cause of this is there's no discipline in the homes, they don't go to school, you know, they live off the government, no personal accountability, and they just beat people up for no reason, and it's disgusting." - Former Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters

  4. #44
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    Federal appeals court grants AG's motion to lift stays of execution

    LITTLE ROCK (KATV) — The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals granted late Monday afternoon the Arkansas Attorney General's motion to vacate the stays of execution imposed last week by a district judge.

    The 8th Circuit Court cited the prisoners' long delay in pursuing their federal claims, saying "the prisoners voluntarily elected to forego their federal claim in April 2015, and chose instead to challenge the method of execution exclusively in state court under the Arkansas Constitution."

    The court says that created a presumption against granting a stay of the executions.

    The court said Judge Baker's conclusion about the midazolam (the sedative used in lethal injections) was not adequately supported by the court's factual findings.

    The court disagreed that the execution method was sure or very likely to cause needless suffering.

    Monday's 8th Circuit ruling does not affect the Arkansas Supreme Court's stay issued for death row inmates Don Davis and Bruce Ward, who were scheduled to die Monday, April 17. This order paves the way for only the remaining 5 executions to proceed.

    http://katv.com/news/local/8th-circu...s-of-execution

    The Eighth Circuit's decision can be read here.

  5. #45
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    3 Arkansas inmates press challenges in death penalty cases

    By The Associated Press

    LITTLE ROCK — Three inmates whose lives were temporarily spared amid a flurry of executions last year are heading back to court, hoping to show that Arkansas officials would violate the rights of mentally ill death row prisoners if they end the men's lives.

    Separate arguments are scheduled Thursday in the Arkansas Supreme Court for Bruce Ward and Don Davis, who came within hours of being put to death last April in what had been set as the first in a series of four double executions. Documents are also due next month in the case of Jack Greene, who had been scheduled to die last November.

    Arkansas justices called off Ward's and Davis' executions as the U.S. Supreme Court looked into whether criminal defendants are entitled to independent mental health experts. They stopped Greene's to consider whether Arkansas' prison director is an adequate judge of the inmate's mental health. Ward makes a similar claim in another case.

    It's possible, but unlikely, that Arkansas could execute anyone before its current full batch of lethal injection drugs expires March 1. Seventy-five vials of the muscle relaxant vecuronium bromide must be tossed out after March 1; the state uses five per execution.

    Gov. Asa Hutchinson's office said it wouldn't speculate on how quickly he might set an execution date if the men lose their appeals. The attorney general's office said only that it would give the governor the appropriate notice if the men's status changes.

    Arkansas typically gives inmates seven to eight weeks' notice before an execution. March 1 is five weeks away.

    Prison officials have not said whether they have a supplier standing by to replace its current stock of lethal injection drugs. Arkansas' potassium chloride supply expires Aug. 31 and its midazolam is good through Jan. 31, 2019.

    Midazolam sedates inmates, vecuronium bromide stops their lungs and potassium chloride stops their hearts.

    Arkansas executed four prisoners in an eight-day period last spring, rushing to put the men to death before their existing supply of midazolam expired April 30. They had scheduled eight executions in an 11-day period, but Ward and Davis received stays, one inmate was given more time to raise a claim of innocence and another won clemency.

    Davis is closest to exhausting his appeals. Last April, public defenders argued he received inadequate assistance on his mental health claims. Arkansas justices stopped his execution because, at the time, the U.S. Supreme Court was considering a similar case from Alabama's death row. The nation's highest court ultimately ordered a new examination into whether the Alabama inmate, James McWilliams, was substantially harmed by the trial court's error.

    Ward raises the same issue as Davis and in a separate case argues the director of the Arkansas Department of Correction is not qualified to assess whether he is mentally competent to understand his execution. His lawyers contend the decision would best be left to medical experts because Wendy Kelley's boss, Hutchinson, sets execution dates and her dual roles as both the executioner and the "arbiter of sanity" present a conflict of interest.

    Lawyers for the state said Kelley is a "neutral state officer" who merely carries out sentences imposed by the courts.

    Greene, who appeared before the state Parole Board last year with rolled-up tissues stuck in his ears, also argues that Kelley shouldn't assess his mental status.

    Defense lawyers said Ward has a lifelong history of severe mental illness, including schizophrenia, and Davis has an IQ score indicating an intellectual disability.

    http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2...eath-penalty-/

  6. #46
    Administrator Aaron's Avatar
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    Arkansas Supreme Court lifts stay of Bruce Ward's execution

    The Arkansas Supreme Court today, in a 5-2 decision, rejected Death Row inmate Bruce Ward's argument that he was entitled to the assistance of an independent psychiatrist in his defense. It lifted a stay of execution issued April 14, the day he was scheduled to die by lethal injection.

    Attorneys for Ward, convicted in the 1989 slaying of store clerk Rebecca Doss, 18, argued that he wasn't mentally fit to stand trial. It cited a new U.S. Supreme Court ruling that he was entitled to an independent assessment of his competency and assistance from a competent psychiatrist. They say he is schizophrenic and delusional.

    Ward's conviction was reversed twice and affirmed again on a third appeal. On this, Ward has raised the argument for an independent analysis assistance, not the State Hospital finding that he was competent to be tried. He relied on a 2017 case from Alabama, the McWilliams case.

    But the Supreme Court majority, in an opinion written by Justice Karen Baker, said the McWilliams case didn't establish that an independent expert's assistance was required. It's true, the court said, a defendant must have a mental health evaluation And it recounted testimony about Ward's mental health in past proceedings. But it rejected his argument that a new standard applied.

    Justice Rhonda Wood and Shawn Womack concurred with the decision but seemed to object the argument was even considered. They said Ward had not raised new issues except for the possibility they might be presented by further federal court decisions. The court should recall mandates sparingly, they said. Arkansas is too liberal in this regard, they said.

    In dissent, Chief Justice Dan Kemp read the McWilliams case differently. He said that it meant the state must provide the assistance of a competent psychiatrist, not just an evaluation. He said Ward had requested that and been denied it. He said death cases deserved heightened scrutiny and he would continue to stay the execution. Justice Josephine Hart joined him in dissent.

    The reversal clears the way for the governor to set a new execution date, though an appeal of this state interpretation of federal case law to the federal court seems likely.

    https://m.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/...ards-execution
    Don't ask questions, just consume product and then get excited for next products.

    "They will hurt you. They will hurt your grandma, these people. The root cause of this is there's no discipline in the homes, they don't go to school, you know, they live off the government, no personal accountability, and they just beat people up for no reason, and it's disgusting." - Former Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters

  7. #47
    Administrator Aaron's Avatar
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    So, will the state be able to replenish it's supply? They've come through before.
    Don't ask questions, just consume product and then get excited for next products.

    "They will hurt you. They will hurt your grandma, these people. The root cause of this is there's no discipline in the homes, they don't go to school, you know, they live off the government, no personal accountability, and they just beat people up for no reason, and it's disgusting." - Former Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters

  8. #48
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    Probably, they might wait for more appeals related to the state to be denied however.

  9. #49
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    Ark. inmate seeks stay of execution pending appeal

    The inmate wants justices to prevent his execution while he pursues another case before the U.S. Supreme Court

    An Arkansas death row inmate with a case pending before the state Supreme Court wants its justices to prevent his execution while he pursues another case before the U.S. Supreme Court.

    Bruce Ward had been set to die last April during a string of executions. He wants the U.S. Supreme Court to consider whether he should have been entitled to the use of an independent mental health professional at his trial. The Arkansas Supreme Court said March 1 that Ward never met the minimum threshold for such assistance.

    Another inmate slated to die last year, Don Davis, filed similar paperwork last week asking that the March 1 ruling not take effect.

    Ward and Jack Greene also say Arkansas' prison director isn't competent to judge their sanity.

    Arkansas' attorney general didn't immediately comment.

    (Source: The Associated Press)
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

  10. #50
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    2 Arkansas death row inmates take case to U.S. Supreme Court

    Two Arkansas death row inmates are seeking relief from the U.S. Supreme Court in the prisoners’ latest appeal over the standards under which courts and prison officials review claims of mental incompetence.

    A petition for a writ of certiorari was filed Friday with the high court by Bruce Earl Ward. A federal public defender said another petition should be filed soon for a second death row inmate, Don Davis.

    Both men lost an appeal earlier this year before the Arkansas Supreme Court, which they argue has been incorrectly applying 30 years of case law by holding that psychiatric evaluations performed at the State Hospital meet the minimum standards set by the U.S. Supreme Court for an indigent defendant’s right to a mental examination.

    Upon denying their appeals, the state justices also removed stays of execution that had been in place for Ward and Davis for over a year.

    However, Ward has another stay in place from a different case that prevents him from being executed.

    Davis, who has no active stays, has not had an execution date set. The state can’t execute anyone now anyway because it says it lacks one of the three drugs needed to carry out executions.

    http://m.arkansasonline.com/news/201...e-us-supreme-/
    Don't ask questions, just consume product and then get excited for next products.

    "They will hurt you. They will hurt your grandma, these people. The root cause of this is there's no discipline in the homes, they don't go to school, you know, they live off the government, no personal accountability, and they just beat people up for no reason, and it's disgusting." - Former Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters

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