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Thread: Ralph Stevens Baze, Jr. - Kentucky Death Row

  1. #11
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    March 20, 2009

    Officers' killer on death row loses decisions in 2 state courts

    The Kentucky Supreme Court and a lower court on Thursday swept away a death row inmate's 4 challenges to his conviction and the way the state executes condemned inmates.

    The multiple decisions in cases brought by Ralph S. Baze leave a dwindling number of legal avenues for the man convicted of killing Powell County Sheriff Steve Bennett and Deputy Arthur Briscoe in Eastern Kentucky nearly 17 years ago as they tried to serve a warrant on him.

    Baze was the lead plaintiff in a case the U.S. Supreme Court used in 2008 to rule that the lethal injection protocol used by nearly three dozen states did not amount to cruel and unusual punishment.

    The Kentucky Supreme Court ruled Thursday that it wouldn't reconsider a November ruling that Baze's trial had been held in the proper county.

    The crime was committed in Powell County, but the trial was moved to Rowan County by a special judge. Baze, 53, challenged the location of the trial, saying it was improperly moved.

    In 3 other cases, Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip J. Shepherd dismissed a suit brought by Baze claiming it is against the law for an emergency medical technician to insert an IV line without a doctor present to supervise. Executions must be carried out that way because Kentucky law prohibits doctors from taking part.

    Shepherd noted that Baze might not have legal standing to bring the challenge, but even if he did, he couldn't show that the EMTs violated the law because their role in executions is limited.

    "The EMT's sole purpose is to insert the IV," Shepherd wrote in a decision handed down Thursday. "That is the extent of their involvement in the execution."

    In another case, Shepherd ruled that Baze brought too soon a challenge to the state's definition of insanity and the process of determining whether he's incompetent to be executed.

    Shepherd ruled that the state cannot challenge the law until it applies to him, which it doesn't until he's under a death warrant setting his execution date.

    Shepherd also rejected Baze's challenge to a ban on his attorneys speaking to on-duty staff and Death Row inmates about his mental state.

    Baze's attorneys say their client has become delusional.

    Baze still has 1 case pending before the Kentucky Supreme Court, claiming the state did not properly implement a new execution protocol in 2004. He's also involved in 3 federal court cases challenging various aspects of the death penalty.

    (Source: The Associated Press)

  2. #12
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    January 27, 2010

    Kentucky Supreme Court halts executions

    FRANKFORT — Kentucky may not execute anyone until it adopts regulations in compliance with the law, the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.

    The court ruling came in the case of three Death Row inmates — Thomas C. Bowling, Ralph Baze and Brian Keith Moore — who were challenging the state's lethal injection protocol.

    Bowling was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1990 murders of a husband and wife as they were parked in their car outside their dry cleaning business in Lexington.

    Baze was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1992 murders of two police officers who were attempting to serve five fugitive warrants on him in Powell County.

    Earlier this week, Attorney General Jack Conway asked Gov. Steve Beshear to set an execution date for Baze and two other men on Death Row.

    http://www.newsobserver.com/342/stor...link=mirelated

  3. #13
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    April 4, 2010

    Kentucky on verge of execution flurry

    LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - Kentucky has executed rarely since the reinstatement of the death penalty three decades ago, but a half-dozen inmates could exhaust their appeals by the end of the year.

    The state is on the verge of re-enacting the process that uses a three-drug cocktail to execute inmates, and could start setting execution dates for multiple inmates by early summer. Among those whose appeals have run out are Ralph Stevens Baze, convicted in 1992 of killing Powell County Deputy Arthur Briscoe and Sheriff Steve Bennett.

    "I'll be glad when the chapter on Ralph Baze is closed," said Rose Bennett, the widow of the sheriff and sister of the deputy. "I do believe his execution should be carried out."

    That day could come soon. Baze is one of three inmates with pending warrants who could see an execution date set once the state's lethal injection protocol is re-implemented. Those inmates could set the stage for Kentucky - which last executed an inmate in 2008 - to have as many executions in 2010 as it has had since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976.

    And, it could just be the first of as many as a half-dozen inmates facing execution dates in the next year.

    The state embarked on re-implementing its three-drug cocktail in January, weeks after the state Supreme Court halted all executions, saying state officials improperly adopted the lethal injection process.

    The order stopped Gov. Steve Beshear from acting on requests to set dates for Baze, Gregory L. Wilson, convicted of a rape and murder in northern Kentucky in 1987, and Robert Carl Foley, awaiting execution for six killings in eastern Kentucky.

    The protocol is on course to take effect no later than by May 7. Should that happen, Kentucky could start executing inmates in early June.

    "This is only temporary," said public defender David Barron, who represents Baze, of the halt in lethal injections.

    Shelley Catherine Johnson, a spokeswoman for the Kentucky Attorney General's office, said warrants for Wilson, Baze and Foley, requested in November, remain pending before Beshear. Johnson would not discuss whether any more warrants would be sought should the protocol be re-implemented by May.

    "The status of death row inmate cases is continually changing, it would be premature for us to talk about any additional warrants in advance of the Governor signing the protocol," Johnson said.

    Wilson and Baze, on death row for a collective 38 years, have run through their appeals. Foley lost before the Kentucky Supreme Court last month. Benny Lee Hodge, condemned to death in two cases, is awaiting a final decision about whether the U.S. Supreme Court will hear his case.

    And two inmates, Shawn Windsor and James Hunt, both on death row in separate cases for killing family members, have sought to fire their attorneys and end appeals, potentially hastening their deaths.

    The prospect of looming executions also has attorneys for the condemned looking for ways to aide their clients.

    Dan Goyette, a Louisville public defender who represents Wilson, is exploring ways to keep his client alive.

    "We're coming down the final stretch," Goyette told The Associated Press.

    Barron is preparing a clemency petition for Baze in anticipation of an execution date being set. Barron has also petitioned a federal judge to gain access to prison personnel who could talk about his client.

    While Kentucky won't catch Texas in frequency of executions, the pending reenactment of the protocols and the ending of appeals has death row inmates nervous.

    "We know they're going to try again soon," Baze told The Associated Press. "I just hope I hold up mentally now."

    For Bennett, who has seen three scheduled execution dates for Baze halted, the execution will be a relief, even if she doesn't plan to attend.

    "I don't need to see that man die," Bennett said. "I don't have to see his eyes close."

    http://www.lex18.com/news/kentucky-o...cution-flurry/

  4. #14
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    On October 4, 2010, Baze's certiorari petition was DENIED by the US Supreme Court.

  5. #15
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    In today's Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals orders, Baze's request to interview prison personnel to support his application for clemency was denied.

    Opinion here

  6. #16
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    Court: Judges Can't Force Cooperation In Clemency

    LOUISVILLE (AP) - A federal appeals court has rebuffed a death row inmate's effort to make prison administrators answer questions from attorneys working on his clemency request.

    The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that federal judges do not have the power to force prison administrators or other state officials to cooperate with an inmate's clemency petition.

    Judge Danny Boggs, writing for the court on Friday, found "nothing illogical" about judges having the ability to appoint and fund attorneys to prepare clemency petitions, but nothing in the law empowers a judge to order someone to take part in the process.

    "Simply put, the power to authorize reimbursement is distinct from the power to ensure acquisition of information against all outside obstacles," Boggs wrote in an 11-page opinion joined by Judge Deborah Cook.

    Baze argued that the prison guards and officials, along with the death row inmates, could provide information about how he has behaved in prison, which could help his clemency petition. The federal appeals court's decision on Friday upholds a lower court ruling that rejected Baze's effort to compel the prison officials to cooperate.

    Baze originally sued in 2009, saying the state violated his rights by denying his attorneys permission to interview prison guards, prison administrators and other death row inmates as he put together a clemency bid.

    Baze, 55, is on death row for the 1992 slayings of Powell County Sheriff Steve Bennett and deputy Arthur Briscoe as the pair tried to serve warrants.

    Boggs wrote that states control their own legal systems and "absent a clear directive from Congress or the Constitution, a federal court should be loath to assume jurisdiction to interfere with state criminal proceedings, including postconviction proceedings."

    Judge R. Guy Cole agreed with the outcome of the decision, but "I believe it speaks more broadly than the circumstances of this case or the statutory language at issue allow."

    Baze was the lead plaintiff in a case the U.S. Supreme Court used in 2008 to rule the lethal injection protocol used by nearly three dozen states did not amount to cruel and unusual punishment. Executions in Kentucky are currently on hold after a state judge ruled last year that the lethal injection protocol appeared flawed.

    Kentucky is also among the roster of states lacking a supply of sodium thiopental, a key drug in carrying out lethal injections. The primary producer of the chemical announced last month it would no longer produce sodium thiopental.

    http://www.lex18.com/news/court-judg...on-in-clemency

  7. #17
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    Slain deputy's son keeps watchful eye on killer Ralph Baze's fate

    In a rare interview, Dennis Briscoe talks about his years of sorrow as the man who killed his father and uncle in Powell County remains on Kentucky's death row.

    “Someone has to step up and say when enough is enough,” said Clark Co. Det. Dennis Briscoe. Almost two decades have passed and the man who killed Briscoe's father and uncle remains on Kentucky's death row. Ralph Baze's fate is tangled in the legal fight over the death penalty.

    “They get to grow old, grey hair, die an old age. They get to see some of their grandchildren. You know, my father didn't get to do any of that,” said Briscoe.

    Briscoe's father was a Powell County deputy and his uncle, Steve Bennett, was the sheriff. Baze shot and killed them as they tried to serve him an arrest warrant in 1992.

    Dennis Briscoe was 14 years old when he learned his father and uncle’s fate. “I remember I was in gym class, and someone came to P.E. and said that I needed to come to the office, principal's office,” Briscoe said about that day in 1992 when his mother was waiting to tell him the news.

    “My uncle was shot in the back as he was trying to crawl away through the cruiser, away from the gunfire, and then my father fired a couple of magazines of ammunition towards him [Baze], and as he's running away trying to load a third magazine is when he shoots him in the back,” Briscoe said. “And then comes over, stands over his head, and shoots him in the back of the head.”

    A jury sentenced Baze to death for the murders of both officers, but for almost twenty years, he has avoided execution with one legal challenge after another.

    “There is a certain amount of unfairness in the system when executions do take so long,” said Michael Mannheimer, a law professor at Northern Kentucky University who is also the co-chair of an American Bar Association team reviewing the Kentucky death penalty system.

    Over the last decade, executions in the United States have steadily declined from 85 in 2000 to 46 in 2010. Sentencing someone to execution, setting the date, and then carrying it out all involve legal wrangling. Factor appeals and debate over how to execute someone and the entire process can take decades, rather than years. The process is further complicated by a shortage of one of the drug used in lethal injections.

    In 2007 shortly before Baze’s execution was put on hold after the Kentucky Supreme Court was asked to review the state’s death penalty protocol, Baze told WKYT that he acted in self defense.

    “It's pretty hard to claim self-defense when you shoot him in the back of the head like that isn't it,” questions Briscoe.

    The courts have repeatedly rejected Baze's self-defense claims, but questions over Kentucky's lethal injection protocol took the case all the way to the United States Supreme Court. The Supreme Court rejected the challenge to lethal injection and lifted a national moratorium on capital punishment.

    “There has to be an accommodation between the rights of the defendant and the needs of society and the needs of the victim to have executions take place expeditiously if they're going to take place,” said Mannheimer.

    “I'm all for the appeals process. I really am because if it saves just one person, it's worth it,” said Briscoe. “You got to have an appeals process, but I think you have to put limits on it. And you have to be watchful when it's abused.”

    But NKU professor Mannheimer believes if the ABA guidelines are followed, it could stream line the appeals process. “What we're trying to do is make an accommodation of all the interests involved,” he said.

    But fairness for all is a delicate balance. Courts have held the punishment becomes cruel and unusual if it goes too far while victims' families argue the long wait is just as agonizing for them.

    “I mean, yeah, I'm not going to lie. I thought about it. I thought about taking it in my own hands and shooting him right there in the courtroom,” said Briscoe who ultimately did not because faith in the system made for restraint and patience.

    “I just didn't consider it would take this long. I still have trust in the system. I'm hoping that eventually it will do the right thing in this case,” said Briscoe.

    The American Bar Association assessment team plans to complete its review and make recommendation by May. State officials are not obligated to enact those recommendations.

    http://www.wkyt.com/news/headlines/E...8.html?ref=568

  8. #18
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    Justices Decline Clemency-Related Plea From Ky.

    The U.S. Supreme Court has turned down a clemency-related plea from a Kentucky death row inmate.

    The decision, handed down Monday, means state prison administrators cannot be compelled to provide clemency information for 56-year-old Ralph S. Baze, who is awaiting execution for the 1992 slayings of a Powell County sheriff and deputy.

    Baze sought to have prison guards and officials, along with death row inmates, provide information about how he has behaved in prison.

    Baze was the lead plaintiff in a case the U.S. Supreme Court used in 2008 to rule the lethal injection protocol used by nearly three dozen states did not amount to cruel and unusual punishment.

    Executions in Kentucky are currently on hold after a state judge ruled last year that the lethal injection protocol appeared flawed.

    http://www.wlky.com/news/29372559/de...#ixzz1ZjiYSF1F

  9. #19
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    After the years of publicity surrounding Baze and the legality of lethal injection I had totally forgot that he is a cop killer twice over.

    Deputy Briscoe and Sheriff Steve Bennett were shot and killed while they were attempting to arrest a suspect with outstanding warrants.

    The suspect was was wanted in Toledo, Ohio for assault on a police officer, jumping bail, receiving stolen property and flagrant nonsupport.

    Deputy Briscoe had visited the cabin a couple of weeks earlier looking for the suspect, but he was in Ohio at the time. The suspect's wife called and told him the authorities were looking for him and he proceeded to Michigan where he purchased an SKS assault rifle and ammunition.

    On the day of the incident, Deputy Briscoe went to the cabin after learning the suspect was back in town and confronted him, but the suspect met him at the front door with his assault rifle and informed Deputy Briscoe he would not be arrested.

    Deputy Briscoe and Sheriff Bennett returned and as they face the cabin with their guns drawn, the suspect ambushed them from behind, killing them both.

    The suspect was convicted of both murders and sentenced to death.

    Deputy Briscoe and Sheriff Bennett were brothers-in-law.

    Deputy Briscoe was survived by his 14 year old son.
    http://www.odmp.org/officer/298-depu...r-clay-briscoe

  10. #20
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    Condemned Inmates Pursuing Funds For Clemency Bids

    Two Kentucky death row inmates are hoping that brain scans and mental tests will bolster their cases for a rare grant of executive clemency that would spare their lives.

    Ralph S. Baze Jr., condemned for killing a sheriff and deputy in eastern Kentucky in 1992, has asked a federal judge to grant him funding for testing as he prepares a petition for Gov. Steve Beshear.

    Baze's request, filed Wednesday in federal court, comes just more than two weeks after U.S. District Judge Jennifer Coffman in Louisville granted $7,500 to Parramore Lee Sanborn to pursue a possible claim of brain damage. He was convicted in 1983 of killing Barbara Heilman in Henry County.

    Governors have granted commutations to only two death row inmates in Kentucky in the last 35 years.

    http://www.wlky.com/news/30101944/de...#ixzz1i1IXxYq1

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