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Thread: Alabama Capital Punishment News

  1. #171
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Suspended without pay..

    Judge who criticized death penalty system suspended 90 days


    By Associated Press

    MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A state disciplinary panel has ruled an Alabama judge violated judicial rules with her public criticism of how death penalty cases are handled and suspended her from the bench for 90 days.

    The Alabama Court of the Judiciary ruled Friday that Jefferson County Circuit Judge Tracie Todd had violated the canons of judicial ethics with her comments and actions in death penalty cases.

    The court found Todd had made inappropriate statement that the court system in Alabama is corrupted by politics, abandoned the role of a neutral arbiter to become an advocate for defendants and for her own opinions and took inappropriate actions such as questioning an attorney about whether he gave a financial contribution to her opponent.

    The court suspended Todd for 90 days without pay. However, because she had been suspended with pay while the ethics complaint was heard, she was eligible to return to the bench this week.

    Todd made national news in 2016 when she ruled the state’s death penalty sentencing procedure was unconstitutional and barred prosecutors from seeking the death penalty against four men charged in three killings. Her ruling was later overturned.

    The Court of the Judiciary said Todd violated judicial rules with some of her comments in 2016, suggesting that the Alabama judiciary is politically corrupt, that court-appointed attorney assignments are based on campaign contributions and that an appeal in death penalty cases, where a judge sentenced a person to death over a jury’s recommendation, is “ceremonial at best.”

    A lawyer for Todd did not immediately return an email seeking comment.

    https://ktar.com/story/4798495/judge...ended-90-days/
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  2. #172
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    The State of Alabama believes it will finalize its protocol for executing death row inmates by nitrogen suffocation “within months.”

    In a federal court hearing held Friday afternoon, Richard Anderson, a lawyer representing the state attorney general’s office, said that while the state could not provide a “date certain,” officials believe an execution protocol using nitrogen suffocation will be completed “within months.”

    “It may be as late as the end of April or the beginning of May,” Anderson told a panel of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

    An execution using the method, which involves replacing oxygen needed to breathe with nitrogen gas, has never been carried out in the United States. The use of nitrogen suffocation was approved by the Alabama Legislature in 2018, with those on death row able to “opt into” an execution using the method. Oklahoma and Mississippi are the only other states to allow the practice.

    The revelation regarding the timing of nitrogen suffocation executions came in the case of Matthew Reeves, a condemned inmate who says state prison officials have violated his rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Reeves has argued in federal court that the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) was required by law, but did not, provide him help to understand the form that could’ve allowed him to choose death by nitrogen suffocation.

    Earlier this month, a federal judge said Reeves’ argument was “substantially likely” to succeed in court and issued an order blocking his execution, which was scheduled for Jan. 27.

    In a 37-page opinion, U.S. District Court Judge R. Austin Huffaker noted that prison officials were “on notice that Reeves had IQ scores in the high 60s or low 70s, sub-average intellectual functioning, and had been found to be functionally illiterate a mere two months before it handed him the election form and expected him to comprehend and utilize it without accommodation.”

    The State of Alabama has appealed that decision, saying the order by Huffaker, a Trump appointee, was “clearly erroneous” and that the court had “abused its discretion” in ruling that death row inmate Matthew Reeves’ disability and need for accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act were open and obvious.

    A three-judge panel of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments on that appeal in Friday’s hearing. A ruling in the appeal will decide the fate of Matthew Reeves, whose scheduled execution on Jan. 27 could move forward if the state’s appeal is granted. Ultimately, the case could reach the U.S. Supreme Court, which in a 6-3 vote rejected Reeves’ claims of ineffective counsel in July 2021.

    (Source: WGN-TV)
    "There is a point in the history of a society when it becomes so pathologically soft and tender that among other things it sides even with those who harm it, criminals, and does this quite seriously and honestly. Punishing somehow seems unfair to it, and it is certain that imagining ‘punishment’ and ‘being supposed to punish’ hurts it, arouses fear in it." Friedrich Nietzsche

  3. #173
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mastro Titta's Avatar
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    "Why this shroud of secrecy? We just want to know that everything's all right, we have absolutely no intention to dox, blackmail and shame into submission public businesses!!" (quote: average anti)

    Franklin-based FDRsafety terminates contract with State of Alabama following public outcry

    By Matt Masters
    Franklin Home Page

    A Franklin company that was at the center of public outcry for a controversial contract with the State of Alabama has now terminated its business on this issue with the state.

    The outrage came from FDRsafety's potentially assisting with Alabama's process of creating a gas chamber to execute prisoners.

    Franklin Community Church Senior Pastor Kevin Riggs, along with 26 other faith and community leaders from across Tennessee, signed an open letter demanding “in the name of Jesus Christ” that the company end their contract with the State of Alabama.

    On Monday morning, Riggs was joined by a group of eight concerned community members, including fellow faith leaders, at FDR’s Franklin office where they hand-delivered the letter along with a stack of printed emails and a copy of Riggs’ op-ed on the controversy that was published in the Tennessean last week.

    “Together, you are working to develop a new protocol, with an old history, to kill people: the gas chamber,” the letter reads in part. “It draws on our darkest moments of human experimentation and genocide practices by totalitarian and violent regimes of the past and present: Imperial Japan, Nazi Germany and Communist China.”

    Riggs and his fellow community members entered the small Cool Springs office just after 10 a.m. where they met an office employee who couldn’t speak on record about the issue, but did accept more than 3,000 printed pages that she said would be given to FDRsafety Founder and CEO Fred Rine, to whom the public letter is addressed.

    “You may think this contract is just business, but we ask you to consider what you stand for and want your legacy to be,” the letter concludes. ”If FDR Safety continues to support the development of this new nitrogen gas execution protocol, it will be remembered in history for gassing people alive—some who are innocent, others mentally ill and others striving for redemption. We urge you to terminate your contract for the sake of humanity.”

    Riggs said that he first became aware of FDR’s involvement a couple of months ago and has since worked to urge FDR to end the contract with the state, but according to Riggs, as of Monday morning, FDRsafety had not responded to him or others who had reached out to the company.

    The campaign to bring awareness to the issue actually began in July 2021 when 70 organizations, investors, and business associations, led by the non-profit Worth Rises, sent a joint letter to FDR Safety demanding their withdrawal from the Alabama contract.

    By 3:30 p.m. on Monday, FDRsafety announced in a prepared statement to the Home Page that the company has terminated its contract with the State of Alabama, something that it notified the state about on Monday.

    FDRsafety disputed the claims that they were aiding in the death of anyone, arguing that they were simply ensuring a safe work environment for employees who work on death row, as required by federal law, just as would be required for any occupation.

    That statement can be read in full below.

    “Throughout our history, FDRsafety has focused exclusively on protecting the safety and health of the employees at the businesses we serve. We have never been involved in designing or implementing protocols used to administer any form of capital punishment. Our work focused specifically on protecting employees and assuring they have a safe workplace, as required by the Occupation Safety and Health Act of 1970.

    "We have terminated our contract with the state of Alabama. FDRsafety will not perform work on this project going forward.”

    But for activists focused on ending capital punishment both in Tennessee and abroad, it’s clear that they oppose any individual, business or government’s involvement in any part of the system that aids in the death penalty.

    “No one should be commended for deciding not to commit murder, especially for profit, but we're still very glad to see FDR Safety stepping away from the development of a nitrogen hypoxia execution protocol and its relationship with the Alabama DOC,” Worth Rises Executive Director Bianca Tylek said in a news release. “Whether it’s building private prisons amid a pandemic or creating new ways to kill people on death row, Alabama seems determined to be on the wrong side of history. But we'll be there to stop them every time like we did today. We’re proud to stand with Pastor Kevin Riggs, the broader Tennessean faith community, the thousands of petitioners who called on FDR Safety to withdraw, and most importantly, the dozens of people on death row in Alabama fighting for their lives.”

    The details of FDRsafety’s actual work within that relatively small $25,000 contract is unknown as it is not public information.

    Riggs said in a phone call on Monday afternoon that if the direct action efforts resulted in the end of FDR’s relationship with the State of Alabama, then he would consider that a victory, but that it’s also unclear exactly when and why the Franklin company decided to end their contract with the state.

    Riggs said that as executions in Tennessee and other states continue, his work, along with other faith and community leaders, to see an end to capital punishment will continue.

    “The ultimate goal is to not have the death penalty anymore,” Riggs said.

    https://www.williamsonhomepage.com/f...584c61dc5.html

  4. #174
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    The anti-DP crowd really perfected the cancel culture that characterizes so much of the left

  5. #175
    Senior Member Frequent Poster Steven AB's Avatar
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    More time passes and more it become obvious that nitrogen executions are unworkable. Alabama legislators should retroactively remove nitrogen from their statutes. They are not to blame to have tried it at start; but as the U.S. Supreme Court itself sometimes do, they should retract their decision as improvidently issued.
    Last edited by Steven AB; 07-29-2022 at 04:58 PM.
    "If ever there were a case for a referendum, this is one on which the people should be allowed to express their own views and not irresponsible votes in the House of Commons." — Winston Churchill, on the death penalty

    The self-styled "Death Penalty Information Center" is financed by the oligarchic European Union. — The Daily Signal

  6. #176
    Moderator Bobsicles's Avatar
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    Should have just went back to Yellow Mama. Give them 30 days to pick injection or electrocution
    Thank you for the adventure - Axol

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  7. #177
    Administrator Aaron's Avatar
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    The chair is ancient and in an attic. Probably doesn't work. Should have just made nitrogen secondary, and only available to elect upon feasibility. Why they did this stupid election period is beyond me. But it is one of the dumbest states in the country.
    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. #178
    Moderator Bobsicles's Avatar
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    They could have eventually fixed it or even built another electric chair. It’s doable
    Thank you for the adventure - Axol

    Tried so hard and got so far, but in the end it doesn’t even matter - Linkin Park

    Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever. - Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt

    I’m going to the ghost McDonalds - Garcello

  9. #179
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    Again, why are we proposing reasonable theories and solutions?
    "There is a point in the history of a society when it becomes so pathologically soft and tender that among other things it sides even with those who harm it, criminals, and does this quite seriously and honestly. Punishing somehow seems unfair to it, and it is certain that imagining ‘punishment’ and ‘being supposed to punish’ hurts it, arouses fear in it." Friedrich Nietzsche

  10. #180
    Senior Member Frequent Poster Steven AB's Avatar
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    Let us take it the other way, and ask why we should not.

    Oklahoma abandoned nitrogen and returned to injection, resulting in a subsequent resumption of executions. That’s because earlier, some people familiar with the matter argued for that remedy.
    Last edited by Steven AB; 08-04-2022 at 06:56 PM.
    "If ever there were a case for a referendum, this is one on which the people should be allowed to express their own views and not irresponsible votes in the House of Commons." — Winston Churchill, on the death penalty

    The self-styled "Death Penalty Information Center" is financed by the oligarchic European Union. — The Daily Signal

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