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Thread: John L. Lotter - Nebraska Death Row

  1. #11
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Lotter asks U.S. Supreme Court to review case

    Nebraska death row inmate John Lotter has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a lower court's ruling in his case.

    Whether the country's highest court ultimately will agree to hear arguments in the case isn't yet known.

    But, by the statistics alone, it appears an uphill battle. The court grants and hears arguments in only about 1 percent of the cases filed each term, according to information on its website.

    The Nebraska attorney general's office will get a chance to respond to Lotter's filing yet this month.

    The move is the latest legal step in a case that began with the 1993 triple murder of Teena Brandon, Lisa Lambert and Philip DeVine at a rural Falls City farmhouse. The killings inspired the 1999 film "Boys Don't Cry."

    Lotter has maintained his innocence, but he was convicted at trial after co-defendant Thomas Nissen made a deal with prosecutors to avoid the death penalty and testified that he stabbed Brandon but Lotter fired the shots that killed all three.

    In 2007, Nissen changed his story and said he, not Lotter, shot them. Nissen is serving a life sentence.

    Lotter appealed his conviction based on Nissen's recantation, but his appeals were rejected by the Nebraska Supreme Court and later by the U.S. District Court of Nebraska.

    Lotter then went to the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and in a split decision a three-judge panel rejected his request on Aug. 23.

    Lotter asked the panel to rehear the case or for the full Eighth Circuit to reconsider the denial. That request was denied in October. The next step was the U.S. Supreme Court.

    In a letter filed Thursday, the Eighth Circuit informed the Nebraska District Court of the U.S. Supreme Court filing in the case.

    Lotter's attorney, Andy Barry, didn't return a call seeking comment.

    http://journalstar.com/news/local/cr...#ixzz1lHShTTeB

  2. #12
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    On March 19, 2012, the US Supreme Court denied Lotter's certiorari petition.

    http://www.supremecourt.gov/Search.a...es/11-8458.htm

  3. #13
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    In today's United States Supreme Court orders, Lotter's petition for a writ of certiorari and motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis was DENIED.

  4. #14
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Exclusive: John Lotter Death Row Interview

    Sitting on Death Row - John Lotter Speaks with Chad Silber
    Sitting on Death Row pt.2 - John Lotter Speaks with Chad Silber
    Web Exclusive: John Lotter Interview, Part 1
    Web Exclusive: John Lotter Interview, Part 2
    Web Exclusive: John Lotter Interview, Part 3
    Web Exclusive: John Lotter Interview, Part 4


    The triple murder happened in a rural farmhouse near Humboldt, Nebraska.

    By the stroke of midnight, three people were dead including Brandon Teena, also known as Teena Brandon -- a 21-year-old transgendered Nebraskan.

    The man convicted of the murders, John Lotter, still sits on death row.

    Most everyone who lived in Nebraska in 1993 remembers hearing about the murders. Lotter, at the center of it all, is accused of shooting and killing Teena, Lisa Lambert and Philip DeVine. The court ruled Lotter and Marvin Nissen raped and killed Teena after learning *he* was actually a *she.* The other two just happened to be there at the time.

    Lotter has maintained his innocence. For his plea deal, Nissen was sentenced to life in prison, Lotter to death row. And that's where he's been for the past 16 years, waiting for his final punishment, but hoping for an appeal.

    Chad Silber went to death row for this exclusive one-on-one interview.

    Silber: "Do you think that you will be executed?

    Lotter: "There was a time I'd say no but, I don't know. Now I don't sit there and say no to that possibility. With the way things have went especially here of late, it's clearly getting more and more of a possibility."

    The appeals haven't gone his way. First denied by the Federal Court of Appeals and now a rejection from the U.S Supreme Court in March. As he sits at the Tecumseh State Correctional Institution, he knows his time is almost up.

    Silber: "What is it like knowing that it's possible you could get a call tomorrow and it's someone from the State and they say, this is the day that you're going to be executed?"

    Lotter: "I don't look at it in that term, I just look at it, I've got an appeal in front of the court and I know that that could go one way or the other. Then I know after I get to a certain stage, there's that possibility that a date would be set but I know that isn't etched in stone."

    Silber: "Are you ready to die?"

    Lotter: "Unless there's some kind of mental defect in them, everybody has a will to live. Everybody's going to fight with every breath they have to live. I don't have that mental defect so, of course, I'm going to fight for every last breath that I have to prove my innocence and get out of here."

    Lotter's push to prove his innocence faces a hurdle that he might not be able to cross. During their trials, Nissen testified that Lotter was the one who pulled the trigger. Then twelve years later, he changed his story and said he murdered the three, but because of a three-year statute of limitations passed by the State Legislature, Nissen's admission isn't allowed in an appeal without DNA evidence.

    Lotter: "The way they have (DNA) set up, the way they tore it down by the time it got passed was that DNA would be essentially the gateway and once you had DNA, then you could put all the evidence that supported that DNA."

    Silber: "Do you think that you will be exonerated?"

    Lotter: "I think if I was able to have the hearing, if I was able to have a full-fledged hearing where I could put on the evidence, I think I could prove my innocence. I really do."

    But the statute has been on a books since the early 1900's and there's no sign it'll change anytime soon.

    As Lotter sits on death row, the battle over the lethal injection drug, Sodium Thiopental, heats up. The overseas drug maker recently recalled the drug but the State is refusing to give it back, claiming the drug was obtained legally.

    Lotter: "If you're saying that regular citizens can't buy drugs to get cheaper drugs so they don't have to pay the high cost of what the pharmaceutical companies are selling, then the State of Nebraska or any other state shouldn't be able to buy lethal injection drugs that come from other countries as well."

    If Lotter had his choice, he'd rather die by electric chair. "If they're going to kill me and I'm innocent, then I don't want them to have the pleasure of making it seem humane. I want them to fully take in the wrong that I feel that they'd be doing against me."

    Lotter knows the movie 'Boys Don't Cry' isn't helping his cause. The film, inspired by the murders, was released six years after. It portrays Lotter as the person who pulled the trigger. "That's one thing people always say, when they see that movie, it reflects me in this light and then people get that and they automatically look at me and that's who they think I am."

    But he says the movie doesn't run parallel with reality. "If you base your opinion of this case and the facts on what was at trial, then looking at the movie and then looking at the trial, right there it tells you that the movie's not based on fact."

    His chances for an appeal are growing slimmer by the day. It's possible he'll be the next one to be executed. But he's holding out hope to prove his innocence.

    Silber: "Why should people care about John Lotter?"

    Lotter: "I think they should care about me because a system they know is flawed...there's people that have been executed that they know are innocent and they know that with the justice system, there's human error."

    Silber: "How do you want people to remember you?"

    Lotter: "I don't know, I don't think I can answer that question. I've made my mistakes in life, I think everybody makes mistakes but I didn't make this mistake so I guess if anything, that I was an innocent man that was caught up in something that the court didn't believe I could prove, I guess."

    But he's determined to continue that fight until the very end.

    http://www.1011now.com/home/headline...151736035.html
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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

  5. #15
    It shouldnt even be a crime to kill or rape a tranny they are unworthy of life its about time lotter and nissen are freed and given compensation for their wrongful convictions

    burn in hell teena brandon

  6. #16
    Grumpylilpixy
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    WOW! You are one sick human being.

    Teena Brandon went quickly. I can't say the same is going to happen for Lotter, since they are using only phenobarbital the average seems to be 23 minutes. That is a long time when you are in AGONY!

  7. #17
    Moderator MRBAM's Avatar
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    WRONG!

    My father is an MD, PhD and says within 30 seconds of the end of the drug push the person would start to feel "high" & "loopy" - similar to how you feel if you are having general sedation for any medical procedure. Around minute 2 the person would essentially start sleeping no matter how hard they try to stay awake - with the sleep deepening around minute 3 - 4 which is why in the past several people start to snore. Around minute 6 the person would become unconscious and only a immediate reverse of the drugs - via essentially a huge adrenaline flush could possibly, not probably stop death.

    Around minute 7-8 the sedative effect of the drugs starts to slow then stop the body's vital organ function - specifically sedating the protein in muscles from allowing them to contract and thus work. The heart stops and the lungs stop which stops pushing blood around the body. This is why the executed turn blue usually before 10 minutes after the plunger pushes all the drugs in.

    A doctor will wait a good ten minutes after a person is actually dead to call TOD to essentially ensure they ain't coming back to life. The process of calling death involves looking for vital signs includes looking at their for their eye dilation, pulse & heartbeat in 2 locations and listening for any breathing - this alone can take a good 5 minutes. Think of the time these things take when you have a check up at the doctors office.

    23 minutes is nothing and there is no agony - agony comes after with the pitchfork and hell...... if you believe that crap.

  8. #18
    Senior Member Frequent Poster Shep3's Avatar
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    Wow go to hell you worthless wretch! Mr Brandon was an innocent and last time I checked being trans was not a crime nor was it a justification for rape and murder. Like it or not trans Americans have the rigt to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness free of bigots like you and this pathitic murdering scum.

  9. #19
    Admiral CnCP Legend JT's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by James View Post
    it shouldnt even be a crime to kill or rape a tranny they are unworthy of life its about time lotter and nissen are freed and given compensation for their wrongful convictions

    burn in hell teena brandon
    Mate, the Bronze Age just called. They want their cretin back...

  10. #20
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Man on death row in 'Boys Don't Cry' case is engaged to be married

    A Nebraska death row inmate whose killings were depicted in the movie “Boys Don't Cry” is engaged to be married.

    John Lotter and a woman from Washington state recently applied for a marriage license at the courthouse in Tecumseh, Neb., the community closest to the state prison where death row inmates are housed.

    Lotter, 41, said in an interview last week that he has not yet gotten married. But he otherwise declined to discuss his plans or his relationship with Jeanne Bissonnette, 50, of Lakewood, Wash.

    “I'd really like to keep this part of me as private as I can,” he said.

    Phone messages left with Bissonnette were not returned.

    State prison officials do not keep records of inmate weddings, but they were unaware of any previous marriage involving a death row inmate.

    The marriage license is valid for one year.

    Lotter was convicted by a jury of first-degree murder in the 1993 killings of three people at a rented farmhouse near Humboldt, Neb.

    Lotter and Marvin Thomas Nissen targeted Brandon Teena, 21, of Lincoln, who was born female but lived as a man and dated women. They sought to silence Teena because he reported to authorities that he was raped by the men after they learned his biological gender. They also killed two others staying in the house: Lisa Lambert, 24, and Phillip DeVine, 22.

    The case inspired a 1999 film that won actress Hilary Swank an Academy Award for her portrayal of Brandon Teena.

    Lotter has always maintained his innocence, but he has failed in several appeals to persuade a court to overturn his convictions.

    At trial in 1995, Nissen testified that Lotter fired the gun that killed all three victims. Nissen downplayed his involvement, saying he only stabbed Teena.

    Nissen's cooperation with authorities earned him a life sentence, which would have to be commuted by the Nebraska Board of Pardons for him to be released.

    In 2007, Nissen recanted and said that he both fired the gun and wielded the knife. But he maintained that Lotter was present during the killings. Under Nebraska's felony murder law, Lotter's presence in the farmhouse at the time of the killings was enough to result in first-degree murder convictions.

    In 2006, Nissen became engaged to a Chicago woman who started writing letters to him in prison. They did not follow through with the marriage.

    The Nebraska Department of Correctional Services does not track the number of weddings that take place in state institutions each year, said Dawn Renee Smith, the department's spokeswoman. But there have been weddings of inmates serving life terms.

    Prison weddings follow a strict policy that allows only two witnesses and someone to perform the ceremony. The inmate is allowed to receive a ring and photos of the ceremony, but there can be no refreshments or decorations.

    Nebraska does not allow the couple to consummate the union, nor does the state permit conjugal visits for married inmates.

    During last week's interview, Lotter was more willing to talk about a bill to repeal the death penalty in Nebraska. The Legislature is scheduled to begin debating the measure this week.

    Lotter said he does not think most people behind bars are deterred by the death penalty, or even think about it before they act.

    While he hopes lawmakers will repeal the death penalty, he said he will continue his fight to prove his innocence.

    He and others will watch the debate on public television.

    “I'm not going to get my hopes up,” he said. “I'm just not going to put myself through that roller coaster.”

    http://www.omaha.com/article/20130513/NEWS/705139955
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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

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