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Thread: James P. Frazier - Ohio

  1. #21
    Moderator Ryan's Avatar
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    November 6, 2020

    Dementia on death row: Attorneys cite Ohio inmate’s illness in attempt to set aside scheduled execution

    CLEVELAND, Ohio – A rare legal fight over an Ohio death sentence is playing out in a medical ward, far from the state’s execution chamber.

    In a wheelchair, James Frazier uses rambling, incoherent speech to detail how he believes prison staffers are breaking his hearing aids and playing with the sign on his door, records show.

    He struggles with daily life, from understanding the aides who care for him to deal with daily urinary and fecal accidents, according to the records. The filings show Frazier suffers from a severe case of vascular dementia, preventing him from realizing where he is at – the prison system’s medical center in Columbus.

    Last month, attorneys filed a notice of insanity in Lucas County Common Pleas Court to stop Frazier’s execution, scheduled for October. They said Frazier, 79, the oldest inmate on Ohio’s death row, cannot understand why the state wants to execute him, and he has no recollection of his trial for killing Mary Stevenson in Toledo in 2004.

    The filings mark one of the first times in Ohio that lawyers have used the issue of dementia in pleadings to stop an execution. Legal experts have said they expect such cases to increase as inmates on death row grow older.

    “This is very unusual,” said Rick Halperin, the director of the Embrey Human Rights Program at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. “It will become a problem, though, as death row is ageing. You don’t see many states that are actively trying to executive people in their 70s.”

    In Frazier’s case, his attorneys stressed that he is too ill to be executed, and they want a judge to drop the death penalty and allow him to remain behind bars under a life term.

    “Mr. Frazier’s concept of reality is so impaired that he cannot grasp the execution’s meaning and purpose or the link between the crime and his punishment – not now and not ever,” one of his attorneys, Sharon Hicks, wrote in documents.

    An Atlanta psychiatrist who examined Frazier over two years and studied medical reports in his case was more blunt.

    “Mr. Frazier is clearly demented and lacks a rational understanding of his death sentence and why the state wants to execute him,” said Bhushan Agharkar, the psychiatrist, in a report on Frazier’s condition.

    Jennifer Donovan, an assistant Lucas County prosecutor, said her office would request an evaluation of Frazier. She declined to comment further. Attempts to reach Stevenson’s family and those who knew her were unsuccessful.

    Ohio has not executed an inmate since July 2018, when it executed Robert Van Hook of Cincinnati. The state has postponed executions until it can find new drugs needed for lethal injection. Attorneys, however, continue to challenge the state’s execution method. There are 138 men and one woman on Ohio’s death row.

    Frazier was sentenced to death row in 2005 after a jury convicted him in Lucas County in the slaying of Stevenson, 49, who had suffered cerebral palsy.

    Frazier lived in Stevenson’s apartment building in Toledo, and prosecutors said he strangled Stevenson and slashed her throat during a robbery in which he sought cash to buy cocaine.

    He spent time in the Chillicothe Correctional Institution, the home of Ohio’s death row. On November 14, 2017, authorities found Frazier in his cell covered in urine and feces following what doctors called multiple mini-strokes, according to the filings by Frazier’s attorneys.

    He was later transferred to the prison system’s Franklin Medical Center in Columbus. In filings, Frazier’s attorneys said he has struggled since then. He is frail and cannot care for himself.

    Agharkar, the psychiatrist, said Frazier believes it is 1990 and that he is still waiting to stand trial in Stevenson’s death. Agharkar’s report said Frazier looked forward to clearing his name before a judge and jury.

    The document said Frazier asked Agharkar during the September interview why there was a plastic glass barrier between them. The psychiatrist said it stemmed from the coronavirus. Frazier acknowledged that he had heard of the pandemic.

    Moments later, Frazier asked the same question again about the barrier. Agharkar said it was clear that Frazier was not faking his illness.

    “Mr. Frazier is unable to rationally assist his counsel with his case because his deteriorating brain disease impairs his memory, ability to weigh and deliberate options and maintain a coherent conversation when discussing his case,” Agharkar’s report said.

    “He is easily confused and appears paranoid, the result of his dementia.”

    His case follows U.S. Supreme Court cases involving two death-row inmates who also had dementia. The outcomes were strikingly different.

    Vernon Madison, 69, died in an Alabama prison of natural causes in February, nearly a year after the Supreme Court ruled in his favor that dementia could prevent an inmate from execution.

    In 1985, Madison shot and killed Julius Schulte, a Mobile, Alabama, police officer during a domestic dispute. Madison was convicted and sentenced to death.

    The Supreme Court, however, sent the case back to Alabama for further consideration. Madison died before a decision on his competency.

    Wesley Purkey, 68, was executed in July at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Indiana, for killing 16-year-old Jennifer Long. Published reports said he also struggled with dementia.

    Unlike in Madison’s case, the Supreme Court permitted the execution to occur without a hearing to determine Purkey’s mental state.

    “In this case, it appeared that the Supreme Court had already made up its mind to let the execution happen,” said Robert Dunham, the executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, D.C. “Why the difference in the cases? A lot of people are wondering that.”

    In Frazier’s case, it is unclear when Joseph McNamara, the Lucas County judge assigned the case, will schedule a hearing on the notice of insanity that Frazier’s attorneys filed.

    Any decision is expected to face an appeal.

    https://www.cleveland.com/politics/2...execution.html
    "How do you get drunk on death row?" - Werner Herzog

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  2. #22
    Administrator Aaron's Avatar
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    This guy is already in far worse shape than Moody was, despite being 4 years younger than he was at execution. I don't think this guy will live to be executed unfortunately, and I doubt we'll see another octogenarian 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

  3. #23
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Ohio’s oldest death-row inmate dies behind bars from likely spread of the coronavirus

    By John Caniglia
    cleveland.com

    CLEVELAND, Ohio – For months, James Frazier’s attorneys fought to keep him from the execution chamber, saying the oldest inmate on Ohio’s death row suffered from dementia and had little idea where he was.

    Frazier died Thursday from what a prison spokeswoman said was likely the coronavirus. He was 79. In Ohio, 111 inmates in state prisons have died from the virus this year.

    The state ranks third in the country with the most deaths in prison from the pandemic, trailing only Florida with 187 and Texas with 168, according to the Marshall Project, a nonprofit in New York City that analyzes the nation’s criminal justice system. Ohio ranks fourth in the country in the rate of deaths, with 25 per every 10,000 inmates.

    "[The virus in prisons] remains a problem,” said Piet van Lier, a researcher for Policy Matters Ohio. “We continue to hear from families who have loved ones inside and about the conditions they face.

    “These are people. They may have committed crimes, but they are human beings, whether they are in the general prison population or on death row.”

    Frazier’s death ends a little-known but contentious legal fight that sought to spare him from an October 2021 execution. His case brought to light the national trend of increasing healthcare issues for older inmates on death row.

    Frazier was sentenced to death in 2005 after a Lucas County jury convicted him in the slaying of Mary Stevenson, 49. He lived in Stevenson’s apartment building in Toledo. Prosecutors said he strangled Stevenson, who suffered from cerebral palsy, and slashed her throat during a robbery where he sought cash to buy cocaine.

    He spent time in the Chillicothe Correctional Institution, where Ohio houses more than 130 inmates on death row. On Nov. 14, 2017, authorities found Frazier in his cell following what doctors called multiple minor strokes, according to the filings by Frazier’s attorneys.

    He was later transferred to the prison system’s Franklin Medical Center in Columbus. Frazier struggled since he got there. Last month, his attorneys filed a notice of insanity in Lucas County Common Pleas Court to stop Frazier’s execution. It marked one of the first times in Ohio in which lawyers cited dementia in a death-penalty case.

    The filing said Frazier’s speech became rambling and incoherent. He struggled to care for himself and spent much of his time in bed or in a wheelchair. He also became paranoid of those who cared for him, the filing shows.

    Frazier and 11 other inmates have died at the Franklin Medical Center from the coronavirus since March. The Pickaway Correctional Institution, which is south of Columbus, has had the most deaths with 35.

    The prison system has stressed that it is monitoring the spread of the virus closely. While it weathered outbreaks at the start of the virus’ spread, the system said it has continued to increase sanitation, screen contractors and quarantine inmates who suffer symptoms.

    But van Lier, as well as the families of those incarcerated, said more should be done. He said the state’s crowded prisons enabled the spread of the virus. He said Ohio bears “the responsibility for the lives and well-being of the incarcerated people in its custody.”

    https://www.cleveland.com/politics/2...ronavirus.html
    "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."
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