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Thread: Nebraska Capital Punishment News

  1. #51
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    July 23, 2013

    Federal court says Nebraska, other states can keep lethal injection drug

    By KEVIN O'HANLON
    The Lincoln Journal Star

    A federal appeals court on Tuesday said Nebraska and several other states do not have to surrender their foreign-made supplies of a lethal-injection drug, even though they were imported illegally.

    But the court said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration cannot allow such shipments into the United States in the future, rejecting the agency's argument that it had discretion to allow unapproved drugs into the country.

    The opinion, from a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals District of Columbia Circuit, came in an appeal of a ruling last year by U.S. District Judge Richard Leon, who said the FDA must immediately notify state correctional departments in possession of any foreign-manufactured sodium thiopental that using such drugs is against the law and the drugs must be returned immediately to the FDA.

    The court ruled that because the states were not part of the original lawsuit against the FDA, Leon's order that they surrender the drugs was too broad.

    That means the issue of whether Nebraska can use the sodium thiopental now likely will be hashed out in federal court in Nebraska or the state Supreme Court.

    Nebraska and several other states in which sodium thiopental is part of the execution protocol were forced to buy it overseas when the last U.S. manufacturer quit making it in 2010 because of death-penalty opposition from overseas customers. Nebraska's sodium thiopental was made by a Swiss company and came in two batches.

    Leon sided with lawyers for death row inmates in Tennessee, Arizona and California who say the foreign-made sodium thiopental is an unapproved drug. But FDA lawyers pointed to a 1985 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Heckler v. Chaney that said the FDA's decision to not take enforcement action in a lethal-injection drug case was not subject to judicial review.

    That case involved a challenge by death-row inmates in Texas and Oklahoma who argued that U.S.-manufactured lethal injection drugs in the possession of prison officials had not been certified by the FDA as "safe and effective" for human executions and thus should be barred from being distributed via interstate commerce.

    The FDA argued that Leon "expressly rejected FDA’s explanations that it does not want to expend resources on an area it considers distant from its public health mission and that it has historically deferred to law enforcement."

    Leon's ruling also said the FDA is prohibited from allowing foreign-made sodium thiopental into the United States.

    Lawyers for the inmates argued that the FDA's actions were arbitrary and capricious. They say the FDA issued a directive in January 2011 that set a general policy of automatically allowing all foreign thiopental shipments destined for prisons.

    The appeals court said federal law "imposes mandatory duties upon the agency charged with its enforcement.

    "The FDA acted in derogation of those duties by permitting the importation of thiopental, a concededly misbranded and unapproved new drug, and by declaring that it would not in the future sample and examine foreign shipments of the drug despite knowing they may have been prepared in an unregistered establishment," the court said. "The district court could not remedy the FDA’s unlawful actions, however, by imposing upon the interests of nonparties to this suit. The order of the district court pertaining to the thiopental already in the possession of the states ... is therefore vacated, but the underlying judgment of the district court is affirmed.

    The court said federal law "requires the FDA to (1) sample 'any drugs' that have been 'manufactured, prepared, propagated, compounded, or processed' in an unregistered establishment and (2) examine the samples and determine whether any 'appears' to violate' federal law.

    "If from the examination of such samples or otherwise, the FDA finds an apparent violation of the act, then it must ... refuse admission to the prohibited drug," the court said.

    http://journalstar.com/news/state-an...e7c7024a7.html

  2. #52
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    Nebraska researches "Death Penalty" drug

    Nebraska will be looking at a number of options to maintain the death penalty.

    Nebraska has been blocked from carrying out executions, because it cannot get adequate supplies of sodium thiopental, the drug the state would use as an anesthetic. No longer produced domestically, the drug has become increasingly difficult to obtain from European manufacturers who have been blocked from selling it for use in executions.

    Missouri has announced it will change its death penalty protocol after it became difficult to receive propofol, an anesthetic used in its 3-drug protocol. The state now will use the sedative pentobarbital and is considering a switch to a 1-drug protocol.

    Attorney General Jon Bruning says Nebraska will be review the move by other states toward a 1-drug protocol to carry out lethal injection, rather than the 3-drug method now on the books.

    "Certainly, that's under discussion. The governor and I have had conversations and will continue to have conversations. That's one of the options," Bruning says. "We both believe that the men on death row deserve the penalties that have been meted out by the courts and judges."

    Some states, such as Texas and Ohio, have begun using compounding pharmacies to prepare the needed drugs, which would avoid difficulties in buying from manufacturers under pressure by death penalty opponents to not sell drugs for use in executions.

    Oklahoma was the 1st state to use a 1-drug protocol; using pentobarbital for an execution.

    Bruning says his office has been reviewing the changes made by other states.

    "We have had reviews of what a number of states are doing. There's of course the 3-drug protocol we use. There's a 1-drug protocol. There are various options and I think if you were to see any sort of change in the protocol it would give Corrections a number of different options. We don't (want to) hamstring ourselves with 1 option," Bruning says.

    Nebraska has some sodium thiopental on hand, but it expires in December. It has become increasingly difficult to get for use in executions.

    The legislature could change the state execution protocol or changes could be made to the regulations used by the state Department of Correctional Services.

    The state switched to lethal injection after a 2009 Nebraska Supreme Court ruling declared the electric chair to be cruel and unusual punishment. Nebraska last carried out an execution in 1997. 11 prisoners now reside on death row.

    (Source: The Nebraska Radio Network)
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  3. #53
    Admiral CnCP Legend JT's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Heidi View Post
    Oklahoma was the 1st state to use a 1-drug protocol
    Umm...
    "I have adopted the Italian way of life... I may stab you!"
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  4. #54
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    Nebraska lacks drug for lethal injections, has no way to carry out executions

    Nebraska prison officials have not replaced a lethal injection drug that expired late last year, meaning the state currently has no way to carry out an execution.

    A prison spokeswoman confirmed Tuesday that the state has yet to obtain a new supply of sodium thiopental, one of three drugs needed for lethal injection in Nebraska.

    Questions about the drug came up Tuesday during oral arguments on a death penalty appeal by former cult leader Michael W. Ryan.

    Nebraska Supreme Court Judge William Connolly asked if the state has a legal source of sodium thiopental. Assistant Attorney General James Smith said he did not know because he had not checked on the status of the drug before the hearing.

    The administrative code that governs the execution protocol says expired lethal substances must be cleared from inventory and replaced by the State Department of Correctional Services.

    Thiopental, which renders an inmate unconscious, has become difficult to obtain because it is no longer manufactured domestically and legal questions surround its importation. It's possible Nebraska that could obtain a new supply from another state that no longer uses the drug for executions, or it could be made by a domestic pharmaceutical compounding laboratory.

    When asked if the Corrections Department was planning to propose a change to the lethal injection protocol, Dawn-Renee Smith, the department's spokeswoman, said officials were looking at all aspects of the execution process.

    “I don't have anything definitive on that at this time,” she said by email.

    Attorney General Jon Bruning has said the state needs to move to a less specific drug protocol to provide the flexibility to carry out an execution. He also said several weeks ago that the Corrections Department can change the protocol administratively.

    Gov. Dave Heineman said last month that corrections officials were working on the issue.

    In the meantime, the use of foreign thiopental for executions remains an unsettled issue nationally. A federal appeals court ruled last summer that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration violated its own policies when it allowed thiopental to be imported without inspection. Although that ruling originated in another state, it involves issues similar to those brought up by Ryan.

    Nebraska has not carried out an execution since 1997, when the state's method was electrocution. Tuesday's oral arguments involved a 65-year-old inmate who has spent the past 28 years on death row.

    Ryan led about two dozen members of a survivalist religious cult on a farm near Rulo, Neb. He was sentenced to death for first-degree murder for ordering the 1985 torture and killing of James Thimm, 25, one of his followers. He also pleaded no contest to second-degree murder in the killing of 5-year-old Luke Stice, the son of another cult member.

    Robert Kortus, an attorney for Ryan, argued that a lower court improperly dismissed a motion for post-conviction relief in 2012. Kortus said his client should be allowed to contest how the state obtained the now-expired thiopental.

    The Swiss manufacturer of the thiopental said it was stolen by a broker in India who sold it to Nebraska without authorization.

    Ryan's challenge of the drug has effectively stalled his execution for nearly two years.
    The Supreme Court had scheduled him to die on March 6, 2012, but two weeks before the execution, the court granted a stay.

    Ryan filed the post-conviction appeal in Richardson County District Court, alleging that he was to be killed using a stolen drug. District Judge Daniel Bryan dismissed Ryan's appeal, saying a post-conviction motion can challenge a sentence of death, but not the method used to carry out the sentence.

    Assistant Attorney General Smith told the high court Tuesday that Bryan made the correct ruling. If the judges reverse the lower court, they also will have to reverse decisions made in several other death penalty cases.

    http://www.omaha.com/article/2014020...140209436/1707
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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

  5. #55
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Do anti-death penalty mailings of 'executioner' senators go too far?

    The barrage of anonymous political postcards began arriving in the mailboxes of state senators a year ago.

    The postcards featured colorful, computer-altered photographs, some depicting senators as "executioners" in medieval garb holding huge axes, with blood dripping from the images.

    They accused some lawmakers who support the death penalty of being hypocrites because their churches believe capital punishment is wrong.

    "Thou Shall Kill!" screamed the postcards, which were also sent to ministers and police chiefs in the districts of senators who support the death penalty.

    While the postcards, mailed anonymously from Omaha, are a legal expression of a political view, the recipients are condemning them as insulting and perhaps threatening.

    The state's most established anti-death penalty group says the postcards were improper and probably hurt its cause.

    "We disagree with what amounts to personal attacks and disturbing imagery. We're trying to keep this a very reasonable debate about a failed policy," said Stacy Anderson, the head of Nebraskans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. "Getting personal isn't helpful to anybody."

    That's not the view of the executive director of an Omaha art gallery that featured an exhibit of the postcards in December.

    Ben McQuillan of the Petshop Gallery in Benson said the postcards are a creative way to spark a conversation about the death penalty. He said that traditional means of lobbying aren't working and that he and other artists at his gallery were supportive of displaying the "political art."

    McQuillan rejected assertions by the anti-death penalty group that the postcards were over the top and counterproductive.

    "We can do whatever we want," McQuillan said. "We have a voice as part of the population, and we can take a position if we want to."

    The postcards raise the question of what is the proper way to lobby on a legislative issue and whether such groups should be required to identify themselves.

    Whether or not the postcard campaign backfired is unclear, but a debate about capital punishment is on the back burner in 2014.

    State Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha, the Legislature's leading foe of capital punishment, said he doesn't plan to push the issue this year. Chambers said he has other issues to pursue and lacks the votes to halt an expected filibuster.

    To be sure, there have been disagreements before within political movements about lobbying tactics.

    A few years ago, an anti-abortion group displayed huge, graphic posters of aborted fetuses while picketing a Lincoln church attended by a physician who performed abortions. Some in the anti-abortion movement rejected the posters' graphic nature.

    Efforts to end alcohol sales in the reservation border town of Whiteclay, Neb., have ranged from the traditional, like seeking better law enforcement and removing liquor licenses, to the extreme, like chugging a beer in front of a state liquor board and blockades of a state highway.

    The death penalty postcard protest began with confusion because the initial mailings didn't identify the senders. That led some to link the postcards to Nebraskans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, which initially believed it was an attempt to sabotage the group's efforts.

    Perhaps as many as 2,000 of the anti-death penalty postcards have been sent over the past year, many in batches of 4 or 5 at once to senators who opposed repeal of the death penalty. The postcards also were sent to the senators' ministers and priests and to other church leaders in their districts, as well as to members of the media.

    In December, the postcards began including a return address for the Petshop Gallery. They invited recipients to attend an art show opening at the gallery Dec. 6, as part of a "First Friday" art crawl in Benson.

    Those who created the postcards were not identified at the showing, and McQuillan, the gallery director, declined to name them. He said more than one person was involved. He did forward a message to the leader of the postcard group, who called The World-Herald from a pay telephone.

    The man, who did not provide his name, said the postcards were produced by a group of artists and activists from the Omaha area called the "Mail-Art Cooperative." He said the members want to remain anonymous, saying identification "detracts" from their message.

    The anonymity doesn't violate state political accountability laws, said Frank Daley, executive director of the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission.

    Daley said his commission regulates only campaign materials, and a 1995 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court protects some forms of "anonymous speech," as long as it's done by a grassroots group with its own money.

    A bill pending in the Legislature might change that, at least during a political campaign. Legislative Bill 747 would require groups to identify themselves if they distribute postcards or other election materials within 30 days before an election, if they identify a specific candidate.

    The death penalty postcards didn't inspire the bill, said its author, State Sen. Bill Avery of Lincoln. But he said it's unfair to send out such mailings without some identification.

    "If you're unwilling to identify who you are, then your message is unworthy of attention," said Avery, who was among some death penalty opponents who also received some of the postcards.

    A priest who received dozens of postcards went looking, in vain, for the authors.

    The Rev. Dan Kampschneider of St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church in Omaha, who opposes the death penalty, was pictured on some of the cards, as were altered images of his church. On one card, he was pictured with State Sen. Pete Pirsch, a parishioner who supports the death penalty.

    Kampschneider said he gives the senders high marks for effort but low marks for being persuasive.

    "They're losing more effectiveness than they're gaining. It's pressure and a type of harassment," he said.

    Support for repealing the death penalty reached a high point last year. The 2013 session marked the first time in several years that a majority of state senators supported repeal, with perhaps as many as 27 lawmakers in favor. That is enough to pass a law, but supporters of capital punishment filibustered the bill, and anti-death penalty forces say they lack the 33 votes needed to bring the issue to a vote.

    Anderson's anti-death penalty group wrote to state senators to disavow any connection to the postcards. Anderson said she also sent a letter to the postcard group at the Benson gallery in December, asking them to refrain from personal attacks.

    "We absolutely support their right to engage in any activities they want to," she said. "It's just not how we'd conduct ourselves."

    One target of the postcards, Sen. Mark Christensen of Imperial, said he considers the postcards illegal because they didn't identify the sender. Christensen is portrayed in the postcards as an executioner, next to the words "Thou shall kill!"

    "You'll never convince me to change my position by attacking me," he said.

    Pirsch, a former criminal prosecutor, said he's most bothered that the postcards were anonymous.

    "I don't have a tremendous amount of respect for someone who hides in the shadows," he said.

    Many of the postcards said senators who oppose abortion rights and support the death penalty are consistently inconsistent, particularly compared with the beliefs of the churches they attend.

    Kampschneider, the Omaha priest, said he knows many Catholics support the death penalty, even though the church opposes it.

    "It's a challenge in our church," Kampschneider said. "(Those involved) must think that if I tell (parishioners) to do something, it will be that way. It's not quite like that."

    (Source: The Omaha World-Herald)
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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

  6. #56
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    This is ridiculous I'm baptized Catholic, but I certainly don't agree with all of the teachings of the church. What the anti's are doing is just harassment, but if someone depicted me as an executioner I would probably laugh and keep it as a souvenir.
    "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

  7. #57
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Nebraska: Republican Governor Debate

    On the campaign trail gubernatorial candidates have touched on the state's biggest issues like prison reform and Medicaid expansion, but Sunday at their 1st debate they went far beyond that.

    All 6 republican candidates came together in Broken Bow Sunday for their 1st debate. There they were faced with some difficult questions.

    It's been 16 years since Nebraska has carried out an execution. In 2010 the United States stopped producing Nebraska's drug of choice for lethal injection. Prison officials have still not found an alternative. These candidates say that solving this problem is one of their top priorities.

    "We should be able to carry out the death penalty to make sure that it serves as that deterrent to the worst of the worst offenders. There's a recent article I believe it was in the Houston chronicle talking about what Texas is doing to change their drug protocol," said Bart McClay.

    "When I was in the legislature I actually carried a bill to change the method of execution from electrocution to lethal injection for exactly the reason I thought would happen, it did happen, that the court would find it unconstitutional, electrocution, and so we're gonna have to change the protocols again there is no doubt, but we'll find a way to do it," said Jon Bruning.

    The candidates will go head to head again on April 23rd. The debate will be held at the Jonny Carson theater in Norfolk.

    http://deathpenaltynews.blogspot.ca
    "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

  8. #58
    Weidmann1939
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    I suspect the "Nikko Jenkins show" in Omaha's Doubles County Courthouse this week together with the looming midterm election in November will squelch much of the abolition talk in the unicameral. Nikko Jenkins is Nebraska's new poster boy for capital punishment.
    Last edited by Weidmann1939; 04-17-2014 at 07:10 AM.

  9. #59
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    Heineman defends death penalty

    Nebraska's governor spoke out Thursday about the state's death penalty days after problems with an execution in Oklahoma.

    The process was stopped after issues with the first of three lethal injection drugs. Eventually, convicted killer Clayton Lockett had a heart attack and died.

    While death penalty opponents question how humane lethal injection really is, Gov. Dave Heineman said it doesn't change his stand on the issue.

    “It's a very unfortunate situation that occurred, but in light of all this, let's not forget about the victim's family and what this young lady suffered through, too. Again, a very unfortunate set of circumstances, but I believe we are better prepared to carry out the protocol here in Nebraska,” Heineman said.

    The protocol is currently being revised because the state can't get one of the three drugs under its current rules and regulations for lethal injection.

    The attorney general is reviewing the process.

    http://www.ketv.com/politics/heinema...#ixzz30V58WAm1
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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

  10. #60
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    New death penalty debate resonates in Nebraska

    LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - The bungled execution of an inmate in Oklahoma is casting new attention on the death penalty in Nebraska, where capital punishment remains on the books but no one has been executed in nearly two decades.

    Nebraska's supply of sodium thiopental, a key lethal injection drug, expired in December, leaving the state with no way to carry out executions.

    Some lawmakers believe Nebraska will never again execute an inmate because of the drug issues and expensive legal appeals. The last Nebraska inmate executed was Robert E. Williams in 1997.

    Sen. Bob Krist of Omaha supports the death penalty but says the state should stop the expensive process if it can't execute anyone.

    A Department of Correctional Services spokeswoman declined to say whether state officials plan to change their lethal injection protocol.

    http://kticradio.com/index.php?more=f75udx39
    "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

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