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Thread: South Dakota Capital Punishment News

  1. #21
    Moderator MRBAM's Avatar
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    S. Dakota readies for 2 executions in next 3 weeks

    SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota rarely has executions, but now prison officials are getting ready for two in the next three weeks, barring last-minute legal twists involving inmates who have said they're ready to die.

    Corrections Department spokesman Michael Winder led local media on a tour Tuesday of the South Dakota State Pennitentiary's lethal-injection room and the holding cell where the inmates are to be served their last meals before execution.

    The prison is readying final details, such as where death-penalty supporters and protesters will be allowed to demonstrate outside the prison.

    South Dakota's last execution was in 2007, and that was the first one in the state in 60 years. The state now has four inmates on death row.

    Eric Robert is scheduled to be put to death sometime next week. The exact day won't be released until 48 hours before the execution.

    Robert pleaded guilty to the April 2011 beating and suffocation of prison guard Ronald "R.J." Johnson, for whom the prison's training center is now named.

    Robert, 50, has publicly embraced his impending death, telling a judge last October that he would kill again. In a June letter to The Associated Press, Robert repeated the sentiment, saying the state should put him to death so Johnson's family can have justice.

    Donald Moeller, 60, is expected to be put to death in the week beginning Oct. 28. Moeller was convicted in the 1990 kidnapping, rape and murder of 9-year-old Becky O'Connell.

    Moeller's last legal hurdle lies with a federal judge who's been asked to determine whether the state's one-drug capital punishment procedure is constitutional.

    Moeller's federal attorneys, in a July filing, said they were seeking information on how the state is obtaining its supply of pentobarbital, whether it's from an FDA-approved company, how the drug is stored and how it's delivered. A decision in that case is pending, but Moeller last week told U.S. District Court Judge Lawrence Piersol that he wants to die.

    "I killed. I deserve to be killed," he said in court.

    Moeller on Tuesday wrote Piersol a letter from prison asking that the case be dismissed. Moeller's attorneys say he's incompetent and incapable of making voluntary and rational decisions and want to press forward with arguments in the case.

    http://www.necn.com/10/09/12/S-Dakot...cf0e480b62553e

  2. #22
    Moderator MRBAM's Avatar
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    SD gov will not intervene in death penalty cases

    PIERRE (AP) — South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard says he does not plan to intervene in the upcoming executions of two men.

    Fifty-year-old Eric Robert is scheduled to die by lethal injection sometime next week for the killing of prison guard Ronald Johnson. Sixty-year-old Donald Moeller is scheduled to die during the week of Oct. 28 for the kidnapping, rape and murder of 9-year-old Becky O'Connell.

    In a statement released to the media, Daugaard says he has no reason to change the judgment reached by criminal justice system.

    He says state law allows him to conduct his own investigation, which he did with the cooperation of Attorney General Marty Jackley.

    Barring an unforeseen circumstance, he says he will not prevent or intervene in the sentence being carried out.

    http://www.mitchellrepublic.com/even...roup/homepage/

  3. #23
    Moderator MRBAM's Avatar
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    Death Penalty Opposition Plans Execution Vigil

    SIOUX FALLS, SD - A coalition of groups that oppose the death penalty plan to hold a vigil outside of the South Dakota State Penitentiary and in other cities Monday night as the state executes Eric Robert.

    Robert pleaded guilty to his part in the murder of Correctional Officer Ronald "RJ" Johnson and is scheduled to die by lethal injection Monday at 10 p.m.

    The South Dakota Peace and Justice Center, Pax Christi and South Dakotans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty plan to peacefully gather that night at 8 p.m.

    "We're a group of people who do not affirm our state's policy that taking human life is justified," SDPJC spokesperson Mark Sanderson said in a statement that also speaks out against the planned execution of convicted killer Donald Moeller. Moeller is scheduled to be put to death the week of October 28 for killing 9-year-old Becky O'Connell in 1990.

    Other solidarity vigils will be held across the state in cities including Rapid City, Pierre and Vermillion.

    http://www.keloland.com/newsdetail.c...gil/?id=138448

  4. #24
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Sioux Falls lawmaker changes mind on death penalty, wants to see it repealed

    A state lawmaker who previously supported the death penalty says he will ask the 2014 South Dakota Legislature to repeal capital punishment.

    Rep. Steve Hickey of Sioux Falls, who also is a pastor, says he changed his mind on the death penalty after reviewing the Bible. He says he also believes it does not deter people from committing horrible crimes, save money on appeals or improve public safety.

    Hickey says his bill would not affect the three people currently on death row, but would ban the death penalty in future cases.

    Attorney General Marty Jackley says he will oppose the bill because he believes the death penalty is appropriate for the most vile crimes. He says the death penalty does not increase appeals costs and can prevent other crimes.

    http://www.argusleader.com/viewart/2...-death-penalty
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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  5. #25
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    I thought we all ready knew its not a deterrent...executing murderers is about justice for the victim.

  6. #26
    Senior Member CnCP Legend JimKay's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Heidi View Post
    He says he also believes it does not deter people from committing horrible crimes
    Perhaps the Rev. Hickey could produce a list of executed criminals who went on to commit future crimes, horrible or not? Execution is a pretty darned good deterrent, but that's not its primary purpose.

    Execution is a violent act with a strong message to the criminals, whether they get it or not: "You are so reprehensible that not only do we not want you free to walk among us, we don't even want you to be alive."

    There is no justice for the dead. Execution is vengeance carried out by society against those who have committed the worst-possible crime. We used to hang people for horse theft. Over the years penalties have been watered down and sanitized until the true meaning of the death penalty is barely understood by most people.

    This lack of awareness is borne out every time a condemned convict appeals on the grounds that the protocol may cause momentary discomfort or pain. Such appeals should be thrown out without further consideration, and attorneys who submit them should be warned against wasting the time and patience of the courts.

  7. #27
    Weidmann1939
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    Rep. Steve Hickey of Sioux Falls, who also is a pastor, says he changed his mind on the death penalty after reviewing the Bible.
    "After reviewing the bible!" How long has Mr. Hickey been a pastor? He's just now reviewing the bible? Sweet Jesus.

  8. #28
    Senior Member Member Dillydust's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sasha2312 View Post
    I thought we all ready knew its not a deterrent...executing murderers is about justice for the victim.
    Whether it's a deterrent or not. It still stops the criminal from being a menace to society in the future. It doesn't allow for them to commit more heinous crimes. I think people that use the it's not a deterrent argument must stop and think about in in the form of that it stops them from doing further harm to people, whether they do it behind bars or outside after they are released. Mind you that doesn't stop them from killing people while they let their appeals run out.

  9. #29
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    SD lawmakers consider bill to repeal death penalty

    PIERRE, S.D. (AP) -- A South Dakota legislative panel is considering whether the death penalty should be repealed in the state. The measure would ban the death penalty in all future criminal cases, but it would leave in place the death sentences of three convicted murders currently on South Dakota's death row. Supporters of the death penalty argue it is an appropriate penalty for the most vile crimes and deters others from committing murder. Opponents of the death penalty contend it does not deter others from committing horrible crimes, save money or improve public safety. The House State Affairs Committee will hold a hearing on the bill Friday.

    http://kfgo.com/news/articles/2014/f...death-penalty/

  10. #30
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    SD lawmakers reject bill to repeal death penalty

    A South Dakota legislative panel has decided the state should keep the death penalty.

    The House State Affairs Committee voted 7-6 to reject a measure that would have repealed the death penalty. Relatives of two murder victims urged that the death penalty be kept, while the father of another victim said it should be repealed.

    The measure would have banned the death penalty in future criminal cases, but it sought to leave in place the death sentences of three convicted murderers currently on South Dakota's death row.

    Supporters of the death penalty argued it is an appropriate penalty for the most vile crimes and deters others from committing murder.

    Opponents of the death penalty contend it does not deter others from committing horrible crimes, save money or improve public safety.

    http://kfgo.com/news/articles/2014/f...death-penalty/
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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

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