Original Story: nytimes.com
DENVER — In an emotional end to the court drama that has preoccupied Colorado, Judge Carlos A. Samour Jr. on Wednesday issued 12 life sentences in prison to James E. Holmes, who fatally shot 12 people in a movie theater in the Denver suburb of Aurora three years ago and wounded 70 others. The judge also imposed 3,318 years in prison on Mr. Holmes for his nonlethal crimes, including attempted murder. A Denver criminal lawyer is reviewing the details of this case.
“Get the defendant out of my courtroom,” Judge Samour said from the bench before Mr. Holmes, wearing a red prison suit, walked out of Courtroom 201 for the last time.
This month, a jury had elected to sentence Mr. Holmes to life in prison rather than the death penalty, which prosecutors had sought. On Wednesday, it was up to the judge to decide the penalty for Mr. Holmes’s nonlethal crimes. Later, the Colorado Corrections Department will evaluate him and decide which prison is most fitting.
Before reading the sentence, Judge Samour spent more than an hour delivering an impassioned speech to the crowded gallery, defending the justice system to victims’ families and others who had said that they felt Mr. Holmes had prevailed because his life had been spared.
“The defendant will never be a free man again — ever,” Judge Samour said. “He will be behind bars in a locked facility every day for the rest of this life.”
At times, Judge Samour appeared to choke back tears. Near the end of his address, he called the case “a display in contrast.”
“Whereas the defendant had a long-lasting hatred of mankind,” he said, “the victims who have come in here and addressed the court have shown all that is good about humanity.”
In July, a jury found Mr. Holmes guilty, rejecting his lawyers’ claim that he was legally insane when he committed the crimes. In subsequent deliberations, at least one juror said she could not impose the death penalty on Mr. Holmes; because the decision was not unanimous, he was given the life sentences.
This week, dozens of victims rose to testify on how Mr. Holmes’s crimes had affected their lives. Arlene Holmes, his mother, also spoke, crying as she delivered an apology to the victims and their families. She said that she knew her son felt remorse, but that his medications and mental illness made it difficult for him to convey.
Mr. Holmes’s lawyers said they would let the verdict stand and would not file appeals.
In the prelude to issuing his sentence, Judge Samour mentioned a woman who had testified that she wanted Mr. Holmes to feel the same pain she did. “I completely understand why she feels that way,” he said. “But we can’t do that. Why? We’re a civilized society. If we subscribe to the ‘eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth’ philosophy, we would be no different than the criminal.” A Canadian County criminal lawyer is following this story closely.
Judge Samour took issue with those who had called the trial a waste of time, citing some of the people whose testimony had brought humanity to the dead: the mothers of Alexander Teves, Jessica Ghawi, A. J. Boik, and Jesse Childress; a daughter of Gordon Cowden; and the ex-husband of Rebecca Wingo, who told the jury that “she was fearless and wild, yet cultured and intelligent.”
Showing posts with label death penalty. Show all posts
Showing posts with label death penalty. Show all posts
Thursday, August 27, 2015
Monday, June 25, 2012
Arkansas Kills Execution Law
Story first appeared in USA Today.
The Arkansas Supreme Court struck down the state's execution law Friday, but did not deem lethal injection or the death penalty unconstitutional.
Rather, in a split decision, it sided with 10 death row inmates who argued that the 2009 execution law violated part of the state's constitution that deals with separating the branches of government.
It is evident to this court that the Legislature has abdicated its responsibility and passed to the executive branch, in this case the (Arkansas Department of Correction), the unfettered discretion to determine all protocol and procedures, most notably the chemicals to be used, for a state execution.
Two justices dissented, arguing that the correction department's discretion is not "unfettered" because it is bound by federal and state constitutions that guard against cruel and unusual punishment.
In addition, Arkansas is left no method of carrying out the death penalty in cases where it has been lawfully imposed.
The 2009 law says death sentences are to be carried out by lethal injection of one or more chemicals that the director of the Department of Correction chooses. The law also says that in the event that the lethal injection section is found to be unconstitutional, death sentences will be carried out by electrocution.
That option doesn't seem likely. An Arkansas history museum has the state's two electric chairs in storage. And although Arkansas and eight other states authorize electrocution under certain circumstances, all use lethal injection as the primary method of execution, according to the Washington-based Death Penalty Information Center.
No one has been forced to have an electrocution for many years, so it immediately comes under scrutiny under the cruel and unusual.
Arkansas prisons spokeswoman Dina Tyler said there's no reason to revert to electrocution because lethal injection remains the state's method of execution. She said the state couldn't put anyone to death right now anyway because of the court's decision and a shortage of a lethal injection drug.
There are 40 death row inmates in Arkansas, but no pending executions. The state hasn't put anyone to death since 2005 and Friday's decision suggested it won't anytime soon.
They have to go back to the legislative drawing board and try to figure out how to do this differently. And that's going to take time because statutes will be debated and challenged and new appeals will be raised. That's just the nature of this punishment.
The legislative session begins in January. Gov. Mike Beebe said he doesn't plan to call a special session to address the court's ruling at this point.
The death penalty is still the law in Arkansas, but the Department of Correction now has no legal way to carry out an execution until a new statute is established.
The governor also said he hopes to have a proposed remedy in the next few months after meeting with the state's attorney general and legislative leaders.
Although Beebe has set several execution dates since he took office in 2007, courts have stopped all of them, including the death row inmate who brought the lawsuit against the state. About a week before Jack Harold Jones Jr. was scheduled to die on March 16, 2010, he sued the head of the correction department, challenging the state's 2009 execution law.
A court halted his death and nine other inmates later joined the suit, asking that the law be struck down.
Recently, though, Arkansas asked the state's high court to free up several executions it had halted because of this lawsuit.
Josh Lee, an attorney for some of the death row inmates who challenged the law, declined to comment Friday.
Arkansas adopted lethal injection as its method of capital punishment in 1983, and is one of 33 states — plus the federal government — that has the death penalty.
Joseph Cordi, an attorney for the state, told the state Supreme Court last week that he thought the state would fall back on the 1983 law if the court struck down the entire 2009 statute.
Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel's spokesman Aaron Sadler said they plan to meet with clients about how to move forward in light of the court's decision.
The Arkansas Supreme Court struck down the state's execution law Friday, but did not deem lethal injection or the death penalty unconstitutional.
Rather, in a split decision, it sided with 10 death row inmates who argued that the 2009 execution law violated part of the state's constitution that deals with separating the branches of government.
It is evident to this court that the Legislature has abdicated its responsibility and passed to the executive branch, in this case the (Arkansas Department of Correction), the unfettered discretion to determine all protocol and procedures, most notably the chemicals to be used, for a state execution.
Two justices dissented, arguing that the correction department's discretion is not "unfettered" because it is bound by federal and state constitutions that guard against cruel and unusual punishment.
In addition, Arkansas is left no method of carrying out the death penalty in cases where it has been lawfully imposed.
The 2009 law says death sentences are to be carried out by lethal injection of one or more chemicals that the director of the Department of Correction chooses. The law also says that in the event that the lethal injection section is found to be unconstitutional, death sentences will be carried out by electrocution.
That option doesn't seem likely. An Arkansas history museum has the state's two electric chairs in storage. And although Arkansas and eight other states authorize electrocution under certain circumstances, all use lethal injection as the primary method of execution, according to the Washington-based Death Penalty Information Center.
No one has been forced to have an electrocution for many years, so it immediately comes under scrutiny under the cruel and unusual.
Arkansas prisons spokeswoman Dina Tyler said there's no reason to revert to electrocution because lethal injection remains the state's method of execution. She said the state couldn't put anyone to death right now anyway because of the court's decision and a shortage of a lethal injection drug.
There are 40 death row inmates in Arkansas, but no pending executions. The state hasn't put anyone to death since 2005 and Friday's decision suggested it won't anytime soon.
They have to go back to the legislative drawing board and try to figure out how to do this differently. And that's going to take time because statutes will be debated and challenged and new appeals will be raised. That's just the nature of this punishment.
The legislative session begins in January. Gov. Mike Beebe said he doesn't plan to call a special session to address the court's ruling at this point.
The death penalty is still the law in Arkansas, but the Department of Correction now has no legal way to carry out an execution until a new statute is established.
The governor also said he hopes to have a proposed remedy in the next few months after meeting with the state's attorney general and legislative leaders.
Although Beebe has set several execution dates since he took office in 2007, courts have stopped all of them, including the death row inmate who brought the lawsuit against the state. About a week before Jack Harold Jones Jr. was scheduled to die on March 16, 2010, he sued the head of the correction department, challenging the state's 2009 execution law.
A court halted his death and nine other inmates later joined the suit, asking that the law be struck down.
Recently, though, Arkansas asked the state's high court to free up several executions it had halted because of this lawsuit.
Josh Lee, an attorney for some of the death row inmates who challenged the law, declined to comment Friday.
Arkansas adopted lethal injection as its method of capital punishment in 1983, and is one of 33 states — plus the federal government — that has the death penalty.
Joseph Cordi, an attorney for the state, told the state Supreme Court last week that he thought the state would fall back on the 1983 law if the court struck down the entire 2009 statute.
Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel's spokesman Aaron Sadler said they plan to meet with clients about how to move forward in light of the court's decision.
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