Post by gellibee on Jul 27, 2006 7:15:39 GMT -5
Judge's decision postpones execution
Official: State must answer to constitutionality, cruelty charges
By SEAN O'SULLIVAN; The News Journal
07/25/2006
WILMINGTON -- Delaware's death penalty is on an unofficial and indefinite hold after a federal judge Monday accepted an inmate's civil case that raises constitutional questions about how it is carried out.
During a brief telephone meeting, Chief District Judge Sue L. Robinson ordered state officials to respond to a lawsuit filed by convicted ax murderer Robert W. Jackson III by Sept. 24.
This means that Jackson's execution, previously set for May 19, is on hold while the lawsuit works its way through the federal court system.
And because the legal action presents new challenges for Delaware's execution methods -- specifically that it is cruel, unusual and unconstitutional -- no other inmate is likely to be executed until Jackson's case is resolved.
"That is a fair assumption," said Kevin J. O'Connell of the state Public Defender's Office.
Jackson's attorney agreed.
"No one else is going to be leapfrogged in front of Jackson until this question, fundamental to every capital case in Delaware, plays out," said Thomas A. Foley. "Everyone agrees this needs to be litigated."
Foley said it is difficult to estimate how long it will take for the case to be resolved, and by extension, how long Jackson's possible execution could be delayed.
"The best word is indefinite," he added.
Meanwhile, Deputy Attorney General Loren C. Meyers said it is "premature" to say that Jackson's case has stopped all executions in Delaware because no other inmate is scheduled for execution in the next several months.
Jackson, 33, was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1992 ax murder of 47-year-old Elizabeth Girardi during a burglary of her Hockessin home.
Girardi's son, Christopher, said Monday he was disappointed by the ongoing delay.
"My mother didn't get any appeals on the way she died," he said. "Why are we extending this privilege to a killer -- a murderer? Why do we as a society empathize with these people? It turns my stomach."
Monday's outcome has been expected since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that inmates could raise constitutional questions about lethal injection in federal court.
Jackson's lawsuit was filed May 8, less than two weeks before his scheduled execution. At that time, Robinson issued a preliminary injunction blocking Jackson's execution awaiting the June ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court.
On Monday, attorneys said that order will now remain in effect until the case is resolved.
In Jackson's lawsuit, and similar lawsuits in other states, attorneys have raised questions about the chemicals used in lethal injections and the training of people who carry them out.
They allege that instead of quick and humane death, prisoners die a slow, lingering death by suffocation. In Jackson's case, attorneys cited a recent Ohio execution in which it took 90 minutes for an inmate to die.
And in Delaware, there appeared to be problems with the November execution of convicted killer Brian Steckel.
Supposed to be instant death
Lethal injection is supposed to be nearly instantaneous, but Steckel lingered for 12 minutes, talking with family and friends, and at one point expressing surprise to prison officials that it was taking so long.
And at the end of 12 minutes, Steckel snorted and visibly convulsed in his restraints before he was declared dead, something death penalty experts said was unusual.
Prison officials, however, denied that anything went wrong and said it took 12 minutes because the warden gave Steckel more time to speak.
Possible class action suit
Delaware officials declined to provide The News Journal and Jackson's attorneys details on protocols that are followed during an execution or training for executioners.
Jackson's attorneys -- including the Federal Community Defender's Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania -- are considering turning his case into a class action suit. That change could then formally extend the freeze on the death penalty to all inmates facing execution in Delaware.
At least four other states -- California, New Jersey, Florida and
Missouri -- have put all executions on hold while courts deal with questions about lethal injection, according to the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington.
Official: State must answer to constitutionality, cruelty charges
By SEAN O'SULLIVAN; The News Journal
07/25/2006
WILMINGTON -- Delaware's death penalty is on an unofficial and indefinite hold after a federal judge Monday accepted an inmate's civil case that raises constitutional questions about how it is carried out.
During a brief telephone meeting, Chief District Judge Sue L. Robinson ordered state officials to respond to a lawsuit filed by convicted ax murderer Robert W. Jackson III by Sept. 24.
This means that Jackson's execution, previously set for May 19, is on hold while the lawsuit works its way through the federal court system.
And because the legal action presents new challenges for Delaware's execution methods -- specifically that it is cruel, unusual and unconstitutional -- no other inmate is likely to be executed until Jackson's case is resolved.
"That is a fair assumption," said Kevin J. O'Connell of the state Public Defender's Office.
Jackson's attorney agreed.
"No one else is going to be leapfrogged in front of Jackson until this question, fundamental to every capital case in Delaware, plays out," said Thomas A. Foley. "Everyone agrees this needs to be litigated."
Foley said it is difficult to estimate how long it will take for the case to be resolved, and by extension, how long Jackson's possible execution could be delayed.
"The best word is indefinite," he added.
Meanwhile, Deputy Attorney General Loren C. Meyers said it is "premature" to say that Jackson's case has stopped all executions in Delaware because no other inmate is scheduled for execution in the next several months.
Jackson, 33, was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1992 ax murder of 47-year-old Elizabeth Girardi during a burglary of her Hockessin home.
Girardi's son, Christopher, said Monday he was disappointed by the ongoing delay.
"My mother didn't get any appeals on the way she died," he said. "Why are we extending this privilege to a killer -- a murderer? Why do we as a society empathize with these people? It turns my stomach."
Monday's outcome has been expected since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that inmates could raise constitutional questions about lethal injection in federal court.
Jackson's lawsuit was filed May 8, less than two weeks before his scheduled execution. At that time, Robinson issued a preliminary injunction blocking Jackson's execution awaiting the June ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court.
On Monday, attorneys said that order will now remain in effect until the case is resolved.
In Jackson's lawsuit, and similar lawsuits in other states, attorneys have raised questions about the chemicals used in lethal injections and the training of people who carry them out.
They allege that instead of quick and humane death, prisoners die a slow, lingering death by suffocation. In Jackson's case, attorneys cited a recent Ohio execution in which it took 90 minutes for an inmate to die.
And in Delaware, there appeared to be problems with the November execution of convicted killer Brian Steckel.
Supposed to be instant death
Lethal injection is supposed to be nearly instantaneous, but Steckel lingered for 12 minutes, talking with family and friends, and at one point expressing surprise to prison officials that it was taking so long.
And at the end of 12 minutes, Steckel snorted and visibly convulsed in his restraints before he was declared dead, something death penalty experts said was unusual.
Prison officials, however, denied that anything went wrong and said it took 12 minutes because the warden gave Steckel more time to speak.
Possible class action suit
Delaware officials declined to provide The News Journal and Jackson's attorneys details on protocols that are followed during an execution or training for executioners.
Jackson's attorneys -- including the Federal Community Defender's Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania -- are considering turning his case into a class action suit. That change could then formally extend the freeze on the death penalty to all inmates facing execution in Delaware.
At least four other states -- California, New Jersey, Florida and
Missouri -- have put all executions on hold while courts deal with questions about lethal injection, according to the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington.