Terminally ill Siebert seeks stay of execut

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Oct. 13, 2007

By JAY REEVES
Associated Press

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — A quadruple murderer with terminal cancer has asked courts to block his execution this month, arguing that the chemicals that would be used to kill him could interact with his medication and cause undue pain.

Daniel Lee Siebert, 53, also is challenging lethal injection as cruel and unusual punishment even without the alleged pain from the chemical mix.

Siebert has had pancreatic cancer since at least June, according to court documents. That form of cancer can spread quickly and cause death within weeks.

Siebert refused treatment for the cancer and is receiving only pain medication, said Clay Crenshaw, an assistant attorney general. The inmate has signed papers to waive resuscitation or other efforts to prolong his life as his condition worsens, Crenshaw said.

"He will die in a matter of months no matter what happens at the end of this month," Crenshaw said.

A federal judge gave the state until the close of business Friday to reveal whether it plans to go through with the execution. The attorney general's office informed the judge that Gov. Bob Riley had not decided whether to grant a stay.

"The governor, I guess, can withhold a decision until the day of the execution," Crenshaw said.

Riley issued a stay last month for Tommy Arthur to allow time for new lethal injection procedures to be put in place in Alabama. The Supreme Court has agreed to review Kentucky's execution procedures, which are similar to those used in Alabama and many other states.

Siebert's execution is set for Oct. 25. His attorneys did not immediately return messages seeking comment.

Siebert was sentenced to death in two separate cases involving four murders.

Sherri Weathers, a 24-year-old student at the state's school for the deaf in Talladega, was strangled along with her two sons, 4-year-old Joey and 5-year-old Chad, on Feb. 19, 1986. Siebert and Weathers had been dating.

Siebert, an art teacher, also was convicted in the death of Linda Jarman, a neighbor of Weathers, who was killed the same night.

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The Birmingham News on Daniel Siebert:


The case of Daniel Lee Siebert illustrates the absurdities of capital punishment in Alabama.

Gov. Bob Riley has ample reason to put off the execution of convicted killer Daniel Lee Siebert.

Siebert is scheduled to be put to death Oct. 25 — that is, if pancreatic cancer doesn't kill him first. True story.

Nobody disputes that Siebert is in the latter stages of cancer. Nobody disputes that he will be dead within a matter of months, if not weeks. Yet, Riley has not decided whether to continue with plans to execute Siebert for the 1986 murder of 24-year-old Sherri Weathers, her two young children and her neighbor.

Siebert argues that the substances used in lethal injection might interact with his pain medication and cause him undue suffering. It's a weird argument, for sure. Then again, there's something absurd about the state of Alabama executing a man who is about to die anyway.

Siebert's sickness isn't the only reason for Riley to postpone this execution. The larger reason is an ongoing debate about lethal injection. No execution should be carried out while the issue is unsettled and is, in fact, pending in courts — including an active lethal injection challenge in Alabama as well as a Kentucky case that is going to be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The hearing before the nation's highest court is the culmination of a growing chorus of concerns about what was supposed to be a humane way to kill prisoners. After lethal injections went terribly wrong in places such as Florida and Ohio, a number of states began to review their execution procedures. Questions have been raised not just about the combination of chemicals used to put people to death but about the qualifications of those who administer the drugs.

The key question is whether the traditional protocol for lethal injections might allow inmates to feel pain and suffer an unconstitutionally cruel death.

Even though prosecutors have defended Alabama's procedures, the state decided to add extra precautionary steps anyway to ensure inmates are properly anesthetized before drugs are injected to kill them.

Last month, Riley opted to put off another inmate's execution to allow time for the new procedures to be put in place. (Riley needs to go the extra mile in that case and order DNA tests, too.)

In the meantime, the governor should call a halt to Siebert's execution and let him die on God's timetable.