House lawmakers reject death penalty bill

House lawmakers reject death penalty bill

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2007/11/07/house_lawmakers_reject_death_penalty_bill/

November 7, 2007

BOSTON --House lawmakers overwhelmingly reject a bill to reinstate the death penalty in Massachusetts.

The 110-46 vote effectively kills any chance of the bill becoming law this session and reflects a growing opposition to the death penalty on Beacon Hill.

Supporters of the bill say the state should reserve the right to capital punishment in the most heinous cases where there is no doubt of guilt.

Critics say the death penalty is costly, immoral and used disproportionately against racial minorities. Gov. Patrick had promised to veto the measure.

The bill mirrors an earlier bill by former Gov. Romney to create a national death penalty "gold standard."

House lawmakers rejected Romney's bill by a by a 99-to-53 vote.

Perry Commutes Death Sentence

August 30, 2007

Perry Commutes Death Sentence

AUSTIN -- Gov. Rick Perry today commuted the death sentence of Kenneth Eugene Foster of San Antonio to life imprisonment after the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles (TBPP) recommended such action.

On May 6, 1997, Foster was sentenced to death for his role in the 1996 capital murder of Michael LaHood. Foster sought to have his death sentence commuted to a life sentence arguing that he did not shoot the victim, but merely drove the car in which that the actual killer was riding. In addition, Foster was tried along side the actual killer, Maurecio Brown, and the jury that convicted Foster also considered punishment for both him and his co-defendant in the same proceeding.

"After carefully considering the facts of this case, along with the recommendations from the Board of Pardons and Paroles, I believe the right and just decision is to commute Foster's sentence from the death penalty to life imprisonment," Gov. Perry said. "I am concerned about Texas law that allows capital murder defendants to be tried simultaneously, and it is an issue I think the legislature should examine."

The TBPP voted 6-1 to recommend commutation, and the governor signed the commutation papers Thursday morning.

The governor's action means Foster's sentence will be commuted to life imprisonment as soon as the Texas Department of Criminal Justice can process this change.

Foster Transferred Clandestinely

Haramia KiNassor/Kenneth Foster, Jr. Transferred Clandestinely
By Walidah Imarisha

The indignities in Haramia KiNassor/Kenneth Foster, Jr.’s case climbs as KiNassor was transferred to Huntsville Prison, aka the Walls, where the executions take place. Death row Inmates are usually transferred to Huntsville at noon the day of their execution. But because KiNassor has been deemed a “security threat,” he was transferred early, without prior notice to him or his family and supporters. In fact, it was through unofficial channels that his family found out about the transfer; otherwise they would have showed up at the Polunsky Unit for their last visit with him as usual.

At first, it was unclear whether or not KiNassor’s family and supporters would be able to visit him tomorrow, but his father received a call from the administration saying they would be allowed to visit at Huntsville, which is 45 miles from Livingston, where everyone is staying. Visiting starts at 8 am.

This clandestine transfer comes at a time when KiNassor’s supporters are still awaiting word back from the Board of Pardons and Paroles (He also still has an emergency appeal before the U.S. Supreme Court). It was originally thought a positive sign that they had not responded. Usually, the Board summarily denies an appeal by 1 p.m. The fact that they chose not to give a response today, and to wait until tomorrow, was taken to mean they were intensely discussing this situation.

But in light of this transfer, there is a new theory: that perhaps the Board of Pardons and Paroles has not responded to delay the response of KiNassor’s supporters, both inside and outside the walls.

The DRIVE Movement, which KiNassor helped to found, is an organization of death row inmates who engage in non violent civil disobedience to protest the inhumanity of the death penalty. KiNassor is one of the spokespeople and prison authorities are apparently very nervous that the execution of an innocent man who has organized so tirelessly against the death penalty will spark a protest in the prison they will not be able to control.

At this point, the officials’ motivations are all speculation.

What is known is that the same day KiNassor was being called a “security threat” and transferred to Huntsville, 16 Texas state representatives encouraged Governor Rick Perry, collectively and individually, to grant him clemency. They joined the ranks of thousands of people around the globe calling for KiNassor’s clemency, including South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter.

What is also known is that KiNassor’s death is scheduled to be the third one this week. First was Deroyce Mosley, with John Amador being executed today at 6:20 p.m.

KiNassor’s supporters are asking everyone to act now, to organize all out right now without waiting for a response as the hours slip away, and pressure Governor Perry for a stay. Perry has the power to veto the Board of Pardons and Paroles’ decision, regardless of what it is.

Perry’s contact information is:
Gov. Rick Perry:
Phone (512) 463-1782
Fax (512) 463-1849

Protests

Austin, Thursday, August 30, 5:00 PM, Governor's Mansion (Lavaca at 11th)?EXECUTION PROTEST AND VIGIL?Even in the eleventh hour things could turn for Kenneth. If you can't make it to Huntsville, come out to stand with others against the execution.

Thursday, August 30:
3pm-7pm: Protest the execution of Kenneth Foster Jr .outside the Ellis Unit in Huntsville Texas. Groups from all over the state will converge to stand against this injustice and demand until the very end that the State of Texas do the right thing and stop this execution.

Help Stop The Execution Of Kenneth Foster!

The State of Texas plans to execute Kenneth Foster, Jr, TODAY for the 1996 murder of Michael LaHood, Jr, although the state agrees that he didn't kill anyone. We are told that the Death
Penalty is reserved for "the worst of the worst", so how is this possible?

In Texas, the "Law of Parties" allows the state to hold everyone involved in a crime legally responsible for the actions of every other person involved in the crime. The actual killer was riding in a car driven by Kenneth Foster. He got out of the car to talk to a young women, got in an argument with her boyfriend, and shot the man. Kenneth had remained in the car 80 feet away with the radio on and the windows rolled up. The shooter testified that Foster couldn't have known that he had a gun when he left the car. But Kenneth Foster was a poor young black man with an inexperienced attorney, and he didn't stand a chance in a Texas courtroom.

Texas has just executed its 400th person since 1982. The case of Kenneth Foster, Jr--a black man sent to death row for driving a car--is testament to how rotten Texas' death machinery really is.

PLEASE ACT TO STOP THIS INJUSTICE

CALL ON GOV. RICK PERRY TO GRANT CLEMENCY FOR KENNETH FOSTER
Phone 512-463-1782
(You can just leave a message on a recording)
FAX a letter to 512-463-1849
DO IT TODAY !

INFORM YOURSELF
For more information on what you can do to help Kenneth and on the struggle of Texas death row prisoners against executions and rotten conditions, go to: www.freekenneth.com or www.drivemovement.org.

Lethal injection is excruciating, study says

April 24, 2007

A new medical study alleging that lethal injection can cause slow, painful death was timely but possibly terrifying news for condemned killer James J. Filiaggi.

As Filiaggi, 41, awaited his execution last night in a cell yards away from the death chamber at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility near Lucasville, a medical review concluded that lethal injection could result in slow death, possibly by suffocation, while inmates are conscious but unable to move.

Barring last minute legal intervention, Filiaggi will be lethally injected at 10 a.m. today. He was convicted and sentenced to death for murdering his ex-wife, Lisa Huff Filiaggi, on Jan. 24, 1994. He chased her to a neighbor's house where he used 9 mm Luger pistol to fatally shoot her in the shoulder and head.

Gov. Ted Strickland, in what may have been Filiaggi's last chance to avoid execution, denied a reprieve last night. Filiaggi's attorneys asked for more time to pursue litigation challenging lethal injection.

He would become the first man executed in Ohio this year, as well as the first under Strickland's administration, and the 25th to die since Ohio resumed capital punishment in 1999. Strickland rejected clemency for Filiaggi last week, which was the unanimous recommendation of the Ohio
Parole Board.

The study was done by the Public Library of Science, an online medical journal. The organization includes heavy hitters from medicine and science, including Harold Varmus, a former director of the National Institutes of Health, a co-recipient of a Nobel prize, and president and chief executive officer of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

The team, which admitted its opposition to capital punishment, reviewed dozens of executions from North Carolina and California, plus others in Florida and Virginia. They considered the weight of prisoners, the amount of chemicals administered and the time it took them to die.

"The person would feel either asphyxiation or the burning sensation associated with the potassium, something like being put on fire," said Dr. Leonidas Koniaris, a surgeon at the University of Miami and co-author of the study.

"You wouldn't be able to use this protocol to kill a pig at the University of Miami" without more proof that it worked as intended, said Teresa Zimmers, a biologist and the study leader.

The major problem, the study concluded, was that all 37 states, including Ohio, that rely on lethal injection use the same doses of the deadly three-chemical cocktail for all prisoners, regardless of size and weight.

Filiaggi waived legal appeals to hasten his execution, but changed his mind late last week, touching off a furious 96-hour legal fight.

His attorneys fought and lost on several fronts yesterday.

First, the Ohio Supreme Court voted 5-2 against his request to stop the execution. The U.S. District Court later turned down Filiaggi's motion to be allowed to join other condemned men in a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of lethal injection.

A three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also turned down his appeal last night.

Jeff Gamso, Filiaggi's attorney, argued that lethal injection would, in effect, mean his client was "tortured to death."

State officials say the process is reliable and legal.

However, 11 of 37 states have either put lethal injection on hold or are studying its usage.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.
ajohnson@dispatch.com