May 20, 2013

States’ executions likely on hold until new drug can be found

The drug that’s given to inmates to put them out before they’re put to death has likely been used for the last time. Like Missouri, Texas uses sodium thiopental in executions. Timothy Wayne Adams died by lethal injection last night in Huntsville, Texas. He was executed for shooting his toddler point blank, for which he said he did to get back at his wife, who was leaving him. He says his intention was to shoot himself next.

It’s likely the last time in the United States the drug will be used an any executions.

Sodium thiopental renders the inmate unconcious as the first phase in the lethal injection process. Two subsequent injections stop the breathing and then the heart. However, Illinois-based drug company Hospira stopped marketing sodium thiopental and current supplies expire in March, leaving prison systems in a bind.

Jason Clark with the Department of Criminal Justice in Texas he’s confident his state will continue to carry out executions.

“At this time, we’re exploring all of our options including finding an alternate source for sodium thiopental, as well as finding an alternate drug to use.”

[Read more...]

Link executed for kidnap, rape, murder of 11-year-old Elissa Self-Braun

Martin Link died at the Bonne Terre prison at 12:15 a.m.

“The state says killing is wrong,” he said in his final statement. “So why do they do it? For revenge. Where is the closure? There is none. The death penalty is a act of revenge. Many men sit on death row. Some innocent and some not. So what happens when a man is executed and it’s later learned he was in fact innocent. He can’t be brought back.”

Before the execution, three reporters, the man who prosecuted Link for the crimes against Elissa Self-Braun in 1991, the detectives, sheriff and officer who handled the case waited to be taken to the execution chamber.

Detective Mike Flaherty talks about how it all started: “When the car was recovered, it was impounded by Kirkwood Police, for whatever reason, they removed a jar of vaseline from his car and put it in a ziploc bag. There was this 11-year-old girl, the implications were pretty obvious. We were looking at them right after the incident with the little girl. He had checked into a hotel at DeLoge, got his muffler fixed the next day. We were talking to his dad and he said they used to put in (on family float trips) right where we found her body.”

[Read more...]

American maker will no longer produce key execution drug

A key drug used by the state of Missouri in executions will no longer be made by its only domestic manufacturer.

Hospira has announced it will no longer make sodium thiopental, an anesthetic used in Missouri as one of three drugs administered as the deadly cocktail in lethal injections. Hospira had considered moving production of the drug to Italy, which outlaws capital punishment. Italy has suggested it might sue the company if the drug is used in executions. The Wall Street Journal reports the action comes as anti-death penalty activists ratchet up pressure on pharmaceutical companies which make drugs used in lethal injections.

Nixon talks about why he commuted Clay’s death sentence

Governor Nixon talks in general terms about why he commuted condemned prisoner Richard Clay’s sentence from death to life without parole earlier this week. He said several things went into his decision including the inolvement of other people in the case and what he called “some issues” in the court case against Clay.

But he says the role of his former assistant attorney general, Kenny Hulshof, in the case had nothing to do with his decision. Clay’s supporters say Hulshof’s involvement makes the case suspect because a court has ruled he he withheld evidence in a separate case. They’ve offered no proof of that and Hulshof does not comment.

Nixon denies his commutation of a death sentence earlier this week means he’s getting soft on the death penalty. Nixon wiped out Clay’s death sentence hours before Clay was to be executed. Clay will serve life without parole now.

Nixon notes 50 men were executed while he was Attorney General and one has been executed since he became Governor. Another execution is scheduled for next month. Nixon says he’ll evaluate that case on its merits.

Nixon commutes Clay’s death sentence to life in prison (AUDIO)

Gov. Nixon has commuted the death sentence of Richard Clay to life in prison.

Clay was to have been executed just after midnight Tuesday at the prison in Bonne Terre. It would have been the first execution in Missouri in 20 months. The last person to be executed in Missouri was Dennis Skillikorn in May of 2009.

Nixon issued a statement:

“After an exhaustive review, I am convinced of Richard Clay’s involvement in the senseless murder of Randy Martindale and find that the evidence clearly supports the jury’s verdict of murder in the first degree.

Having looked at this matter in its entirety and after significant thought and counsel, I have concluded, however, to exercise my constitutional authority and commute Richard Clay’s sentence to life without the possibility of parole. Richard Clay’s involvement in this crime is clear, and he must, and will, serve the remainder of his life behind bars for his role in this heinous act.”

Jennifer Herndon, Clay’s attorney, says Clay and his family were at first in disbelief once they heard the news and are now relieved with “an overwhelming sense of being grateful and happy.” [Read more...]