Have you guys heard of the Australian movie "Ghosts of the Civil Dead"? It's not death penalty relevant but the prison privatisation stuff reminded me of it. Just watched 5 mins of it on youtube. I haven't seen it for 20 yrs & I guess I've gone soft since having kids because I'm feeling kind of weirdly sick. It was small budget & it looks kind of dated now but it's still pretty confronting & it was made when privatised prison services sounded like futuristic bullshit to most people. (you might recognise an underground Aussie rock star or 2 - think bad seeds, & that's Toe Cutter from MadMax at the start)
Some will be ok with it, but some DEFINITELY WON'T - SO DO NOT WATCH unless you are ok to see ...
NSFW. RACIST SHIT. EXTREME & BLOODY VIOLENCE(no sex scenes though, you'll need the full version )
Warren Hill execution stayed due to lethal drug law
http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-23323333
A death row inmate said to be mentally disabled has won a temporary reprieve in the state of Georgia over a lethal injection state law, a judge said.
Warren Hill's stay of execution was granted hours before he was due to die.
Prosecutors have changed their position on whether Warren Hill is mentally disabled
Hill's lawyers challenged a law banning information about the lethal drug's manufacturer from becoming public.
Hill was convicted of killing fellow inmate Joseph Handspike in 1990 while serving life for shooting dead his girlfriend Myra Wright, 18, in 1986.
Hill's lawyers are challenging the constitutionality of a new state law that keeps secret the identities of the lethal injection drug's manufacturer and of the physician who prescribes it.
Georgia has been forced to turn to an individual pharmacy for its lethal injection drug because European firms are refusing to supply their drugs to the US for use in capital punishment.
The state law was passed in Georgia in March, after the state's supply of sedatives expired.
This is the second time Hill's execution has been called off. He was given a temporary reprieve last year after his legal team argued he was mentally disabled.
Hill's lawyers filed documents saying the three doctors who evaluated the inmate 13 years ago - deeming him mentally fit at the time - have changed their opinions.
One doctor said his evaluation was very rushed, another said his earlier view was unreliable because of his lack of experience and a third doctor cited advances in the way mental handicaps are understood.
Hill's lawyers have appealed to the US Supreme Court on that issue.
His execution would be the 19th in the US this year.
Justice never seems fair at all. Especially to the victim.
The local story around here is about Clarence Elkins. Sentenced to LIFE for murder, rape and other things. It was a total BS case. He served 6 years before they found out who the real killer was.
The real killer, Earl Mann, admitted it was him, and he only got 55 years.
http://www.innocenceproject.org/Cont...nce_Elkins.php
That's what I don't understand about justice. Why is it not the same for everyone?
I understand that the state cuts "deals" with some to make their case.....but I've seen where there are more than one person involved-the evidence is all the same against both, but one always gets the deal. Just the other night watching the first 48 hrs....2 guys kill another guy. The one that actually did the shooting of the gun got less time than the one that didn't pull the trigger. How does that make sense to anybody?
I believe in the DP. I'm just not sure I believe in the justice system to be fair about it. The courts almost make "court" like a game of chess. It's all about who can check the other.
As blighted posted -Warren Hill execution stayed. Lots of controversy.
Many many murderers and death row prisoners show signs of diminished cognitive capabilities and traumatic brain injury. Makes sense, but is that reason to not go forward with the execution?
Quintanilla was executed.
Next up is Vaughn Ross...I think he has exhausted his appeals.
I just looked at that site you posted in the OP. There's only 3 scheduled executions for 2014?
And Ohio has a lot!
ETA: here's the story on Vaughn Ross, scheduled to die tomorrow
http://www.kcbd.com/story/22859205/v...ie-on-thursdayLUBBOCK, TX (KCBD) -
On Thursday, the man convicted of a brutal double murder is scheduled to die.
Back in 2001, Vaughn Ross shot and killed 53-year old Douglass Birdsall and 18-year old Viola Ross McVade. Now, after spending more than a decade on death row, Ross will meet his fate in Huntsville on Thursday.
On January 31, 2001, a mountain biker happened upon a gruesome sight on East Canyon Lakes Drive: two bodies in a car, shot multiple times. Twelve years later, Lubbock County District Attorney Matt Powell stands by the jury's decision.
"I always say, there's no doubt in my mind that Vaughn Ross is guilty of this crime," Powell said.
DNA on a latex glove found in Birdsall's car and a sweatshirt found in Ross' apartment were just two of the many exhibits that linked Ross to the murder. But why did Ross kill his girlfriend's sister and a Texas Tech Library dean? Witnesses testified that Ross had an ongoing dispute with McVade and that Birdsall was simply at the wrong place at the wrong time.
"He was doing something he shouldn't have been doing. Again, it didn't mean he deserved to die, but he had a habit of hanging out with young prostitutes and that's what got him killed in this case," Powell said.
A jury sentenced Ross to death in 2002 and he's been waiting for his fate ever since.
"He had his whole life ahead of him. Then you had two lives that were lost, so three lives that were lost," Powell said.
Powell says although he knows justice was served in this case, Vaughn Ross will surely be in the back of his mind come Thursday.
"You do think about it. You won't be consumed by it by any stretch of the imagination, but it's certainly no celebration. I didn't find any joy in it," Powell said.
Vaughn Ross will be the 501st inmate executed in the state of Texas. The execution is scheduled for 6 p.m. in Huntsville.
Last edited by M Joy; 07-17-2013 at 07:00 AM.
That entire scenario on him sounds so completely WTF
He shot the sister cause she was bothering him, calling the house? And the sister he was dating left when he said "leave so you arent involved"? What kind of life are these people living?
I still cant get over the pervy professor. His predilections were not mentioned in the majority of the articles on the case.
I have issues with someone in a position of trust having a thing for underage prostitutes
Not sure if anyone has mentioned the Joe Burrows case...
He was sentenced to death in Illinois for killing a farmer in the late 80s. Turns out it was a woman named Gayle Potter that actually committed the murder. She knew Joe Burrows had just gotten out of jail for some theft (never anything violent) so she threw his name out there. Joe didn't even really know Gayle - they just knew each other's names through people.
Despite several people backing Joe's alibi and absolutely no evidence whatsoever at the crime scene or otherwise, he was convicted. He was only released after Gayle finally got a conscience and testified that he was not there. Even with her confession, it was a long and tedious process to get him out. There's a book about it called Die Free: A True Story of Murder, Betrayal, and Miscarried Justice. I found it pretty interesting.
Joe Burrows was lucky and managed to get off death row, but just him getting there in the first place is WTF. How many innocent people are not so lucky?
You can only do so much to 'prove' a negative though.
Yep, I read it on my Kindle. I think it was a special free one when I got it but it's only $3 now http://www.amazon.com/Die-Free-Betra...tory+of+murder
Last edited by holly; 07-17-2013 at 12:27 PM.
I wonder what that inmate goes thru when it's like right up to a few hours before a scheduled execution and then they stop the process? Like, how emotionally tormenting is that? Im not really caring of their issues but I wo wonder what that must feel like.
Also, I want to know when someone commits a murder and they go on trial, convicted and say there was no mention of mental illness, does the defense rush to the last appeal and say 'OMG NO HE IS MENTALLY ILL'.
How does that work? Like no mental illness brought up until execution dates?
Jodi Arias hasn't even been sentenced yet and her defense team is crying "mentally ill" now that she's been convicted. During their case they fought tooth and nail to prove that she had PTSD and was a battered woman.
But they're trying to guilt the state for pursuing the death penalty because she's a little mentally ill flower now.
That's the most fucked up to me. Them knowing it's coming and just waiting, then forcing themselves to take the steps to the chamber (if they're not granted clemency of course). I don't know how they do it.
In addition to the possibility of innocent people being murdered, this psychological fuck further convinces me that it's just wrong. Eye for an eye - ugh... I just don't think it's right.
I admit I really don't know how I feel about executions. What gets me heated is when little kids are killed, well anyone really but kids, elderly people, etc.
If I knew without a doubt that the person in line for execution was totally guilty I wouldnt have a problem with eye for an eye. It's the cases where you just don't know for sure that get me.
I'm really torn about this topic.
Knowing some of the shit that people have done to others makes we agree to having the DP.
But knowing how it's used (sometimes a decade or more later) and how many people are wrongfully convicted, makes me not agree to it.
Maybe it should only be sought under cases where the person admits to his/her crimes, or where there's absolutely no doubt that this person is at fault for their crimes (such as gross extremes of child abuse, etc..) But where do you draw the line? "Beyond reasonable doubt" obviously has failed our system in more than one occasion...
And the amount of tax dollars spent on people who sit on death row for 10+years is a whole other issue....
It's just a lot to study. Perhaps death penalties should be removed from individual state law and made a federal matter, since a persons life is at risk. Our system is very broken with this matter, and it seems like it's of no priority to be fixed.
Today is Vaughn Ross' last day
Though this is from an article published today:
HUNTSVILLE, Texas -- The U.S. Supreme Court is considering an appeal to block the execution of a former Texas Tech graduate student convicted of a 2001 double slaying in Lubbock.Vaughn Ross is to die Thursday evening in Huntsville for the fatal shooting of a university dean and an 18-year-old woman who was with him in a car.
Ross' attorneys say lawyers at his trial and in earlier stages of his appeals were deficient and his case should be reviewed. - See more at: http://everythinglubbock.com/fulltex....zgCOhvcv.dpufhttp://everythinglubbock.com/fulltext?nxd_id=204112The execution would be the second this week and 10th this year in Texas
A lot of people side eye me when they hear my stance on the death penalty, especially if they know my circumstance. My mom was murdered when I was 12 and it's not that I don't wish the motherfucker that took her life was dead, it's just that my sense of justice is not worth one innocent person being murdered by the system. I can't support it when it's not foolproof.
And the fact that there are people who willingly take on the job of administering the drugs that kill people or flip the switch, etc. is so fucked up to me.
I guess this belongs here?
http://www.theguardian.com/world/201...-slagle-hanged
Monday 5 August 2013 01.16 EST Death row inmate found hanged in Ohio prison days before execution date
Billy Slagle was due to be put to death Wednesday, despite prosecutor's rare plea for clemency
A man who was condemned to death for fatally stabbing a neighbor during a Cleveland burglary was found hanged in his cell on Sunday. He was due to be executed on Wednesday.
Billy Slagle, 44, was found hanging in his cell at about 5am, at the Chillicothe Correctional Institution south of Columbus, prison spokeswoman JoEllen Smith said. He was declared dead within the hour. No other details were immediately provided.
Slagle was sentenced to die for the 1987 stabbing of Mari Anne Pope, who was killed while two young children she was watching were in the house. In a rare move, the prosecutor in Cleveland asked the Ohio parole board to spare Slagle. The Cuyahoga County prosecutor, Tim McGinty, said jurors today, with the option of life without parole, would be unlikely to sentence Slagle to death.
The parole board and Governor John Kasich both rejected mercy for Slagle.
Last week, Slagle's attorney argued that a jury never got the chance to hear the full details of his troubled childhood. The attorneys, arguing for a new trial and to delay his execution, said that information met requirements for asking for a new trial, which normally must happen within four months of a conviction.
Slagle was "unavoidably prevented" from filing his request because his original attorneys didn't develop and present the evidence, the filing said.
McGinty and Slagle's attorneys had cited his age – at 18, he was barely old enough for execution in Ohio – and his history of alcohol and drug addiction.
this guy should have never been sentenced to death, if you ask me. this is exactly what i'm talking about - the system is very subjective when doling out the punishment. an 18 year old guy who is drunk and high and kills one person during a burglary?
no one can tell me that this guy was damaged beyond repair.
i take that back - let's start killing everyone who kills at least one person while they are impaired. that way the system is fairly distributing justice. then i'll be happy!
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