1978, When He Was 27, Manuel Valle Killed a Police Officer in Coral Gables, Flori Da
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CJ CJ ....::t • ....::t 0 N r:: U November 2 r,. 20 ( I Issue [0 1978, when he was 27, Manuel Valle killed a police officer in Coral Gables, Flori da. In September, when he was 61, Mr. Valle was put to death for his crimes. Shortly before his execution, the Supreme Court refused to stay his execution - with one dissent. Justice Stephen Breyer wrote that the 33 years Mr. Valle spent on death row amounted to cruel and unusual punishment. "I have little doubt about the cruelty of so long a period of incarceration under sentence of death," Breyer wrote. "The commonly accepted justifications for the death penalty are close to nonexistent in a case such as this one. It is difficult to imagine how an execution following such a long period of incarceration could add significantly to that punishment's deterrent value." His dissent then addressed the variety of reasons for Valle's unusual delay, raising questions about current legal procedures 'and the death penalty. "It might be ar gued that Valle, not the State, is responsible for the delays. But Valle replies that more than two decades of delay reflect the State's failure to provide the kind of trial and penalty procedures that the law requires .... It might also be argued that it is not so much the State as it is the numerous procedures that the law demands. But this kind of argument does not automatically justify execution in this case. Ra ther the argument may point to a more basic difficulty, namely the difficulty of rec onciling the imposition of the death penalty as is currently administered with pro- cedures necessary to assure that the wrong person is not executed." Justice Breyer's dissent reflects valid concerns that the current procedures re quired in death penalty cases need reform. According to a study conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, approximately I 13 prison ers out of 3,173 have been under the sentence of death for more than 29 years. In Oklahoma, there are currently four death row inmates that have been on death row for over 20 years and four others who are not far behind. In 1983, Sammy VanWoundenberg was convicted of participating in the murder of fellow inmate, Mark Allen Berry, while he was serving a life sentence for another murder conviction. His conviction and sentence have repeatedly been affirmed by state, district, and federal courts. His last appeal was denied in 2000. Currently, he has no pending appeals and there is no scheduled execution date. In 1984, Richard Rojem, Jr. was convicted of kidnapping, raping, and murdering seven-year-old Layla Cummings. He was resentenced to death twice. In 2009, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed his second death sentence. Continued on next page ...... Page 2 Capital Commentary Currently, Rojem has an appeal pending in the United States Western District Court of Oklahoma. In 1988, Kenneth Hogan was convicted of the murder of Lisa Stanley. In 1999, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals sent his case back for retrial. In his subsequent trial, he was again reconvicted and sentenced to death. In 2006, the CCA affirmed his second conviction and sentence. Currently, Hogan has an appeal pending in the United States Western District Court of Oklahoma. And finally, in 1988, Victor Hooks was convicted of the murder of his girlfriend, Virginia Plumley. His appeals have been repeatedly denied, his latest in 2010 by the Western District Court of Okla~ homa. Currently, he has an appeal pending in the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. So who is to blame for the delay in the imposition of these inmate's sentences? Perhaps it is the system that is dysfunctional. In a tug of war, in February, 20 I I the Obama administration quietly withdrew regulations by President George W. Bush's Justice Department that would have helped states put their death penalty cases on a fast track in federal courts. The change, authorized by Congress in 1996 but never implemented, was intended to compress a federal review process that can last anywhere from two years to a, decade or more. Fast-track rules would not have changed federal courts' standards for reviewing capital cases. It would have allowed states to speed up fed eral review of death sentences if they had adequate procedures for appointing and paying lawyers to represent condemned prisoners. Prisoners in those states would have had six months, half their current deadline, to file a federal appeal known as a writ of habeas corpus, which typically includes claims of incompetent legal representation, jury misconduct or newly discovered evidence. Federal judges then would have had 15 months to rule, and a federal appeals court would have had a four- month deadline after receiving all written arguments. Obviously, these changes would have shortened the appeals time without lowering the standard of review. However, these time limitations have now been cast aside, leaving case like Manual Valle to languish in the judicial process. Additionally, the demise of the fast track regulations has left the system open to criticism by many, including the Supreme Court. Strongly Don't Know No Reply - Against 4% Somewhat - __~ Against 4% Oklahotnans & Capital Punishtnent 2010 Crime Victimization Survey, Oklahoma Statistical Analysis Center, OS81, Released August 2011 Page 3 Texas Ends Last Meal Requests on Death Row On September 21, Lawrence Brewer ordered his last meal. It consisted of two chicken fried steaks smothered in gravy, a triple-meat bacon cheeseburg er, a cheese omelet, fried okra, three fajitas, a pint of ice cream, a pound of barbeque with half a loaf of white bread, a slab of peanut butter fudge, a pizza, and three root beers. And after the meal was served, Brewer refused to eat it. Outraged, Senator john Whitmire said "enough is Over Meal Preparation enough" and asked the state to stop special last meal Columb.us, OH - A federal law·suit filed request. In response, the Department of Criminal 'by a Muslim , death row inma,te claims the justice, said in a statement, "effective immediately, ,Ohio prison system is d_ernyifilg " ~im meals no such accommodations will be made. Inmates will prepared according to Islam'ic law While now receive the same meal served to the other of a·t the same time pro~. iding kosher meals fenders on the unit." ,to j,ewish prisoners. Th,e lawsuit alleges FormerTexas Inmate the system's failur~ to provide hala,lmeals Offers to Cool< Last Meals is a civil right's vielat ion because it is a for Free restraint on his religious freedoms. A former Texas inmate who cooked the final meals for hun Ohio has argued that given" the currerlt dreds of condemned prisoners has budget situation, it is not fin.ancially plau-, offered to start cooking last meals sible to prepare specia! meals. In Califor for no charge now that state officials have ended the nia, about 4, I 00 halal fTleals are served at' practice of allowing special last request. a cost of $'3.50 per day, compared' ;.vith r about $2.90 per day for regular meals. Brian Price, who wrote the cookbook "Meals to Die For," based on his former duties, said the move by officials was "cold-hearted." The Department of Criminal justice called Price's proposal a "kind offer" but rejected it stating that "it's not the cost but ra ther the concept they are trying to move away from." Page 4 Race and the Death Penalty African Americans Illegally Barred From Serving on Juries Sue Alabama Prosecutor Over' Racial Discrimination · -~~---'- The Equal Justice Initiative has filed a civil rights lawsuit contending that District Attorney Douglas Valeska has illegally excluded qualified African Americans from serving on juries in serious felony cases, especially capital cases, for decades. The plaintiffs are five African Americans .who state courts previously found were illegally excluded from jury service because they are black. The law- suit seeks declaratory and injunctive relief. The complaint alleges that, from 2006-20 10, state prosecutors used peremptory strikes to exclude 82% of qualified black jurors in death penalty cases. As a result, the jury in every death penalty case in Houston county, Alabama, over this period has been all white or had only a Single black juror despite the fact that the circuit is nearly 25% African American. Houston County has the highest per capita death sentencing rate in Alabama. It is believed that this is the first-ever civil lawsuit di rected at a prosecutor's raCially discriminatory use of peremptory strikes and filed by actual victims of the discrimination. Retrieved October 24,20 II from Equal Justice Initiative, www.eji.org. Supreme Court Declines Review of Racially Biased Testimony in Texas Death Row Inmate's Case On November 7, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to grant re v,iew to Texas 'inmate Duane Buck. Buck'fatally shot bis girlfrielld and. ano~her man irt 1995. Buck's guilt wacs never challerilged, how ever, Buck sOlJlght a new sentencing trial because of testimony during his sentertcing phase that s~ggesting he posed a greater dali1- ger to sodety because he is black. Durililg his trial, a psychologist told the court that Buck's race in creased the likelihood of futur;e dangerousness. Three of the Jus tice.s on the Court (Alito; Scalia and Breyer), which had granted Buck a stay just before his scheduled execution on September 15, said his case was different from other similar cases where relief was granted b~cause it was Buck's defense attorney who was responsible for eliciting the offensive testimony.