Death Penalty and the Right to Life
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The Final Chapter of the Troy Davis Case
Digital Commons @ Georgia Law Popular Media Faculty Scholarship 10-27-2010 The inF al Chapter of the Troy Davis Case Donald E. Wilkes Jr. University of Georgia School of Law, [email protected] Repository Citation Wilkes, Donald E. Jr., "The inF al Chapter of the Troy Davis Case" (2010). Popular Media. 89. https://digitalcommons.law.uga.edu/fac_pm/89 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty Scholarship at Digital Commons @ Georgia Law. It has been accepted for inclusion in Popular Media by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Georgia Law. Please share how you have benefited from this access For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE FINAL CHAPTER OF THE TROY DAVIS CASE Author: Donald E. Wilkes, Jr., Professor of Law, University of Georgia School of Law. Published in: Flagpole Magazine (October 27, 2010) (online edition). I shall ask for the abolition of the punishment of death until I have the infallibility of human judgment presented to me.–Marquis de Lafayette It is as much [the] duty [of a prosecutor] to refrain from improper methods calculated to produce a wrongful conviction as it is to use every legitimate means to bring about a just one.–U.S. Supreme Court Justice George Sutherland It is the general habit of the police never to admit to the slightest departure from correctness.–Patrick Devlin The Troy Davis case is one of the best known and most important Georgia criminal cases in history. The case is now a cause celebre all around the world. There is a Troy Davis website. -
The Truth About Physician Participation in Lethal Injection Executions*
THE TRUTH ABOUT PHYSICIAN PARTICIPATION IN LETHAL INJECTION EXECUTIONS* TY ALPER** Recent court rulings addressing the constitutionality of states' lethal injection procedures have taken as a given the faulty notion that doctors cannot and will not participate in executions. As a result, courts have dismissed the feasibility of a remedy requiring physician participation, and openly expressed suspicion of the motives of lawyers who would propose such a remedy. This Article exposes two myths that have come to dominate the capital punishment discourse: first, that requiring physician participationwould grind the administrationof the death penalty to a halt because doctors cannot participate; and second, that advocating for such a requirement is a disingenuous abolitionist strategy as opposed to a principled remedial argument. As this Article demonstrates through a review of available research and recent litigation, doctors can, are willing to, and in fact do regularly participatein executions, though often not in the manner necessary to ensure humane executions. Lawyers for death row inmates have argued that skilled anesthetic monitoring by trained medical professionals is a necessary component of a constitutional three-drug lethal injection protocol. In response, state officials have strategically emphasized the positions of national medical associations (the ethical guidelines of which are not binding on doctors) and exaggerated their inability to * © 2009 Ty Alper. ** Associate Director, Death Penalty Clinic, University of California, Berkeley, School of Law. Thanks for their criticism and advice to Ginger Anders, Eric Berger, Tess Bolder, Jeff Brand, Laura Burstein, Deborah Denno, Richard Dieter, Laurel Fletcher, Christopher Lasch, Megan McCracken, Alice Miller, Jennifer Moreno, Erin Murphy, Charlie Press, Elisabeth Semel, Steve Shatz, Giovanna Shay, Tamar Todd, Kate Weisburd, Dr. -
UNWILLING EXECUTIONERS? Where and Why Do Some Doctors Still Help Carry out the Death Penalty? Sophie Arie Reports
DEATH PENALTY UNWILLING EXECUTIONERS? Where and why do some doctors still help carry out the death penalty? Sophie Arie reports ethal injection is now the main method of In 2009, death penalty opponent Sister Helen nection to their local prisons. In a rare report, in execution in China and the United States, Prejean, known for her book Dead Man W alking, 2006, Dr Atul Gawande, American surgeon and the two countries that execute the highest began campaigning for medical boards to dis- writer, gathered testimonies from some partici- numbers of people. But the widespread cipline doctors who participate in executions, pating doctors. Dr Carlo Musso, an emergency use of lethal injection—seen as a medical believing this could ultimately make lethal injec- doctor, confirmed that his practice had taken up L and therefore more humane method of execution tion no longer a feasible option for states. But an $18 000 contract (£11 000, €13 000) to pro- than hanging, shooting, or electro cution—has when medical bodies have attempted to strike off vide a medical presence at executions in Georgia. meant that doctors have become more actively or discipline physicians who have participated in He provided cardiac monitoring and determina- involved in carrying out the death penalty than executions, they have been over-ruled by courts tion of death. Other colleagues helped with intra- they were in the past. in the states concerned. venous access. “As I see it this is an end of life The medicalisation of executions has put Some states, such as Georgia and North issue, just as with any other terminal disease. -
PHYSICIAN, DO YOUR DUTY: the OBLIGATIONS of PHYSICIANS in STATE EXECUTIONS by Tricia Griffin, MFA
PHYSICIAN, DO YOUR DUTY: THE OBLIGATIONS OF PHYSICIANS IN STATE EXECUTIONS by Tricia Griffin, MFA Michael Morales was sentenced to death in 1983 for the premeditated rape, torture, and murder of 17-year old Terri Winchell (People v. Morales, 1989). Twenty-five years passed before Morales was finally scheduled for Abstract execution, which would have taken place on February 21, 2006, save for a successful appeal. A week before Morales was scheduled to die, his legal The most common arguments for team convinced a judge that the State of California’s lethal injection and against physician participation protocols could subject Morales to cruel and unusual punishment (Morales v. in state executions focus on the Hickman, 2006a). duty of the physician. This article evaluates these arguments using At the time, the standard protocol for lethal injections in California was a Kant’s duty-based approach to three-tiered process that began with the anesthetic sodium thiopental to ethical decision-making. It will render the inmate unconscious, followed by pancuronium bromide to show that all of the prevailing paralyze the inmate and halt breathing, and finally a lethal dose of potassium arguments end in a philosophical chloride to induce cardiac arrest (Schwarzenegger and Tilton, 2007, p. 1)1. stalemate. I will further argue that Morales’ legal team argued that if the initial dose of anesthetic did not it is past time for physicians to turn sufficiently induce unconsciousness, Morales could be awake during the two the question around and demand a final phases of the procedure. This would mean he could experience more substantive discussion about suffocation from the paralytic agent and extreme pain from the potassium the duty-based roles of every chloride. -
Justicia July Aug 09
NEWSLETTER OF THE JUDICIAL PROCESS COMMISSION July-August 2009 ISSN 1077-6516 Dear JPC supporters and readers: Welcome to the first e-issue of Justicia [in a text-only version], which continues the decades-long tradition of the Judicial Process Commission and its pioneering writer and editor, the late Clare Regan. We hope you find this email format useful and accessible - and please send us your feedback so we can improve our outreach. Thank you! -Jack Spula, editor ADVOCATES FOR LIFE REJOICE AS TROY DAVIS GETS A BREAK By Suzanne Schnittman Millions of people in America and in fourteen countries throughout the world have been holding their breath as the capital case against Troy Davis has held our attention for years. The past several months, with executions scheduled and stayed at the last moment, have been the most dramatic. Rochester's Reconciliation Network joined with Amnesty International in one of many vigils for this purpose this past May 19. We were planning a series of vigils in early and mid- September, as his latest execution was scheduled for September 23. Many assumed the Court would not rule until after the summer recess. Troy Davis Our current reason to celebrate is the Supreme Court's extremely rare move. It announced on August 11 that Troy Davis will get his day in court and a chance to prove the innocence he claims. "The high court ordered a federal judge in Georgia to determine whether there is evidence "that could not have been obtained at the time of trial (that) clearly establishes petitioner's innocence." "The substantial risk of putting an innocent man to death clearly provides an adequate justification for holding an evidentiary hearing," said Justice John Paul Stevens, writing for the court. -
The Truth About Physician Participation in Lethal Injection Executions, 88 N.C
NORTH CAROLINA LAW REVIEW Volume 88 | Number 1 Article 3 12-1-2009 The rT uth about Physician Participation in Lethal Injection Executions Ty Alper Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.law.unc.edu/nclr Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Ty Alper, The Truth about Physician Participation in Lethal Injection Executions, 88 N.C. L. Rev. 11 (2009). Available at: http://scholarship.law.unc.edu/nclr/vol88/iss1/3 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Carolina Law Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in North Carolina Law Review by an authorized administrator of Carolina Law Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE TRUTH ABOUT PHYSICIAN PARTICIPATION IN LETHAL INJECTION EXECUTIONS* TY ALPER** Recent court rulings addressing the constitutionality of states' lethal injection procedures have taken as a given the faulty notion that doctors cannot and will not participate in executions. As a result, courts have dismissed the feasibility of a remedy requiring physician participation, and openly expressed suspicion of the motives of lawyers who would propose such a remedy. This Article exposes two myths that have come to dominate the capital punishment discourse: first, that requiring physician participationwould grind the administrationof the death penalty to a halt because doctors cannot participate; and second, that advocating for such a requirement is a disingenuous abolitionist strategy as opposed to a principled remedial argument. As this Article demonstrates through a review of available research and recent litigation, doctors can, are willing to, and in fact do regularly participatein executions, though often not in the manner necessary to ensure humane executions. -
Forgiving the Unforgivable: Reinvigorating the Use of Executive Clemency in Capital Cases Molly Clayton Boston College Law School, [email protected]
Boston College Law Review Volume 54 | Issue 2 Article 8 3-28-2013 Forgiving the Unforgivable: Reinvigorating the Use of Executive Clemency in Capital Cases Molly Clayton Boston College Law School, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://lawdigitalcommons.bc.edu/bclr Part of the Common Law Commons, Criminal Law Commons, Criminal Procedure Commons, Law Enforcement and Corrections Commons, and the State and Local Government Law Commons Recommended Citation Molly Clayton, Forgiving the Unforgivable: Reinvigorating the Use of Executive Clemency in Capital Cases, 54 B.C.L. Rev. 751 (2013), http://lawdigitalcommons.bc.edu/bclr/vol54/iss2/8 This Notes is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Journals at Digital Commons @ Boston College Law School. It has been accepted for inclusion in Boston College Law Review by an authorized editor of Digital Commons @ Boston College Law School. For more information, please contact [email protected]. FORGIVING THE UNFORGIVABLE: REINVIGORATING THE USE OF EXECUTIVE CLEMENCY IN CAPITAL CASES Abstract: Clemency, the power to reduce the sentence of a convicted criminal, has existed since ancient times. Yet, the use of this power in the United States has significantly declined in recent decades. The U.S. Su- preme Court has called executive clemency “the fail safe” of the criminal justice system, and has determined that some minimal procedural safe- guards apply in clemency proceedings. Lower courts, however, have failed to require any significant procedural safeguards in the clemency process. Because clemency plays a crucial function in the criminal justice system, this Note argues that states should enact both procedural requirements and substantive guidelines to ensure death row inmates receive due proc- ess. -
DEATH: a LOGOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE Some Causes Rocution, Al the Standpo Ing Someone Adopt the V Ing Oneself Saw No Wa~ DMITRI A
An inspe< DEATH: A LOGOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE Some causes rocution, al the standpo ing someonE adopt the v ing oneself saw no wa~ DMITRI A. BORGMANN decided to 1 Dayton. Wash ington The list of the form In my continuing search for answers to Life's Great Questions, tal punishm I have run across a major imbalance between Birth and Death. tion, thrott That imbalance is by no means obvious to the casual observer, old age); y however. Both BIRTH and DEATH are five-letter, one-syllable words a few are ending in the digraph TH. In addition, their first letters are only Once again I two spaces apart in the alphabet, and the printed lowercase forms mul tiplicity of those letters, band d, happen to be mirror images or reversals me to try ir of one another. One can, according ly, not reall y ask for greater congruence between BIRTH and DEATH, unless one seeks a single word conveying both meanings. A Accidental In logology, as elsewhere, things are not always what they seem B Bleeding 1 to be. If we probe beneath the placid exterior, we find that there C Cancer; C are only a few ways of being born, whereas there seem to be an D Decapitati almost limitless number of ways of dying. Consider: at the moment, E Electrocut there are only three ways of appearing in this world: in a normal F Firing sq\ birth, in a birth by Caesarian section, and in a premature birth. G Gallows; ( Science may gradually add two further ways: development of a H Hanging; fertilized ovum into an infant in artificially created and maintained 1 I ncinerati laboratory conditions, and the outright creation of human life in J Judicial m the laboratory. -
NEWS Sil CAMPUS LIFE Meet the Retort Order Staff Continued from Page 1 Paroles After a Six-Hour Long Hearing
NEWS SiL CAMPUS LIFE Meet the Retort Order Staff Continued from page 1 Paroles after a six-hour long hearing. appeal by the 11th Circuit, Davis LERITZ According to Time, United States asked the Supreme Court for another Layout Editor Representative John Lewis spoke at federal appeal. The Supreme Court Davis's hearing. According to prepared granted him an evidentiary hearing So...my name remarks, Lewis said in testimony: and Justice John Paul Stevens wrote in is Heidi Leritz, I grew "I do not know Troy Anthony an opinion joined by Justices Stephen up in the small town of Davis. I do not know if he is guilty Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Belt, Montana, where of the charges of which he has been "The substantial risk of putting everybody knows convicted. But I do know that nobody an innocent man to death clearly everybody's business. should be put to death based on the provides an adequate justification I'm currently starting evidence we now have in this case." for holding an evidentiary hearing. my sophomore year of Davis was given the stay Simply put, the case is sufficiently college in the of execution, one day before he 'exceptional' to warrant utilization pursuit of a degree was scheduled to be executed. of this Court's rule 20.4 (a)." in Business Last year on September 12, Supreme Court Marketing. Post Davis used his one set of appeals rule 20.4 (a) states: graduation plans, in federal court when the Georgia "To justify the granting I want to go into State Board of Pardons and Paroles of a writ of habeas corpus, advertising, but that examined the new evidence. -
Affairs of State, Affairs of Home: Print and Patriarchy in Pennsylvania, 1776-1844
Affairs of State, Affairs of Home: Print and Patriarchy in Pennsylvania, 1776-1844 DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Emily J. Arendt Graduate Program in History The Ohio State University 2014 Dissertation Committee: Professor John L. Brooke, Advisor Professor Joan Cashin Professor Judy Wu Copyright by Emily Jane Arendt 2014 Abstract This dissertation is a cultural and intellectual history of patriarchy in Pennsylvania from the American Revolution through the beginning of the Civil War. The erosion of patriarchal control in the years following the American Revolution only occurred when social obedience to perceived superiors became less important than personal obedience to moral conscience. The process by which some Pennsylvanians' mentalities changed, measured by linguistic shifts in Pennsylvania's print culture, occurred slowly and unevenly over the first seventy years of the state's existence. The language of the American Revolution was distinctly anti-patriarchal: colonists denounced the king's longstanding role as father of his people and encouraged Americans to think about duty and obligation in terms of reciprocity. Love of country and love of family were the highest duties and patriarchal authority was given rhetorical short shrift during this era. By the 1790s, however, consensus unraveled amidst torrid partisan fighting. Debates about familial authority mirrored political debates over tyranny and authority with no clear consensus. Although some painted familial relationships as sentimental and reciprocal, many authors continued to promote hierarchical or antagonistic familial paradigms. In both cases discussions about family intimately attached to broader themes of social control in the new nation. -
Geographies of the Death Penalty and Place-Based Activism in the Troy Davis Case
Justice versus justice: Geographies of the Death Penalty and Place-Based Activism in the Troy Davis Case Audrey Kobayashi1 Queen’s University Department of Geography and Planning [email protected] One Life Troy Davis had only one life cut short too soon. And his was but one life among many cut short too soon and unnecessarily in a country where the circumstances of geography lead to decisions over who will live and die. It is a particularly disturbing experience for an anti-racist-activist geographer to come to terms with the implications of the death penalty. Every time I set hands to keyboard to work on this article I am overwhelmed by a Sartrean nausea (Sartre 1965) that impinges upon logical analysis. Deliberate, and deliberated, state killing in the name of justice cuts short the meaning of life and existence, making scholarly meaning at best compromised. The sense of loss over this one life is magnified by the recognition that he was one among many and that the value of his life was diminished by racialization. It is particularly sobering to note that the death penalty has a geography. Geographies of the Death Penalty The U.S. is among a minority of countries that routinely use the death penalty as an act of dispensing justice. The only other advanced industrial state to use the death penalty is Japan. The overall international trend is against, and the death penalty is condemned by the United Nations—although it goes beyond UN 1 Published under Creative Commons licence: Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works ACME: An International E-Journal for Critical Geographies, 2015, 14(4), 1118 - 1131 1119 mandate to prohibit it—under the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. -
Amnesty International Group 22 Pasadena/Caltech News Volume XV Number 4, April 2008 ERITREA POC UPCOMING EVENTS
Amnesty International Group 22 Pasadena/Caltech News Volume XV Number 4, April 2008 ERITREA POC UPCOMING EVENTS Thursday, April 24, 7:30 PM. Monthly Meeting Group 22 continues to work for our adopted Caltech Y is located off San Pasqual between Prisoner of Conscience Estifanos Seyoum. He is a Hill and Holliston, south side. You will see two former Eritrea government official who was curving walls forming a gate to a path-- our arrested in September 2001 for peacefully building is just beyond. Help us plan future expressing his political opinions. actions on Sudan, the ‘War on Terror’, death penalty and more. May 3 is World Press Freedom Day. Pasadena's Tuesday, May 13, 7:30 PM. Letter writing Congressman Adam Schiff is a founder and co- meeting at Caltech Athenaeum, corner of Hill chair of the Congressional Caucus for Freedom of and California in Pasadena. This informal the Press. He has often expressed support for gathering is a great way for newcomers to get Reporters Without Borders. This organization acquainted with Amnesty! selected imprisoned Eritrea journalist Seyoum Tsehaye for its 2007 Journalist of the Year Sunday, May 18, 6:30 PM. Rights Readers Award. It therefore seems like an opportune time Human Rights Book Discussion Group. Vroman’s to ask Rep. Schiff to direct attention to the Eritrea Book Bookstore, 695 E. Colorado Blvd., prisoners of conscience if he gives a speech to Pasadena. This month we read “Banker to the observe World Press Freedom day as he did last Poor” by Muhammad Yunus. year. If you live in Schiff's Congressional District, you can send a message to him through his COORDINATOR’S CORNER website, http://schiff.house.gov.