[FADPUpdate] New Death Warrant

[melliott3 at aol.com]

Friends,

Gov. Charlie Crist has now signed a Death Warrant for November 15.  I 
have been in Ocala for the Ian Lightbourne hearings.   These hearings 
are to determine whether Florida's lethal injection procedures violate 
the U.S. Constitution Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual 
punishment.  The hearings are focused on the Dec. 13, 2006 botched 
execution of Angel Diaz.  Circuit Court Judge Carven Angel is expected 
to rule on this case by Septermber 10.  The Florida Supreme Court is 
then scheduled to hear this case on October 11.  The unusual 4 month 
delay for the execution date for Mark Schwab reflects the concern by 
the state that the Lightbourne hearings be decided before any 
executions take place.

This Death Warrant was signed BEFORE the courts rule on whether 
Floridas execution process violates the Eighth Amendment.  Further, 
today in court, a D.O.C. official testified that the new execution 
protocols and procedures are not completed and remodelling work on the 
Death Chamber is unfinished.

In court, the State of Florida and the DOC are still denying that 
anything went wrong during the Diaz execution, other than it took 
longer than usual.  Everyone knows that the first step to fixing a 
problem is: 1. acknowledge that a problem exists and then: 2. define 
and detail what the problem is.  Then and only then, can one determine 
what needs to be fixed and how to fix it.  The DOC is still in denial, 
yet the Governor expresses confidence that all will be ready.  Our 
Governor must be getting bold assurances that there was no problem and 
that all will be well.

Please stay tuned for important updates.

---Mark

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An example of today's news:

July 18, 2007

Crist signs 1st death warrant, ends halt on lethal injections

By BILL KACZOR
Associated Press Writer

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Gov. Charlie Crist ended a seven-month moratorium 
on executions in Florida following a botched lethal injection by 
signing his first death warrant Wednesday.

Mark Dean Schwab, 38, is scheduled to be executed Nov. 15, Crist said. 
Schwab was sentenced to death in 1992 for the kidnapping, rape and 
murder of 11-year-old Junny Rios-Martinez of Cocoa. He targeted the boy 
after seeing his picture in a newspaper. The victim was strangled or 
suffocated.

Then-Gov. Jeb Bush suspended executions when it took 34 minutes - twice 
as long as normal - for convicted killer Angel Diaz, 55, to die Dec. 13 
after he received a rare second dose of three lethal chemicals.

An autopsy showed needles had been pushed through his veins into the 
flesh of his arms, reducing the effectiveness of the drugs. Witnesses 
said it appeared Diaz grimaced in pain and he twice asked "What's 
happening?"

Since then, the state has adopted recommendations from a commission 
appointed by Bush to improve the lethal injection procedure. In signing 
the warrant, Crist said he is confident executions can continue in line 
with constitutional bans on cruel and unusual punishment.

The warrant was a surprise to lawyers who represent death row inmates 
because a lethal injection challenge based on the Diaz case has yet to 
be decided. The Florida Supreme Court had put that case, filed on 
behalf of convicted killer Ian Deco Lightbourne, on a fast track just 
hours before Crist signed Schwab's warrant.

"The speculation among us was that the warrants would not be signed 
until after the resolution of the Lightbourne case," said Mark Gruber, 
one of Schwab's lawyers.
If the sodium pentothal wears off or is improperly administered, 
there's "a risk that the inmate will experience excruciating pain," 
Keffer wrote in papers filed with the Supreme Court.

The death warrant was a disappointment to capital punishment opponents.

"There have been many questions regarding whether the drugs are 
administered out of sequence or inappropriately that actually the 
prisoner could die by suffocation and could not signal or actually 
indicate he was experiencing pain," said Florida Catholic Conference 
spokeswoman Sheila Hopkins.

That's due to the paralyzing effect of pancuronium bromide.

Mark Elliott, director of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death 
Penalty, said the death warrant is premature because the Lightbourne 
case is bringing out "much more damning evidence" than heard by the 
state commission.

Angel is holding hearings this week and they are expected to continue 
into next week, said Elliott, who has been in attendance.

Another of Schwab's lawyers, Kenneth Studstill, recently argued in a 
clemency petition that his client's life should be spared so 
psychologists can study him to better understand pedophiles and prevent 
them from raping and killing children.

Crist, with the agreement of two of the state's three Cabinet members, 
can commute sentences through his executive clemency authority. 
Studstill said the death warrant in-effect denied the clemency petition.
Gruber, an assistant capital collateral regional counsel, said Schwab 
also would challenge the lethal injection process in a post-conviction 
appeal.

The governor, though, did show respect for the courts by scheduling 
Schwab's execution about a month after the justices are to hear oral 
argument in the Lightbourne case, Gruber said.

It still is pending in trial court, but the justices Wednesday set 
their argument for Oct. 11 after Circuit Judge Carven D. Angel, of 
Ocala, notified them he would make his decision by Sept. 10.

A lawyer for Lightbourne filed the challenge with the Supreme Court a 
day after Diaz was executed, but the justices referred it to Angel for 
an initial ruling.

The Department of Corrections, meanwhile, made some changes in its 
execution procedure, including more training, in response to 
recommendations from the Commission on Administration of Lethal 
Injection.

The panel also suggested the department explore newer drugs or the 
elimination of one that causes paralysis, but Corrections Secretary 
James McDonough decided to stick with the same three-chemical mix.

The Diaz case shows that's a flawed procedure, Assistant Capital 
Collateral Regional Counsel Suzanne Myers Keffer has argued on 
Lightbourne's behalf.

Sodium pentothal is used to render an inmate unconscious before the 
administration of pancuronium bromide, a paralyzing agent, and 
potassium chloride, which stops the heart.

Schwab saw the boy's picture in a newspaper after being released from 
prison in March 1991 after serving three years for sexual assault 
against another child. Schwab called the family on the phone, claiming 
he was writing an article on the boy.

He became friendly with the family, even promising to help the boy get 
a contract to represent a surfing company. His body was found three 
days after the murder.

Schwab claimed a man he knew only as Donald forced him to kidnap and 
rape the boy but that Donald killed him. Schwab was convicted of 
first-degree murder, sexual battery upon a child and kidnapping of a 
child under 13.

The telephone at the home of the boy's family went unanswered Wednesday.

Lightbourne, 47, was convicted of murdering Nancy O'Farrell in 1981 
after breaking into her Marion County home and stealing some of her 
belongings.


This story can be found on Jacksonville.com at 
http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-apnews/stories/071807/D8QF58081.shtml.

************************************************
It is not about what they did...it is about what we do.

Mark Elliott
Director, Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, FADP.org
2840 W. Bay Drive, Belleair Bluffs, FL 33770
(727) 215-9646
mark at fadp.org



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