The Death Penalty
in Virginia
March 26, 2017
St. James Episcopal Church
Richmond
Death Penalty in the United States
e U.S. Supreme Court outlawed capital
punishment in 1972 (Furman v. Georgia)
— Inconsistent application of the DP
— Racial disparities in the DP
¢ Revised state laws approved by the U.S.
Supreme Court in 1976 (Gregg v. Georgia)
— Implemented two stage trail process
— Aggravating & mitigating factors
~ Death Penalty States
ma 31
Alabama Louisiana South Carolina
Arizona Mississippi South Dakota
Arkansas Missouri Tennessee
California Montana Texas
Colorado Nebraska Utah
Florida Nevada Virginia
Georgia New Hampshire Washington
Idaho North Carolina Wyoming
Indiana Ohio
Kansas Oklahoma U.S. Government
Kentucky Oregon U.S. Military
Pennsylvania
SOURCE: Death Penalty Information Center Web Site [January 19 2017]
Death Penalty States (blue)
Executions by State Since 1976
As of January 19, 2017
Mississippi 21
Indiana 20
Delaware 16
California 13
Illinois 12
Nevada 12
Utah i
Tennessee 6
Maryland 5
Washington 5
Nebraska 3
Pennsylvania 3
Kentucky 3
SOURCE: Death Penalty Information Center Web Site [January 19 2017]
States With Most Executions (red)
Death Row Prisoners by State
As of July 1, 2016
Oklahoma 48
Mississippi 47
South Carolina 43
Arkansas 36
Kentucky 34
Oregon 34
Missouri 26
Delaware * 18
Indiana 12
Kansas 10
Nebraska 10
Idaho 9
SOURCE: Death Penalty Information Center Web Site [November 13, 2015].
Geography of the Death Penalty
SOURCE: Death Penalty Information Center Fact Sheet [November 13, 2015]
m@ South
& Midwest
m West
= Northeast
BTX&VA
Virginia & the Death Penalty
e Virginia has executed 112
people since 1976, tied for
second most in the United
States.
e Virginia executes the highest percentage of
those sentenced to death (75%) in the U.S.
e Virginia is fastest in the nation from
sentencing to execution (7.1 years on
average).
1. Limited Government
¢ The power to execute is
Vl A nu perhaps the greatest power
government could exercise over
IS NOT FREE its citizens.
U N LESS ° There is good reason to be
GOVERNMENT suspicious of this power.
Ey LIMITED ¢ Error or, even worse, abuse in
the exercise of this power leads
to deprivation of the very rights
government should protect —
life, liberty, and property.
Deterrence to Murder
STOP
e Areport by the National Research Council,
titled Deterrence and the Death Penalty,
stated that studies claiming that the death
penalty has a deterrent effect on murder
rates are “fundamentally flawed” and should
not be used when making policy decisions
(2012).
SOURCE: Death Penalty Information Center Fact Sheet [October 16, 2012]
Public Safety
e Average murder rate in states with the death
penalty (2014): 4.75 per 100,000 people
e Average murder rate in states without the
death penalty (2014): 3.70 per 100,000 people
¢ In polls from 1995 and 2009, police chiefs
ranked the death penalty least effective
among ways to reduce violent crime.
SOURCE: Death Penalty Information Center Fact Sheet [October 16, 2012]
In Virginia it’s easier to take
a person's liberty or life
than their property:
¢ In civil lawsuits, both sides must turn over
virtually everything to the opponent and sit
for pretrial depositions.
Criminal defendants are not entitled to
the police reports in their case, the
witness statements against them or even
a witness list.
“Trial by ambush has
been the norm...”
¢ Retired Loudoun Circuit
Court Judge Thomas D.
Horne
Death Penalty
Disparities in Virginia:
¢ A person is over THREE times as likely to be
sentenced to death if the victim is white
than when the victim is black.
¢ Murder convictions in rural and
suburban areas are TWICE as likely to
end in the death penalty as those in
urban jurisdictions.
SOURCE: Virginia Joint Legislative and Review Commission of the Virginia General Assembly,
Review of Virginia’s System of Capital Punishment [2000]
Death Penalty
Disparities in Virginia:
65% of the 133 political jurisdictions in the
Commonwealth have NOT had an execution since 1976.
¢ Three jurisdictions [Chesterfield, Prince William, &
Virginia Beach] are responsible for 23% of executions.
¢ Six jurisdictions [Chesterfield, Fairfax, Hampton,
Pittsylvania, Portsmouth, Prince William, & Virginia
Beach] account for 41% of the state’s executions.
SOURCE: Death Penalty Information Center Web Site [May 19, 2016].
2. Fiscal Responsibility
Why the death penalty is so
expensive:
e Additional legal costs
¢ Complicated pretrial procedures
¢ Time consuming jury selection
¢ Separate sentencing trial
e Lengthy mandatory post-conviction
appeals in state & federal courts
¢ Higher incarceration costs for
death row
Death Penalty Costs in Kansas
Cost Items Capital Trials Non-Capital Trials
Defense $395,762 $98,963
Trial Court S 72,530 $21,554
Juries 40.13 days 16.79 days
Prison $49,380/year $24,690/year
Cases that did not
go to trial
Defense $130,595 $64,711
Trial Court S 16,263 S 7,384
e Justices of the Kansas Supreme Court assigned to write opinions
estimated they spent 20 times more hours on death penalty appeals
than on non-death appeals.
SOURCE: "Report of the Judicial Council Death Penalty Advisory Committee," Judicial Council,
Kansas Legislature, Feb. 13, 2014
3. The Problem of Innocence
= 1 ¢ Since 1973, 157 people have
been released from death row
with evidence of their innocence.
¢ Many others have been executed
while serious doubts have been
raised regarding their verdict.
¢ Since 1976, there is a ratio of one
é 4 : innocent person freed from
eae ) death row for every 11
a executions!
Causes of Wrongful Capital Convictions
Number of Cases
45
4s .
Causes of Wrongful Convictions
sc in 86 Death Row Cases
35
29
30
25
20 17
15
10 8 9
Eyewitness Snitch Government False Junk Science Other
Error Misconduct Confession
Causes
SOURCE: 2001 study by the Center on Wrongful Convictions at
Northwestern Law School.
CSI Mythology
¢ DNA is a powerful tool,
C _ T * but such evidence is
es available in only 5-10%
of criminal cases.
CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION
e Imperfect forensic analysis
¢ Crime lab scandals
(e.g., hair & bite mark analysis)
¢ Prosecutorial misconduct
4. Collateral Damage
Human cost of the death penalty
Few people consider the impact of capital punishment on
a wide range of people who are part of the system:
- Victim family members
- Prosecutors
-— Defense attorneys
— Judges and jurors
— Family members of death row inmates
- Wardens and corrections officers
- Executioners
Former Georgia death row guard reflects
In many ways, we were the only
friends these men [death row
inmates] had in the end. ...
| will say this: | don’t believe that when
we execute a person that it’s the
same person who committed that
crime. | do believe people can
change.
Former Virginia Executioner
| worked as a prison guard saving lives most of
the time. But when | took on the role of
executioner, | had to become a killer. ...
The Earl Washington case [who was exonerated
by DNA evidence in 1993] shook my faith in
the justice system. | came within days of
putting an innocent man to death.
| still wonder whether there were any innocents among the 62 that |
executed. The only thing | can do is pray to God to forgive me if | did.
¢ “Ex-Virginia executioner becomes opponent of death
penalty,” Washington Post (February 10, 2013)
Six Former Executioners Speak Out
While most of the prisoners whose executions we
participated in accepted responsibility for the crimes
for which they were punished, some of us have also
executed prisoners who maintained their innocence
until the end. It is those cases that are most haunting
to an executioner.
Living with the nightmares is something that we know from experience. No one
has the right to ask a public servant to take on a lifelong sentence of nagging
doubt, and for some of us, shame and guilt.
Should our justice system be causing so much harm to so many people when
there is an alternative?
— Allen Ault - Retired Warden, Georgia Diagnostic & Classifications Prison
— Terry Collins — Retired Director, Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction
— Ron McAndrew - Retired Warden, Florida State Prison
— Dennis O’Neill - Retired Warden, Florida State Prison
— Reginald Wilkinson — Retired Director, Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction
— Jeanne Woodford — Retired Warden, San Quentin State Prison
Daughter of a slain state trooper
Having spent my entire life without my
dad, | was angry and had wanted his
killers executed.
But over time, after | saw how the death
penalty system actually works, my
feelings on the issue changed.
| believed that the death penalty would
benefit people like my mother and me,
but in reality nothing could be further
from the truth.
— Neely Goen, Op-Ed in Wichita Eagle
(February 6, 2013)
Problems with the death penalty
KILLERS AS STARS
¢ Capital cases put the focus on killers instead of
the friends & family members of their victims
¢ The mandatory appeals keep the killer’s photo
and story in front of the public for many years.
¢ The many appeals force family members of
victims to relive the trauma over & over again.
stp ei Religious Teachings on
GO Capital Punishment
OPPOSE SUPPORT
“*Roman Catholic Church = Southern Baptist Church
“*American Baptist Church = Lutheran Church — MO Synod
“*United Methodist Church = Islam (though strong strain of mercy)
“Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
“Presbyterian Church USA MIXED/NEUTRAL
“Episcopal Church ‘National Association of Evangelical
“*Reformed Church in America eAssemblies of God
“United Church of Christ ¢ Church of Latter Day Saints
“Eastern Orthodox Churches ¢Jehovah’s Witnesses
“Conservative, Reform & Reconstructionist ¢ Buddhism
Jewish movements (Orthodox: moratorium) ¢Hinduism
SOURCES: The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life and ReligiousTolerance.org
But the tide is
turning against
the death
penalty.
19 States have abolished
the death penalty
Michigan 1846 | lowa 1965 New York 2007
Wisconsin | 1853 | irg 1965 NewMexico 2009
Maine 1887 | North Dakota 1973 Illinois 2011
Minnesota 1911 | District of Columbia 1981 Connecticut. = 2012_—~
Alaska 1957 | Massachusetts 1984 Maryland 2013
Hawaii 1957 Delaware 2016
Vermont 1964 New Jersey 2007
SOURCE: Death Penalty Information Center Web Site [January 1, 2017].
11 more states have had no
executions in the past nine years
Arkansas 2005 Nevada 2006
California 2006 New Hampshire 1939
Colorado 1997 North Carolina 2006
Kansas 1965 Oregon 1997
Montana 2006 Pennsylvania 1999
Wyoming 1992
SOURCE: Death Penalty Information Center Web Site [July 8, 2016].
Conservative Voices Against
the Death Penalty
“1 supported the death penalty for all of my
public life — as a Virginia State Senator, Attorney
General, and Republican candidate for governor.
Today, | can still make a conceptual argument as
to why it should be a tool in the arsenal of a
prosecutor — but it is just an argument. And, to
me, the argument is tired, strained, and no
longer defensible.”
=" Mark Earley, a Republican former Virginia
General who oversaw 36 executions
Others Conservatives Opposed
to the Death Penalty
Edward Crane | Founder & President of | Oliver North Columnist & former U.S.
The CATO Institute Counter-Terrorism
Coordinator
Senior Editor at The Bill O'Reilly Fox television host &
American Conservative political commentator
Jeff Frazee Founder of Young Dr. Ron Paul Former Congressman &
Americans for Liberty Presidential candidate
Drew Johnson Fellow at the Taxpayers | Ramesh Senior Editor for
Protection Alliance Ponnuru National Review
Jack Kemp Former Republican Lawrence President of the
Congressman & Vice Reed Foundation for
Presidential Candidate Economic Education
Founder of Judicial George Will Columnist
Watch
Red States Close to Abolition
e 2016: Utah Senate votes to end
the DP & a key House committee
agrees, but the bill fell a few votes
short on the House floor.
2015: Montana Senate votes for abolition, but
failed in the House on a 50-50 tie vote.
2014: New Hampshire House voted 225-104 to
end the DP, but failed in Senate on tie vote.
More States Considering DP Abolition
NUMBER OF EXECUTIONS
SINCE 1976: 1444
‘76'7T'T8'79'80'81'82'83‘84'85 86 87 88 '89'90'91 ‘9293 94 95 96 97 9899 ‘00/01 ‘02'03'04 05 06 07 '08°09'10'11 1213'14'15'16'17
SOURCE: Death Penalty Information Center Web Site January 19 2017]
300
200
100
Number of Death Sentences
By Year
FOSS POLS. Ran et PHL. PPL PIL, PS, f oe f Poe e Soe ee ‘-
SOURCE: Death Penalty Information Center Fact Sheet [January 26, 2016] based on data
from the Bureau of Justice Statistics: Capital Punishment, 2010” plus DPIC research.
Number of Death Sentences
10
te)
Virginia Death Sentences, 1977 - 2015
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MV A > BP? OP O_O 9? 7 OO MPO VP VO SO
BSE SP PP IP GP OP PP? PG FP? AP” AP AS
SOURCE: Death Penalty Information Center Fact Sheet [October 1, 2016].
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Public Opinion on the Death Penalty
A 2010 poll by Lake Research Partners found that
a clear majority of voters (61%) would choose a punishment
other than the death penalty for murder.
u Life without parole plus
restitution
& Death penalty
@ Life without parole
§ Life with parole
m@ No opinion
SOURCE: Death Penalty Information Center Fact Sheet [October 16, 2012]
Latest Public Opinion Data
Support for death penalty continues to fall
% who the death penalty for persons convicted of murder
A September 2016 poll by the Pew Research Center
found that only half of Americans (49%) now favor
the death penalty, while 42% oppose it.
Opposition to the death penalty is now the highest
that it has been since 1972.
SOURCE: http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/09/29/support-for-death-penalty-lowest-in-
more-than-four-decades/
A New Era in Virginia
** Virginia used to sentence 5-10 people to death and
execute as many as 14 people in one year.
=" Only three executions in the past five years.
=" No new death sentence in 5% years.
“* The last death sentence was in September 2011.
=" There have been over 1,600 murders in Virginia
since then.
= No jury has imposed a death sentence in any of
those cases.
Virginians for Alternatives
to the Death Penalty
http://www.vadp.org/
Pr 0%
VIRGINIANS FOR
ALTERNATIVES
TO THE DEATH PENALTY
Ending the Death
Penalty through
Education,
Organizing &
Advocacy
