Post by danceswithdogs on Nov 26, 2012 19:18:02 GMT -5
These condemned murderers are now facing their fate for the evil they did, but they are cowards who are tyring unique ways to fight execution.
#1. Too fat to be executed.....
Ohio judge rejects obese inmate's request to delay execution
COLUMBUS, Ohio – A condemned killer trying to delay his execution because of his extreme weight hasn't raised enough new issues to warrant the legal challenge, a federal judge ruled Monday.
Death row inmate Ronald Post, who weighs more than 400 pounds, is asking the courts to stop his January execution on the grounds his weight could cause him to suffer severe pain during the procedure.
Post is prohibited from challenging his execution by injection because he raised similar claims in his first set of federal appeals in 1997, Judge Lesley Wells said Monday in Cleveland.
In general, death row inmates are only allowed one federal appeal when alleging the same set of facts.
Post "has not demonstrated in his new petition that his medical condition has changed so significantly, or that Ohio's new lethal injection procedures have changed so radically, since he filed his first petition in 1997 that his original core complaints are transformed into something new," Wells wrote.
However, the judge sent the question to a federal appeals court in Cincinnati for a final determination according to federal law governing this type of appeal. The state is opposing Post's requests to delay his execution.
Post, 53, was sentenced to die for the 1983 shooting death of hotel desk clerk Helen Vantz in Elyria. His execution is scheduled for Jan. 16.
Post also wants his execution delayed to try to prove that claims he made a full confession to several people have been falsely exaggerated.
Post's attorneys declined to comment Monday. They have previously argued that Post's medical condition hasn't been stable. At issue, they say, is his condition around the time of his execution, not at the time of an original court challenge.
Post "could not have raised this claim in his earlier petition because the execution was not imminent and his physical and medical condition have not been stable in relation to an execution date," his attorneys wrote in earlier court filings.
Post has also sued to stop his execution as part of a long-running challenge of Ohio's execution procedures in federal court in Columbus. Judge Gregory Frost has scheduled a Dec. 17 hearing.
Post has tried losing weight, but knee and back problems have made it difficult to exercise, his lawyers say.
They also say Post's request for gastric bypass surgery has been denied, he has been encouraged not to walk because he's at risk for falling, and severe depression has contributed to his inability to limit how much he eats.
A doctor who examined Post for his defense team says Post does not have accessible veins in his arms or hands because of his weight and could not receive a lethal injection in his legs because he is so obese.
Read more: www.foxnews.com/us/2012/11/26/ohio-judge-rejects-obese-inmate-request-to-delay-execution/#ixzz2DNTUZK00
Read more: www.foxnews.com/us/2012/11/26/ohio-judge-rejects-obese-inmate-request-to-delay-execution/#ixzz2DNTIWH9a
#2. Too stupid to be executed......
Cop killer seeks to avoid death penalty based on low IQ
A convicted New York cop killer is hoping to avoid the death penalty by using an increasingly common defense - he's just not smart enough to face execution for his crimes.
Lawyers for Ronell Wilson began trying to convince a federal judge on Monday to uphold an appeals court's decision to overturn the death sentence for the 2003 murder of New York City detectives Rodney Andrews and James Nemorin during an undercover sting in the borough of Staten Island. With an IQ of just under 70, defense attorneys say Wilson is mildly retarded and therefore exempt from the ultimate punishment.
Experts say the argument increasingly has been made on behalf of death row inmates since a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, in Atkins v. Virginia, that held executing mentally retarded individuals violates the Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishments. In a procedure that is expected to last three weeks, the judge will likely examine Wilson’s complete educational history, as well as a formal IQ score and adaptive function tests. If he scores low enough, it could save his life.
“That’s half the battle, that you can show a mental history for the court to make a determination,” N. G. Berrill, a forensic psychology professor from John Jay College in New York, told FoxNews.com.
But Berrill said prosecutors may be able to show Wilson was smart enough to function - and to know right from wrong.
“Someone may have a low IQ but have high ‘street smarts,’ and these things might reveal another level of intelligence,” he said.
Wilson is the latest of many killers to employ the low IQ defense, also known as the Atkins defense.
In August, Marvin Wilson, a Texas man who was convicted of killing a police informant, was executed after it was determined that he was mentally competent for his death sentence to stand. Attorneys for Wilson used the defense when they referred to a 2004 psychological test that showed his IQ registering at 61, which is below the minimum standard of 70.
Prosecutors countered, saying that the claim was supported by only one test, which leaves room for error. The Supreme Court agreed and his request was denied a mere two hours before his execution was carried out by lethal injection.
Also in August, the death sentence of a U.S. Marine was overturned despite his Atkins defense being overruled by the court.
The Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals cited many problems in the original criminal trial of Lance Cpl. Kenneth Parker, whose sentence was reduced to life in prison as a result.
Parker was originally charged for shooting a fellow Marine to death in March 1992 after a night of drinking with friends led to a racially charged discussion, stemming from rumors a white Marine had attempted to lynch a black person on Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday.
Parker and five other African-American Marines “vowed revenge" and picked a random target in Jacksonville, N.C., where Parker shot Lance Cpl. Rodney Page with a 12-gauge shotgun that he used a few days later in another murder.
An appellate court had rejected the argument by Parker’s defense that a combination of a below-average IQ and heavy drinking left him incapable of criminal intent.
As for Wilson, experts said the brutality of the murder of the two New York City detectives is not what is at issue.
“This was a brutal murder, and it raises tremendous outrage and demands that it is treated with the greatest sanction," Alan Lipman, a behavioral sciences professor at George Washington University Medical Center and director of the Center for the Study of Violence, told FoxNews.com. "The question here is whether being mentally retarded is the difference between the death penalty and life in prison.
“He is right on the line, which means that could go either way. The judge has set aside three weeks for this hearing, which says to me that he knows there will be lengthy arguments from both sides. This is going to be a close call.”
Read more: www.foxnews.com/us/2012/11/26/cop-killer-seeks-to-avoid-death-penalty-based-on-low-iq/#ixzz2DNT3K5zA
Read more: www.foxnews.com/us/2012/11/26/cop-killer-seeks-to-avoid-death-penalty-based-on-low-iq/#ixzz2DNSmbuTF
#1. Too fat to be executed.....
Ohio judge rejects obese inmate's request to delay execution
COLUMBUS, Ohio – A condemned killer trying to delay his execution because of his extreme weight hasn't raised enough new issues to warrant the legal challenge, a federal judge ruled Monday.
Death row inmate Ronald Post, who weighs more than 400 pounds, is asking the courts to stop his January execution on the grounds his weight could cause him to suffer severe pain during the procedure.
Post is prohibited from challenging his execution by injection because he raised similar claims in his first set of federal appeals in 1997, Judge Lesley Wells said Monday in Cleveland.
In general, death row inmates are only allowed one federal appeal when alleging the same set of facts.
Post "has not demonstrated in his new petition that his medical condition has changed so significantly, or that Ohio's new lethal injection procedures have changed so radically, since he filed his first petition in 1997 that his original core complaints are transformed into something new," Wells wrote.
However, the judge sent the question to a federal appeals court in Cincinnati for a final determination according to federal law governing this type of appeal. The state is opposing Post's requests to delay his execution.
Post, 53, was sentenced to die for the 1983 shooting death of hotel desk clerk Helen Vantz in Elyria. His execution is scheduled for Jan. 16.
Post also wants his execution delayed to try to prove that claims he made a full confession to several people have been falsely exaggerated.
Post's attorneys declined to comment Monday. They have previously argued that Post's medical condition hasn't been stable. At issue, they say, is his condition around the time of his execution, not at the time of an original court challenge.
Post "could not have raised this claim in his earlier petition because the execution was not imminent and his physical and medical condition have not been stable in relation to an execution date," his attorneys wrote in earlier court filings.
Post has also sued to stop his execution as part of a long-running challenge of Ohio's execution procedures in federal court in Columbus. Judge Gregory Frost has scheduled a Dec. 17 hearing.
Post has tried losing weight, but knee and back problems have made it difficult to exercise, his lawyers say.
They also say Post's request for gastric bypass surgery has been denied, he has been encouraged not to walk because he's at risk for falling, and severe depression has contributed to his inability to limit how much he eats.
A doctor who examined Post for his defense team says Post does not have accessible veins in his arms or hands because of his weight and could not receive a lethal injection in his legs because he is so obese.
Read more: www.foxnews.com/us/2012/11/26/ohio-judge-rejects-obese-inmate-request-to-delay-execution/#ixzz2DNTUZK00
Read more: www.foxnews.com/us/2012/11/26/ohio-judge-rejects-obese-inmate-request-to-delay-execution/#ixzz2DNTIWH9a
#2. Too stupid to be executed......
Cop killer seeks to avoid death penalty based on low IQ
A convicted New York cop killer is hoping to avoid the death penalty by using an increasingly common defense - he's just not smart enough to face execution for his crimes.
Lawyers for Ronell Wilson began trying to convince a federal judge on Monday to uphold an appeals court's decision to overturn the death sentence for the 2003 murder of New York City detectives Rodney Andrews and James Nemorin during an undercover sting in the borough of Staten Island. With an IQ of just under 70, defense attorneys say Wilson is mildly retarded and therefore exempt from the ultimate punishment.
Experts say the argument increasingly has been made on behalf of death row inmates since a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, in Atkins v. Virginia, that held executing mentally retarded individuals violates the Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishments. In a procedure that is expected to last three weeks, the judge will likely examine Wilson’s complete educational history, as well as a formal IQ score and adaptive function tests. If he scores low enough, it could save his life.
“That’s half the battle, that you can show a mental history for the court to make a determination,” N. G. Berrill, a forensic psychology professor from John Jay College in New York, told FoxNews.com.
But Berrill said prosecutors may be able to show Wilson was smart enough to function - and to know right from wrong.
“Someone may have a low IQ but have high ‘street smarts,’ and these things might reveal another level of intelligence,” he said.
Wilson is the latest of many killers to employ the low IQ defense, also known as the Atkins defense.
In August, Marvin Wilson, a Texas man who was convicted of killing a police informant, was executed after it was determined that he was mentally competent for his death sentence to stand. Attorneys for Wilson used the defense when they referred to a 2004 psychological test that showed his IQ registering at 61, which is below the minimum standard of 70.
Prosecutors countered, saying that the claim was supported by only one test, which leaves room for error. The Supreme Court agreed and his request was denied a mere two hours before his execution was carried out by lethal injection.
Also in August, the death sentence of a U.S. Marine was overturned despite his Atkins defense being overruled by the court.
The Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals cited many problems in the original criminal trial of Lance Cpl. Kenneth Parker, whose sentence was reduced to life in prison as a result.
Parker was originally charged for shooting a fellow Marine to death in March 1992 after a night of drinking with friends led to a racially charged discussion, stemming from rumors a white Marine had attempted to lynch a black person on Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday.
Parker and five other African-American Marines “vowed revenge" and picked a random target in Jacksonville, N.C., where Parker shot Lance Cpl. Rodney Page with a 12-gauge shotgun that he used a few days later in another murder.
An appellate court had rejected the argument by Parker’s defense that a combination of a below-average IQ and heavy drinking left him incapable of criminal intent.
As for Wilson, experts said the brutality of the murder of the two New York City detectives is not what is at issue.
“This was a brutal murder, and it raises tremendous outrage and demands that it is treated with the greatest sanction," Alan Lipman, a behavioral sciences professor at George Washington University Medical Center and director of the Center for the Study of Violence, told FoxNews.com. "The question here is whether being mentally retarded is the difference between the death penalty and life in prison.
“He is right on the line, which means that could go either way. The judge has set aside three weeks for this hearing, which says to me that he knows there will be lengthy arguments from both sides. This is going to be a close call.”
Read more: www.foxnews.com/us/2012/11/26/cop-killer-seeks-to-avoid-death-penalty-based-on-low-iq/#ixzz2DNT3K5zA
Read more: www.foxnews.com/us/2012/11/26/cop-killer-seeks-to-avoid-death-penalty-based-on-low-iq/#ixzz2DNSmbuTF
