Gov. John Kitzhaber (pictured) announced today he will not allow the execution of Gary Haugen — or any death row inmate — to take place while he is in office. The death penalty is morally wrong and unjustly administered, Kitzhaber said. “In my mind it is a perversion of justice,” he said at an emotional news conference in Salem. The governor cited his constitutional authority to grant a temporary reprieve for Haugen, in effect canceling the planned Dec. 6 lethal injection of the twice-convicted murderer. Haugen waived his legal appeals and has been preparing for the execution, which would have been Oregon's first in 14 years/Helen Jung, Oregonian. More here. (AP photo)

Thoughts?

For weeks, photos of Idaho's new execution chamber, along with sordid details of how lethal injection is carried out, have circulated on the Web. I've learned quite a bit about how last-minute appeals are filed, how the first of three injections renders the condemned unconscious so they don't feel the next two fatal shots that stop their breathing and heartbeat. The whole process is very clinical, very sterile and, providing nothing goes awry, painless for the condemned. The whole ordeal has also made me revisit my stance on capital punishment. I was raised in my faith that although God is the ultimate judge and will have the final ruling, society has a duty to carry out punishments for the good of greater society. As I've gotten older and explored my faith further, I realize there are basic tenets of human decency that one must adhere to. When you commit a crime contrary to the core of those tenets, you forfeit your place in society/Henry Johnston, Moscow-Pullman Daily News. More here.

Question: Did Idaho's execution of Paul Ezra Rhoades cause you to revisit your stance on capital punishment?

As last-minute pleas for clemency continued to pour into Idaho's state Capitol this week in advance of the state's first execution since 1994, Idaho Gov. Butch Otter wasn't there – he was at a posh resort in Maui to speak about presidential politics, leaving Lt. Gov. Brad Little in charge.
 
Little has been Idaho's acting governor from Sunday, when Otter left for Hawaii, until Thursday, when Otter is planning to return to Boise, leaving the California Independent Voter Project's “Business and Leader Exchange” a day early to make it back for the Friday execution. During that time, condemned killer Paul Ezra Rhoades had two bids for a stay of execution rejected by the U.S. District Court in Boise and filed an appeal to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals; state attorneys filed their response to that appeal today.

Where was Otter, who could commute the sentence? As the guest of the California group, he and First Lady Lori Otter flew to Hawaii for the group's conference at the Fairmont Kea Lani Resort, a beachfront spread with three swimming pools, a 140-foot water slide and an array of luxury amenities.

Little, who says he's “really uncomfortable with capital punishment, just because of the very nature of it,” but has come to support it after much “soul searching,” says as acting governor, he wouldn't reverse Otter's stand, which has been to deny clemency for Rhoades. Little said he hasn't even read the letters and emails that continued to come in to the Capitol regarding the execution this week, leaving them instead for Otter on his return. “I guess I could go ask for 'em if I wanted to, but I have chosen not to do that,” Little said. He said he agrees with Otter's stance in this case. “I don't think anybody's arguing that Paul Ezra Rhoades is anywhere close to innocent.”  You can read my full story here at spokesman.com.
  

On the day a judge gave the order for serial killer Paul Ezra Rhoades (pictured) to die, the men who brought him to justice found little satisfaction in his looming execution. Instead, the investigators and prosecutors who worked Rhoades’ cases emphasized their limited roles nearly a quarter-century ago in tracking, catching and convicting him. “The case has come to its full destiny now,” Bonneville County Sheriff Paul Wilde said. “That’s the order of the court, not the order of the law-enforcement guys.” Bonneville County Judge Jon Shindurling issued death warrants Wednesday for Rhoades, 54, for murdering Stacy Baldwin and Susan Michelbacher in 1987. Rhoades also received two life sentences for the second-degree murder of Idaho Falls convenience store clerk Nolan Haddon around the same time/Sven Berg, Idaho Falls Post Register. More here.

Question: Does it make sense to execute a murderer who has been in prison for 24 years? And/or: Does it make sense to take 24 years to execute triple-murderer Paul Ezra Rhoades?

OLYMPIA — Gov. Chris Gregoire said this afternoon she will not commute the sentence of Cal Brown for the torture, rape and murder of Holly Washa.

Brown, who confessed to the murder, was convicted and sentenced to death in 1994, and has lost subsequent appeals to overturn the sentence. The Clemency and Pardons Board split 2-2 last year on whether to commute the sentence; Gregoire said she reviewed the request and the record of the case and “found no basis to reverse his conviction or change the death sentence imposed by the jury.”

He is scheduled to be executed Thursday night.

• Weekend Poll: 193 of 266 respondents (72.6%) said they are in favor of capital punishment (on the morning Ronnie Lee Gardner was executed by firing squad in Utah). 63 of 266 respondents (23.7%) oppose capital punishment. 10 of 266 (3.8%) were undecided.
• Today’s Poll: Which administration had a better response to a disaster affecting Gulf Coast States — George W. Bush (Hurricane Katrina) or Barack Obama (BP oil spill)?

In Latah County, 25-year-old Silas B. Parks faces two counts of first-degree murder and one count of first-degree arson in the death of his 28-year-old wife Sarah Parks and her unborn daughter. Sarah was suffocated or strangled before her duplex was set afire. Silas has a history of domestic violence. Now he faces the death penalty until Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson concludes otherwise, and Thompson has several weeks to decide. Idaho has a lousy record on capital punishment. The last thing it needs is another death penalty case. Thirty-nine men and women have been sentenced to die. Only one, Keith Eugene Wells, was executed in 1994, and that was because Wells dropped his appeals/Marty Trillhaase, Lewiston Tribune. More here.

Question: Should Idaho prosecutors abandon attempts to seek the death penalty, unless the case involves particularly violent circumstances like the Joseph Duncan one?