Execution To Be First Since Penalty Upheld

Supreme Court Ruled Death Penalty Constitutional In April; Convicted Killer Scheduled For Execution In Ga.

(CBS/AP)  A Georgia board Monday denied condemned killer William Earl Lynd's clemency bid, paving the way for him to likely become the nation's first inmate put to death since the U.S. Supreme Court held that lethal injection is constitutional.

Lynd still had an appeal pending before the Georgia Supreme Court seeking to stay his execution, which was scheduled for Tuesday at 7 p.m. It was unclear when the state's top court would act on that request.

He was convicted of fatally shooting his live-in girlfriend, Ginger Moore, two days before Christmas in 1988. His lawyer asked both the Georgia Supreme Court and the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles for a 90-day stay of execution, and a commutation of his sentence.

Attorney Tom Dunn has argued that medical testimony presented at Lynd's 1990 trial was unreliable and the jury that sentenced him to death never learned of a possible mitigating factor: He had been sexually molested by neighbors at age 8.

Dunn made his case to the parole board behind closed doors for about two hours Monday. He declined to comment after the hearing. Prosecutors were expected to make their case Monday afternoon, and the board's decision was expected by the end of the day.

If the courts do not intervene, Lynd's execution would be the first since the U.S. Supreme Court last month upheld Kentucky's lethal injection protocol, clearing the way for executions to resume in the roughly three dozen states that use that method.

Fourteen other executions are scheduled in the next six months across America. But as CBS News correspondent Mark Strassmann reports, more states are reconsidering capital punishment, and reaching very different conclusions.

Wrongful convictions are one reason why lawmakers in five states are seriously debating repealing capital punishment. But five other states have moved in a very different direction -- passing laws that expanded death row to execute people convicted of a crime other than murder.

Prosecutors at Lynd's trial said Moore suffered a slow agonizing death, regaining consciousness twice after successive gunshot wounds to the head at the home she and Lynd shared in Berrien County, in south Georgia. The medical examiner testified that Moore was still alive when Lynd stuffed her into the trunk of her car and took a drive. Lynd confessed to authorities that when he heard her thumping around in the trunk, he opened it and fired the final lethal shot.

The allegation that Lynd kidnapped Moore before she died was an essential "aggravating" circumstance that made him eligible for the death penalty. It also helped prosecutors show the slaying was premeditated.

But Lynd's lawyers argue the medical examiner who did Moore's autopsy was not a physician and was wrong in asserting that she would have been able to regain consciousness after the second shot.

A doctor hired by the defense to examine the evidence found that Moore did not survive the second gunshot wound and was already dead when she was placed in the trunk, making Lynd innocent of the kidnapping charge. The original medical examiner, Warren Tillman, now agrees it is unlikely she was alive when placed in the car, according to Dunn's legal filing.

Dunn said Lynd and Moore had consumed Valium, alcohol and marijuana and were in a heated argument over a trip to Florida when he shot her.

"This crime was hot blooded and without premeditation," reads Dunn's application to the parole board. "Tragic - yes. Cold blooded - no."

Meanwhile, a Mexican-born Texas prisoner whose death sentence set off an international dispute and a U.S. Supreme Court rebuke of the White House, also received an execution date Monday.

Texas State District Judge Caprice Cosper set the Aug. 5 lethal injection for 33-year-old Jose Medellin for his participation in the gang rape and strangulation deaths of two teenage girls 15 years ago in Houston when they stumbled upon a gang initiation rite.

The Supreme Court in March refused to hear Medellin's appeal, saying President Bush overstepped his authority by ordering Texas to reopen his case and the cases of 50 other Mexican nationals condemned for murders in the U.S. Texas refused to comply.

Medellin is among 14 native Mexicans on death row in Texas. Mexico has no death penalty and sued the United States in the world court in 2003. Mexico and other opponents of capital punishment have sought to use the world court to fight for foreigners facing execution in the U.S.

And someone who sits in front of a computer screen playing stupid games....

fibonacci_ is a Plagiarist.

17th March 2006, 08:09 PM #5
Fibonacci_
Guest


Posts: n/a

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For those that are familiar with it ... "Serernity: The RPG" is based on the Savage Worlds system.

nahhh....Dealing with punks like you is fun.

[fibonacci_]

mitchoncbs = microcephalous.

[fibonacci_]

mitchoncbs, really pushed your buttons didnt I?

[pensacola88]

So strange...burning witches tied to a stake....poisoning convicts tied to a gurney...

The righteousness of a group of men, who aspire to play God and decide who lives and dies based on criteria born of human opinion. The obsession with guilt and disability to forgive has branded itself upon the justice system as arcane as crime itself.

fibonacci_, you''re just a nut who spouts off statistics without providing proof other than what you can copy and paste from the Internet. And since you are sitting on your fat duff behind the computer screen with sticky substances on your keyboard, I doubt seriously you would say the things you say in front of anyone. Just a coward with a computer.

[mjvw2]

go Georgia go

[fibonacci_]

He he.

[fibonacci_]

MyOpinion1, we might borrow some concepts from Islamic law there. We could cut of the hands from those that steal too.

[fibonacci_]

It is HILLARIOUS how many people come on saying things like "these guys should not be supported by our tax dollars". This is EXACTLY what I mean about the naivity of Americans. Even though it gets brought up again and again in these forums that the death penalty costs more, another supporter always shows up with that argument. Naive! If you are going to use something for an argument for the death penalty at least get your facts straight.

[fibonacci_]

Dont worry little naive American whatinthewld, I already left the USA.

[jehovahwtnss]

I would like to revisit cpaide''s claim that only 6 of the death row inmates exonerated in the past 30 years were truly innocent, as I have just read an article on this same site that states that 139 death row inmates have been freed and that most of these exonerations are attributable to negative DNA matches between the alleged murderers and the blood and *** stained evidence used to convict them. In view of this, I now believe that if there is potential DNA evidence available, a convicted murderer or rapist should have the right to have it analysed, provided that they pay the costs of such investigations. I''m sure that there are all sorts of bleeding heart liberal organisations like DeathPenaltyInfo who will happily stump up the readies for those too poor to afford it. One of the main reasons for this bleeding heart liberal opinion is because a wrongful conviction means that the actual bad guy is not pursued any more, and it is the actual bad guy we want to hang, garotte, poison, electrocute or guillotine isn''t it?

[whatinthewld]

fibonacci - Have you heard of DNA before? These guys on death row didn''t walk into a store and steal a can of pop! These guys are cold blooded murderers who should not have to be supported by our tax dollars. Perhaps you should go to Mexico where there is no death penalty......and tell me........why are all the mexicans coming to the USA - the land of the free? a land that has the DP. Lots of land is for sale in Mexico....cheap! Safe travels, fibonacci!

[fibonacci_]

Yea ZykraCosmos, I really do not get why Christians are some of the biggest death penalty advocates. It really seems to go against the New Testament and teachings of their prophet.

[zykracosmos]

I''ve got an idea. Let the folks who are so quick to say "kill ''em" be the ones who are on death penalty duty. Instead of hiring a mercenary officer to take another life, let the wingnuts do this sort of like a jury duty. Every few months they get to go kill someone. Something different from hunting rabbits with an uzi. You know what''s funny? These are the same nutjobs that want to make sure an embryo has full constitutional rights. But once that kid is born, look out.. no free lunches baby. You''re own your own. And when you''re shot up with drugs, molested, and left on the streets, and then you grow up to be the angry killer that you are groomed to be, then these same wingnuts can''t wait to hang you by the balls. Interesting how all these same folks think they are Christians. What did Jesus say? Let the person who is without sin cast the first stone. Anybody visualize Jesus pulling the switch on somebody? You can''t be a Christian and put people to death. If you''re still cold-blooded enough to kill people, then you better stay away from Jack Daniels and keep your gun unloaded.

[zykracosmos]

Posted by haoli25:
I don''t care if the hangings are public or not, but the U.S. should return to that manner of execution. After the execution, all of the organs should be harvested for transplant including the eyes, skin, etc. This is the only way these animals can begin to make ammends for their crimes.
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LOL!! This has got to be one of the funniest postings by a wingnut today. Tell you what, "haoli25" We''ll let you harvest the blown-out eyeballs of someone who you hang, and then haul them over to a hospital for transplanting.

[fibonacci_]

"For 2006, the average Murder Rate of Death Penalty States was 5.9, while the average Murder Rate of States without the Death Penalty was 4.22."

[ubrew12]

Right wingers don''t seem to get it.

If you execute someone who''s innocent: you are a murderer, and should be (by law) put to death.