FEATURED POST

As clock ticks toward another Trump presidency, federal death row prisoners appeal for clemency

Image
President-elect Donald Trump’s return to office is putting a spotlight on the U.S. penitentiary in Terre Haute, which houses federal death row. In Bloomington, a small community of death row spiritual advisors is struggling to support the prisoners to whom they minister.  Ross Martinie Eiler is a Mennonite, Episcopal lay minister and member of the Catholic Worker movement, which assists the homeless. And for the past three years, he’s served as a spiritual advisor for a man on federal death row.

KY moves one step closer toward reinstating death penalty

On Friday, Kentucky moved one step closer toward reinstating the death penalty.

Recently the State Supreme Court put a halt on executions until the protocol surrounding the entire execution was made public.

In the days and then hours leading up to an execution there are procedures followed by the Department of Corrections and for years those procedures have been confidential. But the Supreme Court said it should all be public and Friday it was the public’s one chance to voice opinion on those rules.

No one there agreed with the death penalty but hoped to make it more humane. They even revisited old arguments settled by the U.S. Supreme Court that involved drugs used to execute Kentucky inmates and challenged what witnesses are allowed to see; requiring better witness access from beginning to end and better accommodations for families and the condemned.

The attorney, who challenged the state's protocol and won, was also there with more questions so that Kentucky's protocol will follow other states. They are laws and protocol that all may not agree upon but will be carried out in the light of day.

Next the Department of Corrections will review the comments then publish Kentucky's protocol for administering the death penalty. If the general assembly approves it and the governor signs it, then Kentucky's death penalty will be reinstated.

Source: WHAS11.com, January 29, 2010

Comments

Most Viewed (Last 7 Days)

Biden Has 65 Days Left in Office. Here’s What He Can Do on Criminal Justice.

Alabama executes Carey Dale Grayson, carries out nation's 3rd nitrogen gas execution

Singapore executes third drug trafficker in a week

Indonesia | Bali Nine prisoners to be sent home

Saudi Arabia executed more than 100 foreigners in 2024: AFP tally

Singapore | Imminent unlawful execution for drug trafficking

Mary Jane Veloso to return to Philippines after 14-year imprisonment in Indonesia

USA | Pro-Trump prison warden asks Biden to commute all death sentences before leaving