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Biden Fails a Death Penalty Abolitionist’s Most Important Test

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The mystery of Joe Biden’s views about capital punishment has finally been solved. His decision to grant clemency to 37 of the 40 people on federal death row shows the depth of his opposition to the death penalty. And his decision to leave three of America’s most notorious killers to be executed by a future administration shows the limits of his abolitionist commitment. The three men excluded from Biden’s mass clemency—Dylann Roof, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, and Robert Bowers—would no doubt pose a severe test of anyone’s resolve to end the death penalty. Biden failed that test.
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California state court judge refuses to block execution

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SAN RAFAEL, Calif. — A California state court judge refused a death row inmate's request Monday to block his scheduled execution this week.

It's the second significant legal setback for Albert Greenwood Brown in his effort to stop the execution scheduled for 12:01 a.m. Wednesday.

A federal judge on Friday also refused to block the execution.

On Monday, Brown asked Marin County Superior Court Judge Verna Adams to halt his execution until a lawsuit filed by Brown and another death row inmate is resolved. The suit challenges the state's new lethal injection regulations, saying the procedures were improperly adopted.

Corrections officials revised the procedures after a federal judge halted the death penalty in California amid concern the state's method of lethal injection amounted to cruel and unusual punishment.

California deputy attorney general Jay Goldman told the judge the regulations were adopted legally after a lengthy process that included public input.

Judge Adams said after an hour-long hearing Monday that she would not halt Brown's execution while the lawsuit is pending.

"Mr. Brown can not prove that he will suffer pain if he is executed under the current regulations," Adams said.

The new regulations adopted on Aug. 29 call for prison officials to inject Brown with a lethal dose of sodium thiopental, pancuronium bromide and potassium chloride.

Lawyers for the two inmates challenging the new regulations said they would appeal immediately to the 1st District Court of Appeal.

Brown's attorneys also asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to block the execution.

Source: The Associated Press, September 27, 2010
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