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

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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.
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Arkansas Governor Signs New Lethal Injection Law

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February 20, 2013: Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe's office said today that he signed legislation (SB 237) that rewrites the state's lethal injection law, despite his misgivings about the death penalty.

The new law spells out in greater detail the procedures the state must follow in carrying out executions. It says the state must use a lethal dose of a barbiturate but leaves it up to the Department of Correction to determine which one.

The legislation came up after the Arkansas Supreme Court struck down the state's 2009 lethal injection law last year.

The new law means Arkansas could potentially resume capital punishment, but court challenges may further delay the state from executing a prisoner for the 1st time since 2005.

Source: Associated Press, Feb. 20, 2013


Legal challenges likely to delay Ark. executions

Arkansas got a new lethal injection law this week, but court challenges will likely block the state from resuming executions anytime soon.

The attorney general's office expects some of Arkansas' 37 death row inmates to challenge the new law that revises another law the state Supreme Court struck down last year.

No new legal challenges had surfaced by Friday - 2 days after Gov. Mike Beebe signed the new execution legislation. No new execution dates have been set either, meaning the state doesn't have any pending executions.

The new law spells out in greater detail the procedures the state must follow in carrying out executions. It says the state must use a lethal dose of a barbiturate, but leaves it up to Department of Correction to determine which one.

Source: Associated Press, February 22, 2013
Location: Arkansas
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