Death Penalty News

The attorney for accused murderer Aubrey Trail wants to discover whether Gov. Pete Ricketts, a staunch supporter of capital punishment, had any influence on the decision to seek the death penalty for Trail and his girlfriend. Attorney Ben Murray, Trail’s court-appointed defense attorney, filed a motion on Friday to discover “all communications” between the governor’s office and attorneys with the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office, who are prosecuting Trail and who decided to seek the death penalty. Murray said that he is not alleging wrongdoing by the governor and only has suspicion of his office’s involvement, but that any decision to seek the death penalty must not be based on “improper influence or bias.” “Seeking death on the basis of political or personal gain would constitute an improper reason to seek the execution …” stated the motion. “I feel like we have a right to know,” Murray said in a telephone interview. “It’s too important not to find out if everythi...

LINCOLN, NEB. --The Nebraska Supreme Court dismissed a lawsuit Friday filed by eight death-row inmates who argued that their sentences were invalidated by the Legislature's repeal of capital punishment in 2015, before voters overturned the ban. Justices denied the inmates' request for a declaration that their sentences were no longer valid, upholding a decision issued by a district court judge. But the state's highest court left open the possibility that the inmates could raise similar arguments when challenging their convictions individually. "We conclude that the inmates have equally serviceable remedies and accordingly affirm the district court's dismissal" of the case, Chief Justice Michael Heavican wrote in the opinion. The inmates argued that the Legislature's 2015 vote to override Republican Gov. Pete Ricketts' veto and abolish the death penalty effectively reduced their sentences to life in prison. A petition drive led by death p...

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) -- Nebraska state Sen. Ernie Chambers is renewing his push to abolish the death penalty after his last successful attempt was overturned by voters in 2016. The longtime Omaha senator introduced a repeal bill Thursday on the Nebraska legislative session's second day. Nebraska received national attention in 2015 when the Legislature overrode Gov. Pete Ricketts' veto and ended capital punishment.  Death penalty supporters responded with a ballot campaign that placed the issue before voters, who reinstated the punishment.  Ricketts donated $300,000 of his own money to the campaign. Nebraska executed its first inmate since 1997 last year, using a never-before-tried combination of drugs.  Prison officials refused to identify their supplier, prompting lawsuits that accused them of violating Nebraska's public-records laws. Chambers has fought for decades to abolish capital punishment. Source: The Associated Press, January 10, 2...

Nebraska last week completed its 1st execution in 21 years when it put 60-year-old Carey Dean Moore to death . Moore had been on death row for 38 years, and had stopped fighting the state's attempt to bring capital punishment back to life with his lethal injection death sentence. That's not the case for the prisoner who was notified in November by the Department of Correctional Services of the drugs that would be used for his potential execution. Jose Sandoval was sentenced to death along with Jorge Galindo and Erick Vela for the 2002 shootings and killings of Lisa Bryant, Lola Elwood, Samuel Sun, Jo Mausbach and Evonne Tuttle in a botched bank robbery attempt in Norfolk. Even though Moore was notified of the drugs that would be used in his death sentence after Sandoval, the state sought his execution warrant first. A department spokeswoman said the department has not requested a warrant for Sandoval from the Nebraska Supreme Court. But it is continuing t...

The execution of Nebraska's longest serving death row inmate last week left many wondering what's next for capital punishment in a state where it hadn't been used in more than 20 years. Will officials quickly try to carry out what would be Nebraska's 2nd lethal injection? Or will decades pass again before another Nebraska inmate pays the ultimate price for murder? It's certain the state won't see another execution before one of the four lethal injection drugs expires at the end of this month. "I think it will be very unlikely they could do another execution this year," said Jeff Pickens, director of the Nebraska Commission on Public Advocacy, a state office that represents indigent clients in serious felony cases. Beyond that, it's more difficult to predict. But consider that nearly 7 months had passed from the day prison officials notified Carey Dean Moore that they had the drugs until he was put him to death Aug. 14 at the ...

“The death penalty is not about whether people deserve to die for the crimes they commit,” as Bryan Stevenson, executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, frequently explains. “The real question of capital punishment in this country is, ‘Do we deserve to kill?’” For those of us who are most familiar with the legal deficiencies and human cruelties of capital punishment, the answer is a resounding no.  Nebraska’s execution of Carey Dean Moore this morning proves the point.  As a society, we have determined that a death sentence requires that our process for determining who is guilty, for determining whom should be executed, and for executing humanely are transparent and above reproach. By any standard, Nebraska should not have had the authority to kill Moore today with an experimental fentanyl drug protocol.  Moore’s case is remarkable for several reasons. First, he has spent 38 years on death row, the longest known period between death sentence and e...

LINCOLN, Neb. — Prison officials in Nebraska used fentanyl, the powerful opioid at the center of the nation’s overdose epidemic, to help execute a convicted murderer on Tuesday . The lethal injection at the Nebraska State Penitentiary was the first time fentanyl had been used to carry out the death penalty in the United States. The execution, Nebraska’s first since 1997, represented a stunning political turnabout in a state where lawmakers voted only three years ago to ban capital punishment. The condemned man, Carey Dean Moore, 60, had been convicted of killing two Omaha taxi drivers decades ago and did not seek a reprieve in his final months. But two pharmaceutical companies tried to block the execution in federal court, claiming their reputations would suffer if the killing proceeded. The companies could not prove that their products would be used, however, because prison officials refused to identify the suppliers of the drugs to be administered to Mr. Moore. So the ...

Death row inmate Moore executed by lethal injection Nebraska carried out its 1st execution since 1997 on Tuesday. Carey Dean Moore was executed Tuesday morning for the 1979 shooting deaths of 2 Omaha cab drivers. Officials said at around 9:15 a.m. Moore was read an execution order. At 10 a.m. the Nebraska Attorney General's office checked for any last minute legal matters that would've prevented the execution. Moore was escorted into the room and strapped to the table. IV lines were inserted and a heart monitor was attached. 10 witnesses were then escorted into the viewing room. Officials said after Valium was administered, the warden checked for consciousness. Witnesses watched as fentanyl citrate was administered. Cisatracurium besylate was then administered to induce paralysis and halt Moore's breathing. Potassium chloride was given to Moore to stop his heart. The Lancaster County coroner called the time of death. State officials announced the ...

On the brink of Carey Dean Moore’s Aug. 14 lethal injection — Nebraska’s first execution in over two decades — it’s worth revisiting how, three years ago, World-Herald columnist Erin Grace exposed Gov. Pete Ricketts’ hypocrisy for advancing Catholic teachings as a reason to resume executions. In a piercing, prescient piece, aptly titled “In death penalty crusade, Pete Ricketts not as in sync as he thinks,” Grace highlighted how long-existing Catholic publications and official statements from church leaders (including Pope John Paul II and Pope Francis) had all thoroughly denounced the death penalty. In so doing, Grace convincingly demonstrated the fallaciousness of Ricketts’ invocation of purported Catholic dogma to push his pro-capital punishment agenda; Ricketts maintained at the time: “If you look, almost without exception the church fathers believe the state has a right in certain circumstances to use the death penalty.” And so, in the wake of what was already a rick...

Drugmaker: No more appeals in Nebraska execution A German pharmaceutical company says it won’t ask the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene after losing an appeal in a case that threatened to block Nebraska from carrying out its first execution since 1997.  Drug company Fresenius Kabi recently filed a lawsuit accusing Nebraska prison officials of improperly obtaining its drugs for lethal injections.  The company said it doesn’t want its drugs used in executions and asked a federal judge to prevent the state from doing so Tuesday.  The judge refused, and the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that decision Monday.  An attorney for Fresenius Kabi said later Monday that the company won’t pursue an additional review with the nation’s highest court.  That means Carey Dean Moore is still scheduled to be executed Tuesday for the 1979 shooting deaths of two Omaha cab drivers.  Source : Associated Press, August 13 Appeals court ...