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Inmates want their executioners named
Missouri has law against revealing executioners' names
ST. LOUIS, Missouri (AP) -- Lawyers for five death row inmates are pressing Missouri to identify members of its execution team after a newspaper revealed that a nurse on the team was once accused of stalking.
Lawyers for five death row inmates want Missouri to identify members of its execution team.
The lawyers filed papers last week in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, arguing that the executioner's criminal record raises questions about his "temperament and suitability" to help with executions.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch named the nurse in a story last week, revealing that he was on probation in 2001 when he worked on executions and was allowed to join a federal team that executed Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh in Indiana.
"The issues raised in this motion will be dealt with in the ongoing litigation," said John Fougere, a spokesman for the attorney general's office, which represents the corrections department.
The newspaper named the nurse despite a new state law that prohibits knowingly disclosing the identity of a current or former execution team member, and makes it easier for them to seek civil damages if their names are exposed.
The law was passed after the newspaper identified a doctor who measured lethal drugs but is dyslexic.
The newspaper believes the law is unconstitutional, and that "it stifles public discussion and hinders governmental accountability," Post-Dispatch Editor Arnie Robbins said in an editor's note published January 13.
The Associated Press chose not to identify the nurse because a reporter could not contact him. The man's home phone number was disconnected and his employer refused to comment or make the nurse available.
The nurse was charged in 1998 with felonies for allegedly stalking and damaging the property of a man who had a relationship with his estranged wife.
He pleaded no contest to misdemeanors and received a suspended imposition of sentence. That cleared his record once he served two years of probation. A check of the nurse's license record showed no discipline.
State and federal prison officials knew of the nurse's criminal background, according to internal Missouri Division of Probation and Parole memos obtained by the Post-Dispatch.
The inmates lawyers say those circumstances raise questions about the state's screening procedures. The attorney general's office has argued against giving the death row appellants more than general information about execution team.
Personal Commentary: I would like it if all the people's names were published. I mean if you kill somebody, usually your name gets published.
When things are so abstract and obscure juries dont care about sending people to the electric chair because they dont know them personally or who they are....
There is a disconnect there....When you publish their names...You will humanize them...And hopefully give them some reflection on their own lives....
When its a stray dog, you wouldnt think twice about kicking them away from your lawn...but when its your dog Lucky...now everything changes....
So please publish their names...These people obviously arent ashamed of their jobs, cause they still doing them. So lets bring some more awareness to the issue.
CK
Missouri has law against revealing executioners' names
ST. LOUIS, Missouri (AP) -- Lawyers for five death row inmates are pressing Missouri to identify members of its execution team after a newspaper revealed that a nurse on the team was once accused of stalking.
Lawyers for five death row inmates want Missouri to identify members of its execution team.
The lawyers filed papers last week in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, arguing that the executioner's criminal record raises questions about his "temperament and suitability" to help with executions.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch named the nurse in a story last week, revealing that he was on probation in 2001 when he worked on executions and was allowed to join a federal team that executed Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh in Indiana.
"The issues raised in this motion will be dealt with in the ongoing litigation," said John Fougere, a spokesman for the attorney general's office, which represents the corrections department.
The newspaper named the nurse despite a new state law that prohibits knowingly disclosing the identity of a current or former execution team member, and makes it easier for them to seek civil damages if their names are exposed.
The law was passed after the newspaper identified a doctor who measured lethal drugs but is dyslexic.
The newspaper believes the law is unconstitutional, and that "it stifles public discussion and hinders governmental accountability," Post-Dispatch Editor Arnie Robbins said in an editor's note published January 13.
The Associated Press chose not to identify the nurse because a reporter could not contact him. The man's home phone number was disconnected and his employer refused to comment or make the nurse available.
The nurse was charged in 1998 with felonies for allegedly stalking and damaging the property of a man who had a relationship with his estranged wife.
He pleaded no contest to misdemeanors and received a suspended imposition of sentence. That cleared his record once he served two years of probation. A check of the nurse's license record showed no discipline.
State and federal prison officials knew of the nurse's criminal background, according to internal Missouri Division of Probation and Parole memos obtained by the Post-Dispatch.
The inmates lawyers say those circumstances raise questions about the state's screening procedures. The attorney general's office has argued against giving the death row appellants more than general information about execution team.
Personal Commentary: I would like it if all the people's names were published. I mean if you kill somebody, usually your name gets published.
When things are so abstract and obscure juries dont care about sending people to the electric chair because they dont know them personally or who they are....
There is a disconnect there....When you publish their names...You will humanize them...And hopefully give them some reflection on their own lives....
When its a stray dog, you wouldnt think twice about kicking them away from your lawn...but when its your dog Lucky...now everything changes....
So please publish their names...These people obviously arent ashamed of their jobs, cause they still doing them. So lets bring some more awareness to the issue.
CK
