Post by Anja Nieser on Oct 1, 2006 6:55:57 GMT -5
Condemned inmate: Governor picks, chooses death-penalty laws
A death-row inmate argues that he should get to challenge his sentence
because state officials are inconsistent in following state laws dealing
with capital punishment.
But the state attorney general said Friday that the inmate is "dead
wrong."
Convicted child murderer Donald Moeller says Gov. Mike Rounds ignored one
death-penalty law and favored another when he temporarily delayed last
month's planned execution of Elijah Page. Page, 24, wanted to be executed
for his part in the 2000 kidnapping, torture and slaying of Chester Allan
Poage, 19, of Spearfish.
Rounds stopped Page's execution hours before it was to happen, explaining
that he could not allow prison officials and executioners to violate a
state law that requires the use of two drugs to kill inmates. Prison
officials had planned to use three drugs on Page, a protocol that is
common in many states.
Rounds' reprieve is set to expire July 1, giving the 2007 Legislature time
to decide if it wants to keep the 2-drug method of lethal injection or
change the procedure.
But Moeller said that a state law (23A-27A-20) limits a governor's
reprieves to 90 days in death-penalty cases. That would mean Page's
execution could be delayed no longer than Nov. 25, or a full six weeks
before the next legislative session.
Moeller argues that the 10-month reprieve does not comply with state law.
"Such a reprieve is clearly for a period of time longer than that allowed
by statute, and in and of itself further evidence of the ad hoc manner in
which capital punishment is administered in South Dakota," Moeller's
court-appointed lawyer, Mark F. Marshall, wrote.
"The state has violated his (Moeller's) federally protected right to due
process of law by disregarding mandatory statutory language concerning the
administration of the death penalty," Marshall continued in a legal
document filed in Moeller's federal habeas corpus appeal.
Although the governor may not extend an execution beyond 90 days, the law
provides exceptions in instances where death-row inmates are pregnant or
mentally unfit, Moeller's lawyer added.
Larry Long, state attorney general, said Rounds issued the reprieve under
general authority of the state constitution, and the constitution does not
limit that authority.
"We specifically did not reference the statute in the reprieve document
because we weren't accessing that at all. The governor can access that
statute if he wants to, but he's got the general power under the
constitution to issue a reprieve whenever and however he feels like it,"
Long said.
There used to be many restrictions on the governor's constitutional
authority to grant clemency to convicted criminals, but voters struck that
language from the state constitution three decades ago on the
recommendation of a special commission that studied the issue, Long said.
Article 4, section 3 of the current constitution says: "The governor may,
except as to convictions on impeachment, grant pardons, commutations, and
reprieves."
"The governor's constitutional power to issue a reprieve is unlimited,"
Long said. "It's constitutionally based, and it's unlimited. He can issue
a reprieve for an hour or for a week or for a month. He can do what he
wants."
Moeller, 54, killed 9-year-old Becky O'Connell of Sioux Falls in 1990.
(source: Associated Press)
A death-row inmate argues that he should get to challenge his sentence
because state officials are inconsistent in following state laws dealing
with capital punishment.
But the state attorney general said Friday that the inmate is "dead
wrong."
Convicted child murderer Donald Moeller says Gov. Mike Rounds ignored one
death-penalty law and favored another when he temporarily delayed last
month's planned execution of Elijah Page. Page, 24, wanted to be executed
for his part in the 2000 kidnapping, torture and slaying of Chester Allan
Poage, 19, of Spearfish.
Rounds stopped Page's execution hours before it was to happen, explaining
that he could not allow prison officials and executioners to violate a
state law that requires the use of two drugs to kill inmates. Prison
officials had planned to use three drugs on Page, a protocol that is
common in many states.
Rounds' reprieve is set to expire July 1, giving the 2007 Legislature time
to decide if it wants to keep the 2-drug method of lethal injection or
change the procedure.
But Moeller said that a state law (23A-27A-20) limits a governor's
reprieves to 90 days in death-penalty cases. That would mean Page's
execution could be delayed no longer than Nov. 25, or a full six weeks
before the next legislative session.
Moeller argues that the 10-month reprieve does not comply with state law.
"Such a reprieve is clearly for a period of time longer than that allowed
by statute, and in and of itself further evidence of the ad hoc manner in
which capital punishment is administered in South Dakota," Moeller's
court-appointed lawyer, Mark F. Marshall, wrote.
"The state has violated his (Moeller's) federally protected right to due
process of law by disregarding mandatory statutory language concerning the
administration of the death penalty," Marshall continued in a legal
document filed in Moeller's federal habeas corpus appeal.
Although the governor may not extend an execution beyond 90 days, the law
provides exceptions in instances where death-row inmates are pregnant or
mentally unfit, Moeller's lawyer added.
Larry Long, state attorney general, said Rounds issued the reprieve under
general authority of the state constitution, and the constitution does not
limit that authority.
"We specifically did not reference the statute in the reprieve document
because we weren't accessing that at all. The governor can access that
statute if he wants to, but he's got the general power under the
constitution to issue a reprieve whenever and however he feels like it,"
Long said.
There used to be many restrictions on the governor's constitutional
authority to grant clemency to convicted criminals, but voters struck that
language from the state constitution three decades ago on the
recommendation of a special commission that studied the issue, Long said.
Article 4, section 3 of the current constitution says: "The governor may,
except as to convictions on impeachment, grant pardons, commutations, and
reprieves."
"The governor's constitutional power to issue a reprieve is unlimited,"
Long said. "It's constitutionally based, and it's unlimited. He can issue
a reprieve for an hour or for a week or for a month. He can do what he
wants."
Moeller, 54, killed 9-year-old Becky O'Connell of Sioux Falls in 1990.
(source: Associated Press)