THIS MONTH FROM DEATH ROW: MARCH 2021
The second consecutive month without and execution in the U.S. has come to a closing. It’s time to look at what has happened this month.
THE IMPORTANT MOMENTS
03/01, Supreme Court: The first out of four dates this month in which the Supreme Court decided petitions for a writ of certiorari for death row inmates. The following death row prisoners exhausted their appeals on the 1st:
- Deondre Staten (Calif.)
- Joe James (Ala.)
The following death row prisoners had their petition discussion date rescheduled:
- Ernest Johnson (Mo.)
- Ruben Gutierrez (Texas)
- Anthony Hines (Tenn.)
- Charles Thompson (Texas)
- Joe Johnson (Calif.)
- Frederick Whatley (Ga.)
03/01, Oklahoma: It was reported that the co-defendant of Oklahoma death row inmate Julius Jones, Chris Jordan, confessed to the murder that Jones is facing the death penalty for while serving a life sentence in an Oklahoma prison. Jones has always maintained his innocence ever since he was put on death row for the 2002 murder of Paul Howell. With over six million people saying that he is innocent, his lawyers filed for a commutation hearing.
03/02, Kentucky: The Kentucky House of Representatives voted 76–15 in favor of passing H.B. 148, which will prohibit execution for mentally ill offenders if signed into law. The state of Kentucky hasn’t executed an inmate since 2008 and was the reason for the 224-day hiatus of executions in the U.S. from Sept. 25, 2007, to May 6, 2008.
03/03, South Carolina: A group of bipartisan senators in South Carolina voted in favor of passing a bill that would make electrocution the default method of execution in the state. The bill was introduced after the recent delay in executions due to the state not having the drugs in their lethal injection protocol. Richard Moore and Brad Sigmon were both spared from execution in South Carolina a few months ago after both refused to choose the method in which they wanted to be executed by, defaulting to lethal injection. An amendment to the bill, which was also passed, would also reintroduce firing squad as an alternate method of execution in the state. South Carolina hasn’t executed an inmate since 2011, and hasn’t used its electric chair since 2008.
03/05, Arizona: After finding a drug supplier in November last year, The ADCRR (Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation, and Reentry) announced that it is ready to resume executions in the state of Arizona. It also pointed out 20 inmates, now 21, that have exhausted their appeals and are eligible for execution. Of those, 12 are still eligible to elect lethal gas as their method of execution. Arizona hasn’t executed an inmate since 2014 when the state botched the execution of Joseph Rudolph Wood. Hoping that an event like that doesn’t happen again, they have switched protocols.
03/08, Supreme Court: The second out of the four dates where the Supreme Court decided petitions for a writ of certiorari for death row prisoners. The following death row prisoners exhausted their appeals on the 8th:
- Christopher Spreitz (Ariz.)
- Juan Rodriguez (Fla.)
- James Walker (Nev.)
The following death row inmates had their petition decision date rescheduled:
- Ernest Johnson (Mo.)
- Charles Thompson (Texas)
- Frederick Whatley (Ga.)
03/08, Oklahoma: The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board voted in favor of advancing Julius Jones’ commutation hearing to a “stage two” hearing. It has been scheduled for later this year.
03/09, Federal: Since the Department of Justice did not ask the Supreme court to review the 7th circuit ruling that federal death row inmate Bruce Webster is ineligible for the death penalty due to intellectual disability by the deadline, which was the 9th, Bruce Webster was taken off federal death row. This comes nearly two months after the federal execution spree spanning six months was completed.
03/11, Tennessee: The Tennessee House of Delegates considered a bill barring execution from mentally disabled individuals. This may be important in the case of Pervis Payne. Payne has been on Tennessee death row for more than 30 years while being intellectually disabled and has always maintained his innocence. With support coming from organizations like The Innocence Project, he may very well be spared from execution. He was originally scheduled for execution on Dec. 3, 2020, but was granted a reprieve until April 9, 2021, on Nov. 6, 2020.
03/15: The 15th marked the 250th day without a state-sanctioned execution. Only seven people were executed in 2020 before the federal execution spree starting in July and no one was executed in between. Since Jan. 16, no execution any where has been carried out anywhere in the U.S. There were executions scheduled during and after the spree but all ended up not being carried out. The last person executed under the jurisdiction of a U.S. state was Billy Joe Wardlow in Texas on July 8, 2020.
03/18, Alabama: A bill was introduced into the state’s legislature to abolish the death penalty. Considering the majority of the legislature being Republican, it’s unlikely that it will become law.
03/18, Wyoming: The Wyoming Senate defeated S.F. 150, or the death penalty repeal bill, in a 11–19 vote in opposition of passing the file. After support from committees in the legislature, it was expected to pass. Wyoming hasn’t executed an inmate since 1992.
03/22, Supreme Court: The third day of petition decisions from the Supreme Court. The following death row prisoners exhausted their appeals on the 22nd:
- Jeffrey Atwater (Fla.)
- Charles Hall (Fed.)
- Grover Reed (Fla.)
- Johnny Miles (Calif.)
- Raymond Bright (Fla.)
- Anthony Ponticelli (Fla.)
The following death row prisoners had their petition decision date rescheduled:
- Ernest Johnson (Mo.)
- Charles Thompson (Texas)
- Anthony Hines (Tenn.)
- Frederick Whatley (Ga.)
Also included on the order list was the case of Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev v. The United States. The Supreme Court agreed to take up the case, reviewing a federal court’s decision from last year that reversed Tsarnaev’s federal death sentence. Tsarnaev was originally convicted and sentenced to death for the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing in Connecticut but has his death sentence reversed after federal judges ruled that the case was tainted with publicity.
03/24, Virginia: The Governor of Virginia, Ralph Northam, signed the death penalty repeal bill, abolishing capital punishment in the state. Virginia has been the country’s death penalty power house, recording over 1,300 executions since 1608. In the modern era of the death penalty in the U.S, the state has the 2nd largest execution total of 113. Virginia became the first state in the former confederacy to abolish its death penalty, making the impact huge. The state last executed an inmate in 2017.
03/27, Nevada: Clark County prosecutors announced that they will be seeking a death warrant for death row inmate, Zane Floyd, 45, following the death penalty repeal bill being filed in the state assembly. Floyd could become the first inmate executed in Nevada since 2006. The state last tried to execute an inmate in 2018 when the state almost executed Scott Raymond Dozier. Dozier waived his appeals in 2016, requesting an execution date. He was given one for 2017 but was granted a stay just a few days before. The next time was near the end of 2018 but was granted a stay just minuted before. Dozier was found dead in his death row cell after an apparent suicide. The state hasn’t scheduled an execution since.
03/29, Supreme Court: The fourth and final day of petition decisions this month. The following death row prisoners exhausted their appeals on the 29th:
- Stephen Hugueley (Tenn.)
- Melvin Bonnel (Ohio)
- Donald Tedford (Pa.)
The following death row prisoners had their petition decision date rescheduled:
- Donald Dallas (Ala.)
- Anthony Hines (Tenn.) J
- ames Calvert (Texas)
- Gary Lawrence (Fla.)
- Frederick Whatley (Ga.)
Death row prisoner, Ernest Johnson (Mo.), was included on the order list but had his petition neither granted nor denied. In an order issued by the supreme court, it asks both his lawyers and the director of the Missouri Department of Corrections if Johnson is allowed to amend his underlying lawsuit to request that he be executed by method of firing squad. Johnson was suing the Missouri Department of Corrections stating that their lethal injection protocol will cause him excruciating pain, therefore violating the eighth amendment of the U.S. constitution and that he be allowed to amend his lawsuit in order to select firing squad as the method of execution.
MARCH EXECUTION SCHEDULE
March 4th: Ibarra, Ramiro R.
- State: Texas
- Result: STAYED (Granted by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on February 24th, 2021 due to courts needing more time to consider his intellectual disability and “junk science” claim)
March 18th: Bonnel, Melvin
- State: Ohio
- Result: REPRIEVED (No further information given)
March 24th: Cepec, Steven E.
- State: Ohio
- Result: DATE REMOVED (No further information given)
APRIL EXECUTION SCHEDULE
April 8th: Black, Byron
- State: Tennessee
- Result: STAYED (No further information given)
April 20th: Gonzales, Ramiro F.
- State: Texas
- Result: PENDING
April 21st: Jones, Elwood
- State: Ohio
- Result: REPRIEVED (Granted by Governor Mike DeWine on December 18th, 2020 and rescheduled for December 6th, 2023)
