By Samuel Miller
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America and Oceania

MARION, ALABAMA, United States of America — The SPLC filed a judicial ethics complaint against an Alabama judge who forced people unable to pay court fines and fees to give blood or face jail time. The judge’s announcement was made to dozens of defendants in a packed courtroom to deal with court fees.

Some of the 500 defendants gave blood to avoid jail, but their debt remained.

Perry County Circuit Judge Marvin Wiggins threatened defendants in his court with jail on September 17. Judge Wiggins noted that the Sheriff had enough handcuffs for those unable to pay and unwilling to donate blood, according to the complaint filed with the Judicial Inquiry Commission of Alabama.

According to the SPLC, Judge Wiggins said in a recording, “If you do not have any money and you don’t want to go to jail, consider giving blood today.”

The offenders were to be given a $100 voucher that would go toward their fines and fees for misdemeanor and traffic crimes. Wiggins said to consider the option of giving blood “a discount rather than putting you in jail.” However, no one who donated blood received any “discount” on their court debt; they simply received a reprieve from being thrown in jail.

Most of the people in the courtroom still owed thousands of dollars to the court, even after years of making payments, according to the complaint. Virtually every case included fees that indigent defendants had been charged to recoup money for their court-appointed counsel

Without speaking to the judge about their financial situation, many indigent defendants gave blood out of fear of going to jail. The complaint outlines several ethics violations, including failure to demonstrate professional competence and failure to uphold the integrity of the law.

Some lawyers have questioned the constitutionality of it all.

In its complaint, the SPLC has claimed Judge Wiggins’ violated both Alabama statutory law and constitutional law.

“By jailing people for their inability to pay, the city violates their 14th Amendment right to due process and equal protection under the law. The warrantless arrests violate Alabama law and the Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable searches and seizures. The arrests also violate individuals’ right to counsel, protected by the Sixth Amendment.”

“People who couldn’t pay their court debt with cash literally paid with their blood,” said Sara Zampierin, SPLC staff attorney. “This is a shocking disregard for not only judicial ethics but for the constitutional rights of defendants.”

The Judicial Inquiry Commission could recommend that Wiggins face ethics charges in the Alabama Court of the Judiciary.

For more information, please see:

BBC News — Alabama judge orders defendants to give blood to avoid jail – 20 October 2015

CBS News – Judge to defendants: To avoid jail, pay court fees, or give blood – 20 October 2015

NPR — Alabama Judge Accused Of Telling Offenders To Give Blood Or Go To Jail – 20 October 2015

Reuters — Alabama judge accused of telling debtors to give blood or face jail time – 20 October 2015

SPLC — SPLC ethics complaint: Alabama judge forced defendants with court debt to give blood or go to jail – 20 October 2015

Time — Alabama Judge Tells Offenders to Give Blood or Face Jail – 20 October 2015

By Samuel Miller
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America and Oceania

COLUMBUS, OHIO, United States of America — Ohio has announced it is delaying executions until 2017 at the earliest as the state struggles to acquire the drugs used in lethal injections. The postponement of capital punishment means 12 death row inmates who were scheduled to die in 2016 are being given a temporary reprieve.

Executions in the state have already been postponed for almost two years due to drug shortages.

In an agency press release Monday, the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections detailed the justification for the decision:

“The Department of Rehabilitation and Correction continues to seek all legal means to obtain the drugs necessary to carry out court ordered executions, but over the past few years it has become exceedingly difficult to secure those drugs because of severe supply and distribution restrictions.”

Ohio, like many states, has been forced to find new drugs after European-based manufacturers banned US prisons from using their products in executions on moral and legal grounds.

The DRC said it needed extra time to buy supplies of sodium thiopental and pentobarbital from overseas, or from small-scale drug manufacturers called compounding pharmacies. Ohio said in January that sodium thiopental and pentobarbital will be the only drugs used in its lethal injection cocktail.

State officials obtained an import license from the US Drug Enforcement Administration to buy drugs from overseas. However, they were subsequently warned by the Food and Drug Administration that if they did so, they would be violating a federal law barring the importation of lethal injection drugs unless the purchase had been explicitly approved by the FDA.

Ohio lawmakers even passed an execution secrecy law designed to encourage compounding pharmacies to make lethal injection drugs, but the American Pharmacists Association has been reluctant to approve the manufacture and sale of such drugs.

Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien said Ohio could speed up its executions by changing its method of execution.  The state could use the electric chair, hanging, or even a firing squad, but these changes would require state lawmakers to pass a bill and the governor would need to sign it.

The state has been postponing all planned executions since the administration of a faulty lethal injection caused a death row inmate to suffer in agony for 25 minutes before dying. In January 2014, Ohio executed Dennis McGuire with an untested lethal injection containing the controversial sedative midazolam, which malfunctioned and led to an outcry from concerned citizens and lawmakers.

The next execution in the state is currently set for January 2017.

For more information, please see:

BBC News — Ohio puts executions on hold due to drug shortage – 20 October 2015

Columbus Dispatch — Ohio to delay executions until 2017 – 20 October 2015

Free Press Journal — US state postpones executions over lack of lethal drugs – 20 October 2015

NBC — Lack of execution drugs means delay for inmates on death row – 20 October 2015

RT — Ohio delays executions until 2017 over drug shortage – 20 October 2015

Sky News — Ohio Delays All Executions To 2017 Over Drugs – 20 October 2015

By Samuel Miller
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America and Oceania

ATLANTA, Georgia, United States of America — On Monday, fifteen individuals associated with a group of Confederate flag supporters in Douglas County, Ga., were indicted on terrorism charges. The July incident came in the midst of a debate that spread from South Carolina about removing the Confederate flag from public spaces.

The charges are related to a July 25 incident in which members of a group called Respect the Flag drove a convoy of vehicles displaying Confederate flags through a neighborhood in Douglasville, when they were involved in an altercation with residents outside a home where a children’s birthday party was taking place.

The indictment alleges that Respect the Flag is a “criminal street gang,” and that members of the group threatened “to commit a crime of violence” against people at the party, “with the purpose of terrorizing those individuals and in reckless disregard for the risks of causing such terror.”

The two sides had wildly divergent accounts of what occurred.

Residents said the demonstrators entered their neighborhood and started shouting racial slurs. Melissa Alford, who hosted the July birthday party, said tensions flared when the trucks drove by the home in Douglasville, Georgia.

In an interview with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Ms. Alford recalled, “One had a gun, saying he was gonna kill the [racial slur].” Ms. Alford then alleged one of them said, ‘Gimme the gun, I’ll shoot them [racial slur].”

The Southern Poverty Law Center, which is representing some of the people who attended the party, praised the prosecutor for pushing forward with the case.

Morris Dees, the organization’s chief trial counsel, issued a written statement: “These cowards chose unarmed African-Americans enjoying a peaceful birthday party to vent their violent racist hatred. This is reminiscent of the Ku Klux Klan — modern-day night-riders terrorizing African-Americans in the name of Southern heritage.”

Members of the caravan countered that the group only drives around with flags and sells them to raise money to donate American flags to people who can’t afford them.

Levi Bush, one of the drivers, told the paper the convoy had been attacked by residents throwing rocks, and after he got a flat tire the residents swarmed his truck and threatened him.

Kayla Norton, another member of the Respect the Flag group, detailed the confrontation between her group and the party-goers in an interview with the local Atlanta Fox affiliate. She says, “We informed that other group that we did have guns in our vehicles and if need be, we could go get them.”

For more information, please see:

China Post — Confederate flag supporters charged over threats – 15 October 2015

CNN — Group that waved Confederate flags indicted – 15 October 2015

U.S. News & World Report — Georgia Confederate Flag Supporters Charged With Terrorism – 13 October 2015

CBS News – Ga. Confederate flag supporters face terrorism charges – 12 October 2015

Washington Post — Confederate flag supporters face terror charges after disrupting black child’s party – 12 October 2015

By Samuel Miller
Impunity Watch Desk Reporter, North America and Oceania

CONCEPCION, Guatemala — The mayor of Guatemala’s western town of Concepcion was killed in an apparent retaliatory mob lynching over an earlier attack on the mayor’s political opponent. The residents believed he was behind an earlier attack in which two women were killed and five other people injured.

Guatemala is one of the most violent countries in Latin America; however, the lynching of an elected official is considered rare.

The incident began last month when Juracan defeated former mayoral candidate Lorenzo Sequen in Concepcion’s mayoral race. After losing the election, Sequen accused Juracan of mismanagement and demanded an investigation into Concepcion’s finances.

Villagers blamed Juracan for an attack on Sunday on Sequen, who was riding in a pickup with relatives when about 10 armed and masked men opened fire. His daughter and niece were killed, and at least five others, including Sequen, were wounded.

When news spread of the attack on Sequen, angry residents began searching for Juracan, who they believed was behind the attack.

The angry mob tracked down began burning houses belonging to Juracan’s family, until they found the mayor at his home. They dragged him out, beat him and set him alight. Police arrived too late to save Mr. Juracan.

According to the Latino Post, Guatemala is considered to be the most violent non-war zone on the planet. Additionally, this is not the first instance of political instability within the country.

Earlier this year, President Otto Perez Molina stood down after Congress voted to strip him of his immunity. Mr. Perez Molina is accused of involvement in a case known as “La Linea”, named after a hotline businesses allegedly called to access corrupt officials.

According to figures issued recently by the state’s National Institute of Forensic Sciences, there were 2,343 murders reported in Guatemala between January and May. In 2014, there was an average of 15.5 homicides per day.

Rural parts of Guatemala often see vigilante killings because of the lack of police officials in the areas. Guatemala belongs to one of the most violent countries in Latin America, and gun crime in particular is widespread in the country.

A national police spokesman, Jorge Aguilar, said 50 officers had been sent to patrol the village, where burnt cars remained in the streets on Monday.

For more information, please see:

Harvard Political Review — Fed Up in Guatemala – 13 October 2015

Latino Post – Guatemalan Mayor Beaten & Burned Alive by Vengeful Mob – 13 October 2015

The Guardian — Villagers in Guatemala burn their mayor to death after political rivalry escalates – 13 October 2015

UPI — Guatemalan mayor beaten, burned alive by revenge-driven angry mob – 13 October 2015

BBC News — Guatemalan mayor lynched by crowd over attack on rival – 12 October 2015

By Samuel Miller
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America and Oceania

SACRAMENTO, CA, United States of America — California Gov. Jerry Brown signed “right-to-die” legislation on Monday that will allow the terminally ill to legally end their lives. California has joined four other states that allow terminally ill patients to legally end their lives with a doctor’s supervision.

The California legislation is modeled after the Death with Dignity law passed by Oregon voters in 1994, which made that state the first in the nation to allow some terminally ill patients to choose the time of their own death.

In a rare personal message, Gov. Jerry Brown provided insight into his deliberations before deciding to sign the bill, reflecting on religion and self-determination as he weighed an emotionally fraught choice.

“In the end, I was left to reflect on what I would want in the face of my own death,” said Gov. Brown. “I do not know what I would do if I were dying in prolonged and excruciating pain. I am certain, however, that it would be a comfort to be able to consider the options afforded by this bill.” Gov. Brown has previously been treated for prostate cancer and melanoma.

Brown’s signature on the right-to-die legislation Monday capped an intensely personal debate that dominated much of this year’s legislative session and divided lawmakers. Many lawmakers also drew on personal experience to explain their decisions to support or reject legislation making California the fifth state to allow terminally ill patients to use doctor-prescribed drugs to end their lives.

The measure applies only to mentally sound people and not those who are depressed or impaired. The bill includes requirements that patients be physically capable of taking the medication themselves, that two doctors approve it, that the patients submit several written requests and that there be two witnesses, one of whom is not a family member.

Supporters hope that adoption of right-to-die legislation in the nation’s most populous state will spur approval elsewhere, although legislation introduced this year in at least two dozen other states stalled. Opponents said Monday that they were disappointed the governor relied so heavily on his personal experience in his decision and that they were considering options to stop it.

Among those opposed to the law are religious groups and advocates for people with disabilities, who worry it could open the door to all kinds of terrible scenarios, such as premature suicide, coerced early death and overriding God’s will.

At the center of the debate was Brittany Maynard, a 29-year-old California woman with brain cancer who drew national attention for her decision to move to Oregon to end her life. Prior to Ms. Maynard taking her own life, she told California lawmakers that the terminally ill should not have to “leave their home and community for peace of mind, to escape suffering and to plan for a gentle death.”

For more information, please see:

ABC News — Gov. Brown Signs California Right-to-Die Measure – 6 October 2015

CNN — California governor signs ‘right to die’ bill – 6 October 2015

Washington Post — Jerry Brown just signed right-to die-legislation in California. Here’s how we got here. – 6 October 2015

BBC News — California enacts right-to-die law for terminally ill – 5 October 2015

WebMD — CA Governor Signs Right-to-Die Bill Into Law – 5 October 2015