Friday, November 24, 2023

Rebuttal: Dr. Joel Zivot & Lethal Injection

From: sharpjfa@aol.com

To: jzivot@emory.edu
Sent: 2/3/2018 12:09:38 PM Central Standard Time
Subject: Rebuttal: Dr. Zivot & Lethal Injection
 
RE: Rebuttal of "Why I'm for a moratorium on lethal injections," J. Zivot, USA Today, op-ed, December 15, 2013
 
From:  Dudley Sharp, independent researcher, death penalty expert, former opponent, 832-439-2113, CV at bottom 

The truthful media description for Dr. Zivot would be that he is an anti-death penalty activist, who happens to be an anesthesiologist.
 
Dr. Zivot: "Sodium thiopental is no longer in my pharmacology toolbox. Hospira, the last company to manufacture the drug, stopped making it to protest its use in carrying out the death penalty."
 
Sharp: Well, no (1).
 
2011, Hospira took sodium thiopental away from innocent patients, even though they knew it would not stop executions (1).
 
Hospira knew that thiopental was, rapidly, being replaced by propofol (2).
 
2007: "Thiopental is a barbiturate widely used as an intravenous agent for the rapid induction of general anesthesia, with consciousness being lost within 10–20 seconds. However, its use as an inducing agent is decreasing following the introduction of propofol." (2a)
 
2009: "Thiopental (sodium pentothal) has been the barbiturate most frequently used for induction of anesthesia in children, although more recently many clinicians have replaced it with propofol." (2b)
 
January 2011 -  US Based Hospira stops making sodium thiopental.
 
Why? Logistics.
 
Hospira had moved thiopental production from North Carolina to Italy in 2010. The EU and drug manufacturers had been publicly, shamed by anti death penalty groups, starting in 2009 (1), because EU jurisdiction drugs were being used in US executions. Italy's constitution bans the death penalty and Italy told Hospira they had to guarantee that any Italy produced thiopental could not be used in US executions. Hospira couldn't or wouldn't and, therefore, shut down thiopental production.
 
Economics and logistics are the reasons Hospira stopped production.
 
Abbott Labs created sodium thiopental in the 1930's and was aware of the US' planned use of sodium thiopental, for executions, in 1979 and its first use in executions in 1982 (1).  Abbott spun off Hospira in 2004.
 
Abott's/Hospira's "ethical" concerns, conveniently, showed up 30 years later, at, exactly the moment it served Hospira's logistical problem.
 
March, 2011 -  Propofol replaces Thiopental in The WHO Model List Essential Medicines, 17th edition. Thiopental remains an alternate.
 
Ending thiopental production had no discernable effect on Hospira's stock. Stock followers long knew, at least since 2006, that propofol was replacing thiopental and Hospira was a huge pharmacutical company with many products, with thiopental a tiny fraction of its total revenue.
 
2015   Pfizer buys Hospira for $17 billion.
 
Dr. Zivot: "An executioner and the condemned are not the same as a doctor and a patient, though it is easy to see how similarities can be drawn."
 
Sharp: Of course, they are not, remotely, the same and it would be irrational to find them similar (1).
 
Dr. Zivot, all of a sudden agrees, within his next paragraph:
 
" . . . executioners are not doctors . . .".  and, later, " States may choose to execute their citizens, but when they employ lethal injection, they are not practicing medicine." . . . stating the obvious, which is, they are not, of course, remotely, similar, as Dr. Zivot concedes, or not, depending on which of his paragraphs you choose.
 
Dr. Zivot: "As a physician, however, I am ethically prohibited from commenting on the details of lethal injection lest even casual association suggest support or oversight."
 
Sharp: Total nonsense (1), as it appears the doctor well knows, as he comments on lethal injection, often. Does he concede being unethical?
 
Dr. Zivot protests: "(Execution jurisdictions) are usurping the tools and arts of the medical trade and propagating a fiction."
 
Sharp: Here is Zivot's "fiction".
 
Dr. Zivot: " When I gave a patient sodium thiopental, it was a medicine whose purpose was to heal. When the state gave sodium thiopental to a prisoner, it was a poisonous chemical whose purpose was to kill."
 
Sharp: There is no fiction, of course. Zivot states clear reality (1), as he well knows, as do all.
 
Dr. Zivot continues:
 
"Missouri recently obtained propofol, an exceedingly important anesthetic agent, and threatened to use it for executions. It would have succeeded if not for the threat of sanction by the European Union, which opposes the death penalty. Because of our broken domestic drug manufacturing market, 90% of our propofol is produced in Europe. EU sanctions would have stopped propofol shipment to the U.S. and left physicians without this critical drug."
 
Sharp: Dr. Zivot appears to miss the ethical problem.
 
I, completely, agree with Dr. Zivot, that the manufacturer and the EU would have stopped all exports of the drug, to the US, which would have put millions of innocent patients at risk, even though the manufacturer and the EU both, well know, as with Hospira and sodium thiopental, that withholding the drug would not stop the executions and, only, harm patients, a threat they would have carried out, as detailed (1).
 
That's their moral compass. Save one convicted murderer and put millions of innocent patients at risk (1). The opposite of "do no harm" (1).
 
In that propofol consideration, we have this ethical result:
 
The governor of Missouri, knowing that the manufacturer and the EU would not hesitate to put millions of innocent patients at risk, removed propofol from the execution group, to spare those patients (1).
 
The governor, unhesitatingly, chose to spare the patients (1).
 
The EU and the manufacturer, unhesitatingly, would have chosen to sacrifice innocent patients (1), as Dr. Zivot, correctly, finds.
 
Dr. Zivot: "Most recently, Florida reported the use of midazolam, another essential medication, in an execution. Midazolam is in the class referred to as a benzodiazepine. These drugs replaced barbiturates, to a degree, because they were safer. That is, it is harder to kill someone with them. How Florida granted itself expertise in the use of midazolam, now repurposed as a chemical used to kill, is known only to Florida."
 
Sharp: Florida has access to anesthesiologists and pharmacologists. Is Dr. Zivot unaware? Evidently.
 
Dr. Zivot: "From an ethical perspective, I cannot make the case that a medicine in short supply (midazolam) should preferentially be used to kill rather than to heal."
 
Sharp: Nor can I.
 
I could not find that both midazolam and its substitute, propofol, were both in short supply at the time of Dr. Zivot's article. I have little doubt they could have been, but will depend upon Dr. Zivot, for some confirmation.
 
No response from Zivot as of July, 2024
 
Drug shortages are the norm and are a combination of some or all of low profits, high liability, medical personnel misusing drugs, causing huge judgments, bad management control, by the FDA, medical partners and manufacturers, as detailed (3), with this article reviewing those problems, all of which are caused by those in the medical profession (3), government and private.
 
Currently (2017-2018), I could not find FDA confirmation of a midazolam shortage or a shortage of its substitute, propofol (4).
 
Midazolam, very likely, would never have been used in more than 10 executions per year, less than one per month. How much midazolam is wasted or misused, every year, by those in the medical professions?
 
Most likely, medical professions waste huge multiples of what would be used in executions. I doubt anyone would question that. Doc, any ethical perspective on that?
 
Dr. Zivot: "What appears as humane is theater alone."
 
Sharp: Dr. Zivot, take a bow. The theatrics are all yours.
 
I agree with Dr. Zivot that we should do away with the lethal injection method of executions. However, for me, it is for practical reasons, not the very weak or false medical ethical reasons, presented by Dr. Zivot (1).
 
Joel Zivot, M.D., is an assistant professor of anesthesiology and also the medical director of the cardio-thoracic and vascular intensive care unit at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta.
 
======
 
 
2a) Thiopental, John A. Davies, in xPharm: The Comprehensive Pharmacology Reference, 2007.
 
2b) Preoperative Evaluation, Premedication, and Induction of Anesthesia in A Practice of Anesthesia for Infants and Children (Fourth Edition), 2009, Elizabeth A. Ghazal, Charles J. Coté
 
and
 
"A comparative study of sodium thiopental and propofol in adenotonsillectomy surgery in children: MOPS score, incidence and severity of agitation", Samaneh Kouzegaran, Mohammad Hossein Moradi, Elahe Alahyari, Amir Sabertanha, Biomedical Research 2017; 28 (17): 7590-7593,  https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/c627/c58ae03c88fd7600a1a7e4816a73fb331718.pdf
 
3)  US Propofol Drug Shortages: A Review of the Problem and Stakeholder Analysis, Christopher Hvisdas, PharmD Candidate, Andrea Lordan, PharmD Candidate, Laura T. Pizzi, PharmD, MPH, and Brandi N. Thoma, PharmD, American Health & Drug Benefits. 2013 May-Jun; 6(4): 171–175. PMCID: PMC4031712,   https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4031712/
 
4) I believe this is the most recent list
 
FDA Drug Shortages, Current and Resolved Drug Shortages and Discontinuations Reported to FDA
  
======
600+ pro death penalty quotes from murder victims' families &
3300+ from some of the greatest thinkers in history
====== 
======
 
Research, with sources, fact checking, vetting & critical thinking, as required of anyone within a public policy debate and which rebut all anti-death penalty claims.
 
Most will realize that the media has been using only anti-death penalty claims and then, failed to fact check, vet, not use critical thinking, with that research, while avoiding all pro-death penalty research and experts, for decades. How do I know most will realize this? Because they wouldn't have seen any of this, prior:
 
The Death Penalty: Justice & Saving More Innocents
and
Students, Academics & Journalists: Death Penalty Research
(7 pro-death penalty experts listed)

Wednesday, November 22, 2023

Media Disaster: Nitrogen Hypoxia:Is Dr. Zivot an ignoramus, a liar, confused, or . . . ?

edited and re-sent 2/07/2024

Media Disaster: Nitrogen Hypoxia:
Is Dr. Zivot  an ignoramus, a liar, confused, or . . . ?

To: WVTM, NBC Channel 13

Dr. Joel Zivot
The Emory Center for Ethics, faculty, staff and advisory board
American Society of Anesthesiologists, Senior Staff Leadership Team
 
bcc: Governor Kay Ivey, staff and cabinet
Attorney General Steve Marshall
Alabama Dept. of Corrections
ALABAMA BOARD OF PARDONS AND PAROLES
Alabama Crime Victims Compensation Commission
Bibb County Sheriff's Office
Victims of Crime and Leniency
Parents of Murdered Children
Alabama Press Association
Media throughout Alabama
 
RE: Rebuttal: Doctor says new execution method to be used on Alabama inmate is unconstitutional, Lisa Crane, Anchor, WVTM, NBC Channel 13, Nov 16, 2023

From:  Dudley Sharp, independent researcher, death penalty expert, former opponent, 832-439-2113, CV at bottom   
 
Is Dr. Zivot  an ignoramus, a liar, confused, or . . . ? Have WVTM, NBC Channel 13 's investigative team figure it out.

as of 1/21/2024 no evidence that WVTM has done so.
 
First, SCOTUS has, never, found an execution method unconstitutional. One wonders how Zivot arrived at his legal conclusion.

Of no interest to WVTM or their audience?
 
Secondly, Zivot's explanation of nitrogen hypoxia is very different from 60 years of documented experience and testing, as detailed, below (Nitrogen Gas; Flawless, proven, peaceful).

Of no interest to WVTM or their audience

Edit: 1/24/2024: WVTM has put in some supportive material for nitrogen hypoxia, but not it's full history, as they should have and are still hiding.

======
Nitrogen Induced Hypoxia as a Form of Capital Punishment, Michael P. Copeland, J.D. Thorn Parr, M.S. Christine Papas, J.D., Ph.D. East Central University , 6/08/2018,
or
 
Nitrogen Plastic Bag Suicide A Case Report
Am J Forensic Med Pathol 2013;00: 00Y00
You must register
 ======

Zivot was a huge disservice to your viewers and the truth, as detailed, with sources. 

The truthful media description for Dr. Zivot would be that he is an anti-death penalty activist, who happens to be an anesthesiologist.

Of no interest to WVTM or their audience?
 
Of course, WVTM could have done their own homework, which they decided against.  Here is what you should have presented to you audience "Nitrogen Gas; Flawless, proven, peaceful, unrestricted method of execution", below.
 
It is not too late to, properly, inform your audience, is it? Of course not. Do it.

As of 1/24/2024, of no complete review from WVTM?

How Death Penalty Abolitionists Value Murderers More Than Their Innocent Victims and 
the Repudiation of Journalism, by Journalists?

As detailed within WVTM's article, and as revealed herein (two articles, just below), if WVTM cared, one wit, about the truth and the innocent murder victims and their loved ones they would have presented a full accounting of both sides of the debate.

In the referenced article, in another case, we find that Shea Pilkington-Wiley's daughter, Madison, was beaten to death. (video here: 

Today's journalism, very often, uses anti-death penalty "facts", refuses to fact check and vet them, then refuses to present pro-death penalty research and experts, just as with WVTM, all, intentionally, harming the truth and murder victim survivors, as detailed, here:

30 Examples: How Death Penalty Abolitionists Value 
Murderers More Than Their Innocent Victims:
AKA - Full Rebuttal of Sir Richard Branson & His Death Penalty Comments
 
The Death Penalty: A Repudiation of Journalism, by Journalists?

Of no interest to WVTM or their audience

Today's Journalism.

Nitrogen Gas; Flawless, proven, peaceful, unrestricted method of execution, September 2014, updated 1/2019
Dudley Sharp, independent researcher, death penalty expert, former opponent, 832-439-2113, CV at bottom

"(Dr. Phillip) Nitschke called (nitrogen gas hypoxia) "flawless" . . .  Inhaling the pure nitrogen, patients lose consciousness immediately (in approximately 12 seconds) and die a few minutes later." ". . . extremely quick . . . no drugs . . . reliable, peaceful, available . . . " (1).

Nitschke said he "could envision scenarios where (Smith's, the first nitrogen hypoxia) execution goes quickly or seriously awry," if Smith’s facial hair, jaw movements and involuntary movements may affect the seal of the mask (1a).

It appears that Smith's execution went, quickly, as predicted: He held his breath, while fighting his restraints, for about 2 minutes, with the next 20-60 seconds being exhale and 1-2 breaths, prior to unconsciousness, with no visible breathing 8 minutes later, with death soon thereafter.

No panic nor suffocation effect with nitrogen.

"Close contact with an enclosed inert gas (as nitrogen) is lethal because it flushes oxygen from the body, but released into the open air, it quickly disperses, and is safe for others." (2) 

A sealed gas chamber is not required - just an oxygen mask and a secured prisoner.

Additional Experiment and Evidence


"Preliminary (human) experiments in which the subjects over-ventilated with nitrogen (gas) for various periods showed that unconsciousness supervened if the duration of this procedure exceeded 16-17 sec. In the majority of these experiments, therefore, the period of over-ventilation with nitrogen was limited to 16 sec." (3)  "  . . .  it was considered that the degree of hypoxia induced by over-ventilation with nitrogen for 15- 16 sec was within acceptable limits for resting subjects." (3).
 
The above was performed by a tube, as opposed to a chamber, with animal euthanasia. Human executions are, most likely, to be performed by a mask which, because of control, will have results somewhat quicker than those using a tube or chamber.
 
It appears that nearly every case of accidental death and/or unconsciousness, via nitrogen gas, is close to instantaneous (4,5), as the subjects seemed to have become unconscious so quickly, as to not be able to extricate themselves from the situation (4,5), just as described in the human experiment, above, with the exception that many of the accidental deaths and injuries are in the equivalent of chambers, not a mask, as contemplated with execution.
 
"You will not recognize you're in trouble in time to take action to save yourself," states CSB (Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board) Investigation Manager Bill Hoyle" (4).
 
"An oxygen concentration below 19 1/2 percent is considered unsafe for workers; when the oxygen content drops to about 8 or 10 percent, John Vorderbrueggen PE, a lead investigator for CSB, "you don't have much of a chance." (4)
 
Oxygen concentration will be 0% within the mask, during a nitrogen gas execution.
 
"If pure nitrogen is being breathed, the alveolar oxygen content from the previously breathed air decreases very fast." "After a few breaths, the alveo-lar spaces become completely filled with pure nitrogen, and hence, the fatal asphyxia of the victim develop." (5)
 
"According to CSB, during that decade (1992-2002) there were 85 nitrogen (gas) asphyxiation incidents, resulting in 80 fatalities and 50 injuries." (4)
 
Confirming, again, how sudden this can occur: "Approximately 10 percent of (nitrogen gas) fatalities from the CSB data were co-workers attempting to rescue fallen colleagues in confined spaces, . . ." (4)

======
The Death Penalty: A Repudiation of Journalism, by Journalists?
======
 
"When sedation was omitted, (animal euthanasia with) nitrogen was quantitatively as effective as pentobarbital alone.  An adequate flow of nitrogen is essential and the concentration of oxygen in the euthanasia chamber must be monitored.?" (6).
 
Very different than the mask, contemplated with human executions.
 
Nitrogen gas euthanasia works better for some animals than others (7). Nitrogen is not recommended for dogs (8). Pre sedation increases the time to unconsciousness and death (8).
 
As all animal experiments are done in chambers (6,7,8), it is, considerably different, than an execution procedure with humans, which contemplates using a mask.
 
NOTE: The botched execution rate with lethal injection is about 1%, not 7%, as any physician should know (9).
 
======
600+ pro death penalty quotes from murder victim's families &
3300+ from some of the greatest thinkers in history
======
 
1)"Exit International's euthanasia device", Euthanasia device, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euthanasia_device#Exit_International.27s_euthanasia_device, viewed/copied 3/13/2014.

1a) U.S. Supreme Court rules Alabama can proceed with the country’s first execution by nitrogen gas By KIM CHANDLER, Associated Press Published: January 25, 2024
 
2) "Inert gas asphyxiation", 
 
also see
  
International Humanitarian Hypoxia Project
 
Is There A More Humane Way To Kill?, Lawrence Gist II, 6/22/09
http://express-press-release.net/62/Is%20There%20A%20More%20Humane%20Way%20To%20Kill.php

Creque, S.A. "Killing with kindness – capital punishment by nitrogen asphyxiation" National Review. 1995-9-11.

3) "The effect of brief profound hypoxia upon the arterial and venous oxygen tensions in man", J. ERNSTING, J. Phy8iol. (1963), 169, pp. 292-311.   https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1368754/pdf/jphysiol01210-0056.pdf
 
4) Nitrogen: The Silent Killer, Josh Cable, EHS Today (Environment Health and Safety), Sep 20, 2006,
 
5) Suicidal Nitrogen Inhalation by use of Scuba Full-Face Diving Mask. Journal of Forensic Sciences 58(5) · July 2013, DOI: 10.1111/1556-4029.12239 · Source: PubMed https://www.researchgate.net/publication/253647263_Suicidal_Nitrogen_Inhalation_by_use_of_Scuba_Full-Face_Diving_Mask

6) "Euthanasia of Small Animals with Nitrogen; Comparison with Intravenous Pentobarbital", 
John P. Quine, William Buckingham, and Leo Strunin, Canadian Verterinary Journal, Can Vet J. 1988 Sep; 29(9): 724–726. 
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1680841/?page=3

7) AVMA Guidelines for the Euthanasia of Animals: 2013 Edition, pg 23-24,,
https://www.avma.org/KB/Policies/Documents/euthanasia.pdf
 
8) "Methods for the Euthanasia of Dogs and Cats: Comparison and Recommendation, pg 18, World Society for the Protection of Animals,
 
9)  Rebuttal: Botched Executions
 
======
600+ pro death penalty quotes from murder victims' families &
3300+ from some of the greatest thinkers in history
====== 
======
 
Research, with sources, fact checking, vetting & critical thinking, as required of anyone within a public policy debate and which rebut all anti-death penalty claims.
 
Most will realize that the media has been using only anti-death penalty claims and then, failed to fact check, vet, not use critical thinking, with that research, while avoiding all pro-death penalty research and experts, for decades. How do I know most will realize this? Because they wouldn't have seen any of this, prior:
 
The Death Penalty: Justice & Saving More Innocents
and
Students, Academics & Journalists: Death Penalty Research
(7 pro-death penalty experts listed)

Monday, November 20, 2023

Media Disaster: The Idaho Statesman's Death Penalty Ignorance

Please forward to the families of Kaylee, Madison, Xana and Ethan

Originally sent July 6, 2023, RE-SENT November 19-20,2023 - 4 MONTHS LATER

Has Idaho Statesman continued their lies, deceptions and/or incredible, willful ignorance or decided to be actual journalists? Which?

To: Letters or Op/ed, Idaho Statesman
Editorial Board, Idaho Statesman,
Mary Rohlfing, Boise State, community member of editorial board
 
Public Radio, Boise State & U of Idaho
Rebecca Tallent, Professor Emeritus, Ethics, School of Journalism and Mass Media, U of Idaho
Professional Standards and Ethics Committee. Society of Professional Journalists
 
BCC: Idaho Press Club &  the Newspaper Assoc of Idaho
Moscow Police Dept, Latah County Sheriff's Dept., Idaho State Police
Idaho Prosecuting Attorneys Assoc.
Governor Brad Little and staff and cabinet
Attorney General Raul Labrador
Idaho Dept. of Corrections
Idaho House & Senate Members, State & Judiciary Committees
Newspaper Assoc. of Idaho, Idaho Press Club and Media throughout Idaho
Law Professor Samuel Newton & U of Idaho Law School
Prof. Greg Hampikian, Innocence Project & the Biology and Criminal Justice Depts, & Administration, Boise State U.
Boise State U, The Blue Review, School of Public Service, Communication & Media Depts. and many others
Students & Student Groups, at those and other Idaho universities
 
Subject: EDIT: The Death Penalty & The Idaho Statesman's Ignorance
 
RE: Let’s be honest about death penalty in Idaho: Revenge killing despite the cost | Opinion BY THE EDITORIAL BOARD, The Idaho Statesman, JULY 04, 2023
 
From: Dudley Sharp, independent researcher, death penalty expert, former opponent, 832-439-2113, CV at bottom   
 
Method: The Idaho Statesman Editorial Board ("Journalists") is quoted, followed by my REPLY.
 
Title: "The Idaho Statesman's Editorial Board Needs to Get Honest, Informed About The Death Penalty"
 
1) Journalists: "Idaho hasn’t executed a death row inmate since June 2012, and just two in almost 30 years."
 
Reply: Journalists might consider why that is the case and what are the major problems and how to fix them, as with any other government programs, investigated by media, but evading all curiosity, within the Journalists op/ed.
 
Since 1976, Virginia has executed 113 murderers after 7 years of appeals, on average (1).
 
The Journalists appear incurious why Idaho can't properly manage their own death penalty. Why? It harms justice and the victims' survivors. It is standard anti-death penalty Journalism.
 
2) Journalists: "The reasons justifying the death penalty continue to get thin."
 
Reply: That is only the case if you are a dogmatic anti-death penalty person/Journalist who refuses to look at both sides of this topic, as with the Journalists' op/ed, wherein "thin" describes the Journalists lack of critical thinking, research, curiosity, fact checking and vetting, as detailed throughout.
 
For example:
 
a) Justice
 
Justice may be the greatest of all human endeavors (2) and is the goal of all criminal cases. For the Journalists, justice is "thin". For most of us, it is quite important.
 
b) Saving innocent lives
 
Saving more innocent lives is, also, important and is a product of the death penalty/execution, in three different ways: Enhanced due process (3), enhanced incapacitation (3) and enhanced deterrence (3,4). 
 
For the Journalists, saving innocent lives is a "thin" reason for death penalty support.  That is no anti-death penalty surprise, as detailed (3).
 
The Journalists ignorance appears willful.
 
c)  The innocents murdered and their loved ones
 
Also discounted by the Journalists and invisible in their op/ed are the innocents murdered (2) and their loved ones (2). It is a common anti-death penalty omission, a zero, even less than "thin". The victims' survivors, in capital cases, approve of the death penalty/execution, at a rate of 95-99% (5).  For most of us, the innocent victims and their survivors are paramount, the reason that we have the death penalty and all other criminal sanctions (2). 
 
The innocents, often, raped, tortured and murdered, and their loved ones, don't even qualify as "thin", by the Journalists. Instead, they are invisible, a zero, in their op/ed.
 
3) Journalists: "The argument that it’s cheaper to execute someone than it is to house them in prison for the rest of their life doesn’t hold water. As Idaho Statesman reporter Kevin Fixler wrote Sunday in an in-depth story, the costs to have someone on death row exceed the costs to house someone for life in prison. He cited two studies from Washington state and Oregon, each showing that pursuit of a death sentence on average cost taxpayers upward of $1 million more than when prosecutors sought life imprisonment in aggravated first-degree murder cases. And yet, misinformation about cost savings continues to be cited in Idaho to justify the practice."
 
Reply: a) Did Fixler fact check and vet the Oregon and Washington state studies or the assertion by "A death penalty expert (that) told Fixler widely held beliefs that lifetime imprisonment is costlier than death sentences has been proved wrong time and again?
My guess? No (1). Read what I sent Fixler and others, re those two studies, as well as this (1).
b) Have the Journalists done a thorough" apples-to-apples" cost analysis of the death penalty vs life without parole (LWOP) (6) in Idaho. No. So how do the Journalists know about "cost misinformation" in Idaho? They don't, as is obvious. They made it up by presuming "facts".
c) Washington nor Oregon are Idaho. Journalists?
d) IF an "apples-to-apples" study (6) found it cost $500, 000 more for a death penalty case than for an equivalent LWOP case, in Idaho, that would be 0.025 cents more per year per Idaho citizen, for a 10 year period, the reasonable time to complete death penalty appeals.
0.025 cents/yr./Idaho citizen. Journalists?
e) LWOP can last 40-60 years, with maximum security costs up to $180,000/inmate/yr, with 20-40 years of medical/geriatric care costing over $80,000/inmate/yr., in California (7). Oh, California is not Idaho. What would those costs be, in Idaho? Journalists?
f) When fact checking/vetting many of the cost studies, it was found that they were nonsensical, incomplete and/or fraudulent (1). Were the Journalists aware of that? No. Do they care? Denno?
g) Some of the studies, that found the death penalty more expensive than LWOP, when fact checked and vetted, showed the reverse (1). Did the Journalists know that? No. Do they care? Denno?
h) Did the Journalists investigate all that, prior to writing their op/ed? No. Do they care? No, or they would have.
 
4) Journalists: “It’s public misinformation,” said Deborah Denno, a Fordham University law professor. “I don’t know how anybody could possibly argue with these statistics or even question them at all. It’s across the board, across the country, different states, but across different times, too, given the length-of-time cost studies conducted.”
 
Reply: One argues with/researches the statistics and questions them, based upon, fact checking and vetting, as the anti-death penalty professor, should know. Possibly, Denno might consider fact checking and vetting the studies (1), which I HOPE she has not done. I am sending this letter/op/ed to Denno. Journalists? Denno?
 
Possibly, the Journalists will, next time, speak with and quote pro-death penalty experts (8), not, only, anti-death penalty academics.  Readers and the Journalists will be more informed (9), which seems not to be of interest, to the Journalists. We'll see.

======
The Death Penalty: A Repudiation of Journalism, by Journalists?
======
 
5) Journalists: "Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador suggested the solution to the high cost of the death penalty might be to cut down on the legal avenues available to someone on death row, in spite of the clear evidence that those legal avenues have at times exonerated those wrongly convicted and sentenced to death."
 
Reply: It's not about reducing legal avenues, but about having responsible protocols and responsible judges. With some exceptions, there is no legal reason that appeals should take longer than 2-3 years at the state supreme court level, 2-3 years at the federal district court level and 2-3 years at the federal circuit court level, or 6-9 years, total, with  direct appeals and the writ heard and decided, in unison, without reducing legal avenues. SCOTUS, rarely, hears these cases. Journalists?
 
If there are legal avenues, that are not constitutionally, required, why would Idaho waste time and money on them? Journalists? Labrador?
 
If Virginia can do it, well, we know that Idaho can. Correct? Journalists? Labrador? If not, why not? The Journalists incurious. Why? How?
 
The Journalists used Washington and Oregon as examples, for Idaho. Why not Virginia? Because Washington and Oregon support the Journalists anti-death penalty position. Virginia does not.
 
6) Journalists: "Part of the reason, of course, is that the death row inmates will routinely engage in abusive litigation, dragging out the process over decades,” Labrador said.
 
Reply: That is where responsible protocols and responsible judges are required, as Virginia has done. Abusive litigation is no problem if you have responsible judges, to shut it down. Often, we done't have responsible judges (10). Journalists seem not to be curious about that, as a possible problem. Why?
 
7) Journalists: "We could save some money, even if it means a couple of innocent people might get executed and we trample on people’s constitutional rights."
 
Reply: a) Journalists, your sarcasm and idiocy are not needed. We might have proof of innocents executed as recently as 1915. The modern, completely different, super due process, death penalty, constitutional protocols began in 1976, sixty one years later. Review (11).
 
b) The courts do not allow "trampling on people’s constitutional rights." (11). Journalists, are you not aware?
 
8) Journalists: "Bringing back the firing squad, in particular, which passed and became law in Idaho on Saturday, highlights the barbarity of the death penalty."
 
Reply: Note that the Journalists never - never  brought up the barbarity of the slaughter of the innocent murder victims (2). Why? Because their care is for the murderers, not their innocent victims . . . very common in the anti-death penalty world, as detailed (12).
 
9) Journalists: "the state estimated it will spend $750,000 to build a special firing squad facility that might never get used, bringing into question whether it’s worth the added expense."
 
Reply: It never entered the Journalists mind that the firing squad is not necessary.  Why?
 
The firing squad was chosen because the state claimed that they couldn't get the execution drugs, for lethal injection executions.  How did the Journalists and the state not know they, already, have plenty of execution drugs?
 
Fentanyl is overflowing in police evidence rooms, with not all needed for trial, with only tiny amounts needed for executions, with only testing needed, prior to use, obviously effective, already in the protocols in Nevada and Nebraska and, by the reasoning in the SCOTUS decision, Glossip v Gross, will, certainly, pass constitutional review. 
 
Journalists? Labrador? Corrections? Governor? No one paying attention, to the obvious? How? Why?
 
10) Journalists: "Labrador cited. “Capital punishment brings closure to victims of crimes and serves a deterrent effect,” Labrador said. Multiple studies have shown no deterrent effect of the death penalty, regardless of the method of execution. Labrador’s suggestion that the death penalty brings “closure” for the families also is debatable. Does a guilty verdict and life sentence without the possibility of parole not provide “closure” for families? Or does an execution really just fulfill a sense of vengeance for victims’ families?
 
Reply: Closure
 
There are many types of closure that victim survivors get from the death penalty/execution. The Journalists, simply, had no interest in learning what they are (13). Standard anti-death penalty, of no interest, to the Journalists.
 
Deterrence and how the death penalty protects innocents better than does LWOP
 
a) The enhanced due process and enhanced incapacitation of the death penalty/execution are unchallenged (9) in their ability to protect innocents better than LWOP (3).
b) Enhanced deterrence is challenged, but prevails with fact checking and vetting (3,4).
 
The Journalists prefer saving more murderers lives, thus bringing more harm and deaths to the innocent (2-5, 8-15).
 
11) Journalists: "Skaug is being honest when he calls it what it is: retribution. “The victims and their surviving families deserve to see the retribution that Idaho has deemed appropriate,”
 
Reply: Of course. Just retribution is what is known as justice, within a system such as that in the US. We want and seek sanctions that are not to harsh and not to lenient, based upon all the factors in the cases, which is known, in the US, as justice or just retribution.
 
The Journalists confuse that with revenge, which cannot be the case, with any sanction, within the US (14),  as is well known, by fact, reason and critical thinking, as detailed (14).
 
12) Journalists: "A valid argument can be made that the death penalty is simply immoral, particularly if you count yourself among those who claim to be “pro-life.”
 
Reply: The Journalist forgot to reveal their "valid argument". 
 
The Journalists are unaware that the pro-life argument has been supportive of the death penalty (15), since Genesis 9:6. Capital punishment has been interpreted as the required sanction, "shall", for guilty murderers for taking the lives of their innocent victims. In addition, as detailed, innocents are better protected by the death penalty, making it, factually, pro-life, as detailed (2-5, 8-15).
 
All sanctions are given because we value that which is taken away. Whether it be fines, freedom or lives, in every case, we take things away, as legal sanction, it is because we value that which is taken away.

How can it be a sanction, if we do not value that which is taken away? It can't.
 
13) Journalists: " Idaho can and should have a debate about the death penalty. But let’s at least have an honest, informed debate."
 
Reply: I and others (8) would be happy to debate the Journalists.
 
Possibly, the Journalists will, next time, consider an honest, informed op/ed (1-15), and will speak with and quote pro death penalty experts (8) and victim survivors (2),  not only anti-death penalty academics.
 
The Journalists and their readers will be much more informed. (1-15), again, it seems, so far, what the Journalists do not want, for themselves or their readers.
 
FN
 
 
2)  NOTE to Journalists, with curiosity and research, you should find these, today, within Idaho.
 
600+ pro death penalty quotes from murder victim's families &
3300+ from some of the greatest thinkers in history
and
 
 
6) Death Penalty Costs vs Life Without Parole Costs: Study Protocol
 
7) Death Penalty Costs: California
 
8) Students, Academics & Journalists: Death Penalty Research
 
9) The Death Penalty: Justice & Saving More Innocents
 
10) Judges Responsible For Grossly Uneven Executions
and
Judges as Jackasses
 
 
The Death Row "Exonerated"/"Innocent" Frauds 
 71-83% Error Rate in Death Row "Innocent" Claims, 
Well Known Since 1998
 
THE DEATH PENALTY: LEAST ARBITRARY & CAPRICIOUS:
Both the guilty & the innocent have the greatest protections
http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-death-penalty-neither-arbitrary-nor.html
 
12) Full Rebuttal of Sir Richard Branson & His Death Penalty Comments
 
Sister Helen Prejean: Her Lies, Deceptions . . . and/or 
Astounding Willful Ignorance? - A Compilation
 
 
13) IS EXECUTION CLOSURE? Of course
 
14) The Death Penalty: Neither Hatred nor Revenge
 
15) PRO LIFE: THE DEATH PENALTY
 
 ======
600+ pro death penalty quotes from murder victims' families &
3300+ from some of the greatest thinkers in history
====== 
======
 
Research, with sources, fact checking, vetting & critical thinking, as required of anyone within a public policy debate and which rebut all anti-death penalty claims.
 
Most will realize that the media has been using only anti-death penalty claims and then, failed to fact check, vet, not use critical thinking, with that research, while avoiding all pro-death penalty research and experts, for decades. How do I know most will realize this? Because they wouldn't have seen any of this, prior:
 
The Death Penalty: Justice & Saving More Innocents
and
Students, Academics & Journalists: Death Penalty Research
(7 pro-death penalty experts listed)