Latest news with #FederalPublicDefender'sOffice
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Yahoo
Tennessee death row inmates accuse state of obtaining lethal injection drug from ‘gray market'
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — With Tennessee's first execution in years set to take place in a little over one week, some death row inmates are pushing the state to reveal its supplier of the lethal injection drug, pentobarbital. The state will use the single drug, pentobarbital, in its new death penalty protocol that was completed in December 2024. Federal public defenders for some Tennessee death row inmates have called the new protocol unconstitutional and 'too obviously untenable to stand,' the suit said. TN death row inmates want firing squad over lethal injection ahead of state's first execution in years In their latest filing, death row inmates have asked a judge not to allow the state to keep its supplier of pentobarbital a secret. They accused the state of purchasing the drug from an unauthorized source off the 'gray market,' since every manufacturer of the drug has protections in place to ensure it is not used in executions. 'Every manufacturer of pentobarbital has put in place strict distribution controls to prevent its drugs from being sold to departments of correction for use in executions,' the court filing reads. 'This means that the pentobarbital Tennessee has acquired was obtained on the gray market. Gray market drugs are inherently risky.' 'There has already been fraud and misrepresentation in the acquiring of the drug, and that is of grave concern to our clients, because once we're buying drugs from people who are not authorized to sell it, that introduces the possibility of so many ways things can go wrong,' said Amy Harwell, assistant chief of the Capital Habeas Unit for the Federal Public Defender's Office. The state has argued it has a right to keep its source a secret, claiming it is protecting the drug manufacturers' First Amendment rights. However, the inmates believe they have a right to know the state's supplier to ensure the drug, which the U.S. Dept of Justice recently abandoned over concerns it could cause unnecessary pain and suffering, hasn't been compromised. 'When a drug has come from the gray market, when we don't know what the drug dealers have done to that drug, how they've cut it, how they might have diluted it, and those are the protections that have been erased from the protocol, the checking of the drugs,' Harwell said. The inmates and their attorneys have asked Gov. Bill Lee to pause executions until the case can go to trial, which is scheduled for January 2026. Two inmates are set to be executed between now and then. Gov. Lee has previously said he has no intention of pausing executions and is confident in the TN Dept. of Correction's new protocol. ⏩ News 2 reached out to TDOC for a statement on the lawsuit, but had not heard back by the time this article was published. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Yahoo
Sul Ross students host mock trial at Brewster County Courthouse
Apr. 15—The Sul Ross State University Department of Homeland Security and Criminal Justice hosted its first-ever mock trial Friday, April 11, at the Brewster County Courthouse District Courtroom. Students took on key roles as attorneys, witnesses and more with 394th District Judge Monty Kimball presiding in a realistic and engaging courtroom setting. They included Isabela Holguin, Tannah Routledge, Saul Barrientes, Michelle Olivas, Angel Soto, Laila Salido, Melissa Fierro, Jasmine Garcia and Joseph Roberts. "The students put on an incredible performance that was well-attended by both community members and legal professionals," Dr. Basibyuk Oguzha, the chair of the department, said in a news release. "Many audience members expressed how much they enjoyed it and congratulated our students for their dedication and professionalism." The mock trial highlighted the work and preparation of Sul Ross students, as well as the guidance and support of mentors and staff, including Chris Carlin, director of the Federal Public Defender's Office in Alpine, Dr. Benjamin Barrientes, an adjunct professor of Criminal Justice, and Dr. Ercan Balcioglu, an assistant professor of Criminal Justice. For more information, email [email protected].
Yahoo
29-03-2025
- Yahoo
Judge denies extradition of NY man accused in 1978 Germany murder
When James Patrick Dempsey was taken into custody by the FBI in February of last year, accused of a brutal stabbing homicide in a German town in 1978, media across the U.S. and Europe seized on the arrest. But there was much that was not then publicly known about the evidence in the case, and that evidence on Friday was the foundation of a federal magistrate judge's decision not to extradite the 67-year-old Oneida County man to Germany to face murder charges. Dempsey's arrest had all of the trademarks of a long-unsolved whodunit cold case, one resolved with the advent of technological advances — namely DNA testing and more sophisticated fingerprint matching — not available in 1978. Dempsey's DNA was found in semen on the sheets of the murder victim, 35-year-old Bärbel Gansau. The odds were one in 270 quadrillion — a quadrillion is a number with 15 zeroes — that the DNA was Dempsey's. In 1978 Dempsey was a soldier stationed at an Army base near Gansau's apartment in the south German town of Ludwigsburg. What was not said in the initial media reports, nor publicly known then, was that Dempsey's was not the sole DNA left at the scene. Nor was his DNA among that found under Gansau's fingernails. Instead that DNA belonged to another man. U.S. Magistrate Judge Miroslav Lovric decided Friday that there was not evidence to justify the extradition of Dempsey. Lovric said in court that German authorities had rushed to judgment in accusing Dempsey because of his match from the crime scene. Other genetic materials found by crime technicians, namely that under Gansau's nails, were far more damning and could point to another likely killer, Lovric decided. DNA found from saliva on Gansau's panties also matched that under her nails. Dempsey's attorneys from the Federal Public Defender's Office maintained that the DNA extracted from the fingernails was likely left in a struggle for Gansau's life. She was stabbed 37 times. "We're so happy for Jim," said Lisa Peebles, the Federal Public Defender for the Northern District of New York. "The judge basically exonerated him." Decisions to refuse extradition are unusual, more often than not based on questions of the human rights record of the country seeking extradition. But in this case, the extradition boiled down more to a standard courtroom equation: Questions of the evidence tying Dempsey to the crime and additional evidence possibly implicating others. For the extradition, federal prosecutors in the U.S. had to demonstrate a "probable cause" threshold for the judge to approve Dempsey's extradition. That means substantive proof that Dempsey likely was the killer, a lesser threshold than the "beyond a reasonable doubt" required at a trial. The case took unusual turns after Dempsey's arrest, not only with the possible proof of another killer but with questions raised about whether Gansau may have worked for the East German spy agency Stasi. Dempsey's lawyers said that Gansau's life matched that of a person assisting Stasi, sometimes involved in trysts with soldiers from the Army base and with few apparent connections in West Germany. Gansau originally was from Communist East Germany. Gansau's name was not found in a search by authorities of Stasi records but many records were previously destroyed. Evidence showed that Gansau had many male visitors to her apartment, so many that her neighbors were seeking to have her kicked out of the apartment complex. DNA was found from other men, and Lovric Friday said that authorities should look more closely at some of them, including one with a past criminal charge of an assault on a woman. The evidence that prosecutors used to seek extradition included the DNA match and the fingerprint of Dempsey's found on the bathroom window of Gansau's apartment. That fingerprint was found with recent detection technology and in early 2021 matched with Dempsey's from a past drunken driving arrest. That prompted the search of the trash outside his home in Vernon, Oneida County, a subsequent DNA match, and his arrest last year. Prosecutors also contended that the location of Dempsey's semen on the sheets made it more likely that he was the murderer. Dempsey was jailed until January, when Lovric decided to release him pending Lovric's final decision. The magistrate judge allowed more evidence from the German authorities, who tried unsuccessfully to bolster their claims that the DNA and fingerprint were substantive proof of Dempsey's guilt. Dempsey is now home with his wife in Vernon, Oneida County . Lovric's decision cannot be appealed, Peebles said. "It's over," she said. Federal prosecutors declined to comment and said they are reviewing the judge's decision. — Gary Craig is a veteran reporter with the Democrat and Chronicle, covering courts and crime and more. You can reach Craig at gcraig@ He is the author of two books, including "Seven Million: A Cop, a Priest, a Soldier for the IRA, and the Still-Unsolved Rochester Brink's Heist." This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Judge denies extradition of NY man accused in 1978 Germany murder
