Executions have been on hold in California since early 2006, when death row inmate [a convicted murderer] successfully challenged lethal-injection procedures as cruel and unusual punishment. U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel of San Jose ruled the three-drug sequence unconstitutional after hearing expert testimony that some of those put to death in the state hadn't been fully anesthetized before the final-- and intensely painful -- dose of potassium chloride that induces cardiac arrest.
But further legal challenges have been threatened and pressure is mounting on state officials to take the cost-cutting step of commuting death sentences to life without the possibility of parole, a change estimated to save $1 billion over five years. There are 680 inmates on death row, where the condemned now spend an average of 25 years while exhausting state and federal appeals.
The California Supreme Court on Monday unanimously upheld the death sentence of Richard Allen Davis, convicted in the 1993 kidnapping and murder of 12-year-old Polly Klaas.
Marc Klaas, Polly's father, expressed frustration Monday that Davis' appeals were taking too long. He said Polly would now be 28 had she lived. "I have no doubt that this guy is going to outlive me," said Klaas, 60, a crime victims' advocate.
A woman and her live-in boyfriend face child homicide charges after the woman's 4-year-old son died when he was apparently beaten, police said.
Gabriela Morales, 25, and Alberto Guzman, 27, both of Santa Ana, are expected to be arraigned in court as early as today after Santa Ana police were called to an apartment at 1602 N. Ross St. about 4 p.m. Friday, and found the boy in full cardiac arrest, with bruises on his body and trauma to his head, said Santa Ana police Cmdr. James Schnabl.
The boy was declared dead at Saint Joseph Hospital in Orange, Schnabl said.
Morales and Guzman told police they had disciplined the boy. The boy's 9-year-old brother and 7-year-old sister were home at the time and may have witnessed the beating, police said.