Tagged: Capital Punishment

The Oregon Supreme Court is set to hear arguments Thursday in a case involving a death row inmate who wants to die. Two-time murderer Gary Haugen is trying to reject a reprieve issued by Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber.

It's definitely an unusual situation. Normally you'd expect people on death row to be happy about having their execution delayed. But Haugen had dropped all of his appeals and was actually trying to be executed. He repeatedly told judges that he was ready. And the courts ruled him competent to make that decision.

SALEM, Ore. – More than a year ago, Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber stunned people by enacting a moratorium on the death penalty. It happened just weeks before the scheduled execution of two-time murderer Gary Haugen. At a hearing Tuesday, lawmakers took up the question of whether to ask voters to repeal the death penalty altogether. But it’s not clear whether that will actually happen.

Dan Bryant knows the unique pain of learning a loved one has been murdered. His mother was stabbed to death by a mentally-ill relative in 1998.

An Oregon judge says death row inmate Gary Haugen has the right to reject a reprieve from Gov. John Kitzhaber. Circuit Court Judge Timothy Alexander's ruling Friday paves the way for a possible new execution date for the two-time murderer.

Late last year, Gov. John Kitzhaber issued a moratorium that put on hold the execution of twice-convicted murderer Gary Haugen. Now the death row inmate is asking a judge to overrule that reprieve. Haugen appeared in a Marion County courtroom Tuesday.

In 1985, a jury convicted Richard A. Leavitt of the brutal first-degree murder of Danette J. Elg a year earlier. Elg of Blackfoot, Idaho had been stabbed more than a dozen times and her body was mutilated. The state will execute 53 year-old Leavitt Tuesday by lethal injection unless there’s a last minute stay. .

Male death row prisoners are housed in the Idaho Maximum Security Institution, or Idaho Max. Guards moved Leavitt to a lone cell last month after the state Department of Correction served him with a death warrant.